This race finally happened after 2 years of hiatus due to Covid shutdown. Because of that, they put on 2 races, Thursday for women and some men and Saturday for men. I think we all were anxious to see how that was going to play out knowing there will be 5000 athletes vs. 2200 in the past.
I landed in Kona airport Sunday, October 2 around 7:30pm. As soon as I got out of the airplane, I was hit by that humidity that brought back my memories from 2016. It was also drizzling. Since it’s a very small airport, I got to the luggage claim in no time and anxiously waited for my luggage and bike to arrive safely. Seemed like eternity to see my suitcase coming around the belt. I grabbed my bag and moved over to look out for my bike bag to come out. There were so many bike bags, hard cases and soft cases like mine. Finally, a Scicon bag with my tag came out. Whew, what a relief!
Monday – I went to athlete check in at 9~10 am. They usually are not very strict about assigned time but they were at this race. Some people were told they had to come back later if they did not sign up for the 9~10 am time slot. Picked up my envelopes with all the bags, race number tattoo, swim caps, backpacks with a tag with a towel inside, but there was no poster! They told me they already ran out and they need to send it to me and wrote my name and race number down on a sheet of paper. I sure hope they send it to me because I was looking forward to that poster. Bethany and I looked round the Ironman Store and picked up some items. I also got a short practice swim done before lunch. We had a short list of things to get done but everything took twice as long as we planned. We picked up poke for lunch at Da Poke Shack but had no time to eat it for a short ride with my friends and my athlete, Alan on Queen K at 1 pm. We put our lunch in the fridge at the hotel, grabbed some snacks and headed out. After we got there a few minutes late, we rode out towards Hawi about 30 min and came back, a total of 1 hour testing all the gears to make sure everything was working smoothly. The wind wasn’t bad but there was a lot of traffic.
Tuesday – Got up earlier and went for a longer practice swim. The coffee boat was out again this year run by Ironman, so I stopped by on the way and got a shot of coffee and another one coming back. Swam around 55 min and it was very relaxing and felt good to get a feel for the ocean. Water temp was just perfect. We walked around Ironman Village on Alii Dr. to look around but there were much less companies there than in 2016. Again, time was just flying by. Picked up an Acai bowl on the way back to the hotel for lunch. After some rest, Bethany and I went out for a short run on Alii Dr around 3pm in the heat to acclimate. Relaxed in the evening waiting for Stephanie to arrive.
Wednesday – Bike and bag drop off day. I think Stephanie was surprised that I haven’t started to get my bags ready. Got started on the T1 and T2 bags and asked Stephanie to run though all the items with me so that I am not forgetting anything. She has done 14 Ironman races, so I call her a veteran. Bethany drove me to the transition for the drop off. The transition setup on the pier was very unique to this race. When I raced in 2016, the bike rack was made of wood but they had a specially made rack with plastic and looked way more professional. It might be insignificant but I was impressed. Luckily, my rack was very close to the exit/entrance for bike and run so rolling out and back the bike won’t be very long on the race day. Walk through the transition area to visualize what I need to do on the race day. Racked my run bag and bike bag, checked out the changing tent, and picked up my timing chip. It is all set to go. Nadia was due landing in the afternoon, so we stopped at another poke shop near the Expo for takeout, two poke bombs with seaweed salad. I normally would not do raw fish as a pre-race meal but here in Kona, the fish is so fresh that I feel safe to do that. Once I got back to the hotel, I went over items for my morning bag, bike special needs bag and bottles, nutrition and bike computer to set up in the morning. While Bethany and Stephanie went to pick up Nadia, I enjoyed my dinner looking over the ocean feeling grateful. Nadia finally arrived and all 3 of my girls were with me, ready for the race day. I put my race number tattoo on my forearms before I went to bed.
Race Day – My age group start was 7am. Alarm went off at 4:30am, got my race number tattoo on and race day hair done. I made instant oatmeal with hot water from a tiny coffee maker and added a banana for breakfast. I also got iced coffee with no ice the day before, so I had my coffee fix. I read on the athlete guide that there would be a shuttle service running up and down Alii Drive, so I went down there to wait for it. There were two girls also waiting for the shuttle. A small school bus started to approach us a few minutes later, so we waved trying to stop it but it just kept going. Since we had no idea how much longer we needed to wait for another one, we just started to walk and never saw another bus. Good thing it was just under a mile walk. Got to the transition area about 5:50am. I had to change a Gatorade plastic bag that I put all my bottles in to clear one for security reasons inside of the drop off area. Dropped off my bike special needs bag in the numbered sac, passed by the tatto section, and into the transition to set up my bottles, nutrition and bike computer. First thing I checked was my tires to make sure they are not flat. I put Skratch hydration in the torpedo on the aerobar and 2 bottles on the bike. Put a Maurten bar, an Ucan bar, small bag of salt tab chewable and a ginger chew in bento box. I connected the power meter to my bike computer and everything was all set to go.
Out of the transition area, I lined up to use a porta potty and dropped off my morning bag by 6:30am. Put swim skin up to my waist and went to get into my wave lineup. By then, the sun was slowly rising and excitement was building up. A few minutes later, we heard a cannon going off for pro women’s start!!! Gulp! This is it!!! The game is ON
