What a hectic day. Swim. Breakfast. Race registration. Souvenir shopping. An ART session. A quick tune-up for the bike. Bike. Run. Fortunately things should slow down a bit.

The swim is a bigger zoo than yesterday. I meet up with Lesley. She still hasn't decided on her race day costume so she's trying a new two piece this morning. She introduces me to Jerry. And then we get into the water. A couple of the permanent buoys have names. I talk like a local and say I'm going out to the King's Buoy. Lesley and Jerry like that plan so we take off. Two strokes and I'm dropped. Then I have goggle issues and have to stop to drain and adjust them. A few more strokes and I get into traffic issues. There's basically one lane of swimming, and people are going out and coming in through this narrow avenue. Once past the initial marker buoys things open up, but getting to that point involves some dicey swimming. No actual collisions for me, just some close calls. Like yesterday, the water's a little cloudy and I don't see all that many fish. I reach the King's Buoy and meet up with Lesley and Jerry. I decide to go out a little further while they're heading back to shore. So, at least this time I don't get dropped. Get out to the next orange buoy, opposite The Slide (which is a hotel shaped like a big sliding board), and turn back to shore. No problems negotiating the congestion near shore. Hit the beach and drop the landing gear. I'm told that's about a 1.4 mile round trip. That's the last of the big training swims. I'll do a couple of easy ones in the thirty minute range. And then a big one on Saturday.

The other day, after swimming the entire distance, I told Lesley, Cullen and Bill that I thought I should get credit for it and not have to do it Saturday during the race. Heck I'd even take the time (about 90 minutes). I'd just watch everybody else swim and then hop on my bike when the time came. The others didn't think I'd be able to get away with that. Otherwise, they said, they'd go out and do the bike on Tuesday and the run on Thursday and just sit around drinking beer on Saturday. I still don't see the problem.

After the swim Renate and I head down Alii just a bit for some breakfast. A nice place with good diner-type food. We can get the real expensive Kona coffee that doesn't come with free refills. Or the cheap stuff with refills. We opt for the cheap stuff with refills. We're on the upper level of the place. Down below is a group of five Japanese guys. They're washing down their eggs with bottles of Beck's beer. Interesting. As Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett sing, "It's five o'clock somewhere."

	“	The nice volunteer puts my wrist band on. I am now officially recognized as an Ironman competitor. Even after eleven Ironman races, it's still a sobering feeling when the band goes on.”
		— Steve Noone

Two cruise ships landed during the night. So, in addition to a bunch of athletes and supporters walking, running and biking around, there is now a boatload (two boatloads, actually) of tourists milling around town. While eating we watch all the little ferries ferry all the little tourists from the big boats to shore. It's interesting to see the looks on some of these folks when a herd of bikes goes speeding by. And it's fun watching a bunch scramble out of the way of the waves crashing over the seawall onto the sidewalk. Free entertainment.

Breakfast over we head to the King Kamehameha Hotel for race registration. It's about 10 AM. Registration started at 9 AM. The zoo from the swim, I guess it's a traveling one, moved over to the hotel ballroom. Fortunately I have a valid license to race so I get to cut past the long line of people getting valid one-day licenses. Everything goes smoothly. The nice volunteer puts my wrist band on. I am now officially recognized as an Ironman competitor. Even after eleven Ironman races, it's still a sobering feeling when the band goes on. I get out of my chair and walk out. I'm serious for about thirty seconds. Then I start joking with Bill and Patti. There's plenty of time to get serious later.

Now, it's time to go spend more money. In Brazil, Ironman stuff was so inexpensive and there wasn't a huge selection that we pretty much bought one of everything and two of a lot of things. In Kona, Ironman stuff is on the expensive side and there's so much, that even I couldn't get one of everything. I did buy a watch (my old one is on the way out) with the birthday money I got from Renate's parents. I'll have to figure it out by race day. And I got a bike jersey which will be a Christmas present. And some more stuff. It's kind of funny, I think, how I've evolved over my Ironman career. The first few races I wouldn't get anything until finishing the race, for fear of jinxing myself. And I wouldn't let anyone traveling with us buy anything, either. Then, by the time the race was over, the selection was pretty picked over and I didn't get much. Now, we get everything right away. Not that I've really had a problem before (massive knocking on wood), but after spending lots of money on souvenirs, you can be sure I'm going to finish (more knocking on wood).

Next it's over to the ART tent for some bodywork. ART stands for Active Release Technique, or something like that. Kind of massage and chiropractic and pressure release stuff that I've had done before by Jan Wanklyn near home. I knew Jan was here in Kona (since Ken Glah, her husband was racing his 20th Ironman Hawaii) so I could get the work done by someone familiar with me. I have just a little twinge in my left hip that I wouldn't even bother with if Jan wasn't around. But, I decided to let her poke and prod for twenty minutes. Especially since there's no charge. As Fuzzy, my little brother is fond of saying, "If it's free, it's for me."

And then it was back to the condo where I got Rita and rode back into town a little bit. One of the bike shops that I went to with Lesley earlier in the week was Huber Cycles. Where we met Spot the Bike Mechanic. I really wanted to get my bike tuned up by Spot the Bike Mechanic so I could put it in my daily journal. So, Spot the Bike Mechanic tuned up my bike while I had another cup of coffee.

I had run out of excuses and things to do. It was time to go for a bike and a run. And, you know it was the hottest part of the day. Rather than trying to negotiate the bedlam that was downtown Kona, I put everything I needed into the car and drove over to the Aquatic Center. And did my workouts on the Queen K. A nice and easy bike ride, just spinning through the gears and making sure Spot the Bike Mechanic didn't do a spotty job. He didn't. Everything shifted smoothly. And the bike stopped when I squeezed the brakes and turned when I turned the handle bars. Then an easy run with some pickups. I went way too hard and had the high heart rate to prove it, but I felt great. I just need to remember that when I'm on that same stretch of the Queen K on Saturday.