Aloha,
Thursday
is almost in the books and tonight is the “Carbo
Dinner”. Rumor has it they have some top-secret things
planned for tonight so it should be fun. Something that
surprised me today that I haven’t seen before is the
amount of competing athletes out training late this
afternoon in the blazing sun. Two days out from an
Ironman the smart athletes take the day off or do
something very light in the morning and spend the
afternoon resting. Don Tedesco, one of Don’s athletes,
summed it up this morning when we spoke at the pier. He
said he was ready to get up Friday and start this thing;
“all this resting makes me feel like my body is sitting
around rotting” he claimed. My point to Don was, “that’s
exactly how he should feel today”. I think he’ll have a
great day Saturday!
During
the past couple journals I’ve talked about the things
that have changed here in Kona over the years. Maybe I
should give you a couple of items that haven’t:
|
“ |
Don
Tedesco, one of Don's athletes, summed it up this
morning when we spoke at the pier. He said he was
ready to get up Friday and start this thing; 'all
this resting makes me feel like my body is sitting
around rotting.' That's exactly how he should feel
today!” |
|
|
—
Dave
LaTourette |
-You
still have to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, then run
26.2 to finish on Alii’ Drive.
-The
weather is unpredictable and anything can happen race
day.
-If you
are a man hanging out at the pier in the morning and
have hair on your chest, you’re definitely in the
minority. I guess this applies to women too ;)
-You see
very few of the top pros around town during the week.
(take note age groupers)
-The
Aussie’s are great people to be around during race week
… some other countries athlete’s are not.
-Just
when you think you are in shape and look good, a real
lean athlete walks by and you question what you’ll eat
for dinner.
Speaking
of dinner I better finish this up and get ready to go.
I’m fortunate enough to be sitting up close in the VIP
section tonight thanks to the Vineman’s affiliation with
Ironman. Tomorrow I’ll write about where I think you
should view the Ironman if you want to see what it’s
truely all about. I’ll be watching a lot of the race
there Saturday and it’s not Alii’ Drive. A little more
than 36 hours to go….
Aloha,
Dave
