A Wave
And A Smile!
Aloha,
As a
light rain falls on Kona Wednesday afternoon I still get
the sensation that Saturday is going to hold a different
and special 25th Anniversary Ironman. I’ve
had this feeling since last week and it becomes stronger
as each day passes.
|
“ |
The top five men will be closer than
ever, and there won't have a repeat
champion.” |
|
|
— Dave
LaTourette |
Yesterday
I talked about how some things have changed here at
Ironman. One other thing is number of people that can
win on Saturday. The men’s race especially is larger
than I can remember. I think weather will be “typical”
and it has been windy the passed couple of days north of
town, but it’s been pretty fair here in Kona. Definitely
not like last years steam bath. What won’t be typical is
the way I feel the races will be played out. There are
so many men that can really win and another dozen that
can affect the outcome. I won’t go as far as making
actual predictions, but will say the top five to ten men
will be closer than ever and we won’t have a repeat
champion. On the women’s side, if Natascha does win it
will be closer than ever with so many good runners
putting pressure on her. Natascha may have a stiff neck
from looking over her should during the marathon or be
forced to run away in record time. The same holds true
for a lot of the age group races. Including the women’s
age groups of 35-39, 40-44, 45-49 that will be real
tight for the top five. One men’s race to watch is Don’s
45-49 age group battle!
Speaking
of Don the breakfast this morning was terrific. What a
great group of people with realistic and varied outlooks
on the race. It started quietly and most everyone had at
least a little of the “Ironman is Saturday” look on
their face. It was fun to see the mood swing and some
tensions relieved as we all got to tell stories and ask
questions. When the athletes left the consensus was
pretty simple; Rest up, make good decisions over the
next 3 days, be confident, and let the race take care of
itself. Good idea!
Today was
a fun day for me as I did a run before breakfast and
good ride after breakfast. The main goal for my
workouts, other than the training value, was to see how
many athletes I could make respond by giving a simple
hello, wave or smile. It was interesting to see the
reactions and even see certain body language change with
those simple greetings. So, along with yesterday’s
lesson of trying to smile more, I learned that smiling
more makes my own training session that much better.
Until
tomorrow … go for a run and SMILE!
Maholo
for your Kokua, (thank you for your support)
Dave
