A basketball coach once told me, “If you don’t have butterflies before a game, you shouldn’t be playing.” Well, the butterflies are here and are fluttering around like crazy!
As I sit here typing this, listening to the waves crash against the rocks at our place in Kona, HI, my thoughts are racing with less than 24 hrs. before Ironman World Championships. For the past nine years, my single goal was to reach this level of racing, knowing for that one year I was among ‘the best of the best.’
As with every race experience, the week leading up to that single day can’t be overlooked. Here in Kona was definitely no exception.
Sharing the time with my beautiful and amazing wife, Kristen, and her sister, Carrie, and four of my closest friends, Chad Holderbaum and his wife, Jen, we joined Jeremy and Jocelyn Corman for an unforgettable time. However, as fast as those memories come and go, the challenge that awaits us on Saturday always sits in our minds.
Today will be a light day – short workouts just to get the legs lose, bike check-in’s and then a final meal before one more sleep.
Trust me, I won’t cheat you in detailing my entire week here with pictures and words later but for now this is what I can give you…my thanks.
Each person who reads this, knowing or not, has influenced my life, in and out of sport, in a very big way. Each race and workout I did, lesson I learned and challenged I faced, was with a part of each of your values and great attitudes I learned from you along the way. Without a doubt my presence here in Kona could not have been possible without your guidance. I can’t thank each of you enough for what you’ve given me…
It’s not very often we can pay back a gift with showing a extraordinary effort but that’s all I have right now. Please know, as we tread water in the Bay before the canon goes off, I will give everything I have to get to that finish line. It’s my way of saying ‘Mahalo’ without sending the card.
Enjoy the day with the Ironman World Championships and what the coverage has to offer. Please send the positive vibes to us here in Kona and please remember I don’t cross that finish line by myself.
Aloha!
So many words have and will be said, all so meaningful and warm and true. All I can say is I have always witnessed you achieve your goals and plans. This achievement does not elevate how proud I am of you, for I have always been supremely proud. This just gives me the opportunity to say it out loud. Congratulations! Love, Mom