JW's 2014 (LONG and belated) Kona Race Report
Well that was hard...
The Ironman World Championships in Kauila-Kona, Hawaii was my 6th Ironman. Those of you who know me at all know that I have been obsessing over qualifying for this race for two years now. If you knew me many years ago, you are probably shocked that I can even finish an Ironman at all. I was the slowest runner of all of the wrestlers on my team at Pitt. Let that sink in for a minute because wrestlers aren’t known for their running prowess. A few short years ago I almost didn’t sign up for my first ever Olympic distance triathlon because I wasn’t sure if I could run 6.2 miles, let alone do it after swimming (which I hadn’t done since High School) or biking (I hadn’t owned a bike in ~18yrs). And here I was, thinking that I could toe the line with the best endurance athletes in the world at the Ironman World Championships.
“Obsessed”; that was the word many people used to describe me. I simply wanted to teach my kids to dream so big that most people would think it impossible, and then go after that dream with all of your vigour and resource to somehow find a way to make it happen. For me, qualifying for Kona became this goal, and unlocking the puzzle on how to get there is what drove a lot of my “crazy” habits. I don’t know why I wanted to race there so bad, but figuring out how to do it almost consumed me. The other thing my kids will hopefully learn (when they’re old enough to eventually understand all of this) is that you can’t beat insurmountable odds alone. Finding the “drive” to do the things necessary to get faster was something I needed no help with. But I had so much help and support along the way for everything else that I can’t even begin to thank everyone.
I’ll of course thank my wife Jess, because she put up with my “crazy” and sacrificed her own training time and family time and “sleeping in instead of getting up with the kids” time so often in the last 2 yrs that she deserves her own ‘umeke... My parents watched our boys while we went to Kona to race (and for many other races and training days). They also encouraged me in their own sort of way over the past yrs (mostly by telling me to stop doing Ironmans because they thought it was bad for my health). Endurance Nation provided excellent triathlon coaching when I knew nothing about triathlon and Coach Patrick was especially helpful to take my training to the next level after my first couple of years in the sport. These guys have created a virtual training community that is second to none when it comes to positive people helping each other achieve their goals, whatever they may be. Dr. Ang at Tai Chiropractic also treated me every week in NYC with things like ART/Graston/Chiro and I just don’t know how people can train and race hard for extensive periods of time without a wonderful Physio like her helping to keep them moving efficiently.
The myriad of other people I won’t name by name (since the list is simply too long), but you’ll know you were a part of this adventure if you ever did any bike rides or runs with me. If you’ve ever chatted with me about gear or training or gave me encouragement, then you were a part of this. If you donated to Team ReserveAid any time in the last 4 years, I thank you because that is the main reason why I started doing all of this. The Macquarie Group Foundation has provided tremendous financial support to ReserveAid, matching nearly every dollar I have raised.
Most of you reading this know that I qualified for Kona at Ironman Mont-Tremblant (on August 18th) with a time of 10:21:10, winning the Executive Challenge division by a little over 8 minutes. This only left me with 7 weeks to recover/train/prepare to race again in Hawaii. I “thought” those weeks would consist of 2 weeks of recovery, 3.5 weeks of hard training, then another 1.5-2 weeks of taper. Well my body and life had something else to say. I simply was NOT recovered in 2 weeks after racing so hard in Tremblant. So, 2 weeks of recovery turned into 3 which turned into 4. Then life popped up and created some other major time constraints (This RR is so late is because while training for Kona, I was interviewing for a new job, prepping our house of 10 yrs for sale and looking for a new house in Minnesota. In the weeks since Kona, I resigned from my job, listed my house, bought a new house 1,500 miles away and am moving to MN next month!). So my 7 week training block basically turned into 4 weeks of recovery, then 3 weeks of taper. But for the first time in a long time, I didn’t obsess over it. I knew I would be very fresh for the race and was excited to see if my legs would give me the performance I wanted.
Jess and I were scheduled to arrive in Kona the Monday before the race, but instead we spent Monday night sleeping for ~3hrs on the floor of the Honolulu airport and taking a different flight to the Hilo Airport which is on the far other side of the Big Island. This travel snafu was actually a blessing in disguise because we rented a car and took the long way to Kona around the bottom of the Island and got to see Volcano National Park and some other very cool sights. I highly recommend this option to anyone going to Kona for the first time (but plan ahead and do NOT sleep on the floor of the Honolulu airport). We committed to experiencing EVERYTHING that the World Championships race week had to offer. That means we went to all of the welcome receptions and did the Underpants Run (which was VERY fun). We also saw some sights and found Jess a couple of turtles AND a Seal along the way. I also did a couple of swims and one bike ride out on the Queen K. What I learned was that it was VERY hot and VERY windy. I knew it was going to be hot and windy, but oh my, I didn’t realize it was this bad. All of the locals said this was one of the hottest month’s they could remember in years. I made the mistake of saying before the race that I thought the “ideal” conditions for me (vs. my competition in the XC) would be if it was SUPER windy on the bike and a little overcast on the run. I’m very confident with my bike handling skills but I don’t shed heat so well as a bigger guy. This was a lesson in “watch what you ask for because you just might get it”.
During the EN breakfast, all of the Kona veterans were talking about how you really had respect this race and that it was simply “different” than any other course. Having done 5 other Ironmans up to this point, I knew they were all a little different, but it didn’t sink in exactly what they meant. I planned to “race” this one with a stretch goal of getting onto the XC podium. Most people said to just take it as a “victory lap” but those who know me know that I just don’t have that gear in me. I planned to give it all I had and see how the cards fell.
The night before the race was probably the best night of sleep I have ever had before a race. I just didn’t know what to expect so I wasn’t worked up over it. Race morning was awesome. The energy in the air was so thick and everyone was helpful and excited all at the same time. I got body marked and setup my bike and then went back to my room for a final bathroom break and to get my swim gear. Once the pro’s were off, it was into the water to warm up and get ready for the start.
The swim start of the Ironman World Championships is “The Iconic Moment” in sports (for a triathlete anyways). I started exactly in the middle of the group as I had hung on to the large inflatable TYR sign for the 10 minutes before the cannon went off. The first couple hundred yards of the swim actually had very little contact and then wham, I got kicked in the face and my left goggle filled with salt water. It only took one breath to the right to burn my eye. I stopped to empty it and it filled again as soon as I turned to breathe. After a few attempts to clear it I decided to swim with my left eye closed. Here I was in the most beautiful water in all of Triathlon and I could barely see, trying to swim with my left eye closed (which is surprisingly hard to do if you’ve never tried it). Oddly enough, the water eventually cleared out of the goggle on its own and I was able to see fine again by the turnaround at the halfway point of the swim. The swim was largely uneventful after that. Yes there were some ocean swells and waves to swim through, but I didn’t think it was that hard. I tried to draft whenever I could which was fairly easy since there were so many swimmers going at about my pace. At one point on the return leg I found myself in clean water and a perfectly straight line of 5-6 swimmers blew by me on my right, so I tucked in behind the last set of feet and followed them about 25 yds directly right off course. Um, okay, I guess I’ll swim back to the course and sight on my own from now on. The other thing that caught me by surprise was how salty the water was. By the end of the swim my lips and mouth burned as well as my sinuses. The only “hard” part of the swim was the last couple hundred yards. Once I got near the pier it just felt like no matter how hard I swam I just wasn’t moving very fast. Maybe it was the waves or currents or maybe was just in my head.
I exited the water in 1:14:54 which is right about where I would have expected, given that there were no wetsuits and the all of the waves and currents.
I was shocked that there were still a ton of bikes on the pier when I got to mine. My T1 was a bit slow, but mostly uneventful. I ran out of the water and into the change tent, where I put on a bike jersey arm coolers and some sun screen and then proceeded to run all the way around the pier to my bike. I wasn’t running all that fast though, as I was barefoot on the concrete with my shoes already clipped onto my pedals. I hit the mount line and was off in 4:00.
I decided to start the bike conservatively. Everyone I had spoken to said that you really needed to make it to mile 75 on the bike and have something left in your legs for the return trip on the Queen K, so this was my “plan”. The first section of the bike is an out-and-back on Ali’i Drive. It’s actually a pretty fun section with a ton of spectators and a lot of cyclists excited to be testing their bike legs. My first goal was to take in some nutrition and get hydrated. Other than taking it easy for the first part of the bike, my other 3 goals for the bike were to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate. I knew it was going to be very hot and very windy and I didn’t want to get behind on hydration because that mistake could end my day early (or very late). This might be TMI for some of you, but I peed early on the bike and noticed that it was unusually dark, so only 30 minutes into the bike I knew that I was already somewhat dehydrated. For the next two and a half hours I simply turned the pedals and used EVERY aid station to get fluids and take extra water to soak myself. My normal routine was to keep my bottle on the front full with calories and fluids (started with Infinit, but moved over to Perform/Water when the Infinit ran out). I would get totally drenched (sleeves, back, crotch) with water, and take an extra water bottle to rack behind my seat to re-soak myself with halfway to the next aid station. Even though I was completely soaked when I left the aid station, I would be bone dry and hot within 10 minutes or so.
From the first 5 minutes of my ride onward, my Heart Rate Monitor didn’t work. But I would rather lose my HRM than my Power Meter. The only unfortunate part about being able to see my power numbers all day was that I got to watch them steadily decline all day. Not what I am accustomed to seeing when I race Ironman or do long rides. The first half of the ride had some winds, but nothing too crazy. It seemed like there were some crosswinds and some headwinds that came and went but nothing that I hadn’t seen before. I was told that as the heat rises throughout the day that the winds change direction, so even though it is an out-and-back course, you don’t get a headwind, then a tailwind. Instead you get a slight headwind on the way out, and then a bigger headwind on the way back. The faster you are on the swim and the bike (and for the pros who also start 30 mins earlier and are very fast), the less this wind change effects you as you can be part way back from the turn in Hawi before the winds really kick up or are finished with the bike before they pick up on the Queen K. I was not so fast or so fortunate...
Let me step back for a minute and say that I like to go very fast on my bike. Many of you know that I have several Strava KOM’s that I set on treacherous downhill sections. So, not only am I comfortable going very fast on my bike, but I pride myself on having superior bike handling skills (at least compared to most triathletes who stink at bike handling). And given my bigger size and the absolute power numbers I (usually) put out, the wind effects me much less than it does the smaller guys or people who are generally afraid of crashing. Well, I saw conditions during this race that I have NEVER seen before on a bike. On most of the downhills, I would fly past everyone around me only to have them pass me again on the uphills (this is fairly normal in an IM). I generally descend on my aerobars in as low and as fast of a tuck as I can get into. On one of the downhills about 5 miles back from Hawi, I was coming down the hill at about ~30mph when I saw someone coming up the hill at about 6mph go from the white line on the side of the road all the way to the double-yellow in the middle in less than a second. Then the rider going down the hill two people in front of me was essentially picked up and blown right off the road into a crash on the shoulder. I saw a dust devil swirl off the hillside and grabbed my bullhorns to brace for impact. I also drifted closer to the center line to give myself a little more room to manoeuvre when BOOM, this wind cannon hit me from the left side and bounced me a few feet to my right. Luckily, I was going fast enough that it only lasted about a second. I wanted to be able to stop to help the person who had just wrecked, but I was simply holding on for dear life and could not go from ~30mph to 0 safely on that road.
For the last 40 or so miles, I would describe the winds as vicious. A few occasions I cursed myself for asking for a windy day because I had no idea how cruel Madame Pele could be when she was angry. There were a couple of long stretches where I was going down a fairly steep hill into a headwind, pedalling at ~215W only to look down and see 9.5 or 10.5 mph on my bike computer. For those of you “non-cyclists”, I would normally be going ~35-40mph on these hills with no wind and on the flats it would be ~20-25mph. This was a bit deflating, but every time I would start to get frustrated with it I would just remind myself that I was competing in the World Championships in Kona and this is what I had signed up for. This always made me smile (if only for a few seconds). The final 15-20 miles into the wind on the Queen K were just plain hard for me and I know I gave up a lot of time here. I peed several times in the last couple of hours on the bike and it was mostly clear, so I fortunately reversed my dehydration from earlier and would start the run in a good fluid state.
Worse for me than the winds on the day was that I simply could not keep my power up as I watched it fall throughout the day. In some ways I’m kind of glad that I lost the file on my bike computer so I won’t have the proof of how weak I actually was on the bike that day. During IMMT just 7 weeks prior, I had targeted ~235W but rode a VERY conservative 219W and it literally felt like my easiest ride of the entire year. At Kona, I started at ~215W, which faded throughout the day. Just before I got into T2, I saw 195W for my average Normalized Power for the day. Doing the back of the envelope math, I must have averaged ~175-185W for the last 2 hours of my ride into the wind. So yes the wind was a factor, but my inability to put out power was a bigger one. To make matters worse, this “low” power output on the bike felt really hard. So I don’t know if I had lost a ton of fitness in those 7 weeks since IMMT or if the heat and wind just sucked the life out of me. Either way, it was the hardest bike ride of my entire life and certainly did not setup a good run.
I had been getting a few hot spots on my left foot and was glad to finally be approaching the finish of the bike. I actually took my feet out of my shoes quite early and rode with my bare feet on top of my bike shoes for at least the last mile or more of the bike. It was kind of nice to take a minute of reprieve to air things out before I started my run.
For the first time in my short triathlon career I was actually happy to get off the bike. The bike is normally my strength and I usually dread getting off of it because this means I now have to run. This year I’ve become much more of a runner, so I no longer dread the run. But my “happy place” in a triathlon is still always on my bike. This ride of 5:51:31 was my longest IM bike split since my first IM in Louisville in 2011 (5:53:46).
I dismounted my bike and made my way barefoot through transition. By the time I had gotten to my bag, I had removed my bike jersey, sun glasses, and helmet. I knew putting on my injinji “toe” socks would cost me an extra ~30 seconds, but it was worth it for the blister protection. I also put on my XC tri top and race number belt that held my Honey Stinger gels and my Salt/MAP/CaMg pills. Two volunteers put sunscreen on my back and shoulders as I took out the Magnesium lotion out and rubbed it onto my quads. Quad cramping has always been an issue for me in IM races and I’ve found that rubbing Magnesium lotion on my quads immediately after the bike is another 30+ seconds well spent. I even had to stop at the urinal in the tent to go again so I was definitely well hydrated to start the run.
I started the run in good spirits. It was hot but I was running. I glanced at my watched and saw that my HR was 72 bpm. Clearly my HR monitor was still not working as I knew in 90 degree heat at about a 9:00 per mile pace that I was probably somewhere in the mid-high 140’s. So running by HR was out and pace didn’t make much sense either since it was so hot, so I just ran by “feel”. I had run so many miles in the last yr that I just knew exactly what my race pace was supposed to feel like and on this day in those conditions it meant about ~9:00/mile at the beginning. I was heating up quickly and new that core temperature management was going to be key for me on this day. So at every single aid station for the entire marathon my routine was the same. I would pull out the top of my arm coolers and ask the volunteer to dump a cup of ice down each arm. Then sometimes I would get another down the front and/or back of my tri top. Then while walking, I would take a cup of perform and/or water to drink and take another cup of ice near the end when I started running in my hands to hold and chew on as I worked my way to the next aid station. This ~30 seconds per aid station likely cost me 12-14 minutes on my marathon time, but I just had to keep from overheating. There is a lot of blood flow through the inside corner of your elbow and the palms of your hands so keeping ice here as long as I could was critically helpful. It was always completely melted and dried before the next aid station though.
As the first 8-9 miles ticked off, I knew my “race” was over. There were a few XC guys well ahead of me and I wasn’t moving very fast. It was really weird because I didn’t feel like I was running that fast (since I wasn’t) or working that hard but I simply could not run any faster. This was totally the opposite of IMMT where I felt like I was just floating along through the marathon. Here in Kona, it felt like I was running in sand or thick mud as I simply could not generate leg speed. I decided that I would take what the day was giving me and simply enjoy the day as I moved forward at the fastest pace my legs would provide.
Near mile ~9.5 I did something I have never done before in a race. I stopped to say hi to Jess. She was standing on the side of the road cheering with our close friend JT Thompson (whose brother Bruce was also racing). I’ve heard of other people who stop and give their wives a kiss during a race and I simply could not comprehend why anyone would do that. This is a freaking race so every single second matters, right? Normally I race in zombie mode with my skin turning grey from lack of blood flow to anything but my legs. I barely give anyone a smile and don’t waste the energy to raise my arm to wave or high five. And I certainly would not willingly waste any seconds on the course. Well not on this day... I stopped to tell Jess I felt great even though my legs weren’t allowing me to run very fast. I told her my only goals from this point on was to finish and enjoy the race. I gave her a kiss and JT complained that he didn’t get one, so I gave him a big kiss on the cheek as well, before I went on my way. I saw my friend and super EN supporter Heather and she said that my other friend Kori had given her a message that I had better be singing, so I blurted out a line from the song “Happy”! It was weird, I still had a long 16 or so miles to go, and I wasn’t moving all that fast, but I truly was “Happy”... Another group of people I saw was the awesome XC crew of Troy, Frankie and Christian. When I saw these guys at IMMT, I barely made eye contact and worked very hard for a “low-five” even though I remembered feeling “great”... This time I truly was smiling and gave Troy a big smile and a REAL “High-Five” (and have the picture to prove it).
I made the right turn to head up the somewhat steep Palani hill and decided to power-walk it. While walking, I took out a zip-lock baggie full of sunscreen and reapplied a thick coating on my shoulders and hands (somehow I missed my wrists and quads as these were the only things that got really fried from the sun). After Palani hill, it was onto the Queen K highway again for the long rolling stretch to the Natural Energy Lab. Just before I got to the Energy Lab, I looked way off to my left and saw the ocean very far down below. I figured this was good news since the return leg should be all downhill, right...? Wrong. What I didn’t realize was that the road to the Energy Lab was a straight shot right back down to the Pacific Ocean.
To make matters worse, it had just rained in the Energy Lab. It didn’t do me the favor of actually raining on me to cool me down, but simply rained ~100yds ahead of me at all times (Hawaii is funny like that). Let me take a step back to describe my surroundings for those of you have never been to Kona before. The Queen K highway and road down into the Energy lab are made of smooth black pavement (perfect for absorbing and redistributing heat). They are surrounded by a sea of black Lava in just about every direction, which also absorbs and reflects the heat and sun (luckily it was overcast on this day, but somehow that didn’t make it any cooler, only stuffier). Imagine the surface of the planet Mars with a black highway that runs through it through it or maybe any “Post-Apocalyptic” movie you’ve ever seen. So a light rain on this lava and blacktop when it is ~90 degrees is similar to sprinkling water on the rocks inside a sauna. It basically turns the air into a hot thick moisture to breath which only makes it hotter, not cooler. Thanks for missing me with the rain Madame Pele...
The miserable part about running down to the shoreline is that around mile 18 you get the pleasure of turning around and running straight back up the hill to the Queen K well up above you. I was still running reasonably well, but this hill took a lot out of me. As I got passed by several people up this hill I smiled and reminded myself again that I was racing in the World Championships and I had wanted this miserable feeling for a long, long time.
This run course played a final trick on me when I finally made the turn on the Queen K for the “downhill” return leg to the finish line. While I knew it was a net downhill for the next 6.5 miles, I forgot that they were gradual “rollers”. So the downhill sections didn’t feel all that easy but the uphills felt downright hard. I could always turn my head and look over at the beautiful sun going down over the ocean. I had long since written off my secret goal of breaking 11-hours in this race. My other “time” goal of finishing in the daylight was also slipping away, but I figured it would be close if I could just finish strong. I still felt okay running and continued my heat management routine through each aid station, but I had now slowed to a mid-10 minute per mile pace.
Once I made it back to the top of Palani Hill, it started to get very fun. I “flew” down the hill and could feel the inviting sounds of the finish line calling me towards it. You then make a left at the bottom of the hill and loop around a few blocks before setting up for the long finish run down Ali’i Drive. It was on this downhill that I zipped up my kit top and took my arm coolers off. After this long journey, I was determined to look good for my finisher photos! So down Ali’i I went with a wide smile on my face. I gave a big High-Five to anyone with a willing hand. I made sure that there was nobody in front of me and nobody behind me so I had the entire Finisher’s Chute all to myself. “John Withrow from Scotch Plains, NJ... YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!”. I had heard these words 5 times before, but they had never held so much meaning as they did in this place. I had not just finished “an” Ironman like each time in the past, but I had finished “THE” Ironman! I let out a few screams and raised my arms in the air.
And there was Jess (my wonderful bride and biggest supporter) at the Finish Line to put my medal and my lei around my neck. I screamed a few more times and thanked Troy and Frankie and got a kiss and big bear hug from Jess. This is what I had worked so hard for all those years to achieve and it felt AWESOME!
One of the benefits of not being able to run very fast (a few short yrs ago I would have been ecstatic with a 4:25 marathon run in ideal conditions not proceeded by a hard swim and brutal run) was that I actually felt pretty good after the race. No med tent was required and I was able to get my finishers gear and pictures all on my own. I even ate a few slices of pizza and some cookies! The days after the race were the best my legs have ever felt immediately after an Ironman.
Post-Race:
I got a massage, retrieved my bags and took a nice long shower. I actually felt pretty good. Inside EN we have a tradition that on the day of Kona, many of the people on the team who are not racing do what is called an Ice Cream Time Trial (ICTT) from home. This is where you eat a pint of Ben
& Jerry’s Ice cream as fast as you can with bonus points for maximum calories and fat and special awards for epic videos of the effort. Well, I had decided that this yr I would pull off the “Double” and compete in the ICTT “after” finishing my race in Kona. If you’ve ever done an Ironman, you’d know how hard it would be to quickly eat a pint of B&J with a torn up stomach immediately after the race. To my knowledge nobody had ever done the true Kona/ICTT double and as you know I like to dream big... So after I got changed, I headed to the local ABC store to get my pint (they only had Double Chocolate Fudge) to take back to the finish line to try and eat with my wimpy plastic spoon. Here’s the video evidence of this feat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiX...3YMtEZKinA
Reflections:
I was well over an hour slower at Kona than I was in IMMT where I had qualified just 7 weeks earlier (1:20:38 slower to be exact). But what I learned was that time is almost irrelevant on this course. It takes a special level of fitness, preparation, luck, conditions, etc. to have a good race there. I have been asked by dozens and dozens of people how my race was and I always feel like I have had to justify why I was so “slow”. The funny thing is that I’m totally stoked to have had the opportunity to race in this awesome event and if I ever have the pleasure of making it back, I will give it my all again and expect even better results. I ended up in 3rd place in the XC’s 44 & Under division at the World Championships which isn’t half bad for someone who couldn’t finish a 10k just 4 yrs ago. Prior to the race I wondered if I deserved to be racing among the best. And even though I didn’t have the legs I would have hoped, I finished 1,213 out of the 2,140 people who toed the starting line. Finishing in the middle of the pack when you’re racing only against the best 0.5% of Ironman Triathletes in the world is something I feel comfortable holding my head very high about.
Hopefully, when my kids are old enough to read and understand this Race Report someday it will help to shape them in a positive way. I can only hope that they can truly learn what it means to set high goals and work towards them with everything you have. My real dream is for them to someday feel the way I felt when I crossed that finish line on Ali’i Drive!
Comments
JW....great report on a great race and experience. Congratulations on your well-deserved journey and accomplishment.
Great report John. It is fun to read you really enjoying the race and the experience. You've been an inspiration to so many people on this team, setting such a great example of hard and smart work, focus on execution skills, supportive team member, and having fun at the same time. I have no doubt the kiddos will be inspired by such great examples. Congratulations, so very well earned.
What a fantastic journey for you and Jess.
It has been great to watch you develop into the lean, mean, efficient IM machine you have become — congratulations.
Also, congratulations and good luck with your new home and job!
JW,
Thanks for the great read. Very much enjoyed following your journey from afar. Having been in this sport for a couple of decades, Kona was always that unreachable dream-goal for me. Then, one year, I got invited by WTC to come participate at the WC as a "VIP" (long story). Coolest experience ever. I got to do really cool sheet, meet icons, watch the race from good seats, and, most importantly, swim, bike and run on the course. What I discovered, however, was the . . the course is brutal. And not just world champs kinda bad, but really bad. I left having zero desire to ever actually racing the course. After reading your RR, I'm once again fearful of what I would have to face if I ever get lucky enough to win the lotto or race an IM when all of the talent in my AG stays at home.
Congrats on the tremendous accomplishment. Enjoy Minneapolis, the great Midwestern people, and the the 16 days of Spring/Summer/Fall (it actually is a wonderful place, just with a winter that's a little long). Looking forward to following your next adventure.
Mike
Such a great story of determination and perseverance for not only your children but all of us on the Team as well.
John - your infectious enthusiasm, in depth commitment, and firmly set jaw beneath a gracious smile - that;s what I;ll remember about your first time at Kona. It sounds like a successful journey, not just to the islands, but also in the years getting there.
Now, for your next challenge - Birkbeiner!
JW - I really enjoyed reading your report. It's funny - your description of your power fading during the last part of the bike is almost identical to my experience. I think the course just physically and mentally sucks the life out of you on that return trip back from Hawi.
The bigger take away of your story is that you can set big gnarly goals for yourself and if you're willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, then nothing is outside your reach. If they don't allready, I'm sure your kids will come to realize the significance of what you accomplished. Congratulations on a dream come true!
Great meeting you and Jess in HI and best of luck with the move!
Rest up and good luck with next year in your new home.
JW...I've read your report twice now as I wanted a few days for it to sink in. I think your first sentence says it all..."Well that was hard". I certainly can relate.
Congrats on a great day at Kona, a spectacular day @ Mt. Tremblant, and a remarkable journey over the last few years. It has been truely an honor to race with you and learn from you. Not only have you set an amazing example for your kids, but a great example for Team EN too. It was also a blast hanging out with you and Jess in Kona...you guys made it all fun week. JT keeps talking about the kiss
you give him on the run course.
Best of luck with your new job and with the move to MN. Hope to see you at other races in the future.