A month (a month!?) ago, I ran the Lavaman Triathlon on the Big Island of Hawaii and oh, what a glorious race it was. The fact that I can say that despite an upset stomach, howling wind, wretched run course and subsequent busted knee is proof of the beauty of the surroundings. Free beer doesn't hurt either. So: on to the race!
As is typical for endurance events, we were up dark and early to make it to the start line. We lugged our gear via bike from the hotel (oh lovely, lovely hotel) over to the race transition area about a mile away. As we were getting things set up in transition, the sun began to rise over the volcano to the East all pink and awesome and the crazy-ass island birds began their morning cacophony of sound; a pretty great way to start the day. The temperature was perfect, the atmosphere was festive, my fellow teammates were excited for the day, and I felt like crap. But my wave was the first wave of the morning, so what are you gonna do? Suck it up and hop in the ocean, that's what.At 7:30am the race started and my wave took off into the salty blue.
You guys. Swimming in the ocean was so. much. fun. It wasn't as clear as it usually is thanks to the tsunami from the Japan earthquakes a couple weeks beforehand, but you could still see all the way to the bottom. As I swam my 1500 meters I saw beautiful colorful fish darting around the coral. I saw an eel making its creepy way through the water far below me. One of my teammates saw a small stingray flapping by. SO cool. But also a little dangerous; the tsunami had changed the water levels of the bay so we were swimming right over some large, shallow coral, which is very sharp. More than one guy came out of the swim with a chest scratched and bleeding from an unfortunate run-in with the coral. Yikes. The waves weren't as big an issue as I thought they would be. It was a bit more of a struggle to swim out away from shore against the waves, but then they helped push you back in a little. 
This was also my first open water swim sans wetsuit. The water was 77 degrees, so I definitely didn't need one for the warmth, but they really help you float and are a huge advantage time-wise, especially if you're not the best of swimmers. But, surprise surprise, I managed to clock almost exactly the same time as my (wetsuit-clad) swim at the Nation's Tri last September. Woo!T1 went fine. My transitions are still relatively slow but I do take the time to re-douse myself in sunscreen, which adds a couple extra minutes. Totally worth it to avoid the heinous sunburns I experienced at my first couple tris.
The bike was... ok. The bike course heads
out from the Waikoloa Resort to the Queen K Highway toward Kona, which is part of the Ironman World Championship course. The minute I turned onto the highway, I was met head-on with a lovely 30mph breeze. Oh man. I was pedaling like a maniac and going 14mph. DOWNHILL. Ugh. However! The beauty of an out-and-back course means that headwind became a super-awesome tailwind the whole way back. And of course, we had gorgeous views of the ocean and lava fields the entire ride.
T2 breezed by and I headed out on the run. Ohhhh the run. It was hot. And humid. And hilly. But that wasn't the worst part. A large portion of the course (including the entire last 2 miles) consisted of broken up lava rock, crushed coral, and deep sand. There was even a section of the course where we were running on a rocky, narrow dirt path with a drop-off down to the ocean on the right. So, you know - you trip, you die. FUN. We all stumbled and slogged our way through the miles,
although it was hard to get too upset when your view was lush tropical vegetation and the blazing blue and crashing-waves of the ocean. I did manage to take a tumble, thanks to some of the aforementioned lava rock, and scrape the heck out of my knee (I did you proud, htd. I did you proud.). But that meant I got to have blood running down my leg in my finish line photo, so I look all badass and whatnot.
And run across the finish line I did. In 3 hours, 21 minutes and 24 seconds. Yeehaw! I was hoping for under 3:30 and boy did I ever manage that! I beat my previous fastest time (from Nation's) by 27 minutes. Granted I did have those two flat tires... in the rain... at Nations, but still! I will take it.Post-race I met up with Phil (who had finished about five minutes ahead of me) and we stood and cheered on other runners coming in and watched for our other three teammates to finish.
Everyone did really well and met or exceeded their goal times - all in all a great day! And the race held a huge finish line party right there on the beach. They had free food and beer for the participants and an awesome live band that played everything from Muse to Jack Johnson to David Bowie.That night we had our typical TNT victory party, which was extra-fun. We ate delicious Hawaiian foods, drank delicious Hawaiian cocktails, and danced to Lady Gaga and whatnot by the light of the tiki torches and the DJ's laser show.
Monday-Wednesday: Relaxation. Three whole days of glorious relaxation. That was honestly maybe my first vacation in the last five years where the entire goal (you know, after the tri, of course) was to do nothing. To just enjoy myself. I wasn't visiting anyone, I wasn't obligated to do anything. And it was delightful. I spent many an hour reading in a cabana by the ocean, snorkeling in the lagoon, browsing in the resort shops, watching the NCAA championship game, enjoying some microbrews at the Kona Brewing Co., eating amazing sushi, driving around the island, visiting the macadamia nut plantation, checking out some volcanoes and black sand beaches, and generally just enjoying the island life.
Mahalo for the memories, Hawaii. I'll be back.
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