Kona Diaries – Day #12 (6 days till the big day)

Time sure is flying when you are having fun. Today I watched a local 5K and 10K running race from our patio right on Alii drive and I got to cheer on some of our friends that were racing! 

 It was awesome to see the great turnout! It was already hot and sunny at 7:30am

Even dogs get race Tshirts here! 

I then headed down to Dig Me Beach for a 30 min swim. 

 Finding a quiet spot to get ready

The water actually felt a bit cooler than it has been in the past, which is a good sign. This is probably the first time anyone has ever heard me say “colder” or “cooler” is better since I am usually always the one complaining about being cold.

The pier is now full of tapering or almost tapering triathletes, and swimming open water feels almost like strolling through Times Square. You better be sighting every other stroke or else you will be swimming into someone! There are plenty of buoys set up, and this morning every single buoy actually had a kayaker right next to it in case anyone ran into trouble! I know these folks volunteer so THANK YOU and thank you for making me very comfortable! I saw tons of fish, but no luck with the dolphins. I wasn't breaking any time records but I know better than that to let that worry me. The currents here will positively or negatively impact your time. I felt good and that's what matters to me!

Once I was done with my swim, I rinsed of at the outdoor showers right at the pier, and made a pit stop at Lava Java.

Outdoor showers in the left corner of the photo, and a little house with lockerooms right by the pier

 No – not for coffee although apparently their coffee is really good, but for this time mango/coconut scone! YUM! (Side note: I am not a coffee lover, but if I was you bet I would be drinking coffee race or no race).

I ate my usual breakfast at home, chilled for a bit, and then I headed over to check out the merchandise tent back at the pier since it was already open. 

Smartly already opened for business even couple of days before the registration or the expo open

I was really just trying to beat the crowds, and as a result also limit the time I’ll spend on my feet in the next week. I am not going to lie, I wasn’t very impressed with the selection, but for now, I found my new favorite hat (Right after my Cupcakes with Cal hat of course)

Aloha! 

The World Championship Wall is also up, and so I took the opportunity to snap a photo or two before it will be near impossible. Seeing my name on THIS wall is always VERY special!

#1868

On the walk back from the pier to the car, we visited this little gem.

The name is fitting! 

If you like donuts – you want to visit this place right in the heart of Alii Drive just a few steps away from the actual road. 

How do you just pick one? 

Bacon/banana layered donut topped with peanut butter ... WHAT? 

I very sadly skipped on the donuts (I will be back post race), and got myself an Acai bowl instead. The sun was out in full force so that was a nice little refreshment. I also had to run, but because I have already been here for 12 days, I feel pretty acclimated, and hence there was no reason to continue to stress the body with training in middle of the day. I took a nap that turned from 30 to 90 min instead - oops!

I really wasn’t feeling it, but I got myself out the door for 6 mile sunset run, and I am so glad I did. It felt awesome to not run and feel like you are running on the surface of the sun! I was still sweating bullets, but I wasn’t getting warm and my HR was staying super low. I was on cruise control and felt great! I even got cheers from random by passers - this is race week Kona for ya!  (Of course now I am getting a bit worried that maybe I am feeling too good too soon but I guess during taper week you just never win). I did feel like I was floating at times and it felt glorious! I had also just barely beat the darkness – Alii’ drive barely has any street lights, so when I say darkness, I really do mean pitch black streets. When I first came to Kona 4 years ago, I was actually terrified because it was so dark everywhere that I felt like I was going to walk or drive into the ocean any second. Now the sound of waves crashing against the shore is just super peaceful, and I almost feel like a real local here. 

I refueled immediately after with real food (chicken spinach sausage x 2.5 – protein please with rice and broccoli, followed by papaya with yogurt and chocolate protein as a post dinner snack.(I am slacking on the food posts, because I am forgetting to take photo's before I devour it) 

As you can see, today was definitely a bit more eventful day, and it’s only going to get crazier from now on, but I plan to finding a good balance between enjoying the various activities that go on during race week and trying to limit the time on my feet.

Let the busiest and craziest, and most fun taper week begin!