Hawaiian Diary
These are memories of my recent trip to Honolulu to compete in the Age Group World Championship Triathlon (Olympic Distance) and my experience watching the Hawaii Ironman World Championship in Kona.
Part 1 – Pre-Race
Tuesday, October 4
Still at work in downtown St. Louis, I keep checking the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of my monitor. The minutes are flying by and I am thinking I won’t be finished with everything to make it to masters swimming by 8:30 PM. Taking off work for nine days requires lots of delegation, written instructions, and pre-work. There’s too much to do, and I don’t make it to the pool. I head home and finish packing.
Wednesday, October 5
I get up and ride my indoor bike trainer. During the cool down, my back tire rips apart and that’s that. I got a lot of mileage out of that tire and it picked a good time to die.
I head to the pool. Good sign: Mark G., swim coach and my travel partner/roommate for the Hawaii trip also is there doing a final swim workout. As the 2003 U.S. National Champion in the 45-49 age group, Mark has a chance to do very well at Worlds.
We fly from St. Louis to Dallas to Los Angeles to Honolulu. I catch up on magazines and try to translate a customs form to an Italian couple that speaks no English. My newly invented French/Spanish combo language doesn’t work very well. I do manage to establish that they are not carrying any animals or seafood and that they are going on a 25-day cruise. Viente cinquo: 25! Si, si. By the end of the flight they offer me a place to stay in northern Italy. Grazi and arrivederci!!
Mary, Mark, and I get our bikes and luggage into a taxi van and head to the hotel, passing the Local Motion surf shop that I recognize from MTV’s The Real World Hawaii!
Thursday, October 6
I wake up early, as my body still is on Central Time. We put our bikes together before 9 AM and I head out to ride the bike course with Mark, Mary, Jennifer, and Marilene. Sun, rain, wind, all are mixed together. Though my bike shimmies on a steep downhill, I avoid crashing and vow to check the wheel alignment. We ride back into town with athletes from New York, California, and New Zealand. When we go for a swim near the actual swim race course, Mark does a flip-turn off the stone wall by the beach and I almost choke from laughter.
That evening we meet on the main street for the “Parade of Nations.” Athletes line up alphabetically by country. Our uniforms are blue Polo shirts with red USA lettering. We are behind Tahiti and have twice as many athletes as the next biggest contingent, which could be Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, or Canada. Every country has a flag: Switzerland and South Africa are just up ahead and Brazil near the front. In between is a country called Krzghstan.
Lots of people turned out to watch the parade and I feel a sense of pride “representing my country” and hearing the applause. “U-S-A, U-S-A!” I notice some familiar faces from the U.S. Nationals in Kansas City back in August. For some reason I keep picturing Magic Johnson walking in the Olympic parade as part of the Dream Team. Native Hawaiian drummers pound away and tiki torch flames flicker in the Pacific breeze. Chills, I had ‘em. I randomly see a girl that I knew from my apartment complex when I lived in Arlington, Virginia, more than 10 years ago. Turns out her sister is competing.
Finally, all the athletes enter the outdoor theatre for the official multilingual welcome and for opening ceremonies before the dinner. I have a hard time understanding the Dutch guy, but maybe I am just distracted by Miss Hawaii, who somehow was racing for Argentina.
As we head back to the hotel we exchange pleasantries with Sister Madonna Buder, the famous 70-something nun who is racing in both Worlds and the Ironman a week later.
Friday-Saturday, Oct 7-8
I do a few more short workouts in each discipline. Jennifer and I run one loop of the run course. Flat!! On to packet-pick up and race meetings. Olympic bronze medalist Susan Williams is introduced at the USA race meeting. Her husband is competing. Back at the hotel later, she asks me for directions to the packet pick-up. I take the opportunity to compare notes with her about our blood clots. What a down-to-earth woman. An Olympic medalist talking to me about her experience while her little daughter shows me her stuffed dinosaur. Nice.
We ate an early dinner at the famous Duke’s restaurant of Waikiki, Honolulu. I believe Duke is a legendary surfer. Mark gets an “offer” for a “nightcap” from a lady (ahem) on the street outside the hotel and we have a good laugh about that. His excuse is something about racing for the World Championship in the morning!
Next: Part 2 – Race Recap
Part 1 – Pre-Race
Tuesday, October 4
Still at work in downtown St. Louis, I keep checking the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of my monitor. The minutes are flying by and I am thinking I won’t be finished with everything to make it to masters swimming by 8:30 PM. Taking off work for nine days requires lots of delegation, written instructions, and pre-work. There’s too much to do, and I don’t make it to the pool. I head home and finish packing.
Wednesday, October 5
I get up and ride my indoor bike trainer. During the cool down, my back tire rips apart and that’s that. I got a lot of mileage out of that tire and it picked a good time to die.
I head to the pool. Good sign: Mark G., swim coach and my travel partner/roommate for the Hawaii trip also is there doing a final swim workout. As the 2003 U.S. National Champion in the 45-49 age group, Mark has a chance to do very well at Worlds.
We fly from St. Louis to Dallas to Los Angeles to Honolulu. I catch up on magazines and try to translate a customs form to an Italian couple that speaks no English. My newly invented French/Spanish combo language doesn’t work very well. I do manage to establish that they are not carrying any animals or seafood and that they are going on a 25-day cruise. Viente cinquo: 25! Si, si. By the end of the flight they offer me a place to stay in northern Italy. Grazi and arrivederci!!
Mary, Mark, and I get our bikes and luggage into a taxi van and head to the hotel, passing the Local Motion surf shop that I recognize from MTV’s The Real World Hawaii!
Thursday, October 6
I wake up early, as my body still is on Central Time. We put our bikes together before 9 AM and I head out to ride the bike course with Mark, Mary, Jennifer, and Marilene. Sun, rain, wind, all are mixed together. Though my bike shimmies on a steep downhill, I avoid crashing and vow to check the wheel alignment. We ride back into town with athletes from New York, California, and New Zealand. When we go for a swim near the actual swim race course, Mark does a flip-turn off the stone wall by the beach and I almost choke from laughter.
That evening we meet on the main street for the “Parade of Nations.” Athletes line up alphabetically by country. Our uniforms are blue Polo shirts with red USA lettering. We are behind Tahiti and have twice as many athletes as the next biggest contingent, which could be Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, or Canada. Every country has a flag: Switzerland and South Africa are just up ahead and Brazil near the front. In between is a country called Krzghstan.
Lots of people turned out to watch the parade and I feel a sense of pride “representing my country” and hearing the applause. “U-S-A, U-S-A!” I notice some familiar faces from the U.S. Nationals in Kansas City back in August. For some reason I keep picturing Magic Johnson walking in the Olympic parade as part of the Dream Team. Native Hawaiian drummers pound away and tiki torch flames flicker in the Pacific breeze. Chills, I had ‘em. I randomly see a girl that I knew from my apartment complex when I lived in Arlington, Virginia, more than 10 years ago. Turns out her sister is competing.
Finally, all the athletes enter the outdoor theatre for the official multilingual welcome and for opening ceremonies before the dinner. I have a hard time understanding the Dutch guy, but maybe I am just distracted by Miss Hawaii, who somehow was racing for Argentina.
As we head back to the hotel we exchange pleasantries with Sister Madonna Buder, the famous 70-something nun who is racing in both Worlds and the Ironman a week later.
Friday-Saturday, Oct 7-8
I do a few more short workouts in each discipline. Jennifer and I run one loop of the run course. Flat!! On to packet-pick up and race meetings. Olympic bronze medalist Susan Williams is introduced at the USA race meeting. Her husband is competing. Back at the hotel later, she asks me for directions to the packet pick-up. I take the opportunity to compare notes with her about our blood clots. What a down-to-earth woman. An Olympic medalist talking to me about her experience while her little daughter shows me her stuffed dinosaur. Nice.
We ate an early dinner at the famous Duke’s restaurant of Waikiki, Honolulu. I believe Duke is a legendary surfer. Mark gets an “offer” for a “nightcap” from a lady (ahem) on the street outside the hotel and we have a good laugh about that. His excuse is something about racing for the World Championship in the morning!
Next: Part 2 – Race Recap
<< Home