Wednesday in Kona

"beast milk" tat, ready for Hell's Angels now

Swim at the Pier

another beautiful sunset

Ok, so I'm still waking up before 5am but at least I'm sleeping well. Weds started with a walk to the Pier, the usual, and a swim. Started earlier this time because it isn't so crowded in the water. I wanted to get a little more in so we went out to a further buoy and the swells were definitely bigger for this swim than in previous days. Luckily, this doesn't bother me because we do enough open water swimming. Lots of fish to be seen and I heard some folks talk about the dolphins swimming amongst us all, we didn't get to see them....yet. Out of the water and ran into Lisa Bentley and hubby Dave for a quick chat as well as Luke Mckenzie (IM Japan champ) who is looking lean and mean. We walked by these guys giving away t-shirts, and being the swag wanters we are, asked what it was all about. Well, you had to put on their tatoo which translates to "beast milk" to get a tatoo. Sounded good to us so tatooed up, we grabed our shirts. They also said if we took pics with our tatoos and sent it to their web site, we could win trips and other goodies. Yup, we're in for that. Walked back to the condo to fit in 30 minute run. I'm feeling pretty good aside from some aches and pains and needing to stretch a bit more. Quick shower and back into town to register. These folks have this down to a science and it is extremely organized so there is no waiting. Got race pack and goodies in hand, back to the condo for some food. The Dane made poke which is basically a raw tuna salad type of thing with seaweed and soy. His actually tasted better than the restaurant! We them commenced to laying/sleeping in the loungers right above the lava listening to the surf for three hours. We also had a show by some spinner dolphins a bit off shore, very cool. I downed about 4-5 bottles of Gatorade endurance and some water during this stretch. I'll surely be sick of G-rade by the end of day Saturday! We then got picked up in the shuttle to an EST welcome dinner at Ken's condo and I got some beautiful pics of the sunset. The vog is thick and is obscuring the sunset most days. That's what you get when you sit on an island with an active volcano! The dinner was a nice way to sit and chat with some other folks from around the globe. Spoke with the UK girl we rode with the other day and she did ok but was a bit shocked by the heat and wind....."it doesn't look that bad on the telly" (insert UK accent). Back to the condo and in bed by 8:30 but it felt like midnight! Today will consist of no exercise for me (planned day off) and the Dane has committed to a long swim and ride with Phillip L. Maybe I'll get a pedicure and do some shopping. I'll definitely find my way back to the lava lounger to read.
aloha and kia kaha