Drum Roll Please...

Even before the alarm went off, I was wide awake. I did not want to miss the Kona slot roll down. In my age group there was 8 available slots and I was number 9 on the list. All I needed was one of those people to not take their spot and I was going to Hawaii.

Since I left home on Thursday, I have not had one available minute to catch my breath or relax for even 10 minutes. Today was no different. I was up at 6 am, worked on my race report and by 7 am I was standing in line to buy finishers clothing.

I waited in line for 2 hours and by the time I got in, pretty much everything was picked over. The upside was standing in line and meeting so many different people and comparing war stories. It was fun.

There is such a sense of camaraderie and I don't think any of us even told each other our times. It wasn't important. It was just, "How'd you do?" and the answers were, "great, or not so great". Very general. There was no measurement of each other by finishing times. That was secondary. Finishing was all that mattered.

After I got my clothing, I was off to the Kona roll down. It was somewhat anti-climatic. I've been to these before and I knew the first thing was to check the list and see how many had been taken and if anyone had already turned down there slot.

I saw the magical "x" beside one guys name. He turned it down, which means I was guaranteed to be going. I wanted to pay and take the slot right away, but they told me I had to wait and it had to be taken at the roll down.

Even though I knew I had the slot, I was still nervous. What if the guy changed his mind and had come back? What if it turns out they are all taken and I was mistaken? I didn't want to get cocky. I didn't want to assume anything until I had that qualifiers piece of paper in my hand and paid my entry fee.

My 45-49 age group is one of the largest and toughest. They also have disposable income to spend on going to Hawaii. Last year every spot was taken and there was no roll down. I was worried about the same thing this year. As luck would have it, they had a total of 4 slots available for the roll down.

As I was standing in line to pay, I met the other three guys in my age group that got spots. They looked so fit. I felt out of place. Two of them looked like they could have been the poster children for the Arian race. Both had to have been 6' 2 or more. One of the guys, I think said he qualified 6 times.

Here I was, a little Canadian beer boy in this elite group of guys. I was pinching myself and wondering, "How the hell did I pull this off?" Never in a million years did I envision qualifying at Lake Placid, the competition is just to tough. And yet, here I was.

It was anti-climatic getting the slot. I thought I'd be excited and wasn't. I kept thinking it's too bad Alyssa was in University. I don't know if she'll be able to come, or at least not for the entire time. Qualifying is one thing, but having my family enjoy the experience with me is more important.

I could also tell by Alice's face she wasn't looking forward to the added expenses. I kept telling her, don't worry, it will be fun. It's once in a lifetime. I've got enough air miles points to pay for the flight. I think here words were, "I need a new car".

With that said, there was no way I wasn't signing up. Qualifying for Kona is my "get out of Jail card". I'm a free man.

What I mean by "I'm a free man" is that is I never have to race for time again. I can now race for fun. I see an 11 - 13 hour Ironman finisher in my future. I've not got the Kona monkey off my back and out of the bucket list. If someone asks, "What's your best time?", I can say 10:20 proudly and then say, "now I just do them for fun".

Last year, I set a goal to qualify for Clearwater. I thought I'd do it at Muskoka on the roll down. The year prior, there were lots of roll down slots. It turned out, by chance I qualified at Steelhead after deciding to do the race on short notice. Had I only raced in Muskoka, as per my original plan, I wouldn't have gotten in, my time wasn't fast enough for any roll down slots.

When I set that Clearwater goal, I set it because I felt I needed a goal. In my heart I didn't expect to get it. Fast forward to this year and I needed to set another goal, it only made sense it should be to qualify for Kona and again, in my heart, I didn't think it was likely.

I found what I thought was the easiest and most likely race to qualify at, which was China and trained hard over the winter months for it. The next result was a DNF due to food poisoning. Not only didn't I qualify, I was devastated I wasn't able to finish. My confidence was completely lost. I thought I was a one hit wonder, a flash in the pan.

Although I was signed up for IMLP, I couldn't wait that long to do another Ironman. I had to get back on that Ironman horse and redeem myself. The only race I could get into was IMSG on a community slot. Which I did.

I had a good race at St. George, until the last half of the run when I had stomach issues and spent 20 minutes in the porta potties and went from a Kona qualifying 6th place in my age group, to a non-qualifying 12th place. My goal was to finish and get my confidence back, although qualifying would have been sweet, but it wasn't meant to be.

I learnt a lot from those two disappointing races. Mainly I learnt I needed to enjoy the experience and not be driven to just qualify for Kona and be majorly disappointed if I didn't. I also learnt I needed to eat right before and during a race.

I came to IMLP with one goal that I didn't share with anyone. I just wanted to break 11 hours. I wanted to know I still had it and I could beat the 11:06 PB I set in Kentucky in 2008. I wanted to know I wasn't a flash in the pan.

The rest is history and I had a great day and now I'm free to train and race to enjoy. Will I? That's yet to be seen. I just know, in my mind, I've earned the privilege to do that.

After I picked up my slot, it was off to the grocery store for beer, ice, snacks and music. I had to get a boom box. The one I brought, Alice ended up breaking by accident. She closed the patio door and cut the satellite receiver cord. Doh!!!

I bought a lot of beer, about 100 or more. The first person to show was Doru, as always. Mr. punctual and reliable. My kind of guy.

We sat outside on the patio of our hotel. It was like our own private patio with the coolers of beer in ice and the music playing. Later on Jamie and Barb stopped by, then Carlos and Fernanda and I got a surprise visit from Brent a blog follower that reads and rarely comments. In addition to that, as the beers flowed, I started recruiting anyone who walked by to come and join us.

One couple did, another didn't. Some triathletes are really focused on living the clean lifestyle. At one point, I had to find matches for a cigar and walked up and down the side of the hotel. One guy gave me a big box of water proof camping matches and as I puffed on my cigar I was trying to recruit party goers. In my book, the more the merrier.

No takers, and it wasn't from lack of trying. Here I was, a drunk triathlete with a beer in one hand and a cigar hanging out my mouth, trying to use my sales skills to bring others over to the dark side.

When I got back to the table, my new found friends were leaving. She was a veterinarian and I went to give her a hug goodbye and forgot I had a cigar in my mouth and "burnt the sh*t out of the side of her face and neck". I felt horrified and just awful. She seemed to take it in stride and brushed the read hot coals away like it was no big deal. I guess it makes sense, she is used to dealing with Animals.

For the rest of the night it was Carlos, Fernada, Alice and me just hanging out. It only took Fernada 5 hours to tell me I was mispronouncing her name and it was "Fernanda", not "Fernando".

The last two hours of the night are a blur. I do know at around 1 am the front desk called to tell us they had complains and we needed to quiet down. I was like, "not a chance". "I did the Ironman too, you can't play the "I just did the Ironman and need my sleep" card on me.

Recovery

28

BTW, thanks for all the well wishes and comments. I will be responding to the all once I can get off the Training Payne Beer Train and catch my breath.