The day after...

Post-race I didn't get to bed until 3:30 am. I would have stayed out later but there was no one left to play with that didn't have a yellow security vest on and working.

I was pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty drunk and Alice said that when I got into bed I did it "commando style". No, not naked. Rather, I "slithered" into bed like I was on my hands and knees going under the wire in an army obstacle course. She had NO idea of why I was doing that and I have no memory of doing it.

I woke up at 8:30 am foggy and sunburnt. I guess it really was hot out there on the course yesterday because even with sunscreen it took its toll. It hurt to the touch.

After getting up I looked on twitter and Johan mentioned that I better get down to the expo early if I want to get finishers clothing, it sells out quick. I'm so glad I saw that tweet and moments later Alice and I were walking down the street to the hotel.

As I'm walking, I hear someone yell at me from behind I look and it's Sonja and Michelle with big smiles on their faces. The timing was fate. We only know each other through each others blogs and twitter, it was "awesome" to finally met them in person. The best part was we got to hang out and talk in the long line while waiting for the store to open.

Both Sonja and Michelle are killer triathletes. Both raced Clearwater last year and Sonja did Kona this year and Michelle did the Nationals and broke a 2:20 in an Olympic distance race in the 40-44 age group and qualified to represent Team USA at the World's in China. Michelle came to Kona to watch, volunteer and support Sonja.

Sonja "crushed" the course and did a 10:17:53 and came in 15th in her age group. She deserved it, the level of commitment to living an Ironman healthy lifestyle and training hard is insane. I think I could do the training, but the "lifestyle commitment", no way.

Next year I wouldn't be surprised if Sonja is back, if not to race, to support Michelle if she qualifies for Kona. I am very jealous of both of them, not because of their triathlon abilities, I'm jealous because of their "rock hard abs".

Sonja "blew me away" when she told me she was a PFG (Previous Fat Gal). She said she used to be 180 lbs on a 5'7" frame and showed me pictures. I couldn't believe it, this is a girl that ran a 100 mile race this year and not far apart qualified for Kona at Coeur d'Alene . Never in a million years would I have thought Sonja was a PFG and now I got to get her to write her story and give pictures so I can put them up on the PFG Triathlon Club blog to inspire others.

As luck would have it, they opened the Ironman store at 9 am and most of the good stuff was still available. I'm so glad I got Johan's tweet. I was fairly selective on what I got with Alice helping to "vet" whether it looked good on me or not.

Had she not been there, I probably would have got one of everything like some of the other guys were doing. It was the funniest sight, guys had little shopping baskets filled to over capacity with every piece of finishers clothing offered.

As we were standing in the long line to pay, a really outgoing woman was talking about her husband and his Ironman obsession. He's in the Executive Challenge, which is another word for rich guys that can pay $5000 a race, get the VIP treatment and can qualify for Kona easier than most due to a less competitive field. In my age group, if I would have payed the XC Challenge big bucks, I would have won it all by 3 minutes and got the first place bowl.

The interesting thing about the guy who won the XC challenge in my age group, who's name is also "Guy" was he qualified at IMLP and I remember talking to him on the bike and then I passed him on the run in Kona and asked him "if he was the guy I met on the bike at Lake Placid" and he said, "good memory". Like me he had a really fast Lake Placid race and a respectable Kona finish.

Back to the women standing in line. She was joking that if she tries to give her husband a "bad time" about his training or constant Ironman talk, he'll give it back to her with "would you rather I be at the bar drinking, or would you rather I was fat, or would you rather I was having an affair".

She then said, "and all he wears is clothing with an Ironman logo on it and he has way too many t-shirts that need to be thrown out to make room in his closet". I started laughing and I said, "that's me too, to a tee". It was funny to hear there is more of us out there. In total, I probably spent about $700 on my new wardrobe.

Also at the Ironman store I ran into Heather (@heatherkrug) and Iain again. Heather is just a little ball of fire, I told her that from her avatar I thought she was taller. I also said, "I'd hire you any day". She's one of those people "that just gets it done and does a lot".

Heather is the person that asked me to send in footage for the Wheaties video about nutrition, apparently I made the cut, I'm on the video talking about my smoothies and they are going to be showing it regularly for at least the next four months. I think, I was a little drunk when she was explaining it to me and I may be wrong.

Iain and I are like magnets here in Kona, we keep running into each other. I saw him five times yesterday and twice today. At 2 pm, I invited all the blog and twitter buddies for beers and he was the only one who showed up, which was fine, him and his better half Shelly were fun to hang out with.

We left "Humpy's Bar" around 5:30 pm to get back for the Award Banquet at 6 pm. Along the way we stopped in at a Tattoo shop. I wanted to get another tattoo to remember this trip. The guy helped us come up with an idea and I'm going in on Thursday to get it done. The unveiling will be on Thursday's blog post. And no, it's not a "full back" tattoo of the Captain, like Steve O did.

The awards banquet was again overpriced, but I was glad we went. I really enjoyed it. It was cool to see the age group winners and hear their "off the chain race times". It seems in the age group categories there is lots of Germans. For the "big prize" the overall male and female winners were Aussies.

I was MOST impressed with the categories over 40 years old. In my 45 - 49 age group, the winning time was 9:16, which is "sick". Who are these "freaks of nature". The older the age groups, the more impressed I got.

As luck would have it, we were sitting beside two older gentleman. Gary Elmitt raced in the 70-74 age group and finished 16:13:33 and Neal Henderson was in the 75 - 79 age group and DNF'd on the run after finishing the bike. The amazing thing is the winning time of 70-74 was 12:41:33 and 75-79 was 13:59:26.

After talking to these guys and seeing the smaller field of competition, I think I have a good shot on making it to the podium in Kona in the 70 plus categories. I'm sure the current fast guys in my age group will wear their body parts out by then and retire, hopefully. Mentally, I know I can finish at any age, my challenge is to live that long.

The guy who won the 80 plus age group in 15:48, was the only one in that group. His acceptance speech was awesomely funny. I got it on video and will post it when I get back. I think it was his 21 Kona Ironman and he looked much younger than Eighty.

The older competitors REALLY inspire me. It's almost like Kona has two races within a race. There is the "Young Uber athletes" and the "Older Athletes". Rarely do you see the two camps mingling, but I was lucky enough to get to hang out and talk with them.

I asked each of them how old they felt inside and Gary immediately said 14 and Neal was 29. I told them I was a mature 17 year old and Gary laughed and said, "see I'm even younger than you". I too believed him when he said he felt 14 years old inside, he had a bit of a devilish eye to him. Sitting with those guys was another highlight of the entire Kona experience.

I also really enjoyed hearing Mirinda, the female winner, and Chris, the male winner, give their speeches.

I felt good for Chris, he was there in China and was staying just down the hall from John and I and he too came down with food poisoning and dropped out of the race at the 50 mile mark on the bike.

Then I read on his blog about his China experience and he too had a virus and wasn't able to train for a few weeks and had to redo his entire race schedule. Like me, he ended up having one of his best seasons ever. Maybe both of us picked up some super bug that hurt and helped us. Even John Barclay who got sick in China set a PB at Syracuse. His only triathlon since China.

At the awards Banquet they were serving FREE beer and I had a LOT. I was just stacking the cups up and always had two or three on the go in front of me. I was afraid they'd run out or close before it was over. I was feeling no pain when I left and we went back to the hotel and sat outside on the patio having more.

Before we left there was a German group of people beside us and the cameras came out for a group photo. I was behind one of the guys at the back of the picture and couldn't resist putting the "peace sign" above the back of his head. I wish I was there when the eventually notice someone "punked" their photo.

Last night as I was talking to my Security guard friends I had my first celebratory cigar, tonight I had my second and I even gave Reid one. I was surprised he took it, he rarely takes it anymore and I was amazed how fast he smoked it down.

At one point I wanted to go out and party some more and I'm glad Alice convinced me not to, no good would have come from it. I couldn't even tweet "coherently".

Recovery Day - No Training

25