Kona 9/29

 One week to go!  I got up early and had a banana,  some toast and a cup of Kona's finest and watched a giant cruise ship pull into the waters in front of our house.

It was a beautiful morning and it really is easy to fall into the Island way of life!

However, I needed to get out and do my rather poor imitation of running and I went for a three mile run around the old airport runway and the little park that's there.  11:24/mile, which is unfortunately my Z2 cruise pace in the heat/humidity down here (which is way more noticeable when you run then when you eat a banana!).  I reflected on the fact that I will most likely only have 2 more runs on my left knee before it's replaced in November--I'm doing the 5k Kona town run on Saturday and of course, I hope to run at least a little bit in the Ironman next Thursday.  I've had a lot of great adventures with this old knee but it's definitely well past its "use by" date!

I went over to Bike Works and there was a line of folks almost out the door with their bikes looking for some help.  I was lucky enough to have a mechanic recognize me and he motioned me over to get my bike.  They had pulled the crankset off and cleaned and greased it and also straightened my rear derailleur and when I got back home and took it out for an easy hour spin, it was smooth as silk.  I think I finally have my trusty steed all dialed in--yea!

Kona weather was definitely back as it was blowing strong up on the Queen K--would have been a very long ride back from Kawaihae into that headwind if the race had been today!

I took Anders up to the Queen K and he did about an 11-mile run and upon returning jumped immediately into our pool.  Later, he went over to the Kona Aquatic Center and swam and I guess Joe Skipper and Heather Jackson as well as some folks he knows from Boulder were there as well.

I elected not to swim today and the plan tomorrow is for Anders and I to head north and he is going to do about 70 miles up to and down from Hawi and I'll do something in the 45-50 mile range round-trip with the Hawi climb/descent.  He's going to do a 40-minute brick run off of that bike and I'll play sherpa for him.  Later I plan to swim somewhere in the 2,100-2,500 yard range down in the Bay.

But for now, we are heading off to the Kona Brewing Company for some din-din (and no brews 😢)