Kona 10/1: T minus 5 Days

Things got a bit more complicated over the last 24 hours.  My 86-year old Mom, Darlene, who lives down in Naples, and successfully rode out the hurricane, had a fall after slipping on some mud and ended up in quite a bit of pain.  She went to the ER and we were awakened at 2am this morning to the news that she had fractures in her pelvis and lower back.  It was a rough night for sure but long-story short, it looks like she will be OK.  Maybe 4-8 weeks of rehab but hopefully she'll get back to her pre-fall self after that.

I won't lie, but as I lay there in bed this morning, thoughts of pulling the plug on this many-year dream of racing Kona with Anders did cross my mind.  The good news however, is my Mom's situation looks ok so far and Judy and my sister and brother stand ready to fly down there as needed.  So, it looks like I get to stay here and do this somewhat selfish thing.....

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OK, back to the task at hand.  I got up early after about 3-4 hours of sleep last night and went down and did the Kona Town Fun Run, which seems to have replaced the old PATH 5/10ks.  I started easy but actually felt pretty good for me and even ran negative splits:

Mile 1 : 10:16

Mile 2: 9:57

Mile 3: 9:48

Basically, averaged 10:00/mile and felt pretty good.  I don't know how I did relative to everyone else because this was truly a Fun Run with no timing chips.  At least I have one more Kona finish under my belt!

I'm pretty happy with my effort in what is probably the last 5k I'll ever run.  At the very least with this left knee!  Here are a couple of pics:

Anders went out did an 11-mile real run averaging around 7:20/mile and seems to be beginning to adapt to the heat a bit--and the good news is he still has a week to go!

Around 11:30 or so he and I went down to the pier for a short tune-up swim in front of the 2.4-mile swim tomorrow.  I felt pretty darn good swimming 1,000+ yards at 1:57/100.  Still very slow, but I do seem to be headed in the right direction!  I'm looking forward to swimming the whole course tomorrow in what will hopefully be a real confidence builder.  

I also bumped into Greg Welch when I was toweling off after the swim and I shared with him how he called out my name as I crossed the finish line back at Oceanside in 2010, the race I first qualified for Kona in!  I told him about doing this race with my son and he shared with me that apparently there is a Danish man here who is doing the race with both his daughter and son!  Wow!

After the swim, we saw the Bergen Duo by their team car af the pier.  They apparently had swam 5,000 meters and then rode 105 miles @ 25mph....blows my mind.  

Anyways, I went up and said hi and reminded Gustav that he had met my Mom at IMFL in 2021, which he won and qualified for Kona at (incidentally Anders finished 11th overall Age Group wise and also qualified there).  My Mom was very excited to meet him because her family (the Andersons) were mostly from Bergen and immigrated here a couple of generations ago.  Anyways, Gustav was kind enough to make this video of support for my Mom:

Thanks Gustav!  You really made my Mom's day!  She was so excited to see this!

Onwards and Upwards!!!!