Doing the Hula

I arrived in Kona on tuesday October 4th in the afternoon. I have been here only one time before when I was 12 (1986) to watch my parents compete in the Ironman; I forgot about the open air airline terminal! I gathered my belongings and hailed a taxi to take me to my friend's house who happens to live only 4 miles from the pier. No one was home, but there was a nice note waiting on the door for me. After having lunch I put my bike together and set it aside...I wanted to go for a run instead as it was getting late. I only ran for 30 minutes, but I was completely drenched after that. The humidity is very strange and I'm glad I'm here 10 days before the race in hopes of getting at least somewhat acclimated.

I've been here for 4 days now and am getting used to the humidity as I really don't think it's that hot here, it's just the humidity that's weird. I got into the ocean yesterday for some play time...the fish are so beautiful and huge!! When Jay arrives and we get a chance to do more sightseeing, I'd like to get one of the underwater disposable cameras.

My second day here, Allie took me to Pololu, one of the valley's that extends to the ocean where there is a black sand beach. Very beautiful and serene. Yestereday, Noah (Allie's boyfriend) took me to Kahalu'u Beach which is only a mile south of their house. I mostly dipped in the water with my goggles on and took a look around underneath the water! I didn't stay in because believe it or not I was getting a bit cold! Noah told me that this is a great beach to see Sea Turtles as they often hang out in the "lava wading pools." As we were walking over, he happend to see a turtle all the way up on the beach! It was amazing...so big and just lying there in the sand sunning itself. I took a few photos of it before we left.
Allie and Noah also took me to The End of the World. This is where a war was fought many years ago and there is actually an old burial ground there. Across from that is a cliff where when the waves crash against the cliff, a sort of blow hole is there which allows the waves to sky rocket into the air.

I'm trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible and drinking tons of water. The folks and Erin arrive this wednesday the 12 of October and I rented a car for the drive over to Hilo. After 2 1/2 hours I finally arrive at the airport (Hilo is on the east side of the island). We stop by my great Aunt's house who happens to live in Hilo for a breif visit before driving back to the west side of the island to Captain Cook. This is where our hotel is and we'll be staying here until we leave to come home.

Friday October 14, Jay arrives in the afternoon and shortly after that Serena (my cousin who goes to school in Honolulu) arrives. We drive around trying to find a place to eat that 1. has hamburgers and 2. isn't too busy. We ended up at the Kona Brewing Company and as luck would

Noah, Allie, Me, Mike

have it, they didn't have burgers! We didn't want to keep driving around so I settled for a French Dip! Should do the trick though.
As it's the night before the race, I wanted to get back to our hotel as quickly as possible; traffic dictated otherwise! There is always traffic in

Parade of Nations Hula Dancers

Kona. We eventually made it back and I proceeded to get my food and nutrition together for the big day. I was pretty organized and was able to be in bed by 9pm.