so, tonight after an early dinner with Franko, and Bentley and Cracknell, i plopped down into bed earlier than usual. just as i was closing my eyes, i got a phone call...the jump was off. the reason i was given was that our background checks did not clear security in Washington. i still have my alarm set for 3:30am and i'll drive to the airport outside of town just to make sure they don't leave without me, however, i'm pretty bummed that it was cancelled. you can bet tomorrow i'll begin my lobbying to get on the plane to witness the jump happen on race day. we'll see!
otherwise, kona has been a blast. i wish Em was here...we were married on the island coming on two years ago. i'll make it a point to go on a run tomorrow out by the natural energy lab where Em & I placed our "mahalo rocks" on the side of the road, that signify our marriage blessing.
this morning, i woke up bright and early at 5:15am and ran on the Queen K Hwy from our condo out in Waikoloa Village. we are staying 25 miles outside of kona, which has actually been great as we've been staying away from the circus that kona turns into this Ironman week.
we did make it into town around 10:00am for a series of meetings for Retul and was excited to see a larger expo presence than in past years. this was largely due to the hard work of triathlete mag's Sean Watkins. Franko and i had a chance to speak with the top guns from all the major bike brands and ran into a few athletes too.
it was great to see Cliff English cruising around the expo and he spent alot of time shooting the shit with us about the launch of his new coaching business, his wife's - Samantha McGlone - unfortunate and untimely achilles injuries and other industry news.
as my schedule has suddenly opened up tomorrow morning, i'll drag Franko down to the Kailua Pier first thing in the AM so we can swim out to the Coffees of Hawaii yacht anchored 700-meters offshore. this has been a brilliant marketing strategy from COF owner, Albert Boyce, and they have not only attracted all the top stars but also a daily visit by the 30-plus spinner dolphins who have been frequenting the bay this week.
i'm fully prepared to be an outcast tomorrow as i'll be one of few hairy-legged dudes down at the Pier, but can't wait to jump in and taste the salt water again. if i don't write another blog, it's likely because i've been nabbed by one of the - likely hundreds - of tiger sharks swimming in the deeps off the bay. hey, it's worth the risk! at least i had a cuppa 100% Kona Coffee this AM!
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