Kona Diaries 2010 – Day 12 – The Calm Before the Storm

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There was an odd sense of calm as we went to the pier this morning. Despite an early start and anxiety dreams I was in a good mood. None of us were too fussed what we did for a swim as long as we got wet. The Coffees of Hawaii boat was pulling into place and seemed an obvious target.

I followed Steven out and we grabbed an espresso hanging from the side it turned out they were still sailing and moving away from the pier. Not wanting a long swim we downed our coffees and quickly made our way back in. Less than twenty minutes and all my training was done. The next time I’ll be active I’ll be racing!

Another massage before a leisurely breakfast at Tantes. It struck me how chilled we all were there wasn’t much sign of race tension at this point. Lots of joking about the race and recollections from previous events. Hard to imagine that we’d be out racing in the heat in less than 24 hours.

I broke my rule and returned to the expo to get myself re-taped up. To my relief the Spidertech queue was short and I saw the same physio as before. She used extra glue to apply new tape so it should last the whole of tomorrow. We’ll see whether it makes a difference out on the course.

The rest of the day was spent back in my room chilled out in front of House reruns. At least I tried to chill out as race nerves finally kicked in and the tension mounted. Time seems to drag and I just wanted to get the race done.

I remind myself how I’ve chosen to be here and how this is what I do for fun. It’s tough and challenging, but ultimately I enjoy it. When I’m swimming, biking and running tomorrow it’s just like a training day. In fact at times I’ve worked harder in training. I know how to push myself through it all.

I racked as early as I could it’s mercifully quick here thanks to the huge number of volunteers. You have your own helper all the way through transition. Then an early dinner with Steven and Roger, a quick stop for coffee and cake (!) and now relax until bedtime. There’s a long day ahead of me.

Apologies for the brevity of this post, it’s been a quiet day and I’m too nervous to write more! Thanks for all the good luck messages it’s much appreciated. My race number is 1502 you can track me on Ironman Live. To all my friends competing out here too good luck and I’ll see you out on the course.

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