Thursday

This morning when I was making coffee I started telling Scott... "48 hours from now we'll be..." And he was like "STOP! Don't even go there..." So apparently the trick to not being nervous two days before the World Championships is to just not even think about it. So instead we just drank our coffee and pretended it was a completely normal day and headed down to the pier for another swim.

I can't remember the last time I've had a morning where I've seen so many people I knew before 8AM. Nalani and I rode cruiser bikes down to the pier and saw Ange driving down, then Mike and Sandy and Mark, then I met Marni and saw my friends Kristen and Olwen while checking our dry clothes bags, then Ben, Rae, Roberto, Trish, and Diana were all finishing up their swims while we were standing on the sand contemplating putting our caps on. We were just about to start swimming when Michelle and Sonja got out so we delayed swimming while chatting with them. Then I finally got to meet Molly as she was about to jump in the water. Liz was getting out and then "Oh there's Mary!" so we hung out chatting with her and then finally went ahead and started swimming. Coach did say 'social swim' this morning so really, I was just following the plan. I'm such an obedient little athlete.

We did the obligatory coffee thing while treading water (poor me) and then finished up just as the Underwear Run was getting underway. I had no desire to jog along Ali'i Dr in my underwear so there was never any intention of participating... though I suppose I could have done it in my bikini as many did... though that really isn't participating in the 'underwear' run, is it? Kurt decided that there should be some set of 'qualifying standards' for the underwear run. Had those been enforced only ~1/2 of the participants would have been allowed in. But those who were in... we *all in*... or maybe more appropriate *all hanging out*. Lol. There were times when Nalani pointed and I really just should have looked away. Yikes.

Interestingly, in a little bit I'm going back to the pier to have a chat with a woman who is here writing a story about Kona Ironman for Outside Magazine. Mary gave her my contact info and the email I got from her said, "How about 3:00ish? I'm waiting to hear back from Dave Scott about what time he is available..." Ha! Yes. Interview me and Dave Scott. Because we're like, totally in the same category. Or maybe she just really wants very different perspectives for her article? That must be it. Regardless, I think it's pretty damn cool I get to do that. I'll let you know how it goes.

For now, I'm just doing more chilling out and relaxing. It's a good thing I get to exercise ALL DAY on Saturday because this whole not-training-just-resting thing is driving me nuts. I'm bored and I just want to go swimbikerun. Conditions should be perfect on Saturday. I have not actually checked the weather, but it seems the south swell will be gone so the swim will be normal, and if the weather stays like it has been all week, it won't even be hot. Maybe a bit windy but nothing out of the ordinary. Kona is getting soft.