Notes From My Birthday On da Big Island

I love the big Island. And our trip there this weekend may have been the best ever. Kona is such a nice sleepy little town when it's not October. I am paralyzed trying to  write about it so I think my only hope is to do it bullet point style with pictures... so here goes...

~Nalani is awesome. But you knew that.

~Moonlit water is a real thing. And it is even more beautiful when the moon is full on your birthday and you see it lighting up the ocean in Kona as your plane lands.

~I set a new record assembling my bike. Got it together in 11:34. The record lasted about 8 hours as Nalani broke it when she was packing her bike that afternoon. I think she packed her bike in less than 10 minutes. Impressive.

~We got in the water to swim just a minute or two ahead of the Trek/K-Swiss squad. That's about the same amount of time we managed to hang in their draft when they passed us a few minutes later. Humbling.

~Dolphins! Dolphins! Look Nalani! There's dolphins! I might have completely freaked her out when I grabbed her arm to point them out. Our swim was temporarily interrupted while we played around in the water with the dolphins. How glad am I that I brought my underwater camera? Happy Birthday to me. :)

~I am in my natural habitat riding my P3 on the Queen K. I can't remember a bike ride where I felt happier. Climbing to Hawi...

~I can run the same pace at the same HR regardless of if I roll out of bed and go or bike 109 miles first. While this might not bode well for an open marathon, it might serve me well in an Ironman.

~Beach park showers are just fine. Cold, but just fine. I will say though, it sucks when they lock the bathroom doors at 5:00 and you have to deck change right there on the pier. But whatever. Look at my underwear. I don't care.

~Beer never tasted so good. And Kona Brewing Co really is my favorite. They brewed a special firkin on Friday- one night only "red ale conditioned with cinnamon". I enjoyed it very much.