Monday was another rough day in Kona. It started with a swim from Dig Me Beach, sharing the salty swell with a nervous pack of athletes fine-tuning their strokes and gazing out to the horizon, making their pleas and promises to the spirits of lava and wind and wave. My own nervousness came not from pre-race anxiety, but rather from my slightly irrational panic-inducing fear of sharks. I normally limit my open water swimming to races, where I reside happily mid-pack, surrounded by hundreds of other athletes (or human chum, depending on your perspective), able to momentarily shut out my deep dread. But Kona is different, and the allure of swimming in the warm clear water overrides any fear. In the past though, I’ve made it out only to the first few buoys before the panic grips me and propels me quickly back to shore. My personal goal during this trip is to tackle the entire swim course at least once, so I was elated yesterday to make it easily to the halfway point before that I’m-out-here-all-alone-in-the-dining-room-of-the-big-fish sensation struck me.
Next up was an afternoon of napping & people watching at Magic Sands beach. People watching takes on an entirely new dimension when the beach is strewn with the finely toned hardbodies of the world’s top triathletes. It’s an admiration fest of epic proportions, an education in musculoskeletal anatomy and a test of one’s own body confidence like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Along with the visual aspect, there’s an incredible audible component, bits and pieces of conversations in German, French, Aussie-accented English and other languages of the world, jumbled together with the crashing waves. It’s multicultural music to my ears, almost enough to launch me into a gleeful rendition of “We Are All One Planet.”
The remaining GU crew arrived on Monday night, and after a mellow BBQ at home and a fine sampling of beer we’re all happily ensconced in our Kona home. Not a bad way to start the work week.