I wasn't sure if I was going to write anymore blogs but I decided that perhaps I should send some final thoughts as well as share the last adventures. Also there are a total of 5 blogs and if any of you are missing any of them (they are numbered 1-3 and then " the race" and "the trek home") please let me know and I will be happy to send them on. I had a hard time keeping up with my addresses.
Sunday night was the awards banquet and I had heard that would be a neat production. It started around 6pm and once again the food was less than what I had hoped but fortunately they had good dark beer on draft so that was a perk. (: I have to give another "background story" for the next thing to make sense. Most of you probably know "the Hoyts" but in case you don't, here is the short version. Rick Hoyt was born with cerebal palsy (I think it was 1962) and the doctors told Dick and his wife that they should just put him in an institution as he would only be a vegetable. But instead they opted to take Rick home and raise him themselves. When Rick was in highschool (yes that's right he did go to highschool) his PE teacher asked him if he would contribute to help a challenged athlete do a 5 mile race. Rick (keep in mind Rick is in a wheel chair without the use of his legs and no control over his arms, he cannot verbally speak but has a computer that communicates his thoughts,which I find absolutely amazing) went home and asked his dad if they could do the race together. So his dad pushed Rick for the 5 mile race. Rick loved it and so they began to do all sorts of running races all the way up to marathons. Rick said "I feel like I don't have a handicap when we race" so then they decided to do the Hawaii Ironman. Yes that is correct, that event in which I described how challenging it was.............Dick pulled Rick on a raft the entire 2.4 miles, rode a bike with Rick on the front the entire 112 miles, and then he pushed Rick the entire 26.2 miles and they did it in under 16 hrs. I cannot imagine doing that race pulling more than my own body weight and I think they did it a total of 3 or 4 times. They have now completed over 900 athletic events together. They no longer do the Ironman as it's too much being that Dick is now in his 70's and their last attempt unfortunately resulted in their not making the swim cut off mark, but they still do lots of running races. Anyway, they were inducted into the Ironman hall of fame at the banquet on Sunday and Rick actually "spoke" to us.........he has a wonderful sense of humor and his vocabulary probably exceeded all of ours put together. So incredibly inspiring. Interestingly, my group actually saw the Hoyts at a cafe that day while we were having lunch and we had our pictures taken with them. Unfortunately a torrential downpour started right after Rick finished speaking so we had to cut the event short as it was being held outside with no option of shelter. But it was worth it to hear him speak.
Yesterday we took a trip up to the volcano and we decided to stop at the "Greenwell coffee farm" on the way. That was fascinating actually as I learned so much about coffee, I guess I just assumed it was a simple process but there really is a lot to it! If any of you are familiar with pure "kona coffee" you will know that there is a huge difference between that and your standard coffee. I apologize that I was unable to bring back coffee for all of you but it is also a mere $22 a bag so........Anyway the Greenwell family has been doing coffee since the 1800's I think it was and they still have the original trees. They don't use them for actual coffee production as a tree is only good for about 40 years but they use the beans to plant the next trees. One tree will only yield 1.5lbs of coffee per year so that is why they have to have so many trees. There are 20 red berry pickers and they start at the bottom of the grove and pick the red berries on the tree and work their way up. It takes them 3 weeks to get thru the whole grove and then it's time to start over as this takes place 8 times per year. First the sweet red outer shell is squeezed off and then they have to soak for several days. After that they are moved to drying screens and this process takes 3 weeks but if they get wet they have to be thrown out. So all the drying racks have a moveable roof and since it rains like clockwork around 4pm every day they just roll the roof over the beans. Then the next outer layer is removed and then the beans can be roasted but once they are roasted they have about a 3 month freshness life so they sell a lot of "green beans" that you can roast yourself. There is only about 22miles of the kona coast that actually is ideal for growing coffee due to the perfect amount of rain and sun so that is again why it is so expensive. They had great samples and we enjoyed tasting all the flavors.
Ok next stop was the black sands beach to see the sea turtles. The sand really is black and there are turtles everywhere. That was pretty neat but I do think I prefer the white sand in terms of enjoying the beach. Then we headed up to the volcano which has been active for the past 8 months and that is what has created the "vog" which also leads to acid rain and the haze that we experienced a lot in the afternoons. The taste of sulfur was intense once we were up at the national park and you could see steam coming up from all sorts of random places along the crater. We did walk through a lave tube and that was very dark and damp, I sort of felt like I was in some sort of adventure movie! At night you can drive down another 20 miles and see the lava pouring into the water but unfortunately we had to pass that experience as it took close to 3 hrs just to get to the park to begin with and that would have made our trip way too long. My brother and sister in law were going to do that so perhaps they will have some good pictures.
We finished our last night in kona trying to eat the rest of our groceries so we had yet another pasta dinner, I think I am ok to skip pasta for awhile now. (: We did go for breakfast this morning (which is actually the next morning now that I am sitting in Charlotte waiting for my last flight to get home) at a cute little place on the water. It was basically an area covered with a big tent and you sat in beach chairs. The place was "on the rocks" so we were about as close as one could get without actually being "in" the ocean. (: It was relaxing but sort of sad to know that the trip was about to end.
Now the fun begins. If I ever have the privilege of doing the Hawaii Ironman again, I will have learned some valuable lessons. I thought I was doing great by being at the airport 2.5 hrs before my flight, however I did not anticipate the lack of workers to help with the process. I got to load my bike box and my checked bag on a belt just to receive a sticker that said "inspected", though from my point of view they didn't do anything but watch everyone struggle with their luggage. Then I lugged it over to the line that lasted 45 min before getting to actually check the bags. Now the really great part, my bike box was "overweight" so not only did I get to pay the regular $125 bike fee, I got to pay another $125 for the excess weight. I don't think that 15lbs extra should have cost that much and quite frankly I don't really believe that I had 15lbs extra in there b/c I didn't put that much back in my bike box than what I had going to kona. I would have tried to take things out but my other checked bag was also overweight and I had just done that mad scramble of taking things out and shuffling them around to my carry on. What a nightmare. I am a bit suspicious in terms of the accuracy of their scales. So the extra $165 for excess weight was lovely. Then after all that, I had to drag my bike box to yet another location which was the opposite end of where I had to drag my other checked bag. Yes that's right, you are on your own for all of that. I think it would have been easier if they just let me put those things on the plane myself. So that process to just get to the boarding area took almost 2 hrs and since kona is an outdoor airport, I was already a sweaty mess. So my lesson learned and my tip to any of you who may go to kona, take advantage of the sky cab people. You have to pay $3 per bag and $5 per bike but I am thinking that it is worth it especially since i am not sure they actually weighed the bags.
So my final thoughts on the Hawaii Ironman. Although you are probably "sick" of my thoughts by now! (: There is a lot that can go wrong as well as right in an event as long as an Ironman. You go in with your best plan but you always have to think on your feet and make adjustments when things don't go quite as planned. All in all, there isn't anything that I would have changed in our preparation, training, taper etc. The conditions were one of the worst they have had and it was our first time there. We didn't quit, we gave it our best shot, we kept smiling (well most of the time), we made adjustments when needed, we supported and cheered for each other and we crossed the finish line with pride. I had the opportunity of a lifetime and I got to share it with 3 amazing women that I had the privilege of coaching. I hope you get a sense of what they accomplished, the were not just "middle of the pack" among some average athletes, they were in the top half of the best in the world at the Hawaii Ironman. Thanks again for "listening" and I hope you have enjoyed experiencing this event through my eyes.
God bless,
Heather
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment