Race day is upon us!

Well, here it is. The bikes are checked in. All the workouts are over. There is nothing left on the calendar in 2010 except to get out there and race. It should be exciting stuff. The town has absolutely been abuzz since Monday. I don’t remember it being this crazy all throughout Kailua, but I am sure it is just my lack of attention, not necessarily anything different than the normal Kona craziness. This race is so much more than just a race to me. It is more a celebration of a lifestyle and a personal statement to me of hard work, discipline, successful time management along with the overarching thought that dreams really can come true.

Even before I ever got into triathlon, I have dreamt of this race. When I was a teenager, the Hawaii Ironman was telecast on the old ABC Wide World of Sports. I used to watch it and wonder how a guy like Dave Scott could do what he does. I still find myself not believing that I am actually someone who gets to compete in the Hawaii Ironman. I know a lot of dudes who log their one Ironman and continue on other pursuits on their bucket list. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but that is not me. This is my destination. I don’t need to climb any mountains. I don’t need to jump out of any airplanes. I am where I am supposed to be. I want to race Ironman’s, fly airplanes, coach and write- period. I am in my wheelhouse. This is my happy place. I have to admit it feels great to finally know that. I wandered around looking for my raison’d’etre for a long time and it is such a calming feeling to know I am finally on my path. It is better late than never, eh?

This year was different from the point that this is the first year on the Navy team (my fourth in Kona as a navy athlete, with one year as the alternate) that we have had press coverage of the competing athletes. The special interest stories you see on the NBC broadcast are folks featured due to the Navy.com sponsorship of years past. We have the Armed Forces Network (actually the name changed, but I can’t remember what it is) interviewing us and filming us. While fun, and from a vain standpoint, flattering, I can’t help but feel a bit unworthy. When I think of navy stories, especially in our sport, I think the press has done a great job of picking up on some of the amazing individuals we have in our service. Last year’s special by NBC on CAPT Dave Haas was especially great in my eyes. He was the Commanding Officer of the ship who you saw riding his Computrainer on the bridge of the ship while underway, rowing and running on the treadmill all while being at sea. Those are the kind of stories that grab me. Right now there are thousands of sailors either in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa and some in places you would not even believe have sailors there, in harm’s way, doing our nation’s bidding. My story isn’t that interesting, but hell, if you are going to put a mike in front of my gob and ask me questions about the navy, I will take up all the battery life you have in your recorder telling the navy story and that of the military professional. Military service is a calling beyond self, and at most levels, three atmospheres above politics. I don’t mean to lose anybody in my strong feelings for my military buds, I am not one who wraps himself in the flag, or any particular cause or camp, but I am huge on the navy, it’s how I roll. You cut me…I bleed blue and gold. So as this is very likely my last All-Navy Team, I am more than enthusiastic in telling that story. It is much richer and deeper than my own story and it is an honor to tell it-especially in this venue. Ironman is exactly like military service; at some point in the race, things get extremely difficult. When it does, there is only one thing for you to do, harden up and press forward.

Triathlon.com online recently posted the age group picks for tomorrow. Teresa was named by them to win her age group. I agree with them. It is so good to see her racing well again. She is like everyone else in that she struggles from time to time to get in her training. She gets tired, burned out, and frustrated, just like the rest of us. The difference is she never quits. Never. She never throws in the towel and never lets up. She has that champion vibe. I am not embellishing. I can feel it when she has it; she has it in spades now. If I were a 50-54 year old woman, I would go like hell and hope T runs out of real estate, because T is going to hammer all the way to the finish line. I am hoping for great things for her tomorrow. She is feeling great and I can tell when she gets irritable she is getting her fangs sharp for a hard day’s work. Based on that metric, she is more than ready!

So the 45-49 year age group males? I really don’t know. On paper there are at least 15 dudes here who can clean my clock. I am looking forward to racing hard tomorrow and seeing where I stack up. I am still a relatively young athlete with only 8 years in the sport, so I plan on continuing to get better. I honestly can’t wait for the gun to go off tomorrow and see where I am at the end of the day. I learned in Canada that quitting is just not an option for me, so I plan on either going faster than I ever have, or damn near dying in the pursuit of that goal. One of the first” hello’s” that sunk in with me when I moved to Boulder, was realizing how good I am not. When I was training in a small venue like the eastside of Seattle, I thought I was one of the better ironman dudes in the area. When I did swim in a masters club or dropped into someone else’s gym, I would always be one of the faster swimmers in the pool and could ride with anyone in town. That is not the case in Boulder. I am lucky to only swim 3 lanes down from the fast lane, and I am swimming my ass off to be in that lane! The talent there is just sick. The benefit of that is you quickly realize that you are not zip codes, but states, from being the best one of the best in the world. This realization keeps me humble and grounded in the fact that I am not anything more than a very solid age group athlete with a huge passion for the sport and the people in it. I am more than good with that realization.

Well, tomorrow the Super Bowl of our sport will kick off at 6:30am. I am so stoked to be there and in the middle of the whole thing! What other sport allows amateur middle-aged dudes like me to throw the football around with the Joe Montana’s and Tony Romo’s of our sport? You are correct-none. I think that is beyond cool.

So tomorrow I am going to swim for all I am worth, ride smart and tough, and God willing, run strong and with courage on the back half. If I do those things, this race will be a huge success! Nobody is as curious as me to see if that happens.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jonser