The Big Dance: Day One
We're HERE!
So much has happened, from a 2.5 hour delayed flight to San Jose, to 4.5 hours of sleep, to a rental car mishap. Let's see if I can sum it up twitter style (140 characters) and get to the good stuff.
Delay: 2.5 hr late, hope we make it to SJ in time for Kona flight, we did at 1am, whew!
Sleep: late flight means 4.5 hours sleep. who cares we're going to KONA!
Car: Have Budget reservation, they have no cars, overbooked, no car for Troy and I. Parents to the rescue!
Good Stuff:
I got my packet for Kona! I am #1714. As a mathematician I can certify that 1714 is indeed a great number. One of the best I've ever seen. This is my third IM race number, all have been 17XX, and this one seems the most lucky. Packet pickup was especially cool as all the volunteers make it really special for you. They ask you where you qualified and how you are feeling. Finally everyone here knows what my necklace is all about. That is cool!
Troy has seen Dave Scott (he thinks), Norman Stadler, and Mirinda Carfree. He saw all of them in the 10 minutes we have spent apart today. What's the luck? Oh wait...famous triathletes are EVERYWHERE!
I had a little joggy jog to get in today and I wanted to check out the Energy Lab. So I went out there, obeyed all the signs diligently and got in a run. I had two guys who speak spanish ride by on their TT bikes and profess their love to me...in spanish. That was pretty cool. Until Troy attacked them and ripped them off their bikes. I kid...sorta.
Well folks, the Natural Energy Lab is the opposite of everything it sounds like. It's hot, it's windy, and it has an aura of pain. It doesn't help that you are running amidst the lava, in fact even the tide pools are lava rock. But it's gorgeous in it's own Kona way. I think that people probably melt down here more than normal because you feel like it's a place of destruction, where nothing survives. So I'm just going to imagine that I am an expert at living in lava like conditions.
What wasn't gorgeous was the last several minutes of my run when my palms started itching. I looked up towards the island and said "Please Madame Pele, please save me from what looks like the allergic reaction I am about to have". She said "Oh no, miss Sonja, you shall feel the wrath of the Energy Lab. You dare to train here, then you will suffer". And then my eyes swelled up and my lips doubled in size. My cheek bones disappeared and the itching started.
5 minutes later Troy was driving me like a bandit back to our lodging for a dose of Benadryl. I was unlucky, yet lucky. This was a full blown episode of Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis (yup, it's on my RoadID), but it progressed really quickly through the normal stages and my throat did not swell. I did a few things different this time. I got really calm and stayed very quiet rather than crying like usual. I didn't itch like crazy even though I wanted to, but instead chanted "Don't itch". Lastly I took a quick cold shower, dried off and crawled into bed rather than staying in the shower like I usually do. I think all of these helped to move the reaction along. Several hours later I was pretty much fine, just a little groggy from the Benadryl.
We had a mellow afternoon after my little escapade. Our house here is AWESOME! The gardens all around the house are beautiful and there is a pool and a hot tub. Annie swam for 6 hours yesterday, this is 4 year old paradise!
The wildlife is abundant here along with the flowers. We have two geckos living in the house, George and Gertrude. They are good luck and super cute. Annie also found a huge spider in the garden by running into it. Troy saw a mongoose....I thought it was a squirrel.
So hopefully tomorrow will go off a little better. That's the goal. Still, I'm so happy to be here, our house is away from the craziness and I picked up PIC this evening from the airport so now I've got someone to keep me from doing stupid stuff. It's humid, it's hot, it's windy. It's everything I always hoped for!