Kona: the race that ate into my soul but a week I'd relive over and over again ❤️
When people ask me “how was Kona”, I often find myself saying first that it was hard and horrible and I'm pretty disappointed. Which isn't untrue, it's just not the only truth; whilst it might have been one of the hardest things I've achieved, it might have been one of the best experiences of my life. If you haven’t read it yet, check out my race report for the full story!
I’ve scrolled through my Strava and looking back at all the potential I had for a strong race - I was putting out decent training runs in horribly hot conditions, yet when it mattered I had nothing 😭 nothing but the remnants of covid, a lot of fatigue and a little bit of willpower.
I've stolen some words from Paige H here but she hit the nail on the head: we seem to be naturally drawn to the negatives, too hard on ourselves and always wanting better. Is this for me to accept that it's what comes with a competitive mindset, or is it doing me more bad than good? I'm not even very competitive against anyone else, it's literally me wanting to do better for me. Nobody really cares how long I took.
Part of the problem is I surround myself with triathletes, most of whom are especially amazing (not that I want to change this!). I'm in a bubble where ironman is pretty normal, when in reality it's a tiny % of people who even qualify for the world champs.
So yes, my time was utter pants but I'm still proud of this medal; it represents a whole lot more than a hard day I survived.
Although being ill was not part of the plan, the whole Kona trip was everything I'd imagined and more. I made the most of all the opportunities out there and immersed in the Ironman hype 💥 the whole town was alive with triathletes and the coolest thing was bumping into the heroes of the sport I look up to! Not many sports where the professionals and amateurs get to share the same race 🤩 I loved hearing all the pros first-hand interviews and I love the camaraderie and respect among them. Also, a huge admiration for Chelsea Sodaro for using her victory speech to advocate for balancing motherhood and professional sport, and even more for Gustav Iden for using his voice as world champion to share his support for the women and pointed out that there aren't many sports where the women have a race that's identical to the men. Love it.
Mahalo Hawai'i 🌺 an epic place for an epic race 🏊♀️🚴♀️🏃♀️🌴🐬🌋🦎☀️🐢💃🏅
Finishing with some highlights of the whole Kona experience:
• I met the mermaid herself, aka Lucy Charles!
• spectating Joe Skipper's beer mile 😂 a phenomenally quick 7 minutes and 12 seconds to drink 4 beers and run a mile, absolutely ludicrous 😆 (and that only got him 3rd place!!)
• got to chat with Jan Frodeno the G.O.A.T
• the banquet of champions & welcome dinner – two fantastic evenings filled with good food, speeches, plenty of dramatic videos (and commercials lol), fire throwing, traditional Hawaiian music and hula dancing
• and finally, quite possibly the funniest story: the moment Alfie pointed out to my totally oblivious sister that she was sat by the new world champion 🤣 Gustav caught onto the situation and he also found it hilarious – they had a good chinwag afterwards! I have to say a special shout-out to Fiona: words can’t thank her enough for everything she does for me.
With the news this week that after 44 years Kona is no longer going to be the proper home of the ironman world championships, I’m extra glad and grateful to have gone. It’s an interesting discussion, something that would make a good blog… watch this space!
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