Whirlwind

So the past week and a half has been an absolute whirlwind. First of all, I'm still alive, I survived the trip of a lifetime and am back in Rochester, NY after a long stint in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I can now say that I've joined the elite club of being an Ironman World Championship finisher, which is incredibly humbling and amazing. I'm in the process of putting together a detailed and formal race report, but for now I just wanted to touch on a few things that were pretty darn cool as well:

1 - I got a chance to spell out a message with white corral on the black lava rocks! It wasn't until after the race, but that allowed me the cool opportunity to "recycle" my finishers lei and give it back to the 'Aina (land) without upsetting Madame Pele by taking anything from the island.  I thought of it as a way to complete the full circle, she produced the flowers that created the lei and I was returning it to her.  The lei is actually the "O" in the word forward (that was Kim's idea - mine was to lay the lei in the lava fields, but this killed two birds with one stone)

2 - I got interviewed by a writer for Triathelete magazine and Inside Triathlon magazine. (they are owned by the same company, the Competitor Group) about my story on how I got to Kona and the article can be found HERE. It's only a short little blurb, but it was still cool to be sitting in the condo in Kona and reading on their website about MY story as I was prepping for the race...so neat!

3 - Lots of pics from the race were taken by the professional photographers at FinisherPix.com and they can be found by clicking HERE and entering in my bib # of 1763.  But some friends and my family also captured photos and I've been tagged on Facebook as well.  There is one in particular that I really enjoy and it was posted on my FB page from my friend Greg Horrocks, who I met this year (formally) at Keuka as we were running into transition together.  That pic is above and I think it captures the emotion of how I felt crossing that sacred finish line.

3- But one of the neatest things is that since everyone was watching back home in Rochester, NY that some folks decided it would be super cool to be able to capture the finish line video from the live feed that was going on.  This video here was captured by my buddy Edwin Figueroa and it was SO cool to be able to convey what was going thru my head as I crossed the line. 

But really that's it, I have a TON of more photos and such to post up here and a crazy race report to write (spoiler alert - I finished with my BEST time ever at the Ironman distance in Hawaii - don't ask me how) and I was REALLY pleased with my race.  (again, it wasn't perfect, but I'll take it!) I'll have an analysis full on with Garmin file data and charts and graphs and whatnot for everyone to enjoy. 

Good stuff.  But until then, rest up, enjoy the off season friends and I'll be recovering from a teeny amount of jet-lag that's still ravashing my body after traveling a quarter of the way around the world :o) Take care friends and thank you ALL SO much for the support and kind words of encouragement along the way.  It meant a ton.  Cheers!