The thrill of the day before the race..when nerves escalate and butterflies soar. Because a few flutters remind me that this isn’t just another training day, in the rain, along a route that I know. Nope. This is a new adventure, in a new place with some new elements: Henry the Head Wind, Horton the Humidity & Howie the Honu.

Horton was hot and heavy as soon as we got to the beach for a morning swim, However, with a start line that looks like this, I am really not complaining:

Hapuna State Park

Henry on the other hand, handed me the suck-it-up card real fast! As we headed south on the Queen K, I crawled outta myaerobars and was ready to hit the pavement. WTHeck - was I really not gonna be able to hammer thru this? Was I really gonna get knocked around for 90km? Perhaps. And won’t that be a beautiful thing…to experience the head winds (and hopefully tail winds) of Kona seems like a gift. I’ll take it. Henry & I are gonna dance like Lance tomorrow!

And Howie, I didn’t see him or his siblings this morning, but you can see the ocean floor for the entire swim course – all200feet of depth. So if I don’t see ‘em on the course, I’m hoping I will be able to pay them a visit while sippin’ a mai tai at the end of the day on our new favorite beach:

Fairmont Orchid awaits...

Good Night from the land of butterflies and honu’s!

(And safe travels to TeamS & co. travelling to rock-it-like-it’s-hot in Oliver this weekend! POW!)