Kona 2013 Highlights – Part 1

Trying to sum up the week at the Ironman World Championships into a post is difficult.  How can you possibly do justice to the atmosphere of an island taken over by amazing athletes,  numerous fun events, a triathlete’s shopping paradise, best of all, the incredibly inspiring stories we heard from the athletes?  That’s a challenge almost as big as the Ironman race itself.

• The kids Dip & Dash race and the parade of nations kicked off the week

The finish of the parade was the official expo start (more like a party) with music from a talented local band.

• Ironman hosted a luau celebrating Peter Henning’s induction into the Ironman Hall of Fame.  If you don’t know the name, but have been moved by the World Championship highlight videos, you have seen his work!  There was a feature of last years winners, Leanda Cave and Pete Jacobs.

Roughly Translated: “This guy and this girl won last year and really want to win again this year” (Sounds fancier in Hawaiian)

• Morning swim practices included a floating espresso bar!  Swim out, hang on, drink up, & swim back.  They even offer cookies! We were there on the lookout every morning for SKIN STRONG swim caps! 

• We got to meet up with Twitter friends, make new friends, and have Inaugural Ironman winner Gordon Haller, and Thad Beaty hang out with us!

• Don’t get us wrong, even though we were in Kona, it was still hard work! 4 days of expo is draining!

We went through a lot of SOOTHE trying to keep our cool!

Highlights Part 2: The infamous Underpants Run and Race day!

We want to hear from you!  We’d love to hear your Kona highlights and comments!