Keahole airport in Kona welcomes all of this years Ironman participants. Almost all triathletes competing, fly into Kona and land at this small airport. I remember that day in October 1990. It was to be my first time in Kona and my second Ironman that year. I qualified for Kona by competing in Ironman Japan and came to Kona hoping to improve on my 10:22 performance three months earlier.

Keahole airport can handle the biggest planes from the airlines like the 777 and 747 jets. But the airport is very small and there are no gates like at your normal big city airport. The airplane stops about 100 yards from the building and you step down the escalator onto the hot tarmac. In 1990 as my head peeked out the airplane the Kona heat hit me like a blow dryer on my face. To make it worst the airport is right in the middle of the lava fields. The whole experience felt like I was stepping on the moon. I was a bit scared to be honest. My hopes of improving on my 10:22 performance were dashed right out as I was riding 15 MPH into a head wind at mile 10 of the bike ride. My total time for my first Kona was around 11:10. At the airport going home someone asked me if I was going to do the race again. I said “no, once is good enough”.

Today marks the 9th time I have stepped onto the Kona Keahole airport tarmac. I have been here 5 times to compete and 4 times as a MarkAllenOnline coach. It does not feel as hot today as that day in October of 1990. The breeze seems rather cool. Is this just because I feel a connection to this island and can be considered a veteran? I am not sure. Maybe some of you who that have been here can post comments and tell me your experience.

My bags were some of the first ones off the plane and so was my bike. Then in no time I was on my way to the pier to get acquainted once again with this place. I have a lot of memories from this place. The orange buoys were already floating on the bay and you can see swimmers on the course. Then I drove down Alii drive to my condo and noticed Michelle Jones running right at noon at a rather quick pace. I think she can do some damage next Saturday. I went on a bike ride with her many years ago and was very impressed with her calm demeanor. Read my previous post on stress to see what I mean by this. Running at noon here is the thing to do to get acclimated to the conditions. Good for her. She is definitely going to be one of my favorites. Later next week I will post my picks for Saturday.

Mark Allen says hello to all of you. He will have a Blog starting Tuesday and you can read about his perspective on this year’s race. Him and I ran for about 35 minutes before sunset. We ran into Karen Smyers who looks so lean you can bounce a quarter anywhere in her body. Todays run with Mark was the first time I ran with Mark and stayed aerobic while feeling like Mark got a workout as well. We ran down to the pit and back. The pit is the old out and back run which was a feature of the old Ironman course. Very, very hilly for being the first 2 miles of the Ironman marathon. Now the marathon is much easier as the first 2 miles are flat thus letting you get your running legs back after the long ride.