Am I Ready for Kona?

I thought I would do a mid Kona training post and update everyone all at once.  I am now getting asked quite frequently if I am "Ready for Kona?"  I can tell you simply. I will not be ready for Kona until October 12th, 2013 (that is the race day right?)  Am I getting ready for Kona and preparing exactly the way that I want to be.  Yes.  I am.  In fact, I am stoked.

I have not been this excited about a race in quite some time.  Maybe it's because I really have not much else to do in my life right now (I can be honest about this at least!).  Maybe it's because I am listening to my body and giving it 100% attention.  I said I would be selfish.  I wasn't lying.  No boyfriends, no late dinners with friends, planned brunches and lunches around training.... and coffee chats are reserved for car rides to biking locations.

Post Half Marathon with these two lovely people that are now down-under!

It's not to say that I'm not having a blast.  I certainly am.  I have put in more mileage on my bike than ever before... two 120 mile rides in 2 weeks... followed by runs.  And I even had some crazy friends that joined me for parts of them!  3 weeks of 17+ mile long runs on the weekends and a secret 1/2 marathon training race which I PRed at almost a sub 1:40:00 (and a co-worker that somehow found out about my finish;-)).  Happy, yes.  I'm smiling ear to ear for each ride, even when I have to be pathetically picked up on the side of the road because my tire flatted and I forgot my hand pump. I definitely made the best of it and called in breakfast to the busiest local breakfast spot for take-out and picked it up for my amazing friend who drove almost 2 hours (round-trip) to come grab me.  Who doesn't love eggs benedict and coffee as a thank you?  No matter what, I realize that I am lucky to be training in Hawaii... lucky to be training without injury, and lucky to be able to train at all.

I've visited Ka'ena point more times in the past 2 months than the entire 6 years on island!

Gotta love Hawaii for the training locations.

Even getting a flat isn't bad when you can sit on the beach and watch the waves roll in!

On my 28th birthday I was thinking about where I was 7 years ago.  What I did for my 21st birthday.  You probably wouldn't believe me when I said I was in an ER room.  For what?  My first marathon.  I fractured my hip running the adirondack marathon (estimation around mile 15) and kept running... then walking... then barely limping until I finished the darn thing because it was my first marathon.  I realized how lucky I am today to be doing what I am doing.  Two years after my first hip fracture I fractured my other hip (nearly exactly on my 23rd bday) and started working with an amazing team of doctors in Hawaii.  With a year of self administered shots I was able to re-build my bone density on a miracle drug that was just released to the public months before my second fracture.  I was back run/walking within 3 months (instead of 10) and able to compete in a marathon later on in the year.

Super stoked about the cheesecake and party hat! 

Amazing crew and ohana... can't do a lot of this training without the support of these friends (and many more not pictured :-))

Now back to Kona.  So, no... I am not ready for Kona but I am logging in the hours and enjoying every bit of the journey as I do so.  I can't wait for race day so that I enthusiastically can jump up and down and say... YES!  I AM NOW READY FOR KONA!