The Hawaii Half Ironman was not necessarily a race that was on my list to do – any list, really, bucket or otherwise.

But during a conversation with my mom and step-dad in late Summer 2024 my mom mentioned maybe having “one more” Half Iron in her. You might recall several years ago when we did the Memphis Half Ironman as her final half-distance race. I joked that “they just opened up early-registration for Hawaii!” and she started signing up on her phone right then and there. So, J and I also signed up that evening and we were now all officially entered for Hawaii 70.3 2025.

And while the 2025 race ended up just being me (Mom and J got unrelated injuries during training in the weeks before the event) it was still an awesome race, and family weekend, with everyone.

This also turned into a family vacation for everyone. So I’ll try not to get too detailed in my race report. Let’s go.

For the third year in a row I would be training in the winter months – this time pretty much entirely indoors. Last year I raced the Oceanside 70.3, and the year before the Morro Bay 70.3, and trained pretty exclusively inside for those due to rainy winter weather.
This year the weather was much nicer on weekends. And admittedly there were a couple days of 90+ sunny weather that I “knew” I should be training outside to get heat acclimated as much as possible. Obviously spending 4 hours cycling in the hot sun is very different compared to cycling 4 hours in a dark living room with a fan pointed directly at you.
Ultimately I decided that indoor training on my Kickr smart trainer riding the actual Hawaii course over and over each week was much better training for me than being outdoors in mostly-flat SoCal riding. I made the mistake on misunderstanding the amount of climbing on the bike during Oceanside. I had no plans to screw that up prepping for Hawaii.

 

Overall Target – 7:15

Going into the month of May I was completely unsure of what my time would be this race.

If I look back all the way to Memphis, that day was in pouring rain which likely helped my bike portion keeping me cool, combined with being near the peak of my training for a full Iron I was scheduled to do 4 weeks later. So I put down a 5:49 finish that I still would like to beat some day.
But this was going to be in Hawaii, in humid, hotter temperatures. The bike portion was going to have more climbing. And the run was supposed to be pretty hard, too. (and it was).
So leading into race week I figured that if my worst case day was 7:15 then I would consider that pretty good.

Training this year was mixed, overall. I found getting to the pool for laps very hard to do. Both mentally, and physically. My work schedule is not what it used to be. I’m in the office much more than years passed. I even tried to get out to the outdoor Olympic pool to use that facility only to find that their schedule and open swim has changed slightly – so I stuck to just going to the gym pool which had regular hours.
My bike rides were all indoors – by choice – to train over and over and over on the smart trainer following the actual course to prepare my legs better for the climbing.
Running was easy enough. I train on the river here, which has a paved run/bike path. Doing my my long 10, 11, 14 mile runs in the heat were not an issue. However it turned out I needed even more rollers and climbing while running than I was doing. Twice as much. And that came back to bite me on race day.

Rough start to Race Day 

I didn’t sleep well. I tossed and turned for nearly two hours after going to bed. It felt almost like a cold was coming on – caused by the AC blowing hard, drying out the air in the room and drying out my sinuses.
Garmin gave me a 74 Sleep Score. Seventy Four. That’s a terrible number to see the morning of the race. Garmin also was giving me a Body Battery score of 68. Hilarious, I’m starting off terrible. I could feel it, too. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat all my oatmeal and fruit. I drank some water, but not what I planned. And prior to getting in the water I didn’t eat my energy gel as planned either. I was really annoyed at how not-race-ready I was feeling.

But, nothing I can do at this point. Kellie and I started our walk to the race start so I could prep my bike. Mom and J would be leaving just a bit behind us.

Swim

Projected Time: Under 47min
“Good day” time: 45 minutes or better – average pace I was expecting after zero open water training this time
Actual official clock time: 44:36

For probably the first time I was not particularly enthusiastic about the swim.

This was some mixture of knowing deep down I didn’t put in enough hours at the pool since I have this “problem” of knowing I swim well enough to finish in the allotted time due to my long background of aquatics in my life.
I also really hoped to get open water training in this year, but the beaches here in SoCal have been regularly contaminated or flagged no-swim zones due to issues with the water like algae. So there was a part of me that was feeling what I can only call “concern” about my ability to swim at what I could call a normal level and pace for myself.

Delayed Start

This was a self seeding race. So I went and joined the 35-40min group, knowing that by the time I made it to start line I would likely get pushed back into the 40-45min group. And that was definitely the case since the race starts people two at a time, every five seconds, which causing weird crowding and grouping in the chute.
There was also a delay of 15 minutes that morning due to winds and getting the crews out onto the water and in their locations.

As we waited, and then eventually began making our way to the start, we were all chatting and talking about different races and events. Topics like favorite Iron events are common. I chatted with others about the Lake Tahoe Ironman, the Escape Alcatraz Triathlon, and Oceanside last year. I met one woman who was racing her first ever triathlon – and had come in from Europe! I met another racer who had done the 2013 Lake Tahoe race that my mom and step-dad raced. And right before the start line I switched places with the guy in front of me who was racing alongside his 18 year old son and wanted to start off the line alongside him! How freaking cool is that??
And as I crossed the start line I made sure to throw my arms up and yell loudly since I knew my family was over on the seawall watching for me to start, haha! I could see them easily, so I had to make sure to stand out since I was wearing black like most everyone else. (turns out they already had seen me and knew I was starting)

Is that a buoy, or the horizon?

Sighting the buoys on this course was surprisingly difficult, which was ironic as I had spoke to a racer before the event who said the buoys blend into the horizon. He specifically said it was the main “turn buoys”, and he was 100% correct. They were impossible to see. Fortunately I was able to see the smaller course buoys pretty easily and was simply sighting off those. Turned out that my lines were pretty good for the main part of the course.

The path out and back in were the messiest parts of the race. I think it was a combination of those parts of the course being narrower as well as the wind blowing the course buoys around.
And while you could see a lot of the rocks/coral here during the race, any fish and stuff like likely scared off by all the people splashing around.

This was my first time ever wearing this swim skin, ever. Ha! I bought it during a Blue Seventy sale “in case I ever need one”.

Shout out to Monica and Kellie for walking back to the AirBNB and getting it for me before the race start. I had brought it to Hawaii, but didn’t bring it the morning of the race because I thought they had said no-skins allowed during the race. When J pointed out that the rule is wetsuit material skins I pointed out that I left mine back at the house. So, shoutout to my sister for volunteering to go get it for me.
At an absolutely minimum it helped me out mentally since pretty much everyone else was wearing one, too.

Getting out of the water I could see I was somewhere around the 45 minute mark. So I was pleased to actually hit my goal. That was all I wanted to do – a 45min swim.

I saw Mom immediately as I exited and ran up the chute. And I stopped at the showers to try and rinse as much of the salt off of me as possible. J was there and yelled congrats to me about the finish time since it was right on schedule for my goal

T1

When J had asked me in the days prior what my plan for transition was, I’m pretty certain I told him it would likely be 10-15 minutes in T1. I knew I would give myself plenty of time to wash as much salt off me as possible with an extra bottle of water I would bring specifically for that. And that I wanted to be methodical and make sure to get my sun sleeves on AND the sun gloves I brought, too. As well as just making sure to make sure I had enough sunblock on, that my bandana/helmet were comfortable, etc.
I’m not fast enough to worry about losing a few minutes that could mean the difference of a more comfortable ride. So I made sure that I actually felt ready to go ride my bike for several hours

Video from Mom

Bike

Projected Time: 3hr 45min
“Good day” time: anything under 3:30
Actual official clock time: 3:20:45

Honestly, my bike portion felt great.

Going into the race I wasn’t too positive exactly how I would do on the course, outdoors and in the heat. Like I said, I had been doing all my training inside on my trainer. And during those workouts I was pacing around a 3hr40m timeframe. So rather than assume I would be going faster on race day I told myself that under 4 hours would be a very safe target to aim for. My thought here was “as soon as I feel strain in my legs, back off so I can save energy for the run”

Ultimately I ended up having a very strong bike leg versus what I thought I was going to put down. I finished with a much quicker 3:19, and felt really good coming off the bike.

The start of course saw me leaving the resort with Monica, Dad, and Kellie cheering for me on the side of the road. There was a short couple miles around the resorts and housing complexes there before heading out to the highway. When looking at the course on paper I thought this portion would be irritating, but in reality there was plenty of room on the roads and it was a nice way to warm up your legs for the day ahead. I used this time to try and drink some of my electrolytes/hydration mix, and have the rest of my energy gel I started in transition (the one I didn’t eat before the swim).

Heading out toward Highway 19 on Mauna Lani Drive was that busy portion where people are getting into their groove and moving around others. There was also quite a few cars here since it was not a closed road. Traffic also backed up very quickly at all intersections since the police were out directing traffic to give right of way to us cyclists.
After turning north on Highway 19 I tried to relax into aero and get ready for the rollers and climbs ahead.

Over the next couple hours riding north I quickly realized how helpful training on the digital course was for me. This was definitely an every-gear event shifting through all gears I have on my P3 TT bike. There was noticeably more road bikes on the course than TT bikes too – but I still would rather have had my race bike versus my road bike. The benefits of my TT, race wheels, and aero bars far outweigh any benefit I would have had from the extra gearing of my road bike I believe. Hell, I did Lake Tahoe Iron on this bike and still would choose it over my road bike for those 112 miles.

Riding along the coast I made sure to take time to turn and look at the ocean, appreciate the roads and trees and lava rock along the highway, and of course make comments or jokes to occasional riders I was next to.
At one point the first place cyclist flew past us going back toward Iron Village in the other direction and I laughed and joked with the rider next to me that it didn’t look like we’d be catching up and making the podium after all. We were only at about mile 11 at that point.

I tried to keep drinking water and eating some of the nutrition I brought, but found myself still lacking much of an appetite.

I didn’t utilize any of the first several aid stations. And in hindsight I think they could have moved one of the aid stations from the ride out and placed it somewhere on the ride back in. But that’s likely just my own perspective on the race and I’m sure others found they needed every single station exactly where it was at.
One thing that I know came in very useful to me were the salt tablets I bought prior to flying to Hawaii. I happened to find some at the store when buying my gels/mixes that looked appealing. SaltStick Apple chews, these:

I have to say, I believe these were key in helping my ride and most of my run be the day that it was. The package said take 2 every 15-30 minutes… but that seemed like a lot to me. So I decided I was going to take one every 10 miles or so on the bike. I even ended up giving one to another rider I passed around mile 46 or so. He was fading pretty quick on one of the last longgg climbs. He commented that he was fighting a cramp, I offered him salt, he said “yeah that might help”. I said I hoped it does actually help as I continued past him and he shouted back that it seemed to be helping already. I hope it did.

Another amazing thing I had with me for this race… these gloves:

So I looked up, found, and bought these “UV Gloves” from Amazon prior to leaving for Hawaii.
I had wanted to find something that was the same or close to the UV sleeves I wear. In previous races like Puerto Rico I ended up with light sunburns on the tops/back of my hands from sitting in aero for hours in the bright sun. This was my plan to combat that issue.

And damn, did it work great!

I credit these and my sleeves with helping keep me pretty cool during the entire bike ride. I didn’t feel overly hot at all in the sun while riding. And later on the run I had four different people ask me about my “sun gloves” and where I got them. Success! hahaha

Coming to the end of the bike I was still feeling really good. I had stayed above the planned “slower pace” I told myself I’d do. However I was not feeling burned out or fried in any way. Even Garmin had me at a 43% Stamina potential at the end of the bike. I’d used half my energy, as Garmin calculated it. But I wouldn’t know that til back at a computer looking at charts. I just knew I felt really good coming in.

Well, good except that flat tire.

Can you believe it?! Just over one mile to the bike finish and I could suddenly hear a flopping sound from my tire. I was 75% sure my rear tire had a flat. 
I slowed down as I approached the roundabout, not wanted to corner as hard as I normally might. Yep. I could feel the shimmy of a flat on my rear tire in the turn. Not only did I not want to de-bead my tire, but I didn’t want to de-bead my tire on my carbon fiber race wheels.

I continued to coast, pedal delicately, and try and guesstimate in my head how far it was til the dismount point.
As the road curved and rolled around the corner I could feel the tire slipping around under me. I stood up and tried to shift my weight to my front wheel as much as possible. I figured the first moment I hear carbon on asphalt I would stop.

Approaching the resort I could see Monica and Dad yelling and cheering. I was more concerned with my tire, of course. And then I heard the volunteers yelling to us to not dismount at the same point we mounted up that morning, and to keep cycling. Great. Now I have to try and ride 100 more yards with a flat.
I carefully made the hard right turn, and immediately a hard left turn onto the carpets hoping that my wheel was still fine as I tried to coast and avoid pedaling. Most stressful last-mile I’ve had in a race in a while

I made it, dismounted, was congratulated by my family, and started to run my bike into Transition

J was cheering for me and I yelled that I “had a flat for the last mile!”. I’m pretty sure his reply was something like “WHAT!?”

T2

Going through T2 was a bit quicker overall compared to T1. I was mostly just trying to drink some water, and apply more sunblock. This was going to be a hot run.

I still felt good overall and figured my run would mostly go as planned. I could feel the amount of sun I got on the top of my legs, though. Whoops. probably not enough sunblock.

Run

Projected Time: 2:30
“Good day” time: 2:20
Actual official clock time: 2:51:45

The run portion is where my day came apart, frustratingly enough.

I started out just fine since the first mile was mostly flat, with the second mile starting some of the hills in the golf course.

Now, I had been doing all my runs on the Santa Ana River trail, which has some rollers with regular under-passes of the roads and highways. So there’s a reasonable amount “climbing” that I do on my normal runs. But looking back at the data this 13 mile run had 780 feet of climbing versus the 13 mile course I run at home has 370. So, I was training at half the climbing I needed to be for my run. BUMMER.

At mile 3 I was at 34 minutes. Not a terrible pace if I could have kept that 10 average. That was still on plan for what I was hoping to do. But, my legs were done. I realized that if it was just a hot flat course like where I was currently at during that portion of the race – the area they call Hell’s Kitchen – then I would have actually been fine. Sure, it was asphalt and lava rock, direct sun and hot out… but it was flat and hot out with a tiny breeze. That’s pretty much what I typically run in.

But instead I made peace with knowing that I would not run much since that would negatively affect the hills I still had the next 9-10 miles.

There were quite a few times I had short chats with different people while on the run course. And that always helps lighten the mood.
Plus there were other commiserating the hills, or just the mugginess of the golf course and grass we were on

Coming through the golf course at one point I saw the photographer up ahead and jokingly yelled “Hold on, I have to look strong, right?” and starting jogging and posed.
So, now I have another ridiculous photo to add to my collection.

I am curious how Garmin calculates Stamina after looking at my data after this race. This shows me hitting 1% in the last 4 yards or so of the race. Which means that energy wise I timed things well, I guess? I ran out of energy literally at the end of my race day?
Which does make sense to me since I was doing a good job managing my remaining energy, compared to a race like Ironman California when I could feel my body and energy burn up fighting the wind during my bike ride and then just fighting exhaustion during the marathon.

Approaching the finish line, and then jogging it in down the chute I was happy to see that I was very close to my 7:15 goal. And of course it was very cool to have my whole family there cheering. Can’t beat that.

And I could certainly feel how little my legs wanted to run as I crossed the finish. I went and sat down in the shade immediately after with my bottle of water they handed me to rest a few minutes.

Finished with a time of 7:15:55

Officially I was 52 of 107 in my age group for Men.
And 435 out of 855 Men.
And 561 out of 1,190 racers.
So, pretty solidly in the middle. haha!

After taking a break for about five minutes and chatting with some of the other finishers that were sitting with me, I got up to go take my finish photo and collect my finisher medal.

My thoughts on Hawaii 70.3…

Every race is unique in it’s own ways and after finishing I try and think about if I would race that course again.

For the Hawaii 70.3, that’s a hard decision. I think I would do it again – except the cost would be very prohibitive. It’s a destination event, in a very expensive area. So when considering that, I would not do the race a second time, even living in SoCal and being “close” compared to others in the US.
But would I like to “redo it for a better time”, sure. I think I could be more prepared for the run if I raced it again. Would I redo this race if my family decided they wanted to go back and race Hawaii? Of course.

It’s a beautiful location. The swim is nice – but not awe-inspiring like the internet or people would have you believe. The bike course is a solidly challenging course with beautiful views and wide-enough roads and bike lanes that I rarely, if ever, felt any less-safe than usual. And the run absolutely sucks, but I would know that for next time and do mountain/trail training to get ready for it.

But the trip to Hawaii for this race as a whole made everything worth it.
This race, turning into a family trip that I got to spend with all my family, in Hawaii, made all the money and time spent worth it.

There are other races I will likely do next, before considering Hawaii again. So this will just get added to the “sure, I would consider going back and racing that again” list along with Puerto Rico where I’m sure I could go back and do a better time. While the only race I would 100% sign up for again in a heartbeat would be the Lake Tahoe Ironman if they decided to bring that back again.

Overall Cost? Oh man, I could easily add that up since I tracked every part of this trip. For simplicity, I’ll say that it was about $12k. But this was something I saved up for and planned over the course of almost nine months. It included other non-race-related things an extended vacation, family members, upgraded flights and comforts, and experiences. I would not change any part of it, either. Except of course that my folks would have been cleared to race, too, as planned.

But you can’t put a value on certain experiences. And this was one of them.

Quick family photo before Dad and Monica flew home at the end of their trip

Pre Race and Post Race Gear Pickup & Drop Off.

Staying right down the road from the host hotel and Iron Village made bike and bag drop off very quick. And also makes race morning much quicker, too.

The morning of the race Kellie and I left at about 5am to walk down to Transition. I would have access to my bike that morning – there is no bag access the morning of the race, unless it’s an emergency of course. But it’s discouraged/”not allowed” for everyone to have access to their Transition bags.
The bike racks are the ground-racks that hold your rear wheel in place. There is no space for your Transition bags, and those are on racks completely separate from your bike.

So, that morning we walked over, I put my water bottles and nutrition on my bike, along with my Garmin 1040, and went to find a bike pump for my tires.

You’re directly told “do not bring your own bike pump. we have plenty.” And they really did have dozens of pumps for everyone to use. This helped keep the area free of clutter, and honestly just made it easier to not have to carry one more thing.

And after the race was just as straight forward. You grab your bags, then go collect your bike. You exit through the same “bike exit” you used during the race where they check your wrist band race number against the number on your bike. Only racers are allowed to pick up their bikes.

And where we stayed.

We stayed nearby, as I said, in a complex called The Fairways. It was a short 3/4 mile walk to/from the Fairmont Orchid host hotel and Iron Village and actually closer than the parking lot the shuttle was driving to/from.

This always makes race weekends so much easier – staying in walking distance.
In the weeks following our signups for the race I immediately started looking up pricing on places to stay. The host hotel, the Fairmont, would have cost something like $800-$1,000 a night. And perhaps that’s ok if you’re just coming in for a couple nights and want ultimate convenience… but we were planning on staying longer to vacation. And originally there was going to be three of us racing. So, 3x the amount of bikes and gear everywhere. Space is definitely needed.

So I found an AirBNB instead, that was a 2 bed / 2.5 bath townhome that cost the same for 8 nights as the hotel would have been for 4 nights.
And this was of course much more space as it was a full home instead of just a big hotel room.

If anyone is looking for a place to stay, I would definitely recommend this spot. The host, Shellee, was great over our emails, and their place is very comfortable with all sorts of amenities thought of and included.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/42458321

Total cost for us was $3,574 for 8 nights, Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning the following week. And four adults.

 

More photos race weekend:

First I’ll kick off with the remaining photos I’ve selected from the on-course photographers

Exiting the water and trying to figure out if I felt that was a good swim, or a bad one.

Pretty sure I was thinking “my time was what I planned, but I still don’t think I feel good about it..”

and then reminding myself that it was 100% on-target for my plan and I need to just focus on my ride ahead

This is right about when I heard my mom yelling and cheering, haha!

Heading out on the start of the bike course.
This is immediately after turning onto Highway 19 to head North. I’m pretty certain the line of palms behind me is the road back into Mauna Lani.

Me and the dude behind me leapfrogged a few times during this part of the bike course. I thinkkk he eventually pulled ahead and lost me though.

Always remember to enjoy the views though! We had a pretty good of the ocean most of the bike ride

Passing this photographer I was reallyyyy hoping he’d get a solid side profile photo of me and my bike! Success! I’m pleased with that.
And my form looks pretty decent, right?

Like I said earlier in the blog, at this point in the run I yelled to the photographer that I needed to look strong…

…followed by me laughing at myself and how hilarious I am with my jokes

This is the last couple hundred yards before the finish where you gotta start running again to look good across the finish line

You can’t tell much in the stills, but in the video (earlier in this blog) you can see my family clearly. My dad is in teal shirt right next to my left shoulder in the image above.

 

Anddd photos from the rest of my trip, from my cell phone

Along with some details in the captions for those who actually want to read more than you already have..

Monday – two days before flying

Kellie arrived in town a few days early. So we had time to run errands before the trip to get last minute things like sandals for the beach, and new race gels/powders for the event.

I was tearing down and packing up my bike while Kellie waited and re-did her nail polish for the trip

Done and packed.
My Cervelo road bike just sitting. It’s got so little use the last 18 months :(

Tuesday – day before our flight

The entire bottom of my suitcase was footwear… and my travel tripod

So I bought this camera “water case” so i could attempt wave photography.

Here’s one of the photos I took a week later in Hawaii with that water case. Not bad!

The afternoon before our flight, I booked us a hotel right next to the airport to save us time in the morning. It ended up being a great idea saving us time in the morning not having to drive through SoCal morning commute traffic

And the room had a ton of space.

I was able to use credit card points I got from the final payments on the AirBNB bookings, so it didn’t cost anything, either.

Wednesday – Travel Day

Just a few (huge) bags… Kellie’s suitcase is completely hidden by my bike bag

Oh dangggg, we fancy!

Honestly, first time ever flying First Class

So I originally booked upgraded seats for us, and it was a much larger plane. Months later Hawaiian changed the plane we were going to be on to a smaller (medium sized) one. So, the cost of First Class for our flight out on the medium plane was now the same cost as our previous Extra Comfort seats on the larger plane. So I upgraded them thinking it would be a fun way to fly out to Hawaii

Cost: Round trip tickets for two, First Class outgoing, and Extra Comfort (exit row) Returning – $2,200

Morning breakfast sandwich… I think this was like an $18 sandwich, too…. LAX prices, mannnn

Nearly time to board!

Letting everyone know we were about to leave

Starbucks and yoga pants in your fancy seat just makes the whole thing very cliché, hahaha

Fancy flight time!
We met a guy on the shuttle that morning named Glenn who walked by and said “That’s the way to do it! (first class). I’m in the back with the peasants!” lol

I’m not a fan of macadamia nuts… so Kellie killed both plates we were given

Chicken and veggies

Eggplant and rice for Kellie

Approaching the island
“Where is all the green??” -Kellie, looking at the lava fields of Kona that we flew in to

Outdoor jetway!

Made it!

Texting the fam that we arrived. My mom and step-dad arrived two hours before us

Waiting on bags. Mine would take longer simply because we had to wait for my bike with the larger items

Once we started to settle in a bit I got my bike rebuilt

And a quick ride around the block to make sure it all felt ok

That evening we went down to the beach for dinner at Lava Lava Beach Club

I had the Ahi

Great first afternoon/evening in Hawaii!

 

The sunset that night was great, too

Thursday – Race Check In Day

Woke up early due to jet lag / time change. So I got up and went for a three mile jog

The views and warm morning definitely makes you think “yeah, I could totally live here and just go on morning runs and be in vacation mode full time..”

The Fairmont had their front entry decorated for the race! Very cool

Later that morning we all headed to Fairmont for Athlete Check In

Gorgeous view right through the lobby as you walk in

Took us a bit to find the Expo
Turns out it was right next to the main entrance (to the left) and we completely missed it by walking straight in

Already a long line for the Iron store.

And it turned out that you had to go through the store to get to Check In. Clever. Usually it’s the other way around, but I’m guessing they realized people want to shop first before things sell out, and then go check in.
And we were no different. We wanted to shop first.

Another bag for the collection of backpacks I have. I’m trying to be better about using them

Done and checked in!

They had course info up on this display

What I found most interesting was the Transition information. This was the first time I was finding out that bags were going to be separate from our bikes

The name wall was very cool

After the Expo we headed over to Mauna Lani Coffee for lunch

After lunch we all drove the bike course.
I’m always a bit uncertain if I want to drive the course to “know what to expect” or not drive the course and “deal with it all on race day…”
But we stopped to see one of the beaches on the way back

Hard to tell but it was both very hot, and very windy

Remains of a very old village that used to be at this spot

Back at the house I was slowly starting to get my stuff together to eventually build my race bags

And later that afternoon we went down to the Mauna Lani Beach Club, which we had access to due to the AirBNB we were staying in

I got in the water to get a little swimming in, and J was giving me a few coaching tips to keep in mind with my stroke and pace

That night we headed back over to Waikoloa for dinner

Fish and Chips for dinner – easy and quick

Friday – Athlete Briefing, and Gear Drop Day
Also the day Monica and Dad arrive

Back at the Fairmont for the Athlete meeting

Bike racks were laid out now

I saw these and realized “Oh, of course they’re using the Ironman Championship style racks… since the championship is here in Kona…”

Those frames in the center is where bags will be hung during the event

And this whole area will be Transition, part of the run course, the finish line, and other activations

The wind was ever present, too

The swim course was about half done with the buoys already

For the race, we would “exit” through the left and “return” on the right between those rocks

Getting my trusty P3 stickered up!
I’ve now raced three Irons, and five Halfs on this particular bike (and a bunch of other cycling things). This is Half number 6 on this specific bike, with a couple races on a different one.

Finalizing my bags… this was so different for a Half because I’ve gotten used to just having one bag, at my bike, that we use/access the whole event.
This was more like a full Iron with two bags that you only have access to one time.

Ok, heading out

Riding down to Gear Drop!

Anddd of course I bumped into Glenn randomly again!

I have to say, this style racking looks much cleaner / less clutter than the usual racks. Very pro/premium feel, if that makes sense

Bike dropped, tires deflated!
I will never forget to deflate my tires at hot locations after hearing other peoples tires burst in the hot sun of Puerto Rico when I racked my bike there

This was completely new for me

So on race day we run through and grab our bag.
During the race one lady was doing here whole Transition change in this pathway. Don’t be that person. You’re not the only one racing.

After dropping everything off Monica and Dad arrived, now the whole family was in town!

My niece had requested vertical photos of Hawaii while we were there

Evening done, hoping to get plenty of sleep before the race!

Saturday – Race Day

Greattttt… I’m not ready to get up

That’s… not great for me, personally

Yeah, I slept terrible. I can feel it. Two hours at the start the of the night was mostly tossing and turning half-awake

It was a chore eating my breakfast. I was not feeling 100%. Not sick or anything, just not how I wanted to feel and I had almost no appetite

But, here we go! Time to walk to the start

Don’t forget to start your Garmin and get that extra walk recorded. haha

Surprisingly low amount of traffic. Granted they were requiring use of the shuttle if you weren’t on foot

T1 for water bottle drop and last bike prep

So during a race I ALWAYS use one of these large size Smart Waters with a sip pop-top, and then a standard water bottle for mixed electrolyte/powders/etc.
I have NEVER thought to put the large water bottle in my aero bars bottle holder for some reason. No idea why I never did this. It fits WAY better and did not move at all during the ride compared to the down tube bottle cage which is small compared to this bottle and I’d always worry it would fall out.

Amazing. I’m shocked I never thought of this in the other races I’ve done. hahaha

The gang’s all here!

Mostly full house

Still seemed quiet out, but we did get there pretty early

Heading toward start. They keep the athlete foot traffic all moving one way, so I had to exit on the other side

Honestly finding a table to sit together and wait was nice. I was still trying to shake off the grogginess I was feeling

Realized I better stretch before I have to go to the corrals

Monica and Kellie walked back to the house and got my swim skin, which was great. I def felt better in the water with it, even if it was mostly a mental thing. J helped me get suited up and I walked down to the corrals right after this pretty much.

Crowd size was increasing at the start line

 

The fam all had a great time while I was out on the course!

My family did a really good job and finding me in the crowd, and then again in the water as I exited

I didn’t realize my “why are you racing Hawaii 70.3” was used on the huge banner wall. And in the “good” spot right on the M-Dot M.

I had joked with Kellie, Monica, and Dad that they would get to sit and enjoy and Mai Tai on the beach while I was on the bike – so they did!

Coming around Lap 1 and starting 2, at about 6.5 miles here. I was pretty burnt up. My legs could run but not climb so I was simply speed walking since there were 6 miles of hills ahead of me. haha
Elias, the guy behind me, caught up and chatted with me for a bit after this. He was in town racing from Norway!

Absolutely accurate look of how I was feeling at the finish

After the race

Hahahaha! This is the guy I asked to take a photo of us. He made sure to take a few of himself first! Legend.

And race day complete! Very cool having everyone here for it

It’s great they had several large tents up just for shade. Notice how everyone not walking somewhere is staying out of the sun? It was hot.
Also, that lady’s sign in the middle says “Therapy was also an option!”

Part of me wanted to stay and watch more of the race. The other part of me was exhausted and ready to get out of the sun. But they had live music and tons of stuff going on

The finish line and people cheering.
When I raced Morro Bay 70.3 I went back to our hotel after, showered and cleaned up, and then walked back to the finish line since we were only two blocks away from it. I was able to cheer on the last finishers of the day at afternoon, which was very cool

Going to get my bike, with it’s flat tire

J helping me change out my blown tube. I was ok with just standing there holding my bike since kneeling down to help was not sounding appealing. So little so, that I was ready to just carry my bike the 3/4 mile walk back on my shoulder rather than change the tube. haha! J was happy to help though, which was great

Kellie got a shot of me and my bike by the “sign” out front

That night we headed out to up to Waimea for dinner at The Fish And Hog

Sunday

Haha, you don’t say Garmin!

…I’ll try

So we took a trip to see the volcano, even though it wasn’t erupting at that point

But we still got some sightseeing in

Trying another trail

My sister the ultra trail marathoner, and J and Mom the Ironman triathletes

And then there’s me… way back here at my slower-than-they-are peak walking speed that day

The amount of shoes we all had laying around was pretty funny. I think four in this photo are mine alone though

That evening we headed to the Mauna Lani Auberge

I had made reservations at CanoeHouse

It was breezy and a bit misty, but fortunately that blew by shortly after we were seated and there was no bad weather for dinner

Ready for a great evening with everyone

Checkin out the menu, honestly everything sounded pretty great.

Some of the food
Snap Peas, Ahi Sashimi, Kona Kanpachi
Prime Tenderloin, Seared Scallops, Strawberry Cheesecake

Family dinner was a successful. All amazing meals

Monday – Monica and Dad fly home

The goats were out having breakfast while we were at the coffee shop!

We went sightseeing that day and stopped at a fruit stand for lunch

Tropical assortment

And the mango assortment

Lunch of champions

Headed to the black sand beach… but access was closed :(

Still a beautiful view though

On the way back we stopped in Waimea

Had to get an iced mocha, of course

We even stopped a second time at Malasadas for donuts!

These were actually pretty amazing. And huge. Like the size of a baseball

Me, in tired mode all day

That evening we went back to Waikoloa Beach for some swimming

Got to swim a bit with Mom, who couldn’t race due to a shoulder injury :( But, still was able to get in the water for a short bit a few times

Tuesday – beaches and luau day

Got these grilled fish tacos at Magic Sands Beach, they were awesome

Briefly checked out Kahalulu Bay area where they offer snorkeling, although we didn’t go in

That night we went to Mauna Kea for the luau that Mom booked. What a gorgeous resort.

Pig this way!

 

Luau time! …almost

If you ever do the Mauna Lea luau, just do General Seating and get there early to be first in line like we did. We still had awesome seats, and it saved a bit of money over the premium seating

The stage is to the left. And the tables on the left are the “premium seats” with regular seating on the right. We were placed direct center on the right. Great spot.

Digging out the pig!

They set up the pig and then said “come get your selfies!”

Which Kellie was not about to pass up, haha!

ooooooh food time!

I think we did pretty good with our selection. I was already starting to eat mine in line. Like the bread and shrimp

I think one of my favorite ones was actually the turkey. They cooked it just like the pork, but it was amazing. But honestly, everything was amazing. I ate most all the deserts I grabbed on the plate on the right, too. The exception being the chocolate ones since they were very very rich.

Sundown, and nearly time for the show to start

On the way out you pass the reef where they’re doing night manta ray tours. But what’s great is they have a large light right near the shore and there were three rays circling that area that you could see from pathway

Wednesday – last day in Hawaii

Kellie and I drove all the way down to South Point. This road paint work was pretty funny.

Very windy, but the cliffs here are beautiful

Dry and barren with the wind and sun

The beaches were full of coral, too

Very clear waters

This is where a lot of people cliff jump. We did, too. Right off the ledge in the center at the bottom of this photo where you see a person’s arm

My dad, sister, and I came here during a family trip like 17 years ago. And I was really bummed at that time that I didn’t have my swimsuit to cliff dive. So I’m glad I did it this time.

On the way back we met up with everyone else who were were at Maniniowali Beach.

My mom took this photo of me in the waves, trying to get wave photos with my camera and camera bag

And overall, they came out pretty decent for a first try at this

Later that night I was finally starting to pack up all my gear…. cuz… you know… we fly home the next day

Thursday – Returning home

Mom and J were leaving first, with Kellie and I leaving a couple hours after.
We spent the morning packing up the last of our things and cleaning up the house

And, now we’re off, too!

First stop was the Post Office, where we met some wild chickens that were walking around

Car drop off was smooth and quick

Now just time to wait for the shuttle

Oh man! right under the limit, go me!

The completely outdoor airport will always be memorable flying in/out of Hawaii

Gotta get the right magnet for friends back home!

And just waiting for our flight back :(

This family in front of us with the kids were throwing all sorts of comments to people walking around them because their family was walking slow, the kids weren’t carrying their bags, and they were otherwise kind of in the way of the flow of people. lol

Last photos before we’re on our way

One last turn and pose before boarding, haha!

While we were once again on a smaller plane than planned, and didn’t have the really-upgraded space I originally booked, we still had the exit row and no one sitting next to me which left extra foot space for my other bag

Pizza hot pocket for lunch! haha!

Took a while back at LAX for my bike to come out, but everything arrived safely and we were finally in the last stages of travel home

This guy apparently can’t part his truck…

Friday – Kellie flies out

Afternoon flight out worked well since we didn’t get back home after the airport until nearly 2am, and combined with jet lag waking up in the morning was rough

Looks like that’s where I got my flat in the race…

Reassembling my bike and unpacking… My living room was a disaster and my table/desk was super cluttered with my computer stuff and camera gear

And done! My race bike is back together – just needs a new rear tire most likely. And probably a tune up would be great.

 

And that’s it! Lots of travel, lots of photos, and lots of amazing memories with everyone.
For those who made it all the way to end, hope you enjoyed this very long look at my week in Hawaii and race at the Ironman Hawaii 70.3 20th anniversary race!