Just counting the hours until competing in the Ironman World Championships

So here we are, just days away from the biggest race on the triathlon calendar: The World Ironman Championships, here in Kona, Hawaii. Kona has transformed over the past week from a quite, relaxed town with no traffic into a small Triathlon City with hundreds of athletes running up and down Ali’i Drive and cycling along the Queen K Highway—in their lycra and compression socks! I can see the locals thinking “what the hell?”

Preparation has gone well over the last 2 months and the last 10 days have been mostly about recovery with a few small hard workouts to keep the engine running. I am fortunate to have one of my massage therapists from New Zealand, Ian McKellar, up here with me looking after my body and making sure my muscles are ready to go come Saturday. He assures me my body is in a better place than before IM Germany! My coach Jon Ackland arrived on the weekend with my folks and girlfriend Kelly. It is great to have Jon’s help and expert advice leading into the event. And having my folks and Kel fussing over me and making sure I don’t have to worry about anything is the best.

Also a big thanks to Chris “Macca” McCormack for inviting me out to Kona in August to hang out and train. He is a great athlete and top guy who didn’t have to think twice about sharing any information with me.

There are a great number of supporters from back home and around the world coming over to cheer me on, so thanks guys. I have also done interviews with TVNZ and TV3, so that should screen sometime this week.

You can follow the race at www.ironman.com on Saturday October 10th. We kick off at 6:45 a.m. Hawaii time, which is six hours behind EST (and Sunday at 5:45 in New Zealand). Hope the coverage is great and you all enjoy it.