November 26
th After waking up on our first full day in Kona, we ate a hearty breakfast and drank 12 gallons of motor oil (espresso) before heading to the world famous Dig-Me Beach (Home of the Ironman World Championship Swim Start). Upon our arrival, we met several of the other Ultraman athletes and support team crew members who have traveled from all over the world to compete in this race.
Brooks and I went out after seeing these guys and bought new bathing suits! European style!! The 3 of us headed out for a swim. The water was warm and the buoyancy was incredible in the salt water. After swimming and hanging out with the other groups, we dropped into the post office, picked up Peter’s bike and wheels and assembled his bike for the race. After an afternoon run workout for Peter and Brooks, and a ride for Dean, we piled back into the car and went to have Peter’s bike inspected. A group of the other participants were set to leave for night diving with the manta-rays, so Brooks and I went with them and Peter completed his inspection. Very cool experience with these large creatures swimming around you. After diving, we caught back up with Peter at the Java Lava coffee shop in downtown and saw that Peter was cornered by 2 young girls from Finland and the US. They were mission girls that were on a path but had yet been told what God wanted them to do. Hopefully, God speaks to them soon, because bible thumping at Java Lavas to Peter Kotland will not get you to far. Upon leaving, the girls asked if they could pray for us. Peter so kindly sais, "I don't know vut to pray for, Dean you got anything?." I asked them to pray for our van not to hit Peter during the race by accident or for any other reason!
We should have asked for them to pray for us at our home stay because things have gone weird at home. We drove home to a 2-page note that clearly outlined the do's and dont's of the home. We have 1 light bulb in a lamp, are sleeping on floors, all of our electronics must be unplugged, no fans on in house, our stuff must remain clean around her piles, we are literally living with Ghekkos that crawl around us which eat the ants, and are surrounded by hippy neighbors who seem to be self purging (throwing up) outdoors in the middle of the night. Being hospitable guests, Peter posted the note on the refrigerator just to make things a bit more comfortable for everybody including our host, and we now we try to be up and out before our friend rises and home after she gos to bed. Hawaiian hospitality is a bit bizarre. We spend our time at Java Lavas until We met back up for a vintage Kotland pasta fiesta with 3 gallons of hot sauce that will make you sweat out a few pounds at dinner at our home-stay and sacked out for another night with the Ghekkos.
November 27th
As with the day before, we swam in the morning and began to work with Peter on his nutrition plan for the race. We picked up his other bike at the post office and headed for registration. On our way to registration, we found a Ghekko in the car. He was sitting on the driver’s seat right above my shoulder and jumped onto Brooks. These things are everywhere!
Registration went smooth, and Peter was interviewed by Slow Twitch online magazine. It seems that Peter’s return to the race is well received and he poses a very serious threat to win the race this year. Of course, our goal is to set a new overall world record time for the race which is very possible with Peter’s conditioning, and staying healthy during the race.
After registration, we stopped home for some lunch, and headed out to the hills for some bike training. We stopped by Cosco to get some drinks and pizza. That place was a nightmare! We got everything we needed and the electric keys to the mini-van stopped working, and we were locked out of the car. In times of crisis like this action was requ ired, so we slapped the pizza box on the hood and ate in the parking lot of Cosco. After about an hour, Peter finally found a manual key embedded in the key chain and we got the doors unlocked. We drove straight to the rental car shop, picked up a new car with a full tank of gas, and headed up the hill.
After a few hours of delays, we finally looked like we were getting to our destination and then the road was shut down and we got stuck for another 45 minutes in traffic. So, we put Peter on his bike and sent him on the way.
Brooks and I backtracked through town and circled around an alternative route to meet Peter in a town up in the mountains. Peter climbed and descended 4000 feet up to a town called Hawi and Brooks and I took up some sight seeing while we waited.
After another trip to Cosco to pick up van supplies for the race, we booked home for a pasta meal at home, and then we took off to the local coffee shop and mapped out the nutrition plan hour by hour for the 3-days of racing.
Not sure what the temperament is of the other teams and their crew, but we are like the bad news bears in the Kotland camp! As usual, we find humor in just about everything, the mood is very light, relaxed and most importantly, we are having fun. However, come game day, Peter will be rested, in good spirits and ready to rock. His support team will be totally in synch to get him home as the 2008 Ultraman World Champion.
NOTE: Photo Album can be seen in its entirety at:
Dean's albumUsername - dsinatra@enterprisepartners.biz
password - sinatra21
Happy Thanksgiving and Aloha from all of us in Hawaii!!
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