The woman’s race is always tricky yet it is easy. There are two dominating woman and no one else can come close. They put on so much time on every one on the bike that the race is over by the turnaround and Hawi. So it would be easy to just say either Michellie Jones or Natasha Badman will win the race. I think it is a tossup there. In my opinion the only other threat may be Joanna Lawn, she has steadily improved and nearly ever has a bad race. If she can come off the bike near the front she may have a chance. This year I know a bit more about Michellie’s training than last year and I picked her to win then. I think her environment in Cali is just too busy for my liking but I have to pick her just because she has a good head one her shoulders and most likely has learned a trick or two. So here are my top 5.
1. Michellie Jones
2. Natasha Badman
3. Joanna Lawn
4. Heather Fuhr
5. Kate Allen
Now about my race. For the past year I have been writing about the road to Kona on this blog and this is the last post before we find out how the road ends. It is amazing how fast time passes by. I am a few pounds lighter, a little fitter and a little wiser. The wiser part has to be my edge tomorrow. I am definitely way slower than 10 years ago. But I have a lot more upstairs. If I can execute my plan I can be ok. I need to have a steady run. That is the main goal. Have a steady run. The key to this will be controlling your emotions and staying calm. I am usually good about that but it has been a long time.
As I mentioned in my video above, the main goal is to finish. Having said that, people ask me what time do I want to come in at? I think somewhere under 11 hours will be good. I would say I can do a 1 hour swim, 6 hour bike and 4 hour run. Give or take 15 minutes on the bike or run, add or subtract based on weather conditions and it should average to about 11 hours. The weather man is predicting cool weather, low winds but perhaps lots of rain. As I post thus at 8:30 PM Hawaii time it is pouring outside. The turnaround at Hawi has 100% chance of rain. What does that mean? Does that mean it will for sure rain at some point or does it mean it will rain all day? But hey who cares? The weather man is wrong most of the time. I remember in years past they always got it wrong. So tomorrow I will be able to tell you exactly what the weather was like :--) I’ll check it out for you.
Well gang. Check Ironman.com for my updates. I plan to finish and hang out near the finish line until midnight waiting for some of my athletes. Not sure if I can squeeze a blog post in there. But Mark usually can and I will ask him to give you a message from me. But a recap of my experience is in the future. Aloha and Mahalo for your support.