Wednesday in Kona..

Yes, that is Ironman perfume. No, it does not smell like B.O., although that would be appropriate. It was in the goody bag. Along with 6 conifers worth of paper. The Ironman folks are not at all concerned with that whole deforestation/global warming thing, based on the contents of the goody bag:

The 8:30 am flight to Kona was stacked with Boca-ites, with Yamamoto-san, K & I and Olympic-trial swimmer Flanagan all jumping on board the 40 minute flight. Flanagan ran a marathon once in prep for his first Ironman - in 2:50. You will hear his name when the first amateur comes out of the ocean on Saturday morning.

Team Timex mechanic extraordinaire Doug set up my bike for me. And found himself a present stashed in the fancy cardboard box. We surfed the Sunday after Kona last year and I hear board shorts are hard to come by in Wisconsin. I came back half way through to find my poor naked bike with no crank, fork, wheels, seat.. apparently something got lost in the frame. She's all set now, and Alex M-M even knew how to fix my powertap. It's sad, but I am no longer Chris Lieto.

It's go go go when you arrive this late. The first stop was the Zoot tent at Huggo's for my race shoes. The 09 ultras are silver and I love them! And while I was there I got to meet Kristin of Betty Designs, who designed my race suit for Kona. Which I hear will be arriving tomorrow.. Kristin and I have similar taste in sunglasses:

David Goggins was at the expo. It'll be his first Ironman. He does 100 milers, Badwater, and the Ultraman, so I asked if this would feel like a sprint. He said he doesn't know what sprinting is. He is worth googling - the man is incredible. And somehow The Sergio always ends up in my hottie photos.. what a coincidence.

After the panel at the expo, my bike was ready to roll and then it was off to registration, room check-in, and general running around like a chicken with no head. I met Tracy and Shawn and got my Nuun-addiction refueled. I had a powerbar for lunch. And another a few hours later. At some point Katherine put my room key in my hand. About 8 minutes later I realized it was gone. The Seaside uses real keys. Giant metal ones. Once I stuffed one down my swimsuit top for a long swim and lost it in the ocean, so I know all about the $50 key replacement fee. I went to visit my coach at the Lifesport Lounge, walked in and dumped out my bag. No key.

Check out my new shoes! And all the crap I carry in my purse. And my IT-band icing set up.

I went and searched the Boca bike shop. No key. I searched the registration area. No key. Then I remembered throwing away lunch's wrapper at Boca and sat down with the trash bin. I went through piece by piece, soggy napkin by chewed-gum nugget, and found the key at the bottom, inside a cardboard powerbar box. And then I washed my hands like Woody Allen.

Off to Lava for dinner and to find more friends.