Friday October 19: California and Hawaii

This fall has really all been about the World Championship Ironman race in Kona, Hawaii. Ever since our son-in-law qualified for this race (by finishing high enough in his age group in a regular iroman to win a slot to this race), our plans revolved around being at the race to cheer him on.

Somewhere in the mass of bodies is Matt!

Matt swam 2.4 miles ...

Biking through downtown Kailua.

and he biked 112 miles ...

Practice run through the lava fields of the Big Island.

and he ran 26.2 miles ....

all in 85 degree heat and sun ...

and he finished in 10 hours 47 minutes!!!



















And his in-person support team cheered him on: Linda, Wendy, Steve, (Matt), Randy and Cindy. Many friends and relatives were also 'watching' and cheering him on through the internet.

Matt pointing out his name on the banner listing all 2,500 racers!

It was fun knowing he was one of the elite 2500 racers who came from 82 countries from around the world for the 40th World Championship Ironman here in Kona.

Not a bad looking group of supporters - given that it was 4:30 in the morning the day of the race!

Randy, Cindy, Steve and Wendy (missing from photo) did masterful jobs of being actually at the race and cheering.

I was the designated driver to get them downtown and back to help lessen the amount of walking and the frustration of finding parking.




The rest of the month on the west coast was spent - well, I'm not quite sure HOW it was spent! Lots of beach walking for Steve, lots of reading for me.

We were able to connect with Karen and Craig - friends we first met on the Trent Canal a couple of years ago. They live in San Juan Capistrano - about an hour north of Matt and Wendy's home.

And we met Becky's new puppy, Trevi, and were able to see London again. Both cute dogs :-)

Trevi

London

Trevi on the left (3 months old) ....


and London on the right (now about 10 months old).

Becky with Trevi and London

Hard to tell the size difference but this gives some idea :-)


















We finally return to San Diego tomorrow and then back to Florida on Wednesday. We have a week to complete jobs on the trawler before Yesterday's Dream scheduled launch on October 30. Will update next week as the progress continues ....