Lavaman – the aftermath

It’s been almost a week since the race and now it seems so long ago.

The rest of race day concluded with time at the pool – as if I needed to swim anymore, but we were mostly cooling off and going down waterslides.  Then there was a big victory party for all the Team in Training chapters, dinner and dancing poolside as the sun set.  You would think our legs would’ve been like jelly but we danced for quite awhile, despite the very random playlist coming from the DJ. Highlights included Kelli & Lauren’s spot on rendition of Ice Ice Baby, as well as Lauren & Mario recreating Thriller.  By the time the party ended it felt like we had dance late into the night, but it was only about 9:00pm and we were all in bed by 10:00pm.

Monday morning, Dean, Lauren & Kelli all headed to Lanai for a few days while I slept in.  My roommate Stephanie went to get a massage and I lounged around my room.  Shortly after Stephanie left there a knock at the door with free breakfast arriving, extending my lounge time even more.  Eventually I was all packed and head towards the lobby to meet Courtney who had graciously offered me a ride down to Kona where I was planning to spend the day with Lee & Retha.  Another teammate Mario was also heading south with us – we dropped him at the airport, and then I got front door service to the Kona Bali Kai.

I had barely set my bags down when I was in charge of making cookies.  The rest of the afternoon was also spent catching up on emails, watching basketball (memphis, what happened?) and getting acupuncture.  That’s right, I said acupuncture.

Retha has a guy named Joe that comes regularily and since he was scheduled to come that day, I got treated too since I have always wanted to try it.  Joe treated Retha in her wheelchair, so I laid down on her bed and waited to see what would happen.  Since it was my first time, Joe only used 8 needles: one each in my hands, near the thumb, one near each elbow, one near each knee and one near each big toe.  The only one I really felt going in was the one near my left toe.  The rest were just quick pricks.  In an ideal world Joe wanted me to turn off the TV and totally relax, but it was the begininng of the national championship game – no way!  So I watched the first half form bed with needles stuck out from me.  Occasionally I would feel little gurgles or twinges, but nothing too crazy.  After awhile, Joe pulled needles out and was on his way, but not before insinuating once again that I probably didn’t reach full relaxation since the TV was on.

Later I made dinner and the Uncle Lee drove me out to the airport to catch my red-eye flight back home.  Since Kona is a tiny airport, rolling in an hour early is usually fine.  On a week when two airlines have gone out of business, apparently not a good idea.  Walking up to teh counter, I was informed I was one of teh last to check in and may not get a seat since teh plane was oversold, despiet the fact that I was part of a group.  I hung out there for about 40 minutes, at which point I got a boarding pass with a seat asisgnment, but that seat had an asterik next to it, meaning I would need to check-in again at the gate.  I hurried over to security and the X-ray machine broke down while my stuff was right in the middle of it.  While waited anxiously to figure out what was wrong, my name was being called over the intercom to get to the gate.  Several stressful minutes later I got my stuff, ran to the gate, got a seat and walked out to my plane.  whew!  While happy to have a seat, a recommendation for all of you:  Red-Eye flights the day after a triathlon, not a great idea.

We landed back in rainy Seattle 45 minutes late, which cut into my nap time before going to work.  I caught a few winks before putting in a full day, then headed home to get a massage around the corner.  Lindsay worked me over, but in a good way.  At the end she said “I wanted to spend more time on your shoulders, but your legs were so sad.”  That my friends, sums up my lavaman experience.  I may have been slow for the field, but I finished and still beat lots of other people.  And in the end, no matter what the time, I finished my first Olympic Distance triathlon while 6 billion other people around the world did not