I did it! I did it! I did Kona. I still can't believe the day, the week leading up to it, or the days after. I am trying not to lose that feeling-of accomplishing one of the biggest feats in the world. At least once a day I say out loud: I just did the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii! I did it!

The day was long, I woke at 3:00AM to finish getting ready and to start eating, I made myself a sandwich, put on the coffee and put on my tattoos. I also wrote on my arms my key mantras and the verses to remember for the day.

I had been nervous and scared leading up to Saturday, but I woke up ready to go. I was able to eat and pack and do all the things needed to get out the door (IYKYK) and face this big, amazing race. It was like I knew I had a job to do. Ace and I headed to the King Kam and I entered the transition flow. I dropped off my personal needs bags, the volunteers checked my tattoos, I They checked my body marking tattoos, I dropped off my personal needs bags and I headed to check on Lanakeli.

On the way I met Bob Babbit! He had been at the Aloha reception on Wednesday night and had introduced one of the newest Triathlon Hall of Famers. It was great to meet him. He was so gracious when I asked for a selfie and he wished me good luck with a knuckle-bump. I’ve been watching Breakfast with Bob for so many years. His interviews are inspiring and funny. I've always thought it would be fun to do what he does.

When I got to LanaKeli, I noticed she was a little crooked in her stall. The racks they use for Kona are not your typical metal racks where you hang your seat from the crossbar. They use a system where your back tire fits into a starting block and you twist a screw to tighten it in. When I arrived, the bike next to me was gone-which was good because Lana was leaning into her space. When I put my bottles in the rear cages, she tipped a little more. And that was about the same time Carole from France came back with her bike. We made small talk about the coming day. I told her I was sorry about my bike and said: I'm going to get an official to help. I was not worried about when tipping over-but, I also didn't want to damage anyone else's equipment. The volunteer couldn't do much else, so we left it. I wished Claudia “Bon Courage” (a phrase I had heard over & over in NICE in 2016), I patted Lana, I tucked Moana into my Bento box and was on my way. I headed out to meet Neal, stood in line at the Porto- potties and went to meet Tonya & Maria. We walked past the swim entrance and all the fencing to the wall along the water to fin them. I cried as soon as I saw Tonja & Maria.