Raise the Bar's history-making Ironmen ar
e in Kona as I type this. I imagine Brian Guillan has secured a dinner invitation for he and his beautiful wife, Tracy, at the Larson (Nancy & Marty) condo - which is in some deluxe high-rise on Ali'i Drive. Leave it to Marty and Nancy to find a sweet spot to stash themselves in before Saturday's race.
e in Kona as I type this. I imagine Brian Guillan has secured a dinner invitation for he and his beautiful wife, Tracy, at the Larson (Nancy & Marty) condo - which is in some deluxe high-rise on Ali'i Drive. Leave it to Marty and Nancy to find a sweet spot to stash themselves in before Saturday's race.Both Brian and Nancy regaled me with tales of their first couple of days in Triathlon Mecca. Here are the highlights....
-They've swam parts of the Ironman course in their nifty new Blue Seventy .
03 speedsuits (no wetsuits allowed at the World Championships, you know) Brian assured me he was the fastest kid in the pond today - leaving all training-swim competition in his big imposing wake. Calls swimmimg there the best swimming of his life. Nancy was equally enthusiastic but mentioned more than once that the one-loop, rectangular course looks a tad long. 1+mile from one end to the other? I'll bet it looks long.
03 speedsuits (no wetsuits allowed at the World Championships, you know) Brian assured me he was the fastest kid in the pond today - leaving all training-swim competition in his big imposing wake. Calls swimmimg there the best swimming of his life. Nancy was equally enthusiastic but mentioned more than once that the one-loop, rectangular course looks a tad long. 1+mile from one end to the other? I'll bet it looks long.-Both have ridden parts of the bike course - lavafields looking as if they go on for miles......'cause apparently they do. They drove to the bike turnaround at Hawi and enjoyed what must pretty 'A#1' ice cream judging by their enthusiasm. Supposedly there's some sort of long climb...and the chance of wind....all this paled in comparison to the ice cream reviews. 
-Brian found himself sharing the road with 2006 World Champion Normann Stadler and his running entourage yesterday as they both Normann and Brian were on a training run. Brian told me he knew he must be doing something very wrong when on the training run he was catching up with Normann, so he backed off.
Probably the best story so far is of Brian & Nancy running into Chrissie Wellington , 2007 World Champion, at registration.
Our young Brian (lovingly called "Friggin' Brian" by his training buddies for reasons we can explain at another time) noticed that Chrissie was standing in line with the Ironman squalor that were mere qualifiers. Our chivalrous Brian encouraged her to move up to the front of the line with the ultimate words of encouragement - "You're Chrissie Friggin' Wellington!" Chrissie, finding Brian - or rather Brian's advice - irresistible, made her way to the front only to return a few moments later. They wouldn't let her register. "I've got to go to the back of the que because I don't have my ID", she explained to Brian in a lovely British accent he relayed over the phone.....We'll await more excitement from our Ironman athletes. Be sure to tune in later for Dr. Phil Spencer's Email interview with our young stars.
Patty
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