Tuesday is the second day on the Kona trip and the first full day on the Big Island.

I didn’t sleep too great last night, the jetlag had me waking every hour, I finally gave up at 4:30am and got up. Kinda glad I did get up early at least one day whilst out here, I was able to head outside and watch the sunrise over the volcano in the distance. Certainly not something you get to see that often.

Seeing the sunrise was stunning and then seeing the cloud and mist around one of the other volcanos with the top peaking out was a very rewarding way to start the day. This is what travel is all about for me, coming to places you have never visited before to witness such natural stunning beauty like this.

I don’t really have a lot of plans for today but it has a feel of a busy hectic day to it. First off though I went for a walk around the Waikoloa Beach Resort where I am staying for the week. I stopped off at a Starbucks to grab a coffee only to find a local coffee shop around the corner. Starbucks is great but you can never beat a proper local coffee shop. Next time I come out in the morning this will be my coffee stop to support the local community rather than a global giant like Starbucks.

After my walk I decided to go out for a run, nothing crazy, just an easy 30 minute run to shake out the legs. Even at 7am it was warm and the humidity had me sweating by the end of it. The heart rate was higher than a normal easy-paced run back home but that will be the combo of the travel, jet lag and heat/humidity. Worth remembering for race day though.

I headed out briefly onto the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, where the majority of Saturday’s bike and run will be. Not too much to say about it from a run point of view, it’s a long wide highway but the views are quite special. Difficult to judge distance and therefore pace as it is so open but given I will most likely be walking most of the run, there is only one pace for a walk and that’s walking pace lol.

I had breakfast in the apartment and then went down to the beach area, I did go down to get some photos but once there decided it looked too nice not to go in for a swim.

The first proper task for the day was one which I shouldn’t have had to do but MUST do in order to race on Saturday.

I needed to head back to the airport and pick up my bike. I had kept an eye on the AirTag earlier, it had moved to the terminal where I flew out of last night and was “last seen” a couple of hours ago so I felt confident it had made it onto the plane and was on it’s way.

Big relief when I got to the baggage reclaim and could see it there in the corner with the other bike boxes!

After that I felt more relaxed and as though I could get on with the trip now. So to celebrate I went to Wal-Mart in Kona to get some food and snacks for the week.

Back home I built the bike, no issues there, everything was still in one piece despite the dreaded TSA calling card in the box, they must have had a poke around inside whilst it was at San Francisco.

Quick 30 minute ride to make sure the gears and brakes etc are working as expected again on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway. I had seen and heard of a lot of flats out here, I only had 2 CO2 canisters with me on this trip and don’t want to be using those outside of race day. Well! actually, I would rather use them outside of race day but always good to have them with me.

Next task and only real task I had for today before having to take the airport trip was to head into Kona and get registered for Saturday. I parked up a little outside of town to get a photo of this stunning view out to see, again appreciating the natural beauty of Hawai’i.

Having been here for 24 hours this was my first taste of the Ironman World Champs, I had purposely removed myself from all that hype by staying 30mins up the coast in Waikoloa. Just coming into Kona for registration I could get a sense of just how big this event is.

Once I had done with the registration and of course the merch tent I headed straight back home… wearing my new Ironman World Championship cap and t-shirt.

I was driving back just as the sun was setting on my left-hand side, there is something about the sunsets out here, they just glow a different kind of orange. Maybe it is that mix of the volcanic gases in the air but whatever it is, every sunrise and sunset I have seen so far has been stunning.

That was pretty much it for day 2 out here, the jet lag was taking hold when I got back, all I did was have dinner, and shower and I was in bed for 9pm.