It was hot. 90 degrees with 10-13 mph winds. I sat on the trainer in the shade of our van with ice packs down my jersey doing my best to keep my core cool while I opened up the legs and elevated the heart rate for the upcoming event. After the first bit of warm up it was time to make final preparations and roll to the start line. Nerves were subsiding slightly.

The journey to New Zealand started for me way back in 2019 in the pre-Covid era. The 2020 Ironman 70.3 World Championships were slotted to be hosted in Taupo and it was my sole mission for the year to qualify for that race giving me and Herchel a “reason” to go to New Zealand. It’s been so long now that I can’t remember what race I did to qualify, but I got the slot….and then Covid hit. The race was cancelled. In 2023 they announced the race would again take place in Taupo for 2024, and it was again my mission to get that qualifier.

We left cold, dreary Nashville for New Zealand on December 3rd and arrived in Auckland to sunny warmth on December 5th. We spent the first night in Auckland before heading to our first longer destination: the Coromandel Peninsula.

Race day arrived and I was very ready to race. Since it gets light a bit later there, race morning wasn’t a super early wake up call. I think we got up around 5:15 a.m. to get ready and head down toward the race venue. Water temperature was reading at 61 degrees, and the air temp was only 55 degrees. This made me happy and just told myself the water would feel warm compared to the chill in the air.

To get Jason back into the swing of things, we are building him from sprint to olympic distance events. Reason one for this is race availability within his work and family schedules, and reason two is just to get some racing in. The more you race, the more comfortable you are with being uncomfortable, no matter the distance.