You would hate to be in Kona…

…if you had a body image problem.

As the great and the good of Long distance triathlon descend on Kona, anyone in town and not connected with the race might think that they had landed on a different planet. For 2 weeks this place is “Ironworld”.

In “Ironworld” fat people don’t exist – I’m not being fattest here, just stating a common fact. If you have a body image problem then you definitely don’t want to be here. Just about everyone has a single digit bodyfat and looks great into the bargain.

It’s been a few weeks now since I did the Norseman and I have put on a few pounds since the race. This I keep telling myself, is part of the recovery process. However it’s difficult to walk down Alii Drive without feeling a little on the fat side (and I’m definitely not fat… at least not in “RealWorld”).

However if you did have a body image problem then Kona in race week is definitely not the place for you.

Every year the cruise ships are in town for the first couple of days of race week but by Wednesday they have usually disappeared. I now believe that it’s because the hundreds of fat passengers on board have overwhelmed the ship psychiatrist, and the Captain has to move on before the poor guy has his own breakdown.

Anyway this is the World Championships and as you’d expect from the top 5% (thats approximately) of the world Ironmen athletes, they have all arrived in great shape. I’m consoling myself with the fact that they dont look like this 52 weeks of the year and in fact once the race is over and they get back to “RealWorld” they’ll pile on the lard just like the rest of us.

So that’s it for my first Kona blog. I’m off out to get my green salad (hold the dressing) to keep up with the in crowd.

Stay tuned for more Kona ramblings tomorrow.

Mahalo