Nr.1192 and family ready to go

With today being a public holiday and me in my taper phase of training it was nice spending the whole day with the family. I only had an hour interval session on the bike and although it was hard while doing it I was done by 9am. It was also very strange but nice not to wake up at 4am to start training.

Today is know as national Braai (Barbecue) day in South Africa and the weather did not disappoint, it was a lovely sunny day. Not to mention we also had a braai.

Dejone can't hide her excitement anymore and with the school holiday that started yesterday we are going to have a tough time keeping her calm and relaxed until Sunday before we fly out.

Dolly or should I say Jumbo, Dejone's little Poodle enjoying the attention while we were busy braaing.



During the week the BIB numbers were issued and number 1192 was assigned to me. It's amazing that now suddenly the number 1192 has a special meaning to me but before that it meant nothing.



Our travel plan is also finalized and I must give a special shout out and thank you to Nina and Dana Jack (http://www.cafepress.com/swimbikeruntri ) who will be hosting us in Los Angeles the night before we fly out to Kona. Nina has put so much effort into helping us with choosing a hotel in LA on our way back and also helping us with the planning of things to do during the days we're in LA.



Also a special thank you to Donna deWick ( http://www.myfitnessyear.com/ ) who helped us with the planning of our London leg. I did not know there are so many swimming pools in Central London until Donna helped me chose one close to our hotel as I need to fit in a swim session during our time in London.



For those interested here is a basic layout of our travel plan for the next three weeks.



We're flying to London on Sunday night and will be spending two days in London. Apart from taking Dejone to the major tourist attractions (Buckingham palace, Big Ben, Eye of London etc.) we are going to watch a musical the Monday night and a football match on Tuesday evening.



Arriving Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles we are spending the evening with the Jack's.



Then on Thursday morning we fly to Kona and for the next 13 days it's focusing and doing what I've trained for the last 20 weeks, Ironman Worlds.



We return to Los Angeles on the 13th of October and will spend the next three days exploring LA while staying in Santa Monica right on the beach.



Apart from exploring the city we are taking Dejone to Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Kim will be attending a recording of the Ellen DeGeneres show on the Wednesday. The highlight for me will be on the Tuesday night when we are going to an Ice Hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Minnesota Wild. Although I don't understand the rules 100% it will be fun to watch.



We return to London on the Saturday for a short stop over before we fly back to South Africa on Sunday the 18th of October.