The Day After

I have not had a headache like this for quite a while. We had a very big night last night after the awards ceremony and didn't get home until 5am after a real bender in Kona town. My mates were asking me last night if it had all settled in. Did I feel any different. I honestly dont know what it is I feel, but it is a very nice feeling. I m just so much at peace within myself now it is a wonderful feeling. It was funny, I was talking to my mate Mick Gilliam, who came this year to watch me race in Kona, as we sat and watched Alii and Tyson boxing videos in the nights before the big race, and he asked me if I was ready to face my demons on the lava fields. We looked at it very much like the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight that Alii and Foreman had almost 30 years before. Alii was taking on a fighter who had pulverised guys that had taken Ali the distance. Yet he faced his demons in the ring that night and walked away with the title in an amazing display. I said to Mick, "I really think this will be me this year. I want to face my self doubt and my demons this year in the lava fields. I think i am brave enough to sieze the moment like Alii did. I know i can do this." It was a really nice talk and I relfected on this a lot during the race. We talked about this last night and I think it was this very thing that personally was the most satisfying experience I have drawn from the race.

I spoke a few times to Cameron Widoff who i trained with all summer this year in Boulder and he was really cool. We had a great crew of training buddies this year in Boulder and we pretty much kept to ourselves and got the job done. We had a laugh about that as we had some funny nights out and the entire preparation this year was awesome fun aswell. Paul Ambrose and Stanto kept us laughing all summer but still backed up everyday to do the sessions we had planned out. It was a good crew. Anyway my head is still a bit sore and I definately am tired. My daughter Tahlia is screaming at me to take her swimming down the pool here so I will sign off really quickly here. I just wanted to thank all the people who have sent me emails of congratulations and for luck before the race. We turnd off all our phones and internet connection before the race this year so we could stay focused on the job so I opened up my account today to over 600 messages. Thanks everyone it really means a lot to me. Anyway I will write again in a few days. Emma an I have decided to stay an extra week in Hawaii before heading back to Colorado. We have a few mates in town with families and we decided we would just lay out on the beach and enjoy the moment. It will be a long deserved vacation for us all. I will write again in a couple of days I promise. We are now back online. Thanks, Macca