Kona Picks!

Oh baby I am excited! It's unfortunate that I won't be able to watch most of the coverage because I'll be driving down to Atlantic City as the race starts, and I'll probably be busy most of the afternoon getting prepped. I'll be keeping up as much as I can though. I even started a twitter account so I can get the tweet updates haha.

I'll keep this short and sweet - race predictions and top 3.

Ladies first:

3rd place: Mirinda Carfree
2nd place: Meredith Kessler
1st place: Caroline Steffan

The woman's race will be a good one. I think Steffan will show that she is the best woman in the sport right now and win it coming off the bike in the lead. Kessler has been quiet for a while, which should mean she's well rested. She usually races like 10 IM's a year (and wins 8 of them), so we'll see what happens when she actually settles in and does one right. Rinny is such a fast runner that she'll come off the bike 15+min back, but she'll run out of real estate before she can catch up to the woman twice her size.

Men:

3rd place: Andy Potts
2nd place: Sebastian Kienle
1st place: Pete Jacobs

The men's race will be epic. There are SO many great athletes in the field. I think Potts will surprise people this year and get on the podium. He, like Kessler, usually panics and sneaks in an extra race overcooking himself. He hasn't raced since Vegas, so I think he's as ready as he'll ever be. Kienle is a monster on the bike and runs well too. The only thing I think will surprise people is that I don't think he'll come off the bike first! I think Andy Starykowicz will just act like a gorilla and crush the existing bike course record. I also think he'll either drop out or run like a 3:30 marathon because he overdoes it on his first trip to the island. PJ is just too good. He's not only in peak form (he did a 70.3 in 3:39 a few weeks back! 3:39! His bike split was like 2:01 and his run was like 1:13... who does that?!?!) he's also got his head on straight. He knows he's the best, and he'll prove it again.

It pains me to keep Crowie, Andy Raelert, and Eneko Llanos off the list, but I think Crowie is too old, Andy can't get his head around winning in Kona, and Eneke is overdone by his outstanding performances at Melbourne and Frankfurt this year.

Once I get past this weekend I'll start to build my 2014 plan toward IMLP. It's not a secret - I'm shooting for a Kona slot. I will keep that at the forefront of my mind to keep me motivated. I want to get to the Big Island. I want to race on the Queen K. I want to be among the best in the sport. And I think I know what it will take to get there.

Fun weekend ahead!
Thanks for reading!
PW