I MADE IT THROUGH THE WILDERNESSSOMEHOW I MADE IT THROUGH....

here's the math so far:

32 hours since i left L.A.
1 lost FUCKER before i got to Miami
8 mile run knocked out while running back and forth through the Sao Paolo airport trying to avoid...
1 more lost bag and...
1 missed flight
6 more hours of layover in Sao Paolo in which time
1 lost FUCKER was found and reunited on the rescheduled flight which cost me...
0 money (shout out to Luigi at TAM airways who is super fond of his year he spent abroad in Chicago)
1 happy iron virgin, who somehow through it all did not freak out or utter one curse word to anybody (maybe it's just because i don't know how to say FUCK in Portuguese)

turns out Oli brought his laptop, so i'm able to get online and write while he watches "The Magnificent 7" up in the room. and if it hadn't already set in that i'm here and about to do an Ironman, let me just be a star fucker for a second and let you in on who else is sitting with me in the lobby soakin' up the free wireless. to my left on the couch next to me sits HILLARY BISCAY. um, yeah, kind of a big deal. we've been swapping lost bike stories while she's online trying to coordiate her peeps back in the states to put another bike together and ship it to her. wow, doesn't suck to be her!!! now across from me sits perhaps the biggest deal going here this week. yep, two-time IM Brasil winner, cancer survivor and recent winner of IM China JUST TWO WEEKS AGO, OLAF SABATSCHUS. he's calm cool and collected, smiling and joining in with the banter around the lobby. so while we're not staying at the super posh hotel, we're clearly staying where the pros like to kick it, and that's cool by me.

and just one last story from before i left home. you might wanna take a second and go get the box of kleenex for this doozy:

for as long as i've been training for this thing, my moms has been non-stop with the questions. how long is it? how long will it take you?? what if you have to pee?? how do you eat?? but a few weeks ago when they aired Kona again on tv, my mom and i were driving in the car somewhere and she asks me why i chose Brasil over going to do the one in Hawaii that they show on tv. naturally i pissed myself laughing and then explained the minor little detail of qualifying that goes along with Kona. then she asks if i have a chance to qualify at Brasil. piss down the pants again, and i told her "nope. let's just say i'm not bringing my 500 bucks to Brasil." i explained that that's the code phrase when you're asking someone if they're trying to qualify for Kona, "you bringin' your 500 bucks in cash??" so cut to 3 nights ago. i'm cranky, rushed, pms'ing, and trying to just get my work done and get to sleep. she walks up to me as i'm sitting in the living room with my laptop and hands me this beautiful little envelope made out of gorgeous, deep purple, hand-made parchment. you see, my mom still has a love for the written word, hand-written letters, and collects fine stationary. she hands it to me and says "here. i want you to take this with you to Brasil because i think you owe it to yourself to be ready." i look up, still kinda agitated and confused as she puts the small envelope in my hand. i look at the writing, her perfect all caps printed writing that i've always tried to emulate since i was a kid, and there was one simple little word written on the front:

KONA

i cried, and cried, AND CRIED (coulda been the PMS a little bit too). i couldn't take it from her. i mean unless every other woman in my age group out there pretty much DIES on the course, y'all know as well as i do that i don't have a chance at qualifying. so my mom says "well then buy a bunch of t-shirts. i want you to have it." and there you have it. so now i'm pretty much as big of a deal as Hillary and Olaf sitting here with me. yep, i'm sponsored now. and that's the feeling i get from all of you with your kind words of encouragement and inspiration, like a sponsored pro with people rooting for them all the way, yet most of you don't really know me from adam. i hope not to let you all down out there. and if i don't qualify, no worries, YOU'RE ALL GETTIN' T-SHIRTS!!!!!

hope to check in again if i can.