Above are Jo and my trophies. We like to come away and baggsy a trophy each, though I’m having to get used to Jo’s being slightly bigger than mine. I am pleased though. I do enjoy going up on stage. In fact, I think I enjoy it more than Jo so it seems a shame to me that she keeps winning and I keep getting third. I’ve never done better than 3rd in a M-Dot race. I think this really now must be my goal – win my age group in an Ironman.

We enjoyed the awards ceremony with Nick and Kel. I’d met Nick because of this blog (!!), he raced in my age group and though he finished only about 20 minutes behind me he disappointingly missed out on a Kona slot. Fingers crossed he’ll get it next year sometime- the more people you know in Kona the merrier !

I’ve been trying to follow the advice given about recovery for Kona. On Monday I did just under 30 minutes of very easy running. The past 3 days we’ve been walking around Chicago so I feel I’ve been doing a decent low level of activity. My legs certainly are feeling better. The first two nights after the race I slept pretty poorly – a combination of excitement and very achey legs. This has lessened a lot now and I’m sleeping well.

Trying to eat relatively well in Chicago and feel I’ve done a good combination of healthy recovery food and some treats. Had salads and omelettes but also enjoyed cheesecake twice and Chicago deep dish pizza twice. This was a favourite of mine when I lived in Chicago and it’s good to see Jo liked it so much that today we went into town to have it for lunch before coming out here to O’Hare for our flight.

Been a good relaxing time in Chicago. Great to have time to just hang out and we’ve done a lot of that. Mooching around the town, meeting up with my old friend Jeff, having leisurely coffees, strolling by the lake, dozing beside the Lake, having brunch, drinking some beers whilst watching the sun set on the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower and going to watch a White Sox game. All made great fun by an underlying feeling of doing well. I feel content and it’s made the stay in Chicago all the better. Jo initially was disappointed with her result as the time wasn’t close enough to her target. I tried to point out how great her result was and I think it finally hit home when they said she’d broken the course record at the awards ceremony (she actually smashed it by about 10 minutes). It’s good she’s aiming high but by most peoples books first age grouper and a course record is good going !!

Now my mind is moving to thinking about getting back to the UK and getting back in to training next week. The plan is to follow a Maffetone approach all the way to Kona. Tomorrow once I’m back I’m hoping to do a short run and short swim though I won’t worry if I don’t. Then both Saturday and Sunday will be short rides, probably only a couple of hours. The aim being to be back in the saddle for swimming 6am Sunday morning.

Funny to think in 2 weeks time I’ll be back at an airport waiting for a flight to Hawaii.