Kona Koverage

This weekend NBC aired their coverage of the 2008 World Ironman Championships from Kona. Here's some advice: don't watch Ironman specials right before bed when you're already nervous about doing an upcoming Ironman (even if it's still 9 months away). I had not one but two endurance-sport nightmares that night. More on that later.

Was it just me, or did the coverage seem a little bit... off? I bought the Ironman On NBC DVD Boxset so I've seen them all, but there was something strange about this one. I think it may have been the music; it kept fading in and out with lots of different themes going and it just never flowed together very well. There was certainly tons of drama to make use of (several top contenders DNF'd) but I didn't really feel as emotionally involved. As far as the "every man" angle, I didn't care about the Pro Baseball player, I didn't care about the Navy Seal, and at the finish line they introduced us to a guy who I guess lost his father that year and wanted to do the race in his honor. Maybe I would have cared had they told us about him at the BEGINNING of the race, but since I already knew he finished, who cares? The token wheelchair guy seemed like a nice enough kid, but even his story lacked the emotional punch it should have. Perhaps I'm just jaded because after doing an Ironman, I feel more pity for these people than awe.

As for the nightmares: In the first one I was running a marathon and about 3 miles into the race I realized I was wearing regular shoes (not running shoes). The way the course looped around, when I hit mile 4 I would be about a quarter mile from the starting line so I could run back to my car and change shoes and get back on the course. Clint Eastwood was a spectator on the sidelines pushing a baby carriage. No idea what that means.

The second dream was only half-nightmare. I was finishing the run in an Ironman, and that was it. But it was unusual because that's all I was dreaming about. Just running and running and feeling very tired and sore, and the dream seemed to go on for a long time. But I was thinking to myself that at least I had managed to run the entire marathon without any walking breaks, So that part was good.