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Kona Bound: Race Week
Eric Belliveau • Oct 05, 2017

This week's blog is a throwback to three years ago as I was gearing up for my first IRONMAN at the IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii. I thought this would serve as nice reminder of how much can change in 3 years and how much things can stay the same. Stay tuned next week's blog as I send you a few last minute thoughts leading into my second IRONMAN World Championships. Aloha!

This is my last blog post before the biggest race of my life. I’ve spent 19 weeks and change training for this one race. Every workout, meal, nap, bedtime, wake up call, time spent with friends had a purpose; getting me to Kona.

Tuesday morning I hop on a plane (several to be exact but you get the point) to take the long trip to the Ironman World Championships. Saturday I will embark on the most challenging race of my life and Sunday, I rest.

Oh, how I wish it were going to be that easy.

Regardless, of what Madame Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of Volcanoes decides to throw at me and the rest of the competitors I know it will be one of the most amazing and grueling days of my life. It is my goal to enjoy every minute.

I’ve spent the last few days thinking about what I wanted to write for my last blog. I have many thoughts swirling through my head but I keep going back to a few moments that shaped my future and kept me moving forward. The moment I learned I qualified for Kona and dropping to my knees half crying and laughing. The long lonely rides I had to talk myself through. The weekend I got to spend with my college roommates and their kids and how they cheered for me as I ran by the house. The 70.3 World Championships and feeling like I had finally trained myself to a place were holding back (just a little bit) allowed me to still hold my own with the best in the world.

I’m ready. There’s nothing left to do but race.

I’ve trained long and hard. Hot and humid weather was like a training partner I couldn’t get rid of, but grateful I had.

I’ve leaned on my friends and family to get me through the hardest days and weeks of my training and have been reminded daily just how lucky I am to have these people in my life.

I’ve learned that racing with the best in the world doesn’t mean you race them it means you MUST race within yourself.

To everyone that has taken time out of their days to read my blogs I hope you’ve been entertained, inspired, and have a better appreciation for what it takes to train for an Ironman. To the few that I train, thank you for your patience with my constant eating, compression sock wearing, and racing from a workout. I hate to break it to you, this will probably never change. To everyone that donated to my gofundme.com fundraising website I can’t thank you enough. You allowed me to pay for my stay in Mont Tremblant and airfare to Hawaii! A huge relief to me.

The biggest race of my life is only a few days away and I can’t wait to toe the line. If you’re interested in tracking me throughout the race follow the link below, punch in my bib number, and go about the rest of your day. It’s going to be long race just make sure you hit the refresh button every once in awhile.

SK
Bib #1707
7am swim start (That’s Kona time. You’ll be 6 hours ahead!)

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.
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