Watching Kona

NBC finally aired the Hawaii Ironman on Saturday. I love watching it every year... between the coverage of the professionals' results and profiles of age groupers, it makes for some good watching. I mean, it combines two of my much loved pastimes: watching TV and triathlon! With the race being in October I already knew all the results before it was shown on television, but it didn't matter. It was still very exciting and very emotional. I am very moved -- as I was last year and in '05 -- from the story of John "Blazeman" Blais, a man with ALS who completed the event in 2005. As he predicted in '05, he was forced to watch the race from a wheelchair in 2006 as the disease slowly but surely took over his body. The world lost John Blais in May of this year at the age of 35, but his story lives on. Kudos to NBC for mentioning him and showing some clips in this year's broadcast (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, and believing that they aired it to promote awareness, NOT to help win an Emmy). Google "John Blais ALS" for a lot more information.