[IMAGE: morning crowds decend on the Hawaii IM swim start]

2XU's Co-Founder/Director and Head of Product Development Jamie Hunt, is lining up for his first IRONMAN (IM) World Championships (Kona, Hawaii) on October 13.  In the M40-44 category; Jamie made his full IM debut in Melbourne earlier this year - not only finishing in a cracking time of 8:58:06, but winning his Age Group.  While Hunt originally left the circuit to establish 2XU; he's now back and determined to show what his highly acclaimed technical 2XU Compression + Triathlon garments can do.  Starting Wednesday October 3 to race-day eve, Jamie will be checking in with a daily journal entry.  

Here's DAY 8:

Tuesday here, and boy, every day this place gets busier! It was manic down at the swim this morning, so Cam and I relocated to the Kona Aquatic Centre, which is a beautiful outdoor pool; it's free to use year round, and even during race week we managed to get a free lane. We swam around 2.5 km, with a main set of 15 x 100 yards, leaving on 1.20. We both felt OK, and it was very nice to tick this last decent swim off my list before Saturday! Afterwards I threw on my running gear and ran steadily for 30 mins; was feeling strong, but still a little heavy in the legs. I've been told it's normal to feel this way, but I just want to be feeling jumpy.  With three very easy days ahead, I'm hoping that feeling will come!

After the run I had a massage, then headed down to the official NZ Team Breakfast. Cam Brown gave a great talk about race day and what to expect out there - he's such a great ambassador for the sport, New Zealand and of course 2XU! Special thanks must go to Jane Patterson for organising this event for us Kiwis, it was completely free, so a very nice gesture indeed.

[IMAGE:  Athletes listen closely to 2XU's Cam Brown at the Team NZ Official Breakfast]

Once brekky was done it was time for registration; I got my Race Bag collection out of the way, and headed back home to take the girls for a spot of shopping at Kmart. 

I've just woken from a few zee's, and plan to spend the afternoon finishing my Lee Child book.

While the Parade of Nations was originally on the cards this evening, I'm really keen on just relaxing and watching the Kona sun go down with the family.

Aloha,

Jamie.