Getting my goat

Every morning Ali’i Drive, which runs along the ocean from Kailua (where the Ironman swim starts in Kailua Bay) to Keauhou, about five miles to the south, is packed with athletes running and riding, getting in their last few workouts, spinning out a bit of pre-race nervous energy.

Each morning I’ve been on the island I’ve tried to get in a bit of a run – with mixed success. You see, working out here is hard, unlike anywhere else I’ve been (except for maybe St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands – home of the St. Croix 70.3 race). It’s not just the heat (which can be oppressive at times, but I lived in Colorado for a time, and summer temps there can top an, albeit bone-dry, 100 degrees on a regular basis), it’s the wicked humidity, which can be suffocating.

Still, I’ve made an effort to shuffle through a few easy miles every morning before it gets too hot. But tough conditions aside, running along Ali’i presents a few other challenges. Specifically, it’s almost impossible to get off the bone-jarring pavement, and foot, bike and vehicle traffic create an obstacle course. Nonetheless, the rental houses and condos lining Ali’i are occasionally interrupted by patches of jungle – or, more correctly, former cattle pastures that are quickly being reclaimed by the jungle.

Of the several dwindling green spaces I pass on my morning run, there’s one I have begun to look forward to. You see, it’s not just the year-round residents and cruise-ship passengers that stare with equal parts disbelief and bemusement at the hundreds of triathletes that invade the Kona Coast each October. Indeed, a local goat, obviously the lone remaining resident of the erstwhile cow pasture, has taken to positioning himself on a low bluff overlooking Ali’i and watching intently as the athletes pump past.

For eleven months of the year, Kailua, despite its recent growth, is still a relatively sleepy seaside town, but for the two weeks surrounding the Ironman, the town is packed. And for the goat, the spectacle of so many people doing so many strange and strenuous things in the sticky, uncomfortable heat of the day must be an unending source of curiosity.

Unfortunately, since the run course was changed around a few years ago and T2 at the Kona Surf Hotel was relocated to the Kailua Pier, athletes on race day no longer make their way past the goat’s pasture. Sure, he may not care, but then again, everyone loves the Ironman.