Before Family there was Ohana
It’s been 10 years since I’ve visited my Big Island Ohana, but when I see Bree, it’s like no time has passed since we first trained together back in 2010.
I met Bree back in the day when we were all blogging between 2008-2013. I took a sabbatical from teaching and moved to Australia to see if I might want to make it a permanent move. Bree suggested that I break the trip up to Australia and stop in Kona to do some training. From day 1, Bree treated me like family or Ohana as they say in Hawaii. There are some links to videos I made back in that era at the bottom of this post; yes, I was doing social media before there was even social media. 💁🏾♂️
Here are my takeaways after visiting the Big Island after a 10-year break:
Bree still runs with a triathlon posse albeit comprised of completely new kids she calls the tribe. Most members of the old posse have since moved to the mainland and started their own families. Only twenty somethings have enough energy to run with Bree. I get it, I have my own posse of thirty somethings—30’s because I have less energy than Bree. I spent a bit of time with this new posse and they are an aspiring group as they train for their first Kona Ironman. They were all so nice to me and I easily befriended them, not really surprised, Bree knows how to pick and train them.
Bree is still Bree and our friendship strong and close as ever. To help you understand Bree, here is what she said to me the first night I arrived, “Kiet, I don’t know how to be a host or how to treat a guest. Just act like you are family and you live here, and do and eat whatever you want.” It’s always been this same instruction. Ohana.
The last time I saw Bree’s son, Kainoa, he was 6 or 7 years old. He is now over 6 feet tall and is a junior in high school. But more importantly, he has become in so many ways, just like his mom. I’ve worked with high schoolers for the past 25 years, Kainoa will be more than fine. Dude is good in so many ways. In Hawaii, children call close adult friends their uncles and aunties, I love this about Hawaiian culture, so much Ohana. I take my role of being Kainoa’s uncle seriously (fun).
The Kailua-Kona, Alii Drive, and Ironman vibe that I so cherished back in the day when I was immersed in triathlon and trying so hard to qualify for the World Championships is no longer there. I tried to relive swimming in Kailua Bay, walking down Alii and going to Lava Java and the vibe just wasn’t there anymore. Lava Java is in a new space and it feels like an Applebys. The magic of Alii wasn’t there and I swam in Kailua Bay on a bad day when it was not glassy blue and clear. I freakin swam with dolphins in Kailua Bay back in the day. And even Island Naturals didn’t feel the same. They too moved to a new space and it now feels like a Safeway rather than a cute and quirky natural food store.
Bree and I spoke about this change in vibe. The Ironman in Kona was once such a cherished, beloved, impactful, community event. It now feels corporate, soulless and the community is not supportive of the event anymore. There is talk of the event leaving the island. I think it’s time to close the chapter of the Kona Ironman World Championships. It’s run its course. It was evident as I was walking down Alii. Up until this trip, I held onto this notion that I had one more run in me to try and qualify for Kona, maybe when I aged up to 55-59. But the resolve is no longer there because of this trip, and for that alone, I am happy that I made this trip and I won’t be wasting anymore money and time chasing that elusive Kona slot. I told Bree I won’t take another 10 years to come back and visit.
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