Holy Haircuts Batman

With Ironman Florida now only a month away it's time to start looking towards the race's big issues.

Have I trained enough? Nope!

Will I get my nutrition right? I doubt it!

Will I lose my bike pacing plan when that huge peleton come steaming past? Probably!

Will I cramp up on the run? Almost certainly!

All of the above questions are minor issues compared to the big question that the residents on Panama City Beach are undoubtably talking about.

Is that idiot turning up with a stupid haircut again?

The answer? I'm not really sure.


The history!

In 2004 I headed out to PCB for the first time and thought it would be fun to have a daft haircut. I spoke to a hairdresser that is in my Running Club and she was well up to the challenge, the result was this little effort. The race was a disaster but the haircut was a success and a great ice breaker whenever we were out and about, even if most people outside of the Ironman scene thought I'd had it done for Halloween which is a massive deal in the US compared to over here.

Then in 2005 I went back with another daft haircut and found that people out and about in PCB and Ironmanville recognised me from 12 months previous. Either that or they remembered the 2004 idiot and put 2 & 2 together. This was when being noticable was a big downside as I pulled the plug on the race half way through the run, then when I settled down to watch the rest of the race people kept congratulating me on my performance. They thought I'd finished, had time to shower/change and return so I must have gone real quick!! Explaining myself was tough work.

After a 2 year break I returned last year and so did the silly hair, it was a bit brighter than in the past and was a real pain because Shelly kept having to touch the colour up. Lesson learnt - Semi Permanent Dye is no good!! This time it was great because people recognised me out on the course when I was struggling and then recognised me again when I was flying along on the last 10k (that's a story in itself).

I made the decision 6 months ago that I wasn't bothering this year, it's hardly been a good luck charm and turning up with my hair normal would actually be a change for me, it has caused some laughs though. Then a few people started asking what was in store for 2009 and my mind has started to sway a little.

So the question now is should I or shouldn't I? It's a difficult one really.

The Good - It gets attention which is fun, I even unknowingly had a guest appearence on wwww.slowtwitch.com after the 2004 race. It causes conversation when you're around the Ironvillage, not all of it is good, but if it takes peoples mind off the Ego-fest that is the run up to the race then I don't really care. People recognise you and cheer you on when you're suffering on the run course (that can be good and bad) even though in truth there's very little hair visible under the run cap. It can be a nice ice-breaker if you're having hassle with customs.

The Bad - I'm a bloke and sitting still in a chair for the length of time it takes to do is a real pain in the butt. I've got to think of something original to do to it. It spends mot of race day covered up with a swim cap/bike helmet/run cap. While most comments you hear are happy and joking there are a few arseholes out there who take it far too seriously and really get the hump - especially if you pass them. If customs are in a bad mood it can be a recipie for disaster.

What will I end up doing? Who knows. Anybody got any ideas?