Xterra 21K @ Kualoa Ranch

Ok, I have to tell how I got signed up for this race in the first place! I am extremely glad that I did it and I had a super fun time :-)

Ok, so after my Chief Induction/Transition or whatever you want to call it... I decided I wanted to train for the marathon. The Boca Group (people that I like to train with) were already at 10+ miles during the week and at almost 15 for the weekend so I had some catching up to do. I started out slowly building up the miles. I was having fun and taking it easy, I participated in the 30k and suprised myself by running the longest distance of my life 18 miles. I thought, If I can do this? I can do the marathon. Maybe a week or two later, I got this yucky pain in my foot and got "scared" by reading about Plantar Fasciitis....... Anyways, My friend Allison and I were both dealing with "little things" going on in our body. She said she was going to run the XTERRA 21k and I said that sounded more entertaining that the Marathon down the same road that we are always on so I was excited to sign up. I just fear injuring something and having to wait a long time to heal or fear making a little injury worse by over-doing it.

I am really glad that this all worked out the way it did, I had a great race and got WAY TO MANY PHOTOS!!! Here are some that I wanted to share: hope you enjoy them What a beautiful parking lot.......

Best part of racing is running into great friends that you otherwise don't get to see!

Tons of people gathered for a beautiful day Not only does he have a nice outfit, he is barefoot! What a backdrop to a finish lineThe 21K (13.1 mile run) Started at 9am, followed by a 10k and then a 5k The first part of the run is nothing but UP!

Yes, I spent a lot of energy on the run getting great pictures!

I figure if I am not trying to place then why not enjoy every little second. I even made some new friends on the trail!

Kualoa Ranch is over 3,000 acres

More Climing!!

Almost There??? Let's see what is around corner #1

I loved getting to splash in the creek! The cold water was refreshing

Yes, I smiled through most of the run!! (Well, maybe not the HUGE HILLS)

Had to get a picture of the canoe carved out of a tree

Is this some down hill?? YES!!!

I'll bet you money the people around me were tired of me taking photos

This tropper is also doing the marathon this Sunday!!

I thought that I would throw on a little face paint for fun, hope it didn't have cow poop in it!

Slip n Slide Time!! So much fun!!

This is my favorite part of it all!!! The friends!!!

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity in Waimanalo....

I volunteered my Saturday morning to spend time with fellow sailors on this project. It was fun and rewarding! I am glad that I got an opportunity to give some time to help out.

Mixing the Sealer for the 2 bathrooms in the home

Luckily I got to use a paintbrush and primer all morning, no powertools or sharp objects had to be used by my clumsy hands.

You like my nametag?

This is the kitchen/living area. Cabinets were getting installed.

Brian painting with the most amazing scenery as a back drop.After the work at the home, I headed to the beach for some "ME" time!!And look what I found.....

I Love Hawaii!!

Didn't surf...... loved the evening!

I had the most amazing evening! This afternoon, I had an appointment to schedule my Household Goods Shipment which will be January 12th :-( Yes, Sad! Oh well, time to move on before long.

Until I move, I will continue to have these blissful evenings at the beach! The surf here in Hawaii right now is pretty massive. It is about 20ft faces on the north shore and on base today it was about 15ft faces on the big sets, I did not paddle out. Lots of guys were being super pushy and saying that I could handle it, but I was very happy just "being" at the beach. A friend whose son surfs showed up and I got to chat with her a bit and then after she left I decided to run along the waters edge for some cardio.... Yowza is running in the sand a great workout!!!

I stayed at the beach until the sun was completely gone and the rain started..... the sound of the powerful waves, the energy from all the "stoked" surfers, the coolness of the ocean water on my skin, the cold sand in all the "wrong" places, the beauty of the most amazing thing created from storms WAVES, and the brave souls taking off on the 15 feet drops...... All made for the Perfect evening for me.

Any evening spent outside in nature/ocean is a living dream for me!! (the warmth helps)

Today was also my friend Rachele's last day at work, she has been a great friend and mentor for me. I am sad to see her go, but I am happy that she will be happy in her next adventure. We will miss you Rachele.

This is me being the photographer for the day.... I was trying to figure out what button to push.

This guy is holding his board that was broke into two pieces.... Hopefully he enjoyed some rides before the break.

This is my friend Malia's youngest son Kanoa, his big brother Makai was out surfing. Isn't the beach beautiful.....

Ahh.... my dinner topped with some fish outta the freezer! I wonder how long it has been in there???

Gidget Pro

Poor Dog! He was so cute being the advertiser for lots of sponsors at the event!



I got to Sunset Beach and found a nice spot to set and wait until the women started thier competition.



While waiting I got to watch some of the men heats and to me the best one was with Sunny Garcia Shredding those double overhead waves like no tomorrow!

Lots of Spectators and lots of cameras

This is a shot of Rachele Ballard chit chatting with Buttons on Friday, she has mad skills in the water and is the best female tube rider of ALL TIME! To me she is one of these BEST surfers of this generation, and she started camps for young girls to help them get involved and learn about surfing, I could go on and on but I won't. She is an ICON for me! $0=how much it cost to watch surf contest $15= price of event T-shirt

This photo of Japanese Tourist = PRICELESS

They moved the VANS banner when it was time for the Women to Start!

Brazilian Silvana Lima with 3 boards trying to decide which to use

This chic is bad ass! She surfs so wild and gets airs more than any other female surfer I have watched, it was really cool to see her in action on the North Shore.

I am so stoked that I got to watch her warm up!

Here is a shot of Rochelle, she was a caddy for Coco Ho in the sweet 16 heat! A caddy is a person that takes an extra board out to the break for the surfer in the contest, just incase they want to swith due to wave size/conditions or if they break a board during their heat.

Hawaii's Megan Abubo, I later got to speak to her and tell her great job in her heat. (STOKED!)

Hawaii's Melanie Bartels

Ok, I had to get a picture of Alana Blanchards Backside. Call me weird, but I think that she is beautiful and this is a picture that you will not see on any website or magazine. She won the Reef Pro in Haleiwa this year! After she won her heat in the sweet 16 and she went from Semi Finals and to the finals to take 4th place

Hawaii's Coco Ho :-) She didn't make it to the finals but did an amzing job out there!

I didn't get to watch the finals live or the awards ceremony because I had to head back home, shower and be somewhere. Hawaii's Carrisa Moore (17) Won and I am so happy for her. She is a senior in High School and one of the best surfers ever!! Way to Go Carrissa!

Blue Friday

I will call it "Blue instead of Black Friday".
I absolutely hate shopping ( I don't have the money) so I just tell myself that I don't like to shop.

The thought of fighting traffic and a crowd of people makes me cringe.... so I decided to have a nice enjoyable ride to North Shore on my bike Friday.

I was very nice outside, but the ride there was way to easy. I was averaging 22 mph without giving it much effort so I knew that I had some work cut out for me on the ride back.

I spent alot of time on the ride taking pictures, this is something that you don't do if you are riding with other people or training for an event. Where you are training, you are really focused on the ride/workout. Friday I tried to soak up as much of the little things that I could. Before I know it, me and my beautiful love Hawaii will be separated.

This beach area is about 7 miles from my home, alot of the coastline on the ride looks like this. It is absolutely breathtaking and fun to ride when the side winds are howling.... I got to kind of ride with a lean due to the stong wind.

Another stop not to far down the road for some shade and photos....

Isn't this just a beautiful little spot?

Here is some local opinion.... put on sheets to make a billboard. This has been here for long time, I just have never taken time to stop or read. Do you know the history of Hawaii and how it was taken over? It is pretty sad, but it seems this is the story of all lands at one time or another.

I stopped at the Vans Triple Crown 2nd event at Sunset Beach. I stayed there for about an hour but it is tough for me to be at the beach in my bike outfit, I am sure to everyone that looked at me they were thinking... What is up with that girl dressed like that (what a weirdo) About a year and a half ago before I ever rode a bike, I would have thought the same thing. HA HA

I had to get a shot of the cute $2 drinks......... gotta love coconut milk!

All the pretty horses...... They have a nice home! This is what I rewarded myself with at the Hygenic Store, Slammed the coke and stuck the Hot Dog in my back pocket. It made riding in the wind by myself all worth the work.

My Thanksgiving

I didn't go Boar hunting for Turkey Day but this is the little fellow that I seen near where I live. I am not sure if he was a pet or just a wild guy out for some food but he was on the side of the road eating grass. I have never seen pigs eat grass like this..... my memories of pigs on farms where them being feed "SLOP" which is anything and everything that people would collect from their kitchen or farm that might be edible.
Anyways, I am keeping a lookout for this guy, he seemed kinda friendly when I got close up so he might be someones pet?

I started the morning by attending the 10 mile Turkey Trot in town. I didn't register or actually start at the official start line, but I ran with the participants and enjoyed it. It was motivation to run and I didn't have to run alone.

Here are my legs in the sand while I stretched when I got to the beach afterwards....

It was so windy on the Turkey Trot, I knew that my surf spot would be a mess so I headed to the "West Side" (not all the way, cause it was really big) I stopped at a spot called "TRACKS" there was lots of people and it was really tiny surf, but I enjoyed being in the sunshine and sheilded from the strong winds. I got to chat with some folks in the water and that made it worthwhile.

I ended the day with a visit to the Movies with my friend Laura. We had a Thanksgiving Dinner of Movie Popcorn with some wine she snuck in the theater. Yummo!! We seen "BLIND SIDE" Oh wow, it was soooooooooo good. I would recommend this movie to everyone!

1 year ago....

Last year for Thanksgiving weekend, I took the Superferry to Maui and spent the weekend with a friend's friends! I have to say that it was the most memorable Thanksgiving that I can remember. In my past 12 years I can't remember a very special Thanksgiving, lots of holidays spent out to sea, or on duty on the ship eating a meal out of the "galley" I wanted to share with you my experience from last year.

Lots of the food was cooked in IMU "underground oven" Here are some photos of us removing the dirt and potatoe sacks to reviel the food.

This was the setup for dinner out in the yard.

Thanksgiving Dinner was amazing, the company was the best. The next day Clayton and I rode our bikes to Upcountry and here is some of the beautiful scenery on our rideWe stopped at the Ulapalakula Winery for a taste... Yummy!Sunset

The next evening was an event called "EAST MEETS WEST" The tradition started due to a public event of food/wine pairing... They just recreated it at their home for more fun and no cover charge for food.

We all prepared food dish to be paired with a drink, each food was displayed on a table with the folks who prepared it giving a little review of the food/drink before serving it. It was really fun to prepare and later taste all of the dishes....

Clayton sported an apron that said "Who are these kids and why are they calling me Mom?" It suits him very good :-)

Food was based not only on taste, but it was judged on presentation and how it paired with wine or whatever beverage that you choose to pair with it. This was super fun and a great way to bring friends together for an entertaining evening.This was a crab boil.....

I made this Bruchetta, It was so yummy! I didn't get a picture of it until after it had been ravished.We had some wonderful entertainment, the guys played instruments and the ladies danced Hula that was so beautiful. This was a truly amazing experience for me.The next morning I took another quick spin on my bike before I had to go back down to catch the superferry.