Big Island

So, Wednesday we picked up dad and yesterday we got to the Big Island! I just love the pace of life over here so much and often fanticize about my retirement here :-) The weather is nice, still no wind at all and the sun is out and it is HOT!!! We go to the grocery to get some food for the trip and head to the beach house. Here is Dad and Brent picking out some "man meat" (steaks) for the weekend :-)

WOW!! I was so shocked at how cool our rental is! When we got here, I did a walkthrough of the cutestet beach house ever nad like Maggs said.... there are alot of bathrooms (ha,ha) That is a great thing when you have all these athletes staying in one big house together. I love this place!!

I went to race registration.. I am #1139, I droped off my bike-to-run gear and we were outta there; time for a swim. Hapuna Beach was bumping with people and boy did the water feel good! This was the first time that I was able to really do any sort of workout in a whole week due to being sick. IT FELT SO GOOD!!!

Dad and Brent enjoyed the water for a bit with me and then back to the house. I just wanted to go to sleep, but I got my bike ready and rolled out for the first ride in a week. At first it didn't feel so good, but after about 15 mins I felt much better and came back an topped that off with a 15 min run. Meanwhile, Brent and Dad were cooking up some "man steaks" on the grill and chilling around the house. What a perfect first day!

VOG

There is absolutely no wind at all here and the VOG is back in town!! On the right side are photos from today and I think the left side was from a week ago or so.... Big difference, Huh??

This is the view from where I live, I am so happy with the eye candy here that I have never wanted to move! I was just thinking that if the Vog is so thick over here... I can't imagine how Kona is going to be :-( I just hope that the trades pick up on Sunday so the Vog can roll out so while my dad is visiting he can see the true beauty that Hawaii has to offer, instead of it looking like its on fire or it is LA!

Woot Woot, now I am officially on vacation! We are on our way to pick up Dad in a few minutes, well after I get some sushi in my tummy of course! ALOHA!

Excitement is here!!

Here is a report from the Big Island (about the upcoming race) I thought that I would share it with you! I am getting pretty excited, my dad arrives this evening and in the morning I am off to Kona!!! ( here is the story "Kohala Coast is Heating Up for Ironman 70.3 Hawaii" Author: Dawn Henry May 27, 2009

Springtime along the Kohala Coast of Hawaii means three things: a brighter sun, hotter lava fields, and the convergence of an ever-growing field of triathletes to take part in Ironman 70.3 Hawaii. Last year, at the race's fifth anniversary celebration, the water was rough, the roads were melting in the heat and the winds were howling. Apparently, this was just what race participants were looking for. With its biggest anticipated field ever, the 2009 Ironman 70.3 Hawaii is set to host over 1,400 individuals from more than 20 countries on May 30th for a Hawaiian vacation, triathlon-style.

Over 400 participants will hail from the Aloha State itself. These Hawaiian triathletes will leave their laid-back lifestyles at home as they compete for 20 State of Hawaii and 30 Big Island qualifying slots to the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship. The rest of the age-grouper field will have a chance to compete for 28 additional slots to Kona. The race also offers 50 qualifying slots for the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida.

Competitors will enjoy an ocean swim in the clear, blue waters of Hapuna Bay, and run to T1 through the fine white sand of Hapuna Beach State Park, routinely recognized as one of the most spectacular beaches in the world. The bike course takes place on the fabled "road to Hawi," a rollercoaster ride along the sparkling Kohala Coast where even the downhill portions of the race have uphills. Heat, humidity and winds are the name of the game on this hard-boiled course surrounded by roiling hills of lava and the wide-open Hawaiian sky.

T2 will be located on the grounds of the The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, race partner and the luxurious host hotel. Competitors will then take on a broiling run course through manicured grounds, along coastal pathways, over award-winning golf fairways, and past petroglyph fields and tidal basins.For all of its climatic challenges, Ironman 70.3 Hawaii comes with abundant aloha. Taking place in an historic area of the Big Island where kings reigned and rested, triathletes have come to feel that they're being treated like royalty.

The overflowing aloha of the race volunteers brings a festive air to the weekend and competitors can't help but feel lucky to be racing Hawaii-style.Join us on Sunday for our coverage of Ironman 70.3 Hawaii that will include live timing, updates and a full wrap-up story on the race.

I enjoyed that write up, I will have more of my own excitement to share later :-) Thank goodness I am starting to feel better!!!

HURDLES

Today is Memorial Day and many folks are out at the beach or paying their respects to loved ones or fallen heroes. I am in this position here in the picture stuck at home still feeling like a run down machine. I gave my bike ride a shot today and felt dizzy and like I was going to vomit after so I decided to call it a day on the training note.It seems as though ever since I started training for this race (on Saturday) there has been one hurdle after another. It started with the "finger" incident. I had a little hurdle with 7 stitches in my pinky finger as you will see in the picture below. Another silly thing I did was crash my bike the morning of the Lanikai triathlon and had a bum knee for over a week. Well, here we are now... days before the race and I am layed up on the couch looking like Robin from Batman only severely beaten or hungover :-) Well, close enough anyways!! My opinion on this whole thing is that this is just another hurdle that I have to cross. I have friends that have had many trials and tough days during training or races and they just keep on moving with their head up high so I am going to do the same thing. I will spend the rest of my day lying around and resting so my body will hopefully forgive me for the punishment that I have been putting it through for the thrill of crossing that finish line with a smile on Saturday!!

A Year Ago

About a year ago in 2008, I went with my boyfriend at the time to the Big Island for 4 days to watch him and some friends race this thing called "the Honu". A long race in my eyes! 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run = 70.3 I didn't enjoy the trip as much as I hoped. We did alot of "chilling" before race day to let the athletes rest up. I was so bored!! Race day was exciting, I got to see all of the athletes getting ready for the race and seeing everyone race was super exciting and it motivated me. I told myself that day..... I will do this race next year!! Well, it is 2009 and I am racing this year and really excited about it. I am pretty proud of myself, I set a goal of completing this race before I even owned a bike or had ever even tried to swim freestyle in a pool or the ocean. The only thing I was a surfer who ran :-) I am gonna do this!!

I bought a bike in July 2008 and started riding with BOCA, thank goodness! I learned alot by having coaches to tell you things you other wise would be clueless. I didn't have any time to loose :-) After the training was over, I did my first 100 mile ride in September along with my very first triathlon in September (all women's Na Wahine Triathon) I loved doing the race and did other ones in October and November. All of these were short races around 500m swim, 12 mile bike ride, 3 mile run (sprint)

In the winter months, I continued to ride with a group called Quick Release "the bikefactory guys/gals" What a fun group, they know how to have a great time no matter what the event. Here is a picture from the K-bay Criterium bike race.

I also kept on running to keep myself in shape. January I started riding in another BOCA clinic with organized workouts, coaches and lots of fun people. The goal of this training was to climb Haleakala 10,000ft mountain on Maui. This is a photo of some of us at the top!

After the Maui trip was the start of the Triathlon training with BOCA. This is an amazing group of people, not only are they amazing athletes, they are all smart, fun, talented and amazing people that I just love to be around. Here is a picture of the group on the Big Island during our training weekend.

So, this is just my year of activities in a nutshell to give you a backgroud of why I started this "triathlon stuff" and the reason that I love all of this so much is from the people and the fun that I have during the training.

May is Military Appreciation Month

I am pretty darn excited that today is the last workday for four days and next week I only have two work days :-) Today at lunch I will be attending a Hawaii Military Appreciation Luncheon at the Hilton, I am being awarded the Outstanding Sailor of the Year Award. All services Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard are being recognized today so I think this is pretty neat that I get to represent my brothers and sisters in the Navy. I hope that I smile good :-) I recently had one of the most memorable experiences in my Navy career by being a Pacific Fleet Shore Sailor of the Year Finalist. I got to participate in a week long shin-dig/ review to compete to win and move to the next level of competition in Washington DC. I didn't win, but it was a great experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Here is a picture with some of the folks that have helped me get to this milestone in my career.

You can read about the Sailor of the Year Competition at http://mooringlines.blogspot.com/ and at http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=44712

Here is a picture of all of the service members recognized at the Luncheon, I am the 3rd from the right (the first man on the right was a presenter of awards) I am between the Army and the Coast Guard guys.

The greatest thing about today is that I received two round-trip tickets to the Big Island and a Two night stay at Kiluea Military Camp (at Volcano National Park) for two! I got $100 gift certificate from Tesoro Gas Station, and a Turtle Bay Escapes Free membership (value $219) includes one night stay, one round of golf and other benefits! I sure didn't expect these things when I got this award but it was a nice suprise.

Here I am with a great gal PSC Rachelle Familia, she has helped me so much with my quest to become a chief/LDO and just better person all around. I am very thankful that she is part of my family! Thanks Rachelle!!

Should Tuesday be this Fun??

I started my morning feeling sore from head to toe... even my scalp hurt. Yesterday I went to Bikram Yoga class for the first time in way to long. I felt great during the class, but I am paying for my "sweet yoga moves" today :-) I attend Bikram in Kailua, this is a class where the temp is a calm 104 degrees. I am going to go as much as I can before my race next Saturday, this is something to keep me entertained since my training time is shorter and this will help my body perform better.

I got to go to Kalihi Elementary School to help kids in the homework lab. This was super fun since I got the 3rd grade girls. Wow! I forgot how hard math is :-)

Chris told me the BOCA swim was canceled due to the Box Jellyfish warning. I needed to swim so he suggested that we swim at Coconut Island, I was excited.. this would be my first visit.

I immediately said yes. Luckily I wasn't supposed to do anything more than a 20 min easy swim because I kept getting distracted from all of the cool underwater life below me. HUGE CORAL HEADS and tons of fish. After the swim, Chris showed me the "shark tank" but to me the coolest cat in there was the purple puffer fish trying to huff and puff and knock down some crabs to eat. Thanks Chris for a fun time on your island!!

Then I got to rush into town to make it to meet the group, I made it as everyone was heading out so I caught up with them. We enjoyed a nice short run interval workout followed with some stretching and laughs. Everyone was going to Wahoos, but I wasn't in the mood for that food so Chris suggested GREEK and I am so glad that he did :-) He took me to a great little joint in Kahala called the Olive Tree. It was so yummy! I am just pretty amazed at how eventful my Tuesday was and how much fun I had. What a great day to start my blog.