Honu Half Ironman

So with little to no training under my belt we flew to the Big island for the Honu Half ironman two weeks ago. I didn't expect any great performance and was hoping it wasn't going to turn into a death march for me. Lo and behold I had a great race, going the same time as last year ( 4:49) with a slightly harder run course. The run was stinking hot like always, but I usually race well in heat while others just cook off. I had made the decision not to do Kona this year but I didn't think I'd REALLY have to make the decision. I stuck to my guns and turned down my slot which is gut wrenching for me. Part of it was just not feeling like having to train up for it this year. Laziness I suppose. It was nice seeing all our friends and training partners. Maybe come over from the mainland next year and do it again?

Scenes from Hawaii

Summer is here and the weather has been unbeatable. The ocean has calmed down and has been like a mirror the last few mornings. Just nice long rollers to surf before work. Lot's of cycling and paddleboarding these last few weeks. I'm getting pretty good at not getting slammed every time I catch a wave now which makes it more enjoyable.

Sunday morning was the Tantalus bicycle hill climb. One of the steeper hills on the island through some awesome rain forest with great views of Honolulu. Really wasn't feeling it once again although I pulled almost the exact time as last year. The road has just been paved so all the times were faster then in the past. I ended up 14 in my category and 28th overall. Sunday afternoon was the final criterium race in a series of 4 at Kaneohea Marine Corps base. These races have been so much fun I'm sorry to see them end. I lucked into a breakaway group of 3 riders in the 1-2-3 catagory race and ended up 5th overall which is my best showing. I even got to test ride a new lightweight bike I'm thinking of buying. So, one weekend, 3 races, and I'm still living in Hawaii. Life is good.

Full Weekend

Saturday morning was the Ford Island bridge run. This bridge crosses Pearl Harbor over to the old Navy airfield that got plastered in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I parked on Hickam and jogged about three miles over to the start. My legs felt pretty busted up from a hard training week but when I was pushing my way up to the starting line I saw a lot of friends and training partners and had fun shooting the bull with everyone so I forgot all about it. The race went well. Not my best time but I gave it all I had. I placed 22 out of 2200. I'm no math genius but I think that's top 1%. ha! I was second in my age group but left before the awards. I heard I won a nice koa wood bowl. I have to see if I can pick it up this week. That afternoon I bought a new paddle for my newest obsession, stand up paddle boarding. I bought one a few weeks ago and love it.

I found a race at the end of April that's a 800 meter swim, 5K run and 2 mile paddle. I'm in!

Race Race Race

So it seems that this year instead of training all the time I'm just going to race every weekend. You would be proud Jesse. I'm actually signing up for all these race's in time. Three weeks ago I ran the Great Aloha run with a good finish. Two weeks ago I was 10th in the 1-2-3's at the Kaneohe crit. Last week our HACC co-ed team won the Hawaii state Team TT. Today I placed 5th against an admittedly weak field at the first triathlon of the season. So far so good.... Next weekend is a killer. Ford island bridge 10K on Saturday, Tantalus hill climb Sunday AM, then the 4th and last criterium in the series at Kaneohe in the afternoon. Check out this Andy Warhol version of my Crit race

Momentum Kaneohe Criterium

First race of the season on one of the nicest weather days in the last year. The HACC controlled the Senior race with 5 of us mixing it up at the front. From the gun we shook all the dead wood off the back in the first 5 laps. After an awsome leadout by John Larion, Steve Steele won the bunch sprint with yours truly getting 5th. Kelly even won her first race for the women!

Honolulu Marathon

Marianne and I volunteered to ride as bicycle escorts for the wheelchair racers in the Honolulu Marathon again this year. Since they start and usually finish in the dark the race organizers have a phalanx of well lit bicycles with each wheelchair racer. Marianne and I rode mountain bikes this year because the roads are so poor, and it's dark. I rode with the first place finisher Masazumi Soejima from Japan. It's amazing how fast these guys go. I had to bear down a couple times just to stay with him. He finished in 1:32. Just like last year it rained all morning which made me feel even better about not running it.

Diving

Two weeks ago a friend of ours invited me out on his new (to him) boat for some scuba diving. I promised myself to get out on the water more this year so I skipped a trail race I had signed up for and rented some tanks Saturday evening. The dive was fun. I sort of forget how much I enjoy it until I do it again. We had some dolphins following the boat for a few minutes on the way out and saw a big reef shark settled into a hole getting his teeth cleaned by some wrasse. After the second tank we fired up the motor for the trip back. It ran for about 10 seconds, then died. No amount of tinkering seemed to help so I volunteered to crawl down in the bilge with the motor and check fuel lines. It has a big old Cummings marine diesel motor and crawling around in the hot hold, covered in fuel and oil and stale water, with the boat rocking, I was soon more disgustingly filthy than I ever remember being. I was having a blast really. No joy on getting it started though. And to top it off, we burned up the starter cranking it to much. Luckily we had motored out to the site with another small boat and they volunteered to pull us back in. That next Monday and Tuesday I helped Mark pull the starter, suss out the fuel problem, and install the rebuilt starter. We had it ticking over nicely by Tuesday but I did mention how much his boat looks like the SS Minnow for you Gilligans Island fans?

Rainbow ride

The Saturday ride had a small turnout but some great scenery. We rode a couple different routes through Wahiwa and had a rainbow following us all morning. Winter is hitting us hard right now, dipping into the low 70's. It was so cold John G had to wear his arm warmers which we gave him a hard time about.