A QUICK CHECK-IN

It's been a busy time since we left Hawaii just over a year ago. We've lived in three different time zones and have driven across the U.S. four times. We have seen Yellowstone, the Atlantic Ocean and had a few tornado scares. Three grandsons have been born in the past few months, including twins, (giving us 6 grandkids total) and so much more has been going on that it has been hard to catch my breath.

I've barely had time to do any running or biking over the past year. I've only been swimming twice since leaving Hawaii, which is really sad. I love swimming. Now we live just 2 miles from a swimming facility so hopefully once we get settled in our new location - Oregon, by the way - I'm hoping to get back into the water.

This blog has slowly transformed from a triathlete's journey off the couch to more of a family focused blog, but I'm hoping as we get settled in the Northwest I'll get back into training and find some interesting experiences to write about such as how hard it's going to be to "learn to swim" again. Or how to get and stay motivated in a cold, rainy climate. 

I've always marveled at how mainlanders could stay motivated to train for a triathlon all winter long compared to how easy it is to those of us in Hawaii who always have great weather and a beautiful ocean to swim in. Now I'm about to find out.

Anyhow, this is just to revisit "The Kona Life" and say what's happening. I should change the name of this place but I think I will keep it. After all, The Kona Life is a state of mind more than a place where I lived. 

Take care and I'll hopefully be writing again soon.

RACING AGAIN

I ran my first race in Idaho last weekend. The Rim2Rim canyon run. 7.5 miles of pain. It's the hardest running race I've done. As I posted on Facebook, the race was like running Kaloko ( a very steep,winding road in Kona, combined with running the Hawaii 70.3 triathlon running course (a half marathon on a golf course, hot roads and gravel) then running down Kaloko followed by running back up it again. All fit into 7.5 miles. It felt a lot farther than that though.

Anyhow it was fun finally racing again. It's been a while since my last race and it's my first race on the mainland since college.

I am still trying to adapt to mainland living and no ocean in sight. The biggest trouble has been not being able to swim anymore. The only swimming here is at the YMCA, of which we are members, but they have such an odd schedule for lap swimming that I have only made it to the pool once since we've moved here.

Cycling is another issue. There are no shoulders on the roads here and traffic is fast (75 mph on the freeways and 65 or so on the back roads) so it doesn't feel safe to bike. Most people bike with the bike club but they DO NOT allow tri bikes and I don't like riding in groups anyhow, so I've restricted my cycling to using the bike trainer in the garage.

So mostly I've only been running, which is fine. I like running. My goal is to participate in an ultramarathon sometime in the next year.

On the bright side, we have been doing a lot of road trips since we've moved. I even got to check off a bucket list item (going to Yellowstone and seeing Old Faithful).

Here are a few photos of some of the places we've visited:

Yellowstone 

the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Madison river in yellowstone

road trip to Balanced Rock

Hidden Lakes.

Jerome County Fair

On the Snake River at Twin Falls Park

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Craters of the Moon national Monument.

Oh, we are planning a speed trip cross-country at the end of October and running in as many states as possible, but more on that in my next post. 

Be safe.