Aloha!

Back from Maui...and it was awweeesssome.  Exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries after a busy summer of training and preparing for the marathon.  Weather was pretty nice - we've never gone during this time of year but I think we might just start going in the early Fall as it's not quite so hot.  We ended up staying at a difference place than our usual spot as they were going through some major renovations...the great folks over at Hale Napili are so good to us and rebooked us at the place next door and paid the difference to make up for inconveniencing us!  The new place was wonderful, but we missed coming home to Hale Napili as we get treated like family when we arrive.  Love it there. 

As far as what we did, the trip itself was the same old, same old...a lot of relaxing, eating and moseying around.  We did manage to fit in a few runs as well, and I was saving my first road run after the marathon for Maui.  We have a favourite route that we do that takes us into the next area Kapalua, which is absolutely gorgeous and is home to the Ritz Carlton and a beautiful golf course that hosts a few PGA tournaments.  It was on one of these runs that we noticed that there was something called Xterra going on, and after asking around we discovered it was an off road triathlon that was having its world championship in Kapalua!  So cool.  We made sure we went back to check it out, and the vibe was electric with helicopters buzzing around as camera crews recorded the race.  We watched the swim and were planning on leaving after the bike transition until we heard there was a very special guest racing in the Xterra...

Lance Armstrong!  This is a shot of him transitioning to the run and he was kicking some ass at this point and was in the top ten.  Unfortunately, the run got the better of him and he was around 26th or so.  The female leader was a gal who was also from Victoria (woohoo!) named Melanie McQuaid who was taking no prisoners until the last bit when the heat and a lost electrolyte bottle ended the race for her, and collapsed within about 200 feet from the finish line (if you're checking out her site, here is her race report - read it, it's amazing).  Now some people may think she's crazy, but I'm in absolute and utter awe of someone who pushes themselves so hard and is trying to finish even though physically she is completely shot and has nothing left to give.  Melanie, you may not have won the world championship, but you rock in my books.  You made me proud to be Canadian that day!

Is it wrong that I reallllly want to try a tri?  Guess I gotta learn how to swim first though, eh?  Heh.