Tuesday, December 30, 2008

40 GOES FOR 50

I couldn't let today go by without getting in a ride. If you can't ride on your birthday, when can you? Yes, today I hit the big four zero. So, I set out for a ride with no real plan for where I was headed. It was clear over towards Barbers Point and I could tell it was raining towards Pearl City. At the last minute I decided to take a chance and ride over for the HACC Hammerfest. As soon as I got half way down Ft. Weaver Road, I hit the rain and it was coming down hard. It rained on me all the way to Pearl Harbor. By the time I got to Hickam it had cleared up and I met a small group of HACCers for the lunchtime ride. The ride back wasn't bad and I got in about 50 miles. At least my ride wasn't as bad as this guy's.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY!!!

Today I learned that if your wife sends you to the store to get something and you get the wrong thing, this means you don't pay attention to what you eat.

I also learned that there is a difference between broccoli and broccolini...about a $10.00 difference.

I was sent to the store to get broccoli and came home with broccolini. Broccolini costs over $13.00 for two heads...broccoli costs just over $3.00 for two heads.

So for those of you out there that don't know, here are a couple of pictures to clear it up.

This is broccolini...


This is broccoli...


My wife said this was the most expensive vegetable she has ever seen. Luckily the grocery store let me exchange what I bought. Don't make the same mistake I did...pay attention to what you eat!!!!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This year Christmas was done a little differently. We kept buying the kids gifts and then giving them to them before Christmas. They both wanted custom skateboards, so we took them to a skateboard shop to pick their own decks, trucks, wheels, etc. They ended up using them the same day. They both had other things they wanted but ended up getting early. Regardless, today they still had gifts to open and Damien was up bright and early. He didn't even wait for us to get out of bed before opening.

Breanna finally woke up a bit later to open her gifts.

We spent the rest of the day taking Goy's mom to lunch and then came home to relax. We took some pictures of our dogs (Lucky and Pokey).

Pokey is very protective of her bone.

She doesn't like anyone getting close to it...much less touching it.

Friday, December 19, 2008

DAMIEN'S CHRISTMAS SHOW

Today Damien's school put on a Christmas show for the last day of school. Here are some pictures taken on his last day of school.


Tuesday, December 16, 2008

TUESDAY HAMMERFEST

Went out for the HACC Hammerfest today to stretch the legs out and surprisingly felt pretty good. I rode by myself after deciding not to try to hang with the first group out and then hooked up with second group after the first turn around. Stayed with these guys until getting back to the main base. The first group slowed down and we were able to catch up. On the final stretch, I sat back and watched a few guys that were out in front. Jon came screaming by and a couple of guys jumped to pull him back. I watched everyone who jumped and hung on their wheel when they did. I realized that I was out front with Steve Steele and a couple of others. Steve started sprinting away from everyone and I hung right on his wheel until the end of the sprint. I'm not sure if it was skill, strategy, luck , or a combination of the three that enabled me to pull that off but I was surprised, especially since my legs were still sore from the marathon. Great ride and legs actually feel better!

Monday, December 15, 2008

MARATHON RESULTS

I knocked out the Honolulu Marathon yesterday. I didn't quite make my goal of under four hours but finished with a pretty good time considering I didn't train at all for this run. My time was 4 hours, 22 minutes. I started out pretty good, despite the fact that it rained on us through most of the morning. Around mile 18, both my calves started to cramp. I believe it was from being cold during the rain and then warming up. I actually felt both of them pop when trying to run. I had to stop for a minute and stretch them out. Then I got back to running. After finishing, I got a massage and then headed home. When I got home, Goy wanted to go grocery shopping. I guess it was quite commical watching me trying to get around after running 26.2 miles. I was in some pain but, of course, Goy and Damien showed no sympathy...they pretty much made fun of me the whole time. I'm a little sore this morning, but not too bad.

Friday, December 12, 2008

CHRISTMAS PARTY

Last night we had our command Christmas party at the Hickam Enlisted Club. The food was good and there was a hula show. We didn't stick around too late due to it being Thursday night and we had to get home and get the kids in bed and ready for school.

Goy and I at the party.

Our friends Mike and Pon.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

2008 HONOLULU MARATHON - SIGNED UP!!!


Well, I went ahead and signed up...despite lack of proper training/preparation. I guess I'll just gut it out and see how I do. My goal...FINISH (hopefully in under four hours)!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

UPDATE

It has been a while since I have posted anything, so I'll do a quick, one-shot catch up.

Thanksgiving went well. I did a 7 mile run before chowing down. The Friday after Thanksgiving I got up early to meet up for the HACC ride but was feeling lazy. I ended up sitting around and then going for a 30 mile ride later that day. Saturday and Sunday were uneventful. Saturday I got up again with plans to do the ride with HACC but was still feeling unmotivated. Not sure what was going on with me this weekend but at least I got in one run and one ride. We did get some shopping in too. Pretty much just a normal weekend with a little bit of laziness thrown in.

Today it was raining, so I drove in. It cleared up by lunch and I went over for the HACC Hamerfest. I had decided to go hard. I was up with the lead group as we came around for the cool down/sprint. I tried making a covert move off the front (Bryant taught me this move). Then I noticed a couple of guys making a move on my left. I jumped on their wheel and hung on. Just before the next to the last sign, I made a move and took the lead. I looked down and was hittng 32mph. The next thing I saw was Mauricio blowing by me. I held on to second! Ouch, that hurt!