The day began with two ripe bananas at 6:30am on a 30 foot sailboat in Waianae boat harbor. Mind you, although I'm quite an accurate being, my accuracy in guessing measurements and distances is not so good. First off, it is a well-known fact that if you bring bananas or women on a boat it is bad luck, but since feminism reins, it is only bad luck if you bring bananas. Of course as an educated person I knew that bananas are "bad luck" but as a scientist I wanted to test that theory and as a non-believer of superstition I wanted to test God a little or at least let him show off... so we left the harbor with minor rope/line problems, which were blamed on the bananas and off to sea we went!

The ocean was calm, clear and beautiful and the sun was already harsh by 7:30. We had a hard time finding a buoy to tie off to and a couple of the guys (and a girl) decided to hang on to the rope hanging off the back of the boat to find the buoy. We finally found it but were not not in the prime diving spot. The reef was a barren wasteland but after swimming for a while, armed for the first time with my very own borrowed speargun we found some shelves with drops of about 50 feet. Equalizing was a little difficult since I haven't dove in several months and besides that down to 50 feet. I had the first catch of the day, a shot through the eyes of a menpachi of about half a foot (sounds bigger than 6 inches). Must be due to the good luck of my banana! One of the guys helped kill the fish for me and quickly setup my speargun since I hadn't yet gotten the hang of it. After several more drops, shots and getting the hang of getting my gun set up solo, I shot a Roy that was a little over a foot long. Back to the boat to hang out with the girls while the guys caught dinner.

When the guys got back we chased a pod of dolphins and actually got to swim about an arm's length from them. It was incredible! We were almost in the deep blue, about 80-100 feet deep in crystal clear water swimming with spinner dolphins! Incredible day with incredible people! Photos to come...

I could blame not posting lately on the fact that my computer has no more memory so therefore I am uninspired without the ability to upload pictures etc. Or I could admit that I just haven't given myself enough time to actually think and write... It's actually kind of nice just waiting at the apple store waiting for my hard drive to be erased so I can sit back and think about the day.

It's funny how in the moment somethings seem tedious but when you think about them later you pick out all the good parts... Well I guess there were a lot of good parts today despite all the waiting around. I got up at 5:00 am to get ready for the Hawaii 5-0 shooting. As soon as I get my bike out I realize I have a flat and attempt to change it in the dark only to realize that the valve is too short! Good thing my friend came along just in the nick of time to use his super fast tire-changing skills to save the day! Although we were told to wear what we wear to races, my sport-friendly bikini didn't quite cut it so they gave me a jersey to wear ( really cute, I wish I could keep it!). Riding out to the "race" we saw Alex O'Loughlin in a restored older Land Rover. He probably looked and smiled at at least three of us girls because we were all talking about it for a while... Race simulation was funny because fast guys were in the middle or the back and we cruised around the block several time at probably 5mph. It was pretty cool to see the actors run through the pack though. We had quite a few breaks and they had great snacks, fruit and energy bars. I was pretty impressed by how much they take care of us considering past experiences with filming or shooting. As I grabbed some of my home-made protein balls, Alex O. comes up to me and starts asking about us triathletes etc. that was pretty cool! I didn't realize he was an Aussie! Very cool guy. More scenes and takes and stunts and lunch. Overall it was a pretty good day, meeting other triathletes and getting paid to hang out! After I threw a mini-fit over the fact that we had to stay in the dungeon rather than go home or film with the other bikers, they let us go home... or rather to Starbucks and get my green tea latte one of the crew members stole. Finally just got to chill on the beach and swim at sunset. Rough life!

I feel as if I am but a drop in a vast ocean
Just a soul floating in a grand abyss
The more I learn, the more I know nothing
The more I search, the more lost I become
I must lose my life to really live, I must become less

turn the world off,

lights and all,

let the stillness settle,

the silence fall,

as the earth goes black,

the stars go bright,

they shoot, they fall, they fly, they shine,

brilliant diamonds in a coal black sky.

-an undisclosed closet poet

"Too often, people want what they want (or what they think they want, which is usually "happiness" in one form or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only by learning to wait, and by willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile."
-William J. Bennett

Empty, Empty
You empty me so completely I have nothing left
Only the remnants of the fire that burned
Maybe the condensation in my heart
I have nothing left, but was that the point?
Was the point to show that I can do nothing meaningful on my own?
Only good intentions?

Thirsty, Thirsty
Thirsty for a desire, a passion and inspiration once again
Sweep away the ashes and burn a new flame
Come like a flood and bring new life
I have no more strength so please come quickly
Everything is meaningless without you here
I cannot live by only my good intentions

Saturday KCC Farmer's market

Nalo

"Grumpy"

Holga style

And after...

Thursday On the North Shore

Totoro

Shell filled beach

Me, Mom and Sea Glass

Mom's first Sunrise

Me and Totoro :)

On the way back

Wrapping up the racing season

I finally cleared out my emails which included reading all my active.com articles I have been waiting to read. There was one article that talked about wrapping up my race season, in particular evaluating it, so here I go...

1. The best parts of the season were:
- doing more cycling events, meeting people and pushing myself (castle to hanauma in the wind, tantalus in the rain!)
- winning the Na Wahine triathlon!!! First win ever!!!
- training with Cambio and getting faster (getting my but kicked but kept on pushing!)
- attempting to run track and getting a little faster, improving some fast twitch muscles

2. The Greatest disappointments of my season
- Still lacking good training partners (especially girls)
- I think I could have trained harder and better- specifically targeting swimming and running more

3. If I could change anything about this season I would have
- been more motivated to train, train harder and faster
-eat more greens


4. What I want to accomplish next season
- I want to beat my times
-Do more core workouts
-Get some fast wheels
-Place well in a sprint, olympic and possibly half iron man
-kick butt in Dick Evans and do the Waikiki Rough water the next day (north shore swim series as well?)
- Find awesome people to train with
-minimize injuries and headaches
-surf and dive more?

Woo Hoo! My pictures have been used! Cali Kai Jewelry

A Fixer

A fixer has the illusion of being causal
a server knows s/he is being used in the service
of something greater,
essentially unknown.
 
We fix something specific.
We serve always something:
Wholeness and the mystery of life.
 
Fixing and helping are the work of the ego.
Serving is the work of the soul.
 
When you help, you see life as weak.
When you fix you see life as broken
When you serve you see life as whole.
Fixing and helping may cure. Service heals.
 
When I help, I feel satisfaction.
When I serve, I feel gratitude.
 
Fixing is a form of judgment.
Serving is a form of connection.
 
- Unknown

Btw everyone who reads my notes on facebook, I'm still not going to be on for like a week and a half. My blogs automatically get updated to fb... Anyway <3!

So today started off with a beautiful ride up on tantalus. I was mentally killing myself for waking up an hour later than usual but by time I was most of the way up I was totally stoked to be up there. I've been wanting to get back up for several weeks now, it's so gorgeous! I definitely had to hold on to that moment several times today; when I was exhausted at work, when I wanted to tell a co-worker a mean joke but held my tongue ( I hear they're re-vamping sesame street, maybe you should audition for ____ the grouch!) and when I was riding on the motorcycle on the freeway in the pouring rain equipped with my short slacks, flats, a helmet and a light sweater. I'm so happy I convinced myself to ride tantalus this morning instead of doing it tomorrow because tomorrow I might be going north... Hip flexors are sore but I'm happy, eating carbs and protein again, vegging out on raw cacao macaroons, painting my nails and watching the latest episode of House :)

Still can't believe it even though it was almost two weeks ago...

Full Race Results

This is what we do in jury duty
 

So there's this guy in jury duty with a "thinking" cartoon app on his phone. Pretty funny, usually he puts "Objection 401, 403..." a little girl put "monkeys" in the phone and then the guy, Tom says he has a perfect one for me... here it is... my reputation precedes me :P

My best $5 purchase ever!

Nordstrom $169

Nordstrom Rack $50.00

Marked down to $25.00- $20.00 coupon= $5!

 Pake deal for my favorite shoes ever!

The Good's and Bad's of this week's raw food fast:

Bad:
-Brocolli mash with mushroom gravy (unless you love the taste of raw brocolli I wouldn't try it, something funky about it.)
-The lemon bars I made were too salty even though I put way less salt than was asked for
-Eating too much fat (nuts=protein and fat!)

Good:
-the salad bar at Whole Foods
-my onion bread I left in the dehydrator too long (taste like funions now)
-morning muesli (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, honey crisp apple, banana) with almond milk and honey
-strawberry milk shake (almond milk, strawberries and banana)
-an awesome song I was singing this morning got sent to me in an email
-even though I'm in jury duty for ~a month God is totally providing financially (as I found out more today!)
-great swim/run during sunset
-I've been much more satisfied with my raw food this week (last week I was so hungry!)
-thinking about applying for med school again... not sure if that's good or bad...

 Cliff Jumping

Dick Evans Memorial Road Race

Photo by Mike Abbott

 Wow, today. where do I start? I guess I can start with waking up at 2:45 in the morning after having dreams about missing the peleton and chasing them down... then woke up again at 4:40, five minutes before my alarm went off. Ate some quinoa and half a sprouted wheat bagel. Got dropped off in Hawaii Kai by mom, dad and totoro. No one from my team was there although I knew a bunch of people there: Jason, Kevin, Shawn... A few other familiar faces. Mellow ride through town at an average of <20mph. Lots of stoplights. So happy when we got to Nimitz for our "nature break." I heard someone yell my name and looked but then I realized I didn't hear them say- don't look! If you call my name I will look! Goodness! Someone ate it coming down the curb from their pee break, second solo crash of the day. By time we got to Kunia I was a little worried because my legs were sore from yesterday's bricks-so stupid. I bridged one group to a few guys up ahead and we ended up forming a nice little group, Tai, Katy, me, Kawika and some other tradewind guys. Nice little mish mashed group of Cambio, Quick Release, Pac Velo and Tradewinds. Getting to sunset wasn't too bad.

Photo by Mike Abbot

The front group had a lot of flats so we passed some of them but they caught up to us by our first stop, Sunset Elementary School. The fast girl, Monique/Pua/... ate it pretty bad on the white lines. After our break we were on our way again. The fast group had more flats but we held on to our pace at ~20mph till almost Kualoa where Katy flatted. Pain. Tai did the fastest tire change I've ever seen. So glad there were at least three of us. Fast group caught up but they weren't going to stop at the second water stop at Kualoa so we pulled over to get water and eat. Met up with our tradewinds guys again. Once we hit the valley of the temples I was dead even though I attempted a couple short pulls. God some help going up the hill, my muscles hurt so bad I felt like I was going to cry. Literally. Suppressed my whiny urges. Dump road wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone held it together pretty well even though everyone was tired. Skipped Olomana with Katy and we pushed it to the end. ~18mph through Waimanalo and ~29 down Makapuu almost till the end. Unknowingly dropped Tai who had worked super hard pulling all day plus running 12 miles yesterday! I guess he stopped at 7-11 for a red bull and vodka I mean snickers. So happy once we finished, especially since Katy lived like a block away. Got some ice for my aching joints then went to meet up with everyone at Kona Brewery. 1 hour wait for the food. Drama, whatever. Learning how to brush things off... Pizza was so good. A ride back in AC was so great. Even though we didn't have an official race, despite the pain, we (I at least) had so much fun! Maybe more so than if we actually raced. It was so awesome to have such a team spirit among people we just met. If we raced I would never have gotten to meet a bunch of them and have lunch with them! So great.

Sandy's