What has happened lately?...

I haven't posted in a while so I will update you on the very exciting goings on of the Moreno family. Since I have been back I have ran a 9K race and a 10K race. They were both races sponsored by the Nevis Cycle and Triathlon Club. Jaime didn't race in the 9k because he was doing a whopping 50k bike race the next day. This was the Friday after we got back here and I hadn't been running much so I wasn't really looking forward to it. But I got out there and did it and finished in 50 minutes which is good for me. The bike race that Jaime did was hard. The wind changed (and no my face didn't stay that way) which made it harder because you had to fight the wind in a different direction than you were used to. And there are some long hills to fight the wind. Jaime set out with a full heart but in the end he did the novice distance which was I think about half. There were several drop-outs which was surprising to me as most of these men have been doing a lot of training. So the 10k...we talked a few people that we know into running in the race. Even though they knew they weren't ready they were excited to do it. We had discussed the start time of the race as 5:30 but half the team thought we were starting at 5:00 and there was a last minute route change that confused everyone. Anyway, we had about 16 people racing. The newcomers were Heidi, Brian Adrian, Ben Turner and Chad Seiler. We finally arrived at the race start at 5:30 but the race did not get underway until about 5:45. It was a different route than I had ever ran before and after the turnaround it was really hard. There was a big long hill that we had to get up. Right aroud that time the sun was setting. None of us had factored in the darkness factor. Long story short we ended up finishing the race in the dark. It was not fun. I could not see my footing but gladly I could see the cars coming at me. I finished in good time for me. Just under an hour which is about 5 minutes faster than my normal 10k time. If it hadn't been dark I would have finished in better time because I felt good running. I attribute my success to the new run training that we have been doing with James of the cycle club. He's a great guy and a great runner and biker. There is a group of us that get together 3 times a week and train. We do sprints, hills, physical training (squats, knee lifts, abs, jumping jacks, beach running, etc). It's sort of like a mini caribbean boot camp! What am I doing this for??? Last Wednesday we were discussing what we were going to be doing on Friday and he turned around and pointed up to the hill beyond Ridge Road (where my mother and sister stayed). There is a cell tower up there and he said we're going to run up there. We were all like...WHAT? We tackled it from the other side. We drove up to the road that goes up to the tower and ran 2k up the hill. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. We brought Julian with us and he ran up it like there was no tomorrow. He would be running and he'd look back at me who was behind him and do a stretch and continue up. He's so funny. Anyway, it took us about 15 minutes to get up there. Then we walked down due to the loose gravel it would have been dangerous to run down. James pointed out and picked us some local fruits on the way down.

Heidi and her daughter Julia who is one and a half years old were stung by jellyfish the other day. They were at Oualie Beach in about a foot of water when they got stung. Julia got it the worst being so small. They ended up going to the emergency room for cortisone shots. That helped a lot but even a week later she still has marks from it. The emergency visit cost her 20.00EC. What a bargain! They told her that it as jellyfish season but we're not sure how long that lasts. Someone else told us it could last a couple of weeks. Julian went to a birthday party over there the same day and the birthday girl also got stung. Julian was safe to stay away from the water. I didn't even have to tell him to stay out. As soon as he heard me talking to Heidi on the phone he told me he wasn't going in. They party was fun. They played games and did a sand castle contest. I had to be the judge. That was not fun. I hate judging! But Sarah, the mom didn't want to do it either because it was her kids party and she said she is always the bad guy when it comes to contests. So anyway, she helped me judge anyway and we made it very close but the group that made the sea turtle was clearly the best so they won. The other groups were good sports. Julian and his little friend Jack kept working on theirs until the party was over. The kids had cake and the grown ups had better cake. Wendy's cake. It was a chocolate almond cake. It had no frosting and didn't need any! It just had powdered sugar on the top and it was moist and delicious. It was awesome!

They had a little assembly at the school for Patriots Day last week. The whole school sang the national anthem and then each class got up and recited a poem. Julian is behind the flag. It was very cute and they did a really good job. The event began on true caribbean time about 20 minutes late. We were all sitting there in the little assembly hall sweating to death as the keynote speaker got herself together. So the pictures are of the party at Oualie Beach. They had a water balloon throwing contest to see who could throw it the longest without breaking it. And the other picture is of Julian's class reciting their poem about the flag. From left to right we have a girl that I don't know, Julian, Lily, Kate, Siobhan, Dias and another girl I don't know. And that is it from here. OH, and Jaime has his first block exam tomorrow on pharmacology so if you pray please throw in a thought for him...f you don't pray please cross your fingers.