Off-road Triathlon

Hi all,
Yesterday The Nevis Cycle and Triathlon Club had it's first ever off-road triathlon. I came in 2nd in the women's novice division. Not that I'm good but there just weren't that many women entered! We swam 450 meters, biked on an off-road trail in a piece of land between the Mt. Nevis Hotel and the airport. The novice bike distance was two loops totalling about 14k or so and the Expert went four loops for about 25k or so. The run was about 5k. I did a great swim at 10 minutes flat. I was right up there behind the fast ones. Not bad! I got past the person that I normally get stuck behind and can't get around. I got around him early and stuck to the buoy line all the way. The bike leg was scary for me. Off-road does not thrill me on the bike because if I break something I will need to hail a plane and go to Puerto Rico to have it set right so I was granny slow! The first half is up hill on grass and easy to maneuver but the second half is down hill with loose gravel and mud that you slip and slide around in. The fast people were pedaling all the way down the hill going like a bat out of hell. I was breaking pretty much the whole way down fearing for my life. Penny Avery was our water stop girl at the bike junction and she said I was smiling as I took off back to Oualie after the bike leg. I told her yes I was smiling because I was happy that I made it through it without dying. Haha. The run took off up hurricane hill, down Cottle Church road and then off into the grass and mud. It was nice running out there until I got lost. I took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end and had to back track. So I added some time onto that but all in all it was a fun day. My overall time was one hour and 34 minutes. My run was about 36 minutes and the bike was 45. Jaime did the expert and had a problem with his clip-in shoes so he didn't do as well as he had expected but he finished and had fun which was the word of the day...Have Fun! We had 22 entrants in the race all together. About half Expert and half novice. There were a couple of vacationing ladies that entered just for fun and they were out there sight seeing on the bike course. It was really funny. And that is my excitement. If I get any pictures I will post them. There was a photographer snapping some photos that day but I'm not sure how I get my hands on them. His son is in Julian's class but he is a paid photographer so I'm not sure if he will give them to me. My second set of classes is coming to a close and I need to go and finish up my final paper for science class. We'll be home in 19 days!

Hello from Nevis

Well...since I have written last life has not been too exciting around here. Jaime has been busy with school and so have I. My classes take up most of my time these days. I am hoping my next set of classes are not so much work. I'd like to get my tan back!!! Julian is still in horseback riding once a week. He is in a more advanced class now which is fun for him because he gets to canter a lot which makes it more fun. He's getting better but still has days where his horse just won't do what he wants. He is also in swimming lessons once a week. His teacher is a woman here with her husband and two kids from Canada. They moved here recently for his work (some type of offshore thing I think). She's doing great with her swim lesson business. Her name is Nicole and she is very nice and doing a great job with the kids in lessons. He goes on Saturday at 1:00 at Oualie Beach so we usually go early or stay late and get a few hours at the beach on that day. Jaime and I have been swimming a lot too and I've been running and I just started biking again to make those training triathlons a bit easier. There is an off-road triathlon on the 25th of this month. I haven't really heard much about it though so I'm not sure what is going on with it. There is another training triathlon on the 9th of December. It will be a 450meter swim, 13k bike and a 3k run. Then we will miss the next two while we are home.

Speaking of home...we will be home in 34 days! Julian has his Christmas concert the night before we leave. They are doing a siging and dancing act. Some type of Broadway show type theme. One of our board members ordered hats, gloves and canes for the kids so it should be really funny. They have two people coming in at PE time to teach the kids the songs and dance steps. I think it will be really funny. Our friend Winston is back from his 5 month hiatus off island. He has a house in Turkey which is where he spends his time when he's not here. We're happy to have him back. Other than that nothing exciting since the Halloween party.