First Place!!

Hunter competed in his first biathalon on Saturday morning. We were up early and down to Waikiki for the event. It was a run, swim, run style biathalon. He was really nervous about in his first race competing by himself, but I told him just to do his best. The course (which was a full sprint the entire way) was on the beach- a 200 meter run in the sand, 200 meter ocean swim and finished with a 200 meter beach run again. He led the group the entire way and finished way ahead of everyone else. First place!!! He looked pretty green by the end and I thought he was going to hurl. He gave it all he had and it paid off. One of Hunter's good friends, Ryan, also competed in his age group and came in third place. We're looking to our next run on April 4th - the Ford Island Bridge Run 10K.

We're in the Paper!

We made it into the local paper this week. Here's the picture from the Great Aloha Run. Ashley's counselor at school cut it out, enlarged it and then laminated it for her. She thought that was pretty cool. This was right after we had finished and were taking a much needed rest.

AAAHHH Relaxation

So, after the morning spent in the mud, grime, sand and water, we showered and headed to Bellows Beach for a night in a cabin on the beach. Of course the winds were gusting to 35 mph and the water was chilly, but what beautiful scenery. We crashed early, I think we were all asleep by 8:30 pm and up at 6 am to watch the sunrise over the ocean. We could have fished from the back porch, that's how close the ocean was.

All of the activities we do actually make us miss Jason even more. We want so much to share every moment with him. I don't think we can take the boring life though- it's just not an option. Too much to see and do, we will just have to do it all again when we have him back at home. By the way- we are counting down to R&R- only 6 weeks to go!!!

Swamp Romp 2009

We entered into the nastiest race of our lives last Saturday- the Swamp Romp. It's a muddy 5.5 mile course set up by the Marinesthat changes every year to keep the challenge high. Up at 4:30 am, geared in all the attire to keep us from chaffing and dirt clods out of our clothes, ready for the mud! On the drive over Ashley said," Why do you keep signing us up for this stuff?" She's not a morning person, in case you didn't know. We had teamed up with my friend Debbie and her two boys. The race had two qualifications to finish- keep your shoes on and finish together as a team.

We started off just fine, running through little muddy puddles. The kids were pretty much sprinting and splashing- a dream come true for all kids- to finally play in gooey mud! Let me tell you, one of the first things we did was get stuck in a mud pit and literally had to be pulled out by Marines monitoring the obstacle. Everyone coming through was stuck- they put the thickest, hardest mud to get out of at the beginning to see who will make it through. In the second mud/clay lake Hunter lost the entire sole of his shoe. It was either quit or run on a taped shoe for the remainder 4 miles. Hunter chose the tape. On a side note, electrical tape, which looks much cooler than duct tape since it's black, has NO holding power once it is wet. Unfortunately for most of the race that was all we had. So, Hunter continued to run with a boot on one foot and a ballet slipper on the other....with a trail of unraveling tape following him all the way.

We ran on roads, trails, gravel, through swamp and mud. There were also obstacles that had to be crawled through, under, over and jumped- which was pretty funny to see since all our clothes weighed an extra 10 lbs from the mud and water and were trying to fall off. We would have to hike up our pants, hold on, get a running start, and jump over. We even had a frog join us for the race through one of the swamps- couldn't resist adding his photo!

When we thought the end was near (no posted markers), we came around the corner and saw the mile of beach that we had to run on! Through the sand, a swim past a buoy, back on the sand and through more obstacles. We were dog tired. This is when we were able to get the Marines at a station to duct tape Hunter's shoe. His toes were sticking out the front and his heel in the back. I really felt bad for him, but the little dude wouldn't give up.

We only had about a mile left, so we dug deep, cheered on our team and made it through to the finish line- arm in arm. I am so proud of the team. Two almost-40 moms and 4 kids- there weren't many other teams like ours. We passed teams near the finish line who hadn't stuck together and were giving eachother a hard time that they were being passed by a bunch of kids and moms. Most of the teams were made up of military men.

We pondered when we got home what it would have been like to run with Jason on our team. He was our inspiration (knowing he's been doing this kind of stuff for the last 18 years for work) and we are looking forward to having him on Team Tuten next year! I'm sure our time will be much faster. I have included a few pictures and if I get more will post those later.