Races! (Spring 2012)

Just like anywhere in America, you can find races anytime on this island! Summer is definitely not for the heat intolerant though, so the longer running races are usually in the cooler months. The Marine bases here have TONS of events as well... so we tried to take advantage this Spring :)

Chris and my friend Chrissy signed up for a half marathon road race on the island... it was a pretty cool setup where they went over a long bridge onto one of the outlying islands. It was a beautiful day and we brought our favorite dog along too. Lily!! If you've read past posts, she's made several appearances... we dog sit for her whenever our friends Jill and Michael go out of town. Well, the race was really cool, but bringing Lily along sure did make for some fun stories that day.

Just like everywhere else in Japan, this race was JAM PACKED! People everywhere and parking was kinda far from the start. We ended up parking in a lot and having to take a shuttle bus. We weren't sure if dogs were allowed on the bus, so I just put her in a tote bag. Yeah, she's not that small, but it was really funny. She didn't make a peep, but her butt eventually started falling out of the bag and people on the bus started to notice. They all loved her though. They all said 'kawaii!!', which means 'cute'. Lily just eats up the attention... all you have to do is look at her and she starts wagging her tail. Happiest dog ever!!

Chrissy & I in the parking lot

Lily's ready for the bus ride!

Chris and Chrissy got to the start area, so Lily and I took off walking up on the big bridge so we could find a good spot to cheer them on. 

Most content dog ever :)

Chris excited to see Lily! 

Cool costumes dudes!

Lily gets hungry again. 

Chris and Chrissy both did great! Fun day in the spring sun for the 3 of us and Lil :)


Random photo: Chris did a bike race and snapped this photo... probably don't see this too often in the states!












Next up, triathlons!! Since finding out in Aug 2010 that I have a longstanding back problem, running had not been part of my life anymore. It was a huge blow! But, I feel incredibly fortunate that I live here in Oki. Why? Well, it's temperate year round, I'm surrounded by military where working out is a part of life, and I came to a great place to take up swimming! Chrissy, Lyndsey and I had been swimming together for several months, and I was finally feeling more comfortable in the water... even though I'm super slow in comparison to anyone that's swam most of his/her life. I laugh b/c I still remember almost failing swimming in gym class in high school. I was so bad at it... it was rediculous! Anywho, I don't think I would've been able to get to the point where I am now without the help of Chrissy and Lyndsey. Running: well, after not running for a whole year, I decided to start slow. I'm at the point where I can run 2-3 miles once a week. It actually doesn't hurt me at all to run! It's just afterwards that I have pain radiate through my leg if I push it too hard. And finally, biking. I LOVE my mountain bike. I can hop on that thing at any time and bust it out, but it's a wee bit too small for me, and Chris really wanted to build me a road bike! He worked so hard on rebuilding a bike so that the handlebars where up high enough for me so I didn't hunch over while I'm riding. One of the toughest things I deal with everyday now is that I cannot slouch. Not one bit. I have to have my back straight all the time. I still sneak rides on my mountain bike every once and awhile though :)

Ok, so the races. I did my first very mini triathlon, and the swim was in the ocean! It was pretty rough... not gonna lie. Chris did it with me, and he's about the same pace I am in the water. At one point, I looked over and he was doing the backstroke :) Love that guy b/c after he got outta the water, he went on to kill it on the bike and run and still place.

Walking our bikes to the start. I look rediculous on that red bike, but it worked!

My first triathlon finish!! Slow, but steady :)

Chrissy and I afterwards. She's one of my #1 motivators! We continued to swim from May to November twice a week at 5:30am. We never missed a week unless one of us was traveling! Now that's a good partner :) 

Chris may have crashed his bike, but he's still smiling. And he placed. And he still has some of those scars. 

 As much as I was just thrilled to be able to do a triathlon, I felt like I wanted to do one more b/c I thought maybe I could go just a little faster and farther :) This one had a pool swim instead too! Chris, Chrissy and Chrissy's husband, Eric all came to cheer me on. The run was great, the bike was rediculously slow b/c it was windy and I was sitting straight up like I was blocking the wind for everybody and their brother, and then the pool swim at the end was awesome! I'm still pretty slow in comparison to lots of my athletic peers out here, but I am just so thankful that I didn't lose all of my drive to try to get back out running and biking again! 

And swimming has definitely saved my sanity :)