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Showing posts from 2013

El Salvador in November

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Little did we know that El Salvador is a great place to travel in November.  The weather was great, it didn't rain and not a lot of people are traveling so it as super easy to find places to stay.  Here is a rundown of what we did along the way. We flew into the San Salvador airport which is far from most towns so we had to take a cab to the coast for $30.  We made a hotel arrangement for the first night since we didn't get in till after 2am.  The rest of the trip we just figured out along the way. Costa Del Sol We spent the first night here at the Pacific Paradise hotel. It was right on the beach and nicely landscaped.  We ate their delicious local breakfast, then enjoyed the beach for a bit.  We didn't spend much time here since we wanted to start exploring so we grabbed a bus to La Libertad in the early afternoon.  We really enjoyed traveling on their buses. Each one was decorated differently, some played music, and people were always hopping on to try and sell

Almost Crushing Augusta 70.3

4:45:27 was the final time!  Since I had not been able to run much before this race, I was pretty happy with this time since I did really well on the swim and bike.  The swim is downstream and wetsuit legal so I knew it was going to be easy.  I ended up getting pretty hot in the wetsuit, but I was happy to have it.  I was at the finish before I realized it and almost swam past the exit ramp.  My swim was 23:35 which was 10th in my division. 2:25:43 was the bike, which I also got 10th in my division.  I was pretty happy with the time, but I felt tired the whole time.  I think I was just out of practice with lack of training the three weeks before the race.  I really liked the hills.  I also need to figure out my diet since I was not feeling well.  I'm thinking about diluting Gatorade next time since full strength was too much.  I also tried those bonk blocks, but did not like them.  I guess I'll stick with goo. The run was the worst part, but this was expected. 1:50:38 is

St Augustine Summer Triathlon

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I didn't go into this race thinking I would get 2nd overall, but that's what happened!  I was stoked with a time of 58:43.  The swim felt pretty good, but slow, so I was shocked when I got on the bike and realized I was in second at that point.  I could see the lead guy just 40 meters in front of me, but I couldn't seem to catch him and by the end of the bike, he was about 100 meters ahead.  I felt really good coming into the run, but since I hadn't done much run training due to shin splints, I only had an average pace of 7m.  This is what kept me from getting first so I'll be working on this.  I didn't do the rubber band trick on the bike and I put socks on for the run.  I think this was the way to go for speed right at the beginning of the bike and comfort on the run. It was great to have a bunch of locals at the race.  Close to 20 people from out Tri Club where there and the camaraderie was awesome!  Even David showed up to see what competition he had for

Carnival Paradise and Cozumel

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Kristen and I had a couple days off for the 4th of July so what better way to celebrate than leave the country!  She had never been on a cruise so a short one was a great way to get her feet wet.  I'm not sure we will be going on another cruise in the near future unless it is in the Mediterranean, but we did have a wonderful time. The first day and a half were at sea.  We spent most of this time eating, playing ping pong, eating more, exploring the ship, eating dessert and relaxing.  The next day we were in Cozumel and we went snorkeling, wandered around the city and ate more food.  I was surprised how good the snorkeling was.  My past experiences in Mexico (on the Pacific coast), have not been all that great, but I would definitely go back to Cozumel to dive.  The water was blue, clear and warm.  They have this area called Cielo and I'm pretty sure it was the brightest blue I have ever seen before.  The snorkel tour we did was great.  They made us fresh guacamole and made u

Surfing the Maldives (and visiting Qatar)

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What an amazing trip!  The water, sea life and culture were all great experiences.  Plus having world class surf in our backyard was superb.  And I'm glad it was amazing since it took about 29 hours to get there and 35 to get back (including layovers).  I appreciated the long layovers because it gave us a chance to experience Qatar.  We had 6 hours on the way over and a whole night on the way back. Our first experience in Qatar consisted of going to the Souq Wagif.  This is a local market where you can buy fabric(lots of it), random touristy stuff and grab food/coffee/hooka!  We did it all, I bought a dress for Daria, ate at a local vendor and had coffee at a hooka bar.  The culture was very different.  Everyone was all dressed up in their 'garb'.  I didn't realize it wasn't proper to ask a lady (covered to her eyes) to take a picture until she basically ran the other way when I asked.  Walking down the little alleys reminded me of playing the Aladdin video game.