This is the forecast for the five days I’ll be in Brazil. I have mixed feelings about rain, but the rain LOVES me. The race is on Sunday. Most of the forecasts I’ve looked at have said T-Storms, which would be bad news, but this one from MSN just says rain. I can live with that.

Thursday

Jan 24
PM Rain

Hi: 77° Lo: 71°

Drizzle. High 77F and low 71F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.

Friday

Jan 25
Showers

Hi: 74° Lo: 70°

Cloudy with showers. High 74F and low 70F.

Saturday

Jan 26
Rain

Hi: 73° Lo: 71°

Rain. High 73F and low 71F.

Sunday

Jan 27
Rain

Hi: 75° Lo: 71°

Rain. High 75F and low 71F.

Monday

Jan 28
Rain

Hi: 76° Lo: 72°

Mostly cloudy with showers. High 76F and low 72F.

My parents have been out of town this week, which meant I had the house to myself. I was excited for some quiet time and to be able to set my own rules. Instead I had to make sure I was home enough to walk my dog and take care of my kitty, who is recovering from a 105 degree fever that had him pretty much knocked out and looking terrible. Just as I am finally getting back on a regular sleep schedule, my parents decide to take a flight back from Florida that arrives at midnight. The last thing I want to do is stay up until 1am, but I know they would do it for me.

My friend Rory says he only laughs while reading my blog when something goes wrong. Nothing bad has happened lately (hopefully that stays true through my trip to Brazil next week, [knock knock]), but as I was backing up the files on my computer I did find a journal entry (before I blogged I wrote emails to massive lists of friends or typed it into a journal) from my first day in Hawaii, back in August of 2005. It’s amusing.

Day 1

After sleeping on the plane for almost the entire 6 hour journey, I awoke to find that I had Grumpy Old Grunter sitting right behind me. As we landed he grumpily grunted, “move your seat up.” (a nice way to wake up). Then, a woman with her panic stricken granddaughter came pushing up the aisle (as politely as possible). Grumpy Old Grunter stood broadly across the isle. Frantically the woman gasped, “Excuse us, my granddaughter has an emergency.” Another Grunt, then, “Nobody’s moving, we’re all waiting too.” The woman at this point so taken back she has no idea what to say, instead she drives an elbow into his soft abdomen, squeezes by with the young girl clasping her trailing arm for dear life, and finally reaches the bathroom door where the embarrassed child disappeared, until long after we had deplaned.

The Hodel house tour was quick, there isn’t much house here. Seems typical of Hawaii because it’s so nice outside all the time, why would you ever want to be inside? [It should be noted that only a few months later it rained for 40 days straight, at which point I found out why you would stay inside.] The house is right on the water of the north shore, with a rock path down to the beach. Immediately after the tour Uncle Carl and Boomer took me surfing for my first time. I was riding this huge board they called a tanker, but I didn’t know the difference. I rode a couple of waves laying down, then got up on a knee for one, then I stood up. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I was expecting, but I still have no idea how to spot a wave, and how to turn the board in order to ride the wave correctly.

We went for a jog in the area that is used to film the show Lost. It’s much smaller than it looks in the tv show, and I’m surprised they can use such a small place for the entire show. It is pretty cool though; the park that is. There’s an old runway there that is apparently the only place that planes were able to take off during the attack on Pear Harbor. They sent up three planes, which were able to shoot down just ten enemy aircraft (out of hundreds). Apparently the general in charge of the island’s runways thought that parking the planes on the sides of the runways would risk sabotage by people on the ground, so he had them parked in the middle of the runway. The Japanese planes were able to take care of an entire fleet of planes just by shooting down the runway. I bet that general felt like a dumb ass.

I can’t seem to get used to the dark in Seattle. I was fine before I left, but after a month of 11 hour days in Hawaii I’m having a rough time getting my sleep back on schedule. I would have thought the extra dark hours would have me sleeping a ton, but instead I’m finding myself unable to sleep more than five or six hours a night. After a 5am track workout today, I’m hoping I can crash early and sleep a solid ten hours tonight. It’s catchup rest, but I’m going to try to make a habit of it. Better to be over rested than under rested.

I’m getting stoked to start racing again, and it’s a good thing I can get my feet wet (literally)next weekend in Brazil. Check out Loren’s latest post if you want to get psyched up.

I’m on a plane home right now. Uncle Bob asked a good question on the way to the airport this afternoon: "Why do you need to go home?"

The obvious answers seemed to disappear under the weight of implications. School started Monday. I will be arriving home Tuesday night, and begging for forgiveness from my professors. I have stretched my break from the day of my final through the second day of the next quarter, and when I do get back into the classroom it will be like falling onto a treadmill at full speed.

Bob’s implication was that if my priority is racing, then I should be wherever I need to be for that goal to happen. I think Seattle will accommodate my goals, and I don’t think my class schedule will interfere with my training. Still, as it was asked, the question left me gazing out the window at a beautiful Hawaiian day without a good response. I have had such a great time in Hawaii the past month that I really question why I ever moved away.

The moment faded, and I realized all the great things that have resulted from the path I chose (Seattle that is), and I know that I’m on the right track. School is important to me, and it serves the dual purpose of keeping me grounded. Otherwise I would likely find a new home every month. I just love being in new places. Regardless, four weeks have never seemed shorter than those I just spent training in Hawaii. Here are some highlights:

Week 1: I arrived December 11th, and found myself sleeping on a futon on the floor of a waterfront mansion in Kailua. This house is probably worth $10 million, but featured completely empty hallways, bedrooms, cabinets and refrigerators (3 of them). I went on a highly restricted diet, and made it about a week before sleeping on a futon and reading boos on self-awareness and spirituality had me feeling pretty lonely and ready to get started on training. Unfortunately, it also coincided with a staff infection showing up in my foot (beware of thorns on beaches) and a sinus infection from swimming in the the bottom of the bay (I know babies with cleaner bottoms).

Week 2: Still staying in Kailiua with Coach Mike McMahon, I got over my illness and started running, swimming (in clean water) and hanging out with some old friends. I went for an awesome night hike and spent a day on the North Shore with two of my closest friends on the island, Trish and Matt.

Week 3: Mike left, and I moved to Hawaii Kai, which is much closer to Honolulu, and the  home of my friends Chet the Jet and Adam Havrilak, who I spent Christmas breakfast with, sitting on our bikes. From there I visited my family in Haleiwa, went dirt bike  riding with my Uncle, and continued to add bulk miles to my early season run training. By the end of the week I was knocking out long runs and beginning to add in fartleks, hills and some speed. I finished off 2007 feeling great.

Week 4: Happy New Year!! Fireworks,kayaking, sushi, ocean swimming, cycling up ridges, and trips to the beach highlighted the first half of the week. Then I hopped on an inter-island plane and joined up with the Columbia Men’s Swim Team at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island. It was three tough days of training, but it’s only a preview of the work to come. Running is finally beginning to feel natural, and a couple 5000+ yard workouts in the pool gave me some confidence that I am not missing much in the way of my swim.

Last night and this morning I said goodbye to my friends, dished out some well deserved thank you’s, and headed for the airport. It was a great trip.

Friday was a rush. After a long breakfast and some electronic geeking out at Bob’s place I went to the dentist, followed by a 2k open water swim, followed by a pit stop in Waikiki, straight to a track workout at U of Hawaii, another pit stop at Momentum Multisport, back to Bob’s for an early dinner, and frantic packing, then a b-line across the island to return the minivan and then to the airport where I checked in 30 minutes before my flight and island hopped over to Hawaii (the big island). The 40 minute flight was enough time to get through a chapter in my MCAT review notes, and by the time I got off the plane I was still in rush mode.  I trampled a few bystanders as I put maximum speed into my slippers (which is what Hawaiians call flip flops or thongs). Managing only minor stubbed toes and no slipper bowouts I arrived at the United carousel to find about 35 swimmers waiting for their baggage and the familiar faces of coaches Jim Bolster and Eric Scheingoltz.

We rode a school bus from the airport up to Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA), where the Columbia Swim Team will be training from now until the 15th. It was completely dark out (no street lights on the Queen K Hwy), so with the new moon we could clearly see the Milky Way outside the yellow bus.

I love to arrive in Hawaii at night because when you wake up to the sunlight it’s like waking up in another world. The tropical sunrise always seems so surreal.  This morning was no exception.  I woke up at dawn for a 50 minute run up to the town of Waimea just a couple miles away. I felt like crap running, but the orange and yellow light shining up from behind low clouds made the snow on top of Mauna Kea glow. At the same time, the 25mph wind gusts while running uphill were demoralizing.

This afternoon I will swim with the CU swim team for their first Hawaii practice. I was eyeing them up at breakfast, and I’m ready to take names! I’ll see how long I can hang with the college boys.