As you may have noticed from the inactivity of the blog, we've been on vacation in Hawaii--the beautiful island of Oahu-- for a week. That meant a slight change in our training regimen...from swim, bike, run to snorkel, hike, run (see photo for evidence of a rain forest hike).

It was simply amazing. The island has a landscape that is totally outside of anything that I've ever experienced. We had the opportunity to visit the island with very generous hosts (Dina and Jim-thank you!!!). And as a result had much more than the average tourist experience on Oahu. We toured the entire perimeter of the island and then some in a Mustang convertible.

After a record-breaking 42 straight days of rain we had only a few minutes of rain during the entire week. One of the things that I hadn't expected was how active, alive and changing the Pacific Ocean is. It is what makes Oahu such a great surfing destination (which I am happy to watch from shore). This is Sharks Cove where we snorkled in calm and shallow waters a couple of days before.
Now we're back in Brooklyn and trying to shift gears back into our routine. The jet lag has been something to contend with. But we'd better get it together quick because our coaches are letting us know that now is when the training starts to get hard. We're right in the middle of our training at this point... 11 weeks done, 12 to go. So here we go--we're off for a swim (in the wave-free Y pool)!