The REAL Tour de Okinawa

DAY ONE: 90 miles DAY TWO: 68 miles DAY THREE: 72 miles

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to have one of the greatest experiences ever! Thanks to the great idea of one of our friends we took our own bike trip around the entire island!! Words cannot convey the amazing experience it was. You had to be there to experience the views, feel the wind rushing past, and sense the thrill from making it up yet another huge hill. Tom is making a DVD of the experience and we’ll share that once it’s done. For now, I’ll try to do it justice, but just know, that most of what we saw and did we couldn’t take pictures of!! I wish you could have just come with us!!!

Before I start I must give a special thanks to my amazing friends who made this possible for me. I wish that my friends could have come and biked with me but only one of them is a biker and she has a small baby. I had to leave the kids for three days in order to go on this epic ride so all of my friends (the wives of the other bikers) took over in my absence. One friend watched the girls, another took Hayden so he could still go to school, yet another watched them all on Saturday!! It was awesome to know I didn’t have to worry about them. And the ride would not have been possible without our support driver, another wife who brought all our gear and food for us. She met us each night, cooked us dinner and then cooked us breakfast again in the morning. The food was fantastic and I was so happy to have some female company!! What awesome friends!!!

Here's the team:
Tracey
Tom
Erin
Rob
John
Derek

Day One:
We left from Camp Lester, 6 riders all fresh and eager to get the 90 miles underway. As with all good activities we started with a prayer and then headed off!!
The excitement was so tangible as we started. Within a mile we had our first, and just about only, near accident when Erin's iphone fell off his bike. I was riding behind him and saw it happen. Acting fast I stashed my bike quick, ran out in front of a big truck and snagged it before it got run over. That would not have been a good way to start the trip. Luckily, it was fine and we were on our way again.
About 8 miles down the road we stopped for our first picture at a nice bridge. We were riding toward the city through rush hour traffic so it was a lot of stop and go. The far left lane, where bikes go, is also the bus lane so that was complicated and we continually got stuck behind and next to the big busses. But we maneuvered our way through the city okay and eventually came out on the other side. We crossed some great bridges on the way and then stopped at a memorial for some of the students in the Battle of Okinawa because it caught our eye. It was great not to be on any schedule and to just stop and look and take pictures whenever we wanted. We enjoyed the view as we rode high above the coast for a long time.

By mid afternoon we were all starving, the day had started early with getting the kids all on their way before we even started riding. We really wanted to go to Coco’s for lunch for curry but couldn’t find one. We kept riding and riding and hoping we’d see one and finally we just had to give up. Instead we settled on a Jusco food court (a mall). All the other guys went for Chinese food but I was so hungry I needed some “real” food so Tom and I went to McDonalds. Let me tell you, french fries have never tasted so good! I also got an ice cream cone of new favorite flavor at Blue Seal, it’s called Okinawa Salt Cookie and it’s heavenly. I loved that I didn’t care one bit how many calories I consumed because I knew I still had another 40 miles of riding ahead of me!
We’d been going at an easy pace enjoying what a pretty day it was. We kind of pushed it a little toward the end of the ride when we had some hills. They weren’t huge but big enough to challenge us and make us feel tired. I smiled when I saw Tom with the camera as I came up one of the final hills but I really felt like this:
By the time we reached Camp Schwab, our destination for the evening, I was definitely ready to get off my bike. But I felt great knowing that I had kept up all day and really enjoyed the ride. Ali met us with our suit cases and a fantastic dinner. Then we all headed off to bed to get ready for the big ride the next day!
A few more shots from day one!





DAY TWO:

I think it’s safe to say we were all a little bit nervous for day two. The northern end of the island is beautiful, but very hilly. I knew I could do it beceause we rode it during the big Tour in November but that wasn’t the day after a 90 mile bike ride. We got a start late in the morning, around 10:00, hoping to find somewhere in the hills to stop for lunch. Here we are, ready to start!The scenery is breathtaking, the hills and tunnels were so much fun. The uphills were killer but everyone was awesome and just kept chugging along. From mile 20 to mile 30 in the ride it’s all uphill...it was insane but such an adrenaline rush to know we did it! Check out this shot of the elevation climbs on this ride. Killer.
The down hills were great but had me white knuckled and praying to survive. The views were beautiful, the scenery so peaceful. We saw very few cars and never found anywhere to eat lunch. The last cafe we had hoped for was closed so we never got lunch that day. Nonetheless, it was an amazing 68 mile ride. My favorite bike ride ever. I imagine it will keep that title for a long time to come. Tough day, but really satisfying. The pictures don’t do it justice but they try!













At last we arrived at Okuma, our stop for the night and again met Ali and some great food we were dying for!

DAY THREE:
We slept in the cabins at Okuma and heard the rain pouring down all night. After two beautiful days we knew we were due for some traditional Oki rain and we got it. It couldn’t be a true Tour de Okinawa without at least one rain day. After a filling bowl of oatmeal we reluctantly, yet eagerly, set off for the final adventure. Here we are, the final day. It was cold and wet but we rode strong and had no accidents. As we rode along the coast I kept reminding myself to look through my rain covered glasses and check out the view. When we stopped to refuel we all cooled off and ended up shivering like crazy until we got going again. Thankfully the sun came out about 40 miles into the ride and brought us home warm and dry. We stopped at a beautiful look out point and then at last, nearly 230 miles into our ride we finally got our Coco’s curry. Just a few miles up the road from home, we stopped for a late lunch. It was fantastic. Then off again, we finished up the last few miles, with an additional rider who joined in for the last day, and ended up back at the start. What an amazing experience.... something I’ll never forget!

Happy Easter

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter and tried to focus on our Savior and our love for him while enjoying fun family time together! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Iejima Half Marathon 2011

Last night while sitting at Danica’s soccer practice Alyssa and I were playing pretend. First she wanted to pretend she was my baby, as she always wants. But then she said “I want to be the mom, see look, I’m running so I’m the mom!” I’ve never been more proud. I’m glad she got to see me running this past weekend as we ran the IE Island Half Marathon again.
This was our third time to run this race and we decided to take the kids and try camping for the weekend. It turned out to be beautiful weather and we had a fantastic time with great friends! I’ll begin with the details on the race, since it was the root of the trip although it only took a few hours of the weekend.

We nearly missed the start of the race because we spent too much time hanging around seeing the island on Saturday and by the time we got back to camp, got ready and coordinated the logistics of it all we left late to head over to the starting line. Then we got caught behind a 3K fun run and couldn’t go around... we finally took a small side street and parked figuring we were close enough. We were dragging the kids down the street, turned a corner and kept going until I finally got nervous wondering how far we really had to walk. So I left Tom with the kids and ran back to the car (my warm up lap). I picked them up and we drove another mile or two before getting caught by the fun run van again. We were so far away, we never would have made it if we’d just kept walking!! Still we couldn’t get as close as we wanted but the race was starting in like 10 minutes so we parked quickly, jumped out and carried/pulled the kids up the big hill, past the people finishing the fun run. We settled the kids quickly, hit the bathroom and looked around for our friend who was going to watch the kids. The race as going to start in about 3 minutes....could we just leave the kids?..would our friend show up? His wife was running it with us, would she make it?.. oh the stress... nothing like a little pre-race adrenaline. Finally we spotting them racing toward us. We hollered thanks as we passed and dashed to join the others at the starting line. With barely enough time to stretch my hamstrings the gun went off and we headed down the hill we had just trudged up....

I have been training hard with running, biking and cross fit and was really excited to go into this race injury free. No knee pain at all, probably due to being stronger and my awesome new shoes Mizuno Waverider 14’s... I love them. Anyway, I kept going back and forth between trying to run it fast and just enjoying it and in the end I did both: I enjoyed running it fast. I’ve been doing my intervals and tempo runs and it paid off. From miles 6-11 I felt like I was flying through a flat/downhill portion of the race. It was an exhilarating feeling. I wanted to sing along at the top of my lungs but managed to retrain myself as I ran. As I approached the final hill up to the finish line I was nervous to look at my time but couldn’t resist a glance. To my amazement it said 1:37. I realized that If I really powered through the hill I could finish in under 1:40. The song Power of Love (you know, the one from Back to the Future) came on and I put my head down and climbed. At the top I saw the kids cheering on the side line so I started yelling and waving as I sprinted in the finish area crossing the line 1:39:11. Average pace 7:28. I was thrilled and felt great! It was a good race for me.

It has proven to be Tom’s nemesis as each year things have not gone well for him and he has yet to show his true potential. He is fit, strong and fast right now and has been training well. For most of his runs he hovered right around 7:30, usually below it and even did one of his 10 mile runs with a pace of 7:24! Insane. He was ready to rock this race but murphy had other plans and on Friday morning as we were packing and prepping to head out to the island he just started coughing and wheezing, his voice became weak and hoarse and it got worse as the day went on. That night he could hardly breath so he couldn’t sleep in the tent and ended up sitting upright in the van all night...ugh...I tried to convince him not run the race but he wanted to at least try. Somehow he managed to still crank it out and finished in 1:47. A very admirable time for tough, late afternoon race even if you aren’t sick!! I don’t know how he managed to do it so fast when his lungs were so sick. He’s disappointed because we know he could do it faster if he were healthy but I am still amazed he did it!!! We look forward to the next half being in the states, on a nice crisp, clear morning where he can really shine! He’ll smoke us all.
As for the rest of the weekend, the camping was fantastic. We left Friday morning and headed up to the northern port, just past Nago where we got on the ferry. It was a smooth ride with no seasickness and we were there in 30 minutes! We drove to the campsite and set up. As we talked around Hayden said “it doesn’t feel like I’m in Japan anymore.” He was right, it felt like we were in a beautiful mountain forest. However, upon further exploring he discovered the beach was also just down the hill! Paradise. These are not good pictures of me and my friend Ali prepping to cook spaghetti (the meal the night before the race) but I included them because in the first shot you can see the tents set up behind us in the shade of the trees. In this second shot you can look past us and see beach through the trees, it was that close!! We don’t have any other pictures of the campsite... I’ll have to see if any of my friends got good shots. We were too busy relaxing to take pictures I guess!

The kids climbed trees, played in the sand, caught crabs and cooked s’mores. We enjoyed great weather and with the exception of poor Tom we all slept pretty well. The next day we hiked around through some caves and tried to steady the pre-race nerves. During the race the kids all played on the playground at the finish line. Then we headed back, showered in the beach shower and went back to the race party to get American Dogs (corn dogs), Yakitori, Taco Rice and Fanta Grape for dinner. That night we made s’mores again and Hayden and his friend Landon stayed up late playing in the fire and getting so dirty they had to bath in the faucet. It was a dream come true for him. As a reward for running my friend Ali made a huge chocolate chip cookie dough CHEESECAKE!! It was a dream come true for me.

We headed home the next morning. On the way back to the port Tom and Hayden walked to the top of a small volcano in the center of the island and enjoyed the view of the entire island surrounding them. We listened to Conference all the way home and enjoyed a peaceful day. What a great trip to a beautiful place!!! I wish were going to be here to run this race again next year!!! (Although I won’t miss the 3:10pm start time!! Ugh!)

April Already?

Time is going way too fast... I need it to really slow down because I am having a great time and am not ready to leave yet! After nearly 3 years of being anxious to get off this island I now want to stay... life here is too easy... no decisions to make... I just live in the house they gave me, go to the school nearby, shop at the only store, drive the cheapest car we found on the lot that was big enough to fit the double stroller and we spend our free time exploring paradise! Who would want to leave? I think that all my family and friends that I miss so much just need to move here and then it would be perfect!
It’s just barely starting and I”m already stressed out thinking about which house to buy and in what school district, what kind of car to buy and where to get it....and that’s just the big stuff...I”ll need to furnish a house, get a cell phone, buy a washer/dryer, lawn mower, etc.... it’s just too much.... listen to what we’ve been doing here and you’ll agree we should just stay put and live on vacation!

Yesterday we got home from church and it was so beautiful out that we had to have a family adventure. So we set off toward Ikei island, a small island connected by a bridge that we’ve ridden our bikes to but never taken the kids or gone with time to explore. On the way we passed some castle ruins and suddenly stopped and got out to walk around and enjoy the view.
Then it was off to the islands where we looked at the fish, the gorgeous water and serene beach... it was heavenly and a great way to spend time together. We had the whole beach to ourselves!




Saturday we enjoyed the kids soccer games in the morning. Danica has come a long way since the last game where she cried the minute the game started and this time she actually touched the ball twice!! Hayden did well and is learning to be more aggressive. After that we dropped the kids at the once a month free day care and were prepping for nice bike ride when Tom got called into work. So I called my great friend here and talked her into riding with me. We set off on a 46 mile ride out to Ikei island. It was a beautiful, tough, long ride. I felt so lucky to have a friend to come with me and gorgeous place to ride...Tom picked up the kids and we watched Tangled and had Pizza Hut for dinner.

A few other fun things we've been up to:
On Wednesday we found a new park, called the Treehouse park. The girls had a blast running around and sliding down.

In other news... Alyssa got her new teeth on Tuesday. She didn’t want them and cried through the appointment but was still compliant. It took a few days before she got used to them but now she’s back to normal and they look great!!! We’re really excited that she was able to get them!
Before:
After:
Hayden has been running a mile every night with Tom. It’s been a great experience both physically and mentally. He literally cried through the entire first mile it was so hard and he was so angry. We decided he needed to work on running after watching him at his first soccer game where he was just so winded, gave up chasing the ball quickly, and had no form. After the first few nights of runs he began to improve and started to like it. Now he asks Tom when they are going to run and is working on getting faster. I hope this lesson can help in other areas in his life because is a chronic “quitter” who only does things that are easy. This is a clear example of sticking with something hard and the benefits that come from it!
He participated in the science fair again this year and was able to go to districts again. It’s a great experience for him and he enjoys the day of learning and fun activities. I was able to go with him and loved watching him in action!
Danica is loving her new gymnastics class!
That about sums up things here... we are looking at flying out of here on June 18th, just after the last day of school...we'll keep you posted as the details come together!!!