FINALLY THE HAWAII PICTURES ARE HERE

This year the family went to Hawaii - Kona coast on vacation. Actually I went there for a race (see earlier posting) but we could get a good deal on Expedia for the whole family and made a vacation out of it.

Kona is on the West-side of the Big Island. This is the island where all the volcano's are at and where the Big Daddy of all Triathlon's are held. It has great beaches that are hidden among these lava fields. It is one of the best Hawaiian islands as it is not as touristy as Maui or Oahu.



We stayed at the Sheraton - Keauhou. This hotel has a great swimming area for kids that included a shallow sandy pool, water fountains, slides etc.




To get the family to and from the airport AND bring my race stuff with me turned out to be quite an experience. The list of equipment to take was as follows: a stroller, 2 car seats, 1 bike box and 4 pieces of luggage of clothes, diapers, baby food etc. This would have not fitted in a regular cab so I had to call a limo... correction a stretched limo...

Honuhalf race results - minus 4:26

During our vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii I once again participated in the toughest 70.3 Ironman race there is.

The swim is a mass-start of 860 people and takes place at Hapuna Beach. This is by far the most incredible race venue ever where you can see the fish/turtles on the bottom 30 ft below. I swam a new alltime PR with 32m49s. In the picture I just come out of the water and am wearing my race outfit already.

The bikeride is tough as it goes up to windy Hawi where we have to bike leaning into the wind going 2000-3000 feet up. It was gorgeous weather coming down at lightning speeds under a blue sky while looking over a blue/green sea. In the picture you see the lava fields in the back ground. The bike was awesome and a couple of seconds short of an all-time race PR.

The run is the most brutal as you have to run in intense heat over a grassy golf course that never seems to end. I pretty much robbed each aid station of all the fluids/food. I concur with the coach who in a similar experience described it as 'so hot you can cook an egg on your head'.

With a finish time of 4:52:24 I took 4mins and 24 secs of last years time and that taking into account that this year the bike was tougher due to the higher winds. This ranked me 14th in my age group, and 50th overall (including 10 pro's). Note that #1-4 overall came out of my age-group. I can only wish to be a couple of months younger!!!!!

Next race is Vineman end of July and maybe I will take the plunge and do the World Championship in Lausanne/Switserland on September 3.

Going to the lighthouse and bunker

This weekend we took the kids out to visit Golden Gate park on the 'other' side of Golden Gate. We did a picnic on the bunkers that use to protect the Bay during WW-II and visited the light house from where you can watch over the endless Ocean. Compare the blue from the Ocean against the blue from the sky...

A day with the family

Just some pics to share with you all....

Nikki eating corn, Luke going to school on crazy hair day, and Maureen with Nikki.

Day at the beach!

We found several new beaches in Half Moon Bay where Pete Kain took me on a bike training ride recently. Next day I took the family there... Maureen and Nikki are posing whilst Luke and I dug a deep hole out on the beach.




It was a great day with the kids, blue water, warm weather and a beautiful wife by my side.

LUKE AND BEN PLAY SOCCER

Luke attended soccer classes on Tuesday mornings. Ben has taken him several times. Luke has his soccer shoes, brazilian shirt, and shin protectors. Ben was telling us how the favorite part of the training for Luke is to play with the cones.

During practice they are really focusing on listening to the coach/referee, such as stopping on a whistle and shooting at the right goal.