Updated Pics here!  Page 5 Starts the Haleakala pics.  This was an incredible trip! Hands down better than the Grand Canyon!  We hiked down about 1.5 miles, then turned around and trudged up.

Oh, and if anyone wants to know 'How to trash a rental car in 3 easy steps...Just ask!

We're planning in playing golf again today.  We had a good time on Monday.

We're both looking forward to coming home.  It looks like it may be a Guitar hero marathon this weekend at our house......anyone interested?

We had a lot of fun golfing!  We both got our moneys worth, and saw the entire course....both sides of the fairways.

There is no question I will be all over the finishing chute video for the WC's.  I had a prime spot right in the middle of a curve so I could shoot all the racers. I could see up the chute to the finish and down the chute about 100ft.  The conditions were so different from last year.  Last year there was so much rain leading up to the race, all the silt and dirt was washed off the course, so it was a tire eater.  It was also very hot last year.  This year it was very dirty and silty, as you can see from all the pics, and the winds were the lightest we've seen (about 15-20mph), and there was cloud cover for the majority of the race, so the temp were very comfortable.  Jessie had an interesting bike.  She came out of the water maybe mid pack, but about 10 minutes later she came running back into transition.....she forgot her camelback.  she was still smiling when she headed out for the run.

We're playing some golf this afternoon, and who knows what else.

Xterra WC pics Here.  The trip is page 1 and 2.  Xterra starts on page 3 of the album. 

The WC's were really cool to be a part of.  We arrived 15mins before the swim start.  Its a mass start with the Pro's only being guaranteed the front row.  its a 2 loop swim, so Marcy and I made sure we placed ourselves on the beach close to the reentry point so we could easily see everyone run across the beach, and hit the water again.  I got some really good pictures that we'll load a little later.  After the Pro's hit their 2nd lap, we headed up to the transition.  Saw all the pro's head out.  Conrad was 4-5th out of the water, but within 1 minute of Olivier Marceau, and the lead.  Julie Divens was first out of the water for the women, then came Candy, then Sybil, then Jamie.  Wwe could watch the live feed out on the course on the jumbotron at the expo/finish area.  About 5 miles from the bike finish, they announced that Conrad had caught Olivier, and needed to put time into him before the run.  They came in together!  Then Julie divens came in about 1:40 ahead of Melainie, and another minute ahead of Candy.  Conrad held off Olivier to get his 3rd WC title, and Julie Divens lead from start to finish, and oltimately put 6 minutes into Melaine on the run.  Chris Leigh finished 4th overall.

Bear will be glad to know that Jesse Stensland was there.  I've the pics to prove it, but I don't think she had a very good day at all. 

Damn its 7am here, and Football is on!

Off to the Xterra WC's this morning.  After seeing a small portion of the bike course, and the whole run course, I can't even imagine doing them back to back.  Most of these people will have their names on their butts, and have single digit body fat.  The coolest thing yesterday was seeing who was out cheering for us.  Would you ever see Norman out at an aid station?  would you ever see him out on the run course running, and having him shout encouragement to you?  Nah.  Its mainly an Xterra thing.  They Melainie and Seth were my picks for today already, but now that I find out just how much of a class act these 2 are, they are even higher on my coolness list!

The run was the hardest thing I have ever done!  That said it was a hell of a lot of fun!  The 1st mile was rolling, but about 1/2 way on the road heading to the real off road stuff.  The 2nd and third mile was completely uphill.  Not up and down, but up.  2200ft gained.  Lots and lots of walking.  Somewhere in here all I could think was....Man im glad im not doing the race tomorrow!  Mile 4 was glorious!  This was at the oil tank, and this was the start of the drop to the ocean.  Mile 5 started the beaches.  Holy shit running on beaches is hard.  Then off the beach and into the spooky forest.  Then back onto another beach, and over the lava rocks, then into the resort to finish.  I was actually a little faster than I was expecting.  I wasn't expecting much because I knew that the climbing would be like nothing i had ever seen before.  And best of all.....I wasn't last!  Seth Wheeling was handing out drinks at the 4mile aid station, and Melaine McQuaid was out running, and came by me at about the 6 mile mark. That was really cool.
Now its time for Cheesburger in Paradise for mass quantities of grilled flesh and fried potatoes!

2 tank dive tonight.  1st dive at twilight at Molokini crater, 2nd dive at night at a sight who's name I forget.  Molikini was nice.  Not as good as other times we've dove here.  saw 3 sharks, 1 huge manta ray, 1 gigantic barracuda, and millions of fish including a pretty rare frog fish.  Max depth was 90 ft, and we were down for 51mins.  2nd dive at night was almost all between 57 and 65 ft.  we had a 1:40 surface interval, so we would have extra bottom time.  We saw lots of lobsters, eels out of the coral, free swimming, an Octopus, crabs, and spagetti worms, and lots of things i've not seen before.  We did the 2nd dive until we were out of bottom time based on each of the divers computers.  I got 38mins on the 2nd dive.  we took some nice pictures on the 1st dive, but with holding a light on the 2nd dive, I didn't take the camera down.  The bummer was that there was a pretty constant 25mph wind, so the swells were a good 3-4 feet.  Marcy was not at all happy during this entire trip.  She'll fill y'all in on the details, but suffice it to say, there are some fins, goggles, weightbelts and such going onto ebay shortly after we get home. 

Went to the Xterra WC expo to sign up for the Trail run.  I had more body fat in my right leg than all of those people!  They had the whole course marked, and transition set up so we got to see the entire deal!  After getting there I have to say im so happy with my decision to drop out.  The geography was daunting to say the least. 

Went for a nice walk this morning.  im surprised how many people are up and out working out at 7am on this island!  We're going out to the Xterra expo today to sign up for the trail run tomorrow morning, and then we are planning on hanging out in Kihei until our night dive.  Im looking forward to the spooky forest, and the oil tank, and running across 7 beaches.

Easy day planned today.  No real plans until this afternoon.  We're going on a night dive tonight.  we've got to meet up at 3pm.  We'll be doing one twilight dive, then a night dive after.  Marcy got a nice blister started yesterday, so no run today.  we'll probably walk front street in Lahina instead.