Our Caribbean Adventure - continued: Issue # 99

. November 2015 .

Hello!

Welcome to November! Well, I guess it's December now, but anyway.

A few water-based activities this month. Sea swims, Triathlons and swim meets! Not a great deal of other stuff going on, apart from Michelle's quick jaunt to New York.

Triathlon

It's that time of year again! The annual Cayman Tri was held on the first of the month. Early. On a Sunday...

Michelle had been doing a bit of build-up training for this. The Jamaica trip probably wasn't the ideal preparation, but it was fun!

The conditions were fine, water flat...and away they went.

Exiting the water in a handy position

Michelle came out of the water in the front end of the swimmers. She needed a lead to make some of the stronger cyclists and runners work a little harder in the Olympic distance. Sporting a new bike this year, she hoped it would make a bit of a difference, but her transitions needed work and she lost some valuable time on either side of the bike.

The bike leg

The bike leg was 4 laps of the course. With the Sprint Tri and the Olympic distance going at the same time, it was difficult to work out who was where! With little wind, it was a nice steady ride, and she managed to keep ahead of the other women individuals and went into transition in first place. However, the woman in second position was hot on her heels and sped through transition, leaving to start the run at the same time as Michelle.

The run was a challenge - 6 laps of the course - she started off trying to stay with the other girl but the pace was a bit too hard in the heat and she gradually dropped back, succumbing to the intense heat, and taking small rests at many of the water stops. In the final lap, she was passed by another girl but she wasn't sure which lap she was on and whether she was now in 3rd place, so she kept with her. As they came towards the end it became obvious that she was in 3rd place, so she picked up the pace, levelling with the other girl, finishing the last 50m with a sprint, and taking 2nd place. She wasn't at all happy with her run (she thinks it was a terrible time!) but she was happy she managed to come 2nd in the end. The girl that won, had been 1st in 3 of the last 4 Cayman Triathlons, with the exception of last year, when Michelle managed to beat her. Watch this space next year!

Time for the 10k run! It was getting hotter!

Sprint finish for 2nd place. Made it!

Just enough energy for a smile

New York

Michelle went up to NY for a few days for work...and some shopping....and some more shopping...and a little bit of sight seeing in Central Park. The first day she went for a long run around Central Park - it was a gorgeous day, although a bit fresh - by the end of the run she couldn't push the buttons on the camera, her fingers were so numb with cold! If that wasn't enough, that afternoon was spent shopping - about 8 hours! She slept well that night!

The next four days were packed with work meetings but any and every spare hour was spent shopping, until on Wednesday she'd had enough - she never thought that she'd admit that she was done; beaten; thankfully she'd got pretty much what she needed (and didn't need!). On her last night, she went to a show on Broadway - The Book of Mormon - very entertaining - thoroughly enjoyed it and a nice way to end the trip! Then it was back to reality...well a 4 day swim meet anyway!!

It was gorgeous day for a run in Central Park - fantastic Autumn colours

Romeo & Juliet

Random Stuff

Birthday Dinner with Michelle (and a Dark n Stormy!)

Russ and Garrett came down from Vancouver for a week. We got to catch up with them here and there!

Garret and Jake hang out at the beach.

A leftover from the Cardboard Boat Race

Night Parade

Every once in a while, the portable generator makes an appearance at the beach on a Sunday. Usually with a blender, some ice and a few other things that make up the Mudslide (Cayman's National Cocktail...apparently).