Sunday, March 16, 2008

A Relay Reunion and Saipan Sights

Crash Course Last Wednesday, following two amazing weeks in Vietnam, I returned to Saipan for the final leg of my trip. Ass early Saturday morning, Rob flew in to meet me. It took him 24 tiresome hours to get here. And when he arrived at 4am Saturday morning....two hours later, sans sleep and apparently loaded on Scotches from his houston/tokyo flight, he was racing in a relay triathlon with me in Saipan. What a sport. Now a 2000 meter swim on any other day would be a no brainer for Rob (he swam competitively up until college), but try that after flying and drinking all day. So after the first 1000 meters, after looking like he was going to puke coming out of the beach, I finished the next 1000 meters and proceeded for my 37 mile bike ride. It's Saipan. And this was no USAT race. A relay is a relay, whatever way you want to do it. Rules are bent here. So long as we finished. Now I figured the two of us would call it a day after my bike ride (which, by the way felt really good, especially considering I was sooooo not trained!), but when i got off my bike, there Rob was , ready to run 9.6 miles. Only he got "Saipan" lost (meaning the police officer directed him the wrong way) and added another mile and a half to the run. He finished strong! Congrats to our first relay triathlon together, and to teamwork! Home sweet home Part of my island tour with Rob is to show him my old living quarters. While it was quite simple, it was also quite idyllic. He agreed.

Cheers and happy training!

"Perserverence is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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