A note to begin this: I am writing this post-vacation. I know I said I would write as the vacation unfolded.
I lied.
:-)
That being said, we actually kept good account of our days on the islands! Booyah!
Saturday September 25th started out like any other Saturday....actually that's a lie, too. Saturday morning I woke up early to go on a warm-up bike ride before the big event the following day.
Laura arrived and, as it turned out, FedEx and/or the guys in the receiving office of the Marriott had broken her bike and a few parts were missing, so she left in an attempt to beg a few bike shops for spare parts and assistance in assembling it.
Meanwhile, I was cursing the existence of feet riding my bike and having an epic battle with my plantar fasciitis. Guess who won? The Omaha cycle coach, Kelvin ended up literally riding behind me and pushing me up the last hill. We stopped to take victorious-looking photos at a view point. Most people stood on that ledge...but I'm a klutz and prone to hospital stays, so I took the safer bet given my foot condition and general instability.
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| You have no idea how much I wanted to chuck that bike off that cliff right then...notice me lifting my left foot in agony. |
Much to my utter joy, Laura had picked up some delicious Masaladas from Leonard's Bakery...they were every bit as amazing as I would have thought!
After putting forth a convincing argument, my sister-in-law Shanna and my brother Jason, talked Laura and I into going to Hanauma Bay to snorkel, despite our research stating that it was over-rated and over-crowded. It was one of the few off-of-the-feet things I could do that afternoon.
As it turns out, Hanauma Bay was the perfect antidote to my morning!
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| View from the vista before the walk down |
Hanauma Bay is a protected marine life conservation area and underwater park. It is actually the remnants of a volcano whose wall collapsed on the ocean side and began the formation of the coral reef that exists there today. If you go, you'll get a large dose of history and rules during a mandatory video that you need to watch. You'll also get a taste of a very home-studio recording that basically rips off The Little Mermaid's "Under the Sea."
But it's worth the wait.
Most sites will tell you that the best time to go is as early as possible in the morning to avoid the crowds, but we arrived there around 2 p.m. and practically had the place to ourselves.
Definitely bring your own snorkel gear. You can get a cheap set at any ABC store (an extremely ubiquitous beach general store...trust me, you will not have trouble finding one).
After the outdated video, you will then be given the option to either walk or take a trolley down the steep hill for a minimal fee of $.75 (they charge $1 for the return trip back up). We all walked down the hill, however, I opted to pay the $1 fee to come back up. :-)
I'd never really been snorkeling before, so this was completely new to me. It's a very unnatural experience to have your face under water but still be breathing. It took me a minute to get adjusted. But after I swam out a bit, and started seeing these amazingly beautiful fish, I didn't even notice the breathing anymore. Except when I'd temporarily forget there was a snorkel in my mouth and try to talk to Laura, which usually ended with me choking on water or my mask filling with water due to laughing.
The water was a little murky (probably one of the side-effects of going later in the afternoon), but it was still an amazing and fun experience. Laura caught some great photos of us with her underwater camera.
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| We're awesome. |
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| EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!!! |
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| I'm pretty sure I was pretending to be Fonzi here. |
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| From the looks of it, we had a good time! |
After spending an hour or so in the bay, we had to leave so that I could get back in time for the Team in Training Inspiration dinner. I had no idea how epic of a dinner it would be.
Last year, I thought the Inspiration Dinner was really good, they had a moving story from a family whose daughter had undergone treatment for Leukemia at a very young age. This year, the speakers were older, and each had very compelling stories.
I am horrible with names. I wish I remembered either of the names for the speakers. I feel actually quite awful I didn't make note of this on account of them both being amazing speeches.
The first speaker, we'll call her Jane for the purpose of this blog, wore a cap over her visibly bald head. And you just knew she was going to be amazing. Turns out, she's a long-time Team in Training Alumnus from the Hawaii team who only recently was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the same cancer my dad has. She had gotten involved with TNT years earlier after her mom was diagnosed with Leukemia. How ironic that she ended up getting Lymphoma...but how fortunate that she had a group of TNT people to support her through her journey. She was amazing, and beautifully bald! At one point towards the end, she cast off her hat and threw it into the crowd that stood to cheer her on. It was such a wonderful moment.
The second speaker, a younger man, was nervous to follow the previous speakers tremendous talk. And, I have to admit, I was nervous for him, too! I wouldn't have wanted to follow that! But, then again, I have a fear of public speaking...so that might play into it. But I digress...
We'll call him Travis, because that's what Laura remembers his name as. Travis was around my age, minus a year or two. And despite his nerves, he was a total crowd pleaser, showing the audience his tremendous attitude towards life despite his odds as he was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was much younger. His sense of humor was so wonderful in the face of that kind of horror...it's always refreshing to see someone keep that throughout the process and even in reflection. In any case, he told the story of his diagnosis, his victory, and of his dual hip replacements and the need for a shoulder replacement soon due to the severity of the treatment they had to give him to get rid of the cancer. Tomorrow he would be riding in the Honolulu Century with us for his first Team in Training event as a survivor. Awesome. He then started to talk about his girlfriend who came along to the event and had been providing SAG support for the team. He talked of her support of him throughout it all and at the end, he pulls out a Lei to give her, walks down from the podium across the room and places it around her neck and gives her a kiss.
I saw it coming.
I think most people there did.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a jewelry box, and got down on one knee.
After a moment of "is this really happening" his girlfriend (of course!) said "Yes."
Man the crowd went wild with that one. It was such a beautiful and moving moment to witness. I was so grateful to be a part of that crowd.
After the cheering stopped he shouted "And that's all!!"
It was by far the best Team in Training event I'd ever been to! So much fun and filled with so very much love.
After that, it was time to head to bed so that I could get up the following morning at the absurd hour of 4:15 a.m. to get ready for my ride!!
