Moving in and Mopeds

Well I'm all moved into my apartment with Matt. Yup, it seems I'm still living with a Mattt. Though they are polar opposites it seems. This guy does not seem to really stress about anything. He just lives day to day and does not let much bother him. This should be interesting.


The apartment is really nice. There are 3 bedrooms, a small dining room, kitchen, living room. Everything is fully furnished and the master bedroom has its own bathroom. The nice thing about my room is that the breeze is constantly blowing into it so it is constantly nice and cool. Walking right out the door you can see the ocean in the distance. It is about 800 meters from our door to the water and less than a mile to the first beach. Not too shabby. We're living in a nice little complex, palm trees all over the place. Everthing is really clean. Right across the street you have all the really expensive houses and cottages. Though we do find the occasional salamander lurking about. Still trying to figure out how they get into the apartment.
There is a really sweet pineapple field just around the corner. Been doing my runs in it the past couple days. So far I'm not sure how far back they go but its pretty far.
Hilly too I've discovered. Takes about 8-10 minutes of running to get up to it then as you head toward the back end of it you are climbing into the hills. My next long run I am determined to find out how far back it goes. But it is nice not to always be running on the highways and roads. I was getting tired of dodging cars and whatnot. Plus once those pineapples ripen... we will feast like kings. I'm sure all the signs warning against trespassing and thieves are just for show...

So I finally got everything into the state education office that will allow me to start subbing. Too bad they neglected to tell me it takes 4 to 6 weeks for it all to get processed. Something about them having to send it all over to Oahu, get it put into the system there, get me approved, then have it all sent back here so they can then process me here. Does anyone else see a crazy amount of stupid here? Yup, leave it to the state. Also, to ad to it all: They set up a meeting for me this past friday to get fingerprinted. The only thing is that the their office is in the state building which is closed on fridays but they are not. So I was to call their office when I got there and someone would come let me in. The meeting being at 9 I made sure to be there by 8:45. So I call and get an answering machine. I call another 8 times over the next hour as I sit out there waiting. I know people are there cause on the 4th time someone answered and transfered me over to someone else. Finally the woman I am meeting calls me and apologizes. She had forgotten I was coming. Of course...

So now I have about a dozen applications to fill out tomorrow and bring to various places in Lahaina. My most promising one is to Barnes and Noble even though it would only be a part time position. When I went in for the application the evening manager was there as I was filling it out. After talking books with her for 10 minutes she realized I actually knew what I was talking about unlike 80% of her staff. So she booked me right there for the group interview they do each month for new staff. Sometime next week. Most of the other applications are for restaurants and retail stores. Money money money...

Bought me a sweet moped to get around. I realized that since I would most likely be working anywhere between 5-15 miles away subbing at different schools I needed
transportation. I thought about just buying a road bike but it seems the cheapest ones at bikeshops are going for anywhere between 1100-1200 dollars. And they were not that nice. So I went with something that would not tire me out and was a little more reliable. And fucking tons of fun to ride. Right now it tops out at only 30-35 mph but I was told that I can buy a device that will bypass the automatic speed seting and allow me to go up to 45mph. I took it out for the first time today as I needed to get down to Lahaina to job hunt. Had a ball driving it down the streets, got a little nervous as I rode down the highway. I stuck to the breakdown lane s most moped riders do. It gets alittle dicey when it is really windy though. Alot like riding a regular bike. As with most things with me getting this thing to my house was a headache. When I went down to the place the woman said the thing would have to be delivered because the dealership was about 30 miles away and I couldn't fit it in my car. Logical. Of course there was a 55 dollar delivery charge. Of course. So we set a rough time (between 12-2)tomorrow. I explain how it can't be later cause I had to return my rental to the airport afterward and take the bus system back (which was an adventure in itself). No problem. fast forward to Friday I return from the sub meeting and wait for this delivery. Around 1 I get a call telling me the guy is on his way and should be there in 25 minutes. 2 o'clock comes and goes. I call and she has no idea where he is. She can't get ahold of hm. 2:30, 2:45 come and go and still nothing. I am pretty annoyed at this point. I call at 3 again and she is bafled. Right after I hang up he finally pulls in. I go out and literally say "Hey, look who finally decides to join us. What the hell happened man?" His answer: Oh sorry, I got stuck in that construction trafic in downtown Lahaina. Now over the past week and a half I have driven through that trafic about 20 times at all times in the day. At most it adds about 15 minutes to your trip. I blatenly tell him this and explain how he has pretty much screwed the rest of my day
up... then thank him for doing so. So we unload the moped and get it put aside. He then tells me that while they were loading it on the truck the engine of the moped was flooded so I probably would not be able to start it for a couple hours. AWESOME! This guy is a Super Winner!
I pay the guy the 55 dollas. I then ask him if he was allowed to accepts tips (here we go... i still smile at this part). He says: "Well yeah, it's usually a courtesy thing anyway to tip the delivery person." My reply: "Alright, well thanks man. That's good to know. Have a good afternoon." And I walk away. Don't even look back at the guy.

So the bus system around the island is pretty good. It just takes FOREVER to get anywhere. The 35 minute ride to return my car for example took me 2 1/2 hours and 3 buses to get back to Lahaina. On the lighter side each bus only cost a dollar and I met some really interesting people on the buses. For example: I got on the first bus at the airport with a security woman who's job it was to check for any illegal fruits and veggies being brought on or off the island. I spent about 30 minutes chatting with her about the different stories she had about her job and how she had 4 kids all who were either just out of college or in college. Then she proceeded to talk about how I should really have kids. We parted ways with her saying how she wished she could introduce me to her oldest daughter. We would really hit it off. Apparently I am such nice young gentleman and so polite. I kinda just smiled and laughed. In my head I was thinking "Not if she gets her looks from you" She was not a looker. I then met a young couple who were just married and on their honeymon here. Sound like anyone we know? The guy sat next to me, away from his wife cause there were no seats where they could sit next to eachother. I look back and wonder if I should have offered to switch with her cause she got stuck sitting next to a pretty gross local guy who did not look fun to sit next to. Chatting with this guy I learn they are from Baltimore and he just got a job working as a stocker/bagger at a grocery store. She picked a real winner kids. How are they affording a vacation to maui? Looking at him I figure trader joes or whole foods. He has that hippie aura about him. We part ways and I make my 5 minute walk from the bus stop to my humble abode.

Training:
Still averaging about 10-12 aday. My goal is to buildup to 75-80 a week. Took yesterday off due to traveling all over the place and waiting for loser delivery guy. First day off since the monday i left.
Have started doing 20 minute tempos in runs now. Will build those up to 1 hour tempos. Also doing about 3-4 doubles a day with 4 mile morning runs.

Swimming about 3-4 days a week. Only doing about 30 minute swims. Tried doing first swim workout this evening but it got dark too soon. Swam into coral as I entered water on 4th repeat. Nice bruised shin. Will check out pool tomorrow in Lahaina.

Need to get my bike out here. This place is perfect for biking. Large, climbing hills. Long straightaways.

Weight: Now that I'm eating more stable meals, weight has stopped going down. Goal is to keep it around 140-143 form this point on. Once I get into real training I'll have to adjust that.

Til next time...

Even Paradise can have its faults...

So I look back on the past couple days with its highs and lows and have com to the sad realization that this tropcal paradise is not perfect. Over the past week life has been one adventure after another with very little if anything to complain about. Not that I'm saying there is much to complain about lately. Just these past couple days have been more average "Louis" days where random, stupid unlucky things happen to me. Something that has been sorely missing from this island adventure I am on.

Let us go back to Sunday...

I wake up around 7:30 to drive out to the southern region of the island for the 2010 Xterra Trail Trianthlon Championships (Olympic distance). This was one of the most exciting things I have been able to watch. A hardcore triathlon that took place on trails for the biking and running. NOt only that but tthe run was an 11k rther than the traditional 10k. There were obstacles one had to jump over throughout the course including a 2ft wall jsut 150 meters from the finish. The last thing one wanted to do at the end of a 3 hour race. The bike and run coure were diesel. Hard hills, steep decents, 1 mile of softsand beach running. The bike course was brutal. No one was allowed on the course to preview it before the start. There was a completely different warmup course people could use the days before. There were people crossing the line covered in mud, blood, grime. Some people broke their bikes and carried them the past couple miles to the transition. The men's race was won for the 4th time by the same person. He crushed the field in the bike and went on to cruise the run. The women's race was won by an American who came from a 3 minute deficit halfway through the bike to win by oer a minute. This is something I could see myself getting into in a couple years. A great morning to be capped off by getting my run done. Had to run 16 miles. So I run the roads a bit then hit the trails. There were about 20 miles of trails to run. Almost an hour into it I get kicked off. Apparently this is all private property and the only place I am allowed to run is the busy highway. Annoyed I end the run after an hour, drive home and decide to go for a swim/run. Of course I am getting into the water as it's getting dark. How come no one told me that as the light fades every coral outcropping looks like a large animal swimming at me. At least a dozen times I think a sharkmor large fish is coming at me. It doesn't help that the way the waves are hitting me I kep getting pulled out into the ocean. After about 24 minutes of this I exit the water (tripping over unseen coal and faceplanting of course). A short run back to the start and I'm done.
I decided that the bartenders and shop owners around here have got to be the nicest people ever. On my way to a bar I stop in a shop and chat with the owner. He has some really interesting statues of seas animals. He finds out I'm trying to get a job teaching and gives me a couple leads on private schools, specifically Maui Prep. More on that later. I go to this bar called "Cheesebugers in Paradise" (yup like in the song, the original restaurant) for a beer and burger. Chatting with the bartender for a while we share stories about wher we are from and what brought us to Maui. I mention how i'm living in a tent right no andwhat does he do? Offers me his place for next week cause he and his girlfriend are going away. That way he would have someone to kind of house sit and feed his cat. i explain th apartment thing and thats that. But just like that, this guy does not know me from the next person. From there I wander down to another bar and somehow find myself sitting with a group recovering from a wedding the day before. It is the wedding party itself. I start chatting with one of the brides maids and find out the groom and bride picked Maui for their wedding though they are from northern california. How come Mike and Katie couldn't do that? This group had 54 people fly over for the week. Can you imagine if Mike had his wedding in Maui? Anyway we started exchanging wedding stories, I recounted the festivities from Mikes. Alot of similar stories were shared. After a couple drinks and realizing it was past midnight I decide to call it a night. I get back to my tent to find out the air mattress was a bit deflated. As I fill it back up with my very loud inflater I realize everyone around me (including the couple with the baby) must love me right now. And low and behold assoon as I finish the baby starts crying. OOps.

Monday finds me up at around 8. I decide I will try doing my long run after I go visit Maui Prep and see about getting a sub job. I head up there and wander into the office. After talking to the receptionist she gives me a card and tells me to email the principal. She also tells me to drop off a resume. So i shoot over to office max, print up my resume and email the pricipal letting him know my interest. I head back to the school to drop off the resume and as I am giving it to the receptionist she calls over a guy my age. Apparently he's the principal. He looks like a hippy/surfer. I introduce myself and he laughs. He had literally just finished reading my email and was about to call me. Into his office we go. We talk about my teaching and then he gets to the point. He is interested in teh coaching. Apparently they are in need of a track coach. He tells me that it pays 2500 then asks me if I want a tour of the school. So we go walk around. Maui Prep is a K-12 school with a total of 180 students. Small classes. It overlooks the ocean and takes about 2 minutes to walk casually across the campus. The school is broken up into about 6 smaller buildings. So after chatting for about 1/2 an hour we wrap it up with him telling me to just mail him some references and he'll make sure I geton the sub list. So far good day.
From here things get frustrating:I decide I wanna go running somewhere different. So I google state parks in Maui and find Haleakala Natioanl Park. The volcano. So I decide to drive out there and run around the volcano. I head out, it takes about an hour and change to get there. As I am climbing up it I notice a sign saying 20 miles to top. Alot of zigzagging back and forth. About 15 miles to top my gas light goes off for the second time (meaning 1 gallon left. Nervous I do an iphoen search for closest gas station. 20 miles back other way. Now i get annoyed. At this point it's around 3:30pm and I have to have my car returned by 8 and its an hour drive to rental place. Swearing I am forced to turn around and drive back down to gas station. Haleakala another day I guess. Now I start bargining with myself. "If I find gas quickly I can still run in the area. I find the gas station and after they put gas in my car they tell me they only accept cash. Having none I am forced to give my phone for collatoral. Closest ATM: 4 blcks away. Out of order. Damn it! Next one: 2 miles down road. Out of money. Seiously. Fuck! Next one: 3 miles farther down. Swear to god... Finally one that works. 2.75 fee. Jesus Christmas Tress (to steal from Brian). I get the money and get back to the gas station. Pay, grab my phone and realize now its almost 4:30. I have resigned not to run. Now I'm just gonna drive to the rental, drop off the car and go pick up another one from a cheaper rental place. I had realized earlier in the week that I would need a car until at least after I moved into the apartment.
Now the guilt starts eating at me. For those who are still running and competing you know what I mean. Mising the long run really bothers me especially cause this is the second day in a row it is screwed up. I'm upset with the world cause my schedule has been screwed up. As I get closer to the place I started rationaling and promising tomorrow I'll do the run. Then I'm driving by teh walmart, it's around 5:15 and I say "Fuck it." I whip the car into the parking lot and grab my running stuf. As I walk into the stoe and beeline to the bathroom I convince myself I'll at least run an hour along the highway (there is a bike lane I can run in and wide grass shoulder). After changing I head out along the highway back toward Lahaina. It is still decent light.
WARNING: tHE NEXT COUPLE PARAGRAPHS WILL CAUSE BOTH DISGUST FOR THOSE OF A WEAK STOMACH AND WORRY FOR THOSE OF A PARENTAL NATURE!!!
I'm feeling sore and tired from past couple days of driving aroun and training. Also, I think the lack of proper nutrition is starting to get to me. A couple miles in I notice there is a fiece wind at my back and realize I'll be running into it the entire way back. We're tlaking 20 mph winds here. It makes the running out kind of nice. At around 25 minutes my legs fel OK so I decide to kep going. I'm doing the full two hours (my goal is to get in around 16 still). Then 50 minutes in it hits me. My tomach decides it is not happy with me. It starts with slight rumbling. I shake it of and keep going. Now its getting worse. About a mile later I am gettting worried. There are no stores or bathrooms anywhere. Nothing but highway, cliffs to me right, ocean to my left and cars zipping by. At this point it's dark out. The sun has set and all I can see are cars, the white line of death (you know, the line if I cross cars are running my ass over) and about 50 feet in front of me. Just aroun an hour I'm starting to fel like the guy from Brian's half marathon story. NOt quite as bad but lets say about 5 minutes from being him. Then I hit luck finally. Right at 60 minutes I see a small dirt road that leaves teh highway and goes down to teh waters edge. A kind of scenic stop. I dash down it to find vehicles parked along it. I'm mad. What the hell could these people be looking at? It's fucking pitch black out. There isn't even a damn moon to see the ocean by. Clouds cover the sky. About halfway down I can't hold it and dash into the brush. The spiky, spiney brush. Thorns rip at me legs and bare stomach. Unfazed i find a spot and drop shorts. My bowels do the rest from here. as this is going on something occurs to me. Maui flora is not like New England flora. Maui doesn't have leaves. I look around and realize there i nothing to wipe ith. Just sharp thorny branches. My aggitation rises to a new level. Right now I hate Maui. Oh I hate this island and it's stupid dark roads, it's lack of fast food joints that should be located every 2-3 blocks. It's lack of super leafy trees. Finishing I have to make a decision. My options are limited. I have socks, shoes, and shorts. Shoes are a no. The socks are brand new dry-fit, sweat repelling, blister preventing awesomeness. My shorts... have an inner lining! I don't hesitate. I litereally rip the lining out of my shorts and I have toilet paper. Now it's time toget back. I start running, freeing more free than ever. I still feel crappy. The legs are dead, stomach still upset and the wind is as bad as I predicted.
Here's where things get prett scary. This area of Maui is like a grid where everything looks identical. If you view it from above it all looks the same. Farmland with cities in far distant. As I am running back I realize I didn't reallypay attention to what long dark highway road I turned onto. There were like 4 to choose from that looked identical and since I didn't pay attention to mile markers along the highway I didn't know which it was near. These highways all took you to different parts of the island. The worng one would lead me miles in wrong direction. As I keep running I start worrying about which light I was supposed to turn at. Nothing looked familiar... or everything looked the same. I am running still at about the same pace I went out at even with teh wind so I am able to narrow it down to two turns about 1/4 mile apart from eachother. As I come up to the first one i make the executive decision to go to next one. Turning down that one I see nothing but blackness ahead of me with carlights scattered for miles down the road. I keep running trying not to freak out. As the miles click off I don't see myself getting any closer to a city that should be there. To make things worse my stomach reminds me it's pretty pissed at me. I am forced to make another pit stop and there goes the rest of the lining in my shorts. Let's hope I don't need to stop again. At this point I am contemplating turning back and heading to the other turnoff I passed on. That would require me running about 3 miles back. I decide to soldier on hope for the best. About a mile later I see a set of stop lights. I vaguely remember them and focus on them as if they were the pearly gates. Theya re about a mile of and when I finallly reach them I see they lead into a golf resort. A car is parked at the red light so I jog over to ge ttheir attention. The guy sees me and what does he do: rolld his window partly up and locks the door. I explain my situation and ask him how close the walmart is. He looks at me like I'm crazy. :Go past those lights down there, past the church, walmart on the right" and drives of without waiting for a reply. I look down to the lights he's talking about. Very far away. My body feels like it did during the marathon of the ironman last year. During the second loop. I start "running." Its more like a death shuffle. The light turns out to be a mile and a half away. Walmart is another 3/4 of a mile away. But I make it back. I swear to the gods of everything. At this point its 7:30. The run took me exactly 2 hours and 39 seconds. Even with the stops, the wind, the bowel movements and the terror, the run back only took about 1 1/2 minutes loonger than going out. I measured the distance and it was exactly 16.05 miles. My inner odometer is on the money as all my Clark athletes know.

I am exhausted by this point. I get my car back just in time and have to hike 1/2 to the other rental place. I feel sick and wanna just sleep. I also must smell horrible. I get back to the campground, kill a quart of Silk chocolate soy milk (cause the store does not carry quarts or half gallons of chocolate milk), eat a couple peanut butter and fluffs, soak in the ocean, and go to bed around 12.

Today is Tuesday. Pretty unproductive. Still waking up around 8:30. Didn't do too much. Went and got a TB shot so I can sub in public schools. Ran an hour, swam 15 minutes. Vegged and read a book. Good day. Still feling crappy.

Move into apartment tomorrow. Thank god. I miss warm showers and real bathrooms and eletricity and doors.

Training: Building back up. Running going alright. Swimming more. Start workouts this week. Marathon in January.
Weight: Down to 142 now. Understandable after yesterday's run.

Living in the Lap of Luxury and making New Friends Every Day!

First off I can't wait to get into my apartment for the sole reason that I will be
able to post on a more regualr basis and not have to write these extra long posts. Though I know you all eagerly look forward to spending 10 minutes readuing every word I write. Plus I miss real food. And not having to wake up every morning to one of the many roosters that have made my camp ground their home.


A little note about my camp ground and Maui in general: It seems some of the not so native animals that are found everywhere in massive amounts are roosters and cats. Everywhere I go, whether its woods, mountain hikes, the city.... there is a multitude of these animals. Around my campground you can find dozens of cats roaming in little gangs. Walking to the bathroom (about 150 yards down a windy little path... always an adventure in the middle of the night) I am greeted with shiny green eyes scattered among the trees. Interesting enough... my allergies go unaffected. I believe these cats hunt the roosters and I cheer them on with gusto. 6:00 AM is not a wakeup call I asked for.

The campground is not so bad other than that. I have found that i wake up no matter what between 7:30-8 each day. Usually because at that point it is getting too hot to stay in my little tent. There is a nice little shower close by. I try to go for a little 3-4 mile run to a nice overlook where i can see across to some other islands then jump into the ocean for a quick dip as the start of my day. Though you can't really jump into the water here as it doesn't get past one's waist for about 150 yards. A few nights I have walked out into the water to my waist and all I could think about was "Sharks have been known to attack in 3 feet of water. For 10 bucks a night you can't really complain too much. The other campers are not really that talkative and I don't think they go anywhere. I leave the grounds by 9 usually and don't return usually til 8-12 at night. Oh well, I'm sure I'm not missing much.

After the first couple crazy nights I have settled down a little. Mostly cause I was suffering from a severe lack of sleep. It's weird actually, I find myself having trouble remembering stuff I did jsut a couple days ago. As with vacations I forget what day it is alot. But lets dig into that memory. Let's go back...back to Wednesday...

Didn't do all that much really. Went and applied to teach in Maui. Realized they required my official transcripts. That would have ben something they may have wanted to tell me when I called them about a month ago looking for information. So now I am having those sent to Sara's place ASAP. Spent my first night at my campground. Realized I needed an air mattress. Very tough night of sleeping on the ground. Good sleeping back though. Too bad Maui doesn't carry sleeping backs made for 60-70 degree nights. Have you ever slept in a sleeping bag made for 30-40 degree weather in the middle of summer? Yup, lots of sweating. I do like the sound of the ocean though. I don't like the pet bird some guy has 2 tents over that squaks randomly in the night. Very loudly. Sound alot like my Cape Cod roommate Chris snoring. Oh the memories.
Went running that evening as it started getting dark. Found some random dirt road that went into the hills. Not the best idea I guess. Found a nice little plateau that allowed me to look out over the outter island and see the sunset behind one of

the other islands. I also found out that the path winds through some small farms with natives who did not seem pleased to see me. I vividly remember running up the dirt road along one of the farms (tons of roosters everywhere) and coming upon a couple guys leaning against a beatup pickup truck. They were very adament about me turning around. So after a few detours down other side trails and through a creepy cemetary at twilight I got back onto the main road. Running along the shoulder of the highway with the ocean on one side and vehicles on the other kept the run interesting. That night I also discovered the shallow water phenomenon. I felt like Jesus. Only I don't like wine.

Thursday was a good day. Woke up and went running to the plataeu then a quick dip. After a hearty breakfast of poptarts and granola bars it was off to the beach. Black Rock here I come. But first I had to hunt me down an air mattress. After a couple hours of hunting I found one at Walgreens, along with a pump. They only carry queensize. For my tiny 2 person tent this would be interesting. Though it would come in handy if I somehow convinced some lady to come back to my tent. If the twins could do it with the basement at stacy may, I got a shot. While wandering Lahaina I came across submarine tours. I serious possibility for the near future.


Snorkling at Blackrock was a blast. I hate how parking is crazy expensive (though now I know how to get around most of these fees). I had the opportunity to swim with a sea turtle. I don't think he liked me following him around for 15 minutes. Had a couple schools of fish swim right through me like I wasn't there. Just to make myself feel better about not really working out I also through in some real swimming now and then.

After this I decided to splurge on myself so went over to subway, got a footlong
then bought myself a 6 pack of Sam October. Very siked they sell Sam beer here. watched the sunset and some surfing til around 7ish. Then back to the camp for:
ADVENTURES IN SETTING UP A DAMN AIR MATTRESS IN A TENT TOO SMALL FOR IT WITH A PUMP THAT WON'T FIT.
Yup, that about explained it all. On top of all that it was rediculously humid in the tent so as I spent 30 minutes trying to inflate the damn mattress I was sweating up a storm. I got the thing about 70 percent filled and game up. Good enough. Trying to sleep that night was very reminisent of Mooseman 2 years ago with Paul and Jon. I just sunk into the damn thing. Would I ever get one good night's sleep?

Friday: Up at 8... 30 minutes later I was returning that damn air mattress. Found a good twin sized one at a Sports Authority on my way to Ieo Valey State Park in Makawao. Did a nice hilly run through this region. Will go back to hike to the top of some of the hills. At times I felt like I was running at Jurassic Park... you know that scene when they first arrive in the helicopter, flying between the cliffs?
Yup... those kind of views. Also: It is univeral that people harras runners. Got some classic : "run faster!" and "you can do it!" form some of the locals hanging out there. Also got a "faggot" on an earlier run the other day.

Wound up meeting 2 polynesian women by a river. How'd I meet them? Well there was this large rock hanging over the river about 5 feet. The water at the rock was about 4-5 feet deep so after my run i jumped in from the rock. May have gotten one of the women sitting ona lower rock pretty wet. When I say may have i mean i definitly did. Great conversation starter though. Her friend had ben trying to get her into the water apparently. Solved that problem. Also, they were born on the island, were both around 30ish, and it was their first time to this park.


I got back to Lahaina as it was starting to get dark. Wanting to swim I pull over to the first area I thought looked good.

Side note: There are alot of very small beaches along the cost open to the public. Many are either good swimming beaches or good surfing (meaning shallow the first 50 yards or so then dropping off allowing at least small wave break). I picked a good surfing beach. This meant I had to swim about about 60 yards past the break (it was very light that evening anyway). Coral is sharp by the way. Anyway, as the light failed there I was swimming back and forth about 60-70 yards from shore for about 30 minutes waiting for a shark to appear out of nowhere in the fading light. About 7 surfers sat on the shore apparently watching me and thinking the same thing I was. I know this cause after I came out I went over and talked to them for a bit. I guess they rarely see sharks in this area though. Got a nice scrape from the coral on my way back in though.
After a quick shower and change back the ol' homestead, and a successful bed setup, it was off to Lahaina to meet up with a couple of the surfers/vacationers for some drinks. 2 drinks in they lost their cool when I realized they were just a bunch of business goofs with theuir wives/girlfriends and were content to sit around all night. So wandering the main street I wander into a shop Elaine would love. Vintage European Posters. We're talking authentic and apparently super expensive posters. Now why would I go in? Attractive sales girl of course. An empty store and interesting posters soon led to about 25 minutes of conversation that spanned posters, books, Maui, then.... boss comes over and informs us its time to close shop. Serious donwer. So I'm hustled out by Cruela Devil (she serious reminded me of that puppy murdering wench). Here's the silver lining: Joy (yup her name is Joy... really) informs me she will be working Monday. I guess I'll be showing more interest in European Posters at least though Monday. After parousing a few more bars I soon realize Lahaina has little to ofer in nightlife. Back to camp/bed around 1.

Today (Saturday) saw me up at... yup... 8 again. Having played phone tag with Sara the past couple days we were planning on meeting up at the beach. So that meant early run. So of course I don't get to running til like 10. And it got hot. 85 at start of run and by the time I started my tempo portion at the 30 minute mark it was close to 90. I could feel my face literally heating up as I climbed up and down throught the streets norht of Lahaina. At 65 minutes I came to a little public beach and ended the run. Feeling my body about to shutdown I thought I would go into shock when I jumped into the ocean. It was a tough, slow jog back to the car a 1/2 mile away. Then it was a quick change, a meal of granola bars, poptarts, and the purchase of deli meats to celebrate the workout. Deciding to cheat parking fes I hiked the mile and a half to a nice public beach a mile north of Black Rock. As I get there Sara calls me and tells me she and her roomate were at the beach outside the Hula Grille. On the southside of Balckrock. I would have to either walk another mile and a half or go back to my car and drive there. Nope. I stay promising to go to the Grille for dinner and visit. Also: I find out this place has free parking. All that wlaking for nothing. Oh well, an hour of snorkling makes up for it. Meet another turlte and some cool fish. Test out the camera with success. Soak up some sun then its back to the car and off to Blackrock for more beach and dinner. I meet a group vacationing while there. How? When I get there I go for a 30 minute swim and apparently this group (all look like their exercise consists of beer can lifting... seriously they were all drinking budlights) were betting on how far down i'd swim

and if a shark would get me. That's twice the shark thing has come up. Time to worry? But they were cool. Gave me a beer. Dinner at the Hula was a blast. Thanks in part to the fact Sara bought me my dinner since she did owe me a meal. It was nice eating real food. Also: If any of you come to Maui we are going to Yogurtworld. Went there during the hour wait to be seated. Amazing! Met a group of people from Sacramento while waiting to be seated. 3 teachers among them. After chatting with them for half an hour was invited to join them for dinner but declined solely because Sara would not have been able to comp my meal.

Xterra World Championships tomorrow at Makena Beach and Golf Resort! Thankfully I have my 6 AM wakeup to get down there in time to watch.

Well, thats alot of typing and reading. Sorry people but I promise shorter, more routine posts soon.

Training notes: Been running about 10 miles a day with exception of Monday. Doing 16-17 tomorrow morning. Between my swims and all the snorkling my swimming is slowly coming back into form. Need bike over here.

Weight: 143 Lost 6 pounds in past 6 days. To be expected though with way I've ben eating. Thank God for Subway. Once I move into apartment better eating.

Welcome to Maui...when in doubt ask the drunk person.

So I've ben here fo about a day and a half now. Before I get into the roller coaster that has been my life since my plane too of from Boston 2 days ago let me jsut say this one thing: Apparently life is expensive over here. Yup, things cost a little more than you would expect over here.

So since I left Worcester so very early Monday morning (thanks Cait) I have slept for a total of about 11 hours my 2 nights here so far. Even now I feel like things have yet to slow down. But lets not get ahead of ourelves here. Let's go back to the beginning...

So Cait drops me off at the airport and I wave goodbye to the last vestiges of what I know before walking into the terminal. The plane takes of without any problems and I find myself sitting next to 2 people that are not chatty at all. Luckily we are only flying for about 5 1/2 hours so its not like I'm looking to actually enjoy myself. I will say that Alaska Airlines does have nice seats with decent leg room and cushiony head rests. I sleep off and on the entire ride to Seattle and bid my antisocial neighbors a fucking adiu.

Oh Seattle... there is nothing like sitting around an airport terminal for 4 1/2 hours to make you really appreciate life. The only thing that made that stay better was the half ass service and crappy food in the mini Chilis. Oh then the extra hour delay of our plane really put everyone into a cheery mood. Soooooo, almost 6 hours after landing in Seattle (actually just outside the city)we get to board our plane. Being the generous soul I am I also allowed my seat to be moved so a family could all sit together. Yup, it turned out I gave up my seat next to a lovely college coed so she could sit next to her father. And me, I was moved next to an overly affectionate french couple who could barely speak english. I bet you can all guess how thrilling the conversations were on that flight. On a lighter note, the french guy next to me was watching season 1 of Prison Break on his little IPad. In French but I could still follow along. And the forward seat I was moved to was in a row that allowed full leg room and plush chairs.

After another 6 hours of flying surrounded by off and on crying babies, a slightly smelly man in front of me, and multiple snacks provided by the flight attendants I land in Maui. By this point it is 8pm here, dark, but smells of flowers and ocean. It takes me forever to find my car rental place. Apparently I booked from the only place located off the airport property. Fast forward me rushing acros busy streets with all my luggage and i get my car (after upgrading to a slightly larger vehicle since i predicted sleeping in it many nights over the next week and a half. A guy needs his comforts.

Now for the interesting part of my knight. Not really knowing where I was going I just start driving. The main highway goes in a big cirlce so I figured I would get to where I needed sooner or later. Well I chose to drive West. Now west away from the airport takes you over to the Northwest part of the island. This part of the highway is crazy windy going over, through, and under steep cliffs overlooking the ocean. It twists and turns so much the speed limit at points is 10 miles an hour. Plus, no street lamps lighting the way. So there I am, pitch black road following along the egde of 100-200 foot cliffs that drop into the ocean. Luckily at this point i have ben up almost 24 hours and am just lookign for any place to pull over and sleep. After about 30 miles of this I pull over just to look at the view from a point on a cliff about 150 over the ocean. Then I piss off the cliff. It was a very touching moment, had to be there I guess.

Finally I make it into downtown Lahaina. Its now pushing 1030pm and I'm pretty much slepwalking. I've given up looking for a place to sleep and am now jut looking for people to help me out. Who do I find? Yup, a group of drunk people hanging out on a street corner at the visitor center. They're all eating ice cream drum sticks. Going over I quickly explain my situation and ask if they have any suggestions. This one older guy (around 45-50) looks at me and asks if I have 25 bucks. Once i confirm i do he says "Follow me, I got a spare room at my cottage on the ocean. You can crash there." He then drunkily hops on his beatup mountain bike and pedals away. So I hop in my car and follow him down the main street doing about 10 miles an hour as he weaves unsteadily to our destination (sidenote about this: before he got on his bike he came over and told m that part of the agreement was I had to carry his uneaten drumstick for him cause he didn't want to drop it. So I drove down the road carry this thing out the window cause I didn't want it dripping into my car). We arrive to our destination 5 minutes later and I am relieved to see it is an actual cottage and not some shack where I would be smothered in my sleep... or worse, I would find myself back at Pink House! As soon as he stumbles off his bike he comes over and is excited to see I didn't drop his ice cream. He leads me inside to a pretty sweet coattage, money is exchanged, and then he takes me to to private beach behind the cottage to meet the other 2 hammered guys staying there. After quick introductions we go inside and he shows me to my bed. I'm asleep within 10 minutes. It is around midnight here so that would have made it just after 6AM there. 25 hours with no sleep.

The next morning I wake up to everyone still sleeping. Its just before 8 and I decide its time to bounce and explore. As I'm getting my stuff packed up one of the guys I met last night walks in and looks at me without recognition. "Where did you come from?" was his comment. So after reintroducing myself to this guy whois standing there in his boxers he just walks to the bathroom and proceeds to take a piss, leaving the door open. I gather my gear, say my farewells, decline a morning beer, and am on my way.

The next 5 hours have me finding a wallmart (of course) buying as much cheap food that doesnt require cooking as possible, camping gear, and bottles of water. Then I drive to Lahaina and begin job hunting at local restaurants. Around 1 I get a text from Jon who puts me in touch with Sara. So I call her... little do I know what I'm abou to get myself into.

Around 2 we meet up at a tiki bar at on of the resorts north of Whalers Village. That should have ben my first clue. After chatting for an hour while downing a few local beers she has to go to work and I decide its time to go snorkling. We promise to met up later. I was to head to the restaurant where she worked around 9pm.

Not knowing where would be a good place close by to snorkel I part at a stripmall not far from th coast. Seeing a guy who appears to have just finished snorkeling I ask him where I should go. Immediatly he resords "Snorkel? Come on, I'll fucking show you the best fucking spot in the area. Come, just follow me!" The guy could barely speak english but he had the word "fucking" down pat. It turns out this guy was from puerto rico, been living here 8 years working at the Weston, and was a free lance yukalalie (i kow i killed that word) player on the side. Of course he would be. He walks me to the beach and sets me up at a reclining chair on Weston Resort property next to his "break chair" which came with a cooler of beers. After sitting himelf down he points to the water and says "you snorkel this area, hang out here with me when done." Why the hell not. So I do. A little too windy but still a good time under water. When I finish I plop down next to this diminitive, portly guy and we crack beers open. He fills me in on stories of his life on Maui. Around 5:30 i realize i have to go run as we watch the sunset behind one of the islands west of Maui. I kill my beer, say goodbye to my new buddy and head back to my car to run.

Now let me tel you this... it gets dark jsut as fast on Maui as it does in Worcester. 25 minutes into running down the road that runs parrallel to the coast it is dark out. By the time I turn around I can't see 100 yards ahead of me. Not that I would have ben able to anyway, the road was just as windy as the one I almost drove my car off of numerous times the night before. Apparently Maui does not believe in streetlamps at normal intervals. But I make it back to my car after only having a few close calls with vehicles. Gathering up some clothes to change into I head down to the beahc shower back where I snorkled. My snorkel buddy was still there drinking with another guy. I don't get too jealous. After a nice public showering, using a loofa made to look like some cartoon turtle cause the supermarket had no others, i walk over to the bathroom to change. Yup... all locked up.

I have 2 options here. 1: walk back to my car in my running shorts and change there. 2: Do a quick change in the small enclove and hope no one walks by. I go with option 2. Now this public bathroom is set between 2 large, 10 story hotels. I do a quick look around and do the change. Luckily no one walks by. What I forgot to do was also check up the side of the building I was facing. About 4 floors up directly across from me was a couple of women (mid to late 30s) sitting on their balcony smoking cigs. I look at them for a couple seconds as they look back at me. We can clearly se eachother. Fuck it, I wave to them, say how ya doing, and walk aways. They just smiled and waved. I hope they enjoyed their free show.

So I find myelf at the Hula Grill where Sara works. This is the same place Jon works hen he is on the island. Its about an hour before closing so I'm chilling at the bar drinking bers and whatver else the bartender offers me. By closing time I'm tired but pretty buzzed. Sara comes by now and then to chat. 10:30 rolls around and the place closes up. Time to move to the bar next door. I have a water as Sara and osme of the other workers have beers and wine. At 11:30 we all decide to go to a bar acalled Tequilas. There we proceed to drink more beer and mixed drinks. Sara offers to let me crash on her floor. Happily I accept. 2nd night in a row I avaoid sleping in my car. Life is good. 1:45 hits, I'm tired and slightly drunk now. Bar closes so she has me follow her. Home? NOt quite. Instead we roll up to a hole in the wall dive bar called Nacho Grandes. Yup, high class. She wants to acquant me with the people there as she claims "i'll be finding myself here alot over the next 8 months" and proceeds to buy us each a double shot of tequila. And we all know I love tequila (Second side note: when i say she bought it what I meant was she ordered it, realized she was out of money, so I paid... sound like a familiar situation?). So after taking these shots of heaven (sarcasm) it is finally bedtime. Or so I though. We roll back to her place somewhere between 2:30 and pretty drunk. The next 2 hours or so are filled with sitting around, listening to music, drunk life talk, watching her cat "monkey" run around and trying to be quiet so as to not awaken her roommate.

At 4:30 I can't stay awake anymore. Rolling out a sleeping bag I literally pass out on her bedroom floor. Lucky for me I got to sleep in until the late hour of almost 8:30.

It's now around 2:00 PM. It's ben raining most of the day as I've ben driving around getting everything I need to substitute teach. I kinda wish I knew I needed officail transcripts from my colleges before i came here. Oh well, don't sweatthe small stuff.

As I look outside I can see the clouds are starting to clear up around the mountain that is dominating my view right now. I think it's time for a run and some swimming before dinner at the Hula Grill tonight.

Peace til next time...

Pictures to come soon