Everybody loves a Snuggie...

I look back upon the various Halloween costumes I've had over the years and admit I've had some good ones. The epic cowgirl costume of 2007 comes to mind. The year I was Death and had all my angels with me (2005) if I remember correctly. I've also had some lame ones with little to no creativity put into them. Lifeguard and 6 year olds knight costume (last fall). But most have been pretty good and gotten some attention. Well this past Sunday I outdid myself without even realizing it. Who would have thought that a Snuggie would be so popular with so many people out at the bars? Yup, not realizing I was doing anything for Halloween I did not bother to go get a costume. Then on Halloween Matt tells me we are going down to Front Street.
Apparently it is a pretty big thing here. So I go out looking for a costume that afternoon before my workout. There is nothing left. All the stores are pretty much sold out. After an hour or so I go into a Walgreens and they have nothing. But they do have Snuggies. I don't even question the decision. 20 minutes later I am back at my place with a costume. I keep it to myself until later that night. As Matt and I are pregaming with some girls he knows I bust out the costume and it is an instant hit. It may have something to do with the fact that I am also sporting the shortest
running shorts I own underneath the Snuggie. But who doesn't love a tie dyed snuggie? Fast forward 5 beers and a couple swigs of capts and we hit Front Street.

Now there are some out there that remember this past 4th of July in Ptown. Pretty crazy huh. Well take that and place it in Lahaina on Halloween and you get the picture. Crazy costumes and alcohol induced shenanigans everywhere you look.
We pick up some girl that Matt's friend knows named Angelica who is dressed as Pocahontas. Of course she is beautiful, looks just like Pocahontas (by the way, from this point on she will only be referred to as Pocahontas because that’s all I called her. She spent the entire night calling me Snuggie. I didn't complain) and has had a boyfriend for like 6 years. We get to the bars and the fun begins. We are not in the first bar 5 minutes when a beer appears in my hand and someone buys us all double tequila shots. Not realizing what I was being handed, down it goes. Then I realize. We kill our beers and wander around taking pictures and soaking up the chaos around us. Pocahontas and I go over the band area and get pictures with some kinky costumed characters and the crew from Gilligan’s Island. Then all of a sudden we lose everyone else. After another round of drinks we decide to go to another bar called Da Kitchen. It seems this is where all the chaos collects. There are women with no tops, a handful of 1980 wrestlers, and everything in between. For the past hour I have not had to buy myself a drink because as soon as people realize what I'm wearing they will not take no for an answer and pass me random drinks. At this point I decide I'm a damn celebrity (it may have been the alcohol) and am just walking up to groups of people and introducing myself "Hey, how are you? I'm the Snuggie..." I only know this because Pocahontas was with one of the groups and recounted the story at the end of the night when I had kinda sobered up. I was also going up to girls and asking them if they needed to stay warm, offering to share my snuggie. Hey, they're made to fit 2. Finally 1:30 rolls around and it's time to go, mostly cause they were serving no more drinks. We get outside and find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of drunken party goers in a variety of costumes in various forms of completeness. There was alot of inappropriateness going on out on the streets. Also, about 100 police officers were milling about looking to throw some drunken costumed heathens into jail. So Zorro, Cowgirl/Scarecrow and I (sadly we lost Pocahontas and Silver Hooker) try hailing ourselves a cab. Matt at this point was kind of eating a burrito and laying on the grass near the sidewalk. I am pretty sure we were getting the suspicious eye from a couple cops so we stepped up our game with taxi hailing. Pretty much we got right into the street and made one stop for us. After a short ride back home it was time to sober up and get to bed. That meant housing a bag of Cheetos and a couple bottles of water. Though when I went to bed I definitly had the spins and woke up in the middle of the night still drunk. But I did not get sick and whe I got up the next morning (5 hours later mind you) I was pretty much good to go. There is nothing like eggs and toast the morning after drinking yourself stupid.


Since then I have been keeping it pretty mellow. Started going to the Lahaina swimming pool. Its a state pool opened year round. 13 lanes to swim in. Been hitting it up mostly cause the conditions in the ocean are pretty rough right now. A huge swell has been coming through making swimming out there nearly impossible. After getting rocked into some coral last Saturday I'm staying more on the cautious side. Yesterday 5 people had to be rescued by the fire department because they were idiots and tried swimming out in the crazy surf. This happened at the beach I swim at about 25 minutes before I got down there at the end of my run. If I had to go out after them I would simply say "You're an idiot" as I pulled each one out.
Been to a couple interviews at Bubba Gump Restaurant. It's in downtown Lahaina. Went to drop in an application there the other day and the manager happened to be at the door. We got to talking about triathlons since I happened to be wearing a shirt from a race. That led to marathon talk and he mentions his wife is runing the Maui Marathon. Once I mention I am too and am a pretty good runner he mentions how his wife could use some advice. Then he brings me right in and shows me around the place. After that he passes me over to one of the servers and tells me to just shadow him for about 10 minutes. He comes back and tells me to come by Wednesday (today) for the second interview. Did that today. Went pretty well. Also met a guy working there who is from Worcester. Went to North and graduated 2008, lived of of grafton street. Knows a bunch of the saem people. Small fricking world. Tomorrow I have an interview at Barnes and Noble. Actually looking forward to this job. Big discounts on books. I like to read me some books.
Big Karaoke night coming up Friday night, the place also serves half price sushi. I miss The Sole. Speaking of buying food: Here is a small idea of how expensive things are out here. I've been shopping a few times so am getting to know prices. Milk: 4.39 a gallon for cheap stuff. Doritos: 3.99 a bag when on sale. Eggs: 2.99 a dozen on sale. Ice Cream: 4.99 a half gallon for cheap stuff. Cereal: 3.99 for store brand. O.J.: 6.39 a gallon. Yup, thats about what I've been dealing with.

Training:
Training has been going alright since Saturday. Been getting in a steady amount of running and more swimming. Once I get my bike here I can really start gearing things up.
Sunday:4 mile run in Pineapple field in the morning. Did numerous 5-3 minnute pickups along the beach and back to my house in the evening. All told about 12 miles for the day.
Monday: Swam about an hour in the pool. Lots of drills and straight laps. Ran 10 miles out into Kahana Ocean Boardwalk and back. Really nice run. Striders and drills afterward.
Tuesday: 17 mile run through the pineapple fields. First hour straight uphill into the hills. Got lost as it got dark. Then got really lost and it got really dark. Random small, white birds scared the hell out of me when they took of right near me. After jumping a fence and cutting through some back yards found my way back to civilization. Ran down to beach and back.
Wednesday: 90 minutes of swimming in pool. Did repeat 100s and 50s. All told swam 2300 yards. Ran almost 6 1/2 miles on the beach in the evening. Felt pretty good after about 2 miles. 8 long striders afterward.

Weight: Up to 145 now and holding steady. Eating alot more food lately. Pretty much nonstop.