Hi everyone... well, Mark and I are back from our amazing trip to Hawaii, and are finally getting back into our regular routine. I haven't downloaded our pictures yet, but can tell you all about what we did, where we went, etc.
Most days started with a run, as we are now officially training for our half marathon coming up in January. Let's just say Mark is a much better runner than me and in much better shape, but he did a great job of waiting for me and not getting impatient with my slowness! It was also much hillier there than it is here, so it was that much harder.
We hit our usual shopping places - Windward Mall, Ala Moana, and the Swap Meet - all in the first couple of days. We then spent 2 amazing nights at Turtle Bay (we have never stayed in a hotel during our Oahu visits!) - great views of the ocean, great weather, it really was like a second honeymoon!!
Saturday we went on a Kayak trip from Kailua beach out to the Mokolua Islands. It's about 1 1/4 miles, and took us an hour to get to... in the ocean! It wasn't quite as easy as we thought it would be, and almost asked for a refund after the training video. But no one got injured (at least not too bad) and we can say that we did it!
Sunday was our first long training run. 8.5 miles. It's a challenge to find a stretch of flat land in Hawaii that goes for that long. We decided to go through Waikiki, starting at Ala Moana, down the strip, and up to the lighthouse just below Diamond Head... and then back! It took almost 2 hours, so you can probably guess that we didn't run the whole way. Although I think Mark could have! Suffice it to say we need to cut some time off in order to start with the runners in January, since we need to be able to run 13 miles in less than 2 1/2 hours.
Monday we did a good hike up to the bunkers in Kailua so we could see how far we had actually kayaked, and got some amazing pictures from the best view on the Windward side! It was also a little scary, as it's not a popular hike and so there aren't any extra supports or steps or anything - although it was shorter than the Diamond Head hike, I think it was more difficult. Monday night we had dinner and relaxed in Waikiki for our last night.
Overall it was a fabulous trip - a little long to be gone from the kids, and we did miss them, but it was fun being adventerous and doing all those things you can't do when you have the kids. Next time we go the kids will be older, and hopefully we'll be able to recreate some of the magic with them! Another HUGE thank you to my mom for putting her life on hold and staying with the kids so we could have some time off together, and to Lisa for her major supporting role!!
I'll work on posting pictures this weekend... it really has been nonstop since we got back. But it was well worth it :)
