Tour of Livestrong Center in Austin

This past weekend, Livestrong held an open house/bike ride event nearby in Austin; as a kick off for the Livestrong Challenge.  I've been getting more involved in Livestrong since learning of my brother's cancer diagnosis, including the fundraising page that I did on his behalf when I raced the IM Texas 70.3 triathlon. So, I decided it might be interesting to drive into Austin and check things out. Below are a few pictures and notes from the tour.

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Side Note: Speaking of Livestrong, they are currently providing my 15 seconds of internet fame (not minutes, this is internet time)... If you go the main LS page at Livestrong.org; on the bottom left of the page is a section on the MH Ironman Texas 70.3 triathlon with 4 small photos. That goofy guy on the top right is actually me - ha! The pictures may not be on the front page long, but that thumbnail image links to the full picture in Flickr, which should stick around for a while.
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Now, back to the main topic... I arrived at the Livestrong building early Saturday morning, in time to see the bike riders getting ready to head out. The ride itself didn't quite fit into my schedule that day, unfortunately, but I was excited to tour the building and learn more about what they do there. Things got started with a short greeting and a couple of announcements about the Livestrong Challenge bike ride, including the news that it would now be flat $50 fee; with no fundraising minimum requirement. That should allow many more people to participate, as they can just sign up for the race and not have to worry about their ability to raise funds.

 Bike riders getting ready to head out.

A few minutes after the bike riders left, we started the tour of the Livestrong building. It turns out that building is really two buildings in one:  The main Livestrong Headquarters/Office, and a Navigation Center where they provide on-site assistance for cancer patients (evaluating treatment options, financial counseling, emotional counseling, etc.). Here are a few pictures and notes on some of the things I found interesting...

Reception Desk. Note the sign on the desk

Inspirational quotes and mottos like this are everywhere in the office

Lance's 7 Tour de France Yellow Jerseys

Open, cubicle environment. Even the CEO sits out here.

Plenty of cool stuff like this custom-made motorcycle...

 and this mobile art piece. Each "bike" tells a different story from Lance's life

Tribute wall

Livestrong Core Values

Employee fitness room, with aerobics studio above it

Actual table from local restaraunt (ZTejas) where the idea for Livestrong was hatched.

Entrance to the Navigation Center

 Inspirational quote on wall in Navigation Center

So, I'm glad that I made it down there for the tour... It was really quite interesting and informative, and it was great to meet some of the Livestrong team. Every person that I met was very passionate about what they do and why they do it. It is nice to know that people like my brother have advocates like that, fighting for their cause, and helping direct them through this painful and difficult process!

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Ironman Texas 70.3 -> LIVESTRONG Jeff!

Below is my race report for the Ironman Texas 70.3 triathlon held on April 1st in Galveston, TX. This was *not* just another triathlon for me, by any means... As I wrote in a previous post; my younger brother Jeff is fighting stage 4 cancer, and I had dedicated this race to him. The past few weeks of training since his diagnosis, it had felt to both of us as if Jeff was right there training alongside me; which made this a very significant and emotional event. It was also an official Livestrong event, and Lance Armstrong himself would be there competing; which added to the overall sense of this race being something a little more special and important.

Warning: More important race = more detailed race report! : )

Race Preparation
My wife Susie and I drove down to Galveston Friday evening before the race to get get the drive out of the way, check in to the hotel, and get a good night of sleep. Race registration started at noon on Saturday, so we lazed around a bit in the morning, and then I headed over to the expo. Our hotel was only a 1/2 mile or so from the expo site at Moody Gardens, which made for a nice, easy walk.

When I got to the registration tent, the line had already grown fairly long, so I went ahead and got into line right away. Things moved pretty quickly, so it didn't take too long to complete the registration process and get my packet (timing chip, numbers, a few goodies, etc.)

While I was at the expo getting registered, I made my way over to check out Lance Armstrong's bike. It just looks fast, doesn't it?

Next, I walked over and checked out the transition area, where I'd have to bring my bike later that afternoon (large events like this often have you check your bike in the day before and leave it overnight):

From there, I headed over to the athlete meeting, where the race directors and officials review the rules and procedures, any late breaking news, etc. I think most of the athletes were mainly concerned about one particular ruling... would it be a wetsuit legal race? (the answer was yes).

After the meeting, I headed back to the hotel to get everything prepped and ready to go for race day. It's amazing how much gear there is to deal with (wetsuit, goggles, bike, helmet, bike shoes, water bottles, bike pump, run shoes, socks, run visor...):

By now it was mid-afternoon, and time to grab a late lunch/early dinner. Susie and I headed out to a local Italian place and had a very nice dinner. I did my best to talk about things other than triathlon, but I imagine that Susie would say that I was not very successful : )

The final step for the day was to take my bike to the transition area. Susie and I walked there together, so she could find a good spectator spot for the run course and see the finish line/transition layout. Once at the transition area, I found my numbered spot and hung my bike on the bike rack; then it was time to head back to the hotel and try to get some sleep!

Race Morning
I woke up at 4:15 a.m., and made my way down to the hotel lobby just a few minutes later... Coffee!!! After a quick breakfast, Susie and I grabbed all the gear and loaded it into the car to drive over to the transition area. Yes, she was already up and awake, and offered to drive me so I wouldn't have to walk - what a wife! Traffic seemed a little dicey on the road, though; so I ended up getting dropped off and walking the rest of the way. 


BTW: Have I mentioned yet that it takes a very special wife to put up with all the training, the never-ending triathlon talk, the racing, "vacations" that revolve around a race... Thank you Susie! : )

Once I arrived at the transition area, I found my bike - which had survived a very windy night : ) - and then set about my usual preparation. Pump up the bike tires, shoes on the bike, water bottles in place and filled, etc. My goal is always to have things simplified and ready to go, so there is an absolute minimum to think about or do in transition (you'd be amazed at how fuzzy and scattered your brain can be as you run up to find your gear and get ready for the next leg).

With everything set up, it was then time for the waiting game... Most triathlons, including this one, start in "waves" by age group and gender; so there are smaller groups of people swimming at the same time. I was in a wave that started at 7:50 a.m., which gave me plenty of time after they closed the transition area (6:45 a.m.) to wait around for the start of my race. One thing that I like about this triathlon is that it is held on-site at Moody Gardens, and they have their buildings open on race morning. This provides a nice and unusual perk, in that you can go inside and use real restrooms (vs port-a-potties), and hang out in the lobby sitting on a chair or bench...  makes the wait for race start much nicer! 

Finally, it was time to make my way to the pier where the swim starts. My nerves were running pretty high at that point - I had my usual pre-race jitters, plus the extra thoughts in my head of my brother and wanting things to go well. Perhaps it doesn't make much sense, but I felt it was important to have a good race and somehow provide him with a little encouragement and motivation. So, I did a few short run sprints to work out my nerves and give my heart and lungs a bit of a jump start, and headed over to the pier.

By that time, most of my wave was already on the pier and getting ready to go, so I quickly got on my wetsuit and made my way through the crowds and joined them. A couple of minutes we were called to get in the water, and I followed the pack to the end of the pier and jumped in. The water felt great... and after a quick goggle check and short sprint warmup swim, I got in position and waited for the countdown. Here we go!!!

Swim
Luckily, I was able to get into a good rhythm right away, so I could focus on form and technique and keeping a straight line. I was determined not to overreact to people getting in my way, bumping into me, etc. That worked very well... I felt like this was one of my more strong and confident swims. I had borrowed a sleeveless wetsuit from my buddy Glenn, which was another positive, as I never felt any shoulder fatigue.

Overall, the swim went great, with no real issues or problems. I got out of the water in 35 minutes, which is good for me and right on target with my race goals. That ended up being 20th out of the 135 or so finishers in my age group.

Swim to Bike Transition
I had been told that they would not have wetsuit "peelers" to help us out of our swimsuits (don't laugh, just try to quickly get out of a wetsuit after 35 minutes of intense swimming!); but as I was running towards the bikes I saw that they did indeed have some peelers out there... Yay! I got the wetsuit down to my waist and plopped down on the ground, then the volunteers yanked it off with one quick pull. I grabbed my wetsuit, thanked the volunteers, and finished the run through transition to my bike. My setup was very simple, including having my shoes already clipped on to the bike pedals, so I had a nice fast transition time (just over 2 minutes from water exit to crossing the bike mount line).

(gotta love the helmet)

Bike
I wanted to push the limits on the bike a little, similar to what I done at the Kerrville Triathlon, which had worked very well. I knew that it would cost me a little bit of time on the run, but the net of that trade-off would still be positive if things went according to plan. I also started thinking about my brother, and how I didn't want to let him down. If he can battle what he's battling, no excuses for me! And I thought of others that I knew that had been touched by cancer, including my father-in-law, who lost his battle with cancer almost a decade ago... and a couple of family members that were currently undergoing tests to find out if they had this dreaded disease... it all made me very determined to fight and give this race all I had.

The IM Texas 70.3 bike course is about as simple as they get... you head out of Moody Gardens and quickly get to the main road along the seawall, head straight down the road to the halfway point, turnaround, and come back. It's one of those races where you just drop down into aero position and chug away!

Another thing this race is known for is the wind. There is always a good stiff crosswind in Galveston, due to the bike course running along the beachfront. It is usually more of a headwind on the first half heading South, and then a little bit of a tailwind effect coming back. So, I knew that the first half was going to be slower, I just didn't want it to be too slow... For most of that first half, I was feeling pretty strong and felt good about how things were going. And it was cool to see Lance coming back the other way, flying along and leading the race. I was a little surprised to see another male pro right behind him, but a super-flat course like that does not really play into Lance's strengths.

The last few miles of the outbound leg, I started feeling the heat and humidity (it reached 80 that day with about 90% humidity). Also, the roads are a little worse as you head out and away from the main part of the town. I had to fight to not lose too much speed during that section, and I kept wondering where that turnaround was! : ) The good news was that there were very few people passing me, and the few that did were primarily the younger guys (bike is still not my strongest event, but it is getting better...).

Once I hit the turnaround and started heading back it re-energized me a bit. Between that, and the shift to having a little tailwind, my pace jumped up and I started clicking off the miles. With each mile that I ticked off I was that much closer to getting off the bike and starting the run! I wasn't picking up quite as much speed against my overall average as I had hoped, but I still felt strong and was happy with how things were going.

Then, just after I passed the marker for mile 50 I noticed something strange... my watch beeped, signifying the end of a 3 mile "lap". Hmmmm... my brain was a bit fuzzy, but I was pretty sure that 50 was not divisible by 3 : )  So I checked my distance, and my Garmin had me at 51 miles. Huh?!? Please tell me the bike course is not an extra mile long! Oh well, nothing I can do but just keep going the last few miles as hard as I can and get to the run...

I finally saw the main beach area, which meant the turn off towards Moody Gardens, and the end of the bike leg was not too far ahead. I flew down that section as fast as I could, got my feet out of my bike shoes, stopped right at the dismount line, and started running to my transition spot. My bike split ended up being 2:44, which shows up in the official results as a 20.5 mph average (my Garmin watch recorded slightly under 57 miles and a 20.8 mph average).

Bike to Run Transition
This transition is very simple and went fast. Helmet off, slip into running shoes, grab my visor, and take off to start the run. Total time from bike dismount to crossing the run start mat right around 1 1/2 minutes.

Run
OK, so now it was time for the part that I'm most comfortable with - the run. The nerves are all under control; no swim fears to deal with, no bike breakdowns to worry about... just me and my feet : ) The only thing that I was worried about was the heat and humidity that I mentioned earlier. Sun shining bright, nearing 80 degrees, high humidity... not ideal run conditions when you're already very hot and tired! I knew that I'd need to focus on staying hydrated and cool off whenever possible. I was also very determined to run as fast and hard as I could, since my bike was just a little slower than what I had hoped for.

The run course was 3 loops of just over 4 miles each (13.1 miles total). The first loop I was running a little faster than I knew I could hold for the duration, but my heart rate was good and my legs felt pretty strong (just a little bit of cramping the first mile or so, but that eased up as I continued running). I saw Susie about halfway through the first loop at a spot we had picked out the day before. She took a couple of pictures as I ran up, then I paused for a few seconds so she could record a quick video message for my brother. It is always a big pick-me-up to see Susie, and the video message to my brother fired me up as well. Let's go!

At the end of the first loop we ran across a small airport runway. On the one hand, that was a fun and unique thing to have as part of the triathlon. On the other hand, it sure was hot on that runway! Soon I was onto the second loop, making liberal use of the ice water and iced-down sponges that the volunteers were handing out to cool off. I also started drinking flat coca-cola in order to help calm my stomach and provide some caffeine and sugar-induced energy : )  I was still going strong, though, and there were no more signs of cramping; just a little bit of fatigue starting to set in. I was passing a lot of people, including many in my age group, and that always helps with the motivation...

By the final loop, I was definitely feeling the heat and the fatigue. In order to keep pushing through, I decided that the last loop was going to be my brother's, and pictured him running there next to me. I also still had in my mind my wife and all her sacrifices, other family and friends touched by cancer... there was no way I was going to give in! This was the time to dig deep and prove that the mind can will the body to do more than you imagine... The last couple of miles, I was even able to speed up slightly; helped along by a man in my age group that was slightly ahead of me who made for a good rabbit : )  I never did quite catch him, but it made for a heck of a chase!

At last, the end was in sight... One final trip across the airport runway, and I was headed towards the finish. As I came down the finisher's chute, my fists clenched and raised up in the air in a spontaneous gesture of the anger and defiance I felt towards cancer and the pain that it had caused so many. Long distance triathlons are in many ways a triumph of human willpower and spirit over the supposed limitations of the body, and this was me saying to cancer "we are powerful and we will fight you with every ounce of strength we have". I realize that might sound a little odd, but that's truly what I felt at that moment.

I ran the last few steps and crossed the finish line knowing I had laid out every bit of energy I had on the race course, the tank had been fully emptied. My run time was 1:41:38, for an average pace of 7:45/mile. Overall time for the full triathlon was 5:04:46, right on target with my goal of staying close to 5 hours (and did I mention the extra mile on the bike?...). That gave me 14th place out of 135 finishers in the male 50-54 age group.

Post-Race
After the race, I met up with Susie and sat down for a while to cool off and rest. Then I grabbed some pizza and water from the athlete food tent, and we sat a bit more while I finished eating and tried to get re-hydrated. After checking the posted results to see how I had done within my age group, I got my bike and gear out of transition; and Susie and I headed back to the hotel. A little bit of cleanup time, and then it was off to Landry's for a big celebration meal! Belly full and body tired, I had a good night of sleep and then we headed back home the next morning.

Race Summary
As far as the race itself, I have to admit it was a little humbling to come in 14th place, even with a very large and competitive field. I just have to be realistic about the nature of these large "Ironman" branded races compared to the local races. With the official Ironman races, people come from all over the country, and even from other countries, in order to prove themselves against the strongest competition and try to pick up one of the coveted Ironman 70.3 World Championship slots (out of the 13 men ahead of me in my age group, only 5 were from TX, and one came from Mexico). And the Lance Armstrong factor likely made that dynamic even more true for this race. Once you start pulling in elite athletes from all over, there are many that are much faster than I am, and that's OK! : ) I am honored and humbled to even be able to participate in these events, let alone be competitive.

Final Thoughts
All the blah blah blah about my performance and times and placing aside; what was truly important about this race is the cause and the people that it represents... My brother Jeff, who provided so much inspiration and motivation. My father-in-law Lee, children like Ishani that have to deal with this horrible disease at far too young of an age, and all the other family and friends that have battled cancer... I have no poetic way to say this, other than I am tired of seeing the damage that it does... #cancersucks.

In the end, I was happy to be able to be able to do a little bit of fundraising for Livestrong on my brother's behalf, and perhaps provide him with just a little bit of motivation and distraction. Jeff has told me about some of his initial discussions and interactions with Livestrong, and so far I am impressed with the help and support that they provide. I especially appreciate their attitude of not being a victim and fighting with everything you have. So, for all of you out there dealing with cancer... KEEP UP THE FIGHT!!!

Most sincerely,
JD

PS: Jeff has started doing some biking and light running, and is really getting hooked into the sport of triathlon. For his family and friends who will soon have to deal with his obsessive behavior regarding all things triathlon (training methods, equipment, race strategies, etc.); I am truly sorry. OK... not really : )

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Update on Jeff; race this weekend (IM Texas 70.3)

I recently posted about the sad news that my brother Jeff had been diagnosed with cancer (link). In order to provide some level of support and encouragement, I signed up for Team Livestrong and created a fundraising page in his honor (see fundraising update below).

Jeff has now gone through additional tests, including a PET scan; and the results had some elements of good and some that weren't quite what we would optimistically hope for. The cancer has not spread to any other organs (lungs, liver, etc.); which is great; but it was found in some additional lymph nodes near his sternum. That resulted in this now being referred to as a Stage 4 cancer. The chemotherapy started this past week, and will continue every other week for at least the next 6 months. Very scary stuff, and I know that there are many, many people out there joining me in prayers that Jeff will win this battle and enjoy a long life with his wife and family. As I've mentioned, Jeff is certainly up for the fight and his family is right along side to support him!

The Livestrong triathlon (IM Texas 70.3) that I am registered for is this coming Sunday. There is not much left for me to do in terms of training at this point, I just need to get in the last few workouts and taper properly so that I am rested/recovered and ready to race. I really want to do well, as I somehow feel like that is at least a small way to show Jeff that I am supporting him and fighting alongside him. Not that I'm looking for any supernatural abilities, I just want to race up to the level of the abilities that I do have and have trained for (and maybe just that one notch higher that comes with a little extra motivation...). What I do NOT want is for something that I cannot control (e.g. a mechanical issue on the bike) to mess things up. Although I guess there are lessons in that as well, aren't there? Sometimes our plans get royally screwed up and we just have to do what needs to be done and fight on.

Love ya Jeff - fight with everything you've got!

JD

PS: The fundraising page has raised $765 to date, which is fantastic; and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed! And there were some great notes of encouragement that people wrote to go along with their donations, which provided Jeff with tremendous encouragement. Here are just a couple of excerpts from those to close out this post...

you know how much I love you and I that I am praying for you everyday. You will beat this!!

We love you, Jeff. We're lifting up prayers to the Lord for strength to fight through this battle and for His healing on your body

Keep the faith. Fight, fight, fight and try to laugh! Your family and friends will carry you through when you don't feel you have the strength to do it!

This one's for you, bro

So, I've been off the blog for a bit. No great reason, really, just been doing other things (including building a new coaching website that I'll post about at some later date). And I'm really not sure what to say for this post, because it's such sad and unexpected news - my younger brother Jeff has just found out that he has stage 3 colon cancer. He's up for the fight, I know that; he has a wife and 3 kids and he's only 43 years old - so he's going to do what he has to do to beat this... and he has a bunch of family and friends that love him deeply and will be fighting alongside him. It's still one great big sucker punch to the gut for him and his family, and for all of us that do love him. Jeff's a great guy, the one who always is helping others and making them laugh and smile. Now he's going to need us to help him, and to help him find the laughter and smiles where we can. The doctors say he has at least 9 months to a year of chemotherapy ahead, so everyone's prayers on this are greatly appreciated.

It just so happens that my next triathlon is an official Livestrong event (IM 70.3 Texas in Galveston); so I went ahead and registered for Team Livestrong for this event; and I'll be dedicating this race to my brother. I've already registered and paid for the race, so I don't have any kind of fundraising minimum - it is just a small gesture on my part to show my support. I was thinking that if a number of people can pledge even just $5 or something - maybe that list of names and show of concern will help strengthen his spirit. Maybe not... I don't know... but I just have to do something!

Here is the LINK where you can donate if you'd like - Thank you!

Love you Jeff!

San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon - PR at 49 : )

Earlier this year I had talked myself into doing the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, partly because it sounded like a fun way to end the year, and partly because it gave me an excuse to spend the weekend at the San Antonio Riverwalk (a selling point for my wife Susie as well). I have done at least one marathon a year since 2004, but this was the first time in many years that I could really focus on a marathon without it being sandwiched between triathlons.

Pre Race
Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the start line, so I was able to get a good night of sleep and wake up at a decent hour. I grabbed a quick bagel and some coffee downstairs, then finished getting ready and headed out the door. The first thing I noticed outside was that it was fairly warm and humid for running a marathon (65 degrees at the start), but at least there was good cloud cover. Hopefully the clouds would stick around a while...  I did get one nice surprise on the walk to the start line when a couple of my friends spotted me and we all had a couple minutes to say hello and talk about the race. Then it was time to get in my assigned corral and prepare to race!

Race
After about 10 minutes of standing around, the race got underway and it was time to put all that training to the test!. I did the best I could to keep a straight line, but there are so many people that I had to do a little bit of bob and weave in order to keep up a decent pace. My goal for the first 7 miles was to keep an average pace of around 7:30/mile, while keeping an eye on my HR to make sure I wasn't going too hard too early. That part of the race went as planned, some miles just under the pace and some miles just over the pace, but averaging out where it needed to be. My HR was slightly higher than plan, but I chalked that up to the heat and humidity, and lots of caffeine : )

Right around mile 8 the race took us by my hotel, so Susie had walked down to the corner to see me as I went by. I did a very quick stop to say hello, and then got back to running. Now it was time to get to the meat of the race, trying to hold that steady pace as the miles wear on and the mind starts trying to make you doubt yourself. This mid-section portion of the course has a slight downgrade that lasts until mile 18, and then it trends a little bit upward from there. So, I wanted to settle into a solid and steady pace just under 7:30 and take advantage of that downward trend while I had it.

At the halfway mark, I was still on track and on plan, and the mind games started creeping in... "you're only halfway and feeling tired already" ... "feel that fatigue in your legs, you're not going to make it"... etc. The only way to defeat that is to trust your training and stick to the plan. Just keep moving! : )

About 2 hours into the marathon, the sun came out and things got considerable warmer... up into the mid 70's. That made things a little tougher, so I paid full attention to hydration, and took advantage of things like the cold sponges to help cool off. Mid 70's may not sound very hot, but it sure does take a toll on you in a marathon.

As I had expected, miles 18-20 were a little more uphill and my pace slowed a little; but I had planned for that slight decrease in pace over those couple of miles and was not overly concerned. After mile 20 it leveled out some, and my focus for the next 3 miles became the mental battle to hold my pace and not get discouraged by the increasing heat and fatigue. There is some level of relief to be on the last 10K, but then the miles seem to start going by a little bit slower, and you almost feel like someone is moving the mile markers away from you! I was pretty quiet during that section, just concentrating on running efficiently and maintaining my pace.

Once I was past mile 23, all the math I was doing in my head told me that even if my pace did end up dropping off a bit, I was not only going to beat my old Personal Record (PR); but I was in range of getting under 3:20! I had tried not to be overly optimistic going into the race, but based on my training I had set 3:20 as my "barometer" for the race... the closer I got to that goal the happier I would be. And now I was going to beat it!

Finally it was down to the last couple of miles. I was having some slight cramping and starting to slow a little bit; but still moving at a good pace and keeping within my time goals. I could have gone without the couple of little hills at the end; especially the one right before the final turn heading in to the finishing line; but luckily I still had the leg strength to get through them and I could see the finish arch : )

As I came through the finish chute I saw Susie standing with our friends Kirk and Emily; and their shouts of encouragement spurred me on through the final sprint - crossing the line with an official time of 3:18:55 - beating my old PR by over 9 minutes! : )

Post Race
Besides the 4000+ people doing the full marathon, there were another 25,000 or so doing the half marathon; so the finish area was very crowded and slow-moving. I grabbed various food and drink items as I slowly made my way through, and after about 10 minutes or so was finally out and headed to the family meeting area.

I found Susie, Kirk, and Emily; and we all talked for a few minutes, and then we walked over to the music stage. One of the cool parts about the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon is the music, and the headline concert with Vince Neil (lead singer of Motley Crue) was getting ready to start. Surprisingly I had the leg strength to stand there for well over an hour and enjoy the concert! Well, some of that was probably the adrenaline rush from finishing the race, combined with the fact that I was still pretty amped on caffeine...

After the concert, Susie and I walked back to the hotel and I did a quick ice bath and shower; then it was time to go down to the riverwalk and find some food (and margaritas...)! We enjoyed the rest of our day walking around the riverwalk, and finished the day in the rooftop hot tub on the 22nd floor of the hotel (great view of the city at night from up there).

The next morning it was time to head home, and I thought about how grateful I was to be able to enjoy a weekend like that with my wife and good friends. I never take for granted just being healthy and having the opportunity to train and race. Life can throw so much crud at you at times, so I really try to soak in the good moments and appreciate them.

Speaking of health and life... one final note: Please make sure to take a look at the links below. Ishani and kids like her still need your support as they battle cancer; and those children in Haiti truly deserve to get at least a minimal education. If you can't help them yourself, please say a quick prayer for them and perhaps pass around their info to others. Thank you!

JD


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Help the kids!
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation: to find a cure for childhood cancer for kids like Ishani ... Please help them by donating HERE

Hope For Kidz: program to help educate children in Haiti
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Trip to Guanacaste, Costa Rica!

My wife Susie and I recently went on a vacation trip to the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, and did we ever have a good time! It is such a beautiful country, and we had a chance to have some great adventures. Below is a recap of our week, which is a little longer that most of my normal blog entries; but I did add a few pictures and a couple of videos to try and keep it interesting : )


Arrival and Hotel
We flew into a small airport near Liberia, quickly found our transportation, and in about 20 minutes had arrived at our hotel - The Occidental Grand Papagayo. Here are a couple pics of the view from the hotel lobby/entrance:

It was mid-afternoon when we got to the hotel, and we spent that first afternoon and evening getting settled, exploring the grounds, checking out the pool and the beach, etc. The rooms were nice, although we did have an AC unit that sounded like a small diesel engine... so it would be really loud and then all of a sudden there would be a big click when it shut off and then dead silence until the cycle repeated : )

New friends and Gelato (these are a few of my favorite things...)

Sunday was our first full day, and we spent some time that morning talking to a couple we had just met, Chuck and Glenda. All four of us seemed to hit it off right away, so we decided that we'd all talk to the tour representative together and book the same tours. We spent some time looking through the options, picked out what we wanted to do, and got everything settled. In the meantime, it had been pouring down rain in buckets (for my fellow Texans... yes, that was quite an unusual sight!). The rain was going to be a background theme for the week, as they are not kidding when they refer to it as the "rainy season"!

Later that morning, the rain had slowed down; so we decided that we would all split a taxi and go to the nearby town of Playa Coco to look around and do some shopping. I had read that Playa Coco had a great little gelato shop, so I was eager to check that out!

Playa Coco was only a few minutes away via Taxi, and was a nice little beach town with various shops, restaurants, bars, etc. The rain stayed away for most of our time there, with only some occasional light rain. And yes, there was a gelato shop and it was great! Imagine going to Costa Rica, of all places, and finding some good Italian gelato : )

The picture below shows Susie standing near the beach. You can see that an offshore storm was creating some decent waves, and there were actually a number of people out there surfing.

Arenal Volcano - Ziplining and Hot Springs
Monday we went on our first paid tour, a trip inland to the Arenal Volcano area. We had heard that one of the best ziplines was out there, and that was one of the things that Susie really wanted to do. I'd never ziplined before, so I was looking forward to it as well (I love new experiences...).

It was a fairly long drive (just over 3 hours), but we had a great time thanks to our tour guide Daniel from CAT tours. His style was more conversational and friendly, instead of being one-sided and scripted as tour guides can sometimes be. On the way to our destination, we stopped to get a couple pictures of Lake Arenal (click on the picture to see the full panoramic image).

We had one quick stop for lunch, and then made it to our first destination: the Sky Tram/Trek tour. This tour consisted of a tram ride up through the rain forest, and then an amazing zipline tour to bring you back down. Here we are with Chuck and Glenda getting ready to get started (with the Arenal Volcano in the backround):

Note how clear and sunny it is... we got lucky with the rain yet again. It had rained the entire morning as we drove, but cleared up in time for the tour.

This is a view from the tram as we went up higher to start the zipline. That's Lake Arenal in the background.

Once we got to the top of the tram ride, we got on our gear and were ready to zip!

After a short "test" run, we were ready to start the real ziplining. And wow!!! Here is a picture from the platform for the first actual zipline run. It was around 1400 feet long and went over a valley that dropped down 650 feet below (!), and I have to admit that made me a bit nervous... You may have to click on this picture to make it full size to be able to see this, but at the top and in the middle section just left of center there is a tiny white square - that is the next platform we were heading for!

I waited my turn and anxiously watched the people in front of me. One thing that was pretty wild was the sound from the little pulleys. These ziplines were long and steep, so once somebody took off that little metal pulley was winding with a loud and high pitched whine as they zipped along at amazing speeds (the longest of the lines is 1/2 mile and you go 40-50 mph!).

Finally it was my turn and I was off... speeding along at tremendous speed hundreds of feet over the rain forest... whoo what a rush! : )   Due to the high speeds, you actually can't stop yourself like you do on most ziplines, so they had a "stopper" at the end of the zipline that they used to slow you down. I hit that stopper and came to a quick stop, got out of my harness, and was ready to go on the next line : ) Altogether, there are 8 ziplines, the longest of which is about 2500 feet; and the full system of cables is 1.9 miles.

We had gotten off the zipline and were in the building for no more than 2 minutes when the rain started coming down in buckets again. Thank you for waiting : ) Now it was time to drive to the Baldi Hot Springs. On the way, our eagle-eye driver spotted this toucan sitting in a tree:

When we arrived at the hot springs, it was very different than what we had expected. I had pictured something akin to small holes in the ground with spring water bubbling up : )  But this was actually a series of very nice pools, each with different water temperatures; ranging from lukewarm to way too hot (for me...). We really enjoyed our time there exploring the different pools. They even had three water slides at one of the pools : )  Here are a couple of pictures:

Susie relaxing and enjoying the water and the view

Me getting a back massage from a waterfall (waterslide behind me)

Me standing in front of the big waterfall

Beach and Pool Day
Tuesday was a rest and relaxation day, so we spent most of it just hanging around the hotel pool and beach areas. The day before had been a long one, so it was nice to have some down time.

The beach at the hotel, nice and quiet...

Susie relaxing at the beach on the lounge chairs

Enjoying a couple drinks poolside

Whitewater Rafting
Wednesday it was time for some more adventures, as well as another first for me (and for Susie) -> whitewater rafting! This time there was a few more people on the tour, and we all headed out in the morning for the Tenorio river. As we arrived, we could hear the rushing water, and this was our first view of the river:

Ummm... that looks just a bit rough as a starting point for a bunch of beginners, doesn't it?!? I looked around and saw the same thought on many of the faces there, but we all just got on our gear and got ready to go:

And then it was time to head into the water:

Once in the water and took off right away... this was going to be great! The water was cool, but felt pretty refreshing. It took Chuck and I a while to get the hang of things, I think we were both too busy looking around... but before too long we had caught on to the various commands - Up, Forward, Back, Stop... and my favorite, the "Get Down". And we had an excellent guide named Wider. Wider and his brother had represented Costa Rica in a rafting championship not too long ago, so they definitely knew what they were doing. He was also very friendly, and very patient : )

Here is one of the calmer parts of the ride:

And here is one of the "not so calm" parts : )

 

This next picture is me in front of the one drop that we had to walk around, it was just too big of a dropoff. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was about 12 feet down and very fast. The guides took the rafts over after we got out, and I could see why they didn't want a bunch of beginners in the boat : )

And finally, here is a short video clip I took of the raft behind us as it navigated through some rocks. It clips off a bit too early, but still gives some good perspective:

Zipline part II and horseback riding
Thursday we went on our last official guided tour. This tour combined another zipline with some horseback riding, and then a stop in Liberia to look around and do some shopping. Our tour group was back to just Chuck, Glenda, Susie, and myself... and we were happy to once again have our good friend Daniel as tour guide.

The good news was that we did not have to drive as far as we did for the Arenal trip, it was only about an hour and 15 minutes or so. This particular zipline was a more "normal" zipline, the lines weren't as long or as fast as the Sky Trek tour; but a lot of fun just the same. On these lines, you wore gloves and stopped yourself by tugging downward on the line when you got close to the end. That did provide a little more opportunity for looking around and playing a bit; including one line where they have you hang completely upside down!

It was another rainy day (surprise!), but the rain let up after the first zipline, and allowed us to have a great time. Here's Susie going down the first line, wearing her fancy garbage bag rainsuit  : )

After the zipline tour, we walked over and got on our horses for a trail ride. The trail was fairly steep in some places, and with all the rain that made for some muddy and slippery going. It was a typical horseback ride (I would have preferred to be able to open it up a little more), although there was some fantastic scenery and views like this:

After the horseback riding, it started raining fairly hard again, so we stopped at a strip mall in Liberia that had covered awnings and looked around for a while. I think we all had the most fun in the supermarket, just looking around at what they had and how things were priced, etc. We ended up buying a few things there, and then headed back to the hotel for dinner and sleep.

Run/Hike/Explore
Our final full day on Friday was another day to just relax and enjoy. I started the morning with a nice long run on the roads near the hotel. It really makes the time and miles go by quicker when you are out exploring and have those kinds of views! One of the things I found on my run was a little road right near the hotel that was in the process of being built, so there wasn't any traffic on it yet. I talked Susie into going on a little hike with me when I got back to the hotel, which turned out to be a great decision...  Here's a view from the road - notice the mudslide that is covering half the road across from the yellow road sign:

Once we got to the top of the hill, there was a flat area where we could look over the bay on both sides. On one side was the area where our hotel was, and on the other was a hillside covered with colorful homes and small hotels. Here's the view towards Bahia Culebra (Snake Bay), and you can see the rooftops of our hotel buildings:

When we got to the bottom of the hill, the one thing that had slightly disappointed me was that on the whole trip we had never seen a monkey! We had been told by a couple of the locals that the monkeys moved a little more inland during the rainy season, but whatever the reason they just weren't to be found. Until...

No more than 50 yards from the hotel Susie stopped and pointed into the trees; and there was a howler monkey just sitting up in the branches!

And not just one... as we looked closer we saw quite a few, including a family with a small baby (you can see the baby in the picture below, right over the head of the biggest monkey):

 

We sat there for quite a while just watching the monkeys, and then walked back up to the hotel. What a great way to cap off the trip! I could have easily stayed in Costa Rica a lot longer, and hope to go back someday soon and enjoy more "Pura Vida".

Adios a mi amigos en Costa Rica... Esperamos volver a verte pronto!!!

JD