what can it be?!

It
It finally came! I got my new wetsuit today.
Here in Florida, The water temperature doesn't get extremely cold in the open water. Therefore, I opted for a sleeveless wetsuit. The result is TYR's Cat 5. This thing looks awesome. Thanks for Koren from TYR for helping out. I can't wait to start training in the open water and to see how this suit feels.
Details of the wetsuit: TYR Hurricane Cat 5 Wetsuit

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

...How lovely are your branches.
Even if they are not real, they still look nice. This will be the 3rd Chirstmas we spend together and using this tree. However, obviously the 1st Christmas married. We put up our tree on black Friday evening. I worked during the day and we did pizza night for dinner. Then slowly up with the tree and decorations. We ended up putting in it in the same spot as last year as it keeps the room open. We're excited and presents are slow filling in the bottom.
Just about 1 more month!

Yalaha Bakery

Today I joined Jose, Mike and Eric for a ride to Yalaha Bakery- a German Bakery tucked away in rural central Florida. We took the long way to head there from Minneola taking Cherry lake to 19 > Bible Camp to Villa City > Simon Brown to 33 and then to 48 to Yalaha. We stopped for some German bread and a little relaxation before heading back.

Link: http://www.yalahabakery.com/

19 south to 455 and then up the wall to Ferndale and Montverde to home. Crazy ride as we had head wind for abour 70% of the time. Thats the weird thing about the wind here. You right the head wind and hope that when you end up headin the opposite direction, you'll get tailwind. However, don't count your chickens before they hatch as we have circular winds here.

This was a good ride for me as I spent about 50% of the time at the front. My training has changed since my last race. My priorities have switched from just raod races to training for a 1/2 ironman triathlon. So I have now added running and swimming and back in the gym to my training. The date has been set for April 15, 2011.

Good luck! lol.

Happy gobble gobble day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started the day off early, Desiree and I ran six miles starting at 5:40. Afterwards I made breakfast for her- chocolate chip waffles. She had to get ready for work, a 4 hour shift in the hospital. I ended up going for a ~30mile ride with Leah, Kara, and Jose. A nice ride on a clear blue sky day with temps at 60 deg. Perfect day for a ride.

After Desiree got home for work, we got ready to head to mom and Mike's house for thanksgiving dinner. Chuckie and Corinna, Rick and Aunt Carla, and Aunt Doreen all were present for an intimate family meal.

Chuckie and I were challenged to a game of horse shoes from Rick and Mike. Needless to say, the jr varsity team got beat twice by the seasoned veterans 21-4, 21-7.

Happy thanksgiving as I am blessed to be married to the love of my life, for all the people in my life, and for the love and support of family and friends. Thank you God for the many blessings that I have!

sneak peek

We received a sneak peek of our wedding picture from Pilster Photography. What an awesome job James and Aldrin did capturing the beautiful day. And when its all sail and done, all we have are the memories and the pictures and videos that have captured those moments.

Additional pictures can be found here: click

Awesome race

Yesterday Desiree and Anna raced the Women's Health Half Marathon in St. Pete.  We stayed at my dad's place Saturday night.  Desiree and I had our usual pre race meal- Publix dough homemade pizzas.  We woke up early in the AM Sunday to head out the door by 06:00.  We parked a couple blocks away from the port-a-jons which was real close to the start/finish line.  After we all did a pre-race bowel unload, i joined Desiree and Anna for a warmup.  I ended up breaking off and doing a 5K on my own at a 7:30 pace!  I guess some of my training is paying off.
The start of their race was 07:00 and they were off.  I changed into my cycling kit and unloaded my bike that we brought down and I joined a small group to do the 07:00 ride from USF St. Pete campus.  An hour easy ride with an old familiar route before heading back to the race area to find out where Desiree and Anna were on the course.  The time was now about 08:25 and I knew Anna should be finishing up soon so I waited right before the finish line.  Anna ended up finishing sub 1hour 30mins at about a 06:50min/mile pace.
I back tracked the course to find where Desiree was.  I ended up waiting around a turn just before mile 12 and was looking for blue shirt/ green shorts runner - Desiree.  Ends up she turns the corner without me noticing and actually calls out my name.  I followed her on my bike for a couple hundred feet before heading back to the car to change and drop my bike off to catch up with her at the finish line.  As I'm heading back to the car, I pass Anna and she backs track towards Desiree and turned out encouraging her to push it to the finish.  I could find Desiree after I got back to the finish line but ended up finding then in the finish zone.  It turned out Anna was able to light a fire under Desiree's but and she finished with a time of 1:59:58.  Just squeezing in 2 seconds under 2 hours with a pace of 09:10.  She ended up only finishing 1 1/2 min slower than her Disney Half Marathon over a month ago.  I was so proud of her as she didn't have the most ideal training for this race.  little detail like a wedding and honeymoon got in the way!
Desiree's next event- Lake Louisa 1/2 marathon on Dec 17. 

training tools- Garmin Forerunner 310XT

Thanks to my brother, Darcey and Desiree for my birthday gift.  I received a Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS multisport watch.  This thing is awesome.  I have been using it to track my workouts including running and cycling.  It has all the vitals that I need to make sure training is going well and letting me track the data. 

In running mode, I have an automatic lap set every mile and it tracks pace, distance, total time and HR.

In cycling mode, I have it track speed, power, HR, distance, elevation, and gradient.

Since I received it before going on our honeymoon, it was a helpful companion along the trip.  I was able to track our route around Costa Rica.  I even was able to get a signal for a couple satellites while on the plane.  I was fun to see the steep gradients in Costa Rica while we were hiking or ATVing. 

Some intense gradients when walking or hiking:

 The GPS map of our water rafting adventure.

On the plane in the air (463 mph):

This thing is awesome!

the sweat shop AKA the Sewing Studio

Last weekend we finally made it out to Ikea to by some shelves to get Desiree's domain set up.  We ended up buying a 2x2 shelf that would compliment the 2x4 that we got from Ikea a while ago.  We set the glass as her work surface, and the finish product is a nice place for her projects.

Sweat shop or Sewing Studio.... all depends on what she's making.

Special surprise

Mary with Key Moments Productions was able to put together a quick video edit for us:


27 Miracles - Groom's Surprise from Key Moment Films on Vimeo.

Day 7- ultimo Dias- to town, farmer's market, siesta, beach and dinner!

  

Without fail, 05:30 wake up however we were threatened with a rainy start to the day. Therefore breakfast was inside again in Le Jacques Cousteau restaurant. We set to plan a trip to Quepos and luckily nobody else was looking  to ride the 09:00 hotel shuttle and Wilmar agreed to take us into town. We were told that there was a farmer's market and it was just as described. Similar to ours in the states, local farmers selling their fresh produce and some crafts. We got a fresh cold coconut and drank the juice as Desiree finished it off by eating the coconut. Some really great prices and exotic fruits.

We headed to the local grocery store, same as last time, to pick a few items up and stopped at the same cafe where for Desiree to pick up some pan con queso. I grabbed some arroz con pollo for lunch and we headed back to Manuel Antonio via public bus. Back to the hotel for siesta and then walking down the the playa for sun and relaxing. While relaxing we saw a couple guys looked as though they were filming a rap video. While we were walking back, a truck almost past us before I stuck my hand out with the thumb up and we hitch a ride up the steep climb to the road. All we had left waste walk about 500m to the hotel.

Back to the hotel to clean up and have out last dinner back at Kapi Kapi where we loved. If we have decided to eat at the same place twice, it's bc everything else was really bad, or it was really that good. Fortunately for us, the latter. What a beautiful restaurant. Also how crazy it is to be the only ones again.   In a couple weeks, this would never be the case where you would be solo at any restaurant in Manuel Antonio during season.  We started with the Thai chicken lettuce wraps and split the mahi mahi with jasmine rice and stir fried vegetables. The dinner culminated with a chocolate souffle with ice cream. What a great meal to finish our last night in Costa Rica. The weather held up for us to have our last time waking home. Bitter sweet the night was as we have had an amazing time with the beauty of the last, exquisite food, and wonderful people.

Buenos Noches.  Pura Vida!

Click for pics!

Day 6- breakfast company, the beach, siesta, fooood

The rain stopped sometime in the middle of the night as last night was intense win strong rain and wind and thunder. Desiree went out to walk/run the crazy steep streets before breakfast while I remained in bed. We went down to breakfast at 07:00 and we joined by a titi monkey. We could hear him call up his buddy as 1 soon became 2. The 2 entertained us while we ate. They were not scared at all and actually played to the camera. Who needs to go down to Le Parque as these were the closest ones yet.

After breakfast we relaxed before taking the 09:00 hotel shuttle down to the beach and spent time relaxing. We rented a beach umbrella and 2 chairs and a surf board for only $20 for half the day. Not too bad. I attempted my feets on the boards however the jostelling of the water and board was a little too much for my shoulder as it is still trying to scar and heal. Desiree however was more successful and was able to get some air time. We grabbed some lunch at a re restaurant that was on the second floor overlooking the beach before catching the hotel shuttle back for a siesta.

We sry out for dinner at 17:00 but met a couple staying at the hotel who was also celebrating their honeymoon and was married in California on the 29th. They ended up going to Salsipuedes- the first restaurant we ate out at while we headed to Karolas, a restaurant of Los Altos beach resort. Yet again we were VIPs as we were the only ones eating at the restaurant. Very nice and upscale.  It was all open and you could even see bats flying thru.  We wanted to try something different and ordered drink for happy hour 2-4-1. I got a mango daiquiri and Desiree a piña colada. For dinner I had a carribean sea bass dish with a sweet curry sauce and Desiree had the 'casado' lunch dish with mahi mahi filet. Muy buenos!  Yet again we had no room for a dessert. His ended up being the latest night we were out as we asked out server to call a taxi bc of the rain or else we would have walked home. We got in at 19:14 with a 5 minute drive rather than a 15 minute walk. Late night

Pura Vida!

More Pictures just click!

Day 5- water rafting, being local, dinner

Our normal routine of waking up early didn't disappoint as we woke up to rain as it did all night long. We grabbed breakfast as usual however our morning leisure spot outside overlooking Le Parque Nacional was moved into the Jacques Cousteau restaurant where we had dinner on the first night. The tour would still go on and fortunately the rain started to clear.
We met our tour guides as this would include a special niño- Stuart, an 11 y/o boy whose father is the photographer for the company but was working another tour, so tagged along with us.  The other 2 tour guides were best friends who  have been doing these tours for about 9 years. As we walked down the the river start, one of our guides followed us down and showed us all of the natural things that we know growing wild- cilantro, oregano, bananas, plantains, oranges, vanilla, and cinnamon. We were debriefed before our loco rafting ride down river.
What an amazing ride and experience. Right off the bat, we went surfing for a solid minutes that actually sent our tour guide out of the raft. He was only disappointed to loose his sunglasses however this was common form him as he has lost over 20 pairs. Shortly after recovery, Stuart went flying off the side and we had to pick him back up. We stopped for a break in an area that unfortunately was overtaken by the river about 1 year ago. There used to be a restaurant at the river banks and 12 surrounding houses. However, there was a very active storm cause water levels to rise over 5m over the current water level.
We continued down river at a more leisurely pace and paused to see a sloth high up in the trees it really is incredible to see how slow they actually move. At the end of the ride, we approached  a group of workers with cranes and bulldozers pulling some rocks out of the river and they dumped water onto us as we passed underneath getting baptized. They took us back to Quepos and we decided to stay in town to explore the local area. The stopped into the local super market "Palí" and ventured the local stores and enjoyed local pastries and baked goods at a café. We took a public bus back to Manual Antonio only 2.5km away but very steep and walk to our hotel from the main road. Siesta time was appropriate as it started to rain again.
We shuttled to El Avión restaurant which was made from an old military airplane and also overlooked a similar view from our hotel. Desiree had salmon and I- mahi mahi. We finished with tres leches sponge cake. Very yummy.  We took a taxi home and called it a night. 16:40! Lol.
This has been the best day yet because of rafting and exploring what is local.
Pura vida!

Day 4- horseback riding, canopy zip lining, more delicious food

Our morning routine has been established as we wake up with the sunrise every morning- 05:30. This morning has been the most beautiful with the least amount of clouds as we look out to Manuel Antonia National Park.  We relaxed on the back porch before getting our thing together for the days adventures. Breakfast and then off.

We had another guy join us for horseback riding from another hotel.  He was from Quebec and is a production manager for Cirque de Soleil. Our tour guide Dyala has been doing tours since she was 13 with her father and is now 28.  She says she loves what she does, but the work is hard and she's looking to get into the cruise line industry. She took us around and we ended up taking routes similar to that of Monday's ATV trip. We even stopped at he same waterfalls. However, she showed us what BenGay is in its natural form. The meal after the excursion was a curried chicken with rice and bean, plantains, a cucumber pineapple salad. Drinks included water and natural orange juice that looked like lemonade. Of course on our way back to the hotel, I fell asleep and we cleaned up and siesta before our second excursion of zip lining at 14:15.

We got picked up early for our zip lining experience at 14:00. On the way, we picked up another couple

from Texas who was celebrating their honeymoon as well getting married on the same day as us. The restaurant that we would be starting and finishing from was about 200m from a local hospital. The canopy tour had 12-13 lines and 24 platforms. Our guides names were porcupine, mosquito, and bumblebee. They were great guys also showing and teaching us about the natures of the jungle. They explained to us about the leaf cutter ants, the poisonous frog, termites, pointed out different sloths, and the trees. We propelled fast and medium speed line, some short, some long. Desiree got stuck on only 1 line while 2 for me. On the last line we could choose to zipline or freefall. Both Desiree and I chose free fall. We ended with a nice snack of fruits chocolate cookies, and yummy mango/pineapple juice that was thick with pulp and was similar to a smoothie. We were lucky to have just the 4 of us in this group as it was like a private tour. We were told

that in season, the group are sizes of 40-45 people. I couldn't imagine being in such a big group like that. Bumblebee was our photographer and took awesome pictures which we decided to purchase as we left everything back at the hotel.

We returned back to the hotel for a quick shower and caught our hotel shuttle to drop us off on the main road for us to walk and figure out where to eat for dinner.

Kapi Kapi was decided and what a fantastic choice it was. We where the only guests there during our time

so it felt like a private intimate dinner with just the 2 of us I'm costa rica. We started with seafood cigars and for the main course: Desiree with peppercorn seared tuna with a papaya salad and myself- red snapper with lentils and a sweet butter chili sauce. This was yet the best food we have had here in Costa Rica.

Of course as our regular schedule has it, we walked home, and again we have lucked out with the weather not raining was their was a refreshing light mist as we ventured home. 

Pura Vida!

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and

Here!