April 15th- May 7th Florida, Triathlon, visitors

We are in Florida!!

Our first bike ride on the trail

Lia and Mona on the beach

Mike relaxing on our little balcony overlooking Boca Ciega Bay.

View of but one of many beautiful sunsets. This one being from the roof top bar at Billy's, a local hang out.

When we first arrived, we had Laila, Magda and Maggie over for dinner. It's always great to see Maggie. We've known each other for nearly 30 years, is that possible? She's the kind of friend that I can just start talking to as though we'd just seen each other yesterday. We hashed over old times while Mike listened intently. I know how he felt because I have been hearing about his past in Seattle for years. I'm glad he got a glimpse into who I was way back then. Maggie and I continue to talk several times a week. Last Sunday we spent hours talking endlessly about our lives, our kids, our past. Mike preferred to stay at the condo to bask in the sun by the pool (a wise man). He is very tan and it looks great with the contrast of his white hair.

Waiting for Lenore and friends before our mid week bike ride.


Mike's great tan!

Lia came into town a week aftere we arrived. We tried to hit all the areas around St Pete so she would get an idea of what it's like here. Several times she commented that it was like Hawaii in a lot of ways. It was nice seeing her, and easy having her around. On her last day, she came down to St Pete to watch the triathlon. Before we knew it she was gone.

The triathlon: St Anthony's Olympic turned out to be a duathlon! After some confusion in the morning we were told that the water in the bay was too choppy and downright dangerous for 4,000+ athletes to swim in so the swim was cancelled. I was disappointed because I've been working hard at swim practice and wanted to see if I had improved my time. Later on I heard that two pros had to be taken out of the water, I realized it was a good decision on the part of the race organizers. I finished in a better than expected time on the bike and the run...especially the run because I had only been back to running for a couple of weeks. I was slow, but ran a consistent pace. For those of you interested, my time was 2:35 17.5 mph avg on my new and wonderful bike, and 10:33 min/mile on the run. I came in 11th out of 18 women in my age group, which isn't too bad. I would have come in 8th had I been able to swim.

Shopping at the St Anthony's Expo. It was huge...so much to buy!

Later in the week we joined up with my friend Lenore and her riding buddies Molly and Joel. I met Lenore so many years ago through my running club. We used to run 13-15 miles every Sunday and a couple of times during the week waking up at 4:30 am to avoid the Florida heat. We met at the Suncoast Trail and rode 70 miles. It was so much fun riding in a pace line, one after the other drafting as you see cyclists do. Everyone took turns taking the lead so as to break the headwind and make the cycling easier for the rest. We came upon some 'rollers' in the trail, which they called 'hills'! I had to laugh and said "I hate to tell you guys, but these are not what we call hills in Seattle!"

Lenore is 65 years old and a strong cyclist..she tired us out the last 10 miles! She's amazing. She'll be doing the IMF with me in November and I dare say, I wouldn't be surprised if she came in first in her age group.

Mike, Mona, Molly, Joel and Lenore

Now John Hahn is here visiting. He's rented a bike and we are looking forward to showing him all the trails in the area. Today John and Mike are exploring the Pinellas Trail riding about 40 miles. Sunday we are riding 75 miles on the Withlachooche Trail. The day before he goes home, we'll do an easier 50 mile ride on the Suncoast Trail. Funny, but now a 25-30 mile ride is just a quick workout to me when just awhile back it was my 'long ride'.

Mike and John about to take off on the Pinellas Trail.