I heart vacation

Day two in Maui (or day one waking up in Maui).

Today was pretty quiet. I didn't sleep very well what with the time change and my dad's snoring, hopefully my new ear plugs will help that situation. Sleep is important. Breakfast today was awesome. We hit up the cafe buffet in the hotel and enjoyed such yummies as peach crepes with Tahitian vanilla bean custard sauce. I could probably eat a hundred of those. Good tea too (which is a little weird, but whatever).

After breakfast I met up with my swim coach Tim ("Swimmy Timmy") who happens to be vacationing on Maui at a rather convenient time, and went for a little swim. I have traditionally been a panicky retard when it comes to snorkeling and other open water situations where I can actually see things, and warned him of this. I had a tiny freak out when we started swimming over coral and the water looked dark, but got over it in a couple minutes. Yay me! We swam out to the TINY buoys and I was happy to note that the water was not that deep and I could always see the bottom so I wouldn't have any Oh-GOD-it's-super-deep! freakouts. On the way back towards shore we decided chasing fish was more fun than swimming so we floated around looking at stuff and I poked urchins down on the bottom. Pretty much the most fun ever. I added to my good Hawaii karma bank by picking up garbage from the bottom of the ocean (a Malibu wrapper). After we got out I practiced running and diving into the water for the start and got knocked down by an unfortunately timed embarrassingly small wave. I made friends with a girl from New Zealand who lived in Santa Clara for six years and some other guy (I don't remember the details) down at the beach too.

After hitting the beach I went and registered, bought some CO2 cartridges, got my dad and step mom ("my people") registered for the 10k run tomorrow and for the two dinners, and got lunch by the pool. Afterwards I built my bike, and found another bike box treasure in the form of a rubber bouncy ball.

I should have gone for a bike ride but decided I should head down to the pool with my book and work on my sunburn instead. So I did. I camped out with a group that included Whit the announcer, Holly from Gu (who crashed her brains out - not literally - in Cancun recently), Jamie Whitmore and her husband, and a few other XTERRA-ers. Had the pleasure of listening to a very loud and whiney gay guy whine about all the athletes that were here because he couldn't bum a cigarette off anyone. Lame. Once the clouds rolled in and the opportunity to bask diminished I packed it in and took a nap in my room.

This racing thing is hard work.

And it was pretty much the best nap ever. I woke up long enough to notice I was drooling on the comforter and not care. Then I went back to sleep. It was oddly satisfying, feeling similar to having a big meal when you are really really hungry. Quite excellent.

I woke up thinking about food again just in time to get invited to Maui Taco, which is apparently the Friday night before the race tradition to all in the know, so my people and I piled into a car and stuffed ourselves with Mexican food. I was offered the opportunity to sell wetsuits. Because that happens every day.

And now I'll leave you so I can go watch House and sleep in preparation of heckling my people as they run the 10k tomorrow morning. I expect them to tell me all the secrets of the course. They'd better get on it!