Fame and Sports News
Saturday morning was the annual Carnival mile road race. Tara, Dave, and I all ran the one mile race. All three of us placed in the top four in our age groups! We were told our official race times would be online later that day, so I checked the online newspaper - The Source. But when I pulled up their sports section, the latest story was about last weekend's practice swim race on St. John that we did in preparation for the Beach to Beach Power Swim that will take place over Memorial Day weekend. Much to my surprise, Dave and I were both mentioned in the article. Here's the best part:
Apparently my time of 35:08 doesn't qualify as "too far" behind Dave.... I don't know where they got their information. Dave is actually planning on the full 3.5 miles this year, and I haven't decided yet. (And I'm not sure we've been training at all, let alone hard!)
Tara and I are featured in The Source's story on J'Ouvert. The photo of the street part shows the back of my head, and Tara's face. Click here for the photo - it's big, but you have to let it load fully as we're at the bottom of the photo in the middle. Look for the white girls.
My reluctance to choose a course for the Power Swim race is due in part to not wondering what I'll physically be up for as this coming Sunday is the big St. Croix Half Ironman triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). I signed up for it a few days ago. I've been training for quite some time (at least biking and running) but I was a little skittish about actually committing to the race until after I rode the bike course on the 21st. I went to St. Croix on the seaplane for the day and tried the route with a friend I met at the March sprint triathlon over there. It's notorious for its brutal hills, including "The Beast", described on the race's website as "a 600-foot climb in a stretch of highway 7/10 of a mile long with an average grade of 14 percent and a maximum grade of 18 percent." It's not as steep as a lot of the St. Thomas roads, but it is long and a bit ridiculous. Each 1/7 of the distance of the Beast is marked on theroad, so you know how much further you have to go. I rode the first 1/7, walked the next 1/7, rode a bit more, walked, etc. I had to stop to walk because my legs hurt so much and it was so steep, I felt likeI was going to fall off my bike if I didn't stop. Walking up the Beast is just as difficult though, and slower, but it uses different muscles. It took me over 15 minutes to get up the Beast! Luckily, once you get to the top of the Beast, there is a lot of downhill coasting to rest your legs. Send your good triathlon thoughts my way this weekend please!
David Nielsam from St. Thomas finished the one-mile course from Maho to Cinnamon Bay first with a time of 24:05, and his wife Kendra Nielsam was not too far behind him. David and Kendra are training hard, preparing to defend their titles as last year's overall winners on the intermediate course in both the men's and women's divisions.
Apparently my time of 35:08 doesn't qualify as "too far" behind Dave.... I don't know where they got their information. Dave is actually planning on the full 3.5 miles this year, and I haven't decided yet. (And I'm not sure we've been training at all, let alone hard!)
Tara and I are featured in The Source's story on J'Ouvert. The photo of the street part shows the back of my head, and Tara's face. Click here for the photo - it's big, but you have to let it load fully as we're at the bottom of the photo in the middle. Look for the white girls.
My reluctance to choose a course for the Power Swim race is due in part to not wondering what I'll physically be up for as this coming Sunday is the big St. Croix Half Ironman triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). I signed up for it a few days ago. I've been training for quite some time (at least biking and running) but I was a little skittish about actually committing to the race until after I rode the bike course on the 21st. I went to St. Croix on the seaplane for the day and tried the route with a friend I met at the March sprint triathlon over there. It's notorious for its brutal hills, including "The Beast", described on the race's website as "a 600-foot climb in a stretch of highway 7/10 of a mile long with an average grade of 14 percent and a maximum grade of 18 percent." It's not as steep as a lot of the St. Thomas roads, but it is long and a bit ridiculous. Each 1/7 of the distance of the Beast is marked on theroad, so you know how much further you have to go. I rode the first 1/7, walked the next 1/7, rode a bit more, walked, etc. I had to stop to walk because my legs hurt so much and it was so steep, I felt likeI was going to fall off my bike if I didn't stop. Walking up the Beast is just as difficult though, and slower, but it uses different muscles. It took me over 15 minutes to get up the Beast! Luckily, once you get to the top of the Beast, there is a lot of downhill coasting to rest your legs. Send your good triathlon thoughts my way this weekend please!
posted by Kendra at 4:48 PM
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