8 Tuff Miles

The last Saturday in February is the day for the annual 8 Tuff Miles foot race across St. John. St. John is the hilliest of the three major U.S. Virgin Islands. (Depending on who you ask, there are 3 or 4 islands that compose the USVI - St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and Water Island - but Water Island is quite small and most people haven't ever heard of it.) The race starts in Cruz Bay and ends in Coral Bay. Cruz Bay is where the ferries arrive. Ferries arrive in Cruz Bay from St. Thomas and from the nearby British Virgin Islands. If a boat or ferry from the BVI is heading to the east end of St. Thomas, it has to clear customs in Cruz Bay, as St. Thomas's only ports of entry are the customs house in town and the airport. Coral Bay is the other town on St. John, on the east end. We haven't been there very many times because it takes awhile to get there, even in a car. The roads are pretty hilly. That's why it's called 8 TUFF Miles. It isn't really 8 miles though - it's 8.375 miles. I guess 8 sounds better.

Here's the elevation map of the course:


It starts and ends at sea level. The first 500 feet or so of the race is flat, but the next two miles are relentless - all uphill. After 5.5 miles of mostly climbing uphill, runners reach Chateaux Bordeaux. Chateaux Bordeaux is a really fancy restaurant that has an amazing view of Coral Bay and lots of the smaller British Virgin Islands.

About 300 people from St. Thomas help made up the 700 person race on
Saturday. Due to problems getting everyone on the first ferry from St.
Thomas, the race started 45 minutes late - at 8am instead of 7:15. Races are generally about the only thing that starts on time here. Morning races are especially important to get started on time, because nobody wants to be out running in the sun any later in the day than they have to be. I had done the first 5.5 miles in a "tune up" practice race 2 weeks earlier, and I really think it was easier that day when we started at 7am. Yesterday was hot (our weather station at home indicated it was over 91) and those hills are brutal enough without the heat.

Dave and I both did the race, and he stayed with me throughout. There were plenty of water and gatorade stations and lots of spectators along the route (for a small island). The water stops were run by volunteers who had various themes for their stops. We really appreciated the pajama party volunteers, who handed out grapes and oranges. More than one water station had beer sitting out too - but it seemed to be reserved for the volunteers. Even a couple of people playing the fiddle around mile 3. (It's hard to dance and run uphill at the same time.) Closer to mile 4 was a water station with a great view of Jost Van Dyke. [We took the picture of the view last weekend when we took the car to St. John to do some exploring.] At the highest elevation of the race - 999 feet - a group was handing out plastic medals on beaded necklaces. It was fun to earn a medal about halfway through the race, but it was a little disappointing to know there was still one more major hill to climb.

I had to walk up some of those hills, but still ended up getting to Chateaux Bordeaux faster than during the tune-up. Walking uphill can be faster than my slow jog; I guess you get more push-off from the ground. Chateaux Bordeax was a beautiful sight! The view was fantastic (as you can see here), but more importantly, there were no more hills to climb! We thought maybe we could try to beat 2 hours, though our knees weren't really in any shape to run downhill as fast as we could. The sixth mile seemed to drag on forever - we were looking for the orange spray-painted mile markers that are on the road for the race. We didn't see any for a long time and I figured we'd gotten really slow due to the knees. Someone said we only had a mile and a half to go - but when you're up high on a mountain and can see the bay where the finish is, and it still looks really far away, well, it's hard to believe there's only a mile and a half left. A spectator told us we only had 1/3 of a mile left, but I didn't believe them until we came around the next corner and were informed we were at the water station for mile 8. It had taken us an hour and 50 minutes to get there.

We tried to pick up the pace, but I generally have a hard time kicking my speed up a notch when I can't see the finish and am not quite sure
where it is. I am always afraid I'll run out of steam! Dave said he really wanted to beat this woman who was in front of us, as apparently we'd been passing her and she'd pass us throughout the race. I sent him on his way to pass her for the both of us, as I didn't have it in me. About a minute later, the finish line was visible, and I sprinted to the finish. I passed one woman pretty close to the end, and I was thankful when she didn't start running faster to race me to the end. My time was 1:55:15, and Dave's was 1:54:18. We just made it in the top 400 out of 640 runners.

A friend that we met while training for the St John swim race last May came in third overall among the women in just 1:06. She and the
overall winner (50 minutes!) both live on St. John, so I think they've got a distinct advantage, but they both work really hard at it too. It was a fun race, though it really was TUFF! (Don't worry - the Ag Fair post is coming as soon as the photos are incorporated into the post.)

The Funny Papers

Just a quick post about reading the newspaper here. The St. Thomas Daily News is published .. no, not daily .. six times per week; it has a Sat/Sun edition. The St. Croix Avis has a Sun/Mon edition, six issues a week total. While on St. Croix for the Ag Fair (more on that later), we bought an Avis. It had the Sunday comics in color - something I haven't seen in the Daily News weekend edition, but I haven't looked too hard either. The color comics insert was, however, from February 11. Just a week late.... I like reading the paper here as it's the best way to learn what's going on, and it only takes about 5-10 minutes.

Thursday's Daily News includes the Island Trader that has good classified ads to read through (more boats than cars for sale), as well as event listings (whale watching this weekend). As I've mentioned before, pageants are popular here. There's an ad today for Miss Housing, Parks, and Recreation Queen Pageant, but it's only open to women between the ages of 14 and 17. There's also a listing for the Miss BVI Pageant - Candidates (including men?) must be between 17 to 27; a BVI Islander or belonger; must live in the territory if crowned; and be at least 5'6" tall. Miss Housing, or Miss BVI.. I'm not eligible for either so I guess I don't have to decide!

There's an ad for the bar Latitude 18 (St Thomas's latitude is 18, so it's appropriately named). In large font it says "THE ROAD IS BETTER". We tried driving on their road before, and turned back after just a few minutes. Glad to know it's better. I've also seen large ads that say "The Coors (or any beer) Kegs Have Arrived on Island!" Keg parties here must be spontaneous or planned months in advance.

The Island Trader also has a layout for the Mermaid of the Week. As far as I can tell it's just an excuse to have a local woman in a bikini splashed across the full page of the paper. Maybe it's an ad for a swim shop.

Holidays

Someone asked me if the VI celebrates Valentine's Day, Halloween, and other non-religious holidays. It's only a little different here than what we were used to. Valentine's Day seems the same - lots of restaurants advertising expensive fancy meals; the jewelry shops have more sales; and the Belgium Chocolate Factory was busy on Wednesday too.

Halloween is more different. My coclerks and I dressed up for Halloween this year as pageant winners (I was "Miss Quoted", they were "Miss Trial" and "Miss Understood"). People asked us why we dressed up for Halloween - as though they hadn't made the connection before. I do know that some of the younger kids went trick or treating, but it seems like any dress-up ends in grade school. There are big Halloween parties on the island, but I believe they are geared towards mainlanders.

What's unique here is the number of local holidays. I think the local government workers really get 24 paid holidays. They include: Three Kings Day, Good Friday, Carnival Parades, Transfer Day, Election Day, Emancipation Day, Organic Act Day, and Boxing Day (aka Christmas Second Day), among others.

New Year's Eve is called Old Year's Night here, and it is big too. Especially on Jost Van Dyke. Parties are always big here. Carnival is probably the biggest, longest celebration I've ever seen. We're hoping to go to the Agricultural Fair on St. Croix this weekend, which is a big party too.

Rain Dance

We ran out of water today for the first time since moving to the islands. There was air in the faucets this morning and after looking into the cistern, it was clear we needed some water! It's been pretty dry this year. It rained a little today, but definitely not enough to fill the cistern. Dave called a water hauling company that was recommended to us, and was told they could probably come today to fill 'er up. Basically everyone on the island knows my boss, so his secretary called the water company and asked them to get us the water today. It helps to know the right people here! We're getting 3,000 gallons of water today and hopefully we'll get some good rain soon too. We'll be doing the rain dance!

Top 20 Signs You're Living in the VI

1. You've got such a "alright mon" attitude, it doesn't bother you that there's no tsunami warning system in place even though you work in a kayak on the water or in a building just 100 feet from the water. (A warning system only give us 5 minutes warning so it's not worth the cost apparently.)
2. It doesn't strike you as strange when a restaurant your co-workers go to every few weeks closes for vacation for two weeks at a time a few times per year. But it still seems weird that the restaurant owners call your co-workers to let them know ahead of time.
3. On more than one occasion, you've ordered something online, waited patiently for a month after the estimate arrival date, complained to the vendor who then reships the item, only to have the original shipment arrive a week or two later.
4. Planning for dinner no longer means thinking of a menu at home, going to the store and buying everything you need. Instead, it involves thinking of at least three menus, going to the store, seeing that none of your ingredients are available, and coming up with something else you can make based on what product actually exists on the grocery store shelves.
5. If you see something you think you might want to buy later, you buy it right then. Otherwise it might be months (or years) before it gets restocked.
6. When you go to a grocery store in the states, you can buy the first apples (or any other type of produce) you pick up - they're all a million times better than the ones you're used to. Thorough examination is not required.
7. It always seems like everyone else in the world is on vacation - whether you're sitting in your office looking at the cruise ships or sitting on your kayak looking at the cruise ship tourists. You're sure they're all on vacation - summer vacation - every day of the year.
8. You wear sunscreen to work, along with a bathing suit, sunglasses, and a big hat.
9. You see the tourism advertisements trying to convince US mainlanders that they should visit the USVI because "no passport required" and you wonder when someone is going to inform the customs and airlines agents at the airports to stop harassing people who choose not to show their passports.
10. Everyone you know likes to eat, but nobody likes to cook or bake. Homemade baked goods are a novelty.
11. You never have to think about what to wear on the weekend. You've only been chilly once wearing a tank top and shorts during the day.
12. Though USPS.com says it'll just take 3 days for a priority package to reach you from Arizona or California, it'll really take 10 days, if you're lucky.
13. It doesn't surprise you when you get Westlaw's November legal research newsletter . . . in February.
14. You wish you worked for the local government so that you too could have 24 paid holidays each year. Or if that's not enough, become a legislator or local judge and get a free car too (on each island).
15. Your crackers need to be kept in a zip-top bag, inside a plastic Tupperware container (that you had your brother bring when he visited you because they're a hot commodity here). Then you toast them just before you're ready to eat them.
16. The toothbrush you left at home while you were on a week-long vacation, grew mold. You've also found mold on your wooden table and leather jacket.
17. The ocean feels cold when it's 78 degrees. The air feels cold when it's 76 degrees.
18. Everything around you seems to break much quicker than it should - cars, kitchen appliances, computers, clothes, weather radars.
19. Using superglue on deep cuts is much more appealing (and effective) than going to the ER for stitches.
20. Seeing iguana and mongoose roadkill no longer seems bizarre (though flattened land crabs are still strangely intriguing) . . . .

Front Page Photo

Dave is on the front page of the newspaper today - check him out in the bottom left corner.
Dave won the annual Against the Tide swim race that raises money for breast cancer research and patients. The sports section devoted half a page for an article about the swim race and quotes him and the top female swimmer too. Dave and Jessie both won last year too so the headline, in large font, reads "Nielsan, Kennedy Repeat Wins in Annual Breast Cancer Swim". Guess he'll be in tomorrow's paper under the "Corrections" section... (The online competitor news source has an article too.)

Dave swam the 2/3 mile length of Magen's Bay beach in 14 minutes and 39 seconds. He's speedy! Since the race is more of a fundraiser than a race, only first place finishers get prizes and noone really kept track of the times for the rest of the finishers, but we think I finished around 22 minutes in third place for the women. I'll add some photos to this post later showing Dave receiving his trophy. The event raised about $1000. There are some photos online that are available for purchase from a new sporting event photo company.

I recruited a lot of people at work to come swim too - the event allows swimmers, swimmers with fins, or waders to participate. The court was given an award for the most participants from a business, but it turned out later that another group had more people but hadn't all written down the same organization name. Both groups were fed pizza though and we'll both get to keep a trophy. Next week is the women's annual jogger jam 2 mile fun run, so I'm going to try to recruit women again for that event and maybe we can get another trophy!