Ah... This is the Life

Are you wondering what I am up to on my vacation? Am I hiking through the tropical forests? Scuba diving off the coast of Maui? Surfing the waves? Do you want the honest truth...? This is what I have been doing:

A papaya/strawberry blended rum drink - Sweet Lorraine

Yummy.... : ) On past vacations, I've been scuba diving, I have done the grueling hikes, and have never gained an interest in surfing. I am perfectly happy relaxing and reading poolside or on the beach and most of this trip. For those of you that may be concerned, my poolside drinks usually amount to two over a 4 hour period, with lots of water to keep from getting dehydrated. One thing I thought I did want to do on this visit to Maui was parasailing. I called about a reservation yesterday and learned that, unfortunately, the minimum weight for a one person parasailing ride is 130 pounds. I am happy to say I am under that weight (the girl on the phone giggled at my predicament in a very complimentary way), but am sad to say they wouldn't make any exceptions. It's just not safe to be too light and tossed by the wind. So, unless I can find another random soul at the resort that is in the same situation, I won't be going parasailing on this trip. It's a little close quarters with a stranger anyway! I'll wait until a friend or loved one can join me another time.

I'm sitting on my hotel room balcony now listening to the waterfall and enjoying the calm morning. I am icing my knee from a lovely walk/run on the Ka'anapali shoreline. It consisted of 16 minutes of running within a hour walk/run total. We'll see how my knee feels later today or tomorrow. I find myself getting up earlier each day I'm on the island. You simply can't help it! It gets light so early in the morning and people are out and about. The birds start chirping and I know it's time to start the day. We really have had great weather so far. About 87 degrees each day and the humidity is not too high. Comfortable really. In about a half an hour, I'm going to pack up my pool/beach gear and walk over to my favorite pool, the Oahu pool. It's lovely. Hopefully Miss Kesia (I hope I got her name right) will be there to serve me another Sweet Lorraine or some other tropical/fruity drink. Kesia actually pouted yesterday when I told her I needed to pay for my drinks and leave the pool for the day. She's a really nice lady. It was around 2:30 PM and I decided to head to Lahina for a little shopping and a bite to eat. Here is the sunset from Lahina last evening.

The Flower Tuck

I've been to Hawaii several times now, but I had no idea the flower women tuck behind their ears meant anything other than a pretty flower. Today I learned it tells much more than I ever knew. If you wear the flower on your left side, it means you are married or your heart is taken (as your wedding ring and your heart are on the left side of your body). If you wear the flower on your right side it means you are single. Fascinating! I took this photo before I learned the meaning of the flowers behind the ear. Luckily, I tucked it behind the correct ear!

My Hawai'i Vacation

Aloha! I am now in Maui, HI for my summer vacay. It's SO nice to be here. I am now sitting at a waterfall encircled cafe near the multiple pools at the Westin Maui, Ka'anapali. Why am I blogging on my laptop and not out and about? Well, this is what I want to be doing at the moment. Everything relaxed and leisurely at my pace. I've had a great morning so far (workout at the hotel gym) and the pool and beach are just steps away. I'll be there soon enough. Besides, it's not a good idea for me and my first-burn-then-tan skin to spend hours on end in the intense Hawaii sunshine. I will take it in small intervals.

I checked into the Westin Maui Resort and Spa yesterday around Noon. I have to admit, it's all been a little surreal. Sometimes trips start out that way for me, especially in a tropical setting. It's a paradise of sorts and it takes time to adjust from the foggy, city life. The surreal quality tends to wear off after a day or so. I felt the "I can't believe I am here" thoughts go away as I woke up this morning. After a few days I may not want to leave, ever!

I have a Garden Room, which is on one of the lower floors so I was a little worried my room would be overlooking the parking lot. Nope, I am looking towards the waterfall in the center of the pool area and the blue skies above it. There are flamingos, yes real flamingos in the lagoon under the waterfall. I put away my things, changed into my swimsuit and off I went to check out my new digs. Great workout room, check, awesome pools (yes, several pools), check, a couple of great restaurants, check, then the beach. Ahh... the warm Hawaii water. I love it! I decided to grab a drink and a salad at the pool side bar. Later, I settled in at the "adult" pool, the Oahu pool. This is a pool up above the falling water and next to the entrance of the water slides (oh, did I forget to mention the water slides?) that is 18 and over only. There is a great bar area that caters to this pool only. It's so convenient for tropical drinks or just some ice cold water. This may be my pool of choice over the kid rampant, inner tube crazed other pools!

I laid out for a few hours, but by then time had flown and it was 5pm. I decided it was time to go grocery shopping. I passed a Safeway on the way to my hotel so that was my destination. I wanted to get some breakfast foods, fruit, snacks, etc. to have in my room. Around 9:00 PM I went back to the bar by the adult pool, the "Moonlight Bar" they call it at night. I had a glass of wine and chatted with a lovely couple from Chicago. I think I was asleep once my head hit the pillow. I was so tired from the time difference and a big day. : )

Enough blogging... it's pool/beach time!

My room, note the pretty lei I received when I arrived

Comfortable amenities

The view from my balcony

A photo of the cafe where I am writing

Small World

I have a funny story to tell. This refers directly to a recent post in my blog. OK, I admit, sometimes I'm a little slow. I knew the last name Heinrich sounded familiar. A classmate of mine from elementary school through high school was Erica Heinrich. One evening last week I was riding the bus home from work reading more of Why We Run, by Bernd Heinrich. I got to a part where the author mentioned he lived in Walnut Creek, CA. What? That's where I grew up. Oh my, it dawned on me that could have met him when I was a kid. You see, the Heinrichs lived around the corner from my parents. My sister and I used to play in the valley behind our house with Erica and other neighborhood kids. I turned to the dedication page of the book and there was her name, among her other siblings. I'll have to find out how my Dad happened upon the book in the first place. I talked to my sister about it and we are not sure if our parents actually knew Erica's parents, maybe only her Mom since she may have been separated from Erica's Dad, Bernd, by then. Interesting... I'll get the scoop from my Dad soon. Small world, huh?

The ironic thing is that last week I had reconnected with Erica on Facebook. This was before the whole book author, childhood thing clicked with me. I wrote to her over the weekend and she confirmed that her Dad is Bernd Heinrich. I'm going to ask her if she knows if her Dad has a super high tolerance for pain. "Grinding" down a piece of loose cartilage? Ouch. Erica lives in Maine now and has two adorable boys. : )

Le Tour

Yeah, it's that time of year again! The Tour de France is underway. : ) I love it. I'm cheering for the US based teams Team Columbia (formerly High Road) and Garmin Chipotle. There are many incredibly talented cyclists from all over the world in the race, so it's amazing to watch. Go George Hincape! He rocks.

ONE YEAR

Today is the one year anniversary of my knee surgery. Can you believe it? I hardly can, the year really seemed to fly by. At the same time, I definitely thought my running would be in a different place right now. I tried to keep my expectations low, but I never thought I would only be running 10 minutes at a time a year after my surgery. I was sure I was going to be back to my old running (at least an hour 3x a week) 3 or 4 months from the date of my knee scope. That is what I was told about the average recovery time from arthroscopic surgery. Well, I'm "unique" I guess. My recovery has been much slower than I ever imagined. The reality is that there is little I can do to change it. I don't want to push my running too fast and be setback with pain again, but I do want to progress towards healthy exercise. I expect continued trial and error the rest of this year.

I'm not sure where I first heard this quote and where it came from, but I've been repeating it to myself lately. "Life is not about what happens to you. Life is about how you handle what happens." I doubt that is the direct quote, but you get the gist. I could go in the direction of being depressed and negative about my knee, believe me I've had many of those days. I realize I could also head in the direction of hope and positivity. With help from my family and friends, this is what I'm going to choose for the future. Here's to an even better next year with continued recovery and health!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm on my way down to Crissy Field near the Golden Gate Bridge to meet some friends for a BBQ. The fog seems to have lifted and it should be a nice day. Happy fireworks and 4th of July to all!