Despite spending a total of 34 hours in the belly of an airliner, which transformed my ass into the shape of an airline seat, my three-week R&R was fantastic! I spent the first four days with my beautiful bride (and Mikey the Rottweiler) at our place in New Hampshire. Besides getting a lot of much-needed rest, Terry and I enjoyed Manchester’s Christmas Parade and saw a great production of the play “A Christmas Carol” at the city’s Palace Theater.
On Sunday, Dec 2nd, we flew to Washington to visit Corey and Katrina in Northern Virginia. While there we also got to spend time with our good friends, the Chickos and on Tuesday, we drove to Baltimore to visit my sister Robin and her family. We all got to see our niece Tess and her school basketball team win an exciting game.
Then it was off to Hawaii! Terry and I stayed at the Hale Koa, an Armed Forces Resort located right on Waikiki Beach while our son and his family (Chris, Marissa and little Charlotte) stayed with Marissa’s parents at their home on the eastern shore of Oahu. Besides getting to spend some quality time with family, the principal purpose of the trip to Hawaii was to run the Honolulu Marathon with Chris, Marissa and Eric, who is a coworker of Chris and a close friend. Here is pretty little Sha-Sha in here new dress!
So, on Sunday, Dec. 9th, the four of us, along with about 25,000 of our closest friends got together at 0500 on the streets of Honolulu for a restful and relaxing 26.2 mile run! It was still dark at the beginning of the race which made the fireworks display awesome! Here is a bad photo of us just before the start.
What makes the Honolulu Marathon so much fun is that they don’t have a registration limit and you can actually walk the entire distance before they close the course. So, no one was in a hurry but we were all determined to finish! We made the obligatory stop at the statue of King Kamehameha on Waikiki Beach to have this photo taken.
At one potty break at about mile 16, a woman, who was in the long porta-john line, passed out and Chris went to render aid while Eric ran for the nearest ambulance where paramedics decided that they would finish their sandwiches before coming over to help the woman. That is where Chris and I posed for this shot.
About six and a half hours after we started, all four of us crossed the finish line together. It was an awesome experience and the first marathon for Chris, Marissa and Eric. I am really proud of their accomplishment.
After a few more celebratory Mai Tais and some great meals in local restaurants, it was time for Terry and me to return to Manchester.
I spent a few more relaxing days at home with Terry then it was time to get back on that plane. It was very difficult to leave Terry and home in order to come back here to KAF. Nevertheless, I made it back safely and was met by a small mountain of work including over 1100 emails!
Until next week, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
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