Our crew, pre-race:
I survived. I can think of only a few times in my life where I've had to push myself that hard. The race at Pokai turned out to be eight miles, not ten. It was still longer than I've ever paddled in my life. I haven't even raced in any form since Michigan Crew - back around 1984.
Luckily there were a few other guys out there busting their cherry too - Eli was in the Open Boat, and Kapena was with me in the Master's.
If I were solo I would've quit after the first or second mile. You can't really do that when you're out in the ocean with a crew, so I kept on pushing. We finished in 1 hour 25 minutes. Not great, but it was enough to earn us a first place medal for our division (men over 40). We even signed a plaque that will go into the Yacht Club trophy case. I'm still tickled over that - I've never signed a frikkin' trophy before. In high school & college that was something for other guys to do. It's kind of funny to be doing it at 41.
So the race was hard as hell, and I've got a ways to go to get in peak shape, but I'm hooked. It's all I thought about all weekend.
Afterward we got back to town I tried to fix my phone, but the Sprint people at the store pissed me off & I left. Went to Borders and picked up a biography of Michael Collins and the Oxford Short Introduction to Anarchism. I'm ready for the revolution.
That night I caved and went to the un-Volcano Party with David. I felt strange going in, given that I had resigned from the Board of the agency behind it, and was kind of bitchy about it when I did. The night turned out to be better than I thought. There was a good crowd for maybe ninety minutes on the dancefloor, Mario and Michael Fong spun a good set, and the LA visitors were friendly. A lot of the regular Honolulu crowd was absent. Hula's was doing a for-profit alternate party, and a lot of guys didn't even know anything was happening.
We did a bit too much cheap tequila, so I had to counteract that Sunday by buying a better bottle for my shelf. I experimented a bit more with sangrita (a better chaser for the good stuff than lime and salt), and finally found a mix I liked.
Sunday night I made a big pan of Colcannon for the week. And John, you'll be happy to know I used Kale this round. It's pretty damn good.
Just got my Ireland tickets this morning. I was trying to find a trip on American - even though I don't like them, I thought I had enough miles to actually redeem them for an upgrade on this trip or Egypt in the winter. I was wrong. There was so much fine print on the damn website - x members can upgrade a b, y, s, q, or t level ticket for c, h, or t class flights unless they fly Aer Lingus after March 1 and even though British Airways is a partner you can't earn miles on British out of LAX and so on.
In other words, American's Mileage program doesn't get you shit.
Back to the Sangrita. As usual, the amounts are guesses. This is excellent with a nice tequila, on the side or as part of a cocktail.
Luckily there were a few other guys out there busting their cherry too - Eli was in the Open Boat, and Kapena was with me in the Master's.
If I were solo I would've quit after the first or second mile. You can't really do that when you're out in the ocean with a crew, so I kept on pushing. We finished in 1 hour 25 minutes. Not great, but it was enough to earn us a first place medal for our division (men over 40). We even signed a plaque that will go into the Yacht Club trophy case. I'm still tickled over that - I've never signed a frikkin' trophy before. In high school & college that was something for other guys to do. It's kind of funny to be doing it at 41.
So the race was hard as hell, and I've got a ways to go to get in peak shape, but I'm hooked. It's all I thought about all weekend.
Afterward we got back to town I tried to fix my phone, but the Sprint people at the store pissed me off & I left. Went to Borders and picked up a biography of Michael Collins and the Oxford Short Introduction to Anarchism. I'm ready for the revolution.
That night I caved and went to the un-Volcano Party with David. I felt strange going in, given that I had resigned from the Board of the agency behind it, and was kind of bitchy about it when I did. The night turned out to be better than I thought. There was a good crowd for maybe ninety minutes on the dancefloor, Mario and Michael Fong spun a good set, and the LA visitors were friendly. A lot of the regular Honolulu crowd was absent. Hula's was doing a for-profit alternate party, and a lot of guys didn't even know anything was happening.
We did a bit too much cheap tequila, so I had to counteract that Sunday by buying a better bottle for my shelf. I experimented a bit more with sangrita (a better chaser for the good stuff than lime and salt), and finally found a mix I liked.
Sunday night I made a big pan of Colcannon for the week. And John, you'll be happy to know I used Kale this round. It's pretty damn good.
Just got my Ireland tickets this morning. I was trying to find a trip on American - even though I don't like them, I thought I had enough miles to actually redeem them for an upgrade on this trip or Egypt in the winter. I was wrong. There was so much fine print on the damn website - x members can upgrade a b, y, s, q, or t level ticket for c, h, or t class flights unless they fly Aer Lingus after March 1 and even though British Airways is a partner you can't earn miles on British out of LAX and so on.
In other words, American's Mileage program doesn't get you shit.
Back to the Sangrita. As usual, the amounts are guesses. This is excellent with a nice tequila, on the side or as part of a cocktail.
Sangrita
1/4 c each orange, tomato, and lime juice
4 T grenadine (homemade, not the Rose's petrochemical mix)
1-2 T Hawaiian chile water
dash onion juice
Hawaiian salt
No comments:
Post a Comment