October Madness

Whewy, that was another hot one!  There was a great turnout at the St. Christopher Children's Home Walk/Run.  They raised $50,000(EC) more than last year, which is fantastic (and necessary with the gov't cutting its monetary input, despite placing more kids in there). It was a beautiful day, but with no clouds meant another incredibly hot run (we think they should have it a little later than the 4pm start time). Now I didn't take as many pictures as last time (since I actually wanted to get a decent time), but for vista shots, here's last year's post.

They added face painting to the preliminary activities and that was definitely a hit.

Even Mr. X got into the spirit and put on some war paint.

Of course, when Michael found out that Mr. X had gotten his face painted, he ran over to the table too. The guy doing Michael's face, initially misunderstood what he asked for (there was music overhead), so he almost ended up with a B on his forehead.

But eventually, he ended up with what he wanted.

It says "Beat X" if you can't tell. Note how sweaty he already is. We all were. It was really hot! Then it was time for the warm-up. Go Mr. X!



Time to line up. You'll note Kat, Michael, and X gunning for the front.

You'll also note all the kids in the front.

Now, I know we were doing this for the kids, but this set up ends up not quite working out. They take off like rockets and then within 1-2 minutes have pooped themselves out. Then they're in the way of the rest of us as they meander around with their hands on their hips. With still a little energy to expend, they run past you again and then stop....again. It's quite frustrating if you're actually trying to make time. Another suggestion to the organizers is to let the kids get 1-2 minutes lead (we understand they want the excitement of going first), but just don't put the clock on. Then let the rest of us go and get the timer going. Just saying. As usual, I ended up in the middle of the running pack.

Walkers were waaaaaaay back there (that's the Marriott, the main organizer of the event, in the background).

I eventually started passing people, but still wasn't able to take Heather who stayed about 30-45 seconds ahead of me the whole time.

Eventually, we saw the leaders on the return trip. There's Michael! No sign of Mr. X or Kat (or anyone).



Now, the course is set up to let you walk a 3K or run the 5K, but of course some walkers walk the 5K and some cheaters run the 3K. Like Popcorn. I couldn't believe it when he ran out in front of me from a different path. He had a good pace going, but I made sure I passed that short-cutting miscreant.

We were really happy to see Dave (right) not only back on island, but competing (in the walk) after suffering a heart attack a couple of months ago. Looking good Dave (and Steve)!

Twenty-six minutes later, I was coming toward the finish line! Yay!!

Unfortunately, Michael did not beat Mr. X or Kat. While X didn't place, Kat, of course, finished first for all the females (in 20 minutes according to her GPS watch) and in the top 5 overall, so now has matching trophies to use as bookends. All the kids who participated got medals (which was a nice touch).

Kat'll also get a dinner certificate to eat at the Shiggidy Shack so she can rub it in Mr. X's face one last time that she came in ahead of him. Another great addition to this year's event was that they had veggie burgers in the food line. Yay! And beer - I missed getting Kat's jig on film. We stayed and ate, drank, and danced. This little one was adorable. She could barely stand, but she actually was dancing here.

One of the children from the home gave a great thank you speech, reminding us of why were there. She was just beaming when everyone clapped afterwards.

Then the mosquitoes came out and it was time to go. Nothing like having a good time for a good cause. Today (Sunday) is horse racing at the Beaumont Race Track and although I'm determined to check it out some time (it's free), with Michael working 6/day weeks (yes, he worked before he ran; so did Kat), Sunday is just made for reading a good book on the beach.

Now that it's fall (that's what I heard anyway), all kinds of events are coming up. In addition to the usual fish fry's, Lobsterfests, karaoke, buffets, etc. etc. there are lots of larger events planned as well. If you're into soca/dancehall, the Beenie Man (and others) are having a concert on Friday (Oct 7th).  Saturday (Oct 8th) involves the Hash Limpics  (here's last year's festivities - don't miss them this year: Part I; Part II). I know I'm looking forward to the Latin Fiesta next Sunday (Oct 9th) down at Spice Mill. Our Puerto Rican pal with Kajola-Kristada organized this last year as a way of bringing some Latino flavor to the island and it was really a lot of fun (see post). This year they've planned to make it bigger and better, so if you're here - don't miss it!


The following Saturday (Oct 15th), Sandy Point Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd (SPACS) is having a food fair all day long in Sandy Point. It's being held in conjunction with World Food Day (which is actually on the 16th - ??!), operating under the theme “FOOD PRICES – FROM CRISIS TO STABILITY” this year. A launch parade for the upcoming carnival season (Sugar Mas) will also be sometime that day (Facebook).

And, of course, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so the 3rd weekend will consist of two events organized by the Essence of Hope Foundation (Facebook). First up on Saturday evening (Oct 22nd) is the Pink & White Gala, to be held at the Marriott. The following Saturday (Oct 29th) will be the Race for Life Walk-A-thon (Registration Form)



Also that final weekend, you've got Island Xpressions Poetry Night on Thursday (Oct 27th), A Stitch in Time concert on Friday night (Oct 28th), and on Saturday (Oct 29th) the Diabetes Association would like some support and will give you a snorkeling trip on a catamaran in return (uh oh, there's a hash that day).   Buddies will be having a Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween party that night too, so that should be interesting. All these are on my calendar if you want details.

This and That: Thoughts & Video of Children's Home 5K Run

So after realizing that today was going to be another annoying day on the computer/internet, I milked my morning work-out for all it was worth, worked a bit offline, and then looked forward to my first trip to the produce market on the day the boats are in. St. Kitts is still converting from a sugar-cane growing island, to one that has a nice variety of goodies. Taiwan has become a big partner in this endeavor and is working with the farmers here on various types of agriculture projects. Hurricane Earl wiped out a few crops (like lettuce) and I'm not sure how this latest rain from Otto helped or hindered. Monkeys are a problem too. So the island makes up the difference getting stuff from Dominica (and the US). It comes in on boats where everything is offloaded at the market and sold direct (markup 1). Then local vendors buy it and bring it to the local market downtown on other days (markup 2), and/or sell it to the grocery stores (markup 3). If you're not careful you can really overpay from produce here and most of what you get is going to be pretty ripe. So that was the PLAN.

Pat came and picked me up and thought things were looking a little quiet. We got inside the market, and I thought we were in the wrong place. It was a bit like being in a mental home with um, nonworking folks inside trying to stay out of the hot sun. Where was the stuff? Turns out the boat was still far off. It wasn't expected until later that night. It's not like you can call and find out, so there's no way to know if/when it'll show up. Well, never mind then. Maybe next week.

So here are a few loose ends.

The grounded freighter full of diesel is still grounded.




Our blogger fans, Bill & Carole, at Island Culebra confirmed that we were, in fact, seeing some black cloud activity from nearby Montserrat. The observatory hadn't commented on it as of this morning, but NOAA did. Thanks guys.

Florida Mike has pointed out that if you make your own bread and put it in aluminum foil (outside of fridge), it'll keep for a long time, so I'll give it a shot. That said, nothing's easier than going to the store and buying a loaf, sorry; so unless we're desperate (and it does happen), we'll just wait for the bread fairy to show up. It's hot enough in this house without turning on the oven for an hour. I will try to make a baguette using Florida Mike's guaranteed recipe though. My future as boulangerie is still uncertain.

The ZIZ TV/Radio station actually got back to me and gave me a 5 minute video of the run we were in a couple of weeks ago. I would have liked to have uploaded it all, so you could get a good feel for who was running and how pretty the course was, but it's too big a file to upload on our puny internet connection. I was able to whittle it down to about a minute (that only took 5 hours to upload). It's not pretty and I have such a bad internet connection that I can't actually play it back, but hopefully it's good enough. We can still be impressed by Mikey and friends one last time. I had to leave the music ZIZ chose, since it was the only way you could hear the interview later. If anyone wants the whole segment, just shoot me an email.



I also got a link to pictures of the event from Jen, who was excited to use her new camera. I'm not in any pictures, so don't kill yourself looking, but you can search for others you know. There are snippets of my hair here and there, but you'll have to be really quick to catch it. I must have been running that fast - ha!

That leaves one other person I know with video/pictures of the event, but we'll have raced in the 2nd annual run before we get them.

I must mention that it is HOT! Really, really HOT!!!

Run!

Someone give me some Advil. Yesterday, we and about 200 others ran for the St. Christopher's Children's Home hoping to raise money for some home improvements. With various sponsorships, they actually raised $100,000EC, which is pretty amazing.

Our own Hash House Harriers stepped up and had about 100 people there. Now we thought that we'd just all stick together as a group, trotting along at a nice amiable pace, but it turned out that the run was a race and the competitive spirit kicked in, so all bets were off.

The run took place at the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club .



We all thought this had to be one of the best organized events any of us have ever been to on-island. There was a lot of advance notice, word really went around, and from start to finish, things appeared to run smoothly. This, of course, would explain the successful amount of money raised - what a concept!

We all registered at 2:30, getting wrist bands, numbers, and a t-shirt.



And it's 277 vs 276!



Now what were the chances of hash perv Peter getting this number, I don't know, but there's Tina doing the honor of poking him.



Not only was there a time clock,



but the Prime Minister himself showed up to kick things off.



Before we started, one of the island's fitness gurus, Elston Nisbett, got us into some stretching exercises. He was yelling at us like a drill sergeant so I can imagine how much fun his kickboxing classes are.



And then we were off - someone fired a gun and everything!



It was a nice meandering course.



I was just happy to see the 3K sign. Look at those ominous clouds. It was hot enough with the cloud cover, so I think we all would have appreciated a little rain.



These guys were already returning. Hrmph.



I had been hanging back to encourage Tina along, but she later decided to take a short cut, so I kicked it into high gear and before I knew it could see the finish line myself. Wahoo!



A lot of people were taking pictures, so I'll give you links to those when I get them.

Of course, who came in first? Energizer Bunny Michael and Bionic Woman Kathleen (Kat). Michael who doesn't exercise at all other than hashing every 3 weeks and wasn't even trying, was encouraging Kat, who has been training for a marathon, to pick it up and the two of them glided across the finish line together.

They even got trophies! The trophies were actually handed out by a medal award winner, Kim Collins. Mr. X came in 3rd for the men.



Kat receiving hers.



There's Mikey! When the announcer called Michael up, there was Kim handing him the trophy and the announcer said something like "and Michael even beat Kim Collin's time," which made things a bit awkward but funny.



Michael came in at 20:58 (minutes).

Our happy trophy winners.



Afterwards came bouncy time for the kids who still had energy.



and a BBQ for the hungry.



Lucky for us, we weren't that hungry.



Then the rain that had been looming all day began with a light drizzle, so we headed for our next stop - Mr. X's Shiggidy Shack.



Some of the competitors were already there imbibing.



With this storm off to our east, the air has gone stagnant. Look at how calm these seas are.



I'm guessing that by tonight, we'll be feeling something from this latest weather system.

This is just pathetic...