8 tuff ... ugh

There are things I never planned on doing in this life. One of them was running for 8 miles up a mountain.  I'm not much of a runner you see. But this year, for the second time, I participated in 8 tuff miles.  It's a race that starts in Cruz Bay on one side of St. John, goes up and over the island, and ends up in Coral Bay. And the "up and over" is no joke:  5 miles up hill, 3.3 miles down.  But it's a nice view! If you're ever interested in torturing yourself for a solid couple of hours, please feel free to join us next time: http://www.8tuffmiles.com/

Tyler and I actually did it together last year and we both scraped in at under 2 hours. We planned to do it together again this year but Tyler was invited to attend a very prestigious workshop in Santa Barbara and couldn't make it back in time. But next year team Brandt-Smith will be back!

So my goal this year was to come in under 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I'm incredibly proud to say that I shaved 20 minutes (20 MINUTES) off my old time and came in at 1 hour 38 minutes!!! Whoo hoo!! To the right is me coming in at the finish line. Not the prettiest picture, but hey, I just ran 8 tough miles.
 
In fact, everyone from UVI who participated for a second year did better.  Below are the UVI participants at the finish with our medals and other rewards (please forgive the quality of the photo - it was taken on my iphone).  From left to right: Chris (graduate student and Tyler's advisee), Donna (fellow UVI faculty), me!, and Ashley (new graduate student).

 

Next year I'm hoping to come in under 1 hour 30 minutes.  Stay tuned to see if I make it.  A big huge GIANT thank you to Kelly for transferring her registration to me because I procrastinated so long they ran out. THANK YOU for giving me the opportunity to torture myself!  

You'll be happy to note that we all erased the pain of the run with blue cheese burgers and (yes, of course) painkillers at the nearby Skinny Legs. Ok, so we started drinking at 9:00 am but hey, we all got up at 4!  After that it was a day lounging at Cinnamon Bay beach on St. John. 8 tuff miles.... huh, they weren't so tough. Ha!

Aquatic Sciences? Si!

Well, as you may have guessed there's been so many fun things happening I've been out enjoying them instead of writing on this blog! Not long after Mom and Dad Smith's visit - in fact it felt like microseconds later - Tyler and I were off to next door San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 2011 Aquatic Sciences meeting. We both gave talks but Tyler was also a co-coordinator of a day long session dedicated to mesophotic reefs (deeper reefs with the same species composition as shallow reefs).  Since getting back from the meeting, UVI sent out a press release about our research team's deep reef work and Tyler has been featured on the radio and in several local newspapers. He's famous! 

Overall, the meeting was excellentay. We got to connect with lots of old friends and make some new ones, see some great talks, make some great career connections, eat at great restaurants, and we even found time to check out one of the old forts in Old San Juan (see below).

 

While at the fort, strangely enough one of the Ireland leprechauns that we saw on our honeymoon showed up. He was acting shy but if you look closely, you can see him in this photo:

 

The week literally flew by but we found some time to take a picture of all of the UVI attendees on the last day.  From left to right, Jacqui (Research Technician for the UVI Marine Science Center), Tyler, me (looking like I'm either exhausted or it's really bright out - both were in fact true), Vanessa (our new Oceanography Technician) and Nasseer (fellow UVI faculty and old RSMAS friend): 

The Smiths take St. John

It's funny how when you live in a place it takes a visit by friends or family to make you actually take time to experience where you live.  Such a thing happened when Mom and Dad Smith came for a visit. They arrived safely on St. Thomas where we whisked them up to our domestic abode and I believe they were impressed by it being a step above Tyler's previous bachelor pad (for a start, there's a door on the bathroom).  They spent a few days and played a few games of Bananagrams with us and then were off to St. John with their friends Ken and Barb.

Meanwhile, I was off to New Orleans for a one-day NSF workshop and Tyler was left to fend for himself. The workshop was useful and I managed to cram several dozen oysters down in the 36 hours I was there.  Back in St. Thomas, Tyler and I worked the rest of the week away and then caught the car ferry over to St. John Friday morning. We in our little 2 wheel drive Toyota Echo met up with Dad Smith and Ken in Coral Bay in their 4 wheel drive Jeep rental and they led to the house they had rented. At the top of the obnoxiously steep driveway that lead down to the house a little voice in back of my head said : "boy I hope we can get back up this hill when we leave."  Hmm... am I foreshadowing? Read on...

Once down the driveway we were greeted by Mom Smith and Barb and a spectacular view of Coral Bay harbor and the Drake Passage beyond (see above). We spent a little time getting settled into Watermelon Villa and then literally crammed into the Jeep and headed off for a birthday lunch for Dad Smith at a seaside restaurant called Ms. Lucy's.

A few celebratory Painkillers later and we were at the beach enjoying the sunshine. That night we had a delicious dinner followed by birthday brownies and ice cream and then topped off the night with some lively rounds of, you guessed it, Bananagrams. 

The next day found us at yet another beach and then another seaside restaurant for a late lunch and some rum punch (whoo hoo). We made dinner at home again that night and enjoyed more games of Bananagrams. It really is a very addictive game.

Sunday morning dawned a little wetter than preferred. After some humming and hawing about whether to go to the beach, we decided to go for it and packed up both the Jeep and the Echo to head for a beach near Cruz Bay. Tyler and I were planning to catch an afternoon ferry back to St. Thomas from Cruz Bay so it was decided that it would be most convenient for all if we took two cars. Well, it turns out that the only thing worse than a car with no four wheel drive meeting a steep hill is a car with no four wheel drive going through thick mud and then meeting a very wet steep hill covered with wet leaves. One attempt forward and one backward and it became apparent that the Echo was stuck. 

But never underestimate the Echo.

With the kind assistance of a neighbor and her water hose to clean off the Echo's muddy tires, a big broom to sweep the wet leaves off the hill, lots of parental advice, some nail biting (but I swear no commenting on my part), Tyler's oneness with the Echo, the $160 price tag of a tow in our heads, and two tries... we made it up! Oh Echo.... such a good little car.

We made it to the beach about the time the skies decided we were much too muddy and a little heavy rain might help.  So we headed to Cruz Bay to dry out and celebrate our victory over the hill. Above, a photo of our intrepid team sitting above one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (officially! really, it says that insome magazine somewhere) Trunk Bay.

After lunch we left the Parents Smith and Ken and Barb to suffer yet another gorgeous night on St. John and headed back to St. Thomas on the car ferry in the little Echo that could.

Mom and Dad Smith joined us back on St. Thomas for two more nights and then were back off to Colorado. It was so nice spending the time with everyone and it made us look forward to the big family vacation this summer.  Thanks for visiting!