Food Stuffs

While in Jamaica, we saw some great menu items. Feast your eyes!

Self-explanatory on the beach in Oracabessa.

(Incidentally, the place where Ian Fleming wrote several James Bond novels, at his swingin' sixties pad, Goldeneye. Probably the healthy omega oils helped him write about the "best secret agent ever conceived".)

Who wouldn't want this? Pass on the curried goat. (I did try some, and it tasted like lamb, but the curry was bland...ugh). Go for the Vegetable Lunch with rice & peas and vegetables. Or .... you could order it with food.

[So if vegetables aren't food, then how do vegetarians live?]

FYI, rice and peas translates into non-Jamaican English as rice and kidney beans.

The Good Over Evil Ice Cream Delivery Motorbike

Can you read the ingredient list? Man Back Strong Back, Snake Wisp, Royal Wisp, Blood Wisp, Medina, Chainey Wisp, Chainey Root, Sarsaparilla, Iron Wood, Ramoon, and last but not least......All Man Strength Cayenne Pepper.

Yes, I drank it, and yes, it tasted pretty good!

Chicken with the pants leg rolled up.... Whose leg? The chicken's, the diner's, or the chef's? Didn't try, so couldn't tell ya.

This was the Spring Break Special Menu. Many times Juice asked for "2 platters of shaghetty, please!", but none appeared. Very sad. The only flaw we found in Jamaica was that shaghetty seemed to be only available at Spring Break. :-(

Too Fast Food.

Do you see that sign? Musta been a WHOPPER of a truck. (sorry...haha)

Finally, I was in a bar, and the menu offered a Bartender's Special that was "alcohol with liquor, plus a shot of booze." My self-preservation kicked in, so I didn't order one, but sadly, I deleted the menu photo when I was "tired" (aka hung-over).

Cheers, mon.

Musical Interlude

As you are viewing any of my Jamaica stuff, please click on this link, and play this song while you look at the pics and read the stories. It was a huge fave of everyone, and we LOVED it. You'll really get the irie vibe, mon. :-))

http://marangand.wordpress.com/taurus-riley-shes-royal-video-and-lyrics/

Where I'm From 2

I just got back from a trip to Whitehorse, Yukon for Christmas. Nice trip - just visiting, hanging, eating, drinking, watching Planet Earth DVDs on Mom's giant TV, walking the dogs, eating more... And I did get skiing once, when it warmed up to -15 C.

If you've been wondering, it was +30 C daily in Jamaica, and it was minus 20 C and colder in Whitehorse. Here's what it looks like to have a 50 degree temperature difference in a week:

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone !

Surfer Duuuudes

check out the pics my Mom dug up, circa 1980

Locale: Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

Ages: me - just turned 11, brother Alan - 9 and a 1/2

NB. intense concentration on my face, as I attempt to MASTER surfing in my first 5 minutes. Typical Type A eldest child.

NB. relaxed attitude of my brother

Reggae Race Report

me n Juice, at the finish line

The emails I'm receiving have been growing more and more surly, so here it is! The Reggae Race Report.

Overall, I had a really, really tough race. It was humid, I was nauseous, my nutrition went out the window (because the more nauseous I felt, the less I could face eating, therefore the more hypoglycemic and nauseous I felt. See how that works?) And the night before, the locals brought MONSTER speakers to a park about 300m away from us, and played the music so loud Jenn could hear it through her ear plugs! She was actually tapping her foot, with her ear plugs in, while wishing she could be asleep. So yah....4 hours sleep before a big race isn't totally helpful.

But other than that, the race was really good. It was well-organised. It started ON TIME (the only thing on time in Jamaica, as far as I could tell!) at 5:15 AM, in the dark, obviously. Jenn and ran together for the first 4 miles, at a good pace. But at that point, she asked how I was doing: "I'm f'ing dying!"

Oh dear, not good, still 9 miles to go!

Once I passed the 6 mile/10 km mark, I was really feeling gross, but realised I was on holiday, in Jamaica, and this was supposed to be fun! So, I took a good long break to take photos, drink gatorade from a baggie, walk, feel better, and notice that the dawn was INCREDIBLE!! The sky was pink, but the sea was a turquoise that I have never seen before in my life. WOW!

Anyway, the course was flat, the scenery was pretty great, the volunteers were excellent, the organisation was good, so managed to suck it up, and finish the race. NOT my personal best, but hey, it was Jamaica mon!! It was my personal best time on a tropical island paradise! (PBOTIP)

Costume: as we all know, I like to wear a costume in my runs, but I have been getting smarter about this. I wore a Bob Marley bandanna - simple, appropriately themed, kept sweat out of my eyes! And I wore my RunClub shirt from last year's Vegas trip, PLUS a bracelet given to me by my runpal Kerri. Gotta keep my peeps wit me :)

Couple VERY cool things though:

They called the last mile "Bob's Mile", as in Marley. So every 150m or so, they had a sign with a quote from the Reggae King! Since I just needed a way to keep myself carrying on, I took pics!

And the second VERY cool thing was that at the finish, they had Red Stripe BEER for the finishers (admittedly, this nearly killed me) and fresh coconuts. They say the coconut milk is better than gatorade, as it's full of electrolytes, etc. Anyway, it was far more FUN than gatorade :)

The third EXTREMELY cool thing was that once you leave the finish line, you walk across the beach, and I went for the BEST SWIM OF MY LIFE.

Wow, totally earned it, saw a southern sting ray as I was going in, and it was fantastic!!

OK, so my final assessment is that the race made a great excuse to go to Jamaica. the run was FREAKING hard, but it meant that I could eat, drink and be merry with no weight gain. I LOVED Jamaica, so am seriously thinking I might go back next year and do the FULL marathon. Obviously JAMAICA ME CRAZY!!!!

Time flies when you're having rum!

December 6, 2008, Negril, Jamaica
Start of Day: 3:50 am - get up, breakkie
4:15 - catch shuttle to Half Marathon Start
5:15 - Reggae Half Marathon
6:15 - sun rise! (I was at Mile 6 or so in the race)

8:00 - the best swim ever, after having completed 13.1 tough miles (OK, maybe only 10 were tough miles, and 3.1 were easy miles)
9:30 - still not tired, so went to yoga until 10:30

10:45 - FAMISHED so had proper breakfast
12:00 - went to beach. Jenn had negotiated a great price for parasailing, so walked back to the Yoga Centre to get more cash

around 12:45 - parasailing with Jenn. Really fun, and an incredible view!!

1:15ish - had brilliant idea that instead of being taken back to where the boat collected us for parasailing, we'd walk back along the beach. We were never going to get that far down the beach any other way (maybe 4 miles??) ...

1:20ish - shopping

1:40ish - stopped at first 2-for-1 cocktail bar
[time passed without our notice as we slowly rambled from bar to bar, shop to shop, chatting with all sorts of people.]

As a sign said in one the bars we were at: "Time flies when you're having rum!"

6:00 - sunset
6:15 - hey, we better stop for dinner! (Note: still about a mile from Yoga Centre)7:00 - sudden remembrance we were supposed to meet DJ for dinner. Oops.

7:15ish - back at Negril Yoga Centre for quick shower and change, and meet DJ


7:30ish - DJ brought us dinner from his farm in the hills (callaloo, roast bread fruit), so had second dinner. I drank a Red Bull and grew promised wings. We all started dancing like lunatics. DJ did "rasta-robics". Much laughter.
8:45 - arrived at post-run reggae celebration show. Headliner band had already finished (likely the earliest show ever in the history of Jamaica, as the headliner usually starts after midnight). Totally lame so went to meet Jenn's friends at Sun Star Hotel.
9:30 probably - arrived at Sun Star. Good party, but missed Jenn's friends by about 20 minutes. Oops. Good live band though, so danced lots more. Were webcast live on: realnegril.com


12:00 maybe? - time to go home


around 12:30 - bed :)

Jamaica Mon!

OK, as usual, my pace is manic while on holiday..... Gotta dash...got an international businessman waiting to tour me around on his motorbike. Oh, and we'll likely work together sometime!

Yes - been drinking rum

Yes - been drinking beer

Yes - been doing yoga

Yes - went to reggae show

No - have not been diving yet, but do swim in the sea daily

And now, will chill it out a bit to get ready for the big run Sat AM :)