Under the sea

Last Monday was one of my favorite days in Saipan. It was a holiday, so no counseling for Brian, and no school and tutoring for me. Our friends Josh and Elizabeth asked us to explore some of the "hidden" beaches in Saipan (off the map, quieter ones), so we decided to check out the beach directly behind The Palms resort on Pau Pau beach. The Palms has been closed for reconstruction for a couple of months now, so it's beach was deserted. It felt like we had the entire place to ourselves, which was really cool.

The best part is that Josh brought his underwater camera case and we got to try it out. Josh is a great photographer and has an amazing site here- you should definitely check it out. (It has much better pictures of life in Saipan than the ones we put up!!)

In other news, our races are coming up soon!

I'm just a little nervous about my 10k this Saturday because I don't feel like I'm quite where I should be with training. I'm able to run 4 and a half miles in good time, but the race is a little over 6 miles and I haven't reached that yet. I've talked to a few running buddies who say this is ok, and that adrenaline will kick in on the race day and push you through. I wish that I was a little further in training at this point, but on Saturday I'm just going to do the best I can and not really worry about it.

My friends Jen and Amber are also racing (Amber is doing the half marathon) and talking to them always pushes me to want to run more. Amber is able to run 14 miles a few times a week (I can't even imagine that right now!) and I would love to eventually get to that point. I would also love to do a half marathon sometime next year, but I want to learn more about the right way to train and not hurt my knees.

My dad and I will be waiting for Brian at the finish line of his XTerra race, and I'm hoping to get lots and lots of pictures of him competing. He's been working so hard for this race, and I'll be sure to post a bunch of pictures of it for friends/family back home.