Sunset to Haleiwa Race

Nate and I completed a 7 mile downwind race from Sunset to Haleiwa on June 12th, a week after the SUP into Summer race. Nate had been training for it, and I wasn't planning on doing it. However, the night before the race we were driving down the coast and I had a great desire to do the race. I had always wanted to paddle from Sunset, and do a downcoast run, and paddle longer than I had paddled before.

Well, fate must have been looking over me because an hour and a half before race time the next day my friend called and practically begged me to race, saying she'll watch our girls. Then Nate's friend texted him saying he has a race board if Nate wanted to borrow it. What other excuse did I have?

I got to the beach just as the pre-race speech was ending and the paddlers were getting into the water.

I've got to admit, this was a gruelling race for me. And I am sure that a lot of that was because I had not trained, and being 4 1/2 months pregnant probably didn't help either. But I finished and I did my best, and for that I am happy.

Nate did well too, but not as well as he had hoped. Nate always tries everything twice, this time with the board that he paddled at the Battle of the Paddle, the board that was obviously not the right size for him. I guess he had to prove it to himself with a second round, and as a result, he was fighting it the whole way.

I did end up getting 3rd place though, but as I knew I was near the end of the race, there must not have been many women in my division to begin with. Oh well, I'll keep the prize.

Me and Wendy, an instructor at our school, showing off our winnings. Hey, it's a new race sponsor-- we'll let them fly with a laminated piece of paper. Whoopie!

I swore that that was my last race of the season.....but then I found out that next week's race has a keiki tandem division, meaning we could race with a child on our board...one more race and then I'm done. ;)

(video was too long -- thank you, YouTube)

My favorite part about the whole race was how the finish line ended up at the "free lunch" line. Eh, family and friends can wait. Mama and baby want FOOOOOOD NOOOOOWWWWW!!!