It may sound a little crazy but Bryan decided during the March deployment that he was going to run a triathlon with Stego (aka Mike), his roommate on the ship. As you can imagine, when I got the phone call mid-deployment telling me about this, I laughed- thinking it was a joke. But, come to find out, Bryan and Mike had already started their training while underway! To boost morale during the float, the ship hosted group exercise competitions, and Bryan and Mike signed up for groups in both the running and biking competitions. They ended up coming in 4th place in the running competition and 3rd place in the biking competition- and they were some of the only people on the ship to compete in more than one competition! Go B! (Plus he won a pretty awesome Bose Speaker for placing third in the bike race!)
So the "crazy" set in when these two boys, stuck in their tin can room, came up with the brilliant plan to do a triathlon. Their argument was: "we already have the biking and running down, how hard can swimming a mile be?!"
This all coming from a man who refused to swim without a nose plug until middle school.
So being the supportive wife I am, I told him to go for it, while silently praying he doesn't drown and leave me single in Sasebo. (Hell, I've already done this move on my own once; I don't want to do it and have to worry about getting a casket back to the states too!)
Sunday, May 29
So here we are: Two weeks out from the Amakusa Triathlon. Bryan and Mike have been training at the main base indoor pool since returning from their deployment in early April, and now it's time to see their effort pay off in the open ocean!
As you know, we love beach days at Oseto Beach. It also happens to be a quiet cove without many waves, so Bryan thought it a perfect place to do a practice open water swim! So with his goggles in hand, he was ready! Thinking back to my prayers of survival, I volunteered to swim with him- so I packed my dive fins, mask and snorkel, in addition to our "diver below" blow-up sign (used for free diving, so boats can see you), the go pro (if we are eaten alive by sharks, then I'm at least getting it on film) and a pool noodle (in case he starts drowning- it's better than nothing!) Just think of me as a swimming mule covered in gear; I was taking anything I thought necessary!
After swapping watches with Bryan, so he could track his swim better, we headed out to sea! An hour later, we finished (what we thought) was a mile swim and then passed out on the beach from exhaustion!
I would say my mule-bearing days are over, but it was worth it to keep him on track and encouraged, while also getting in some snorkeling farther from shore!
After our weekend swim, Bryan immediately texted Stego. The two guys wanted to go back the following weekend for one final practice swim before the big race! Beach day? I'm in! And this time, I sent out a massive invite to our friend group inviting everyone for a beach day to start off the summer!
Saturday, June 4
So we headed back for round two of ocean swimming on Saturday, June 4th with our whole group in tow, minus Squirrel, who was on duty. The Castillos brought their inflatable kayaks, I brought all our pool floats and extra beach chairs, and the gang all met at Oseto Beach!
Now, what I haven't mentioned is that we had a get-together the night before and had a few beverages, so getting up for an early beach day was a struggle. BUT Bryan made it and was determined to get one more practice under his belt! So with Stego ready to join him, the two started their swim! Kaiti and I each took a kayak and followed the guys as their safety watchers and they killed the first lap! As we made it back to shore after the first lap, Stego says they have done nearly 3/4 of a mile. What?
Last weekend my Apple watch said one lap to the rock and back was only half a mile- so Bryan and I are shocked to realize that we swam nearly a mile and a half last week...no wonder we were so exhausted!!!! With this swim done, Bryan feels as close to ready as he's going to get! Bring on next weekend!
After their big swim, we enjoyed the rest of our sunny day sitting on the beach, swimming and surrounded by good friends! Next weekend, the big race will be here!
Friday, June 10: On the Way to Amakusa
About two days before the trip, I learned that the race was not, in fact, in Kumamoto. Instead, it was located in the remote town of Amakusa, nearly double the drive from Kumamoto and making it impossible for me to plan a day hike up the active volcano outside of Kumamoto city.
So instead, I focused my time and energy on figuring out how we were going to cut down on our drive time- because I didn't sign up for a 4 hour mountain road past said volcano. With the help of Google translate, I found a ferry that would (1) save us some money on tolls and (2) cut our time down significantly to Amakusa. So as soon as the guys got off work on Friday, Mike picked up Meg, set up the bike rack, picked us up in Hario and we were off!
The boys did get off work a little later than expected, so we weren't sure we would make the 3:45 ferry, but with a little luck and the pedal to the metal, we pulled in with 6 minutes to spare! The ferry worker measured our car and wrote *something* on a small sheet of paper and motioned for Bryan to run inside and purchase our tickets so we could make this boat. Luckily, Bryan's triathlon training paid off: he was back quickly and we boarded our boat! Amakusa here we come! (Never thought that would come out of my mouth before two days ago.)
Once we landed on the other side of Kumamoto Prefecture (NOT the city), we checked into our AirBnB that Mike booked for the group. Well, Mike is fired from ever booking a hotel unsupervised again.
As we walk in, an old Japanese lady meets us out front and begins speaking quickly in Japanese...we do the American response and awkwardly smile and stare back until she begins giving bare-minimum hand motions explaining we need to come in and fill out paperwork. We walk into our room to find out we don't have the house to ourselves- this lady lives on the second story. Awesome. We also notice the distinct smell of wet (if you have spent anytime in Japan you know wet smell= mold) and the dirty walls that Meg quickly nicknames the "poop walls." Oh joy!
With the help of more Google Translate, we figure out that this lady wants us to fill out a COVID survey and hotel registration form. Then she takes all our passports and walks off. Meg immediately thinks we are now being held hostage!
Once the forms are completed, we are finally left in peace to explore our room, the tatami room and the small kitchen we have access to for the next two nights. Lord bless this place because the beds were THIN, the tatami room was musty as hell and the kitchen floor was falling through (it was covered in rugs, but our American-sized bodies definitely sunk 4 inches if you stepped in front of the sink!) But, you know me- I always look for a bright side, and this place came with a sauna in the mold and dust-covered bathroom! What luck!
(Bryan would like to add that no, we did not use the sauna for anything more than a photo-op. If it wasn't for the big "SAUNA" lettering on top, we would have thought it some kind of medieval torture chamber.)
For dinner, we headed out to explore the "hustlin" downtown of Amakusa. With a chu hai in hand, we walked around looking for food. The first photo shows Mike and Bryan as we left 7/11 with our chu hais. The next photo is me with my chu hai in the "hoppin" downtown, where every store was closed at 7 pm on a Saturday. The third and fourth photo made us think that 7/11 may be our best option for the rest of this trip because whatever "snack" this place is offering isn't what we had in mind.
Eventually, we stumbled upon a steakhouse and figured it was worth a shot! With the help of more Google translating and pointing, we ordered a round of drinks, an appetizer of cheese and crackers, and a steak to share. Knowing Japan's quality of beef tends to be on the fattier, thinner side to what we are used to, we didn't want to run the risk of leaving this place still starving.
This "first dinner," as we came to call it, was surprisingly good! The steak was quite thin, but it was flavored really well! Our cheese and crackers was unexpected though- I definitely wasn't expecting saltines with slices of blue cheese- 100% not my jam. BUT the server was friendly and the company was fantastic!
As we continued down the abandoned streets, we found this place. What is it called? I don't know. What do they serve? We didn't have a clue. Did it have an open sign in the window? Yes, it did.
At the end of the night, we spent $50 on dinner and drinks and enjoyed a little bite of everything at this place! The food was really good and ranged from American fries to Italian spaghetti to Korean fried chicken to Japanese miso soup! Just call us cultured.
Saturday, June 11
The day before the big race, we woke up early with the boys wanting a good breakfast to "carb it up" before the race. I explained that if we struggled to find food last night, then we were really in for a challenge with breakfast at 9 am! Before heading out for food, I had to snap some pictures of our sleeping arrangements- we survived night one!
Now the focus was back to breakfast! Someone found a Mr. Donut that opened at 9 am, so we had one breakfast option- sounds like it's going to be donuts! As we pulled in, we noticed a sign out front advertising pizza too. Only in Japan would a donut shop make pizza and donuts first thing in the morning. (Or maybe it's only Americans that would order the pizza for breakfast....?)
As you look at the pictures below, you will notice my desire for pizza at 9:30 am outweighed my desire for food photos, so there's that. The donuts were made fresh and the place smelled amazing! Imagine Krispy Kreme but with a pizza oven in addition to their glass-windowed display area. *Heaven*
Have I mentioned that it's downpouring outside?! The weather was bad, so the relaxing beach day I had in mind or the hike I had found were out of the picture. As we drove back towards our AirBnB to waste the day playing cards, we saw a giant bowling pin on top of a shed.
Looks like we are bowling!
This last-minute change of plans led to an afternoon full of laughter and fun as we bowled three games! Did the gutters catch half my balls in the first game? Yep. Did I beat Bryan in the second game? Yep!
Now, back to the originally scheduled purpose of this blog: the race!
After an exciting afternoon of rainy bowling, we headed to the community center to check the boys in for the race! They got their goodie bags, attempted to translate the Japanese race-instruction booklet, and then felt all the stares from people as we walked out and headed to the car. We were way out of our comfort zone with this endeavor and the only way to handle it is with a smile and chuckle at the absurdity of the situation: completing your first ever triathlon in a foreign country.
Once we got the boys back to the AirBnB and organized for the morning's race, it was dinnertime! The boys wanted ramen; bring on the carbs!
A short drive away, Menya Ichibeni had miso ramen, soy sauce ramen, and yakisoba as dinner options. Each couple ordered a set of two ramens and we shared an order of yakisoba between the four of us. Yakisoba, we learned, is fried noodles with a giant helping of cabbage on top smothered in mayo- not what we were expecting, but the noodles underneath were good!
I tried my hand at waitressing and dumped the entire pitcher of ice in my lap. I would say this was embarrassing, but I've done this before in the Sendai airport lounge, so it's now just a "thing" I do! Bryan's reaction: complete and total embarrassment for being associated with me.
With full bellies, we headed to the race starting point for the guys to get the lay of the land before tomorrow morning. It's rainy now, but the weather calls for cloudy skies and cool temps all day tomorrow! The ocean looks calm too, so we all head back to our AirBnB with high hopes!
Tomorrow this man will run his first (and possibly final) triathlon! Goodnight!
Sunday, June 12
Bryan here for the update on how game day went! Today is finally the day I give this ol' triathlon thing a whirl. The four of us woke up around 5:00 am; Stego and I drank some coffee and ate rice balls we grabbed from 7-Eleven the night before, placed the number tattoos on our triceps, and packed the car. We got to the parking lot around 6:00 am, unpacked, and then Stego and I rode the bikes over to the main area to set up our gear in the transition area.
In the transition area, there were multiple rails where you set up your bike and all of your other equipment in a designated area based on your race number. I was 579 and Stego was 578, so we set up our bikes right next to each other. After setting up our gear, I changed into a pair of old running shorts, took off my shirt, grabbed my goggles and wet cap, then headed to the beach for the first event: the 1500 meter (0.93 miles) swim.
Before the race began, they allowed time for a warm-up swim. Stego and I opted not to warm up since it was chilly outside and we had about an hour until we were set to start; no point in being cold and wet for an hour!
So at this triathlon, they had a group of "elite" participants who went at 7:30 am. They allowed about 20 minutes to pass and then they started letting 10 people from the "general" participants go at 15-second increments. Since Stego and I were in the 570s, we didn't go until around 7:55. Our group finally got to the front of the line, the horn blew and we were off.
Katie got this video of us entering the water for our swim. If you look closely, you'll see the only ding dong not wearing a wet suit or tri suit is me; so that pudgy white dude looking like the Michelin Man taking his time to get into the water is in fact me.
The video nor the pictures do it justice, but the surf was absolutely wretched. The closer you got to the turnaround buoy, the worse it got. I may be exaggerating, but the swells looked like they were almost 2 feet high; there were times that the waves were so high I couldn't even see the buoy I was swimming towards. As whitecaps crashed in my face, I was trying to take steady breaths while attempting to swim freestyle. Now combine that with the fact that I'm surrounded by 50 people also trying to survive, kicking me in the face, and the tide is pushing back out. It was worse than I could have imagined.
As I make my way around the buoy, you'd think the waves would help push me in...wrong! The undertow was horrible and was doing its best to suck us back out. I finally made it back to shore, took 10 steps to run around the lane lines, and then had to jump right back in to do another lap.
This was easily the scariest thing I've ever done, and I've jumped out of an airplane at 13,000 feet! I was just doing whatever I could to keep my head above water and to finish! While Katie and Meg watched from the sidelines, they witnessed about 50 of the 600 participants pulled out of the entire race just because they couldn't complete the swim. One of the elite swimmers didn't make it an 8th of the way before being hauled to shore nearly unconscious. When I say the waters were rough, they were ROUGH.
After a 50-ish minute battle with the ocean, I finally made it out of the water, rinsed off quickly in one of the showers, and prepped for the bike portion of the race. I did my best to dry off with one of the towels I staged with the bike, but I was still very damp from the swim, so putting on bike shorts, a shirt, socks, and shoes was quite difficult. Katie said it took me 10 minutes to transition to bike, which is a bit of an exaggeration, but I was definitely going slow. After running my bike through the transition zone, hearing Katie and Meg cheer for me, I made it to the beginning of the bike course and was on the road.
This portion of the race is a there-and-back 40 km (24.9 miles) bike ride. The first and last part of the race was pretty tough since you had to climb a 100-meter-high hill, but the rest of the course was fairly flat with a few rolling hills. I actually really enjoyed this portion of the race.
The view of the sea was beautiful and many of the locals lined the street to cheer for the participants. I felt like a superstar having everyone clap for me as I rode by. Albeit, I couldn't understand a single thing they said, but clapping and cheering are universal. It was extremely motivating! This stretch of the race took me about 90-95 minutes; at the end, I jumped off the bike, put it back in my designated spot, and was off to start the last and most grueling portion of the race...the run.
While Mike and I were off on the bike portion, Katie and Meg repositioned from the swim-watching area to posting up right at the bike finish line! As I left for the bike portion, the girls saw the first elite guy return his bike and then take off at a full-blown sprint for the final running portion of the race. These guys were machines!
Within minutes of sitting down at the bike finish line, the girls watched as several people wiped out. Coming down that 100-meter hill, people were struggling to stop before the red penalty line. Most racers tried to hop off their bike and run alongside it to keep from losing momentum- but after riding 25 miles, their legs were not up for the change of pace, leading to full faceplants, bike flips and lots of stubbed toes/ankles/knees. It was brutal.
Luckily both Mike and I heard the girls shouting "stop before the red line!" Miraculously we finished the bike without any serious damage, but others weren't as lucky. Apparently, a Canadian had to get picked up by an ambulance after a bad bike accident...Mike rode by him as he got loaded up on a stretcher covered in blood.
While Stego and I were suffering on the bike, Katie and Meg were enjoying some chu hais near the transition zone! They were a great help to us though because they were the loudest people there cheering for us and even gave us snacks and water to keep us energized and hydrated!
The run portion of the race was 10 km (6.2 miles) and was easily the most mentally and physically taxing. When I got off the bike, it felt like my feet were made of lead. It was so difficult, especially since we were rapidly approaching the hottest part of the day. After swimming nearly a mile and biking nearly 25, running 6+ miles is the last thing I wanted to do. Fortunately I was able to get through it and finished the race!
Stego finished the race at around 3:28 and I finished just under the four-hour cutoff at 3:54! We did it! We finished! We are officially triathletes (at least the one time, not sure I'll ever do this again!) When I came across the finish line, I didn't feel so hot, but man was I relieved to be done!
The race provided us with free meal vouchers, so after we packed up our gear we headed back to the parking lot where Stego and I grabbed some Japanese curry! After enjoying our curry in the parking lot, we headed to our nearest Lawson and grabbed some drinks and snacks for the road.
Lawsons for the win!
We made it to the ferry port around 1:30 for our 2:45 ferry, and good thing, too! The line for the ferry was very long, but fortunately, we were able to make it on the next voyage! After a short 30 minute ferry and two-hour car ride to Omura, we finally stopped for dinner. We grabbed pizza at Kurusa Omuramise Pizza, where we learned it was a take-out-only restaurant, so we enjoyed pizza in the car! I'm not even going to lie...I ate an entire pizza, and I don't even feel bad about it.
After enjoying our pizzas, we headed over to Nagasaki Airport to drop off Stego and Meg. They fly to Tokyo tonight where they'll board a flight Monday morning for a celebratory trip to Singapore! We won't be far behind them as we leave Nagasaki Airport at 12:35 pm on Monday afternoon!
Next time we see Mike and Meg we will all be in SINGAPORE! Bring on the first international trip since moving to Japan!
Thanks for following along.
Yours,
Katie & Bryan
We are so proud of you B!!!! Another "Bucket List" Item you have conquered! I'm sure Katie made the best cheerleader... not only has she had many years of cheer practice and competitions... but she has perfected the ability to yell for/at you :)
We love you both and are amazed at all the adventures you have!