Spencer-US Virgin Islands

Vacation Time is only a week away!

2011-04-10T08:02:00.000-04:00

Fly to St. Louis on April 18th then on up to Seattle!

Blogging for the New Year

2011-01-26T11:02:00.003-04:00

Well I'm probably the only person reading this cause I can't see why anybody would come here when I haven't been updating. Well even if it's just for me, I'm going to try and make it a habit to write more often. I started the Power90 Fitness plan yesterday and running and swimming workouts going well. Got to get back on the bike. 8 Tuff Miles is only 5 weeks away and St. Croix Half Ironman is May 1st!

Beautiful Sunny Sunday!

2010-06-27T09:35:00.002-04:00

The sun has come out after several days of rain and gloom..... I took several weeks off of training after the "Nifty Fifty" "52" mile bike ride... So I am going to try and "slowly" ramp up the miles. Ran from the house today instead of driving and starting from Magens. It's a lot harder starting from here. The hills just to get from here up to the gate are a killer....But it was a good 5 miles.....Supposed to take the villa guests upstairs out on Happy Hour tomorrow. Hopefully the weather holds and stays nice...... Then it's time to haul Happy Hour out of the water and get ready for Coast Guard inspection!

St. Croix Triathlon!

2010-05-06T10:25:00.003-04:00

Great but hot day in St. Croix. Completed my first ever triathlon. I entered in the short course.... Sprint distance of half mile swim, 8 mile bike, and 4 mile run. finished 5 male and 7th overall...... 96 people entered the race.

Next up is the Florida International Triathlon in Sarasota on May 15th....

2010-04-27T19:43:00.002-04:00

Working on the side of the hill...... building some wall to help terrace the hill for a nice path to our back stairs and also some landscape areas.....pictures to follow tomorrow. I head to St. Croix on Thursday afternoon......I'm very excited about my first ever triathlon.......!!!!!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

2010-04-25T07:34:00.002-04:00

A beautiful morning!!! We got a group check into Aqua Vista yesterday and I have to deal with a few small issues over there today. We have a "floor buffer" rented for the weekend so I am going to be spending my day up in the villa cleaning the floors in the living and dinning room.

Update - 4/23/10

2010-04-23T11:18:00.003-04:00

Training is going well for my first ever triathlon. I'll be doing the sprint distance at the St. Croix International Triathlon on May 2nd. I have a few friends doing the Half Iron Man distance which I hope to compete in next year. Biking has been going well with my new bike that I purchased at the beginning of the year. I'v ridden with the "Fortress Bike Crew" a few times now.... It has helped me stay motivated......

This mornings workout:

biked 9 miles and ran 6.3 miles

Rain, Rain Go Away!

2010-03-09T08:19:00.002-04:00

5 days of rain here in the VI. Feel bad for the guests upstairs..... Oh well. I will do a full 8 Tuff Miles review with video and pictures here soon. I am in full Triathlon training now.! Less than 8 till weeks till the St. Croix Triathlon.!!! I am only doing the Sprint version. Hopefully next year I will be up for the Half Ironman 70.3 and "The Beast".

Less than a Week till the "8 Tuff Miles"

2010-02-22T09:05:00.002-04:00

Today is Monday and the 8 Tuff Miles is this Saturday (Feb. 27, 2010). I ran the full course yesterday and didn't give everything I had in me and finished in 1 hr. 12 min. Last year was my best time at 1hr. 8min. 10 sec. We'll see what happens on race day and what the weather conditions will be like. Yesterday was beautiful .....just stopped raining before we started and stayed overcast and cool the whole way. We were even in the clouds at the top. Rob, Victoria and I will be taking the car ferry over to St. John on Friday and staying at Maho Bay the night before the race and after... Should make the whole experience a little more relaxing..........

Magens Bay Today

2010-02-06T08:06:00.001-04:00

Swim Against the Tide swim for Breast Cancer at Magens Bay today and then fun beach day with the family.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-23T09:41:00.002-04:00

Hello to all and Happy Holidays......

It's been a crazy rushed time here at the villa. We had a few weeks without guest so I've been doing some minor projects which always comes down to the wire.....

So Williams family of 4 gets in around 4pm and lets us know that Dollar rent a car does not have a car for them, even though they have a "confirmation" number.... Dollar hooks them with some other no name rental car company and finally gets them a car and I meet them at the dairy around 6 pm..... Get them checked into the villa and they decide to head up to "Kokopeli" for some pizza and then do some shopping at Cost-U-Less. Well we get a call about 9:30 pm and they have had a flat tire. Car is packed with groceries and it's dark out, they didn't take one of the 4 flash lights that we supply them with in the villa either... So I jump in the car with a can of fix a flat and go to the rescue. I find them in the dark on the side of the road over by Mahogany Run Golf Course. Fix a flat runs out all over the pavement. Whole inside of the tire's sidewall is gone. We transfer all the groceries to my car and find the spare tire but no lug wrench or jack..... We then unload all the groceries from my truck so we can get to the lug wrench which in under the groceries and then it turns out that it doesn't fit their car anyways.... So I take 2 of them with the groceries back to the villa, grab 2 other lug wrenches from other vehicles but guess what? ......they don't fit this tire either.... So I put the other two in the car and we leave the rental car on the side of the road and head back to the villa...I then pour a very large rum and egg nog!. It is now next day at 10:20 am so I am hoping to drop them off at the car where the rental car company will be there to help......To be continued....

Tis the Season.....

2009-12-04T09:02:00.003-04:00

Well the Christmas season is upon us. Hopefully I can get some last minute internet shopping done today so the stuff gets here by Christmas. My injuries are not as bad. The lower ab pain is almost non-existant. I've put myself on a half marathon 13 week schedule to get ready for the 8 Tuff Miles Feb. 27th. I'm incorporating yoga and swimming as cross training. I hope that Santa brings me a bike for Christmas so I can start training for a Triathlon this next year.

Well todays workout was an easy one. 2 mile run @ 9:00 min mile and 500 meter swim both down at Magens Bay. It is a nice place to be able to train.......compared to the "northerners"

OOPPS...... forgot about my blog.

2009-10-25T08:50:00.002-04:00

Well not like anybody is actually reading this....but yes I let my blog slip a little after returning from the Irishman delivery. It seems like everything is about Facebook now. And don't get me wrong, I love Facebook and think it's great. But I think the blog is still needed. So I hope to get back to it and keep this and Facebook updated.....

Back Home in St. Thomas

2009-07-11T08:53:00.002-04:00

Hello All:
I have made it back to St. Thomas. 22 hours of travel from Europe. Palma de Mallorca to Barcelona, Spain to Atlanta, GA and finally back in St. Thomas, VI. I'm beat and we have guests checking into the villa today. I have put another video up in my gallery from the voyage between the Azores and Palma de Mallorca. You can see all my videos at http://gallery.me.com/threepalmsvilla. Unfortunatley, I had to come back before we completed the voyage. After "stranded" almost 2 weeks in Palma it was time for me to come home. Palma was great and i'm going to post more pictures and videos soon. We had several mechanical problems and everything is fixed now. Irishman with Harold and the rest of the crew have finally left and now heading towards Trieste, Italy instead of Croatia. I had to look on the map but it's actually really close to Croatia. It's right up there by Venice. Not sure why the owner changed his mind, just got a quick email from Harold yesterday. That's it for now. More later.....

Update From Palma, Mallorca.

2009-07-01T10:07:00.004-04:00

Greetings All.

We arrived here in Palma last Tuesday, June 23rd. We have had no or very poor internet here at the Marina, so I apologize about not getting an update out. We had a mechanical problem with our engine exhaust that had to be taken care of and of course it has taken must longer than we thought. We are finally getting ready to leave here on the last leg of our journey. This island of Mallorca off the coast of Spain is beautiful. We rented a couple of cars and toured part of the western coastline. I have posted a few picutres of some our hot spots.

Harold surprised us with tickets to a musical last night. "Come Fly with Me" It was described as "combining the legendary music of Frank Sinatra with the visual spectacle of Cirque du Soliel. It was really great. http://www.comeflywithme.com/eng/show/thetheatre.html.

I should have a video posted tomorrow highlighting our sail from the Azores to Palma.

Our trip from here on to Croatia should only take us about 6 days....

Spencer

Delivery Map

2009-06-29T08:19:00.002-04:00

View Croatia Delivery in a larger map

Spencer Update 6/20 ...

2009-06-21T07:55:00.003-04:00

Saturday 6/20/09 5:00 pm

Position:

36 degrees 09 minutes North

07 degrees 39 minutes West

Approx. 100 west of The Strait of Gibraltar

Hello All:

All is well here on Irishman...The smells coming out of the galley have us all waiting in anticipation for dinner. It's crazy how fast things can change out here. Less than 48 hours ago we had our foul weather gear on and Tropical storm force winds. Today we are laying out on the deck sun tanning.

We are about 100 miles west of the Strait of Gibraltar. Wind and seas have almost totally died and we are motor sailing at around 9 knots. During our rough conditions on Thursday our engine starting making some strange noises. Kind of like it was struggling. Yesterday it actually did die on us a couple of times. We have figured out that we obtained some very dirty fuel in the Azores. We have filters that trap anything so it won't get into the engine but these filters are becoming clogged much faster than normal causing fuel not to flow to the engine. The rough conditions have probably stirred up all the junk that usually settles to the bottom of the tanks. Hopefully as long as we keep these filters clean we should be fine.

We are eating very well out here with our Italian chef Stefano. Last night was had roasted chicken and potatoes. Lunch today was stuffed portbello mushrooms and a nice salad. Of course Harold and I have plenty of hot sauce on board that we put on almost everything.... usually without insulting the chef.

The ship traffic has increased tremendously as we approach the Strait of Gibraltar. Tonight is going to be a busy night watching the radar and avoiding these hudge cargo ships.

For our Trivia question on 6/17/09, the winner is Michael Roach in Arizona that correctly defined the "Horse Lattitudes". Rob in St. Thomas was disqualified for being way smarter than anybody else I know..... Just kidding ... Rob, you win a T-shirt as well. As for Michael Roach, I think I still have a St. Louis Cardinals World Series Championship shirt in my closet for you!!!

Trivia Question #2:

The northern county of Prekmura in Croatia is famous or kown for what?

That's all for now on Irishman.......

Spencer

Spencer Update 6/18 ... Three Sheets to the Wind!

2009-06-19T10:44:00.007-04:00

Thursday, 6/18/09

6:00pm position:

36 deg. 56 min. North,

15 deg. 27 min. west

Is was nice to get some emails out here. Thank you very much.

10:00am

This morning wind and seas started increasing. Mid day we had gusts at around 30 mph and seas at 6 to 8 feet. Last night before dark we had reefed or shortened our mainsail down about 20%. Just now we took down the forwad most sail, the big jib and and put up the smaller "stay sail" so we wouldn't be over powered.

1:45pm

Winds gusting to 36 mph. We're plowijng thru the seas which are building- 8 to 10 feet. It's getting pretty difficult to move around

the boat.

3:00pm

We have reefed the mainsail down to about 50% and dropped the mizzen sail (one in the back). Wind and seas continuing to build.

4:00pm

Winds are up to 42 knots or over 50 mph. We have dropped the forward staysail and are sailing with double reefed mainsail alone.

4:30

It can't get too much worse than this.... We have lightning and winds up to 60 mph. Crazy how it can go from beautiful to tropical storm force winds in less than 24 hours.

5:00 pm

Looks like the worst is over... Everybody is a little wet an cold but in a smaller more exposed boat it could of been muuch worse.

What a crazy day.....

Stefano made some butternut squash soup for dinner with fresh baked bread. We are all a little cold and wet. It was very good. (not quite as good as Victoria's though!)

Then to Victoria on Friday 6/19/09:

It was a crazy day yesterday..... And then on top of all that in the middle of the night our engine died as the winds were heading us and dying. We lost several hours with the engine down and trying to figure things out. Looks like we probably got bad fuel in the Azores and it's clogging up the filters. All is well this morning as I write this (Friday, 6/19/09).

Horse Latitudes

2009-06-17T09:38:00.003-04:00

(Victoria posting for Spencer) To answer Spencer's question, our friend Rob writes, according to Wikipedia ...

The term horse latitudes supposedly originates from the days when Spanish sailing vessels transported horses to the West Indies. Ships would often become becalmed in mid-ocean in this latitude, thus severely prolonging the voyage; the resulting water shortages would make it necessary for crews to throw their horses overboard.

On the other hand, the term might be derived from the "dead horse"ritual, a practice in which the seaman would parade a straw-stuffed effigy of a horse around the deck before throwing it overboard. Seamen were often paid partly in advance before a long voyage (see Beating a dead horse),and the "dead horse" was this period of time (usually a month or two). The ceremony was to celebrate having worked off the "dead horse" debt. As European west bound shipping would reach the subtropics at about the time the "dead horse" was worked off, the region became associated with the ceremony.

I've also edited the Hurricane Spencer Tracking Chart ...

Click Here to access the Tracking Chart

Trip Summary & We can get eMail

2009-06-17T08:41:00.005-04:00

(Victoria posting ... I received this email from Spencer today)

Update: 6/17/09 Wednesday 1:35 am
Position:
37 degrees 47 minutes North
23 degrees 01 minute West
664 miles west of the Strait of Gibraltar

Hello:
We finally have an email link here on Irishman!!!!!!!!!!!!
IRISHMAN1@skyfile.com ("spencer" in the subject line)

Quick Review:
Left St. Martin on 6/2/09 (Tuesday). We had a few days of very good sailing weather. As we got further north the wind started to die. They call this area out in the Atlantic the "Horse Lattitudes". Not sure why, but the first person to find out and email me back wins a
T-shirt!!!!!!!! It was dead calm out here for a few days. Not even a ripple on the water on June 6th. We caught 3 Tuna and 1 Mahi Mahi that were prepared wonderfully by Stefano our chef. The freshest tuna sushi every!

There are six of us on board so we have a 2 hour watch schedule. Each person is on watch for two hours and then on Standby for another 2 hours in case the watch person needs any assistance. Of course everybody is up and ready in case more help is needed. We have an autopilot so we don't have to self steer the boat. It's pretty easy. It's all computerized so we just keep an eye on the wind, when there is wind, and adjust sails when needed. Other than that we monitor all the gauges. We have a generator running and usually the main engine to help keep our speed up when the wind isn't strong enough.

Usually the biggest choice to make during watch is which ipod to plug into the dock and what songs to listen to. We have a big screen TV down below and tons of movies. Everyone of course has tons of reading material as well. I have brought with me all my home movies from the past 10 years. I am in the process of importing them all into my computer and editing them down. It's been great watching them as I import them.

So back to day to day life on board.... I have the 12 noon to 2 pm watch, then standby watch from 2pm to 4pm. Then I'm back on at 12 midnight to 2am and standby from 2am to 4am. I've usually been getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep after dinner before my midnight watch and then sleeping from 4am till 8:30am. Everybody falls into their routine and it has worked well with no conflicts. We saw the lights of the Azores around midnight on Saturday June 13, 2009. We finally got anchored around 4am local time.

We had a great but short visit in the Azores. We were in the town of Horta on the island of Faial. It's a Portuguese island but most people speak English. None of us slept on Saturday night as we were approaching the island. We anchored out Saturday morning and waited to get on the fuel dock which didn't happen untill about 1:30 in the afternoon. We got the boat cleaned up, had a few drinks and went out to dinner. Everybody got some much needed sleep. Sunday Morning I got up and ran 5 miles. It was a great way to explore a new place. We arranged to rent a couple of cars and went on an island tour mid-day. It was great. I hope to post some video and pictures when we get to Palma which should be on Monday.

Right now we have little to no wind so we are motoring east at around 9.5 knots. In case you didn't know a knot is about 1.2 miles per hour. So 9.5 knots is about 11.4 miles per hour. We saw a very large school of dolphins yesterday. There must of been over a hunderd of then swimming and playing along the boat. Hopefully we got some good pictures.

Well that's it for now on Irishman.

Here's our email address:

IRISHMAN1@skyfile.com

Just put "Spencer" in the subject line and I should get it. No pictures
or attachments please.

I'll hopefully be able to check my regular email
(spencer@sailhappyhour.com) sometime around Monday...

Please forward this to anybody that you think might be interested.

Regards,

Spencer

Irishman video #1 posted

2009-06-15T16:03:00.007-04:00

Hello all
We are leaving the Azores and heading for the Strait of Gibralter and on to Palma, Spain.....

Here is the link for the first video..... hope everyone can view it....

Click Here For Irishman Atlantic Passage Video - Part 1

(Victoria Edit ...) Be patient .. it's a 10 minute video, so it may take some time to load in your browser. Go have dinner, mix a cocktail, and come back. It took mine over an hour to load, before I could watch it without interruption .... Awesome photography & terrific crew bios ...

June 14, 2009- Spencer's update from Irishman

2009-06-15T05:45:00.003-04:00

All is well with Irishman. We are in Horta on the island of in the Azores. We have traveled approximately 2500 miles. We are just getting ready to leave for the Strait of Gibralter and onto Palma in Spain. I think our boats email is up and running.....I will post the new email address soon. If you do email please do not include pictures or attachments. We are using a satellite connection so text only says the boss.

The Azores

Update from Shirley

2009-06-11T07:21:00.004-04:00

(Victoria Posting ...) I heard from Captain Harold's wife Shirley by email last night, and she wrote:

"Hi Victoria! I heard from Harold today. They are having a great trip. Very little wind and uneventful... unless you count home-made cannelloni and tiramisu eventful! They are enjoying the new chef. As I'm sure you know, internet is down. They expect to be in the Azores on Saturday where they will refuel before continuing on to Palma and then to Dubrovnik. I hope you are doing well. All the best, Shirley."

Hopefully Spencer doesn't like the new chef's cooking better than mine! While Spencer's not a practicing vegetarian, since I cook most of the family meals, he doesn't eat much animal protein at all. Wonder how his digestive system is doing ... I'm happy at least the chef is Italian, so he might be getting food other than beef wellington and chicken cordon blu. Without the ability to run, I'm sure he'll have a few pounds to work off when he gets home! He said he would probably return to his yoga practice while on board to stay loosened up. He's been fighting some type of a muscle pull in the hernia area, so hopefully the rest will do him good, as he just couldn't seem to go a week without "a light jog" against doctor's orders.

Hopefully I'll hear from Spencer on Saturday so I can update with a first hand account. I wonder if the Azore's have a 3G network for his iPhone?

So what do those coordinates mean anyhow?

2009-06-06T13:50:00.008-04:00

(Victoria posting ...) Got a call from Bill & Teri who asked for a bit of help deciphering Spencer's coordinates. For those of you who don't regularly look at a map to track hurricanes (or boats), I've posted a Hurricane Spencer Tracking Chart out on the web, which I'll update as he calls in. I'm not sure what the minutes mean, but I'm sure this makes sense to the sailors out there ;-)

Click Here to access the Tracking Chart

St. Martin is 18.2N63.1W

Spencer today is at 29N55W

The Azores are 38N28W
The Canary Islands are 28N15W
Gibraltar is 36N6W
Croatia is in the Eastern Hemisphere, 45N15E

Victoria got a call from Spencer!

2009-06-06T09:04:00.004-04:00

(Victoria posting ...) To my surprise, I got a phone call from Spencer this morning around 8:45AM. It's unbelievable that a boat in the middle of the ocean can make phone calls at the mere cost of $1.50 per minute! We had a nice 10 minute chat.

He was calling to say that the Irishman email is down for some reason ... They are working on it, but not certain how quickly it will be fixed. Dave McDermott had just emailed me to say that the emails were bouncing, and I was just starting to look into it when Spencer called. He must have been reading our minds.

He asked me to post their coordinates, which are:

29 degrees, 58 minutes North

55 degrees, 57 minutes West

They are motor sailing along at 10 knots, and are making about 240 miles per day. He said that the seas were fairly rough the first few days, but are now just as flat as a lake. He said it's beautiful, as they are just surrounded by serene and sunny waters. I wonder if that's how Christopher Columbus must have felt on his Journey? I suppose the earth might appear flat from that perspective.

He caught a cold from Harold, but is on the upswing. He had taken along some old videos, and has been spending time importing them onto his new computer into iMovie. So he actually has me and Apache along for the ride (and Jimmy Cat too!). It'll be fun to see those videos when he gets home.

He said he'll try to call again, to keep us all posted. Lots of love to all.

A Few More Photos

2009-06-02T11:31:00.005-04:00

Here's a few more pictures before we get out of regular internet range.

This is the full crew on the trip.... (but not the little girl in pink)

Left to right: Stefano (chef), Richard (I know him from living in St. Thomas years ago), Kirsty (full time first mate), Dean (Newport area and very experienced sailor), Spencer, Captain Harold.

Me at the top of the Mast......about 115 feet up....fixing some lines and lights.

Harold on the Stern

2009-06-02T11:02:00.003-04:00

Our fearless leader....Captain Harold Moyer!!

Finally leaving St. Martin.....

2009-06-02T10:03:00.003-04:00

I flew from St. Thomas to St. Martin last Thursday (5/28). We were supposed to leave on Saturday but we had some mechanical issues that are now fixed. The weather looks pretty good and we are heading towards the Azores which is about 2500 miles.

swimming lessons at magns bay

2009-05-16T09:52:00.000-04:00

I'm down here at beautiful Magens Bay for swimming lessons. Yes I said swimming lessons. It's sponsored my the red cross and it's a 5 week course that meets every saurday morning. Now I do know how to swim..... But I'm not an effeciant swimmer. I'm really good with a beer or bushwacker in my hand but anything farther than about 30 yards and I'm dead. So hopefully this will help me. I would love to be able to do a triathlon sometime. I'll update my thoughts on this later.

hello from Buck Island

2009-04-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

A beautiful day out on Happy Hour with the villa guests. We're heading over to Turtle Cove and then over to Water Island for lunch at Heidi's Honeymoon Grill. If anyone has seen The Curious Case of Bemjamin Button, one of the scenes was filmed there.

Mobile Blogging from here.

hello from Buck Island

2009-04-09T11:54:00.000-04:00

Mobile Blogging from here.

Update

2009-03-27T08:27:00.002-04:00

Spring is upon us I think...Well down here in St. Thomas there isn't much change. And after talking to my parents in St. Louis last night, I'm not sure if it really is here. Snow forecasted for the weekend. Burr..... Well I do need to say "Go Mizzou" That would be for the Missouri Tigers basketball team that beat Memphis in the NCAA tournament last night to move on to the final 8.

Well lots has happend down here since my last update. I'm going to do a whole seperate post concerning the recent "8 Tuff Miles" race... Stay tuned for that one.

The wonderful "Pirate Harbor Tour" that I was working for during the past year shut down for various financial reasons. It was a fun job while it lasted..... I mean to get paid to dress up like a pirate everyday and drive a boat!

I have planted a bunch of new seeds down in my workshop and I hope to have a wonderful new vegge and herb gardern thriving soon......if I can keep the iguanas and birds away.

More to come........

Driving the Pirate Harbor Tour boat

2009-02-24T16:02:00.001-04:00

Mobile Blogging from here.

Sarasota Half Marathon!!!!

2009-02-22T10:27:00.002-04:00

New P.R. for the Half Marathon!!! Sarasota Half Marathon. Great race!

13.1 miles
1hr. 42 min. 45 seconds.
7:50 min per mile pace
123rd out of 1498 runners
13th in my age group....

Now the 8 Tuff Miles race is this Saturday.

first update from the iPhone

2009-01-31T22:38:00.000-04:00

I hope this works. My iBook crashed yesterday so I am relying only on my iPhone for Internet and email.
8 tuff miles training run this morning, (hills, hills, hills) villa check in, dinner and concert at UVI with Victoria's parents. This has been a long day!

Running Hills

2009-01-22T11:07:00.002-04:00

Well I haven't been very good at updating my blog. I am going to try very hard this year to update at least once a week.
When I run I wear a Garmin 305. I just love this thing. I feel naked without it. It really is one of the best training aids that I have ever used. If you are a runner you need one. Below is a shot of one of my usual runs. I start down at the end of Magen's Bay and head out past my house towards the end of Peterborg Point. It's a 5.27 mile loop that has some killer hills. Well that's all for now. I have to get to Home Depot.

Happy New Year!!!!

2009-01-05T17:05:00.001-04:00

Busy Season is back here in St. Thomas

2008-11-05T08:53:00.002-04:00

Well all the cruise ships are starting to come back in and things are picking up down here. We had one close call with hurricane Omar but that was all and no direct hit here and no damage. My running suffered a bit this summer but I am back in training mode!

Race & Trip Update- Finally

2008-08-13T10:55:00.006-04:00

Hello All:
Well I have finally gotten around to updating my Blog. After getting back from California we had taken a bad surge of power and we had some major problems to deal with. Lots of outlets, switches and appliances were out. We are finally almost back up. Still waiting for 2 boards for the 2 dish washers that got fried.

Anyways on to the trip........

First of all......To all of you that helped me raise money towards my goal with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation- Thank You!!! I surpassed my goal of $2500.00!!! I met some great people out there. There were 500 of us running for the Crohn's Colitis "Team Challenge". Collectivly we raised over 2 million dollars. The night before the race we had a pasta dinner party with everybody. If was very informative and motivating. This is a wonderful organization with a great vision seeking a cure.

We had a great time during the week leading up to the race. It was Victoria, Jon and Myself staying at a families house in Santa Rosa while they stayed at our place in St. Thomas. It worked out really nice. We hit about 3 or 4 wineries a day. We took it pretty easy and rested the Saturday before the race.

Jon and I woke up on race day around 4:30 am. We had to drive from Santa Rosa down to the Sonoma Square which was about a 30 minute drive. From there we boarded a bus that took us up to the start line in Napa right by the Cuvasion and Domain Carneros wineries. It was COLD! I think it was in the 40's and never got out of the 50's. After we got started it was fine........ There was one hill in the first mile which wasn't much of anything even though the race description called it "butt burner hill". After training down here in St. Thomas hills take on a different meaning. After that the terrain was almost totally flat with just small rolling hills. And also after training in the heat down here I had so much more energy in the cool weather. My plan was to try and keep my pace right around 9:00 minutes per mile. I was feeling so good that I just went with what felt right which was a little faster. So here were my mile split times.

1- 8:16
2- 8:23
3- 7:59
4- 8:08
5- 8:30
6- 8:08
7- 8:13
8- 8:02
9- 8:23
10- 8:05
11- 8:20
12- 8:23
13- 8:12

I wasn't real consistent. I think when I ran right around an 8 min mile I would tell myself that I should slow a bit so I wouldn't burn out by the end. I think that might be why my splits were a bit up and down.

The course was beautiful. It was pretty overcast with clouds and fog. The course ran through all the back roads and through all the vineyards. Water stations were set up about every other mile. Great crowd support also. They really kept me motivated and moving fast. The finish was right down Broadway street in the the town of Sonoma ending at the town square. As you crossed the finish line they were announcing your name and where you were from.... Tons of people lined the streets. It was really great.

Ok, so here's how I did. Like I said above, I was shooting for right around a 9:00 min. per mile average pace which would have given me a time of about 1 hour and 58 minutes. I finished in 1 hour 48 minutes and 46 seconds which was an 8:18 min. per mile pace. I was 226th out of 2500 runners and 20th in my age group. (40-44). Not bad for my first Half Marathon. Jon also did great . He finished in 2 hours 17 min. Unbelievable considering he hadn't been training quite as hard as others.......

So we got are finishing medals and then are souvenir wine glasses. It was then wine tasting in the square for a couple of hours and then off to Taco Bell to replenish all those calories that we burned.......Ha

So now I guess I'm looking for a full (26.2 mile) marathon to do for next year..... why? I'm not sure. If I figure it out I'll let you know......

Wine Country!!!!

2008-07-18T10:50:00.003-04:00

Well it's great out here in California...... We flew into LA last Thursday. Had dinner with my cousin Tim and wife Colleen. It was great to meet up. Then it was up to Oakland California on Saturday where we met up with Big Jon. We've been hitting a few wineries every day and it's been great. The house here in Santa Rosa is wonderful.. The Schafers are staying at our place in St. Thomas. A wonderful Home Exchange. Weather has been wonderful. Cool or cold at night and perfect during the day.

I've been running just enough. Jon and I met up with the Team Challenge group from the Crohn's and Colitis foundation last Sunday. We had a training run and got to run across the Golden Gate Bridge...!!! It was great.

The race is Sunday morning! We have to be out of the house around 5am to drive to Sonoma and then catch a bus to the starting line. I also made my fund raising goal!!!! Thanks to everyone that helped. I really appreciate it. !!!!

Well we have a few winery tours starting at 10:00 am this morning, so gotta run.

Vacation and Half Marathon are right around the corner

2008-06-25T08:49:00.002-04:00

Just a little over 2 weeks till we fly to California!!!!! Time has flown by. My training for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon has been going pretty well. I've had some slight knee pain so I haven't been pushing it as hard as I would like. I did have a nice 10 mile run on Saturday right at a 9 min per mile pace. With the tempatures a lot cooler out there and the course relatively flat, I should be fine.

I've had some great support on my Team Challenge donation page. Thank you all very much!!

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-15T09:44:00.002-04:00

Well my cat gave me a rub and a meow so that was my happy father's day...... We did have a 2 mile race in French Town this morning. It was pretty hot and I have been training for the longer distances lately. This 2 mile was like a sprint. I got third place out of about 13 runners. Not a good turn out.....oh well. Of course the 2 guys that beat me were in high school so not bad for a old guy in his 40's.....

A few extra Pics from the Cellar/ Bunk Room Project.

2008-06-08T17:22:00.003-04:00

A few more shots. Wine Cellar ceiling partially painted. Walls to be painted soon. The Yellow stuff on the floor is a mesh that you put down before you tile. Help the mortar stick. Inside the sliding door will be the bunk room... Sorry no pics yet 'cause there isn't anything in there but dirt and rocks.........

Wine Cellar and "Bunk Room" Project"

2008-06-08T17:07:00.003-04:00

I wish I could say I was just laying on the beach and sipping pina colladas all day but that is not the case. For several years now below our apartment lies the shed/ store room. Next to that has always been the 10' x 10' space for the wine cellar. Well it has gone from an idea to almost finished. And next to the wine cellar was another area used to collect junk...... Well now that will be for the "bunk room" for unexpeted family or friends that need a place to crash when the upstairs is booked, which is almost always. (It will be too small to be called a bedroom) Rates will be posted later and no longer stays than a couple of days are permitted......:-)

Starting framing of wine cellar walls with moisture barrier.

Wine Cellar front framing.

Wine Cellar. Digging out dirt. Preparing back wall footer.

Walls up and mortared. Rocks filled in and sealed.

Out side walls morterd, door in place. Extra storage to left of cellar.

Bad Spencer

2008-06-08T09:18:00.002-04:00

Well I have no excuses for not updating my blog. I have been running some but not enough of that either. My friend Jon was in town for the last three weeks which did change up my usual routine. I ended up drinking more Bloody Mary's in the morning.....ha.... We did get a few runs in which was nice. I'm heading down to work on Happy Hour's engine so I will make a better entry with pictures soon........

Update........

2008-05-07T09:11:00.004-04:00

Well this has not been a good week for running. My right knee has been bothering me. I had been working on the inside of our new storage shed which is out side under the new bathroom that we put in for the villa last year. The hill is pretty steep and I think I pulled something. Nothing bad but a little irritating. I did run 4 miles this morning so I'm feeling better. Only 10 weeks and 4 days till the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon. I will be ready! I do still need help with contribution support. Thank you to those that have donated on the site and also sent in checks. If you are able and willing, please click on the link below: http://www.active.com/donate/napa08northerncalifo/spencerdickey

Victoria and I have been working on the wine cellar and also the temporary spare bedroom. The temporary spare bedroom will hopefully become our new master bathroom for us this summer. But for now it's great for friend and guests when we are booked upstairs......

Poured footer for back wall of wine cellar

Framing up the wine cellar. Moisture barrier and insullation.

Old back storage room in our apartment turns into temporary guest bedroom.

Carnival in St. Thomas

2008-04-22T10:42:00.004-04:00

Well it's Carnival time in St. Thomas which means traffic, bad parking and nothing gets done. Oh well. It's been a while since my last post. It's been pretty busy. We had the Run for the Homeless 5K on April 15th. My parents were in and came down to the UVI soccer field to watch. I finished first place in the Men's Division. There is a female named Ruth Ann that is Olympic caliber that I couldn't beat in my dreams....Anyways great race.

I made a very quick trip up to Sarasota Florida to deliver a cat to a friend. I wanted to try and run a race the morning after I got in but didn't get in until after midnight so decided not to race. The Carnival Mile is coming up this weekend and that should be a nice fast challenge.

Sunday Road Race- "All Terrain 10K"

2008-03-30T11:00:00.002-04:00

Up at 5:30am this morning for the All Terrain 10K at the National Parks dock in Red Hook here on St. Thomas. We had a pretty good showing of people including 2 of the "Hot Shots" from St. John with one of them being Jeremy Zuber the 4 time winner of the 8 Tuff Miles. Anyways, we got started a little late. Around 7:30 instead of 7:00am and it was getting really hot mid way through the race. I would call it moderate hills. Nothing too long but we also had to run on trails and the sandy beach for a while. All in all a great race. My time was 47:54 or an 8:17 min. per mile pace. My Garmin GPS watch said we were only 5.79 miles instead of the 6.21 miles that it was supposed to be......Oh well..

The Flu is the Pits

2008-03-28T10:54:00.002-04:00

Well this past 4 days has not been fun. I guess I got the Flu. Cold sweats, chills, fever, no appitite. I lost 4 pounds without running at all...not good. I'm not back to 100% this morning but I felt good enough to get out and go for a run. I'm still a little dizzy and don't quite have all my energy back but I want to try and run the "All Terrain 10K" this Sunday. All family and friends are gone for now. It was a busy couple weeks and I didn't get much running in at all. My parents are coming in next week but it should be a nice relaxed visit. The big picture now is to train for the Napa Sonoma Half Marathon in July. So I will be upping my milage over these next couple of months.....

MapMyRun.com

2008-03-27T21:35:00.002-04:00

Well I just tried mapping one of my normal runs with www.mapmyrun.com. It's looks like i'm swimming part of this but I'm really not. I think if you click on the "view this route in MayMyRun" and click on sat view it will look normal.........

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/virgin-islands,-u.s./st-thomas/1149267332"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Magens- Peterborg Stone Circle Loop&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/virgin-islands,-u.s./st-thomas"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Runs in St Thomas, Virgin Islands, U.S.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T22:57:00.002-04:00

Hello All:
A wonderful day here in St. Thomas on Easter Sunday. I had a great 5+ mile run this morning. Did my normal Magens Bay out Peterborg Point to the stone circle and back loop. Took it pretty easy and still ran a 8:46 pace. Great run with some killer hills. I have to be getting into better shape running these hills. I have a trip on my sailboat Happy Hour with some repeat guest in the morning so time to get some sleep and hopefully a quick flat run on the waterfront in the morning before the sail.

Big Waves here on the north side of St. Thomas

2008-03-20T10:08:00.003-04:00

Well that storm that came through Atlanta and the east coast a few days ago reached all the way down here with huge seas. We have 15 to 20 waves breaking on the rocks below us. We are about 150 feet up the cliff and the spray is reaching all the way up to the house. Pretty crazy. We haven't been in this house for a direct hit of a hurricane and even though it would be pretty dramatic, I'm not hoping to see it any time soon.

My running has suffered these last few weeks but I think my body needed the break. Lots of family and friends have been in town so I have tons of excuses. I also accidentally kicked a rock last week and cut a toe on my left foot. Not bad but couldn't run on it till today. I have the "All Terrain 10K" coming up a week from Sunday. (March 30). Should be a fun run out on the east end by the National Parks dock.

My parents are also coming in soon. (April 3rd) It'll be nice since they haven't been down in over 2 years.

Update

2008-03-09T07:53:00.002-04:00

Well I took a few weeks off after the 8 Tuff Miles..... I got in a couple runs but needed the rest. We finished the marble tile in our lower unit at the villa where we live and that took about a week and I moved thousands of pounds of tile and mortar mix. So I have been getting plenty of exercise. We had 8 guests check in the villa last night but ended up being very late because of mechanical problems and the bad weather on the east coast. They were supposed to get in around 4pm but didn't land until 10 pm and we didn't get them out the the villa and checked in until 11:30. Because of this, my run this morning has been postponed till tomorrow morning........

Today is going to be a relaxing day

8 Tuff Miles Update!

2008-02-25T06:52:00.004-04:00

Finish line photo- I had nothing left in the tank.

Getting off the ferry heading to the start.

Cruz Bay before the start

Race director Peter Alter: the man that puts it all together!
Thanks Peter!

TJ and me at the finish!

WOW!!!
What a day!
I got a pretty good nights sleep on Friday before the race. Went to bed around 10 pm. Apache, our cat thought I should get up at 4am instead of 5am.... Oh well. So up a little after 4, stretch, make a lite smoothie, finish up the playlist for ipod and out the door a little before 6am to catch the 6:30am ferry over to St. John. Ferry was packed but I got an isle seat so I could stretch the legs a little. I picked up my number at the table. I was #70 for finishing overall in that place last year. Top 100 get to start in the front coral and get out with a clean start. That is nice. Weather was great. 75 degrees, partly cloudy. I felt pretty good. Started out a little fast but that first mile hill puts you in your place fast. I pretty much just ran my race and didn't worry about other people. There was an incredible 8 year old boy that had beat me in the training runs that I kept my eye on and did finally get by him about 2 miles in. We had a pretty strong rain shower come about halfway through the race. It was actually pretty nice but made the road a little slippery. My goal was to get to the 5.3 mile mark with a pace of 9 to 9:30 min per mile which i did. I was about a 9:06. From there it's 3 miles down hill. I pushed it a little hard from the top of Bordeaux on down into Coral Bay. My Garmin watch had me at a 5:29 pace for a little. That was a little fast but I was just trying to relax and flow with the hills. I was trying to run that downhill section around a 7 min per mile pace. I think it probably averaged out to about that. By the time I got to a half mile before the finish I was spent. Nothing left. And that last half mile flattens out and actually slopes back uphill just slightly. And the wind had picked up against us with more approaching rain. Anyways, I dug deep and finished strong. Last year I ran a 1:15:20 which was a 9:00 min/mile pace. I just wanted to beat that.....

1:08:32 finish time- 8:11 min per mile pace.
35 overall out of 800 runners
30 among males
5 in age group of 40-44

Post race party was great. Band was playing and we all had a great time. I ran into TJ from Illinois who inspired me to start this blog. Peter the race director had put a link to his blog on the front page of the race web site. So headed to Skinny Legs for lunch and beers around noon with a lot of the other racers. They always video tape the race and show it on the big screen tvs at the bar. So everyone gets there few seconds of fame.

After that it was back to Cruz Bay. A stop at Woody's for a beer and some "Shark Bites" and then over to watch the awards ceremony.

All in all a great day. But halfway up those hills I was wondering: "What the heck am I doing?" I know I can do better so it's speed work on the hills and the track this next year. I also have the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon in July that I think I am going to be running in. At least that race is Flat!

Yesterday (Sunday) I was pretty sore and didn't do too much. A few projects around the house. Still pretty sore today but I'm heading out the door to take the villa guests out on Happy Hour for a day sail......

That's it for now......

Night before the Big Race!

2008-02-22T21:08:00.002-04:00

We had 3 days without guests here at the villa so we finally got started putting the marble tile down in our living area downstairs. I'll post pics later.

Right now it's 9:15pm on Friday night. 8 Tuff Miles is a 7:15AM start in St. John in the morning. I have to be on the 6:30 ferry which means leaving here around 5:45 to be safe. I feel pretty well prepared this year even though those 1400 feet of hills don't get easy......Race update tomorrow.

Recover and Rest

2008-02-12T19:13:00.001-04:00

So after the 5.5 mile climb up the mountain on Saturday for the 8 Tuff Miles Tune Up, I had the Magens Bay/ Peterborg 10K on Sunday. I thought the race started at 7:30 but as Victoria and I got down there a few minutes before 7:00 there were about 35 people lined up ready to go....... I grabbed a number and ran for the 7:00 am start. I have 2 little ipod shuffles. One had a good country mix and the other had my pump up running mix... Well I grabbed the country mix ipod by mistake. And while I love my country music, Carrie Underwood singing "Jesus Take the Wheel" wasn't helping me grind up those hills out to Peterborg point. I thought I was just going to take it easy and treat the race like an easy training run since I ran pretty hard on Saturday in St. John. But as we headed down towards the entrance of the beach I glanced down at my Garmin 305 and noticed I was clipping along at around a 7:00 min a mile pace...... So there I go... Can't let up now right? So I hit it as hard as I could and kept the 1st place guy within 50 feet for most of the race. I finished in 50:41. A 8:09 per min. pace. Fastest I've run that course by more than 15 seconds per mile. (8:24 per mile was my last best). So I was pretty happy about the race. Looks like I'm improving and I wasn't even fully rested . I really wonder if I keep up with good training , what is my potential? I mean the hills really do still suck and I'm sucking wind big time when I get to the tops. But I'm recovering on the flats and downhills much better.

So I rested for 2 days (Mon. and Tues). I'll run tomorrow morning. Planning on running the 6.2 mile Peterborg Point course again. Only 10 days till the 8 TUFF MILES!!!!!

Run, Run, Run......

2008-02-10T05:46:00.000-04:00

Just ran the third of the 8 Tuff Mile Tune up practice runs in St. John yesterday. It's the first 5.5 miles of the course. 1400 feet in elevation gain...... Not easy at all but I finished in just over a 9:30 minute per mile pace. Hopefully I can do that for the race in two weeks and cruise that last 3 miles on down hill..

So it's 5:30 am this morning Sunday. It should be a rest and recovery day after yesterdays run but we have the Magens Bay/ Peterborg 10K race this morning. This is what I train on every week so it's like my home court. I'm heading out the door to go race. Update to follow......

My new Juicer Rocks!

2008-02-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

Well I got a new juicer for Christmas and hadn't used it till this morning. (Thanks Jeff and Eileen) The old one was weak and a pain to clean. The new one is a Breville and it can take whole apples and carrots without cutting them first!. Also very easy on the clean up.

So I ran the 6.3 mile (Peterborg 10K+) course again this morning. I got out a little later than usual. Didn't start the run till almost 7:30am which is 30 to 40 minutes later. No real big deal but by the end the sun was getting a little hotter. That little bit of time makes a difference. Time was almost exact to the last time. 4 seconds difference. 8:30 min per mile pace. So an easy workout tomorrow, take the guests out sailing on Thursday, last of the 8 tuff miles tune ups is on Saturday and then there is the Magen's Bay/ Peterborg 10K race on Sunday. (And I should know that course by now!)

Saturday

2008-02-02T08:10:00.000-04:00

Victoria and I have a 2 week rental here at Three Palms Villa this week. For those reading that don't know; we rent the top of the house out as a vacation villa. www.threepalmsvilla.com.
We are rented out about 30 weeks during the year. I was going to take the guest out sailing on Happy Hour today but it's still a little rough on the water so we'll wait till Monday. With the 2 week rental we do a midweek clean so we are going to get the guests out of here for a few hours and go freshen the place up.

Winter in Islands- Break out the blankets!

2008-02-01T07:46:00.000-04:00

Weather has been a little unsettled down here. Very breezy and a little cold (for us----ha) low 70's at night... I guess we are very lucky for our weather down here. Especially for training. I ran the Peterborg 10K course again this morning. It's actually a little longer by a couple of tenths of a mile. Rest Day tomorrow and probably same course again on Sunday. 3 weeks till the 8 tuff miles. Main focus is to stay healthy and injury free.

Good Run this Morning

2008-01-18T08:37:00.000-04:00

Well after my left calf has been injured for this past 3 weeks in was nice to go out and feel 100%. I ran my 5.27 mile loop. Starts at the end of Magens Bay and goes out Peterborg Point around the stone circle and back. There are some pretty steep hills. Course starts at sea level (which is 0) and goes up to a little over 300 feet. Then down and up and down and up and finally back down to sea level. Total gain is about 700 feet I think. Today was my personal best at 45:36 or a 8:40 per mile pace. I'll try and post some pics soon.

New Year!!!!!

2008-01-14T17:23:00.001-04:00

Well we are well into 2008 and I am still trying to get organized. My boat Happy Hour got put back in the water on New Year's Eve. We didn't go out on it. Instead went home and had a relaxing evening on the couch.

Training for the 8 tuff miles is going well. Running at least every other day. Check out the site:

www.8tuffmiles.com

Moderation is the key.........ha

First Day of my new Blog

2007-11-15T06:48:00.000-04:00

Good Morning all. I just created my first Blog.