Tropical Training

Most people go to a tropical paradise to relax but not the Goat. Sandy soft beaches, blue ocean waters, majestic view points, and vividly colored tropical flowers might be enough to fully captivate most travelers. But for the Goat, these are simply perks that embrace his addiction for sweat and muscle pain brought on by pushing his body to do things some motorized vehicles cannot do. The Goat is 75% machine and 25% goat-man.

It was a bit painful and choking hazard to swallow the Goat’s justification for his month in the tropics. Two of it with “his” and two of it with “mine” and “ours” seemed to make some sense at the same time as being senseless. It was his plan, and although I had some “issues” with all the arrangements, I coped to the best of my abilities. Unlike the Goat, I am 100% woman and 0% machine or goat-man. This can result in polar opposite perspectives. My weeks taking care of kids and dogs on the mainland while he was across the Pacific enjoying the tropics were “strange.”

He, of course, developed a dedicated workout routine consisting of daily runs between 5-18 miles, strenuous hikes from 4-8 miles, and he did the Bay Swim with his 17 year old son, who got a medal for his age division. By the time “his” left the island and “mine” and “ours” arrived the Goat was quite established in his sweating routine. I started washing his socks immediately! White had been replaced with red dyed dirt socks. Sexy. We added the regular push the stroller walk 2-3 miles a day to what he was already doing. It was nice to leave reality and go on island time for a while.

We took the girls and baby boy on a couple pretty tough hikes. http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/hawaii_nopali.htm One was 4 miles round trip and the other 8 miles round trip, both on steep, rocky trails on the Na Pali Coast. The shorter of the hikes ended at the beach, and on a different day the longer hike ended at a beautiful waterfall in the jungle. I packed our 15 month old baby boy on my back for all the hikes in an Ergo Baby Carrier I bought in Hanalei @ Kokonut Kids. http://kokonutkidskauai.com/home.html It worked like a charm! Comfortable and functional, and even if the Goat was a non believer in the beginning by the end of both hikes he was sold on it! http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/ The Goat was quite the excellent scout on these hikes! He was patient and nice to all of us and helped us all through the steep and slippery places. Occasionally grumpy/opinionated daughter #1 age fourteen even got too far ahead once, and we thought she was lost in the jungle! The Goat had to go running the trails searching for her. All turned out just fine in the end.The trip was a lot of fun, and once again I do not know how he wriggled his way shifting gears through all the obstacles, but he somehow did and always does using approved and/or unapproved methods. Bahhhhh. Mahalo Goat.