Tortola is one of our favorite islands. It’s beyond hilly so no sense in trying to map out a flat course to run on. The island demands you explore it via it’s hills so when Jerry Friesen and the locals designed the “King and Queen of the Mountain” course – some of the runners thought it was designed by a man who hates his fellow man. Even though the run was a mere 3K I immediately went into oxygen debt on the first turn which seemed to be at a 45 degree angle aroudn and up. The hill climb starts on the main drag in Road Town, we got up and around several winding paved roads – switchbacks that lead to a dirt trail that leads to the highest point on the island. Canadian triathlete Dave Cracknell and I had a plan – we’d only run when a vehicle or the paparazzi (other runners with cameras) were in view – it was all about looking good. Each runner/climber/walker gets to break the tape – the BVI flag – when they reach the finish at the summit. Within 40 minutes we had 200 folks on top checking out the awesome views 360. Last year during the hill climb, Tom White was onboard the ship on crutches saying next year he would do the climb. Next year came and not only did he do the run, his first hill climb on his new prosthetic, he placed in the top 10 overall – and on his birthday no less. Later, an Irish friend of ours, Helena Dunphy, who lives on St, Marten’s, shanghaid a bunch of us and before we knew it we were on one of the most gorgeous beaches we had ever experienced – The Baths at Virgin Gorda. I can see why Sport Illustrated does a lot of their swimsuit shoots there. The beach has everything – pristine white sand, giant boulders, flora, fauna (chickens!), and some cray waves to frolic in. If you ever go to VG, be sure to look for the most perfect shell ever; 10-year-old Whitney White found it but lost it in an undertow and will be much obliged if you find it and return it to her.

STRESSING IN ANTIGUA?   Impossible to have those two words in the same sentence. My wife noticed that by the fourth day of our running cruise,  almost every time a fellow cruiser was having a photo taken of themselves, they would tell the photographer the caption for the photo they were about to snap. I didn’t know I did this until our own running paparazzi  were taking photos of me out in the middle of the ocean -

me wearing Laura’s bucket hat and with two beers (Pitons) in my hands trying, unconvincing, to convince the photogs: “I’m stressing! I’m stressing! Really. I am.”  

DRINKING CLUB WITH A RUNNING PROBLEM   Ffryes Beach was the staging area for our third annual trail hash with the local chapter of the Hash House Harriers. For the uninitiated; HHH are internationally known as a “Drinking Club with a Running Problem” and in Antigua the drink of choice is rum! Antigua, pronounced “an-tee-guh”, is known for its beautiful white sand beaches and it’s said there are 365 of them so you can go to a new one every day but we’d be content to hang at Ffryes every time we visit. Antigua is our double workout day – a long morning run to and from Fort Barrington and an afternoon trail hash option where many opted to just frolic in the water instead.

BOOKS FOR ANTIGUA   Our morning run is mostly on country roads but starts in town and this year it went by a grade school just before classes started; it was a mutual lovefest between our 300+ runners and the 300+ students in their crisp plaid uniforms. Before we headed out on the morning run, we presented the local library staff with 240 new books – 145 of which were children’s books –  to stock their not quite done new library. (And yes, “My Life on the Run” was one of those books.) How cool it would have been to present the school kids with those books. Maybe next year?