By Sandra Sofalvi-Wiscombe from Run Sofalvi Run

Our entire week in the Cayman Islands was just fabulous and the race was absolutely wonderful 🙂

Now for the long raving post and pics:

Getting there: We left Edmonton on Wednesday at Midnight (November 27th)! So I guess technically the 28th. I hate the red eye flight but it was the easiest with only one connection. We landed in Toronto and had 4 long hours to wait for our 2nd 4 hr flight to the Cayman Islands!!!  I also wanted to mention the pre- race emails/information was awesome!!!!!

When we arrived we got off the plane and it was beautiful out! It was a little overcast-y and looked like it had rained a bit but it was warm! It was one of the airports that you get off the plane down a set of stairs and then walk outside to the airport! Once inside you had to go through customs to get into the Country! This was awesome! They had a separate dedicated line for registered runners! We were #2 in line!! AWESOME!

After that it was to grab our luggage and then wait for the shuttle. There was a little information booth in the airport too that had little goody bags prepared for the runners as well! It had a pen, a sticker, some rum cake and maps/excursion info! We had pre-booked a shuttle from the airport to our hotel – it was a bit cheaper – $55 for both of us return! (I believe a cab would have been about $25-30 each way)! We ended up having to wait almost 45 minutes for it! Wasn’t too bad but a few of us were wishing that we were just hopping into some of the cabs waiting!!! The ride to the hotel was only about 10 minutes!  One of the things to know is that they drive on the other side of the road there! LOL. Also there are chickens everywhere – kind of like our squirrels here – hehe!

There: Once we arrived to the Marriott hotel we were immediately greeted and ushered towards a separate express check in for runners 🙂 Cool. While waiting our turn we were served a yummy punch! Only took about 5 minutes!  I should mention that there is no all inclusive there and they only had free wifi in the lobby !!!

We had the rest of Thursday to ourselves! Mark and I ventured out and immediately recognized that this was different then most of the other vacations that we had been on (Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican, Mexico)! It felt very comfortable and the main language is English. It felt very much like we were in Canada but tropical 🙂  We found a Pizza Hut across the street for our first dinner there – Score!! (u can use Cayman Island Dollars (CIs) or American money)! There was also a Burger King, Quiznos, burger places, Subway and Wendy’s etc!! We also hopped on a bus and had a little trip to Hell and got the post card 🙂 10 minutes is enough time there!! The buses r great- $2-2.50 each time and u just stand in the side if the road and they come every few minutes! Easy!! Btw- I’d call them vans not buses;)

Team D: On Friday  – other participants began to arrive from Team Diabetes! That night we had a meet and greet with about 100 other participants and were served multiple light snacks and drinks! This is where we had also learned as a team that we had fundraised over $540, 000 !!! Amazing!! Mark and I had fundraised $12,200!!!

Expo: Saturday was race kit pick up day! So exciting! Luckily for us the expo was at our hotel 🙂 YAY! So we wondered upstairs and registered! No line – but steady busy! We signed up for the race shuttle. Filled out a short visitor’s survey. Picked up our bibs and shirts in a cute Cayman Islands race bag. I also bought a key chain for $10 – cute!  I had requested a tank top as the race offered the choice between shirts or tanks – however I ended up with a shirt. I went back upstairs and mentioned to them I registered for a Tank and was able to easily switch my shirt! Love the tank!! Our goody bag had all kinds if little things in it too!!

Race: Sunday was race morning! An early morning – like usual for race day! Alarm was set for 3:15am and we met the team out in the lobby for 4am. By the time we got the shuttle and arrived at the start line (10 min from hotel) it was around 4:30am. Snapped a couple pictures and then it was start time at 5am sharp!

It was surprisingly cool and really dark out still. There was enough light along the route of the course although some street lights seemed far apart!  There was about 1000 runners/walkers I’d guess. No starting corrals but the start was relatively smooth and we soon all spread out on the other side of the start line!

The route was an out and back pretty much – with the exception of the end that took a bit of a different route then the start!

I felt great for the first 10km. I stuck to my intervals. I ran into Team D coaches early in the first half and again around the half way mark! They went to take a pic of me and I jumped – so at that point I was feeling good still. At the half way mark we turned around and headed back. The route was wonderful and you could see the ocean for a good part of it (once the sun came out). The sun did come out around 7-7:30am and it was hot and a little humid. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable. (if you did Disney’s dumbo 2013 or princess 2013 – it was nothing like those)!  The other amazing thing was the water stops! WOW! They must have had water stops every mile but because the course was pretty much out and back there was a few of them we hit twice! Amazing! I didn’t even need to drink my water on my belt! Each stop had a great theme – Little India, Zoo theme, Hollywood theme, Paparazzi theme and more! FUN!! Also each stop had water and Gatorade! And they would even give bottles to take with you if you wanted but there were more then enough cups! AND each water stop also had food!! I didn’t eat anything as I had my nutrition with me but wow, it was amazing. I saw cut up fruit, chocolate, cookies, granola bars, little baggies with cookies in them, slices of oranges and watermelon, chip/cracker things and much more I’m sure – it was unbelievable!!

Even some of the water stops were giving out wet sponges!!!  There was even a man in his front lawn offering to spray runners with the hose – haha!! Oh and I forgot to mention – there was one house near the beginning of the race that was all lit up for Christmas –  it was absolutely stunning in the dark to see thousands of lights! I was staring as I ran by and I just caught the camera guy out of the corner of my eye just in time for him to get a pic of me in front of this stunning house 🙂 This is the proof but I do plan to buy my race photos from this race 🙂

The marathon was actually two loops of the half course so that was great to have runners around you all the time! There was also a 4 team relay option too! I felt bad for the marathoners and the Leg C team mates as they were running the first part of the route later in the day – towards the sun –  must have been hot!

I kind of fell apart around km 13 -16 and had to walk a lot more then normal. I think I was struggling with the heat. Around 16km I kind of had a second wind and the last 5km went quicker! As I crossed the finish line they called out my  name and got it right 🙂 and took pictures of me! And I saw my bling waiting for me!!!

After the finish you had to stop and they had chairs available to sit in while the volunteers untied the timing chip from your shoe! Then it was off to post race food and they had lots! Again, I didn’t eat anything but they had everything there including beer!! (cut up fruit, cookies, bagels, granola bars, chips/cracker things, water, Gatorade and lots of it)!

Team Diabetes staff was also at the finish to snap a bunch of pictures and cheer us on! It was great to have so many people at the finish! Then it was back to the shuttle and back to the hotel!

We slacked most of race day, in our room, at the beach and had pizza delivered to our room! It was great.

On Monday we had a Team Diabetes Dinner – was fabulous – 3 course meal plus dessert! Yes, I just had plain buns! LOL!! There was a guest speaker and again we were thanked for the $540, 000 raised! They definitely appreciated us and each dollar that was fundraised!! Go Team!!!

On Tuesday most of the team left to go home or moved to other hotels! We stayed and extended our stay until Thursday! And glad we did! We had fabulous weather and beach days! It was amazing!!

The Marriott was a fabulous hotel! Had a great beach and a lovely sitting area around a turtle pond with lots of turtles – so neat!

Beach: The beach was clear most days! Our first few days there the weather was sunny but kind of windy so there was a lot of seaweed on shore! I didn’t like it at all but they had staff out there raking it up! The last few days the beach was amazing and perfectly clear! Mark also got in a round of golf – there are 3 golf courses on the main island – one 18 hole and two 9 holes. Mark said the course was fantastic.

We also tried SUP (stand up paddling) while we were there – was pretty fun and a great workout – I was more sore from trying to stand and stabilize myself on the surf board then I was from running 21km!  Mark also rented a Jet Ski and ripped around the beach some!  They had these great little floating things in the water too that were perfect for relaxing on while floating in the ocean!

Summary: All in all the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman) was fantastic! The race was out of this world and I was so impressed!! The weather was fantastic the entire time. I would say 30’s felt like 40’s. Was hot if u were directly in the sun but if u were shaded at all it was perfect!!! I would totally go back there!! Best vacation ever – other than our wedding week in Jamaica of course;) Oh and best of all – weighing the same when I came back as I did when I left 🙂

For more on this story and to view all the photographs go to:

http://www.runsofalvirun.com/2013/12/cayman-islands-half-marathon-wow.html