Hey guys! I hope you are all having a great weekend! I know I am! I swear, this week went by sooo fast. I wanted to recap the last 2 days for you guys, because they included some pretty fun things. 

Yesterday morning began with a 3 mile run. I had a pretty good pace going, which made me happy because my runs here have been pretty slow thus far. I rolled my ankle with about a mile left in the run though. As in, I was a mile away from the condo I’m staying at. So that stunk. I’m getting really sick of rolling my ankle on runs! I was able to walk it off a little, and continue the rest of the way VERY carefully. Meh. 

But guess what yesterday’s activity was? 

SEGWAY TOUR.

It was sooo cool to ride a segway! It took a little getting used to, but it was really fun. The segway is pretty sensitive to your movements, and it can make really tight turns (you can turn around in place). It actually can go pretty fast! We started out by practicing in the parking lot with it on “beginner mode” which limits the speed. After some cone drills, we were ready for the open road! 

The tour took us to the Iao Needle, where we parked the segways and hiked around.

The Iao needle is the long and skinny rock. This area was so pretty!

After our tour, we stopped at a small fruit stand. I’ve been dying to have coconut all trip, and the stand had fresh, young coconut. I’ve never had young coconut before-it was way more tender. The guy at the stand split open the husk with an ax and let us drink the water inside, and then chopped it up. We used pieces of husk for “spoons.”

It was delicious! We also bought some passion fruit and guava, which was riper and sweeter than the fruits we had back at the condo. We have a lotttt of fruit to eat in the next 2 days, since none of it can be taken back to the Mainland. 

For lunch, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. My mom and I shared the Make Your Own “Vietnamese burrito.” Which basically meant make your own fresh spring rolls. We were given a plate of fresh veggies, herbs, and tofu, plus rice paper which we dipped in hot water to soften.

We then got to wrap it all up to form this!

Disclaimer: this roll is actually one the server demoed for us. My were much more glob-like, but by the time I wrapped them all up, my hands were covered in food and touching my phone was a no-go.

For dinner that evening, we went to a local health foods grocery, which turned out to be entirely vegetarian. Cool! It was super fun to look around in-I’m guessing you all understand this phenomenon. I ordered a sandwich for dinner which had avocado. Enough said. 

Today was also super awesome. Since I’m a cool food blogger, I wanted to tour a pineapple plantation. The plantation is in Upcountry Maui, sort of off the beaten trail in a tiny town. Since I’m obsessed, I just happened to check local Crossfit box locations, and there was one literally right across the street from where the tour left. I emailed the box last night and heard back within minutes. 

Everyone was soooo friendly. Not that they weren’t friendly in Lahaina, but even more so here. This box definitely had a small town feel, as it’s not necessarily in tourist territory. I mean, check out these pictures of the location.

I was also a big fan of the workout. Why? the warm up included rowing. My box never does rowing since we don’t have enough ergs, but given my background in rowing, I’ve been dying to show off a little. The warm up was a team workout-5 people per team, 6 minutes. Each person would row for a minute, while everyone else held a plank. I was the first rower so I got to go twice. We competed against another team. Sadly, we lost by 12 meters. 

We then went through some other warm ups and stretching, before doing the WOD, which was an 800 meter run and then a sequence of kettle bell swings and pull ups. 

I can’t say enough how great my experience here was. I ended up staying after for a little while talking to other Crossfitters. One couple was visiting from Texas, and they had been to some other boxes on Maui as well. 

Another bonus? The drop in class was free if you bought a t-shirt. T-shirts were $25 and normal drop in was $20. So basically I got a $5 t-shirt. Score!

Before the pineapple tour, we stopped at a little organic restaurant for brunch. My mom and I split French Toast (made with Hawaiian sweet bread, and served with maple syrup and honey butter) and an omelet with goat cheese, mushrooms, and pesto.

Next, it was time for the pineapple plantation tour! Check this view of the sugar cane out.

Pineapples take 2 years to fully grow. Here’s a shot of some babies!

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Then we proceeded to the sea of bigger pineapples.

Then, it was sampling time! This plantation grows Maui Gold pineapples, which are sweeter and less acidic than other varieties. They are only 15% acid, and 85% sugar. They regularly test their crops to make sure this ration stays this way. They’re a pretty small operation-they only ship to the West Coast (sorry to those on the East Coast-believe me, you’re missing out!)

We sampled a few different stages of ripeness. First were the green pineapples. These were still pretty darn tasty! The core wasn’t as tough either-it was fine to eat.

Then, we sampled the green-gold. These are what you’d typically buy in stores. A few pineapple facts-pineapples are as good as they’ll ever be the moment they’re picked-they don’t ripen by sitting around your kitchen like other fruits. Also, the bottom is sweeter than the top (near the crown). We could really taste the difference. A quick tip-you can store your pineapple upside down to better distribute the sweetness. Or don’t tell anyone about this and hog the sweet part for yourself. 

Then we sampled the gold-these are yellow in color and have to be eaten within 2 days; they don’t sell these because they go bad so quickly. They were soooo good and sweet. 

Now, at this point, my tongue was feeling the pineapple burn. The delicious, sweet pain that comes with overconsumption of pineapples. But did you see how many pineapples were in the field?

Pictures were in order.

My family attempted to do a silly shot-which ended with my sister accidentally pulling my mom into the pineapple patch. “Accidentally.”

There it is-a moment preserved on the internet for all to see. 

I thought the pineapple eating was over at that point. But nooo. We each got whole pineapples to eat like giant turkey legs.

They were so juicy too-I managed to stay fairly dignified and keep the juiciness to all over my face and hands. My sister? She was dripping juice from her elbows and down her legs. The pineapple was AMAZING. HOWEVER. I probably ate like 2 whole pineapples. At least 1. Can you imagine the acid burn on my tongue from the much pineapple? Heck, the burn on my lips and chin? Owwww. I pretty much had my fill of pineapple for the next 4 years.

Except that wasn’t all! They gave us each a pineapple to take home with us as well! Luckily, these can be taken home on the plane, so my tongue has some time to recover. 

Have a great Sunday everyone! I’m hoping to get a decent run in. I wanted to do repeaters on a track, but I can’t find any tracks nearby! I think I’ll try doing them on a bike trail while nursing my wounded tongue.

Do you like pineapple? My parents once tried a crazy diet where you eat nothing but pineapple. What. Were. They. Thinking. #pain

Have you ever ridden a segway? If you do Crossfit, have you ever visited a different box?