So a long over due post about the lovely island Trinidad & Tobago. I went down to this island a few weeks back and had a great time. The food was wonderful, the weather was hot, and the pool was clean.
I raced a 5k on the track and a 10k on the roads while I was down there. The heat was waaay to much for a 10K effort where I placed 3rd and the 5K was lacking in competition as I won with only a 15:07 , beating 2nd place by around 40 seconds.
The 10K course was one of the hardest runs I have ever done. The hills were between 800M and 1,000M long. We started at ocean level then quickly began to climb. I lead for the first 4 miles but the two locals were used to the weather and had run the course several times prior. They knew I was going to run myself into the ground.
I have to talk about the taxi system down there. We dubbed it “Crazy Taxi” no where in America would you ever just walk to the road, wave your hand, and just hop into the first random car that stopped…well you might but you also expect to get robbed at the same time.
For about 4 TTs or 66cents they would take you down the road to either the track or the beach and that is just the way people get around down there. It wasn’t just the young kids…we watched an older lady get off of work and go flag down her Crazy Taxi.
Tobago is a small island of only around 50,000 people and a 45 min drive time to clear the entire island long way and about 10 min to cover it short ways. All of the Europeans were found at Pigeon Point which would be like a state park. We had to pay to get in and there weren’t really any locals there. 
Would I go back there to vacation? Would not be my first choice. Would I go back to race? In a heartbeat…it was a fun trip to go on but if your looking for fast times as a distance runner, not really the place to be.
