Maislen's World

223 S 61st, Tacoma, WA | Powered by Postlets

2009-10-17T14:00:00.001-07:00

223 S 61st, Tacoma, WA | Powered by Postlets

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Please help us support Climb for Kids!

2009-03-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

My good climbing buddy Matt Kowalczyk formed the non profit organization "Climb for Kids" in 2007 shortly before loosing one of his twin babies (Emma) to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).

Since that time, Matt has been organizing and leading a variety of climbs all over the world in an effort to raise awareness and money for Fetal Syndrome research so that other families would not have to suffer the same agony and loss that he and his wife Ellen endured.

Earlier this year, I was honored to be asked by Matt to lead a climb for his organization up Ruth Mountain. Located in the North Cascades, Ruth Mountain is a climb that can be easily accomplished in a single day. The climb will provide an opportunity to use your crampons as well as ice axe, and depending on the snow, there may be small rock scrambling as well. This is one of the more spectacular climbs in the North Cascades area, and climbers of all abilities can participate and enjoy this unforgettable experience.

The climb is going to take place on July 11th 2009 and if you're ready to take on the challenge, please sign up now! If you can't make this climb, but are still interested, there are plenty of other climbs to choose from including Colorado 14'er, Mont Blanc or Mount Rainier.

If you have any questions about the climb or would like to learn more, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Looking forward to seeing you then!

Saved in the nick of time

2009-01-29T02:41:00.000-08:00

This past week has brought some great news in amongst all of the bad. I was offered a position that I believe will be an amazing opportunity on a number of levels and am incredibly excited! In short, I will be working on improving technologies for people with disabilities and gaining consensus from companies around the globe in order to standardize on the platform from which accessible technologies are built. Not sure if that makes sense, but think of it as a huge sandbox where a lot of kids are building different castles and we're trying to convince all the kids that if we worked together, we could build the biggest and most awesome sandcastle ever! Well, in our opinion anyway :)

I've been reflecting on what the past couple of months of stress and turmoil have taught me, and although the lessons are still coming, I think the part that stands out the clearest is how much of our precious lives we spend (waste?) on 'working for the man'. Who came up with this silly rule that we have to work all of our lives? Sure we need money for food and luxuries, but why does it have to be that way? Look around at how we're controlled by our work. Look at what happens to us when we stop working. Everything falls to hell (or at least appears to). Everything that we've known as secure and fulfilling disappears and we're forced to return to the basics. Do I really need a big house with lots of things and all the latest clothes, or am I fulfilled in having a loving family that makes me smile every day? Do I need a job to feel those things? I guess part of me is bitter that we're raised to believe that we work to survive and that no one teaches us any differently and those who do are considered "outcasts" or the "fringe of society". I don't know....you think about all of the hours that you've spent creating something that, when your dead and gone, doesn't really matter. What if you spent your life doing something that REALLY MATTERED?

Oh yea, and what happens when you spend 30 years of your life working on something only to have to re invent yourself later because you're old and nobody wants you anymore? It scares me. What does a talented corporate manager do when they're not wanted anymore? Work at WalMart? Where does your pride go?

Sometimes I feel like life is the biggest joke. We do things without ever knowing why. We just do it because that's what everyone else is doing and it's acceptable. No one wants to be different. No one wants to be shunned. Maybe I've just been drinking the Kool Aid too long to realize that there are other options !?

There's a scene from the Dark Crystal that has come up for me a lot over the past few years. It feels indicative of everything I've spoken about above. Watch it, and you'll know why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPaKNafdJ18

What it feels like to lose your job

2009-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

In short, it sucks big fat smelly ass.

I've been at my place of employment since graduating college in 1998 and have felt very safe and taken care of there. Well...until today.

I suppose I shouldn't feel betrayed by the lack of 'corporate love', especially in today's economy, however I was lulled into thinking that a decade of high performing service would be a safeguard against something like this. Clearly it isn't, but it did buy me 60 days of extra time to look for something new within the company whereas many others were shown the door.

It's times like these where you are truly forced to stop and reflect on how much your identity is tied up with your place of employment. Who am I without a job? What am I without a title? What does it say about me if I'm unable to find work and/or no one will hire me? That really stings.

Today I feel like a failure. I feel incompetent and worthless. I'm unsure about my future despite everyone saying "It's going to be ok". I've worked hard for the life I have today and frankly, don't want to lose it without a fight. At what point do you get sick of fighting and simply give up?

There will be a lot of decisions to make in the next two months and although my instinct tells me that everything happens for a reason, I'm still scared.

Greetings 2009!!

2008-12-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

This represents all of the different elements that have transpired in my life this past year (thanks to some much needed creative assistance from Wordle)

But, Instead of my normal tradition of listing out all the things that did and didnt go well in the preceding year as well as my wishes for the upcoming year, I'd like to keep it simple and wish that each and every one of you find happiness, health, wealth and inspiration in 2009.

What is my true purpose in life?

2008-12-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

I read a fabulous article recently from Steve Pavlina called "How to discover your life Purpose in about 20 minutes". I !thought to myself, "Seriously?! I've been struggling to figure that out for like the past 30 years", but instead of being a skeptic, I sat down, followed the directions, and gave it a shot.

Here’s what to do:

1) Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).

2) Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”

3) Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesnt have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.

4) Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose

___________________________________________________

Admittedly, I have not reached the point of tears....yet, but I'm still trying!

Here is my list (Items in bold are the ones that brought me the closest to tears):
Create change
Bring happiness into the world
Inspire people to go beyond their boundaries
To overcome obsticles
To see and experience all that life has to offer
To understand the point of it all
To develop a sense of purpose
To save every natural precious resource
To help dogs
To bring animals back to life
Embrace the elderly and recognize the wonderment of their lives
Help people die with dignity
Create a natural space for people to experience their last days with hope and dignity
To listen to the stories of our elders and learn from their experiences
Not forget who we are
Find a way to bring happiness into each and every life I touch
Bring inspiration to each and every life I touch
To understand the afterlife
Help innocent creatures find safety, love or a secure habitat to grow and thrive
Make a ton of money and live happily ever after
Develop a kinship with all forms of life and live in harmony without hatred, waste, violence, or destruction
To spread my wings and fly through the universe experiencing the vastness of the void
To embrace harmony in all forms
To push every known physical, emotional and spiritual boundary in order to have a better understanding about who we are, what we’re made of, why we’re here, and where we’re going
Use my dreams as metaphors for living life
Tread lightly
Impress people
Be the absolute best that I can be
Develop and share art across the world to develop a common language, understanding and kinship across mankind
To find a purpose
To bring happiness to those who don’t have a shred of hope
Help the forgotten elders of our society find hope, love, warmth and caring in someone who will listen, learn and care about their lives, experiences and gifts and provide a way for them to die in dignity feeling that they didn’t leave this place without touching someone or making an impact regardless of how they chose to live their lives.
Help us remember the forgotten, abandoned or discarded elders who need nothing more than a gentle touch or a caring word to help them feel loved and appreciated for the lives they’ve lived and are losing
Bring animals and elders together to share in innocent love and affection for one another
Live under an oak tree
Live in harmony with the land
Make people feel loved and cared for
Make people feel special
Recognize and celebrate the gifts that each and every person has to offer
Move people by recognizing their life gifts and reflecting that back to them.

As a result of creating this list, I've decided to look for volunteer opportunities to connect with seniors in the area. Let's see how it goes!

Who has.....

2008-09-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

HAPPY FEET!

Who doesnt love happy feet?

Getting scammed Part Deux

2008-09-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

First mail from from our unsuspecting scammer, David:

Hello, My name is David Hamm, I work with NTV2, in Republic of Benin as an Operational Manager. I am presently in Liverpool for an Assignment. I will be on Sabatical Leave For a Year,I am Interested in Relocating and Renting your apt/room or house, Pls get back with the final asking price per month plus utility and security Deposit. David Hamm. Feel Free to call +447045761271 http://www.2m.tv/

My response (anyone think the rent and deposit is kind of, uh, high?):

Hi David,

The rent is $3,245 a month with a $2500 security deposit. Utilities run about $200-300/month.

Thanks,
Candy

David (What's Up With Each Capitalized Word?):

Hello Michelle, I Appreciate Your Response Towards My Request. I Am Satisfy With The Price($3245/m) And Promise To Be Loyal To You As A Neighbor.

I Will Like To Inform You That I Will Be Coming Down 4th October 2008.Not With My Family. I Have To Inform You That My Company Will Be Responsible For The Payment Of The Apartment/Room. And The Payment Is Going To Be Issue Out In Excess On Money Order Or Cheque On Your Name Or Any One Of Your Choice.

Here, I Will Like To Trust You On The Excess On It,Cos That Will Be Use For My Flight(Ticket)And Travel Allowances/Bta To The New House And Other Out Station Allowances.And As Soon As You Get The Payment,Deduct Your Money And Send The Remainder To My Travel Manager For My Flight Ticket To Your Country And The New House.

If You Agree On This Get Back To Me Asap With Your Full Information:
NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELEPHONE:

Best Regards,David Hamm...

Michelle the Missionary:

Hi David,

I Am So Happy That You Are Going To Rent My House/Apt. I Know That You Will Be Loyal and Will Gain Great Credibility In the Neighborhood. People Will Like You Very Much If You Promise to Respect Jesus and Praise The Lord Every Sunday. Can You Promise To Do That?

If Necessary, I Can Meet You At The AirPort When You Arrive and Take you To the House. I Do Not Mind Carrying Your Luggage. Will You Have A Lot of Things? The House Has A LOT Of Storage So if You Want To Bring Your Gun Collection That Will BE OK.

Can You Send Money To Me TODAY For The Rent and Desposit? Please Send it to PRAISEGODOURHEAVENLYFATHER@hotmail.com

I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU SOON……

David (a bit pushier now):

Hi Michelle,

The company can only pay for the rent in Check..when you receive the check you will cash it and send the rest to the Travel Manager so that he can arrange for my Flight Ticket to your country..

Let me have the information so that i can send it to my Boss for the Rent Payment..
Full Information:
NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELEPHONE:

Michelle pushes back:

Hello David, The company can only pay with a CHECK? Are you sure? Using PayPal would be so much easier. As you probably know, the age of technology is upon us and although I think it's the beginning of Armageddon, I am slowly coming around to liking the idea of sending money quickly and efficiently over THE INTERNET. Can you double check with your Boss to see if you are able to send the money using PAYPAL? I believe the company is run by GOOD CHRISTIANS and I want to support them any way possible. Thank you and GOD BLESS YOU, Michelle

David is not amused:

Hi Michelle,

My boss said that the company can only pay with check.

Let me have the information so that i can send it to my Boss..
Full Information:
NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELEPHONE:

Michelle playing hard to get:

Hello David,

What is your boss’s name? Perhaps I should speak to him directly. If he wants to become more and more successful, then he should use PayPal or some other form of online payment SYSTEM. Have you ever used Paypal? It’s very easy and, might I say, fun!! I use it when people in my church want to made donations and everyone RAVES about it. Are you sure he will not reconsider? If not, then I suppose we will have to use a check. Don’t get me wrong – a check is still good, I just wanted to try and make it easier for YOU.

Anyway, it’s not my place to tell him what to do. The Bible says, “Leave people in peace so that they may live long and prosper.” I can’t recall which verse that comes from. I must be getting OLD. How old are you David? Are you looking forward to coming to AMERICA? Have you ever been to AMERICA before? What sort of work does an OPERATIONAL MANAGER do? I would like to learn more about you. Can you tell me a bit more about yourself before you send the CHECK? I want to make sure you are going to be happy in the house.

GOD BLESS YOU…..

David - the guy you want to hug:

Happy Sunday Michelle, How are you doing today. Hope good? I called my Boss and inform him but he said that the company can only pay with check. His name is George Hopewell.

More Abt Me..

Am very humble and easy going man,I love to make people laugh, i bet it you will enjoy having me as your tenant..

Hope to hear from you with the information so that i can send it to my Boss and he will sign the check on monday monring..

NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELEPHONE:

Strangely enough, I never heard back from David after this last email.....

I'm rich!

2008-09-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

What would you think if you recieved 2 packages from UPS containing checks for $8,875.00 each and no other information? Would you think it's your lucky day and cash them? Clearly these scammers think people are stupid enough to fall for thier dumb ass tricks.

Sorry dudes...try again.

Who knew getting scammed could be so much fun!

2008-09-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since posting my rental ad on Craigslist, I've gotten more scam email than I ever imagined was possible. Admittedly, I almost fell for it the first time, but soon caught onto the game. Now I've decided to just having fun with it and see if I can give these guys a run for their money.

For example - following is an email correspondence I'm having with "Prof. Jeff Galant from the UK":

First mail from 'Jeff'

Good-Day
I' m Prof. Jeff Galant from UK' Searching thru the apt rent page,i saw your apt posted for rent on craigslist.com with the little description you gave in there, i was impressed and it reduces any stress of searching around for an apt. I have an interest and i would like to make an inquiry if it still available for rent duration in which you want to leasethe unit.

Preferably 6months/12months If you require any specific information,pls let me know or you can call me on my cell phone, please dial as presented for international calls . { +44 7031914059 }

Am a family orientated man, no pets, no smoke and no drugs Give me the detail of the fees.
1- Security deposit fee ?
2- Monthly rent fees ?
3- Utilities if applicable ?
4- Dimension/measurement of the unit {s} ?
5- Crime rate of the area where the apt is located ?
6- Park lots if any ?
7- If the unit is Furnished or Unfurnished ?
8- Total Move in fees ?

Thank you, God Bless
Jeff Galant
E.mail:jefflant@yhaoo.com.au Phone:+44 7031914059

My response:

Hi Jeff,

You have the house! Can you send me a check today?

Jeff's (rather enthusiastic) response:
Hi
Many thanks to your prompt response and brief details on this unit.

I am indeed a potential tenant and serious about renting this unit. Having discovered lots of Dinasaurs fossil such as Dinosaurs Megalosaurus ,Oviraptor, Pinacosaurus, Saurornithoides, Velociraptor,plesiosaur, Ichthyosaurus etc. Am coming to state to Trade those fossils with some US Museums.

In view of my work schedule, i would want us to finalise basic arrangements. I'm and i am currently working with Netherlands Fossil hunters Imperial Dinosaur Fossil Research in Middlesex. Netherlands. I will be in the states for the next one year with my wife and five year old daughter and during my stay i will be Trading dinosaur fossils with Some USA Museums and Research with some America Palentologist on fossils hunting and field work.

Am willing to offer you 1month rent + the security deposit and utilities if any to secure this unit prior to my arrival to state, and on my arrival, i'll pay for the 11months fees in Cash. My Trustee in the states will be the one to handle the Move in fee, and we will instruct him to send you the check for this as soon as you give us the go ahead to make payment to you.

Due to the limited time that we have before our arrival, we are making arrangements with a furniture company there in state to supply the home with some befitting furnitures.

We can start the lease at your ealiest convinient time and we will be effecting a one year lease although, we will be arriving on sept 15th of 2008. You can prepare the lease in me and my wife name "Prof Jeff Galant / Mrs Florence Galant

Once again, thank for the measurements and the price that you sent to me, it will indeed be of great help to deternine the Sieze of Furnitures that my furnitures company will supply to the unit... As regards my furniture, am planning on having them delivered to the house before our arrival so that we can settle in comfortably, you can understand that transporting furnitures across atlantic is not easy, so we are making arrangement with the furniture company there in State to deliver the furnitures before our arrival after the rent and security deposit has been fully paid to you by my Trustee. I want to seek your indulgence and favor. Can we rely on you to take delivery of those furnitures for us when they are delivered? We will instruct the furniture company to contact you to schedule a delivery date and time that will be convenient for you to receive those furnitures for us. As you will be handling the delivery of those furnitures for us,we may ask our Trustee to include the costs of our furnitures with the rent and deposit to be sent to you so that you can help us to make the payment when it is delivered. We will really appreciate if you can do this for us and promise to compensate you adequately for your time and effort s on our arrival in your place.

Please let me know if this will be okay with you so that i can instruct our Trustee to go ahead with the payment. Let us know how to move ahead as we intend to complete this deal before we move in by 30th of sept 2008,we will let you know the exact date as soon as we get a booking on a flight to the states. I want a less risk, fair,transparent and a hitch free transaction so i attached the pictures of my family so that you can have an ideal of who you are dealing with. (note that there were no pictures attached with his email)

If you require any specific information, pls let me know or you can call me on my cell phone, please dial as presented for international calls . {+44 7031914059}

P.S: Forward the lease agreement/application form to Review it ahead of time. I would eventually have it signed physically when i arrive. In my opinion, appending signatories should be done properly and at best physically. Please, send me a picture view of the living room and bed rooms only if that will not take time to do. This is an international situation and am not sure how you can run my employment and Credit check background, there's no way we can go about this until i arrive to state, hope you understand my concern. With this arrangement, my Trustee in the states,will be effecting your payment deposit to you. I believe we can work together and ensure every arrangements that we shall both execute in line with my taking up the tenancy should be done accordingly to ensure we have a proper understanding.

For Payment, Get back with the below details
1- Name to be written on the certified American check
2- Mailing address , No p.o.box
3- Phone Number
4- City
5- Zip Code
6- State

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation
Jeff Galant
E.mail:jefflant@yhaoo.com.au Phone:+44 7031914059

My response:
Hi Jeff,

We can fill out the lease paperwork when you arrive to the States.

The measurements for the house are:

Living room: 24x65
Dining room: 30X40
Bedrooms: 16x30
(Anyone think these sizes are interesting? I thought he might catch on but....)

Please send the payment via Paypal to exit333PM@hotmail.com

Jeff's response (seemingly a bit more tired now):
Hello,

Thank for getting back to to me ,regarding your payment my trustee will be issuing a check out on your name not paypal so all you need to do right now, is for you to get back to me with all this informations ,For Payment, Get back with the below details
1- Name to be written on the certified American check
2- Mailing address , No p.o.box
3- Phone Number
4- City
5- Zip Code
6- State

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation

My response (now the fun begins):

Hi Jeff,

Did I tell you how much I LOVE Dinasaurs!? OMG – they are sooooooo INCREDIBLE. Do you have pictures of some of the fossils you’ve found? Sometimes I wish that Dinasaurs still walked the earth because I would have one as a pet but I wouldn’t let it sleep in my bed like my dog does, but that would be FUNNY :) :) HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Don’t you think that would be funny!? Does your daughter like Dinasaurs?! How old is she? Does your wife like them too? I used to think that I wanted to be an archeologist but then I changed my mind and decided to become a vet. But then I couldn’t get into vet school because my grades weren’t high enough L I used to volunteer in animal shelters and this one time, I saw an dog getting operated on and I ALMOST THREW UP!!! It was sooooooooooooooooo gross. I don’t know how people do it. That must be really, really hard. Especially when they die L I don’t like when animals dies. It makes me sad, and then I get angry and want to punch someone in the mouth. I try not to get angry often because I don’t want to end up in jail like my mom. She’s a junkie and it’s really sad because she used to be a model but then she got hooked on drugs. Oh well…this is probably too much information but I figured if you are going to move into the house next door then we should be FRIENDS!!!! What do you think?

I’m really, really, really looking forward to meeting you and your wife and daughter. I have a daughter too but she is retarded. It’s a sad story so maybe when you move over here you can come over for dinner and I can tell you ALLLLLLL about it. One day I want to write a book. Do you want to be in my book?

I'll keep everyone posted on the next correspondence and if you have any ideas on how I can get this guys money before he gets mine - I'm all ears!!

Adorable 3 bed\2 bath house available for rent in Tacoma

2008-09-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is a shameless plug for a rental property that I have available in Tacoma (near UPS). If you know anyone in or around Tacoma that's looking for a great house, please have them give me a call!

Cheers to the Newlyweds!

2008-09-01T09:31:00.001-07:00

We had the distinct pleasure of joining our dear friends Annie and Eddie for thier long awaited Marriage celebration yesterday at the UW Horticulture Center. It was by far one of the lovliest, most touching celebrations we've ever witnessed and these two incredible people are going to have a life full of laughter, music, celebration and love.

Here's one of my favorite shots of all the gals with the photographer who jumped in to take a picture of the 10 or so other photographers who were taking our picture :)

The rest of the wedding celebration photos are posted here!

Girls backpacking weekend

2008-08-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

The girls and I headed up to Yellow Ater Butte for an estrogen filled weekend. This place is awesome! Well...except for the mosquitos, but getting eaten alive was a small price to pay for incredible views of Shuksan, Baker, and the surrounding Cascades.

It was probably one of the nicest weekends this summer and we were all shocked that we didnt have to wrap ourselves in Down jackets and booties once the sun went down.

Alright - I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Views of Mt. Baker

Here are all of the Happy Hikers! Do I look like a midget or what?

We watched the moon rising over Shuksan. It was one of the most beautiful nights I've ever seen.

My sexy pose, but notice how someone put rocks in my pack? Dang! I knew that hike was hard for a reason.

All of the wildflowers were in bloom.

This is a view of Mt. Shuksan

This is the lake right by our camping spot

HAHAHAHHA

2008-08-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

HHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

My Mommy is so funny.....

Campy strikes again

2008-07-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I came outside this morning to find Brutus eating this tasty little morsel (notice that the head is missing)

A few minutes later, I wandered into the bathroom to find this (notice that the head has now been located..i think)

As some of you may recall, our cat has a reputation of dismembering various animals. This is yet another addition to her repertoire. Nice....

Bain de Soliel

2008-07-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Ok. Note to readers - if you are fixing the roof of your garage on a hot day and decide to take your shirt off to keep cool, DON'T DO IT! You will invariably look like this poor soul who wasn't smart enough to keep her shirt on or put sunblock on....

RTP Vietnam on NBC Jeep Sports

2008-07-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

NBC Sports just broadcast a special on Racing The Planet Vietnam. Check it out!

Segment One
You can see yours truely at min 5:11 and my 'big interview' at min 5:56

Segment Two

Hair? What hair?

2008-07-06T18:30:00.001-07:00

It looked awesome when I left the hair dresser, so now I just need to figure out how to make it look less choppy in the back.

Hoo Hoo - Who Who

2008-07-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Congrats to my friend Rob Byrne for making it on the cover of UltraRunning Magazine! This was the infamous stage 2 where we got lost for over an hour and had to fight through some of the worst mud of the race to get back on track. It was an epic day and I think this picture pretty much sums it up.

In other news, I've decided to take the rest of the summer off from running/racing. My motivation and passion level for training has completely disappeared. I couldn't fool myself any longer into thinking I could just push through it, so instead, I acknowledged that my body and mind are telling me to back off. I'm sure that there will still be many exciting adventures in my future, but for the time being, I'm enjoying being a couch potato :)

Bonne weekend

2008-06-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

We took the opportunity to get out of town over Memorial Day weekend and braved the Washington Ferry crowds in order to get over to Orcas Island. This was the second year we camped on the island with friends but what was so great this year was that there was SUN !

Beautiful Sunset which we could see from our campsite

Here is Eddie holding Brutus in his very special 'Sher-ruff' outfit which he proudly wore for the Puppy Parade

That's what I call lovin!

Are we there yet?

Canada OneXOne run completed!

2008-05-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

I had the distinct honor of running with Ray Zahab and numerous other team mates yesterday in Vancouver B.C. as part of the Canada OnexOne charity event. We drove up early Thursday morning and met the crew at Kitsilano Beach for an 11am start. It was clear that the past 11 days of back to back 50 mile runs was catching up to folks in the way of injuries and fatigue, but that certainly didn't damper their spirits. What an amazing group of people and for an equally amazing effort to raise awareness for underprivileged children across Canada.

To start off, we ran toward downtown Vancouver heading West towards Stanley Park.
From there, we followed the seawall counterclockwise past the nine o'clock gun, the Brockton Point Lighthouse, and the famous Girl in a Wet Suit sculpture, before heading over the Lions Gate bridge into North Vancouver. From there, the route headed through the waterfront Ambleside Park and along the river towards Capilano River Regional Park, where we passed the Capilano Canyon up to the Fish Hatchery and Cleveland Dam.

At the 25 mile mark, we stopped for a short break and were welcomed by one of the local First Nations Tribe (unfortunately, I cant remember their name). They played music for us as we arrived, paid tribute to us in their local language then welcomed us in for a fantastic lunch. It was really moving to see how much it meant to them that Ray was embarking on this mission to raise awareness and help children in need.

Each runner I met that day had a unique and touching story as to why they were out there doing this incredible run. Most noteably was Tim Borland who recently ran 63 marathons in 63 days to raise awareness and money for research that benefited children with Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T), a rare genetic disease that is incurable. At 6' 3", Tim has an imposing nature but a gentle heart unlike anyone I've ever met. His desire to help children drives him each and every day and he's opted for a life of simplicity where all he has to give is himself. Very inspirational.
Tim has a documentary coming out called "FEAT: A-T Cure Tour" so make sure to check it out when it comes to your town.

The team finished the run in Ontario today which is an amazing victory on so many levels. Ray is the kind of person you meet once in a lifetime, and he's certainly not slowing down after this epic event. His Impossible2Possible foundation has a number of upcoming expeditions first of which is a history-making 550 mile run from Ward Hunt Island to the Geographic North Pole. Ray, along with renowned explorer Richard Weber and vunderkin athlete Kevin Vallely are doing this expedition to draw worldwide attention to the melting Polar Ice Cap and in partnership with StudentsOnIce, create a legacy educational resource (The I2P Climate Education Initiative) focusing on climate change, its worldwide social impact, and the development of a generation of global problem solvers. This adventure will also support the ONEXONE organization, and their worldwide efforts to alleviate suffering among children.

Ohlone (Oh-Loan-knee) Wilderness 50k report

2008-05-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Race start

Pamela, Susan and I making our way up the first big climb (note, they dropped me shortly after this picture was taken and I didnt see them again until the end!)

Nearing my way to the top of the first climb

Views from the course

more pics posted here

Rob Byrne is an amazing runner who I had the honor to run with in Vietnam. He hosts the Ohlone Wilderness 50k trail run every year in Livermore CA and was kind enough to invite me as well as some other Vietnam runners to participate this year. He and his wife Chris graciously put all of us up at their amazing home overlooking the Oakland and San Fran Valley and fed us like Kings.

The Ohlone run is known to be a tough course with over 8k ft of climbing and as luck would have it, temperatures in the area were unusually higher than normal for this time of year. The course is a point-to-point race traversing the entire Ohlone Wilderness Trail, a tough 31 mile distance run on trails and fire roads. The trail crosses sections of four East Bay Regional Parklands: Mission Peak Regional Preserve, Sunol Regional Wilderness, Ohlone Regional Wilderness, and Del Valle Regional Park.

The Vietnam Racing the Planet gang (Lawrence, Patricia, Susan, Eric, Laurie and I) helped Rob and Larry Englund (the other race director) pack up all of the aid station and volunteer equipment into a big Ryder truck the night before the race. After 5 minutes, all of us were sweating profusely which is usually an early indicator that you are going to suffer like a dog in the heat during the run. Needless to say, I was scared.

As many of you know, heat and I do not like each other much. From the get go, the race went straight uphill (as seen in the picture above) and without a cloud in the sky, the sun beat down us like a hammer. I quickly dropped to the back of the pack, gasping for air, and came to the humbling realization (once again) that I’m both under trained and not acclimated to the heat in any way, shape or form. It felt as though everyone passed me in the first 5 miles. It’s hard not to start beating yourself up mentally when this happens, especially when you know that under normal circumstances, you should and could be able to easily hang with the best of them.

I was already scheming ways to drop out by the time I reached the second aid station (which was about 12 miles into the race) and the more we climbed in the heat, the worse I felt. Every time I dipped into the well of energy, there was nothing there. I simply had nothing to give. The hills kept on and on and on and the heat kept rising and rising and rising. Part of me wished that I would just keel over from heat exhaustion that way I'd have a valid excuse for dropping out, but somehow, my body just kept moving forward (albeit slowly). I learned after the race that temperatures reached 100 degrees, 25 people dropped out of the race, and 1 man was helicoptered to the hospital for severe heat stroke.

I guzzled water like a parched sponge, took electrolytes every hour, and filled up on bananas at each aid station even though food was the last thing on my mind. I've made the mistake before of not eating during very hot runs, and didn't want to go down that path again.

Despite the endless hours of agony, the scenery was absolutely spectacular. It reminded me of the Blue Mountains in Australia and was the only thing that kept the whole experience bearable. During the hours and hours on the course, I saw a gopher, lizards, a rattlesnake, butterflies, golden eagles, turkey vultures, cows, swarms of ladybugs and countless numbers of wildflowers. It was also easy to stop and get lost in the breath taking views while catching your breath before the next killer climb.

I rolled across the finish line in 9 hours 8 minutes which seemed shockingly slow for a 50k but was happy to have simply finished. After sitting for a few minutes commiserating with some of the other racers, it became clear that everyone suffered from the heat and that most people's times were about an hour slower than normal.

This is an incredible first class event that should be on every trail runners race calendar. The organization and volunteers are top notch and arguably, some of the best volunteer staff I've ever encountered.

In other news, this week, Bubba and I are driving up to Vancouver B.C. to join Ray Zahab complete the 2nd to last leg of his journey in the Canada OnexOne event. Not sure if I'll even be able to walk properly by then, but regardless, it will be an exciting adventure!

Puppetry of the what!?

2008-05-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

If you have not had the opportunity to see Puppetry of the Penis YOU MUST!! Yes it's wierd, and yes you stare at two naked guys for about an hour, but the things they do with thier 'special parts' will leave you rolling on the floor laughing. It's by far one of the most creative comedy/stage shows I've ever seen and certainly leaves an...uh...impression. They have already rolled through Seattle but you can get thier stage show on DVD.

Capitol Peak 'kick my freakin ass' 50 miler

2008-04-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite runs is the Capitol Peak Ultra Run located in Olympia, WA. The Friends of Capitol Forest and IMBA take meticulous care of this area and despite active logging, the trails are in great shape, well used and well loved.

This year I decided to do the 50 mile race in preparation for the Canada OnexOne where I'll be joining my coach Ray for back to back 50 mile runs in Vancouver and Whitehorse Canada. For those of you who may not know, Ray is running 13 territories in 13 days (50 miles a day!) to raise awareness for the OnexOne non profit foundation that helps preserve a quality of life for children locally and globally. Ray epitomises stud!

I still don't feel as though I've fully rebounded mentally or physically from Vietnam, so I knew going into this race that it was going to be rough. It's hard to get a sense of how far 50 miles is, so you can think of it in terms of the distance from South Seattle to Olympia. For a 50 mile race, you cant think of the actual distance without becoming quickly overwhelmed with doubt. Instead, you have to just break it down into little chunks (ex. distance between aid stations), keep putting one foot in front of the other, and try not to focus on how many miles or how much time is left to complete.

Race start was 6 am which means I was up and out the door at 3:30 am. There were a great group of folks at the start line with a lot of the same familiar faces that you see at many of the local races. Things started off great. I kept my pace slow and consistent with a goal of finishing in 10-11 hours. The trails at Capitol Forest are rolling and technical with a few long steep climbs thrown in for good measure.

Running is my form of (active) meditation. It gives me a chance to think about life, get in touch with things that may be bothering me, and also provides a reprieve from many of the obsessive, mundane or self defeating thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis. I love being alone on the trails, listening to music, finding a running rhythm and becoming one with nature. There are moments of complete euphoria where all is well and in balance. You try and hang onto those moments because they are fleeting and are typically met with an equal amount of dysphoria.

At about the 20 mile mark, I was already starting to feel the pain. My legs hurt, my thoughts were in a tailspin and I was scheming ways to drop out. I overheard a racer at the aid station say, "That was fun. Only 30 more miles to go!". My heart sank. If I was already struggling at 20 miles, how in God's name was I going to make it through 30 more?! I wasn't even 1/2 way there!

At the 55k, 50 mile split point I had to make a decision. Do I wimp out and do the 55k or do I suck it up and keep going? At that point, it was going to be 6 miles to the finish for the 55k option or an 8.5 mile out and back ( equaling 17 miles) plus an additional 7 miles to the finish. A lady who I'd been running with for the past few miles said to me, "You can do it. What's the worst that can happen?". Uhhhh...I fall over in exhaustion, roll into a ravine and am never heard from again!? On second though, that doesn't sound too bad. I'll go for it!

The next 8.5 miles were predominantly all downhill, which meant that the it going to be virtually all uphill on the way back. When I hit the aid station after 8.5 miles, I was going to officially drop out of the race. It took all I had to just walk at that point. I asked the volunteers whether I could get a ride back to the start line, and he said I would need to wait ~1.5 hours. Wait?! I didn't want to wait!! Don't they know I need instant gratification? If I had to sit there for the next 1.5 hours, I might as well just keep going. So...I turned around and kept going. All the way back up. My plan now was to drop out at the said station 7 miles before the finish.

Of course, when I arrived to the final aid station, I knew it was only 7 more miles to the end most of which was all downhill. Somehow I had managed to push through all of the mental demons and fatigue that I'd experienced earlier and settled into a nice rhythm all the way home!

I finished in exactly 11.5 hours. That was 30 min off my original goal, but figured that given the fact that I'd wanted to drop out since mile 20, it was amazing that I'd actually made it to end at all.

It was a very tough day on a many levels, and didnt leave me with a lot of confidence that I'll be ready to join Ray next month, so we'll see.

Uh..

2008-04-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!! IT'S APRIL!!!!!

WTF?

Grumble Mumble Rumble

2008-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Bubba, Baby B and I drove down to Sisters, OR this past weekend for the Peterson Ridge Rumble 60k. As you can probably tell from this photo, I was having less than a lot of fun. It was hot, there were a lot of long flat roads, and I must have gotten passed by ~40 people.

I opted for the 7 am early start which was great because it stayed cool until 11 am. I felt strong and was holding first place for a long time until Kami Semick blew past me like I was standing still. Keep in mind she started an hour after me so she had already closed that gap plus a whole lot more by the end. I'd like to say how inspirational it is to see runners like that, but during a race it's simply demoralizing. I was holding out hope that I could still place well, but by the time the 6th woman passed me, I knew it was over.

Bottom line, Flat, hot races are simply NOT my thing. I need mountains and mud and cold and technical terrain otherwise my mind goes numb with boredom and my legs cease to function. Don't get me wrong, there were sections of this race that were incredibly beautiful, but perhaps better suited for fast Mountain Biking.

Apart from that, the three of us had a great time. We stayed at a quaint but overpriced placed called the Sisters Motor Lodge and enjoyed taking in the sights, sounds, smells and SUN!!

Goodbye Emma

2008-04-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the littlest things (or people) in life that have the biggest impact.

Our dear friends Matt and Ellen lost their precious baby girl Emma yesterday. I'm honestly at a loss for words. I've never seen such pain and anguish looking out from a persons eyes, and watching tears flow from the bottom of a father soul is one of the most humbling and moving experiences.

Matt and Ellen have been through months on a roller coaster ride from hell, and all anyone has been able to do is watch from the sidelines praying, hoping and offering words of encouragement. Sometimes that feels so empty because you want to DO something to help. You want to be able to put your hands on Emma's little body and simply make it all better. You want to be able to wash away all of the fear, anxiety, expectation, wishing, fatigue and complication. You want to be able to say, "Trust me. It's all going to be all right." But we cant. Emma fought and fought and fought. She clearly had her fathers bullheaded determination, but just didn't quite make it to the playoffs of life. Hopefully she'll be back next year to give it another shot :)

Matt and Ellen's pain exceeds anything you and I can comprehend. I can only imagine it is like having a rusty jagged knife stabbed into your heart and turned a few times with some Nitric acid sprinkled on top for good measure. No parent should ever lose a child like Matt and Ellen did. It just seems like the cruelest form of punishment....and for what?

My deepest, deepest condolences go out to you....Matt, Ellen and Ella.

Canada OneXOne

2008-03-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

I'm honored to have been invited by my coach Ray Zahab to join him, Jen Segger, and Stephanie Case in British Columbia for a 50 mile leg of his amazing journey across Canada. Here's a bit more about his incredible endeavor. This guy never ceases to amaze me by his amount of passion, enthusiasm and energy!

Almost Two Marathons Every Day
On May 12th, 2008, Canadian ultramarathoner Ray Zahab, the first Canadian to run across the Sahara Desert, will set off to run 80 kilometres a day for 13 days straight – that’s right - more than a marathon every day - for 13 straight days. That’s over 1000 kilometres in just 13 days. To add logistic challenges to this amazing physical feat, Ray will in run a 80 kilometre segment in each of Canada’s 13 territories and provinces. Ray will begin his incredible tour in Toronto, Ontario on the 12th of May, travel west through each of the Western provinces, sweep north and east through the territories, swing through Atlantic Canada and Quebec and finish in Ottawa during the National Capital Race Weekend on Saturday, May 24th

Why is Ray Doing This?
The purpose of this unique cross-Canada journey is to raise awareness of ONEXONE, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in Canada and around the world. Through an annual campaign, ONEXONE is dedicated in helping create a world where children can live safely and with dignity. As Ray travels through all of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories he will visit with school children, local activists, local media and he will drop in on projects that have been supported by ONEXONE in the past. Children and families from each of the communities will be able to run with him and track his progress on-line. Well known athletes and runners from all over
North America will as well join Ray for legs of this run.

The Visuals
Canada’s diversity and beauty will be a focal point as well of this expedition. A celebration of our incredible country, and an opportunity for our nation’s youth to be re-energized by Canada !
Canada ONEXONE will provide an extraordinary and diverse geographic backdrop for what promises to be a powerful experience for viewers and participants of all ages. This never previously attempted tour has many facets: it is part extreme physical challenge, it’s part travel log, it’s part call to action – and it will provide the ultimate in drama as we watch Ray punish his body for 13 straight days – through unpredictable weather, blisters, exhaustion and isolation. Will he be able to complete this journey?

If you are interested in learning more about how to contribute to this or some of Ray's other adventures please contact me directly!

Meet the new man in my life

2008-03-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

No... he's not mine. He belongs to my dear friends Jennifer and Barry. He's 2 months old and a total knockout. When he's not peeing, pooping, farting, eating, burping or sleeping, Lane is the most charming, laid back, happy baby. We had many deep conversations during our time this past week and I'm looking forward to many more in the future!

Hey Lady - where is my boot?

Who said I have chubby cheeks?

Like Father like Son...

Electronics Garage sale

2008-03-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

We've been doing some Spring cleaning, and decided to off load a bunch of electronics that have been sitting around the house unused.

Please let me know if anything here interests you. We're willing to make a deal!

Sharp 27-F543 27" Flat-Screen TV - $200
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616096839.html

Curtis Mathis 17" TV - $50
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616111433.html

Kenwood 1060CD Home CD Player - 5-disc Carousel - $100
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616116843.html

Kenwood 106VR Home Receiver - Dolby Pro Logic - $100
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616120498.html

Pioneer S-H351F-K floor standing surround sound speakers - $100
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616135586.html

Technics SL-MC4 61-Disc CD Changer - $100
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616140340.html

Advent International Region-free Progressive Scan Converting DVD Player - $75
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/ele/616174819.html.

This just in....

2008-03-16T17:10:00.001-07:00

VIDEOS FROM VIETNAM!!!

Here is the best video of the Vietnam race so far.

And here are some of the best pictures

Enjoy!

No Chuckanut 50k today

2008-03-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

Even though I signed up for the Chuckanut 50k a few months ago, I simply couldnt bring myself to go race this morning. I've been battling constant fatigue since retuning home, and waking to the sound of pounding rain on the roof certainly didnt help my level of motivation. That and the idea of running with 300 other people through the glorious Pacific Northwest mud was a pretty freakin hard pill to swallow.

I'm having some tests run for Giardia (as well as some other stomach parasites) but wouldnt be suprised if the results come back negative (did I mention how much fun it is to poop in a cup?). I'd like to think my fatigue can be blamed on something I picked up in Vietnam, but it's likely that I'm just physically and mentally beat. Naturally, I hate admitting that, but it's the only logical thing I can think of. Guess I'm not at tough as I'd like to think...

So, instead of 6 hour ring-a-ding-ding circus of rain and mud soaked fun, I slept in until 10 am cuddling with my little hairy beast, followed by hours of mindless shopping at my absolute favorite place, T.J. Maxx (It's never the same place twice!!).

I'm looking for an old friend

2008-03-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Shea, if you happen to stumble upon this blog, please contact me. There are some things I want to apologize for and explain about the past.

You know how to find me...

Even MORE great pictures!!

2008-03-02T16:37:00.001-08:00

Wow, I had no idea how shitty and dirty I looked until I saw these pictures. No wonder the locals were pointing and laughing! Note to self - next time wear all black!

Here are photos that Nam Lam Ngoc (one of the race volunteers) took. This guy has a real knack for photography and captured some amazing scenes. They are broken down into

Landscapes

Culture/Faces

Racers

Enjoy!

More Pictures from Vietnam

2008-03-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lawrence Baca for these great pictures!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21622569@N05/sets/72157603998461207/

also, check out some of the post race pics (when we're all clean!):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000400&id=1157520407

I've been fighting off a nasty cough/cold and getting lots and lots of sleep. I'll write more as soon as I'm feeling a bit better.

Almost home

2008-02-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

I think this picture just about sums up our romp through Vietnam. We kept hearing that this was the wettest and coldest season on record so naturally our race would have to fall within that window!

On the last stage, the sun graced us with her presence and I have to admit that as the temperature quickly rose to a debilitating heat, I was actually glad that the week was as cold and wet as it was. It certainly worked to my advantage.

So here I am, sitting in the hotel lobby of the Golden Sun Hotel in Hanoi, clean, rested, well fed and ready to come back to "reality". All of the excitement had died down, and I'm left with this strange ambivalent feeling in my gut. Am I happy about the race? Was it what I expected? Did I enjoy it? What did I gain as a result? What am I going to do next? All of these questions are floating around in my head, but I dont have any clear answers yet.

Perhaps I need to get away from Vietnam in order to have a different perspective on the whole experience. Part of me is really happy about what happened over the past week, but another part of me is sad. There has been so much anticipation and preparation leading up to this, and now it's over. It's as if a big hole has opened up and I'm staring down into it.

One thing I know for sure is that Vietnam is a magical country with so many beautiful treasures. All of the blood, sweat and tears left out on the course have somehow connected me with this place and I'm frustrated that we couldnt have seen and experienced more. At the same time, we met people from a variety of different tribes and travelled through locations that no other foriegner has been through before. I cant begin to describe the look on a childs face the first time they see a white person or the first time they see themselves in the preview window of a digital camera. Those are incredibly special moments.

And lastly, thanks to everyone that sent email or posted a comment to the blog. I would read them at night and laugh, cry and long to be home with some of the best friends & family anyone could ever wish for.

There were a lot of photos taken during this event which I'll begin posting over the next week or so. Here is the first set taken by my friends on Team Atrapos (Don, Linda and Terry)

See you in Seattle!

Welcome to Vietnam - Day 1

2008-02-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

For now all of my blog posts are going to be up on my Racing the Planet blog. Please check there for all of the latest and greatest updates!

My Vietnam Race Information

2008-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I’m heading off shortly for a wee gallop across NW Vietnam. I’d like to provide you with various race information so that you can follow along as well as send emails of encouragement (if you so desire!).

Race Dates: Feb 18th through Feb 24th

Race Course Description:
This describes where we’ll be every day as well as the distances we’ll be covering. Note that the first stage is 100-120km!! (~80miles for us ‘mericans)

Main Race Website:
Click on the item that says “Race Coverage” and choose any option that suites your fancy (ex Stage updates, pictures, videos, etc). This will be the main place to come for the most current information.

Link to send email:
I love hearing from you! It really raises my spirits and helps me stay motivated :)

My Vietnam Blog:

I have been selected as a feature blogger during the event, so check here for my personal blow by blow each day of the race.

Current Standings:
Click here to find out how well (or not so well) I’m faring!

This is a pretty ‘wired’ event, so there shouldn’t be any shortage of information coming from the race. The website can be flaky at the best of times, so if you run into a problem, the best thing to do is be patient and check back in a few hours.

Gear list for Vietnam

2008-02-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures covering all of the gear that I'll be carrying during 7 days of the race.

These are drill down views of some of the smaller items

Race Course posted

2008-01-30T21:12:00.001-08:00

RacingThePlanet: Vietnam 2008
Expected Course
(Subject to Change Daily)

18 - 19 Feb 08: Stage 1 (Days 1 and 2):
Si Ma Cai – Pha Long – Muong Khuong – Coc Ly
Local dancers and music will send off competitors on the longest stage ever in a RacingThePlanet event with a 100+ kilometer overnight stage. This stage takes competitors along a winding mountain road with tremendous views (in clear weather), and over valleys with many minority (Nung, Flower H'mong, Black Dao, Tu Di and Giay) villages and some rainforest along the route. The route can be bumpy and challenging at times but is generally a good dirt track with some paved roads. The River Song Chay will have to be crossed on small local boats. Competitors will have the opportunity to go through the night or to sleep at a partial campsite set up around 70 kilometers. The campsite will be in Ben Den next to a river with gorgeous views.
Estimated distance: 100 - 120 kilometers
Condition of route: Winding mountain road (some sealed, some not) but very little traffic.
Campsite: Partial campsite at 70 kilometers and full campsite at end of stage in Ben Den (short bus transfer due to river and other obstacles)

20 Feb 08: Stage 2 (Day 3):
Ben Den --- Sin Chai – Nam Nhiu – Nam Than – Nam Cang – Nam Sai
The route begins in a village of the Tay minority. From here the trail will be mostly uphill with the opportunity to enjoy one of the most beautiful views of the lush valley along the Red River. From Sin Chai the route ventures into a fabulous mountain area, the most remote part of Sapa. Red Dao minority inhabits the entire area and you will also pass through bamboo forest and green jungle before reaching Nam Nhiu village. From Nam Than it's downhill to Nam Cang which is inhabited by Green H'mong. These villagers are not used to Western visitors, so a lot stares should be expected. The route passes over an old suspension bridge in an area inhabited by the Red Dao people. The end is in Nam Sai, a Red Dao village on the edge of Sapa Valley.
Estimated distance: 47 kilometers
Condition of Route: Rural dirt road and small tribal trails
Campsite: On hill overlooking lush valleys

21 Feb 08: Stage 3 (Day 4)
Nam Sai – Thanh Phu – Nam Toong – Ta Trung Ho – Ban Ho
From here it's uphill to the top of a valley, across a suspension bridge and through Thanh Phu, a Tay village, before the campsite in Ban Ho is reached. The campsite in Ban Ho is near the river in the bottom of the valley.

Estimated Distance: 28 kilometers
Condition of Route: Small trails
Campsite: With village families in small rural homes

22 Feb 08: Stage 4 (Day 5):
Ban Ho – Ma Qoai Ho – Den Thang – Seo Mi Ty -- TaVan
Today's route goes through rice paddies, snaking through forest and over old suspension bridges. The route will follow small trails through forest and through the Black H'mong villages of Den Thang and Seo Mi Ty before continuing over a river. The race will then toughen up with tiny trails going up and down, which requires a lot of concentration. The camp will be the in the village of TaVan near the river in the bottom of the valley
Estimated distance: 33 kilometers
Condition of route: Small trails, challenging route and beautiful scenery
Campsite: Next to a barn on the edge of a small village

23 Feb 08: Stage 5 (Day 6): TaVan – Heavens Gate -- Cat Cat -- Sapa
Competitors may follow one of several trails towards the top of Fan Si Pan, IndoChina's tallest mountain. The route will go through dense forest and rough terrain before passing the village of Cat Cat. After more, small trails and rice paddies the finish is in sight in the spectacular village of Sapa where fresh food and drinks will be available before heading to a hot shower.
Estimated distance: 22 – 30 kilometers
Condition of route: Sealed mountain road, small trails, along terrace rice field and villages

RacingThePlanet: Vietnam 2008
Expected Weather
The dry season in Sapa is from October to May. February can sometimes be quite cold with fog, locally known as 'mua bui' – 'rain dust'. Warm spells do occur. The average temperature is about 20°C (70 F) but can fall to 6°C or 7°C (45 F) at night. A warm campfire will be provided in the morning and evening -- hot water and tea will be available.

Where has the time gone!?

2008-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy few weeks. It started with an adventure at the Middle Fork Snoqualmie river trail where my friend Kathleen and I went for a 4 hour run but managed to get stuck in the snow on the road up there. In the process of getting towed out by a kind passerby, part of my bumper got torn off. Can you say "Cha Ching $$$$!"

Next I was off to the MacWorld 2008 Conference and Expo in San Francisco.

Got pretty tired of the geek freaks after a few days, but at least had a chance to go on a few nice runs around the city including one to the Golden Gate bridge.

After returning from San Francisco on a flight sitting next to a VERY large snoring man and a screaming kid kicking the seat, I packed up for a 3 day weekend skiing at Scottish Lakes.

The weather was incredible, the snow was all deep fresh powder and we had an absolute blast!

Tomorrow I'll head down to Renton to participate in the PigTails run which is around the Lake Youngs trail. Doesnt look super exciting, but these are my last few training weeks before Vietnam!

Brutus is much, much, much better. He's running around like nothing ever happened and cant figure out why he can't go running with Mommy!

Our poor baby - part II

2008-01-11T19:41:00.001-08:00

Brutus is nothing short of totally and utterly miserable. He cried all night long, and all day today. Bubba stayed home with him and it's clear he's just uncomfortable, confused and distraught.

My daddy loves me

He even rests right by my bed so I dont cry as much

Ugh...this sucks

If an ice pack works for mommy, maybe it'll work for me too!

Our poor baby...

2008-01-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Brutus and I went running at Bridle Trails this afternoon and on our second lap around the park, I turned around and Brutus wasn't there. I called and whistled for him but he didn't come tearing down the trail past me like he normally does. Finally, I see him walking down the trail slowly and as soon as he sees me, he stops and just stares at me. I tell him to 'come', but he continues to just stand there looking at me in this funny, guilty sort of way. He limps towards me a little bit and I realize something is wrong. I go over to look at him thinking maybe he had stepped on something sharp or twisted his ankle but when I bent down to check him out I see an enourmous gash on his back leg that made my heart leap into my throat.

All of a sudden my mind is racing and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I was afraid he was going to lose too much blood due to the size of the wound so I took my hankie and tried to wrap it around his leg like a tourniquet. He squealed in pain every time I touched him and didn't like the hankie tied on his leg at all. The wound was so wide and long that I could see his muscle showing through.

We were about 1/4 mile from the car so I tried to pick him up to carry him out of the park, but he would have nothing to do with that. Brutus is such a trooper. He sucked it up and decided to walk himself out. We slowly limped back to the car, he jumped in and I raced to nearest vet clinic (which was about 10 minutes away).

I can only imagine what the vet tech thought when she saw me walking in, covered in mud and blood, wild with panic about what had just happened. I told her as calmly as possible that I had an emergency so she quickly checked with the Dr. to see if he could see Brutus right away.

Bubba drove straight over from work and we both waited to hear the verdict. Naturally we were walked through all of the fee's (which would send most people to the poor house!). One of the other customers in the office said maybe he ran through some barbed wire or over a piece of metal, but the Dr later told us that he most likely got caught on a stick that tore through his leg as he tried to jump over it. The clinic sent us back to work and told us to come back @ 4:30 to come pick him up.

When we finally did get to see him, he was so drugged up and delirious he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. The Dr. told us that Brutus was very lucky because the wound was so large and deep that He could have torn through muscle, broken a bone or severed an artery. They put a drain in the wound and asked us to come back in 5 days to have it removed.

We got baby dog home, took off the stupid satellite from his head, and let him sleep.

He's going to have to stay put for at least 10 days and recover from a world of pain once he realizes what the hell is going on. He hasn't moved for hours since we put him in bed so at least we know he's resting well.

More soon....

Viva La France!

2008-01-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

Wheew! We finally made it home from our exciting French adventure and have posted our pics here.

We spent a night in Paris on our way back which was a fantastic treat. I've truely fallen in love with France and would like to have an opportunity to live there for a year once I've gotten a grasp on the language.

Overall, our vacation was an experience to remember. From the incredible food cooked by Uncle GeGe; to the glorious sights of the countrysides and villages; to the unrelenting noise of 14 family members packed into one house; to the unique smells of cheese, meats, desserts, cognacs, old stone homes and cigarettes - my head is still reeling from it all, but I couldnt have asked for a better Holiday celebration.

Je suis faim!

2008-01-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

Here I am about to enjoy some of THE BEST chocolate mousse I've ever tasted. Unfortunately I had to share with everyone else...

Did I mention we love chocolate?

Here is a picture of the cake we had for New Year's eve.

We took a trip to the sea with the family for some fresh air and sunshine.

More holiday pictures are posted here

Quelle heure est il?

2007-12-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello once again from the countryside. Life here has taken on it's own rhythm but still centers around breakfast, lunch and dinner. We've started taking day trips to local cities such as Rochefort (which is in no way affiliated with Roquefort dressing BTW), and La Rochelle where this picture was taken.

La Rochelle is a charming city that was founded in the 10th century (which lasted from 901 to 1000!!) It's amazing to see these ancient buildings which are not only still standing but being used for high fashion shopping today. Almost every city in France has some kind of amazing history dating back to the dawn of time. It's humbling to realize how small and insignificant our lives are compared to it all. We're merely a blip on the radar of eternity.

Today we're going to visit Chatelaillon which is a quaint seaside resort. The family's summer house is located there so we're going to swing by to check it out, take a walk on the beach and hang out. The only problem is the fog. Once it rolls in off the coast, it's almost impossible to drive anywhere. It becomes so thick that you can barely see 20ft in front of you. Come to find out, the vehicle mortality rate in this area is extremely high due to the combination of the fog and high speeds. Yikes. And to insult to injury, the French government marks road deaths by putting a sign up on the site of the scene that is shaped like a person. It's pretty un nerving to be driving along in the dark and see a shadow of a person on the side of the road.

Apart from the communication barrier(s) we're having a grand ol' time. There are plenty of places to go run which also gives me a chance to see the countryside in a different way.

More soon...

Bounjor de France

2007-12-23T02:07:00.000-08:00

After a long and (thankfully) uneventful journey, we arrived to La Rochelle where Maman est Papa (pictured above) met us with Gros Bisous (big kisses) and lots of hugs. We were ushered to their Charming estate (pictured above) which dates back to 1861. 1861!!! This place is truly amazing. The walls are made of stone which are about 2 feet thick and the supporting beams are more ancient than the Redwoods. There's a unique smell that you might experience in a dark cave deep in the earth. I find it comforting and full of mystery. Who were the people that built this place? What did they do? How did they die? If only walls could talk! Part of the house actually used to be a barn, but the previous owners renovated it and added all sorts of little rooms (see pic below). It ended up looking like a real hack job but does the trick.

Right now there are 14 family members staying here including 4 children. Talk about madness! Living with a family that speaks a different language is a gloriously frustrating experience. It’s like looking at the world through a fractured glass. You can kind of make out what’s happening but you're never really sure if what you perceive is real or correct.

A bunch of us went out for a run around the countryside this morning which was fantastic. It was freezing cold and the mist was rising off the wheat and vegetable fields. There were packs of deer sprinting off in the distance, Eagles searching for breakfast and friendly Mules who were all too happy to munch on the power bars I offered up :) We ran through little villages with churches and buildings hundreds of years old and watched the sun rise over the horizon to warm the frozen earth. It was incredibly beautiful. Here are some pictures of what it looks like in the summertime.

We’re now preparing for lunch. Keep in mind every meal is an experience in France. It’s not just ‘a’ meal, it’s a ‘series’ of meals. I completely forgot that yesterday and ate more than I should have in the ‘first’ course only to be surprised by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th course. Oh la la! GG (Maman’s uncle) is the resident chef who cooks incredible food. We eat things that I either can’t identify or easily describe but it doesn’t matter. It’s damn good!

More to come…

Joyeux Noel!

2007-12-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

Bubba and I are leaving tomorrow for Les Galipeaux which is located in Saint Savinien. We will have a short stop over in London, then hop over to Paris where we'll take the high speed train to La Rochelle. From there it's only an hour drive to the parents house. Yippie! We learned that their modem recently broke down so we might not be able to post updates, but we'll try.

In the meantime, my mom is available to house and doggie sit so we feel very happy knowing that our baby is in good hands.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I'm such a Dumbass!

2007-12-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Well, a Tiger Dumbass to be clear.

35 brave and hearty souls showed up at the Tiger Mountain Parking lot at 6:30 am to take part in the annual Tiger Dumbass 50k fun run . The run/race consisted of five, 6.5 loops with a total elevation gain of 12k ft. Keep in mind that the North Face 50 miler which I barely survived a couple of months ago had ~12,500 ft of gain and this race had the same amount of elevation gain over less distance. Ouch!

So here's the race in a nutshell - STFU (straight the fuck up) for 3 miles then STFD (straight the fuck down) for 3.5 miles x 5. I wasn't sure I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to complete the climb on the 5th and final lap since it was so steep and long, but my buddy Eric Barnes and I kept each other motivated and distracted during the treacherously long trip up. It's always really nice to find someone you can run with during a race because it helps the time go by much faster and you also get a chance to learn a lot of very interesting things about someone!

Eric and I finished together in ~ 8hours 15 min only to find that our very own Shawn Lawson came in first overall!! You go girl. And, out of all the starters, only 7 people completed the full 50k which made us feel like true Dumbasses!

It turned out to be a great day, a great run, and one that every ultra runner should put on their calendar.

2007-12-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling

or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible,

to loosen my heart until it

becomes a wing, a torch,

a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;

to live so that which

came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom

and that which came to me

as blossom,

goes on as fruit.

~Dawna Markova

WWJDD?

2007-12-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

If Jesus had a dog, what do you think its name was? Lucifer? Joseph? Daisy?

I'd like to start a new church that worships Jesus' dog and our slogan would be "What would Jesus' dog do?" (no pun intended)

Who needs Toenails anyway?

2007-12-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

Tag - I'm it?

2007-11-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Shawn who knows how much of a narcissist I am and would therefore gleefully play along in the "Blog Tag" game :)

Here are the rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

-Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

-Tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, brace yourself....

1) I grew up attending the Ramtha School of Enlightenment (which for those of you who don't know, is a woman in Yelm, WA who channels a 35,000 year warrior spirit)

2) I've never been pregnant

3) I used to compete in English and Western Horse riding

4) I have found my way out of the woods blindfolded

5) I'd like to compete in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race

I tag Fabien, Alan, and Glenn

It's raining babies!

2007-11-21T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a shout out to my good friends Matt and Ellen for the two wonderfuly beautifuly amazing little babies they had yesterday. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What a ride it's been so far, and it's only the beginning!

These two little wonders couldnt have picked better parents and it will be such a treat to watch them grow up to be just like thier mom and dad :) They have a bit of growing to do just yet (3lbs 6 oz and and 1lb 10oz!) so lets send these sweet young thangs some good growin energy.

Go Emma!! Go Ella!!

Them bitches be crazy!

2007-11-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

I just happened to turn on the T.V. at 4:00 today just in time to see Oprah's "My Favorite Things" Holiday episode. For those of you who dont know, every year Oprah hosts a suprise show where she promotes a series of products that she "loves" and everyone in the audience get's what she's promoting. The items range from clothing to food to home decor to electronics to cars! It's nuts.

Ok, so once Oprah announced to the audience that they were a part of the "My Favorite Things" episode (which was clearly a suprise to them) and the women fuckin F-R-E-A-K-E-D out. I cant even begin to describe the madness. It was like watching a bunch of teenagers at a Elvis or Beatles concert. Women were screaming, crying, jumping up and down, vomiting, shaking, hugging and kissing total strangers, sweating, passing out, dancing like Pagens - WTF?! If we could get 1/4 of that kind of reaction and passion around Global Warming, Human rights violations, Child abuse or politics, this world would be a helluva better place. Who gives a shit about Crochet Uggs or designer cupcakes?

Ironically, thier OADD (Oprah Attention Defecit disorder) enthusiasm only lasts through the first 4 items or for any items over $100 (because naturally she announces the price of all her "gifts"). Everything else is like "Woo Hoo" - with the exception of course of the few token people that just scream because that's all they know how to do.

Then of course Oprah announces that she's about to unvail "the most expensive item" during the show and the fucking madness starts again! She could have unvailed a steaming pile of Camel poo and people would go nuts. People are screaming so loud you cant even hear what Oprah is saying.

What has this country come to?

Awesome Book

2007-11-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

A friend recently lent me a book called "4 corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papau New Guinea" by Kira Salak

W-O-W

What an incredible book.

Following the route taken by British explorer Ivan Champion in 1927, and amid breathtaking landscapes and wildlife, Salak traveled across this remote Pacific island-often called the last frontier of adventure travel-by dugout canoe and on foot. Along the way, she stayed in a village where cannibalism was still practiced behind the backs of the missionaries, met the leader of the OPM (the separatist guerrilla movement opposing the Indonesian occupation of Western New Guinea) and undertook an epic trek through the jungle.

If you're in the mood for a masterfully written tale of exotic adventure - check this one out!

More babies!

2007-11-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

My dearest and oldest friend Jennifer is having a baby!! I cant believe it - I simply cant believe it! She and I have always agreed that we never wanted kids, but somehow she got the bug and is now going to become an incredible mother. I'm so happy, excited, scared, and proud of her. I truly never thought this day would come.

The family is throwing a "baby party" this weekend so I'm flying down to Redding California to rub her belly and make sure that there's a real live baby in there. Jennifer refuses to take or send any pictures of her expanding self (other than the one here) so I must go down there and verify that she is in fact pregnant!

Jennifer and I met in College (in 1993?) and found out that we both LOVED to party. She was living with her grandma in Elma and I was living somewhere in Olympia (cant remember where exactly). We would get together and either hang out at the Eastside Club Tavern or buy a couple of 40 oz's, hang out near the Waterfront, get shitfaced and BS about whatever. Jennifer was always a MUCH better student than I was but I think we only ever attended the same classes for a year. I also remember that she would try and get me to come out and run with her and I hated it. Funny how things like that work.

We've been through so much together over the years and I love her like a sister. Even though we're separated by two states I cant wait to share in this exciting adventure with her.

Quelle chance!

2007-10-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

Bubba and I just bought plane tickets to France to visit his parents over Christmas and New Year - well, the reality is his parents bought our tickets which just blows me away! How can you thank someone enough for a Christmas gift like that?! It's probably a very American thing to want to overcompensate and buy them huge expensive gifts in return, but I'll exercise my modesty, accept the gift graciously and bring gifts that (hopefully) show my deepest appreciation.

His parents just sold and retired from their insurance business then moved from their house just outside of Paris to a farm house in a small village in Les Galiteaux. I'm so excited to see it! It's one of 5 houses in the area (which is why I call it a 'village') and the next closest town is comparable to Duvall. At first that kind of freaked me out because I imagined being stuck out in the French Boondocks for 2 weeks, but quickly learned that there are still plenty of things in and around Poitou-Charentes including La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Ile de Re, and so on. Yippie!

Our plan is to fly from Seattle to London, London to Paris, then take the high speed train from Paris to La Rochelle. Once we arrive, we'll have a short 30k drive to get to their farm house and Voila!

Donate your underwear money to save starving children

2007-10-23T20:17:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered why underwear is so expensive? I mean think of it - here's this little piece of material that's typically no more than 24" x 12" which no one ever sees and which serves little purpose other than to keep things "fresh".

Let's take this little gem as an example. Ok, so I acknowledge that they are an Italian name brand that look very pretty and sexy, but $400!!!! WTF? Who in their right mind would spend $400 on a pair of stinkin underwear? Think of how many children you could educate and feed in any part of the world for that kind of money. How can you justify spending that on something you wear once and throw in the wash?

And Mens underwear are worse! Let's take this example of a $110 pair of Dolce and Gabbanna stretch underwear briefs. $110!! Guys, is there any reason why you would need to spend $110 on a pair of undies? Is there a big difference between a $25 pair of undies vs. a $11o pair? And Don't even get me started on Gay Men's underwear (although I have to admit that these $54 pair are pretty hot!)

Naturally most of us probably don't fall into the Designer undergarment camp (do we?), but I think that even spending $30-50 on a single pair of undies seems outrageous. What are we paying for? A high level of craftsmanship (made in China)? Material (made in China)? A label (made in China)?

I say Manufacturers have us by the "short and curlys". Normally I would boycott underwear all together as a sign of protest, but I've tried that once before and it wasn't pretty.

Just food for thought...

It's been one of those days..

2007-10-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

My stress level went through the roof today. I'm at the end of my 3 year car lease and have been trying to decide whether or not to buy it outright or roll into a new lease. The short of it is that I'm going to buy it since the residual purchase price is less than the current open market value of the car. So here's a snapshot of what I've had to do over the past week just to get to this point:

Contact all of the VW dealers in the area to find out how much it would cost to lease a 2008 Golf (now known as the Rabbit). Come to find out that there are NO 4door, 5sp manual Rabbits in WA or OR due to the fact that there was a huge fire at the German Plant which destroyed over 15k engines & transmissions resulting in an shortage of Rabbits in the US. I went over to a local dealership and took a look at the new Rabbit and wasn't super impressed with the 2008 model over the 2004 model (which I currently have.)

Research how much my current car is worth on the open market, and decide if it's more cost effective to buy, lease, buy and resell privately, look into a different car all together, or just walk away. This included reading a butt load of material on how leases work and how not to get jacked by dealers. The best info I found was on Edmunds.com

Contact VW Credit to try and negotiate down my purchase price. No dice. They also told me they don't finance loans in WA state due to some retarded laws.

Contact a series of lending agencies for quotes on auto loans with the lowest APR (note there are like 6 different kinds of auto loans all with different APR's). First Tech credit union came out WAY ahead with a fast turnaround (1 day!) and a rate of 5.4% (fixed). Sweet!

Contact VW Credit to Fax the necessary papers over to First Tech, then go in to First Tech, sign all of the paperwork whereupon they sent a check directly to VW Credit.

Take the car into the dealer for the 40k mile servicing. This may sound like a straight forward task but it resulted in ending up with a loaner car for over a week because they needed to order and replace a bunch of parts under warranty (CD Player, recalls, lights, etc). This of course doesn't include the 45 minute 'courtesy' shuttle ride from Bellevue to work in the morning followed by over an hour wait in the evening to pick up my car only to find out they couldn't finish it in time. Ugh.

Next, take the car in for full detailing (to give it an overall facelift). Of course this includes finding a ride from and to the detailing place since it will take 3-4 hours to complete.

Finally, take the car in for new tires since they are virtually bald and one has a slow leak.

Oh yea, and amongst all of this hoo ha, I have a full time job!! Talk about a pain in the ass. That's the one thing I like about leasing. You drive up, trade in the car, and walk out (after basically signing your life away). I guess I'm at the stage in my life where I need to be smarter about how I spend/waste my money and leasing is a pretty large gaping hole.

Who says I cant deal with commitment!?

North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler race report

2007-10-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

So this past Saturday was The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler. I didn't really know what to expect going into this race other than the fact that it was a 2 x 25 mile loop that we had to finish in 13 hours. I overheard someone before the race start say there was ~11k ft of climbing but came to find out after the race that there was 6200ft of climbing per loop for a total of 12,400ft. I'm sure you can imagine the cacophony of profanities rolling off my tongue when I realized that 3/4 of this race was STFU.

I'm not good at typing up long winded race reports for a couple of reasons - 1) I don't usually remember a lot of the specifics and 2) I don't usually care to relive the experience if I can help it. In this case, here are a few things that I *do* remember:

We started at 5 am in the drizzly and cold dark
The pack of 21 racers took off from the starting line like it was a 5k sprint (leaving me in the dust naturally)
I ran the whole race alone (although did manage to pass a handful of folks later on in the day)
I felt incredibly pressured and worried that I wouldn't make the 13 hour cut off due to the amount of climbing
It rained and there was a lot of up and down, up and down, up and down
I didn't get lost and I didn't fall (well, almost)
There were an amazing crew of volunteers at every aid station with lots of yummy food
I learned about a lot of trails on Cougar and Squak Mt. that I wasnt aware of before
Did I mention that there was a lot of climbing and that my legs hurt?
Someone running a few minutes behind me sighted a black bear on the trail which I completely missed in the midst of my agony

In the end, I rolled across the finish in 12:19 which put me in 2nd place in the female age 30-39 category, and 3rd overall for women's. I even won a Zune player which was a nice surprise! Here are the full race results.

Unfortunately, I've been as sick as a dog since finishing. I can barely walk, I feel nauseous all the time, I'm having terrible night sweats (no thanks to my 110 degree dog that wants to cuddle all the time) and I'm terribly light headed. Sound like to flu to anyone?

Holy Chinese Bat Man!!

2007-10-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you that may have missed this in the news:

8 year old girl in China completes 2,200 mile run in less than 2 months

Uh.....Holy shit!?

Link to full article

Please help with an exciting new Art Project!!

2007-10-01T20:11:00.001-07:00

I've decided to embark on an art project that's been in the back of my mind for quite some time, and am finally ready to get started, but could use your help to bring it into reality!

The premise of the project is to collect and showcase photos of people's refrigerators who come from all walks of life, and from all different parts of the world. This project is called (none other than) "Fridge Art".

Have you ever noticed when you go into someone's home that their fridge is usually full of pictures, mementos, cards, drawings, or magnets? It's like a blank canvas that allows people to showcase so many interesting, beautiful or personal aspects to their lives.

My goal is to collect up to 100 digital fridge photos which I'll then organize into a colorful coffee table book (or a calendar to hang on your fridge!). If you submit a photo of your fridge for this project, I will give you a copy of the book for FREE when it is completed!

Please send a photo (like the one you see below) to maislen@hotmail.com with your name and address, and share your "fridge art" with the world! If you do not have a digital camera but would still like to participate, please contact me directly and I'll (try) to make a personal house call to take a picture (weirdos need not apply).

Please help spread the word and feel free pass this onto your friends.

A week of Celebration!

2007-09-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is a week of celebration. It is:

Bubba and my 3 year anniversary
Brutus's 2 year birthday
My 7 year sobriety birthday

Happy celebration to us!!!!

The next big event

2007-09-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Despite battling incredible mental and physical fatigue since Plain, I've signed up for The North Face 50 mile Endurance Challenge on Oct 6th. The course is on Cougar and Squak Mountain so how could I pass that up?!

I've been feeling unusually tired for about a month (starting before the race) so decided to go in last week to have some blood tests run . I've been taking Iron, and Vitamin B on a pretty consistent basis but maybe that's not enough. I woke up from a dream this morning where I was strongly urged to take WheatGrass. Seems a bit odd, but what the hell, I'm game. Let's see if it works!

In other news, I'm switching to a new team at work which I'm super excited about. It's a small, startup group with tons of room to grow so I think this will be a great move for me.

More Pics from the race

2007-09-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

More pics from the race. Enjoy!

Running in the Zone

Finish (with Brutus)

Eating yummy meatballs

Telling Chris the race director how horrible the 9 hour climb in the middle of the night was!

Trying to get to the bathroom after the run

Giving Shawn a High 5 after a nice hot shower

My best support man

Why?

2007-09-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the race, my mom asked me, "What motivates you do run 100 miles? What do you get out of it? How does it better you as a person?". I thought about those questions for a few days, then read a quote in UltraRunning Magazine that summed it up perfectly.

Q: Why do you run Ultras?

A: In the process of completely exhausting myself, I connect with an inner part of me ordinarily veiled by the every day distractions of life. During the short time spent on a trail in the mountains, my life is reduced to its simplest terms. Most ultrarunners are people who find goodness and joy in difficult times, who see beyond the misery to the beauty of nature, and who truly realize the elemental and important aspects of life. Going for a run always clears my head, but running 100 miles distills my soul.

I love that..

One of the other Plain racers that I kept leap frogging for most of the race put together a fantastic report with pictures. If you'd like to read an excellent blow by blow of the race check out his post

I did it!!

2007-09-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

I don't even know how to begin describing what it was like completing the Plain 100. This race really was 'all about the journey' and the hours and hours of preparation both in training and in studying the course really paid off. I finished in ~31.5 hours with only 2 small blisters, a stubbed toe and a BIG smile on my face.

Here is a short narration with pictures:

Arriving to the first (and only) aid station at 55 miles after completing the gruelingly hard first loop. Loop 1 contained the most climbing (~15k ft total) and a lot of technical terrain (rocks, steep climbs, very dusty, little fresh water, exposure to the hot sun, etc). I followed my plans to a 'T' by pacing myself, drinking and eating regularly, and following along on the map. I spent most of the time alone but had some great music to keep me upbeat and motivated.

Getting ready for Loop 2. Changing socks, putting on warm clothing for the night, eating a hot meal, and repacking supplies for the next 55 miles. Little did I know that I would be climbing virtually non stop for the next 8-9 hours (loop 2 contains ~another 8k ft of climbing). From the moment I left the aid station at 10 pm to the time the sun rose at ~6:30 it was all STFU (straight the fuck up!). My little LED headlamp didn't illuminate the trail very well so it was hard to get solid footing and see where I was supposed to be going. Not only that, but I was hallucinating from fatigue and was alone for the whole evening afraid that I was either going to get eaten by bears or abducted by aliens. The mind can play pretty funny tricks on you out there! I usually really enjoy travelling at night but am not sure I've ever really done it alone. Regardless the little mice, owls and stars kept me company all night and the sunrise was spectacular. There's nothing quite like hearing the very first bird sing in the morning.

Coming off the last trail at 100 miles toward the finish line (which is still ~1.5 miles away mind you!). Notice the hairy little beast at my heels that was so happy to see his mommy! It was pretty tough to run at that point, but it's funny how you always seem to find some extra gas in the tank once you smell the barn. Note - the last 7 mile section sucked. It was dusty, with lots of short, really steep rolling hills which seemed to go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. It certainly was not a kind ending!

Coming through the finish with my old AR buddies Glenn Rogers, Roger Michel, and Beat Jegerlehner who ironically will also be racing in Vietnam in Feb. I caught up with them 1/2 way through loop 2 (since Roger rolled his ankle) and we decided to stick together and keep each other company for the 20 mile death march to the end. We were all hurting pretty badly but still managed to laugh, make jokes and enjoy the seemingly endless dusty trail.

Can you believe I'm smiling after all that? I decided to take my poles for the second loop and although they were a bit of a pain to carry, it certainly helped having them on the uphills. Following this I promptly sat my butt in a chair, at meatballs, watermelon and ice cream, took a shower and called it a day. Check Plain off the list!

And here's to my best support crew ever - especially to Shawn who drove Arthur and I up to Plain on Friday afternoon, provided a place for us to sleep at the Thousand Trails campground, got up early (2 am!) on Saturday morning to help us get ready for the race start, stayed up late on Sat night to help us at the 55 mile aid station and was then at the finish line to congratulate every one coming in. She is an amazing woman! Also to my boys who had hot food ready for me at the aid station, helped pack my stuff, provided plenty of wet sloppy kisses and were waiting for me at the last trail head to see me in to the finish. You guys are the real stars and I couldn't have done it without you!

I'm still ingesting the whole experience but can honestly say it was Epic. I was hoping to be the second only female finisher, but Bev Abbs, a professional runner and athlete from California showed up and smoked the field with a finishing time of ~28 hours (which also set the new female course record). Now, had she NOT shown up, I would have broken the old course record of 32 hours but who's counting, right? :) It's still an honor to be the 3rd female to have ever finished Plain and now I have the rock to prove it!

A big thank you goes out to my coach Ray Zahab who made this dream a reality with his amazing and incredible coaching skills as well as to Chris and Tom (the Plain race directors) for not only putting on a spectacularly hard event, but for hosting training runs out on the course every weekend. That kind of knowledge was invaluable!

I'd also like to Thank all of my friends that have shown such tremendous support over the past couple of months. I got all of your "mental emails" of encouragement during the race and even though I didn't believe it when you said "You're going to do great out there" now you can say "I told you so" :)

It's time!

2007-09-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's only 1 1/2 short days away from the start of the big event. I'm as prepared as I'll ever be so now comes the fun part of actually getting through it!

Here's my race day strategy:

Keep the pace nice and steady. Don’t try and keep up with the faster runners despite how tempting it may be
Power walk the up hills and run the downhills
Drink every 15 min and eat every hour (Hammer Bars, plain gels, Pringles chips and mixed gorp)
Take Endurolytes every hour when it starts to get hot
Use the map in conjunction with the instructions to make sure I’m aware of where the critical water spots are
Stay as cool as possible, take in the beautiful surroundings, and dont forget to have fun!

The only aid station is at 55 miles where Bubba and Brutus will be waiting with hot food, clothes, and plenty of kisses. Depending on how wasted my legs feel, I may take the trekking poles for the second loop (but hopefully not).

I’ll have a full report for everyone on Monday

YAMPF (aka yet another middle of the pack finish)

2007-08-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Despite the hellaciously long drive to Methow Valley and back (6 hours there and 4 hours back) Annie and I had a fantastic race at Cutthroat! This was Annie's first official mountain trail race and she rocked the Casbah with a 10th place finish! Way to go girl! Annie's boyfriend Eddie was also an amazing support beeeyatch so consider yourself hired Eddie :)

Roughly 150 runners turned out for this fast and furious event and it felt like it was over before it even started. The trail was highly technical, the views were breathtaking and the weather was just right. It seemed like there was pretty meager support considering the price we paid to race, but it was still a great time.

Next stop - Plain!

We're heading East

2007-08-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

First off, Good luck to everyone competing in the Cascade Crest 100 miler this weekend but especially to Shawn who's going to do the Cascade Crest AND Plain back to back. You go girl!

I, on the other hand, am opting for a more mile mannered weekend.

My friend Annie and I are heading over to Methow Valley (Winthrop specifically) to compete in the Cutthroat Classic mountain trail run this Sat.

According to the website:

Runners start at Rainy Pass on the North Cascades Scenic Highway (see pic below), elevation 4,800 feet.The route follows the Pacific Crest Trail north on a steady, gradual 5 mile climb to Cutthroat Pass, elevation 6,800 feet. Runners then descend 4 miles to Cutthroat Lake (Many switchbacks on a 5-10% grade). The course continues gradually downhill for 2 more miles to the Cutthroat Creek Trailhead, elevation 4,500 feet. Total course length is 11.1 miles. The trail is rough and rocky with some shallow stream crossings. It is used by day hikers, backpackers, horses, llama packers and mountain bikers, so be ready for a challenging run.

Yay!

Another day in Plain Paradise

2007-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

I ventured over to Plain again this past Saturday to spend another day running part of the course with Chris and Tom (race organizers). I was supposed to meet them at 7 am at Maverick Saddle, but unfortunately, ended up getting horribly, horribly, horribly lost trying to find the road to the Deep Creek Campground, then lost again trying to find Maverick Saddle. I showed up an hour late to our meeting location and missed them by 25 min. Fortunately, they left directions on where they were going so I raced off hoping to catch up with them. Naturally, I missed the first trail turnoff and had to back track ~.5 mile which chewed up even more time. I was PISSED to say the least. Certainly not a good start to the morning.

I pushed hard for about an hour or so and finally caught up with them at the top of the Jimmy Creek climb. Wheew! The rest of the day went smoothly, with the exception of climbing over roughly 60 downed trees on the Mad River trail and consequently scoring some great cuts and bruises which we compared over pizza after the run.

So far I've seen most of the major sections of the course. I have to admit that Loop 1 is going to be a killer especially if it's hot. We've been fortunate to encounter pretty mild weather over the past few weekends, but Tom keeps assuring me that it can/will get well over 100 degrees on race day. Ouch. We'll also be going down the Mad River trail at night which means bushwaching through all those downed trees in the dark. At times it was hard to find the trail in the daylight so I can only imagine how fun that's going to be at night.

I have a healthy sense of skepticism about finishing this course. Most people drop between the 30 and 75 mile marks and now I know why. According to Chris and Tom, Loop 2 is "much easier" but I don't suspect that anything is going to feel 'easy' after you have 55 hard miles in your legs.

I'm going to try to get up there again 1 last time over the labor day weekend to bike and/or run a 14 mile section of the course that I wasn't able to run earlier due to the sprained ankle. Let me know if you'd like to come along!

Busted again!!!

2007-08-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

Some of you may recall my streaking post a few months ago, where I was caught running around my house naked. Well....it happened again, but this time I was caught by my neighbor!!!! Talk about embarrassing! I'd just gotten back from a run, put my clothes in the washer and was in the kitchen talking on the phone (NAKED) when I hear "Haaaaalllllooooo". My neighbor had come by to bring us some Zucchini from his garden and I had absolutely no idea what to do. Our front door as well as our french doors were wide opened so I couldn't exactly quickly run by to grab a towel. At the last second, in an act of desperation, i grabbed the big kitchen rug that I was standing on and held it up in front of me just as he arrived at the french doors (which look directly into the kitchen). He looked at me and it took about 3 seconds for it to register what was going on while at the same time I tried to explain that I have this terrible habit of running around my house naked. I was soooooooo BUSTED! He was visibly flustered and simply looked down, set the vegetables on the deck in front of the door, turned away and bid farewell. I tried to thank him as he scurried off, but he was probably in a state of shock (as was I).

There's a reason why we live in a Hippy house for crying out loud!

Good luck Ray!

2007-08-15T07:56:00.001-07:00

My coach Ray Zahab is about to embark on another amazing adventure. Here's his latest plan in the words of the man himself:

Here we go ! Only 1 week until the start of the Canada Challenge !

Next Tuesday, the 21st I will be leaving Chelsea, Quebec for Canada's north- Nunavut. I will attempt to run across the south-east end of Baffin Island on the Akshayuk Pass (Pang Pass) for 100 kms, then run an additonal 36 kms along the coast into Pangnirtung. The coolest parts will be meeting with First Nations people, running past legendary mountains like Thor, and evading polar bears on the north coast !

Immediately upon arriving in Pang I'm off again to Newfoundland to run 220 kms along the East Coast Trail, following the jagged cliffs of the Avalon. Again, non-stop running. Yikes !
After that, it's off to British Columbia to run the legendary West Coast Trail. 75 kms of crazy ladders, rainforest and tides. WOW ! I can't wait to see how much Gatorade I drink on this one in order to st! ay hydrated.

The goal is to complete this expedition adventure in 10 days ! I know it sounds crazy...because it is. I can assure you I will do my very best ! We will face all sorts of challenges- of course the running, there's weather (we could be grounded up north), and logistics. For more details please visit my website at www.rayzahab.com

I want to showcase the beauty of my country with this extreme event which will travel to very remote and stunning coasts of Canada. Through this journey, my hope is to raise awareness for SpreadtheNet.org and their mandate to provide frontline defence to the people of Africa against malaria. The concept is simple- 10 bucks buys a bednet, which can save someones life. Period. So simple and effective. Also, I want to continue to bring attention to the water situation through the Ryans Well Foundation. Ryan is amazing. Check out ryanswell.ca

Go Ray Go! We'll be tracking your progress and look forward to your safe return.

Another incredible day of running

2007-08-12T08:11:00.001-07:00

Race Director Tom Ripley and I ran another 26 mile section of the Plain 100 course yesterday. I left Woodinville at 4 am to meet Tom at the Lake Creek Trailhead located in the Wenatchee National Forest by 7 am. We covered some of the hardest sections of the course so it was a full 9 hour day. I'm beginning to feel a bit more confident now that I've had a chance to ingest large sections of the course, but I'm going to need to really stay focused on going slow and steady (like Tom and I did yesterday). It's deceptive because it feels like you are going too easy, and should pick up the pace, but the goal is to last for 36 hours - not blow up after 15 (which is apparently the mistake that many other racers make).

The trails we're running on are very hot, rocky, dusty, and rutted out from motorbikes but the views and scenery along the way (if/when you have a chance to take your eyes off the trail for a moment) are extremely pristine and beautiful. It's mostly all high alpine forest with lakes, meadows, rivers and, of course, rocks. Yesterday we saw a deer, lot's of chipmunks and fresh bear tracks!!

I'm going to head over there at least 1 more time before the race and then it's going to be taper time!

BTW - I'm selling my Women's size 9 Montrail Continental Divide shoes that are way too small for me (which is odd since I wear an 8 1/2). They are virtually brand new and only been worn a handful of times. Let me know if you are interested!

We're turning Blue

2007-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not kidding when I say we're exploding with blueberries.

These are our 4, 30 year old gargantuan blueberry "bushes"

This is an example of how many freakin blueberries we have. I cant even pick them fast enough!

I can go out and fill a colander in like 10 min by just sticking my hand in the bush and shaking

If you like blueberries, please come by and pick some!! Bring your kids, bring your dogs, bring your buckets and go to town. I hate to see them go to waste and for some reason the birds are not eating them. They are huge, and amazingly sweet and would go great in blueberry pancakes, bread, jam or pie. Just let me know if or when you'd like to come by!

I'll take my Plain please

2007-08-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Shawn Lawson and I are heading over to Plain this Saturday to join Chris Ralph and Tom Ripley in pre running part of the Plain 100 course. We will focus on the tricky part of Loop 2 (in yellow) where most people get lost (since they typically go through there in the dark). I bought the Plain map yesterday and went over the course based on the course directions and I swear to GOD it will be an absolute miracle if I dont get hopelessly lost. Ideally I'd like to use a GPS during the race (since they allow it) but I hear that connection is pretty sketchy out there.

Holy crapola - I'm really nervous!

If anyone would like to go out there and Mountain Bike part of the course with me over the next couple of weekends, please drop me a line.

Until next year

2007-07-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's official - I'm NOT going to run the White River 50 miler this year :( There are a few factors that played into the decision: 1) There's no way my ankle is ready for 10+ hour of pounding and 2) Coach Ray believes that with the Vietnam race being pushed out to Feb 08 ( did I mention that?) we need to refocus my training plan and start ramping up for the Plain 100 miler in Sept instead (oops, did I forget to mention that too?).

Ok, some background - we recieved notification from Racing the Planet last week that they've moved the Vietnam race date out to Feb 08 because there is a conflict with the Antartica race that apparently cant be changed. Of course I'm really bummed since I wanted to do an international race this year and also because my training plan has been thrown off. I'm just glad I hadnt purchased airline tickets yet. I'm certainly still going to do it in Feb, but need to set some shorter term goals to keep myself in shape and motivated.

Looking around at some of the big races coming up, the Plain 100 held in the scenic and ever lovely Cascade Mountains caught my eye. This race is known to be extremely difficult which is proven by the low finishing rate since its inception in 1997. This race consists of 100 miles of running, non stop, with 21k ft of climbing and a 36 hour cut off time. Piece of cake! But wait, there's more!!

The race is completely self supported (which means you carry all of your own food, water and safety equipment),
The trails are not marked (y'all know that spells trouble for Michelle)
No pacers are allowed on the course
No dogs are allowed on the course (dogs are considered pacers - sorry Brutus!)
You'll receive nothing from anyone. Water comes from streams or lakes.
There's no aid on the course from any source.
No stashing. You wont be allowed to have drop bags or stashes on the loops.
You will have to carry everything with which you started, with you at all times, this includes going up to Klone Peak.

Doesnt that sound like fun!?

Congratulations Honey!!

2007-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Bubba flew down to Las Vegas this past week to test for his first degree Black belt in Kempo Karate. Last night, he and ~20 other heads of school spent three hours testing and........ he passed!!

I'm soooo proud of him. He's been training like a dog on top of work, opening his own Kempo school, and everything else I make him do around the house :)

Congratulations honey - you did it!!

Ankle Update - Part whatever

2007-07-17T19:56:00.001-07:00

As you can see, my left ankle bone is starting to come out if it's puffy little injured shell. I feel like a pregnant woman that hasn't seen her feet in 7 months....well, you know what I mean.

I've been working with a great PT over at the Pro Club in Bellevue and have been doing my exercises religiously. I went for a 20 min run earlier today on the treadmill and it felt pretty good so I think I'm ready to start ramping it up again SLOWLY.

Washington tears it up this weekend

2007-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a big one for Washingtonian racers of all kinds. First off, Seattle's own Scott Jurek and Krissy Moehl placed 1st at the Hardrock 100 miler in Colorado along with my buddy James Varner who finished 25th. This is known to be one of the hardest 100 milers out there so hat's off to these guys!!

Secondly, my friends from Team DART placed 2nd at the very last 12 hour Trioba adventure race at Snoqualmie Pass. Congrats guys!

Thirdly, my buddy from Olympia, John Pearch, completed the 125mile Death Ride in Colorado in under 10 hours (which included 15k ft of climbing!). Nice work John!

Finally, my close friends Robert and Dianne participated in the annual 205 mile Seattle to Portland bike ride (aka the PNW bike circus) in 1 day and lived to tell the tale. Fortunately, they didnt encounter the same misfortune as this poor chap.

As for me, I spent the weekend doing yardwork and generally staying off the ankle. I missed out on the White River training run but went for a great bike ride with Bubba instead. It still seems pretty unlikely that I'll run the race on the 28th since I'm still experiencing minor pain and swelling but I'm still not giving up hope God damn it! :)

I'm going for a short run tomorrow so we'll see how it goes...

What does Brutus think?

2007-07-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Ankle Update - Part 3

2007-07-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so things aren't healing as quickly as I'd like but that's how it goes sometimes. I started working with a PT yesterday and although she's not optimistic about the White River run, we're going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

In the meantime, I'm doing enough yard work to keep the ants out of my pants. Our place is a total MESS! Bubba and I have been pruning all of low or dead hanging limbs off the trees, shredding them in our brand new chipper shredder, cleaning up the weeds, rototilling the garden and planting new flowers, fixing up the hot tub, pressure washing and cleaning the deck, the list goes on and on. We found a great gal to help us out for a few hours a day so we're making a significant dent in the laundry list of things that we want done. Hopefully by the time we have our infamous BBQ at the end of Aug, our property will be in tip top shape!

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

2007-07-04T22:11:00.001-07:00

Does this look like a dog that's afraid of Fireworks?

He loves his Daddy

And he's not afraid of nuthin...

Ankle fiasco - day 2

2007-07-03T17:43:00.001-07:00

I figured the best way to share my sprained ankle pain with you was with pictures!!

The swelling has actually gone down a bit since yesterday, and I'm able to put a bit more pressure on it, but not a lot. I've been RICE'ing like a madwoman and that has certainly helped. I made an appt with my Dr. on Thursday as well as my Physical Therapist. I've started accepting the fact that there's a 97.5% chance that I wont be able to run the White River 50 miler on July 29th, but it really pisses me off to acknowledge that. I've put in so many hours of training, and it feels like in a blink of an eye, all of that was just flushed down the toilet. Granted, there are bigger races coming up over the next few months, but I was certainly ready to make a dent in this one. I guess I'd rather set my expectations low to avoid complete disappointment if my ankle is worse than I realize, and anything above and beyond that will be a bonus.

Did you know that falling off ladders is the #2 most common household accident? The #1 most common accident is slicing yourself while cutting a bagel. Note to self - no more ladders or bagels until Christmas!!

Here is the offending ladder and slope where I fell

Oops, she did it again

2007-07-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

I can't freakin believe it. I was trimming trees on my property this morning and consequently fell off the ladder when it was on a slope and landed hard on my ankle. Of course, this is the same ankle I rolled a few weeks ago! It hurt so bad and thought for sure I'd broken it, but lucky for me, it looks like a nasty (2nd - 3rd degree) sprain. I really, really, really hope I'm still a go for the White River 50 miler on the 29th, but it's probably too early to tell.

:(

Did you see me streaking?

2007-06-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

There's nothing worse than being seen running naked around your house like a crazy person by a friend. I tell you, it's all Brutus' fault....

From Tiger to Muir

2007-06-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

After a great Chinese dinner on Friday night for Bubba's birthday, Brutus and I got in a great 5 1/2 hour run at Tiger Mountain on Saturday. I was breaking in my new Montrail Continental Divide shoes and got a blister in the first hour (duh). I didnt have any blister tape (duh x2) but fortunately, I met some friendly mountain bikers on the Preston trail who were kind enough to patch up my foot with some good 'ol duct tape. I swear you can count on friendly mountain bikers for just about anything!

On Sunday, I joined Ultra runners John Pearch and James Varner for a hike up to Camp Muir at Rainier. It was pouring rain and miserable when we left the parking lot (so much so that we werent going to go), but by the time we got above 8k ft. the sun was in all it's glory and it was a pristine day on the mountain. We ran into Tim Becker (Master Male Duathlete of 2005) who told us that he's been climbing the mountain since 1978 and summited at least 32 times. WOW! He was also explaining how much the mountain has changed over the past 20 years - the snow levels and glaciers have receeded, the Bergschrunds have opened up more than ever, and of course the number of climbers have tripled. He said it doesnt even look like the same mountain anymore.

Like a bridge over troubled waters

2007-06-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a very long time since I've burned a friendship. So long in fact, I've gotten careless about taking care of the ones I have and value. When I was drinking, loosing friends was a common as a hangover, but since getting sober a little over 7 years ago, I've worked hard to build, maintain and foster a healthy and diverse network of friends in my life. Granted, I may not always have a lot of time to spend with them, but I care deeply about each and every one of my friends no matter often we may see or speak to eachother on the phone. IMHO, friendships dont recognize time. Having said all of that, I can still be a selfish ass and hurt or disappoint friends when I dont intend to.

Last week, I was made painfully aware that I had crossed a boundary with someone that I care a great deal for, and it was nothing short of devestating. I dont blame this person for the decision that they made, and probably would have done the exact same thing myself. In that moment I was so keenly aware at how selfish, ignorant, immature, impatient and cold I can be when things dont go my wa. As a result, I fractured a frienship that has meant a lot to me over the years. Sometimes 'I'm sorry' sounds so trite and clearly doesnt cut it when the damage has already been done. I'd like to think that as friends we could 'talk about it' to work through it, but I'm choosing to respect thier request for some space while also allowing myself time to process the sadness, anger and frustration of my actions.

We all make mistakes in life, but MAN is sucks when you do. If any of my friends out there reading this have been hurt, offended, insulted or angered by something I've done PLEASE TELL ME!! There's nothing worse then learning some time later that you've done something stupid that you didnt even realize. I'm not afraid to own up to my actions and it will respect you for being open and honest!

Blanchard Mt. 50k

2007-06-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Brutus and I drove an hour north to Alger for the Blanchard Mt. 50k ultra run. This was a very informal affair with no entry fee, various start times, simple course markings, and a potluck style aid station. The course consisted of three 11 mile loops with 2k ft of gain on each loop. Ouch!

Brutus ran the first two laps with me (that's 22 miles!!) and came in first in the dog division. Go Brutus! I think that's the farthest he's ever run and although he was certainly dragging on the second lap (due to the heat), he was spunky and full of energy when I got back from the third loop. He's our little running rock star.

I too came in first for women in just under 7 hours. I had to backtrack in a few spots because I wasn't sure I was going the right way, but other than that, the course was really well marked and very people got lost (compared to last year :)).

Overall, this was a FANTASTIC race and I'll certainly be back next year. The course was super technical and HARD. There was a STFU (straight the fuck up) climb in the middle of the course, and by the third lap my legs were cramping in places I didn't even know muscles existed.

The race organizer, volunteers and competitors were some of the nicest and most down to earth people I've met. I hung out for at least 2 hours after the race shooting the shit, meeting new people and enjoying the gorgeous sunny day.

It was a day well spent (and I think Brutus agrees)!

Lumpy boobs and swollen ankles

2007-05-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago I found a marble sized lump in my breast. My first reaction of course, was denial, but I learned from my dad (who ignored a huge cancerous tumor on his shoulder that eventually metastasized into lung cancer and killed him) that the only thing denial is good for is a one way ticket to the grave (first class please?). I went in to have the lump examined by ultrasound, and when they couldn't figure out what it was, they sent me in for a mammogram. I've always feared having a mammogram. I'm sure you've all seen the pictures where they squish yer tits into boobie pancakes and not only does it looks painful but seems kind of like an embarrassing and demoralizing experience. Well, it wasn't that bad at all. Granted there was a lot of squishing and contortionism involved but it didn't hurt at all and was as embarrassing as driving through the car wash.

The good news is that the lump is simply fibrous tissue shaped like a marble and I'm therefore free of any cancerous tumors. Wheew! Hopefully by the time I'm ready for the next exam, the machines will be driven by 3D imaging and I wont have to be subjected to another boobie sandwich. In all honesty, I just like saying boobie.

Next on my list of physical drama was rolling my ankle during a long run this past Saturday. I started off feeling pretty tired and as a result was having a pretty frustrating run (with momentary lapses into endorphin filled euphoria). After tripping roughly 100,000 times, ripping my pants on a nail, choking on a bug that flew down my throat and running into some strange Asian folks talking about raccoons having sex (and one of which who also advised me to "Haloooo - must try stay happy") I totally bit it. I was about 2 miles from the end of my belaborus 4 hour run and I simply stepped on a rock wrong and "pop". I think the phrase that came out of my mouth (other than fucking fuck) was "Whoot - There it is!". Now it was just a matter of assessing how bad it was and whether or not my running season was over.

Fortunately, after a short walk, I was able to run out on it, and despite three days of significant swelling and bruising lathered with lots of DMSO (thanks mom!), I think all is well. I'm going out for a test run on it tomorrow, so we'll see what happens after that. I'm just bummed that it happened in the first place :(

By the way, Mary Gadams who owns Racing the Planet, asked me to be a featured blogger on their web site! I'll be posting articles up there from now through to the end of the race in November. Click here to view the Vietnam Blog.

We are the Jetsons

2007-05-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

I've officially joined the ranks of the OCD geeks. Even though we have a cleaning service come to our home once every other week, it's not enough! The wood floors are constantly coated with dog hair, crumbs, dirt, grass, cat litter, you name it. I don't feel like sweeping every day so we decided to test out one of these lovely iRobot Roombas vacuming robots. The Roomba Discovery Robotic Vacuum senses, finds and eliminates dirt while automatically adjusting to any floor surface including carpet, wood, tile and linoleum. The round-shape vacuum goes where others can't like corners and edges then returns to its self-charging home base.

So now I'm lounging lazily on the couch while our little Roomba works busily away in the other room. It doesn't seem to get along with our rugs so it's going to be pretty tedious to pull all of them up each time we want to run it, so we'll see.

Where do you want to go today?

2007-05-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Instead of living every day of my life like it's my last, I'm going to start living every day of my life like it's my first. So there.

I've likened my recent training regimen to banking. At a bank, you either put money into your checking account or into your savings account. You typically use your checking account for quick fix purchases like groceries, rent, a new TV, etc whereas your savings account is meant for significant purchases like a down payment on a new home, buying a new car, a new bike, etc.

Training, like banking, is about making deposits into your physical accounts. Before hiring Ray, I'd been banking lots of long slow miles which were great for the savings account but not so great for my checking account (aka speed). Nowadays, Ray has me banking miles into both my checking and savings account which is allowing me to make quick purchases (speed) plus significant ones (distance). As we all know, it's hard as hell to keep money in your checking account and it constantly needs to be topped up. Savings on the other hand, sticks around for a while but unlike the real bank, the physical savings account doesn't accrue interest and you cant make transfers between savings to checking :( The moral of this rambling story is: it's better to have a balance in both accounts vs. just one.

I got that little gem during my run this morning. You should see 1/2 the shit that usually comes out!

Capitol Peak Ultra Race update

2007-04-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

A picture says a thousand words, no?!

The Capitol Peak 55k Ultra Run this past Saturday was fantastic! I followed Ray's advice to go out slow, treat this like a training run and have fun. So I did, and I got 2nd place! Oooo, Ooooo. I had plenty of gas left in the tank after the race, and wasnt sore at all on Sunday.

Get with the training plan girl!

2007-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today marked the start of my official ultra running training plan (courtesy of coach Ray Zahab). I found myself at the local middle school track early this morning running 1km sprints. Damn that's hard! I expect the worst is yet to come...

Back in the swing

2007-04-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

I finally kicked the rest of the China cold, and have been going full swing into Spring training. I decided to hire a running coach, and am really excited to begin working with him. I'm mostly looking for help in structuring my daily workouts since what I do today has little rhyme or reason - I just go out and run. There are a few key areas I need to work on (ex. speed, hills, etc) and believe that with the right approach I will be able to do a lot better as the season progresses. The down side is that I'll have to give up my 2-3 days of biking since he firmly believes in sport specificity, so that sucks.

I ran the Northwest Trail Run 1/2 marathon today at Squak mountain which was a great and challenging course. I'd never been out there before but I'll certainly be back. Next weekend I'm heading down to Olympia for the Capitol Peak 55k and then I'll be running my butt off to get ready for the White River 50 miler at the end of July. This isn't a race for wimps. It's known to be one of the harder 50 milers in our area. I have a very healthy sense of fear right now.

Halloooo, cheapie cheapie!

2007-04-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

We're back from China and have been desperately trying to pull out of the haze as a result of the Jet Lag, the nasty colds we picked up from the pollution, and the general whirlwind pace of the whole trip. Without boring you with the day to day activities (which centered mostly on shopping since we were with a group of spend happy Americans who would willingly buy a fly off of shit) I'll cover the highlights with pictures:

Our first stop in Lhasa, Tibet was amazing, and by far our favorite part of the trip. The skies were blue, the air was fresh (especially since we were at 10k ft) and the people were genuinely open and friendly. We visited a myriad of Buddhist monasteries, and shopped to no end with our very American Tourist group. Our flight out of Lhasa turned out to be the one of the scariest experiences I've had to date. We departed in the middle of of a sand/wind storm and our flight bounced around in the sky like a cork in the ocean. After about 30 minutes of sheer hell in the sky (including crying stewardesses, screaming passengers and tons of prayers) we climbed to a high enough elevation to avoid the winds.

Our second stop was in Chongqhing. Need I say more?

Our third stop was a 3 day Yangtze River Cruise.

We made some pits stops along the way which allowed us to get off the beaten track to see some unique things and making some new friends!

After the cruise, we visited the 3 Gorges Dam before returning to the crazy and massive Metropolitan city of Shanghai

I have a lot of mixed feelings about our trip to China. The country is growing at a pace which far exceeds it's abilities and the environment seems to be taking all of the beating. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the prevalence of corruption is apparent despite the governments abilities to hide it. Overpopulation and pollution are literally out of control and many feel it may be too late to reverse much of the damage (especially since few regulations are currently established). Part of me feels like it's our fault that China is the way it is today and it frightens me to think that they may represent our future.

Here are some signs we saw which made for some much needed comic relief

Off to China in 2 days

2007-03-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving on Tuesday to meet Bubba in China where he's been training for 1 week at the Shaolin Kung Fu training Center . First I'll fly into Shanghai, where I'll stay the evening and catch the morning flight to Chengdu. Once in Chengdu, we'll see a few sights then catch a flight the next morning to Lhasa.

Hopefully I can get online to update you on our travel adventures. So far, Bubba has had his I-92 Immigration and Visa paperwork "misplaced" by the Chinese Immigration Officer and is not sure how or if he's going to be able to get back into the US. Fortunately, he made copies of everything and I'm also going to bring some additional paperwork from the house. Bubba seems to have the shittiest luck sometimes. My instinct tells me everything is going to be ok, but it's certainly going to add an unnecessary layer of stress and discomfort to the trip :(

More soon from China!

Funkalicious

2007-03-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

I cant snap out of it. I've been in a funk for well over 2 months now and no matter what I do, I just cant seem to let go and be happy. Ironically, I went off my anti depressants in lieu of some different drugs but am beginning to think that wasn't such a good idea. On the outside everything appears to be fine and dandy, but I cant explain how much of a struggle it is to get up every day, go to work, feel like anything matters and do it all over again the next day. On the weekends all I want to do is either lay in bed, watch TV or hide away in some dark place, but I somehow manage to pull myself up by the bootstraps and forge through another meaningless day. The simple fact is - some days I just don't want to struggle and fight anymore. I cant even convince myself that changing lifestyle or moving to some exotic place is going to solve the problem either. Unfortunately, as you learn in recovery, wherever you go - there you are.

I've prayed, I've meditated, I've recited my gratitude list , I've practiced self care, I've gone to therapy, I've exercised till I can barely move, I've binged and purged, I've worked till I cant see straight, I've pretended that if I ignore it it will go away, I've shared with friends, I've spent time alone reflecting, I've tried different meds, I've looked for solutions, I've looked for answers.....but here I am. Same shit, different day. WTF? Am I missing something?

My father struggled with depression, which at the time, wasn't commonly diagnosed, but I can now see clear patterns between our behaviors. He was constantly running, working, going, doing, making lists - just to keep the mental demons at bay. And when (or if) he ever stopped, he would crash - hard. Deep in his heart I know all he wanted in life was to be free and happy, and I believe that up until the day he died, he felt that it was still possible. I on the other hand, am beginning to believe that it will always be just outside my reach, unless of course, I opt for better living through chemistry. My therapist begs to differ, but then again, I'm going on my 7th year of therapy.

Depression is not a logical disease. I often step back and remind myself that I have nothing to be sad about. My gratitude list is a mile long, but somehow that isn't enough to help me sleep peacefully at night. I'm sad about the future, I'm sad about our world, I'm sad about the horrible things that we do to our environment and to humanity. I'm sad that people are suffering, I'm sad that we live in the dark ages technologically, politically, medically and spiritually. Sometimes I try and soothe myself by thinking that I'll be dead by the time the shit really hits the fan but then there's that whole re-incarnation thing that makes me even more depressed to think that I'm going to come back to an even more fucked up place from which I left (potentially).

So I tell myself to start making a difference. Give up the car, go on peace marches, lobby politically, fight for the things I believe in, blah blah blah. Is that really going to make a difference? Unless your name is Madonna, Bono or Oprah or are a mega billionaire Philanthropist like Mr. Gates, I don't see how driving a bio diesel car or living in an eco friendly house will mean a can of shit to anything. I'm even starting to think it's all a conspiracy to eek more of our hard earned money our of our already tight bank accounts. Call me a pessimist, but convince me otherwise. I'm open for discussion.

Off the soapbox and back on the anti depressants.....

Holy Mother of GOD

2007-02-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today's Mountain bike race in Belfair was one of the HARDEST f*%@!'ing race I've ever done. Imagine every element that would make biking the most miserable experience you've ever had.
For example:

Freezing cold temperatures (the thermometer read 31 degrees)

Pouring rain mixed with freezing sleet

HUGE puddles on the course that left you completely saturated

Mud so deep that you could barely peddle through it

super slick roots that consistently launched you off the course

Branches sticking out that whacked you in the face as you went by (hard)

Trails so technical that you couldn't remove your hands from the handlebars to drink, eat, wipe the snot from your nose, or remove your freakin fogged up glasses

Fingers so numb from the cold that you couldn't shift properly

Mud so gunked up on your gears that you couldn't shift

Your mouth so fill of mud, grit, and snot that all you could do was spit vs. drink

and all of that.....Times 3

Before the race, we were huddled in the SUV with the heat blasting. At ~5 min before the start, we finally left the comfort of the warmth and rolled up to the start line. Once we started, the shock of the cold caused my lungs and legs to completely seize. It took me a complete lap (5 miles) before I found my rhythm and pace. Given that we had 3 laps to do, I was able to catch up with some folks by the second lap but by that time the pack was completely fractured. I had no idea who was ahead or who was behind.

I wanted to quit SO BAD. On the first lap I said I was going to stop. On the second lap I said I was going to stop. On the third lap I was so cold and delirious that all I could do was focus on trying to keep myself upright and going in a forward direction. I learned later that a bunch of people dropped out which was great for me (of course) since that pushed my placing up higher.

In the end, I came in 4th but am only now getting feeling back in my fingers and toes.

Shit....