Race updates

For all my planning, I did not sign up in time for the Ogden Marathon. I am actually very sad about that. I'm looking for a good Fall marathon instead. I'm considering Portland or St. George. Or another option would be an ultra. An ultra marathon is anything longer than a marathon. Could be 27 miles could be 100 miles. There's an ultra in Goblin Valley. It's 31 miles. It's like I can't remember how hard 26.2 were or something. They also have a half distance.

Current races:

Moab 1/2 marathon (this Saturday)

Wasatch Back Relay (June)

Spudman Tri (pending drawing)

Peach Day's 10k (This will be my 5th straight year. If I can cut about 4 mins off my time I can place for my age division. Hahaha.)

We have a Wasatch Back Relay team together. It's a different team from last year. Everyone is single and everyone's in the late 20's early 30's range. Based on our first team meeting it is going to be fun. We have some crazy fun ladies. The gentlemen runners are all very excited and involved which is awesome. I loved my team last year, so I'm not trying to compare. I'm just really glad the chemistry appears to be working. When you are on your 30th hour into the race in a van full of sweaty, tired people, you want to like them as much as possible. 180 miles is a long way to go if you don't get along. It's amazing what people can do when they work together.

It's a lot fewer races than last year, but with the three weeks in China, that puts my training behind schedule a bit. I'm actually a little more focused on hiking this year too. Besides at least one mountain in China (Emeishan), I plan to hike Timp again and finish the Mount Nebo hike.

Here's a little flashback to 2007:

Why not

Jobs are not plentiful. They do not pay well right now. They get hundreds of applicants. That being the case, I've decided to pack my backpack and take off for China for three weeks. I don't have to really worry about the job thing until at least May. Then I can panic.

So, my general plan is land in Hong Kong head to Yangshou/Guilin. Hike, bike, kayak, see some minority villages. Then it's off to Chengdu. I plan to spend three days hiking the Budhist holy mountain Emei Shan. Then catch a train to Xian and see the sights--Terra Cotta warriors, etc. I also want to see the Museum that has the Helen Foster Snow collection. I worked on her manuscript collection when I worked at the BYU Special Collections and got to help host the International Symposium when we finished. Finally, I will go to Beijing where I'm staying with my family's Swedish exchange student from high school. I would really like to hike the Great Wall and stay overnight, but that's pending finding someone to do it with.

Hahaha, let's see what I really am all able to do the 23 days I'm out and about.

Finally

Kelly & I finally went to the Burger Bar. We've been talking about going for at least 2 years now. There's no indoor seating and we picked a perfectly frigid day to go, but the food was everything we dreamed it would be. I had a peanut butter cup shake and it was divine. Some of the best shakes ever. Tony's strawberry shake was to die for. You would think it was summer with the ripe strawberry flavor except that you were freezing inside and out.

All I had was a burger, fries (didn't even eat them all), and the shake and I was full (bloated) all day. I haven't been eating a lot of burgers and fries lately so it was lovely while I was eating it but seriously, it took forever to digest. I ate some berries later for dinner, but that was it.

Also, I finally went snowshoeing this weekend. I have wanted to try snowshoeing forever. I even bought a pair of used ex-rentals from REI last year but still never went.

I'm dumb enough to consider going on my own, but not dumb enough to actually go on my own. For sure I would end up in an avalanche disappear mysteriously until some hikers found me the next spring. I just don't want to inflict that kind of emotional damage to hikers. Bikers or skiers, sure, but not hikers.

We went on the Mill D trail up to Donut Falls. It's this hole in a sort of rocky cave like area. It's totally a cave in the winter with all the snow piled up on it. Very cool. I plan to go back if not again on snowshoes, then in the summer as a hike.

The Circle of Life

So in one day I got to feed both my new three week old niece and my dad.

My new niece is Savannah. She is a doll. She reminds me a lot of my sister. I see a lot of my sister in her other two kids, but for some reason I see more of her in this one. Not that that makes any difference. I love all of them. So far this one seems to be as easy going as the other two. She eats and sleeps. I haven't seen much crying or fussing.

I don't know what it is about babies, but why is it you can love something so much that doesn't talk or contribute to society or really have much personality at all. Maybe it's just that she's part of my sister and you can transfer the love you have for a sibling off on their offspring. I don't know. I just know my heart gets all squeezy and tight when I hold her.

Feeding a parent is not the same thing as feeding a baby. I think you do it out of the same reasoning. You love them and they are helpless and you want to take care of them, but it doesn't evoke the same emotions. For the most part I feel surprisingly little. Not little, more like nothing. The scary absence of feeling cause you know if you didn't block it off you would feel really bad and sick.

Get Out of the Smog

You're sick of running on the treadmill everyday. The roads are actually clear of snow and ice. You are itching to break out your tighty, running tights and breath in the brisk cool winter air. And then you look out the window and there it is. The Salt Lake Valley winter smog. You've heard running in it is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. True or not you'd rather not find out.

City Creek Canyon is the answer to your winter smog running blues. The smog is usually brought on by the infamous "inversion". I can't tell you all the scientific reasoning, but during this time, City Creek Canyon stays free and clear of the smog.

I've run there in the winter and it's even been warmer the further up the canyon I went. Except for immediately after a snowstorm, the roads are kept pretty clear even in January and February. There may be a few ice patches where the water runs across the road. Just be smart and slow down to an awkward shuffle.

This is actually one of the most beautiful routes I've run in the winter. Blue skies, snow flocked evergreens, and the sound of City Creek babbling down the canyon.

Job Hunting/Marathon training

I'm doing the whole job hunt thing. I just remembered why I haven't done this for a while. I'm seriously considering a meter reader job. It requires a lot of walking. I'm all over that. I'd really like a job that got me outdoors for part of the day. If there's a jumpsuit that comes with it, I'm so in.

Ogden Marathon II
Since I have all this free time right now, I've decided to train to run another marathon. I really liked the Ogden. It's well organized, the route is beautiful, and I'd really like to go back and beat my time. I ran it in 2007 and finished in 5:09. I really wanted to run a sub 5 hour marathon. I'll never qualify for Boston, but I think I can do better.

Other races I am planning on or have registered for 2009:
Moab Half Marathon
Ogden Marathon
Spudman Triathlon (Olympic distance)(if I don't make the lottery, I may try the Vikingman again)
Peach Day's 10K

I'll probably add a few more races, but I haven't settled on which yet.

Well, got to go run, literally....

Road Trip, Part deux

I've been to Phoenix a couple of times but I've either been passing by or it was July. You don't go outside in July unless its to sit in the pool. Anyhow, it's lovely in the winter. I hiked two different peaks, Squaw and Camelback.



Mr. R took me on the hike up Squaw "mountain". I started shooting off my mouth about how these aren't mountains by Utah standards. Then I ran out of breath so I stopped. The peaks/mountains are not that high there but the trails go straight up instead of nice gradual switchbacks. I mean it was no Timp, but both hikes were pretty strenuous. I highly recommend them.

Second day I was going to go back to where Squaw is and hike around all the lowland trails, but I didn't find it. Strangely I came across another trail head which turned out to be Camelback. I actually thought this trail was a little more lovely a trail. It had some technical parts though.


There was a decorated Christmas tree on top. Fun and festive.


There was this one guy who was "running" it. He went up and down at least 3 times while I was there.


I took off for San Diego after the hike. It's a nice straight shot to CA from Phoenix. Nothing very eventful. There is this dunes area that I thought was pretty cool when you cross the AZ/CA border. The sun was setting so I didn't get any pics.


San Diego. What do I say. Every time I get back for a visit it's like I never left. I love the freeway systems there. So quick and easy to get everywhere.


I did make it to the beach. I didn't get in though. I didn't take my wetsuit with me. It was chilly. The air, the sand, the water. I'm not usually that weak sauce and if someone had been there encouraging me I would have totally plunged, but I admit it, I wimped out. I did wade though. I had a lovely walk along La Jolla Shores though. The tide was low enough that I could go all the way over to where the tide pools are.


I crossed most of my to do list off. I ate a burrito from Los Alamos in Old Town. Beach. Fish tacos. I did not make it to Little Italy for gelato. Also, I did not go to Tijauana to search for a ceramic surf monkey. Apparently there's a lot of Mexican mafia killings in TJ everyday (all the border towns for that matter) and it was highly suggested I not go. I figured the monkey wasn't worth possible death.


The final item on my list was shenanigans with Doctor B. I don't know what I was doing the two years I lived in San Diego, but apparently I missed the giant turd. There is this sculpture that is supposed to be a wave in honor of some ocean god. Well, if I were the sculptor, I would stay away from water, cause if I were the ocean god, I'd drown this guy for insulting me with a giant doo-doo.




Did I mention it was raining? Pretty hard. So Doc B is all, let's climb it. He climbed it just fine. My shoes slid right off the thing. I did take them off. After B jumped like 40 feet through the air, did a flip and a roll or something (that's how I remember it now), he comes over to help me up. With some hefting, prodding and poking of my posterior, I finally get maybe halfway up. But I'm like spread across the back of this thing and my grip is slipping. I do a lot of dumb things with very little encouragement but I got really scared and started squealing and stuff. I wasn't sure how I was going to get down without completely falling. Doc B to the rescue. Somehow I ended up sitting on his shoulders, at which point I think the squealing resumed, then climbed down his back.

I'll have to get into the climbing gym and improve my climbing skills so next time I'm in the area I can take another crack at the giant ocean turd.

I made it back to Utah in time to get up to my parents for Christmas Eve. All and all a great trip.