Quick trip to SF to visit and help the parents

It was great to travel with Cathryn to SF for her meeting at the Federal Reserve. After she finished we toured the city for a couple of hours and took the train down to Sunnyvale to visit and help mom and dad. Mom relaxing on the patio on the swing.















Dad at the picnic table















Cathryn near the Maritime park in SF and the tall ship.















Ken in SF getting a free sample of chocolate















It was nice to spend some time with Kim and Dennis plus kids and also Keith and Caroline. It is always good to spend time with family. Thanks for taking the time to swing by mom and dad's while we were there.

Two weeks until the cruise so i'm working overtime at work and home.

The Utah Grand Slam is now over

It's been a long season of marathon running for me this year. I'm glad it is finished and I was successful at finishing the four marathons of Utah Valley, Park City, Top of Utah and St. George. I got my bright yellow t-shirt and unique Grand Slam beehive medal as well as my St. George dark long sleeve crimson t-shirt and sandstone finisher award. On Friday night, before the run I enjoyed the hospitality of dinner and a overnight stay at my Aunt Evelyn in St. George for a great spaghetti dinner and it was interesting to catch up with my nephew Jeff and his wife. A special thanks to Aunt Evelyn for waking me up at 3:45am when my alarm on my cell phone failed go off after being programed mistakenly to 3:30pm. Missing the wake up call is the stuff I stay awake the night before worrying about. I couple notes on the marathon. I keep wondering why I run these marathon races, because they are mostly out of my range. Next year I really need to either change my training schedule or my race attitude. At 4:15 am I was in the bus line and sat next to guy who said that he had ran 20 St George marathons as we talked on the ride to the start. The weather was quite warm before the start and the PA announcer said it was predicted to be the hottest temperature finish in SGM history. I meet a couple of friends from work and we chatted around the camp fires that were burning to keep us warm. The starting gun went off and I waited for about 9 minutes before I could get to the start line. Then the fun began and continued for the next 5 hours and 12 minutes to the finish. I love the signs that people make for friends and family which are posted along the course. My favorite this year was "these marathons would be fun if you didn't have to run 26 miles". Another sign had "warning annoying spectators ahead". You know after a while all the people cheering, telling you your almost there or some other motivational go for it can become just annoying. The race support was great, lots food, water and Gateraid. About mile 21 the aid stop even offered a Coke, I never had that in a race before. The best by far was the big missile Popsicle at mile 24, they were so good. It didn't look like normal race support stop, just some people giving out freebies, but again they really hit the spot for me. Well that is the end of the road running for this year. Time to rest and think about the goals for next year.

September 18th was Top of Utah marathon. I elected to save some driving and register at 4:30 am on the morning of the race at Olsen park in Logan, which also was the finish. I got up at 3:00 am, driving myself to Logan, after a 4 hour nap Friday night. It is really hard for me to fall asleep before a marathon. Race registration was quick and easy. I caught one of the first school buses to transport the runners to the starting line at hardware ranch. Those schools buses don't have much leg room for adults, so my knees were likely in the back of the runner in front of me. The organizers had a couple of nice touches at the start. There was the normal row of porta potties. But there was a glow stick light in the one I visited. Think about it, have you ever gone to the bathroom in pitch dark? Also it was about a quarter of mile walk from the bus drop off point to the starting area. There were glow sticks lining the pathway to the start. The temperature was cool (maybe 40-50), so they had a huge tent with several heaters going, making it quite toasty inside. It was so warm inside I had to take off my sweatshirt. I found my two friends Mark and Wade from work in the tent by the glow of displays of various electronic equipment that some runner feel are necessary. As it started to get light outside, runners piled out the tent and threw their clothes bag in a school bus to transport them the finish line.

A group dressed up as mountain men with black powder rifles signals the 7:00 start by discharging them. The course is beautiful and fast. The fall colors were in full splendor in the canyon. The first 15 miles is almost all down hill, about 2000 feet drop. I was happy to have a 2:10 half marathon split time, considering I did Farmington half marathon earlier this year at 2:06 and didn't then I didn't have another 13 miles ahead of me on that run. But a knew the second 13 miles of TOU would be a lot harder then the first. I finished TOU at 5:05. I was happy with that time, considering that I have had a very spotty training schedule and the finish time was 30 minutes faster than Park City marathon. So the last marathon of the Utah Grand Slam is in two weeks at St George.

Park City Marathon, not your average down hill run

The goal to complete the Utah Grand Slam continues for me. August 21 was the Park City marathon, number 2 in the series of 4. This course is known in the running circles as the hardest one of all the UGS marathons. For a couple of good reasons, very long continuous up hills, starts at 6400 feet elevation, with a top of over 7000 feet, lots of trail running and of course it's 26.2 miles. I heard from several runners that you walk the uphills and run the down hills. Having never done this marathon course before this description scared me. In fact I was very concerned that I might not finish the course before it closed in 6 and half hours. But, I heard the scenery was really great. The views of the ski slopes and jumps craved in the green mountains sides was inspiring, when I had the courage to move my eyes off the dirt trail without fear of twisting my ankle. Start time was 6:30 and it was cool so, with a gentle breeze from the South. I decided to change into my long sleeve running shirt before starting, so I quickly swapped it and re-pinned my numbered bib in the parking lot. Just enough time for a fast picture before the starting gun. The start was great and I felt really good through the rolling hills going East about the first 5-6 miles. Then the course turned South and started a continuous gradual uphill on the old Union Pacific railway bed. This lasted about 5 miles right up the valley and the wind was now in our face, about 10-15 mph. Bummer, uphill and against the wind. After about mile 10 the course turned West and started into Park City. At the the half marathon distance I glanced at my watch. 2 hours 30, not bad considering the uphill and wind. Now the mountains were blocking the South wind. I started to talked to myself (what else are you going to do when you are running) with thoughts like, "ok, if I start walking this uphill part, then I will be rested enough to run the down hills at the end". Or, "If I double my half marathon time, then I surely can finish under 6 hours before the course closes". These, plus others rationals sounded very convincing, so I started walking. I finally got to a point where the volunteers were saying you made it to the downhill part of the course. Great, I'll start running again. Shortly I said "hey, whats the deal"? About 1 mile into the downhill, then there this like 45 degree straight uphill, like the kind you see in San Francisco, I said out loud, "you have got to be kidding me". Well after walking that hill I just sort of lost interest in running. However, you can still push yourself walking. I got to the point that if I made a 15 minute mile pace walking, I felt like I was really moving myself. I even passed a few "walk/runners" at 4 mph. At the 26 mile marker I still couldn't see the finish line, but I thought to myself "you have to run to finish, even if you can't see it". Two down, two more marathons to go. Park City now has the distinction of being my worse time on any marathon at 5 hours 42 minutes, but I expected it. I intend to do better at Top of Utah on September 18 and it's coming on this Saturday.

Motorcycle trip 2010 part 3

A short hike to the base of the waterfall was a welcome change after riding on the motorcycle for 250 miles.

















Being able to straddle the line of the continental divide was fun.
















The three last posts have been pictures from my camera. This week other people on this trip will exchange pictures and I should have some more pictures of me and places visited. Beware, more pictures of a crazy motorcycle rider are coming.