the chandela clan

Goodbye Walnut

2011-11-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

I'm very sad to have to write this post - our little buddy Walnut died late Sunday night.

He was neutered last week, and something must have happened as a result. We rushed him in to the emergency vet Sunday night when we noticed him walking unsteadily. Unfortunately, it was too late. Shortly after the tech took his vitals, he went into cardiopulmonary arrest(his heart stopped), and they were not able to revive him. The doctors are not sure what happened.

If you're a pet owner you know that it doesn't take long to get attached to a fuzzy critter. Though we only had Walnut for a few months (he was born in late April), he was a full-fledged Chandela Clan member, and we love him tons.

We miss you so much little guy, and will remember you always.

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Mile Race Report (TRT 100)

2011-07-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Whew! I did it, last Sunday at approximately 1:40pm, I finished my first 100 miler - the Tahoe Rim Trail 100! The first two goals for the year are complete. So, here are the details . . .

Race Prep

Overall, my race prep was pretty decent. I ran the Miwok 100K in early May, and did probably 5 or 6 other 50Ks in preparation for the TRT. I also focused on losing some weight, eventually getting down to 188 the Thursday before the race. My normal weight for the last 5-6 years has been 198-208, and I think cutting a few extra pounds helped.

I also felt comfortable with my gear, lights, hydration pack, fueling, etc. The couple of worries I had going in were a bit of runner's knee that I had picked up about a month ago and the blisters I often get on the sides of my heels. I'd had some chiro and Active Release Therapy done on my knee leading up to the race, and I took the entire week prior to the race off from running in hopes of going in with a pain-free knee.

Heading to Tahoe

We rented a cabin at a place called Holly's Place. It's a really cool spot in South Lake Tahoe that is very homey and pet friendly. There were all manner of dogs running around, including Penny.

We got to Tahoe early Thursday evening and laid low. I wanted to get plenty of sleep while I could. We had dinner at Sprouts, a local hippie/health food place and hit the sack.

The next day, we headed over to the packet pickup and runners meeting in Carson City, about 30 miles away. Here's the big moment - me grabbing bib #622, the name I'd be called by random strangers for the next day and a half.

I then went to weigh in. I ended up weighing 191 with clothes & shoes on, which I was definitely happy with. At Rio del Lago in September 2011, I weighed in at 200 clothed & shoed. Here's me on the scale.

After they weighed you, they gave you a wristband with your base weight, and + and - 5, 7, and 10%. We'd get weighed about 6 or 7 times during the race to make sure we weren't under or over hydrating. Here's my wristband.

And then of course, what's a race without free schwag? I headed over to grab some free flip flops.

I also got a final look at my drop bag for Tunnel Creek as it was getting packed up. There it is in yellow with duct tape, the little guy would serve me well over the weekend!

We had plenty of time to kill so Ana and I went to a bar/restaurant across the street. I had a diet coke, some water, and some pretzel appetizers, and Ana had calamari. There were some other racers milling in and out, and I was itching to get things started. It finally got close to the 4:00 race briefing, so we headed back across the street to the Nevada State Legislative building, where the meeting was held.

Here's the RD and assistant RD giving us the low down.

The key thing I noted was the description of the snow patches between the Hobart and Tunnel Creek aid stations, a section we'd cross 4 times. The RDs said it may be difficult to see all the markers & confidence flags, and that we should keep our eyes peeled. I made a mental note to try to memorize/internalize as much of the course that I could the first time through, when it was daytime and I was lucid. The meeting convened after about 45 minutes, and Ana and I headed back to the cabin for an early night's sleep.

Race Morning

I set my alarm for 2:15am (5am start) and woke up without issue. I think I got about 4.5 hours of sleep, and they would be my last Z's until Sunday night . . . I had my normal race morning breakfast - some toast with peanut butter, a banana, and a couple of cups of coffee.

Here I am getting dressed race morning, being assisted by Walnut.

Well, it was time to get the show on the road so Ana and I headed off for Spooner Lake. She was my crew for the race (no pacer), so we went over the plan one more time on the drive in. She was going to meet me at Diamond Peak (miles 30 and 80) and the 50 mile (start/finish) area. We talked about what I might need, likely arrival times for the various stations, etc.

We arrived at the auxiliary parking and shuttled over to the Start/Finish area, which was a little walk down the hill. Here I am as 5am was approaching.

Here's one of the start line volunteers pointing us over to the start line as the minutes ticked away.

And one more picture of me at the start line.

The clock reached zero, and we were off . . .

The Race

The TRT race is structured around a 50 mile loop. 50 milers do it once, and us lucky 100 milers get to do it twice. There is about 24,000 feet of climbing to be done, and the race is at an average elevation of over 8000 feet. To add to it, there was snow on probably 1-2 miles of the loop (meaning 2-4 miles over 100 miles), and there would be a few unavoidable stream crossings on the course, guaranteeing some running with wet feet. So, we had our work cut out for us.

First Loop

The first aid station was 6 miles in, at Hobart. The race started in the darkness, and there was a little stretch of dirt road before we reached a gently climbing trail. The trail made its way through a nice stretch of woods, and it was good to be running after a week off. Marlette Lake is about 5 miles in, and the sun was up at this point, making for a great view. I made it to the first aid station feeling great, topped off my water, and made my way on.

Heading to Tunnel Creek (2nd aid station) is where we first encountered snow. The first bit was a drift on a sidehill. It wasn't particularly dangerous, but I took my time. Over the next mile or so, there were a few more areas of snow to negotiate. All in all, it was pretty reasonable - I'm glad we did not have the amount of snow that folks at Western States had to tackle. I soon made my way into the Tunnel Creek aid station, topped off, and took off to the Red House loop.

The motto of the race is "A glimpse of heaven, a taste of hell". The heaven bit is for the views, and the hell part is referring to the Red House loop, which features a pretty good climb heading back to Tunnel Creek. I didn't think the loop was particularly difficult, but this was when my feet first got wet. There were 2 or 3 creek crossings that couldn't be taken without submerged feet. I ordinarily don't mind wet feet but I was trying to keep my feet blister free. At any rate, I had shoes back at Tunnel Creek but was saving those to change the next time around (at mile 67). I got back into Tunnel Creek still feeling fine, and went in to get weighed for the first time. I was only down a pound, so I quickly gathered my stuff and moved on.

The next stretch was only 3 miles to the 20 mile mark of the race, at the Bull Wheel aid station. This was a nice section of singletrack with lots of big boulders, which are a hallmark of this course. I made it in to Bull Wheel, which was staffed by 4 or 5 guys who were camping for the weekend. By the time I got there, they had already tapped their keg and were enjoying some adult beverages. Nice! The RD mentioned this aid station might be self serve at night, with the volunteers passed out, and I could see why! I had picked up an extra bottle from my Tunnel Creek bag, since I knew the next section was about 9.5 miles without aid and I wanted to make sure I had enough fluids. I loaded up and was off to the Diamond Peak aid station at mile 30, where I'd meet Ana for the first time.

This section had lots more single track, boulders, and climbing. Apparently, this entire stretch is over 8000 feet, and I could feel it. I've never had altitude issues, but I definitely felt a bit off. Not sick, headache, etc., just "off". In addition, I could feel a blister starting on my right heel.This was my least favorite stretch of the course (both times). I planned on changing shoes and fixing my blister at Diamond Peak. I made it into Diamond roughly on schedule (about 7.5 hours in) and was happy to see Ana waiting for me and cheering me on my way to the weigh in.

Here's me on the scale. I think my lowest weight of the day was 185 (6 lbs down), so I was never in any of the 'danger zones'.

I spent probably 15 or 20 minutes at Diamond Peak loading up, fixing blisters, changing shoes, etc. There was lots of activity at this aid station (one of two main crew access points), so it was nice to get a little second wind from all the second-hand energy. I headed out soon enough . . .

The hill after leaving Diamond Peak is the steepest on the course. I believe it is 2000ft of elevation gain in about 2 miles. The picture above just shows the very beginning, it is not even close to how steep it gets. The RDs had warned us about it on Friday, but as is often the case, words don't really do it justice.

It was on this climb (mile 30-32) when I started noticing some breathing problems. It was like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs and would get out of breath after maybe 15-20 steps up the hill. I wasn't too worried given the altitude and steepness of the terrain, but this definitely cost me some time.

After about an hour climbing this hill, it was a quick downhill stretch to the Bull Wheel aid station. I passed through quickly and headed back to Tunnel Creek, which would be the 35 mile point of the race. From there, it was back through Hobart (across the snow fields), which was mile 40.

From there, the course diverged and went up to Snow Valley Peak. This may have been my favorite part of the course (miles 40-43.3). The first part was some singletrack through the woods, but you eventually get above the tree line and start climbing up the peak. There were some great views up here, both to Lake Tahoe and east to Nevada. Also, Snow Valley Peak was home to the best aid station on the course, manned by a boy scout troop from Carson City. They had set up a bunch of 'Burma Shave' like signs leading to the station, which provided a bit of entertainment and diversion. As you closed in on the station, one of the scouts would come out to greet you by name, ask what you needed, etc. They helped get my jacket unbundled from my pack (it was on their pretty tight and there was a lot of wind on the ridges and peak). I chatted for a few minutes with the crew and then made my way toward the 50 mile mark.

The last 7 miles of the loop is primarily downhill, but never too steep. The first section is on the side of a hill descending from Snow Valley and is quite pretty. The last 4 or so miles are primarily in forest, and there seemed to be no distinguishing points, just back and forth, switchback after switchback. Eventually, about 1.6 miles from the start/finish, there's a water only aid station and a guy pointing you to the Spooner Lake trail. You take this rolling trail around the lake and to the 50 mile mark. Here's me rolling in, looking relatively chipper for having run 50 miles.

By this time, my blisters had gotten worse, and I now had them on both heels. I was going to get them checked out by medical and see if they had any recommendations. I came in to the transition area, and saw Ana and let her know of my plans. She led me over to the medical tent so I could get checked out. Apparently I had an interesting case, as all three medical folk came to check things out.

Ultimately, they recommended against popping the blisters, and instead we covered them with a donut moleskin (pad with a hole cut out for the blister), covered by a blister shield. Unfortunately, I only got the blister shield on the right heel, and this would come back to bite me in a few miles. I ended up spending about 25 minutes in medical, and I was anxious to get going on. For some reason, my contacts were bothering me a lot, and my eyes were completely bloodshot. So, I decided to ditch the contacts and put my glasses on. I also grabbed my lights and changed shirts (took off my 2009 Skyline 50k shirt and replaced it with a long sleeve undershirt and my 2010 Skyline 50k shirt) and put on a jacket, as it was starting to cool down a bit.

I oriented myself again and was off and running for the next 50 miles.

Second Loop

It felt good to be more than halfway there. Even though I knew the second 50 would take me much longer than the first, it's a good mental milestone. As I headed back up to Hobart aid station at mile 56, I noticed my right heel (with the worse blister but blister covering) was actually feeling good, but my left one (without blister covering) was stinging quite badly. An unfortunate side effect of heel blisters is that they cause you to involuntarily change your running gait. I am a normal 'heel to toe' runner, meaning my heel hits the ground first, then rolls forward until I take off on my toes. The blisters started forcing me to land on my forefoot, which was causing a separate set of pains in the balls of my feet and knees from the change. A few miles into the second 50, I knew I'd be battling this pain the rest of the way.

As I transitioned through Hobart, it was starting to get a bit darker. I turned on my lights as I left the aid station and made my way through the snow to Tunnel Creek. On this stretch, the blisters were getting worse, and I decided to change shoes again & redo my blisters at mile 67 (after the 2nd Red House loop). I made it into Tunnel Creek at mile 60 and started Red House.

This loop was more miserable in the dark. I ran as much as I could but really ended up walking most of the way. I made it through the various stream crossings and into the Red House aid station (mile 64), which was a nice respite. I pushed on and made it back to Tunnel Creek and began my next blister fixing mission.

At this point (about 2am Sunday), Tunnel Creek looked like a war zone. Apparently, there were quite a few folks with hypothermia and they were huddled up in front of some sort of super blast furnace thing. Another guy was getting treated for an ankle/foot injury, and another couple of folks were laid out in various stages of disrepair. I heard more than one person mention dropping. I picked out an unused cot, got some moleskin from the doctor, and set about fixing my blisters (I had packed my own blister kit - I will add moleskin for next time).

The basic operation is:

Remove sock & shoe, clean area with alcohol towelette.
Cut moleskin in oval shape, with a hole in the middle.
Apply Tincture of Benzoin where moleskin will meet skin.
Apply moleskin bandage, rubbing it once applied to enhance adhesion.
Apply Second Skin blister patch on top of moleskin and exposed blister.

I did this to both feet. It took me about 25-30 minutes to do this and get new socks and shoes on. I was starting to get a chill from standing still so long, so for good measure, I grabbed another long sleeve shirt from my drop bag before leaving. I then took off for Bull Wheel and Diamond Peak.

Reaching Bull Wheel was pretty uneventful. The folks manning the station were all passed out at this point, so I filled up on water as quietly as possible and started toward Diamond Peak. This was mile 70.

Getting to Diamond Peak was undoubtedly the hardest stretch of the race. I had been running on sore, blistered feet for 40+ miles, and I was barely able to run in the dark. Between keeping an eye out for course markers and navigating the trail, I could really only walk. The many hours of dark were getting to me, although I wasn't sleepy tired (I had taken a 5 hour energy shot at mile 67). With the cumulative toll of my breathing issues, painful feet, and nighttime depression adding up, I had just about conjured up reason enough to quit when I reached Diamond Peak at mile 80. With my breathing, I didn't think there was any way I could summit the peak again. And, with my feet, I thought I would have to walk so much that I'd surely timeout.

I imagine many 100 milers reach this mental state at some point during the run, and I recall having some similar thoughts during Rio del Lago last year (I timed out due to being lost on the course at mile 70). I started to think about what I'd tell Ana at mile 80. But, then I remember how I had pre-coached her to not let me quit, no matter what. I started thinking of how I'd word my excuse, but quickly realized this would never work. She would make me continue. Luckily, this realization coincided with sunrise, and the last mile or so before Diamond Peak. I hatched a plan to have Ana walk with me up the ski run to keep an eye on my breathing. And, I basically said to hell with the blisters. They hurt like hell but were not going to prevent me from finishing this race.

With a definite second wind, I picked up the pace and ran into the Diamond Peak aid station at about 6:30am. You can just barely see my head in this one (I was running in with another guy who was having trouble, but we both ended up finishing).

I wanted to make a quick turn at Diamond Peak so I summoned Ana over hurriedly to relay my plan. I guess I sounded a little incoherent at this point. I told her it was 2 miles to the top of the peak, and she thought I meant 2 miles to the finish. She said, in her best condescending schoolteacher voice - "No Jason, it's 20 miles to the finish." I convinced her I wasn't batty and that I just wanted her to keep an eye on my to the top of the peak. She agreed and we were off after a brief stop and weigh-in.

Here are a couple of shots that give a sense of this hill. The little ants in the first one are runners heading up the multiple false summits. The second one shows the great views of the lake behind us.

After another hour or so of taking 4-5 steps at a time, we made it. We paused a bit at the top and then I headed into Bull Wheel, which was just a few steps from the peak. You can see me running downhill with awesome views into Nevada in this picture.

I stopped to chat with the folks at Bull Wheel briefly. They had floated their keg from the night before and were packing things up. This was mile 82 for me. At this point, I was feeling pretty good, knowing nothing short of a disaster or accident would prevent me from finishing.

With my breathing issues, I was pretty slow on uphills. I would usually trade places with a few different runners and pacers based on whether we were heading up or down. Eventually, at about mile 90 (after the last pass through Hobart), I had a bit of a breakthrough. I realized that if I inhaled through my mouth, I could get enough air in my lungs to not blow up on the inclines. This allowed me to speed up quite a bit (wish I would have realized it 60 miles sooner!).

I made it back to Snow Valley (the boy scout aid station) and stopped for a bit of lemon sorbet. From there it was 7 miles downhill to the finish line. On this last stretch as I closed in on the lake, I chatted briefly with various folks who were wondering what the event was, how far, how many days, etc. I stopped to pet a few dogs and just generally enjoy the last stretch. I saw the last aid station (1.6 miles to go) and began the final approach around the lake to the finish line. It was getting hot by this time (closing in on 2pm Sunday), but I could hear the music at the end, and finally made it across, 32 hours, 40 minutes, and 53 seconds after I started!

I didn't get any finish line photos, but here's me snacking on a burrito a few minutes after the finish.

Post-Race

We hung out briefly, but decided to head back to the cabin to shower and change before the award ceremony at 4pm. I checked out my blisters again, here's a shot for the not too faint at heart.

We headed back over to Spooner Lake for the awards. The winner, Jorge Maravilla, was running his first 100 and finished in just under 19 hours. They handed out some other awards, including a 500 mile belt for some folks that had finished 5 TRT 100s. They eventually called my name and I limped up to get my buckle from George Ruiz.

Yay, my first buckle - here's what it looks like.

So, it's a week after the finish and I'm feeling OK. I have not run yet, but will probably venture out for a few miles tomorrow. I have some continued soreness in my knees and I have a few toes with some limited feeling - a small price to pay I say!

Now I'm planning what's next . . . I will do the Run-de-Vous 50k in late August, the Quad Dipsea in November and likely the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 miler in October. I am not sure about my next 100 miler. I have qualified for the Western States lottery, so I'll definitely put my name in. Given there's about a 10% chance of selection, I won't hold my breath. I will likely shoot for the Headlands Hundred next year (my 'neighborhood 100') and possibly also the Bear 100.

Now, for record keeping sake, here are some stats & notes on gear, etc.

Shoes Worn

La Sportiva (three different pairs, for 30, 20, and 33 miles respectively)
Montrail Continental Divide (for 17 miles)

Clothes Worn

Patagonia 9 Trails Shorts (best shorts ever - this model is a few years old)
Skyline 50k shirt (first 50 miles)
Patagonia undershirt & Skyline 50k tank top (second 50 miles)
DryMax maximum protection trail socks (4 pairs)
Stevens Creek 50k handkerchief
Ana's headband, commandeered as snotrag
Brooks hat (first 50 miles, last 20 miles)
Sugoi skullcap (miles 51-80)
Tufosi sunglasses (first 50 miles)
Patagonia lightweight shell (miles 43-50)
Nike running jacket (on and off for the second 50 miles)
REI gloves (on and off second 50 miles)
Mountain Hardwear gloves (some of second 50 miles, then I lost one before Diamond Peak)

Gear Used

Nathan hydration pack (awesome)
Fenix flashlight
Petzl headlamp
Ultimate Direction handheld bottle
Amphipod handheld bottle (horrible, would have thrown it into a campfire if I could have - kept detaching from the handle)
Body Glide (anti-chafing, awesome)
Hydropel (minor hotspot)
Cho-Pat Dual Action Knee Strap (super duper quadruple excellent, no runners knee pain at all through the race)
Blister kit with Second Skin, Tincture of Benzoin, and alcohol towelettes

Food/Drink/Pills/etc.

As usual, I ate pretty much what felt right during the race. I didn't overload at any point and tried to stay even throughout. I think of everything, the GU and Clif gels worked best for me.

Gels (many, primarily GU and Clif)
Chews (many, GU chomps, Stinger brand, and Sharkies brand)
Water (gallons)
Electrolyte drink (some, mostly in the last 50 miles)
Coke (a bit)
Salt Stick electrolytes (roughly 1 per hour for most of the way)
Tylenol (took 12 max strength caps throughout the race)
Haribo Gummy Bears
Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels
PBJ Sandwiches
Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Goldfish crackers
PB-filled Ritz cracker sandwiches
NuGo Energy/Protein bar
Chocolate Chip cookies
Lemon Sorbet
Black-bean & sweet potato quesadilla

Shoutouts

Ana - #1 wife & crew of all time, would not have finished without her. Also a photographer extraordinaire
Other family & friends - thanks for your encouragement and well wishes
Volunteers & RDs - thanks for giving selflessly to help us get across the finish line
Ultralist & ultraholics list - for advice, inspiration, etc.
Coastal Trail Runs - for providing many opportunities for training and racing throughout the bay area
ZombieRunner and Zombie Gillian for gear and good advice and instruction on blister fixing

Presenting...Walnut

2011-06-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

Here is our wee Walnut posing for his first formal picture.

The Story of Mystery Cat & Walnut

2011-06-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! We have two new porch kitties. Sadly, Dottie, our last porch critter disappeared, and has not been seen for a few months. We can only hope that she is safe and being well cared for by a new family. However, we think that the word got out within the stray cat community that we had an open spot for a porch cat because shortly after Dottie's departure a new kitty showed up.

At first, we noticed that our pet sitters had put a bowl of cat food on the patio. Curious about this, we asked if they had seen a cat around our place. They had in fact spotted a new kitty. So, we too started to put food out regularly, but the new cat would only eat the food when we weren't around. For quite a while we didn't even know what this new mystery cat looked like, but she eventually felt comfortable enough to lounge around the patio during the day, enabling us to catch a few glimpses.

Little by little, we started to cultivate our friendship with Mystery Cat. We talked to her, sat outside with her while she ate, and got closer and closer to her every day. And she too grew more and more comfy on the patio and around us. Finally, one day, Mystery Cat worked up the courage to let us pet her a tiny bit while she was eating, though she let out quite a few nervous protest meows in the process. With some patience and persistence, over the course of a few weeks Mystery learned that being petted and scratched was quite enjoyable.

Then one day we noticed that her belly looked a bit too swollen, and started to wondered if she might be pregnant...? Doing what any responsible pet owner would do, we attempted to diagnose her ourselves using all of the veterinary knowledge available to us through a google search. Thus, we attempted to gently feel her belly for walnut-sized bumps, which would indicate the babies' heads. As you can imagine, Mystery Cat was not entirely cooperative, so we managed a few days later to scoop her up and take her to the vet for a proper check-up.

As it turned out, Mystery Cat had indeed been pregnant, and had already given birth just a couple of days before. So, we carted her back home, set her free, and started to feed her lots of food so she could take care of her kittens. For a few weeks she came by to eat quite a bit of food, but otherwise wasn't around much. And, because she had tucked her kittens away in a mystery spot, we weren't able to check to see how things were going for our young single momma cat and her new wee ones.

About five weeks later, J came home to find a tiny white and grey Siamese-ish fluff ball on the patio step. At least one little Walnut had made it through the the first few weeks of life, and Mystery Cat had decided to bring him to the patio to ween him. For about a week now, Mystery Cat and Walnut have been munching, cuddling, and frolicking together on the patio. And, we are keeping a close eye on them.

Miwok 100 Race Report

2011-05-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

Yay! My first goal of the year is complete - I finished the Miwok 100K trail race on Saturday in 15:28 and some change. I did not quite make the weight goal of 195, but was close. I weighed in at 197 the day before the race.

Going in, I was not real confident, as I hadn't gotten in as many miles as I would have liked. The Lake Sonoma 50 miler, which I had scheduled, was flooded out and cancelled. I was planning on that being my big prep race. I substituted a trail marathon, but since I hadn't run more than 31 miles since last September, I wasn't sure how I'd do with the extra distance.

To add to my issues, I came down with some kind of cold/allergies/sinus problems the Saturday before the race while I was out volunteering at the Quicksilver 50, and I was sneezing and blowing my nose the whole week. To try and combat this, I made sure I got extra sleep the whole week leading in to the race and took extra Vitamin C. I was still congested race morning, but I think the rest paid off. I made it through the race without any major problems of note (except a couple of minor blisters).

Gear

Here's what I used/wore during the race:

Patagonia 9 Trails shorts (3-4 year old version)
Skyline 50K t-shirt
Headband (unknown brand, stolen from wife, used around wrist as sweat/snot band)
Brooks hat (3-4 years old, salt encrusted)
Dry Max trail socks
La Sportiva Wildcat shoes
Petzl headlamp
Unknown brand flashlight (battery was too weak, so I didn't use it much)
Patagonia packable jacket (used for first 10 miles or so)
REI gloves
Nike running jacket (used for last 10 miles or so)
Tifosi sunglasses
Timex Ironman watch

Race Day

I packed my drop bags (one for Pan Toll, one for the finish line) and laid out my clothes and gear the night before, but I found that I still needed to wake up at 1:15am to get ready and be there on time. The race starts at 5:40am, with check-in required by 5:25am. The race is about an hour and 10 minutes away from my house, so I left at around 3:30.

Start to Rodeo Lagoon (0 to 7.1 miles)

The race starts on Rodeo Beach right at sunrise. I tell you, there's nothing that helps blisters more than getting some sand in your shoes right as you start a 62 mile run! We made our way over to the start line (about a 5 minute walk from the registration area), and we were off. There is always a bottle neck at the end of the beach waiting to get up the trail, so I wasn't in any hurry. We headed up the Lagoon Trail and then out onto Conzelman Road, which overlooks the bay, ocean, and Golden Gate bridge. There were some awesome views from this section (though quite steep), and this was an enjoyable part of the run. You head back onto the trails after a few miles, and before I knew it we were back near the registration area at Rodeo Lagoon, the first aid station. I felt fine at this point, but of course we were just getting started.

Rodeo Lagoon to Tennessee Valley (7.1 miles to 11.1 miles)

I was wearing my hydration pack, so I didn't stop at Rodeo Lagoon. Heading out from the aid station, you head up the hill onto the Miwok Trail (among others), and run along some of the old military/missile apparatus and silos (not sure of the terminology). I always like running this section of the Marin Headlands, and there are some awesome views. I made it into the aid station without issue, and refilled my backpack with water, tossed some trash, and was on my way. Still feeling fine.

Tennessee Valley to Pan Toll (11.1 miles to 20 miles)

This is the longest stretch without aid (8.9 miles), but it is so early in the race it's not really an issue. This is a great section of the race, you head up toward the top of Mt. Tam on a fire road that weaves in and out with the famous Dipsea Trail. Unknowingly, I started to slow down a bit too much here. I linked up with Steve Holman, a local ultrarunner. It turns out that in addition to running, we have some work stuff in common so we shot the breeze for a few miles heading in to the aid station. Neither one of us were in a hurry, but when we got to the aid station, the volunteers started scolding us for being too slow. Apparently, we were lagging behind the cutoff times, and would need to pick up some speed to make the first cutoff at Randall (33.9 miles). I checked my pace chart, and indeed I was moving to slow. So, I went to my drop bag, grabbed my pre-pack gels/chews, reloaded water, and took off pretty quickly with the intention of picking up the pace. I also took some Tylenol here as a general bit of pain relief (though nothing was hurting too bad at this point).

Pan Toll to Bolinas Ridge (20 miles to 26.7 miles)

This section of the race may be the most scenic; you spend much of it on ribbon-wide singletrack that weaves along the side of the mountain, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful day and the views were great. My gripe with this section of the course is that it is a little too dicey to handle out and back traffic. The leaders started passing me on their return here (embarrassing), and the trail is too narrow to safely pass, so you have to constantly jump a bit off trail. This just seems a bit dangerous to me, as the sidehill is quite steep. At any rate, I made it into Bolinas Ridge having made up some time so I was pretty pleased. I filled up water and headed out.

Bolinas Ridge to Randall Trail Turnaround (26.7 miles to 33.9 miles)

This was my fastest section of the course by quite a good margin. There are a lot of downhills, but I was also consciously running harder to make sure I made the cutoff. You see a lot of runners on their return, and there are lots of well wishes, so that always helps. This isn't a particularly scenic or enjoyable section, as you're basically running 7.2 miles out on a dirt road that you're going to return on. I made it to the turnaround (always a good mental win, as you've now finished more than half the race) with about 25 minutes to spare before the cutoff.

Randall Trail Turnaround to Bolinas Ridge (33.9 miles to 41.1 miles)

This is the same section in reverse. I think my effort caught up to me (plus, there is a 1.7 mile climb coming right out of the turnaround, and this was probably my physical/mental low point of the race. I didn't feel terrible, but I was definitely a little off. So, I took it slow, ate a little bit more, and trudged on. I started walking a bit more on this section, but tried to run when I could to make sure I wouldn't have any problems with cutoffs. I passed by a woman on this section who was in some pain and tears, walking with an improvised cane/stick. She had hurt her knee, so I offered her my extra Tylenol. She took it and hopefully it helped. I'm not sure if she finished, but I think she gave it a shot. When I got in to Bolinas Ridge aid station, I took advantage of my Good Samaritan status and took the last three Twix bars. I was quite hungry at this point and for some reason they looked awesome. I grabbed a few pretzels too, filled up with water and took off.

Bolinas Ridge to Pan Toll (41.1 miles to 47.8 miles)

This is another retrace section. Still very pretty, but I was definitely slowing down at this point. I wasn't really worried about the cutoffs anymore, since I had plenty of buffer. I still tried to run when I could but my pace was getting slower. I traded position with a few different folks from time to time. I could tell that runners that had picked up pacers at Bolinas Ridge were definitely moving faster than us solo folk. When I got into Pan Toll, I grabbed my lights and jacket out of my bag and moved on.

Pan Toll to Muir Beach (47.8 miles to 53.5 miles)

This section was a nice little reprieve. The trails were familiar to me from previous running, and there seemed to be lots of runnable areas. At this point, there was no danger of missing cutoffs, so I settled into a nice comfort zone. I was feeling OK, though I could tell I'd have blisters on each of my heels. I also started to notice something with one of my left toes, I thought perhaps I'd need a toenail removed when I took my shoe off, but it turned out to not be a problem. I came into the Muir Beach aid station - less than 10 miles to go. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and the wind was picking up, so I put on my jacket. I also had a piece of pizza - I had heard of pizza at aid stations before but never had actually seen any. Delicious!

Muir Beach to Tennessee Valley (53.5 miles to 57.6 miles)

This section was only 4.1 miles, but was ridiculous from an altitude perspective. You start right up a nice hill that takes a bit to climb. You are then rewarded with a jaw dropping view of Pirates Cove (was worth the climb). A bit more downhill sauntering, and you get sent back up some nasty steps and a pretty rugged climb up to another summit. I was gassed at the top! But, you get some more awesome views of Tennessee Valley and the beach, maybe the best view (in my opinion) in the headlands. I hooked up with some other runners and made the final few steps into Tennessee Valley - last aid station!

Tennessee Valley to Pt. Bonita YMCA Finish Line (57.6 miles to 62.6 miles)

There is a nice long downhill on this stretch. My running muscles were still working, so I ran as much as I could. I finally needed to turn on my headlamp for the last 2-3 miles. There was some navigating to be done to stay on course, but it was marked with glowsticks so it wasn't too much trouble. There were also volunteers getting us through a couple of hairy sections. I met up with a pacer from Dallas whose runner had gone ahead and we chatted for the last mile or two into the finish. I came into the YMCA to the sound of cowbells, crossed the finish line, and got my medal from Tia Boddington, the race director. I was done - woohoo!

Timing

Here's a look at my times for the various aid stations.

Not too bad - I slowed at the finish of course, but made some good time in the middle of the race. I finished a little over an hour ahead of the cutoff.

Food and Drink

Here's what I ate and drank (roughly) during the race:

Clif Gels - 5-6
Gu Chomps - 3-4 packs
Stinger Chews - 3-4 packs
Pretzels - 5-6 handfuls
Oreos - 3
PBJ sandwiches - about 1.5 full sandwiches
Pizza - 1 slice (cheese)
Tomato Soup - small cup
Cheetos - 1 handful
Banana - 1 small slice
Twix bars - 3 (snack size)
Coke - 5-6 small cups
Water - lots

Lessons Learned

I think the rest helped a lot. I will keep this in mind when I attempt the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile race in July. Lots of sleep the week of, and make sure to taper.
My drop bag and aid station strategy was good. I put the gels/supplies I'd need in bigger ziploc bags so I could locate them quickly and get in and out. I knew where everything was located. I did not lounge at aid stations, and was moving through pretty quickly.
I was surprised at how much running I was able to do. I thought much of the last 20 miles would be walking, but I did a lot of (slow) running. That's a good thing.
Fix my heels. I got blisters where I always do. I need to take care of my heels to make sure I don't have calluses, which exacerbate the problem. The pain from the blisters can slow me down quite a lot, especially on downhills when they become more painful and noticeable.
I need to get more mileage in before Tahoe. Including the Miwok, I'm only averaging about 25 miles a week this year. That's nowhere close to enough for a 100 miler. I plan on getting up to about 45 miles a week over the next 6-7 weeks (9 weeks til Tahoe), leaving the last couple of weeks to taper.
Lose more weight. I can feel it when I'm running with a few extra pounds. I didn't have any this time, but I still need to lose more to be better prepared for Tahoe. I am shooting to be at 185 by July 16th. I think that's doable by keeping my diet good and upping the miles.
More core exercises. I've started a little routine these last couple of weeks and need to stay at it. Your body takes a beating over this kind of distance and having a stronger core definitely helps.
Train for race conditions. Meaning, if the race will be hot - train in heat. If hilly and rugged, run that kind of terrain. I will be doing more hills and heat in the next 6 weeks to ready for Tahoe.
Have fun! This is the most important - I take a lot of enjoyment in the preparation for these events but I don't take it or myself too seriously. I am not competing and want to take time to enjoy the terrain, sights, and surroundings, and being out seeing things and covering distances most folks won't get the chance to.

Goals for 2011

2011-01-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

Yikes! It has been a long time since our last post. One of our members remains sequestered behind the Great Firewall of China (no blogger access), so it will be awhile for her.

I am not a resolution person, but I think having some short term goals is a good thing. I've also heard that writing things down in some public forum will help with personal accountability, so here goes . . .

My aims for this year are not too ambitious:

Finish the Miwok 100k. I DNF'ed Miwok during my previous attempt in 2009, so this will be a bit of redemption, hopefully. I have an associated goal with this race (May 7th), and that's to get my weight to 195. It's currently at 206 (egad!), up from around 195 when I did Rio Del Lago in September. I really cut loose over the holidays :-(
Finish my First 100 Miler - the Tahoe Rim Trail 100. You may recall my debacle at the Rio Del Lago. I finished 70 miles of the race but was disqualified after going off trail due to some course vandalism. My second attempt, though on a much tougher course, WILL be successful. Another weight-related target on this race (July 16), to hit 185. I have not been that weight in many years, at least 12-13.
Learn Spanish. This should be an easy one, being married to a Spaniard and all. Well I have two shelves worth of Spanish textbooks, phrasebooks, dictionaries, software, tapes, CDs, etc. to tell you it has not been. Well, this is the year I break through. I am actually fairly decent with some basic reading and listening comprehension, but I need to get myself speaking.
Finish More Books. Notice this goal is not to "Read" more books. Just Finish. I am the kind of person who starts about 10 books for each one he finishes. Well, I need to buck that trend, and aim to read more fiction especially. I have just recently started reading a couple of Kurt Vonnegut books (I finished both!) and really enjoy them so I will stay on that route for a bit.

That's it. So, wish me luck, and best of luck with your 2011 goals!

Stalking the elusive molesow

2010-10-12T21:48:00.001-07:00

In the depths of Silicon Valley, nay, some might even say the bowels, roams a creature whose legend has by now reached mythical proportions. Yes, the creature of which I speak is none other than the molesow.

For those not familiar, here's a picture of here in her lair.

For many years she has dominated all challengers to her throne. Cats, dogs, squirrels, all defeated and never to be heard from again.

Surely you remember her defeat of that rapscallion Bailey, who sought to overthrow the molesow in her home territory of Houge Park? No, you say? Perhaps definitive photographic proof will jog your memory.

Or that rogue stuffed crab that ambushed her when Eugene, Oregon was her domain? Again, lets check the film.

Then, of course, was the REAL crab/crayfish at Lake Tahoe. The molesow sent it to meet its maker (whoever that might be).

Alas, it appears the molesow may have met her match, in the form of a rogue porch cat named Dotty. Here she is, in a rare photograph, hiding in the foliage.

Dotty has taken advantage of the molesow's "senior status" and declining sight and hearing. She has been able to stalk her while evading detection. Here, she spies the molesow embarking on a potty break. Note that the molesow appears as a brown flash - she has not lost her speed or quickness . . .

Dotty waits for the opportune time to pounce, while the molesow is at her most vulnerable. In this case, during a "squat" . . . .

I'll spare our younger viewers from the gruesome aftermath . . .

Rio Del Lago 100 Race Report

2010-09-19T07:53:00.001-07:00

Whew. After a week, I'm finally ready to sit down and type this thing out. The aches, pains, frustration, sadness, etc. have subsided and I wanted to make sure I wrote something before it had all escaped my brain.

TL; DNR Version

I attempted my first 100 mile race at the Rio Del Lago 100 on 9/11/2010. I was disqualified at 70 miles after bypassing a checkpoint because course vandals had removed trail markings. By the time I realized my mistake, I did not have enough time to backtrack without missing the time cutoffs.

Extended Version

Ok, if you want to read the gory details, including pre-race prep and post-race results, read on.

Pre-Race Preparation

As you can imagine, running a 100 mile race takes a fair amount of preparation. And it's not just running either (although there is plenty of that involved).

You must:

Have the right gear (clothes, shoes, headlights, etc.)
Understand the right way to fuel and hydrate over 24+ hours of continuous movement
Know how to prepare for the various issues that arise from that much running (i.e. blisters, pain, chafing, etc.)
Be ready to deal with changing and unexpected weather conditions
Mentally prepare yourself and be ready for the ups and downs
Etc., etc., etc.

On the running front, I felt fairly prepared. Not to win or be competitive, but to finish comfortably without the wheels completely coming off. I am not at all a high-mileage trainer. Lack of time, other commitments, other interests, etc. all conspire to winnow away the time I have available to put in training miles. All told, for 2010 (prior to the race), I had put in 817 miles. That's really only about 25 miles a week, which is about what folks should be putting in for basic marathon training.

For me, much of those miles were put in on longer training runs, which seems to work for me. In 2010, I've done:

2 50 mile runs
3 marathons (26.2 miles)
5 50Ks (31 miles)

Leading up to the 100, I had staggered 50Ks 2 weeks apart as preparatory long runs, and was generally happy with my preparation given all other commitments.

On the gear/fueling front, I had no issues except blisters. I have had some foot blister problems crop up over the last 6 months or so that I have not been able to fix properly. I've tried different shoes, socks, powders, lubricants, taping, etc.

Mentally, I was not sure how I would hold up. The longest I'd previously run was 50 miles and just shy of 14 hours. I knew I would be doubling both distance and time running, and who knows how the body and mind will respond.

One last prep item - I had decided about 10 weeks out that I wanted to drop a few pounds before race day. I am in reasonable shape but still have some extra weight that I could shed, which I knew would make the race easier. I eat fairly healthy as is, so I decided to cut out a trio of extra calorie sources until the race: alcohol, soda, and "fancy" coffee (i.e. mochas, etc.). I thought this would be a little more successful than it was - I only ended up losing about 4 lbs in those 10 weeks. Oh well, lesson learned.

Race Week

The week of the race was spent doing final preparations. This was a taper week from a running perspective, meaning I was done with training and was just doing short runs to stay sharp. I visited my chiropractor one last time for a tuneup. The body was feeling good.

I had taken two days off of work (Friday and Monday) to travel up to the Sacramento area and give myself a day of rest after the race. We had our reservations at the "official" race hotel, I had my pace charts printed out, drop bags packed, and had my all-star crew (Ana and Beetle) prepared with directions to the aid stations and instructions. We were set to go.

Friday, we got a bit of a late start and hit a spot of traffic, but I was able to make the mandatory pre-race medical check and racer meeting with about 30 minutes to spare. For 100 milers, they check your weight, BP, pulse, etc. During race day, there are various medical checks to make sure you haven't lost/gained too much weight, etc.

Here's a picture of me checking in on Friday.

And here's a picture of me at weigh in. I'm being weighed by ultrarunning legend Helen Klein. Helen and her husband Norm founded this race about 10 years ago and also co-directed Western States 100 for many years (the superbowl of ultrarunning). Among many other accomplishments, Helen did the Grand Slam in 1989 at age 66 (the Grand Slam is completing four of the most famous 100 mile races in the same year). She was surprised that I weighed in exactly at 200 lbs. Not sure if this was because she thought I'd be at around 220 or something?!?

During the pre-race briefing, the race directors did note that vandalism had been a problem historically but that they had marked the course quite well and would continue to monitor the situation. This did not give me the warm fuzzies, but nothing else to be done at this point. The other thing that bothered me with this speech was that they continued to note various landmarks for navigation with the assumption that everyone in the room knew what they were talking about and should know where they were going. I, along with a number of others in the room, had never set foot on any of the trails so was stepping into uncharted territory. Obviously that's a bit of ominous foreshadowing, but I left the meeting psyched up and ready to go.

We spent an uneventful night doing final prep, having dinner, etc. I was able to get to sleep fairly early, but I did not sleep well at all. Part of it was a crappy hotel bed, but I was generally anxious/nervous/etc.

Race Day

We got back to Cavitt School (race HQ and start/finish) on Saturday morning with about 3o minutes til' start. We all hung around the gym in nervous anticipation. I recognized a few folks from pictures on various blogs, etc., but I did not know anyone. Folks who know my bubbly personality know that I did not take this opportunity to introduce myself, so Ana and I just hung out and counted down til' 6am. Before I knew it, the countdown clock had reached zero, and we were off.

Here's a picture of me heading off, assuming my usual place at the back of the pack (left side - green shorts, blue shirt, backpack).

Although it was dark at the start, I didn't bother with a headlight. Sunrise was around 6:30-6:40, and there were enough other folks with lights that I could navigate without issue.

The first few miles are right around Folsom Lake. It was a wide and easy trail, and I was enjoying the cool morning air, knowing that the forecast was for the low 90s that day. Before we knew it, we were hitting the first of many aid stations and were transitioning to singletrack. I noted that this section of the course did not seem to be marked very well and made some mental notes about two intersections for the return trip (the first part of the course is a modified out and back where you return on basically the same route you went out on).

All in all, I was feeling good, maintaining a nice and easy pace through the first miles. At around 12 miles or so, I could feel my heel blisters starting. This has become an unfortunate part of my long runs, but I knew I could work through it. I made a mental plan to check them out/fix them around mile 67 when I would meet up with Ana at Cavitt School.

Still feeling good as we rolled through the next few aid stations. There was one final "unofficial" aid station right before the first hill (Cardiac). Those guys were great and very encouraging. I left there looking forward to some hills.

Cardiac

Looking forward to hills was a huge mistake. Cardiac is a tough hill, but by no means close to the toughest I have run. But for some reason, this hill completely destroyed me. It's quite short, but increases in elevation vary quickly. See the altitude chart below - the spike up at around 20 miles is Cardiac.

Almost immediately on the way up Cardiac, I started to feel bad. I do not remember the wheels coming off this suddenly, ever. I had to stop multiple times to catch my breath and give my heart rate a chance to settle. At one point, I started to get dizzy and had to sit down for about 5 minutes. 3-4 runners passed while I was sitting and encouraged me to keep going. Ultrarunners are great for this, since they've all been there before and know what it takes to fight through adversity. I tell you - I wouldn't have bet 1000 to 1 that I could finish after how I felt on that climb up. But after gathering myself for a bit, I made it to the top.

Canal to Auburn Dam Overlook

At the top of Cardiac is this neat little canal that runs along the trail. This was great - I took a chance to dip my hat in the cool water, and this is when I started to feel a bit better. The folks at the next aid station were great too - I joked to a volunteer that I thought there was a sniper out on Cardiac after seeing so many people dropping like flies. He thought I was serious at first before catching on and he got a real charge out of that. Usually it is the volunteers supplying the gallows humor but the role reversal was fun.

Here's a picture of me coming in to the Auburn Dam Overlook (ADO) station.

ADO at about 23 miles is the first weigh-in. If you are down 5% in weight, they will make you sit and eat/drink, and if you are down 7%, they will pull you from the race. 5% for me is 10 lbs, and I weighed in at 195 (down 5 lbs). So, nothing to worry about. I chatted with Ana for a bit and filled up on water & supplies. Here's me leaving the aid station. You can tell I'm a bit directionally challenged by the volunteers pointing me in the right direction.

ADO back to ADO

From ADO, you head out for another 22 miles or so before returning. A bit of this stretch is on the Western States Trail, where the Western States 100 is held. This was pretty neat hitting this part. I was not feeling 100%, but much better than I did on Cardiac. I saw these two ladies riding horses, and I slowed down and moved over to let them pass. They motioned me forward, indicating their horses would be ok with the activity. I chatted for a second and said "That horse has some big ears!" She responded that it was actually a mule (horse/donkey) mix. That was pretty neat, hopefully the mule was not offended.

I continued on and reached No Hands Bridge, which is one of the iconic places in ultrarunning due to its placement on the Western States 100. It was neat to cross the bridge (an old rail bridge that only supports foot/bike/horse traffic now), and I stopped briefly at the aid station at the end of the bridge to refuel.

Next was K2, the second (of 2) major climb of the day. You can see it on the elevation chart above. I was much more cautious here after my experience on Cardiac. It was also getting quite warm, though I was doing well with the heat. My caution paid off, as I did not blow any gaskets on the way up, even though it was quite steep and exposed. I did have to pause a few times, but not for nearly as long as I did on Cardiac.

I passed through the Cool Fire Station stop (30 miles) and the effort was starting to catch up to me. I was doing a lot of walking, and just was not feeling great. I remember thinking there was no way I'd be able to make it another 70 miles (you have lots of these thoughts in ultras). This section of the course was very pretty though - lots of open fields of golden grass, slight slopes, woodpeckers flying around, etc.

I think this eventually helped my attitude, culminating with my stop through Knickerbocker aid station at 35 miles. A married couple (I think) was manning this mini aid station (water/gatorade only), and they were very nice. I'd been running for about nine hours at this point, and we spent a few minutes talking about how tough a day it was, and they had encouraging words. Talking to them really picked my spirits up for some reason. The next part of the course was about 1.5 miles of slight uphill on a road back to the Cool Fire Station, and I felt recharged.

Coming back in to the fire station, I was given another boost from a slight case of schadenfreude. There were probably 4-5 runners at the station that looked totally wiped out. I was not happy about their sad states, but knowing there were other people struggling too seemed to pump me up a bit. I was in and out of the station in just a couple of minutes and I headed back toward ADO via the K2 descent and back across No Hands.

I ran into the first navigation problem of the day here. At one point of the trail, you pop out into a cul de sac. There are two horse gates with trails behind them, and a road heading uphill. Even though I had traversed this section coming out, I did not know which direction to take, and there were no markers. The rule of thumb when getting lost during a race is to sit tight and wait for someone that knows the way. So, I basically did this for about 5 minutes or so. Noone came, though, and luckily I happened to see someone at a nearby house tending his horses. I ran up the hill to ask him if he knew the way back to ADO. He pointed me in the right direction (thank you sir!). The right direction was past one of the horse gates, down a hill about a quarter mile, and then a sharp right. I did this and started to see ribbons again. I felt bad for folks behind me, because you'd have to get very lucky to stay on course here. But I was off, having lost about 10 minutes or so but happy to be headed back on the right track.

Here's me coming back in to ADO (44 miles). I look pretty fried after being out in the sun all day.

I met up with Ana again, which was nice. She gave me my headlight, flashlight, and jacket, since it would be getting dark soon enough, and I had another 22 miles or so before the next checkin at Cavitt School. I weighed in, and was still at 195, so no problems there.

ADO to Folsom Lake

I tell you what - Cardiac is much nicer going down! That's an understatement. I ran into my second navigation issue sometime shortly after the Cardiac descent. There was an unmarked intersection, and I sat tight waiting for some other runners. There were two groups of runners/pacers (you could pick up a pacer at ADO to accompany you if desired) behind me a little ways, and the two pacers volunteered to go ahead on each fork til' they found the right way. Luckily, they did after a minute or two, and we continued on our way. Thanks pacers!

Overall, I was feeling OK through about mile 50, when it started getting dark. Right around this time (don't remember the specifics), I turned on my lights, and I felt the blister on my left heel pop. This was wholly unpleasant. It was quite a searing pain, and it caused me to have to alter my stride a bit. I was now wishing I had fixed the blisters at the ADO return instead of waiting til' Cavitt. The pain was bearable (it's all relative at this point), so I continued on.

I hit my second mental low point on the trails back to Cavitt. I was tired, it was dark, and my feet hurt. The mind goes through endless negotiations with itself about quitting. It would be easy to drop at Cavitt - my car is there, Ana can take me back to the hotel, etc. Then, I'd feel better for a while and be determined to continue. That is just how the mind works during ultras and I'm used to it.

Surprisingly, I was able to navigate the singletrack and trails on the return in the dark without much issue. I remembered the two tricky parts I had noted earlier, and went through without a problem. I went through the last couple of aid stations (Rattlesnake Bar, Horseshoe Bar) with about 75 minutes of cushion for the cutoffs (in ultras, there are intermediate time cutoffs during the race - i.e. you have to reach point A in X hours, point B in Y hours, etc.).

Leaving the last aid station before Cavitt (Twin Rocks), I had an hour cushion (the cutoff to leave there was 12:15am, I left at 11:15pm). Another ultra legend, Dave Combs, was at Twin Rocks. Dave is a great ambassador for our sport, and was at the station on the outbound route as well, meaning he had been there for 12-15 hours straight. He is at so many races helping folks out, he deserves thanks from everyone in ultrarunning. He gave some final words of encouragement and I continued on toward Cavitt.

Disaster

I popped out of the singletrack and onto the trail around Folsom Lake. I really wished I had been paying more attention in the morning. I continued on the trail, and though it was wide and the lake is always on the left, there were almost no markers. The race directors had promised glow sticks at night, but I saw maybe 1-2 the whole way.

I finally got to another point where I felt like I was lost. I waited for some folks behind me to catch up, and I started following them. What I did not know was that I had already bypassed the turn I needed to make to return to the school. The runners I started following had already gone to the school and were starting out on the second part of the course (the last 33 miles).

I followed them along the levee, which proved to be my undoing. I did not really remember this part, but I don't have the greatest trail memory, so pushed on. After about two miles, we popped out onto a road crossing, and I realized what I had done. Unfortunately, I had slowed down so much, I did not have time to make it back to Cavitt before the 1:30am cutoff. I desperately looked for a shortcut back to the school via road, but was out of luck.

To illustrate, here's a google maps of the trail going back to the school. Green is what I should have done, red is what actually happened.

So, once I realized I couldn't make it back to Cavitt, I continued on course for another mile or so (I was never actually off course, I just missed a turn) to the Folsom Dam Park aid station. I relayed my story to the volunteers there and they called in to HQ to let them know my situation. I also borrowed one of their cell phones to call Ana and have her pick me up.

As I waited for Ana, I took off my backpack and laid down on a picnic table and just watched the stars. I was immensely frustrated, but I did not have enough energy to be too upset. I put on my jacket (I started to get really cold and shiver now that I had stopped moving for the first time in 20 hours), we got in the car, and headed back to the school to turn in my timing chip.

Sigh

That was a tough end to a tough day. I had put a lot of prep into it (not to mention money, time off work, etc.) and it was very disappointing to not be able to finish, especially since I was feeling pretty good. Ana noted that I looked much better than many of the folks she saw coming in to the school as she was waiting for me. Even though it was the longest I'd ever run, I still felt like I had plenty in the tank to continue, and would have given myself good odds to finish the last 30 miles. Alas, it was not my day.

Post-Race Malaise

For the past week or so, I've been in a bit of a funk. The DNF has sunk in, as has the fact that due to scheduling issues, I'll not be able to try another 100 miler until next summer. Ana also left to head back to China for research, so that has not helped my mood either.

Although I'm frustrated at whomever it was that removed the course markings, I can't be too mad. That's exactly the kind of stupid thing I would have done when I was a kid. I have no idea why, but I had the gene for vandalism and destruction when I was a kid and liked to break/ruin things for no apparent reason. So, I guess this is just karma paying me a visit.

It's really more just a huge sense of disappointment. To have that much preparation be squandered is disappointing. I'm disappointed for Ana too, since she put a lot of time and energy into helping me, and she really wanted to see me finish this. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor blip - things will work themselves out eventually.

Healthwise, I'm starting to feel normal again today, a week after the race. The last two toes on my left foot are still kinda numb though (sorta like they've fallen asleep). But, they are getting better. When I told the ESL student I tutor about my toes this week, she told me she wore a pair of super high heels to her sister's wedding, and her toes were numb for three months! So, that made more optimistic for a quick return of toe feeling.

Oh, here's one last picture. Who doesn't love a good blister picture, right? This is the one on my right foot that didn't pop during the race. (I don't know why my foot looks like the elephant man)

Because of the gait changes I had to make to accommodate my blisters, my right foot was pretty screwed up. Until about Thursday, it felt like I had a golf ball in my shoe. Ice helped that, though, and I think I'm ok to run again. I will probably head out today for a few miles.

Lessons Learned

So, in addition to getting in my longest run ever, I was able to take away some learnings from the experience. Having a crew is great - it's a long lonely run out there and it is nice to have a friendly face out there willing to help. I need to keep working on blister prevention, and make sure I fix them early next time. My pacing worked pretty well - I started out slow and was able to keep decent time. For the most part, I was passing people, which is always a good sign.

And, most of all, I realized that you need to make it through a lot of adversity to finish this kind of thing. Pain, weather, getting lost, are all roadblocks you need to fight through.

That's what makes it fun . . .

Cat Attack

2010-09-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Dottie has a new game. She likes to hide in the bushes around our house and execute sneak attacks on our legs as we walk by. We caught her in the midst of a pending attack tonight...

Birthday Girl

2010-07-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Our fuzzy brown one turned 14 today. Her hearing and vision are no longer in the best of shape, but she still keeps running around like a spry pup. We celebrated by indulging her in lots of special treats. And, to top it off, guess who paid us a surprise visit just in time to join the party?...

That's right, Dottie/Nietzsche is back. She is currently quite busy chasing bugs and other critters on the patio, but I'm sure she will let us take a proper photo at some point soon.

Bye Bye, Little Philosopher Kitty

2010-06-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Although we have been very happy to have such a cute kitten frolicking about on our patio, we thought that we would do the responsible thing and have "Dottie" scanned for a microchip. Alas, "Dottie" is really named Nietzsche. It seems that he must have wandered off and gotten a bit lost. His mom was quite pleased to hear that young Nietzsche had been found and will be picking him up from the vet later today to return him to his proper philosopher cat's abode. We imagine his home to be filled with piles of books and a variety of sun-drenched reading stoops where Nietzsche can nap and contemplate existential issues. Meanwhile, back at the Chandela Clan, he will be much missed!

Dotty, our new porch cat

2010-06-24T18:25:00.001-07:00

A new feline has taken up residence on our porch. We've named her Dottie. She's very loud and likes to sit on laps, just like her predecessor Kitty von Kittison.

H&D Adventures: Part II

2010-06-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Our adventures with H&D continue. We saw Wicked on Sunday. It was H&D's first Broadway show, and they liked it so much that H has been listening to the soundtrack and memorizing the lyrics since the show...much to D&J's chagrin. I, on the other hand, fully support and indulge her Broadway star diva ambitions. Only, the dancing is going to need a bit of work...

We then moved on to some hiking at Wilder Ranch State Park and Angel Island over the next couple of days. As you can see, we met an exceptionally cute barn cat, whom we were tempted steal away and to make a member of our animal clan. We are down a couple of fur-balls after all.

Today, J and I got creamed at bocce ball by these two hustlers. Sadly, we weren't even loaded.

H&D Adventures: Part I

2010-06-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

Santa Cruz, Beach Walk

H&D are here for a couple of weeks, and we are taking off to hang around with them. It is their first time out here on their own, and we are quite excited!

Castle Rock State Park, Rock Climbing

It was our first time climbing out of the climbing gym and on natural rock. Natural rocks! H&D climbed like spiders, and I am hooked again after about 10 years since my last climb. I think it is time to renew my belay training and pull out that old ladybug chalk bag. Our cautious J will sit this hobby out.

RIP Kitty and Lucas

2010-04-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

Sigh, we've lost two of our clan since we last posted. Lucas died on 2/23/2010, and Kitty died today (4/29/10). Both of the kitties had kidney failure.

So long guys, we'll miss you! (we didn't know Kitty was a boy until today at the vet!)

Confessions of a Low-Mileage Ultranner - 2009 Year in Review

2010-01-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I just did my first event of the year yesterday (Woodside Trail Marathon), so I figured it was about time to make some notes about my 2009 running. It was a good year overall, I did my first 50 miler and was able to do a number of other good events. The low point was my DNF at Miwok 100, but its no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully this post can be some small inspiration to aspiring ultrarunners out there - you don't need to crank out 100 mile weeks to do ultras. Granted you're not going to win anything with my routine, but I'm able to comfortably finish most events in the middle third of the pack.

Birds gone wild

2009-12-31T15:24:00.000-08:00

We took Beetle over to the Campbell/Oka Percolation Ponds yesterday (about .75 mile from our house). We had quite a day birdspotting, I think it was the most different species we've seen in one day (20).

For the record, we saw:

Hooded Merganser
American Coot
Lesser Scaup
Osprey
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Anna's Hummingbird
Gadwall
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Canada Goose
Pied Billed Grebe
Black Phoebe
Ring-Necked Duck
Mallard Duck
Double-Crested Cormorant
Bufflehead
Great Egret
Mute Swan
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron

Beats for Boobs

2009-11-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I volunteered for and participated in my first breast cancer fundraiser. Beats for Boobs is a huge party held every year at 111 Minna Gallery (and bar) in San Francisco with local DJs, bands, singers, fire dancers, artists and fashion designers that exhibit their work or perform to help raise money for programs that educate young women about the risks of breast cancer. I worked with the catering crew for a few hours, then did the young survivor walk with a dozen other women diagnosed before the age of 40. This ain't your grandma's disease anymore, ladies. My friend April gave an opening speech about the rising rates of breast cancer among young women and how it connects to environmental pollution and the increasing levels of toxins in our bodies. Then, we all did Miss J. Alexander proud with our fierce catwalks. Since I had no hair at the time, I had to improvise...

photo by Jim Vetter (Flickershack.com)

Wordless Weekend

2009-10-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

Kitty Snuggle

2009-10-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Morning Walk Critters

2009-10-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

After a month of morning lakeside walks, it seems that fall is finally in the air. This week we have noticed brisker mornings, the return of migrating fall birds, and the last of the local waterfowl's summer babies swimming about. Although we are looking forward to whatever the seasonal changes will bring to our walks, we will surely miss the warm sunny mornings that will soon turn foggy and chilly. Here are a few of our more successful pictures taken after weeks of learning how to skulk about the edges of the lake in search of fishing Herons perching on branches and waterfowl babies swimming around the marsh grasses. Fortunately, Beetle was happy to sit patiently while I tried to snap photos of the elusive critters, and in exchange I sat patiently as she meandered into every lake opening to swim countless circles in the water.

Water Beetle

American Coot

Pied-billed Grebe Babies

Blue Heron

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

Little Green Heron

Spider

Pop the Champagne, Uncork the Wine, Order the Pitchers

2009-09-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I still can't drink, so everyone has to do it for me. Chemo is done! One more week of sluggish energy and low cell counts, and then I will be on the mend. I'm already feeling the cabin fever and am ready to break out of the narrow scope of activities that have defined my life for the last 16 weeks. Expect to find me zipping around for visits in no time! J, on the other hand is ready to collapse, much in need to decompress from being the greatest and most loving supporter anyone could ask for. He worried endlessly, attended every single doctor's appointment and proceedure, woke up to feed the fuzzball crew almost every single morning at the crack of dawn so that I could get my needed 10 hours of sleep, and had to work massive amounts of overtime to boot. I am grateful to our families that came for visits to help take care of me, to keep us company and to keep our spirits up. I am grateful to all of our friends who called, wrote, sent presents, and kept us in their thoughts. But, I am most grateful to J, without whom I would not have had the constant companionship, support, love and compassion I needed to get through this.

the gentle Squirrel Boy, continues his work with a new squirrel community at Vasona Lake

Beetle Makes Friends

2009-09-04T17:35:00.001-07:00

During our morning walk, Beetle made two new friends at the park today. Of course, the fact that they eagerly shared their Cheerios with Beetle made for fast bonding. After the snacks, the new friends went swimming together and then rode the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad around the park.

The Adventures of Squirrel Boy

2009-07-28T16:55:00.001-07:00

For the three years that we have lived in California we have been fond of making an occasional trip to Carmel, which is close enough to us that we can make an easy day-trip out of it. Beetle likes to ramble about on the super dog-friendly beach, which is always teeming with pups that have been unleashed to run amok in the sand and surf. I like to explore the tide pools that form on the rocks at the end of the beach for colorful sea critters. And, Jason likes to feed the California Ground Squirrels that live in the bushes near the entrance to the beach. For the past three years he has been patiently observing their habits and building their trust. Finally, this past Sunday, the squirrels fully embraced him as a member of their community. Here are some pics documenting the pay-off after years of effort.

Lemon poppy seed....YUM!

Recovering

2009-07-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are....Lucas and a (nearly) bald me wrapped in my favorite old comforter, which Beetle now chews holes in and we keep patching up, on the worst chemo week so far. This was a few weeks ago when I got my fourth (and last) dose of the wretched AC cocktail (Adriamycin + Cytoxin) of chemo drugs. This week I am finally at the half-way chemo mark and it is hopefully downhill from here on out. The AC was administered as a massive dose on a bi-weekly basis, which took me out for about 7-10 days at a time, forced my body to regenerate a new digestive system after each dose, and reduced my mental abilities to those of a dumb blond who can't manage to color coordinate her Chihuahua's outfits. With the Taxol, J and I decided it might be best to opt for the 12 doses administered once a week program as opposed to the 4 doses administered bi-weekly version. Spreading it out over 12 doses is supposed to be as effective, but much easier to handle physically. They were right, it is significantly better in terms of side effects. With the first dose I still felt very run down from the cumulative effects of AC and had one day in which I couldn't make it up the the stairs without wanting to pass out, but this week I have begun to feel much better. I hardly had symptoms with dose #2 and it feels that my mental and physical energy are on the up. Best of all, I can eat again! And just in time too because I had to start wearing belts to hold up my pants after dose #4 of AC.

So, it is time for me to begin to rejoin the world of the living in some small way every week. This week I'm trying to go for two daily walks with Beetle and take yoga classes consistently. With the AC I had been doing these things when I felt well, but now I'm going to try to build my daily schedule around them. I've also got to get back in touch with friends and start to get the intellectual part of my brain going again - matching Chihuahua outfits or bust!

OK, we're off to the park to walk Beetle and have a picnic dinner of Ani's raw food versions of noodles with marinara.

Yay, baby doves!

2009-06-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

We had another set of Mourning Dove eggs laid in our hanging geranium this year. They didn't do too well last year, but this year I set up our patio table umbrella as a bit of a shade and barrier for the nest. That seems to have worked, as the doves were born June 6th and they left the nest June 19th. I've seen the babies a few times since then, including yesterday when their mother or father was feeding them. Here are some pictures.

Mama and the babies at 6 days old:

The babies at 12 days old:

A family picture the day the babies left the nest:

One of the babies returning 2 days later (at 15 days old):

Mandarin Duck at Vasona Lake

2009-05-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

We stumbled across quite an anomaly, a Mandarin Duck in Los Gatos! This species is native to Asia, and the only ones you see in the US are escapees from captivity. Also, if you have seen the new Disney movie Earth, the little ducks that jump out of the tree are Mandarin Ducks.

Here are a few of our pictures.

Ruminations on Public Transportation vs. Driving, etc.

2009-04-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

I recently passed my 1 year anniversary at my current employer. I work in SF, but live about 50 miles south. So, I normally go in about once or twice a week, almost always on Caltrain.

I'm a bit of a saver, so I have all the Caltrain passes (mostly 10 rides) that I've used in the last year. I figured I'd do some calculations.

Cost of Tickets
At current prices (Caltrain recently did away with 10 rides in favor of 8 ride tickets), a one-way ticket from Diridon (main San Jose station, my starting point) to 4th & King (main San Francisco station, my ending point) is about $6.60 when purchased on an 8 ride ticket.

For the 1st year of my employment, I rode the Caltrain for work 126 times. This amounts to:

$831.60 = 126 rides x $6.60 per ride

Cost of Parking
I have to park at Diridon. The original lots are $2/day, but I've been mostly using the $3 lot lately since the Caltrain started filling up more. So, I'll use the average of $2.50 for parking per day. This amounts to:

$157.50 = 63 times parking (126 rides / 2 rides per day) * $2.50 parking price

Cost of Gas
Of course, I have to drive to the Caltrain station. It's 5.3 miles to the station from my house. My car gets about 30 mpg. The average cost of gas over the last year (roughly approximating from this page) is about $3/gallon. So, each day I drive to the train station I drive 10.6 miles. So, over 63 trips to the train station, I drove a total of:

667.8 miles = 63 trips * 10.6 miles per trip

Using the mileage/cost averages from above, that's a cost of about:

$66.78 = (667.8 miles traveled / 30 miles per gallon) x $3.00 per gallon

Total Cost of Caltrain
So, adding up, we get:

$1,055.88 = $66.78 gas cost + $157.50 parking cost + $831.60 ticket cost

A bit over a grand was my commuting cost for the last year.

So, how about the alternative - driving to work every day? Here you go.

Cost of Gas

I live 51.1 miles from my office. So, this would be 102.2 miles per day. Which, given the gas and mileage costs listed above, a gas cost of:

$643.86 = ((102.2 miles per day x 63 trips) / 30 mpg) x $3.00 per gallon

Cost of Parking

Of course, I need to park at work. There's a cheap garage nearby, that is $13 per day. This would give me a parking cost of:

$819 = 63 trips x $13 per day

Total Cost of Driving

Adding gas and parking, we get:

$1462.86 = $643.86 gas + $819 parking

Conclusions

Cost-wise, it's definitely cheaper to ride Caltrain. Additional benefits:

No traffic worries. I did have 2 Caltrain delays this year.
Time to work/read/relax. I like to read the paper in the morning, and do a bit of work on the train ride home.
Extra exercise. It's a 1.1 mile (one way) walk to my office from Caltrain. So, that's an extra 2.2 miles per day of walking I get in.
Less wear and tear on the car. From over 5000 fewer miles on the car.

Lake Sonoma 50 Race Report

2009-03-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

"I believe that if you set out for an adventure, and you're absolutely convinced you're going to be successful, why bother starting?" - Sir Edmund Hillary

“I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.” - Red Spicer

"I'm not the Shah of Iran and I'm not the Pope, but my name is on the walk of fame like Bob Hope." - Greg Nice

I ran the Lake Sonoma 50 mile trail race this past weekend. Well, 'ran' is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was my first 50 miler, and I finished. It was a great run on a tough course, made a bit easier by the great volunteers and the spectacular views of Lake Sonoma and the surrounding hills.

Decisions, Decisions

I didn't decide to do the race til the Tuesday before the race. My training for the Miwok 100 had been put on hold because of some personal issues, and as such, I'd only run about 12 miles in the last month. I wanted to get in another longer race to make me feel better about my prep, but nothing seemed to fit in to my schedule, and a couple of the races I was looking at entering were already full. 50 miles was a bit further than I was planning, but the LS 50 worked well schedule wise. So, I ran it by my wife.

Me: "I think I'm going to do a 50 mile race this weekend."

Wife: "But you haven't run in a month."

Me: "Yeah I know, it's a good taper into this run."

Wife: "What's the longest you've ever run?"

Me: "31 miles."

Wife: "Does your knee still hurt?"

Me: "Yes, but only when I go upstairs, go downstairs, or sit. There are no stairs or chairs on the course so I should be fine."

Wife: "Where's the race?"

Me: "Lake Sonoma, about 2.5 hour drive north."

Wife: "Are you going to stay overnight to rest?"

Me: "Nah, I'll drive up and back the same day."

Wife: "So, you're going to try to run 20 miles further than you ever have on a bad knee, insufficient training, and then drive home 2 and half hours afterward?"

Me: "Yes."

Wife: "You're an idiot. Be careful."

Me: "Alright!"

With that bit settled, I just had to register. Of course, when I navigated over to the active.com reg page, I couldn't find the 'Register' button. Which usually means online registration is closed, which would'nt be unusual since it was 4 days til the race. So, I fired off an email to the RD, John Medinger (AKA "Ghostface Killah" AKA "Tropical John") begging for late entry.

He replied immediately: "Dude, no problem. I'll send the chopper, stocked with Cristal and Beluga caviar."

Me: "I'm a vegetarian - make it Dom Perignon and pretzels and I'm in."

Him: "Book it."

Seriously, though, John let me do a race day registration even though they were full, and he didn't even charge me extra. Sweet!

Race Time

The race started at 6:40am, and I wanted to make sure I got there with ample time to pay & register, so I left the house at 3:15. Which meant I woke up at 1:00am to eat, shower, get dressed, and pack my bags. Luckily I'm an early bird and am in bed by 9 most nights so I was still able to get about 4 hours sleep. Still, though, it was weird to wake up at 1am and see the neighbors still awake while I'm giving the dog her morning walk.

I arrived at the South Lake Trailhead/starting area at around 5:45. It was still pretty much pitch black, so I used my flashlight to make my way to the portajohns and the registration table. I had just enough time to stretch, double check my drop bag, and get ready to go. As the sun started to rise, I got a better look around and was able to recognize some famous California ultrarunners. I saw Errol "Rocket" Jones, who I had just read about in the latest Runners World, Suzanna "The Hammer" Bon, and Mark "The Silent Assassin" Tanaka. I saw some other folks I recognized but couldn't name.

At 6:40, the air raid siren went off, and we made our way out for a day of running.

Early Running

The very start of the race goes down a bit of road, and the rest of the course is single track or fire roads. We got into the woods after less than a half mile, and we took the familiar ultra single file lineup. As usual, there was a lot chatting at the start, with folks talking about training, upcoming races, etc.

Once we hit the trail, we almost immediately started getting some great lake views. I'd never been to Lake Sonoma before, and it's very impressive. The lake is pretty sizable, and the surrounding hills were nice and green. The wildflowers were also out in bloom, especially noticeable were some purple lily-like flowers. There were also a bunch of woodpeckers out and about making their noise.

The first few miles meandered through some nice trails and woods. The whole course seemed to be a good mix of open and covered running, coming in and out of trees. Also, a lot of the running was through Madrone trees (and similar), but it seems like there was also a good stretch through some redwoods or other big pines (sorry, I'm not great at tree IDs).

I pulled into the first aid station at Island View feeling pretty good (granted, it was only 4.7 miles in). I was chatting with one of the volunteers at Island View and he said they had to boat everything in, and that they camped the night before. That's volunteer dedication right there folks! After topping off my water, I headed out and on to our next stop, which would be the Rancheria Creek aid station 7.4 miles later.

Creek Crossing Conundrums

Crossing creeks is kinda like that 80's arcade classic Frogger. Navigate a few lily pads, rocks and logs and make it to the other side dry. Or fail miserably and either drown or get crushed on the freeway. The LS 50 has 12 creek crossings so there's plenty of opportunity to flex your mad Frogger skillz.

Like Frogger, there's a bit of quick mental calculation when you get ready to cross a creek. Can I make it across dry? If I step on that rock first, what's my next move? Will that wet, mossy log hold me? You can't take too long to think, but you don't want to automatically resign yourself to drenched feet.

There's also a sinking feeling when you reach a creek and realize there's no way you can get across dry. Such was the case at Rancheria Creek. I'd Frogger'ed my way successfully thus far, but Rancheria Creek was a horse of a different color. "Creek" is a bit of a misnomer. River is more like it. I think I saw Huck Finn floating a few hundred yards downstream.

On the out route, there is an aid station with drop bags right after Rancheria. So, I decided to change my socks at this point. I switched into my Drymax trail socks, filled up my hydration pack and continued.

A few minutes later, I caught back up with Clem, who I'd run with a little ways back. He told me that as long as you have Coolmax (or non-cotton) socks, they'll dry fine by themselves and there's no need to change wet socks. I was glad for this bit of advice as it made me feel better for the rest of the course. My only previous experience with drenched feet during a race was at the Santa Cruz trail run where you have to cross the San Lorenzo river twice. I only did a 21K that day, so the "wet feet miles" weren't too scary. But during this race, I was more worried about running another 38 miles with wet socks and shoes, so I decided to play it safe with a sock change. In retrospect, I think I'll just grab another pair of socks and carry them with me in case my feet get too uncomfortable. But, it's a good lesson learned for next time.

Drop (Bag) Time

A note about my drop bag, since this was the first race I've done that allowed drop bags. The bags were accessible at Rancheria Creek, which you pass at 12.7 and 37.1 miles. I packed the following:

2 pairs of socks
A few packs of Body Glide
Extra gels
4 small bottles pre-filled with Perpetuem powder
Flashlight for night running (didn't need it)
Extra SCaps

The First Wall

I've run a few marathons, and of course am familiar with the famous marathon "Wall". I don't know the physiology behind it, but in layman's terms it's the point in the race (usually around 20-22 miles) when you feel like absolute crap and want to quit. From what I'd read, you might have 2 or 3 walls during a 50 miler. I usually have mild "wall encounters", and this time was no different.

Around the 20 or so mile point, the hills really kick in. There are a couple of fairly sustained (and steep at times) climbs. One in particular was quite exposed to the sun, and it was getting hot. I grew up in 98 degree/98% humidity summers in South Carolina, have been to Bahrain/Saudi Arabia in August, and have driven across the CA/AZ desert in the summer. But this was worse. Rocks were melting and grasshoppers were spontaneously combusting. Ok, so maybe the high on race day was only 75, but it felt hotter. All in all, besides the heat, I didn't feel too awful, and luckily I was closing in the turnaround when it started to flatten out a bit.

Race Against the (False) Cutoff

As I was reaching the turnaround point (25 miles), I was closing in on 6 hours. From my exhaustive pre-race research and preparation (OK, double-checking that morning before I left), I knew the halfway cutoff was 6:40. So, I was OK at this point. However, with about a half mile before the turnaround, a returning woman told me frantically - "You'd better hurry! The cutoff's 6 hours - you've got about 8 minutes!". Wha!?!?! I told her that it was 6:40, but she wasn't convinced. Sigh. At this point, it's not like I could turn on the jets, so I kept plodding along hoping that I was right.

Then, with the turnaround aid station literally in sight about 50 yards down a hill, another returning woman started shouting "Hurry up! You've got 20 seconds before the cutoff!" I didn't have time to question at this point so I just hauled my way as best I could to the aid station with about 1 second to spare before the 6 hour mark. I asked the aid station crew about the cutoff, and they confirmed it was 6:40, and that the folks who told me 6:00 were full of baloney. Whew. A bit of jitters for a while but I was happy to be right about this one. I filled up my water and turned around with the bit of a second wind that passing the halfway point brings.

Heading for Home

Heading back, I passed a few folks that looked like they would be close (or would likely miss) the halfway cutoff. That sucks. I ran for a bit with a friendly guy from Reno that was pretty up to speed on the ultra scene and top runners. He looked like he would hit the halfway cutoff OK, so hopefully he made it in OK. I also passed by Clem, who I had run with earlier. He mentioned he was in a bit of pain and was looking very iffy to make the halfway point. Hope you made it in OK buddy.

What struck me most about the inward portion was how isolated I was. The RD mentioned that the trails were seldom used, and he wasn't kidding. There were almost no walkers/non-racers out on the course. If you do a trail race in Marin, you're constantly passing walkers and other non-racing runners. Having the trails to myself was kind of a nice feeling, if a bit eerie. Anyhow, I felt decent enough and things were fairly uneventful til I hit Rancheria the second time.

Massacre at Rancheria

At somewhere about 9 hours in, I started to get hungry. I mean stomach starting to eat itself hungry. Real food hungry, not gel hungry. This was strange, since I almost always stick to gels and the like during ultras and have never felt hungry like this. However, I'd never been running for 9 hours before. Anyway, my stomach was really growling. I knew the Rancheria aid station was coming up, so I decided to hold off on another gel and eat some real food. There were visions of goldfish crackers, jelly bellies, and PB&J's dancing in my head.

I feel I must apologize to the Rancheria volunteers for my display of gluttony. When I hit the station, I handed my hydration pack for refilling and went straight to the table. I grabbed 2 PB&J squares. A handful of goldfish went down the hatch. I downed 2 handfuls of trail mix. A scoop of jelly beans were next. I didn't even take the time to ditch the black ones. Cookies were next. I believe they were chocolate chip or otameal raisin, but I didn't pay close enough attention. I was offered a bean and cheese quesadilla by one of the volunteers, but I declined. I normally like these, but I was suspicious of the prospect of beans in my belly for another 12 miles of running. A couple of watermelon slices to top things off. Well not really, since I grabbed 2 more PB&J squares and a disposable cup and filled it with more pretzels, jelly beans, and goldfish for the trail. I don't know how many calories I downed, but I felt fine for the next stretch and didn't do another gel for 2.5 hours.

Down the Stretch They Come!

I passed through Island View heading in. At this point, I had gone from mostly running to mostly walking, but I was feeling fine and knew I'd make it in. I chatted for a few minutes with Gary from Marin, who was volunteering and finishing the day with a quick run. He was doing the American River 50 next weekend. He was a nice guy and gave me some encouraging words for Miwok, saying it would be a piece of cake after this one. That definitely made me feel better :-)

The last 4 miles or so were a bit chilly, as it was getting windy and the sun was going down. Man it was a nice feeling seeing the finish. Around a few bends, crossed the street, and I was done. 12:49, which is about what I thought I could do. Yay!

I grabbed some schwag (a really nice Brooks jacket, a very cool handmade amulet with 'LS 50' on it, and a tote bag with some GU stuff and a copy of Ultra Running) and swung by the post-race buffet. I grabbed a couple cans of Coke and a plate of veggie tamales and rice, which were very tasty. I topped that off with another handful of jelly beans and about 10 Oreos. Man, I am disgusting, especially considering I stopped on the way home for a burrito that was approximately the size of a piece of firewood and wolfed that down too.

It was getting late, and I had 130 miles of road ahead of me before I got home, so I thanked John for the experience and volunteers and made my way to the car. Really, these volunteers were great. Even the young kids - all of them were very friendly and helpful. They also made some good jokes and kept our spirits up out there, which was great. These folks took hours of time out on a beautiful day to help out a bunch of dirty, smelly, and grouchy ultrarunners, and made us back of the packers feel like front runners. This elite cadre are guaranteed first-ballot volunteer hall of famers.

The Aftermath

Well, it's 2 days later and I'm still fairly sore. Surprisingly, though, not as bad as the last road marathon I did (SV 2008). Trail runs are definitely much kinder to the body. Also, I normally do an ice bath after runs over 20 miles, but I was just too tired by the time I got home. So, that's catching up with me as well. I should be good to run in a couple of days, though, and my knee also feels pretty good.

Gear Check

For reference:

Brooks Cascadia 3 shoes
Wright Sock Double Layer Socks - I wore these until Rancheria Creek and then changed into:
DryMax Trail Running Socks
Dirty Girl Gaiters
Nathan 020 Hydration Vest
Patagonia 9 trails shorts and Saucony short sleeve shirt
My Brooks hat
2 Pro-Tec knee straps, which worked great

An ActiveSync (Exchange Access) Desktop 'Client'

2009-03-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

A momentary break in the normal animal-related posts to archive a little tech tip.

I was recently in Hong Kong in a network environment where my Blackberry did not work and that didn't allow VPN access out. So, I was stuck without access to work email.

Since I had free time on my hands, I did a bit of finagling and was able to get access from my laptop (running Vista Enterprise) to my corporate mail via Exchange ActiveSync (the mobile email service that the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices use for access).

The basic setup is a smartphone (PocketPC) emulator running Windows Mobile running under Vista. This is fairly simple to setup.

Here's what you need:

-Virtual PC (to provide virtual network interface driver for the smartphone emulator).
-Device Emulator with Windows Mobile OS images. This is 2 separate downloads, but both are accessible from the same page.

Once you have these installed, start up the PocketPC (cold boot) image. Then, do the following:

Go to the Start button and go to Settings.
Choose the Connections tab and go to Network Cards.
Select the 'Virtual Ethernet Intermediate Miniport' adapter.
Start up IE, and browse the Interpipez to make sure you have connectivity.
Go to the Start button and choose Messaging.
Go to Tools and New Account.
From here, you'll enter the settings that you would enter if you were setting up an actual Windows Mobile smart phone. Keep in mind your server must have Active Sync enabled on Exchange for this to work.

This worked well for me in my situation, and it was nice to have access to the full laptop keyboard. Much more convenient than sending mail on a smartphone.

One minor potential gotcha. The network I was on had a captive portal for wireless access. So, you'll need to get through this first on the emulator before mail will work.

Sequoia 50K Race Report

2009-03-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Race

I ran the Sequoia 50K at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland yesterday. It was my first time to the park, which I must say was very impressive. I am training for the Miwok 100K in May, so I am using a couple of local 50Ks as long training runs.

I was worried about the weather all week, as it had been raining off and on. I knew the trails would be muddy, but after 2 weekends in a row of training runs in the pouring rain, I was looking forward to not being drenched for 6 or 7 hours. Well, the weather gods must have listened, because it was a pretty nice day yesterday. It was chilly and windy at the start, but nothing much to worry about.

The race also had 30K and 20K lengths for folks who didn't want to do the whole 31 miles, and the 50K course is comprised of the 30K course plus the 20K course. I felt good at the start, I packed a windbreaker in my hydration pack and was wearing a long sleeve shirt and gloves.

The course has about 5000 ft elevation gain, which is pretty decent for a 50K. Most of the hills were reasonable, but there were a couple of steep ones (luckily, they were toward the beginning of the course). I was doing fine on the first loop (30K course), and went a bit against my nature in that I tried (slowly) running some of the uphills. I normally walk all uphills and run if its flat or downhill. I felt fine at the time, but this came back to bite me later.

Anyhow, the first loop wasn't too eventful. I did see a guy with a badly sprained ankle being walked in by a volunteer. I stopped to see if he wanted me to try and find him a ride at the next aid station, but they had it covered. So, I continued on back to the start/finish area to start the 2nd loop.

There is something psychologically crushing about loop courses. I mean, I've just finished 18.5 miles. I'm at the finish line, with lots of food and drink and laughing people around. I'm a 2 minute walk from my car. But, I've got to go out and do another 12.5 mile loop. Sigh.

I could tell the 2nd loop was going to be bad right away. My hamstrings were really burnt, which never happens to me. Normally, if I'm going to have leg soreness, it will be calves or quads. I think this must be related to my running the uphills. At any rate, there was no way I could run the ups on the 2nd loop. My lungs & energy were fine, but my legs were pretty dead. So, I hung in and toughed it out. I was going so slow that I ran out of water between aid stations one time, which made things worse. I felt the beginning twinges of a calf cramp without about a mile to go, but I was close enough to the finish that it wasn't an issue.

So, I finished in 6:35. I am happy with this time - I was shooting for 6:30, but what are ya' gonna do. The sad thing is I did the 1st 30K in 3:40 and then the last 20K in 2:55. A pretty big blow up there. But, lesson learned. A funny thing to note is that I did this almost an hour faster than the Quad Dipsea last November, even though this race was about 3 miles longer. I am in a bit better shape now, but mostly the Quad Dipsea is just a damned hard race. It has about 4200ft more of elevation gain than the Sequoia race in 3 fewer miles.

Food & Drink

I stuck to my normal long race/run plan. I'm now using a hydration pack (like a Camelbak) instead of bottles or a waist pack. I drank just plain water, except for some Coke at the last aid station. Food came from Accel Gel (Vanilla flavor). I did 1 20 minutes before start, and then 1 about every 30 minutes or so. Altogether, I did 12 gels during the race. Since I've switched to drinking plain water, I've been using S Caps for electrolytes. I took one every 30 minutes. Given my bit of cramping toward the end, I might need to up this a bit, since I do sweat a lot. I also had about 2-3 pretzels at one aid station, and had a couple of handfuls of gummi bears at the last aid station.

Gear Check

Brooks Cascadia 3 - I'd only put about 6.5 miles on these, but they worked out well. I think they were tied a bit tight at the beginning, but everything worked out OK without retying.

Wright Sock Double Layer Socks - My first time in a really long run wearing these. They worked well. I added a bit of Body Glide Liquified Powder to keep the feet from friction/hot spots/blisters. Worked well.

Dirty Girl Gaiters - Good stuff. Kept the mud out.

Nathan 020 Hydration Vest - Worked well. Easy to fill, though it was a bit hard to drink when the water got low. This may be a normal thing with these types of things.

Patagonia 9 trails shorts and Capilene 2 long sleeve shirt.

My Brooks hat. I've worn this for all my races and long runs in the last 2 years. This thing is getting nasty, but rinsing it out makes it good as new!

Sugoi gloves. I like these, but I couldn't make up my mind about hand temperature. I put these on and took them off 3 times during the race. Even though the temperature was fine, I couldn't seem to keep my fingers warm.

Simple Stir-Fry Sauce

2009-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

I was bragging to Ana last night about how good my cooking skills are getting. She of course replied with crabbing about how I never remember to cook when she's home. Pshaw.

So, I figure I'd share some of my vast cooking-fu. I am a frequent wok user, normally doing various stir-fries but sometimes other weird stuff. At any rate, in my younger days, I was always looking for a good stir-fry sauce in grocery stores and asian markets. I never was able to find anything great. Here's the reason - they are all crap. They are jammed with preservatives and other junk that kill the taste. Save your money.

So, through my decades, if not centuries, of wok experience, I've come up with a good all-around stir fry sauce that is easy and cheap to make. Mix up the proportions to taste.

Jason's Simple Stir-Fry Sauce
1 part soy sauce (I like the San-J Organic Tamari)
1 part mirin (Japanese rice cooking wine - I like the Eden brand)
Some crushed garlic (to taste)
Some chili sauce (to taste, I like Sriracha - AKA Rooster Sauce)
Some thin sliced green onions (optional, to taste)

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk.
2. Add to stir-fry when about 80% done, and increase heat.
3. Enjoy.

RIP Gerby von Gerbison (aka Dwayne Wade) - 2006-2009

2009-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

My sister's black gerbil died last night. He was a cute little guy and a good pet. He had been living in her bathtub for a few months ever since the other two gerbils decided they didn't like him anymore and they had to be separated. JoAnn took good care of him, especially as he got a bit older and had to be assisted while eating/drinking. We'll miss ya' little guy - rest in peace.

MY CAT IZ LEGAL!1!!!1

2009-01-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hehe, Shakey got his ID in the mail today. So, I'll probably teach him to drive this weekend, take him to liquor store, etc.

Playing with Larry

2009-01-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

Playing with Larry. He likes to bite.

Top Ten Christmas Carols

2008-12-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone, but Comcast still has plenty of Christmas music on channel 901 (Sounds of the Season). Yay!

Ana and I were hiking out at Castle Rock State Park today and I was thinking about my favorite carols, and came up with a top ten list. The first few are no-brainers, but it took a bit to hammer out the remaining few.

Here you go, with some youtoobz linx:

1. Blue Christmas (obv Elvis version)
2. White Christmas (obv Bing Crosby version)
3. Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt version, but there are other good ones)
4. Winter Wonderland
5. Holly Jolly Christmas (Burl Ives, baybee!)
6. (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
7. Let it Snow
8. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Happy New Year!

Casa de Kitty Von Kittison AKA KITTY'S HOUSE OF DEATH

2008-12-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

There is a cold spell here in lovely northern California, forecasted to last a few more days. So, I decided to get our porch cat, Kitty von Kittison, a little enclosure for her to sleep in. She's being hanging out on our top porch step in a little cat bed, but it doesn't have any cover.

So, I swung by Pet People of Los Gatos and picked up a nice wooded dog/cat house for the porch (by the way, Pet People is the stone cold, lead pipe lock for pet supplies in the Campbell/Los Gatos area - check em' out!).

It took a day or so, but Kitty has started hanging out in the house, especially since I put one of our inside cats' old fuzzy mats in it.

Here's a picture of her in it:

You can see some bird feathers down at the entrance . . . unfortunately I think Kitty has been using this as a little hunting base as well. I think she hangs out in there and hides and waits for bids to scuttle about on the ground, and then pounces out on them - poor little guys.

Speaking of the birds, I think they're all fattening up for the winter - the feeder has been really crowded the last couple of days, I've had to fill up the feeder several times a day (I normally fill it about twice every 3 days).

Good Read - 'In Defense of Food'

2008-12-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

I am by no means an expert book reviewer, but I wanted to share some thoughts on and praise for this book. My mom picked it up for the plane ride home, and I went ahead and read it before she left. It's an easy read, about 200 pages (none of Ana's dense 1000 page snoozers), and it deals with the so-called 'Western Diet' and the myriad problems it and 'nutritionism' have brought along to the US.

For folks who are hip to organic/local/sustainable food, many ideas will not be new, but it's the overall presentation that makes this book. Pollan starts with a discussion of the industrialization of food and the past century's obsession with individual nutrients (i.e. cholesterol, fat, carbs) over whole foods, and the havoc that this obsession has wreaked on our waistlines/bodies. He continues by shedding some light on the rickety foundations of much of the nutrition science that things as far-reaching as FDA recommendations and food pyramids are based on.

Finally (and likely most usefully for the reader), Pollan provides some broad (but still prescriptive) recommendations on what we should be eating. It's not a step-by-step diet book, but the author provides some surprisingly actionable tips for eating in a more responsible and healthful manner.

At any rate, give it a read, it's worth your time. This book will also make a good gift (just in time for Christmas/Hannukah, etc.).

Dipsea Dipsea Dipsea Dipsea - Quad Dipsea Race Report

2008-12-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it. I finished the Quad Dipsea on Saturday. The race is a double out and back on the famous Dipsea Trail in Marin County, CA between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach. You run from the start at Old Mill Park in Mill Valley to Stinson Beach and back, and then you do it all over again. All told, it's 28.4 miles with about 9,300 feet in cumulative elevation gain, and includes somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 stairs total, including these right at the beginning.

It really is a beautiful trail, everyone should at least hike at once (and run the quad if you're feeling up to it!). Here's the typical shot of Stinson Beach coming down a section of the trail called 'The Moors':

Here's the course's elevation profile, with some handy markers for the main landmarks along the course (note the finish is not really the finish, since this image is for the single Dipsea, which is only 7.1 miles).

It wasn't too bad, I didn't really hit a marathon-like wall, though I was out there for almost 7.5 hours. 3 days later, though, my calves and quads are still fairly sore. This was my first ultramarathon (i.e. any race longer than a marathon - 26.2 miles), so I was really happy to just finish, though my last leg was really slow. Here were my splits:

Leg 1 (Mill Valley to Stinson Beach): 1:43

Leg 2 (Stinson Beach to Mill Valley): 1:47

Leg 3 (Mill Valley to Stinson Beach): 1:55

Leg 4 (Stinson Beach to Mill Valley): 2:01

Total: 7:28:38

Preparation

I would have liked to get a few more miles on my legs before my first ultra, but I had some foot problems about a month out that limited my training. At any rate, though, I was fairly confident that I'd be able to finish, as I'd done the Silicon Valley Marathon about 5 weeks before, a training double Dipsea about 3 weeks before the race, and a 30K (about 18 miles) on the same trail system 2 weeks before the race.

Also, I had been doing a decent job at losing a few pounds, which I thought would help me during the run. On race morning, I weighed in at 194.8. As a reference, I was at 203.6 for the SF Marathon on 8/1/08, 201.6 for the Silicon Valley Marathon on 10/26/2008, and 200 even for the Stinson Beach 30K on 11/15. So, I lost a little over 5 pounds the last two weeks, which also included the holiday week.

Meal-wise preparation was the same as always, with toast and PB&J and a banana the morning of.

Gear-wise, I brought 2 hand-held water bottles and a waist pack to hold gels and other gear.

The Race

I was definitely nervous at the start, but felt pretty good overall. I saw a couple of famous runners, which was kind of cool and helped pass the time. The weather was absolutely perfect for running (about 55-60 at start). Before I knew it, the starting siren went off and we started up toward the stairs.

My initial goal was to do even splits of about 1:45-1:50 per leg with a finish around 7:00 - 7:15. As you can see with my first 2 splits, I was basically on target for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, I had a couple of issues.

First, I started feeling a little queasy about 2.5 hours into the run, so I slowed down a bit to settle my stomach. The discomfort lasted for about 45 minutes but eventually calmed down. But, that cost me a few minutes.

Then, I made a big mistake by ditching my second water bottle at the halfway point. I felt like I wouldn't need it, since there was a water fountain at Muir Woods (2 miles from Mill Valley) and a full-blown aid station at Cardiac, as well as the aid stations at the start and finish. I underestimated my fluid requirements, though, and basically spent the entire 2nd half of the race thirsty. You have to drink water when taking energy gels, which used up a lot of my water (I took a gel every 30 minutes). It got fairly bad on the last leg at about 6 hours into it when I felt my left calf cramp while going up a switchback coming out of Steep Ravine. When I felt the twinge, I decided to walk from there to Cardiac, where I could refill water and take a salt capsule. That definitely cost me some time, since I walked for about 1.5 miles straight. Oh well, that's a lesson learned for next time.

One thing about the course - everyone always talks about the Dipsea stairs as being brutal. These are the initial 3 sets of stairs (671 total) at the very beginning of the course. They are definitely tough, but I think the trail stairs coming out of Steep Ravine (about a mile from Stinson Beach on the way back to Mill Valley) are the toughest part of the race. I was dreading these steps for 3 hours after going up them the first time. Really, all the way up to cardiac on the fourth leg is pretty nasty. Here's a pic of some of the stairs I'm talking about:

Overall, I'm happy. I think without the stomach/fluid issues, I could have probably done 7:10-7:15. I am really just getting started with this long distance running thing, but I am going to shoot for under 6.5 hours next year, maybe even 6. I think with decent training, that should be doable.

Food/Drink

I like to keep track of what I eat drink during a race. Here's the shopping list:

14 Accel Gel Vanilla (100 calories each)
2 S Caps salt tablets (341 mg sodium, 21 mg potassium per tablet)
10 Nuun Orange Ginger Active Hydration tablets (added to my water bottles - 6 calories, 360 mg sodium, 100 mg potassium per tablet)
3 handfuls pretzels
3 small pieces of watermelon
1 handful Mike & Ike candy (original fruits, of course)
Roughly 220-250 ounces of fluids (water or water with Nuun)

Milky and Kit Kat

2008-11-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

I just found this movie on an old memory card. When we lived in Eugene, we had a little kitty cat that came and hung out in our garden that we nicknamed Milky. He was a tiger cat like Shakey, and we always wondered if maybe they were the same cat (Milky was around about 9-12 months before Shakey). This video seems to disprove this theory, since their markings are a little different. The other rogue cat in this video we nicknamed Kit Kat. A couple of good kitties, they were pioneering members of the Friends of the Chandela Clan (FOCC), way ahead of their time.

Hawk returns, with video this time

2008-11-10T15:21:00.000-08:00

The hawk came back today. Here's a little video of him. He poops at around 1:30, if you're interested in seeing a hawk poop.

Hawk Visit

2008-11-09T11:33:00.001-08:00

I was sitting at the computer this morning, when all of a sudden I saw a puff of feathers flying outside the screen door. The last time this happened, it was a peregrine falcon making a visit to our feeder.

I peeked my head out the door, and saw a small raptor sitting in the tree right next to my porch. He scooted over to the next tree, and I was able to get some pictures of him, turns out that it's a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.

Silicon Valley Marathon - Race Report

2008-10-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, I did the Silicon Valley Marathon, my second marathon. I signed up way back in July, before I had even done my first marathon (for some stupid reason). Anyhoo, though I hadn't done a real long run (just a couple of 15-16 milers) since the SF marathon in August, it went pretty well. I actually felt much better at the end than I did for SF, and finished about 11 minutes faster in 4:27 (still dog slow).

Pre-Race Prep

I ran a hilly 25K (about 4500 ft elevation gain) the Sunday before the marathon, which probably was not a great idea in retrospect. My quads were still fairly sore on Wednesday, 4 days before the marathon. I did easy 3.25 mile runs on the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before the marathon, and then took it easy on Friday and Saturday.

The day before the race, I stuck to my normal pre-long run eating routine, with the exception of subbing apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast instead of toast & a banana. Chef Ko's vegetable fried rice (no baby corn) for lunch, and pasta primavera (homemade, of course) for dinner. Plenty of water, and added some Nuun as well to make sure the electrolytes were balanced and up to par. Got to sleep fairly early thanks to a couple of melatonin, and was all set for the morning.

Race Day

Woke up at 4:00am (race started in downtown SJ at 7:00am) and had my normal race/long run day breakfast of toast with PB&J and a banana, 2 cups of coffee, and about 40oz of water with Nuun. The weather was good, but felt like it was going to warm up quite a bit. I didn't feel the need for any long sleeves or gloves, which is not a good sign at 6:30am and you know you're going to be running for 4.5 hours. Ideally it would have been about 10 degrees cooler. Oh well.

I made it downtown at about 6:30 and parked about half a mile from the start/finish. Made it over to the start just in time to wait 10 minutes for the porta potties. As I was waiting in line, I noticed these 2 guys, looked like brothers, chatting it up with their parents. The race starts in downtown SJ, runs along the Los Gatos Creek Trail to Los Gatos HS, and then turns around and comes back. The parents were going to meet the brothers at the HS and give them some Red Bull, etc. for the last half of the race. Didn't think much of it, used the porta potty, and headed off to run.

iPods are really popular at these things (I can't run with music), which gave rise to a minorly humorous moment at the race start. There was a guy running barefoot (which apparently is really the way to go), and I guess this woman thought that was pretty cool. Both her and her running friend had earbuds in, so as she was telling her friend about Mr. Barefoot, she screamed it loud enough for the entire race to hear. I guess she never learned that lesson about wearing headphones makes you talk really loud, which is obvious to everyone but the person talking. Anyhoo, I LOL'ed.

I felt really good for the first 15 miles, and actually ran a faster half marathon than I had in the previous 2 halfs I had done. I am almost certain I can run a sub 2 hour half (not that that is fast), but I'll try that some other time. I normally do a walk/run combo (referred to as the 'Galloway Method') of about 5-6 minutes running & 1 minute walking on my long runs. It had been so long since I had done a long run, though, so I mixed it up a bit and did more like 1 mile run/30 seconds walking. It actually turned out fine and probably helped my time a bit.

I run the Los Gatos Creek Trail a lot (2-3 times a week) and pretty much know every inch of it (it's about 10 miles point to point). I think this helped my psyche a bit, since I had a good sense of distance, etc., and just knew what to expect since probably 70% of the race is on the Trail. What I didn't expect was the little hill that came after the halfway point. It wasn't too bad, though, and I kept on plugging.

I didn't really hit the famous marathon wall this time, which I was damned thankful for. I definitely slowed down a bit, but I felt OK finishing the race. I carried a handheld water bottle for the race, took about 8 SCaps, and about 8-9 Accelerade gels during the race. I also ate a few banana pieces at the water stops and had probably 10-12 ounces of the Cytomax drink they had at the water stops. The heat definitely got pretty bad after about 10. The high that day was about 80, and I could feel it. I started dousing myself with water at about mile 20.

At about mile 23 came the 2nd humorous spot for the day. The 2 brothers I saw chatting it up in the porta potty line passed me at about mile 10. They were looking pretty good, holding up well. One of the brothers, unfortunately, wasn't doing so well at mile 23. He was staggering side to side, walking really slowly and erratically. Almost as if he had been shot trying to cross the DMZ, and he was trying to struggle the last few steps to get back to his side. Except there was about 3.5 miles left to go. I passed him and his face looked like a damned zombie, totally drained. I don't know how/if he made it to the finish, but it reminded me that the marathon is a serious distance that requires serious preparation. Hopefully he made it in OK.

I finished without too much incident, and was actually able to speed up a bit for the last mile or so and finish fairly strong. At the finish line, though, my legs were pretty beat, and I was regretting parking so far from the finish line.

Post-race food included a couple of bags of Jelly Belly Sport Beans and a bagel at the finish along with some random energy bar and drink they had. Lunch/dinner that evening was 3/4 of a large pizza from Sal's. Probably not the best recovery food, but a craving's a craving.

Anyhoo, that's it - here are my various splits:

LOL Civil Liberties

2008-10-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, I usually let Ana rant on the government and keep my posts to birds and other various animals. But, this is getting kind of silly.

For those not familiar with the concept of civil liberties, from Wikipedia:

"Civil liberties are freedoms that protect the individual from the government. Civil liberties set limits for government so that it cannot abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens."

Sounds pretty good, eh? I'll take some of those!

The following two stories have come across Slashdot in the last few days:

China to Photograph All Internet Cafe Customers

We've come to expect this kind of stuff from China, but this escalates things quite a bit in my opinion.

This one is even worse:

Every Email in UK to be Monitored

Covered in more detail here:

Giant Database Plan 'Orwellian'

Come on folks. Let's start paying attention, and for god's sake, please vote next month.

Beetle's New Halloween Costume

2008-09-30T06:11:00.001-07:00

Auntie JoAnn got her this. Some sort of musketeer costume. I think we'll stick with the Tootsie suit.

When crossing the San Lorenzo River . . .

2008-09-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

consider using a bridge. If one is not available, consider at least taking your shoes off and going across barefoot.

I did the Santa Cruz Mts. Trail Run (21K, about 13 miles) this morning, and the course crosses the San Lorenzo twice. As we were starting, I asked the race director if we should take our shoes off going through the river (water is about thigh deep). He said 'Either way works, I recommend leaving them on'. So with this knowledge and my Gore-Tex trail shoes, I decided to cross with my shoes on.

Two steps into the first crossing, I had an arrested development flashback and thought "I've made a huge mistake". I felt like I gained about 10 pounds crossing the river, and then the course headed right into a pretty steep climb. Here's a pic from their website:

Everything turned out OK, though I was worried about the state of my feet after crossing the river twice coupled with pounding dirt and rocks for 13 miles. It was a lot of fun, will definitely be doing more of their runs.

Things I've Learned - Don't Get Six Fillings In One Day

2008-09-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

That's one for the ole' mental lockbox.

New FOCC Member

2008-09-22T20:31:00.001-07:00

A new member has been added to the Friends of the Chandela Clan. Dwayne Wade, AKA Black Gerb AKA Gerby von Gerbison.

The Shakey Diaries

2008-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Shakey has a fan club of one wee fan back in the south. When we found out about this, I thought we should perhaps feature the old Shakester a bit more on the blog so as to delight this dedicated devotee. Hence, I came up with the idea of doing a week of the "Shakey Diaries." Unfortunately, Shakey's life took a turn in the direction of "unexciting" just as we began filming. It appears that stardom got the best of Shakey, and he deteriorated into a state of indolence, refusing to do anything for days except lay around on his lounge and bask in his fame. We appologize sincerely to the wee fan for not being able to offer a more exciting update. Once Shakey is again fit for filming, we will resume work on the "Shakey Diaries."

Worst picnic area ever

2008-09-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

This was at a stop on highway 80 known as '40 Mile Desert' somewhere east of Reno. I can understand having a picnic table or two at every rest area, just for folks to stop quickly for a bite to eat on a long road trip. But, this place had 8 picnic tables out in the middle of a dusty gravel yard. Who wants to eat at this place?

Here's the bathrooms; they look like a prison cell block. Plus they were those no-flush type that you see out at campgrounds & beaches.

Check out the historical marker for this place.

(Somewhere on Highway 80)

Pa: "Hey kids, lets stop and have a nice family lunch!"

Little Billy: "Sounds great, Pa!"

Little Annie: "Alright!"

Ma: "Great! Hopefully there's a barren stretch of waterless alkali wasteland somewhere nearby!"

Pa: "Agreed! And if at all possible, let's find a place where, historically, starvation stalked men and animals at every mile!"

All (in unison): "Yay!"

Further proof

2008-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

That Beets is the most photogenic dog, even when sleeping in the car. Somewhere in Nevada today.

Showdown in Great Falls

2008-09-10T20:03:00.001-07:00

This is Beets after chasing a squirrel up a tree. In Gibson Park in Great Falls, MT.

No drilling in ANWR

2008-09-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've never been to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but please don't drill there or open it for energy exploration. In all likelihood, I'll never get close to ANWR, but please, various politicians of the USA, leave it alone.

I realize gas is getting pricey. I know times are tough for lots of Americans. I know you need votes and want to satisfy the chants of 'Drill Baby, Drill'. I'm not arguing for the studies showing that the effect of drilling in ANWR would have a negligible and distant effect on the price of oil or that the ecological diversity in ANWR makes it one of the most unique and special places on earth.

Instead, I ask, have you ever been to a National Wildlife Refuge, or anywhere else on earth that moves you to realize that humans are not this planet's sole inhabitants? Have you seen a coyote peering at you anxiously from across a marsh? Have you heard a crowd of Sandhill Cranes making a ruckus early in the morning on a beautiful summer day? Have you seen a mother and baby moose grazing peacefully in one of the few unspoiled places on this floating rock we call home?

If not, please do. And, reconsider the catastrophically bad idea of drilling in ANWR.

Beets is down with the dinos

2008-09-07T19:33:00.001-07:00

Kickin' it in Great Falls, MT.

Homegrown & Homemade Vegetable Fried Rice

2008-09-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

I guess I have to start posting dinner pictures again since Ana is off jet-setting at her mini-archive. I made fried rice tonight with some tomatoes and chard from the garden.

Tomatoes:

Chard:

Finished product:

I also tossed in some mushrooms, peas, spinach, and sliced almonds.

New Blog Section - Friends of the Chandela Clan

2008-08-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Check out the new section to the left - we've decided to highlight some of the Chandela Clan's closest associates - a rogue's gallery, a crack squad, or dare we say an elite cadre of recruits selected from the very best of what the animal kingdom has to offer. Ladies and gentlemen, blog readers young and old, we bring you the initial class of FOCC (Friends of the Chandela Clan).

Trip to Point Reyes National Seashore

2008-08-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

We took a road trip this weekend up to Point Reyes National Seashore just north of San Francisco in Marin County, where we did lots of hiking along cow pasture, woody hillside, lagoon and coastal trails. On the way there and back we stopped at Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Stinson Beach, Stinson Lagoon, Bolinas Lagoon, and a couple of coastal cliff trails along highway 1. You can see a slideshow of our pictures from the trip by clicking here.

The Various Ducks of the Seattle Area

2008-08-21T06:31:00.001-07:00

I went to Seattle this past weekend and was able to take a few duck pictures. These are from the marsh trail down near the water by the University of Washington.

A duck eating/drinking:

A duck cleaning itself:

Baby ducks scurrying about on some lily pads:

Craps 101

2008-08-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Craps is really the only table game I play, and usually when I tell folks that craps is my favorite game, they will respond with some variation of 'it looks fun, but its too confusing'.

It can be intimidating and confusing given the number of possible betting situations out there and all the money and crazy lingo being thrown about. So, I figured I'd make a few notes on how to have fun at craps while minimizing the house's advantage.

There are a ton of bets you can make on a craps table. Only 1 bet has no house advantage (an odds bet on pass/come and don't pass/don't come). The vast majority are horrible bets and will clean you out quick. People play these crazy bets because it creates a lot of action. With a very conservative system, craps is way too boring. You don't play craps to be bored. So, I'll give some notes on my system, which puts a ton of money into play and gets a lot of action, but is played to minimize house advantage. It can be a high variance system (i.e. you can win/lose a lot quick), but you can be sure that you're minimizing house edge (house edge being the mathematical advantage that the casino has in any given game).

If you want an exhaustive discussion on all the rules, bets, etc., go to Wikipedia or How Stuff works. Keep reading here if you want to cut to the chase.

The basics

I usually buyin for a few hundred bucks (I play low limit tables) and wait for a new roll before I start betting. Just find an open spot at the table, take out your money, and place it on the table in front of you. The dealer will give you some chips, which you then put in the chip trays built into the rail of the table.

I always wait til there's no point set, so when it's time for a new roll (called a 'come out' roll), place some money on the pass line (it will literally be labeled 'Pass Line' on the table). Now, the 'shooter' (dice roller) will roll the dice. If it's a 2, 3, or 12, you just lost your bet. Put out another one. If it's a 7 or 11, you just won, and dealer will give you the same amount you bet (if you bet $5, you'll get another $5 back). If the roll is anything but a 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12, a 'point' has been set. The dealer will put a white plastic (normally) button called a 'puck' out on the table on the number that was just set as the point. Now, the fun begins.

Now, you are hoping that the shooter will roll the point before he/she rolls a 7. What you want to do now is place an odds bet on your pass line bet. You will usually be able to play 2 or 3 x of your original bet on odds. This is the BEST BET IN THE ENTIRE CASINO. The house has NO EDGE on the odds bet. So, if you have a decent bankroll, max your odds. This is how you lessen the house advantage. Obviously maxing your odds will increase variance, so be careful based on how willing you are to part with your money. To place the odds bet, just put more chips behind your pass line bet. There are different odds based on the point that was rolled, but I won't get into that here. Just ask the dealer, and they'll make sure you place the optimal bet size to maximize your winnings.

Now that a point has been set, and you have a pass bet with odds, you are waiting for the point to be rolled. As long as a 7 is not rolled before your point, you'll be fine. There's no win or loss if anything besides the point or a 7 is rolled. This is why it can boring to just place pass and odds bets, because you're only looking for 2 numbers to be rolled (either a 7, which means you lose, or your point, which means you win).

Next step, come bets

So, the next bet I play is the 'come bet'. To place this bet, just put your chips in the area of the table labeled 'come'. What you are doing here is basically setting a new (additional) point. This does not affect the point that has already been set.

The come bet is played and paid as if no point has been set. So, a 2, 3, 12 are bad for come bets, and a 7 or 11 is good. Anything else on the roll, and you've established another point. If it's not a 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12, and you placed a come bet, you should now put max odds on the new point you set, just like before. So, for example if the point had been set at 8, and I placed a come bet, and the next roll is a 6, I now have 2 points that I'm hoping for - a 6 or an 8. As long as a 6 or 8 hits before a 7, I'm good to go. Note that if I had money on the original point (8), and I had also placed a come bet, and the roll was a 7, I would win my come bet, and lose my point bet and odds.

With this strategy, you get more money on the table while simultaneously lowering the house advantage (through the use of odds bets). I just keep placing come bets. If you have a good shooter (a 'golden arm'), you might have points on all 6 numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10). You'll have a lot of money on the table, and something will be happening with just about every roll. This is when craps gets exciting.

So, that's really about it. Ignore all the crazy prop bets (the bets in the middle of the table). Don't worry if the other players are betting on 'all the hard ways' (terrible bets with around 10% house edge). Just play the way I mention, and you'll be good to go.

Some notes on etiquette/superstitions

I believe in etiquette, but not in superstitions. But, craps is much more fun if you play along with etiquette AND table superstitions. So, here are some notes to keep in mind.

Never say the word 'seven' at a craps table. Some people will tell you not to say it after the point's been established, but to be safe, just don't say it. Don't use any nicknames either. Remember this one.

Don't play the don't pass/don't come bets. These bets offer you good odds, but you are basically betting against the shooter and table (i.e. you're hoping for something bad to happen to the rest of the players that are betting 'the right way'). You'll be ostracized or at least silently hated. Don't be 'that guy'.

Don't try and 'set' the dice. This is when you try to arrange the dice before you throw them so you can predict how they'll roll. This is lame.

If it's your first time throwing dice (ever in your life), let the table know. A 'virgin' shooter is considered extremely good luck.

Never touch the dice with more than 1 hand.

Keep your hands out of pockets.

Don't throw the dice over eye level, but make sure the dice hit the back wall. If you are too scared or nervous to roll, you can pass and keep betting. It's fun to roll, though, so at least give it a shot.

You can't hand money or chips directly to a dealer. Just set it on the felt, and they'll take care of it.

'Color up' before you leave the table. This means turning smaller denomination chips into larger denomination so you have less to carry (the opposite of making change).

Place your chips & money on the table when making bets. Don't throw/toss them, unless your tipping or playing prop bets (i.e. hard ways, etc.), which you shouldn't be doing anyways.

Tip the 'crew' if your making money. You are not expected to tip if you're losing. Just throw a chip out and say it's for 'the crew' or 'the boys' (even if there are women dealers/stickmen). Alternatively, you can play a prop bet or field bet for the crew.

Pay attention. Know what's going on (granted, this can get a bit confusing if you have a lot of bets out there, but it keeps the game moving).

Drink and yell a lot if you want to. It's encouraged and appreciated. If someone craps out or rolls a 7, though, don't disparage them.

Mr. Wu has a posse

2008-08-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

I ran into Keone Young (he plays Mr. Wu on HBO's Deadwood) this past weekend. We were playing in the same poker tourney together; I had busted already but my friend Tyler was sitting at the same table with him. I went over after Tyler busted and got a picture with him. Very cool guy.

San Francisco Marathon Trip Report

2008-08-04T09:55:00.001-07:00

As you can see from Ana's post yesterday, I ran my first marathon yesterday, the San Francisco Marathon. I finished in 4:38:20, which I'm pretty happy with. I definitely wanted to break 5 hours and had 4:30 as a stretch goal, so I fit in the middle quite nicely.

Anyhoo, this post is to preserve some random details:

Preparation
Woke up at 3:00 am. 203.6 lbs morning weight.
Breakfast: Plain bagel w/ PB&J. Banana, coffee & water.
Apparel: Brooks shorts, Saucony t-shirt, Thorlo socks, Asics Gel Kayano 12 shoes.
Other: I carried a 22 oz water bottle with me that I was planning on filling up at water stops.

Left the house at 4:45, my wave was starting at 6:15. We parked at Embarcadero Center and walked over to the starting area near Mission and Embarcadero. Had plenty of time to stretch and hang out. With about 5 minutes to start, I headed over to the start line.

Race
Felt good at the start - I was a little worried about my right ankle, which I had tweaked a couple of weeks ago in a debacle trying out some insoles. For my training, I had done the 'Galloway Method', which involves a mix of running and walking. I had been doing 5 minutes of running mixed with 1 minute of walking. For the race, I figured I'd start with 6 minutes of running with about 40 seconds of walking and go from there based on how I felt.

The race starts out ambling north on Embarcadero toward Fisherman's Wharf. I got a little discouraged when I felt a little pain in the bottom of my right foot at about 3/4 of a mile, but that seemed to go away pretty quickly.

The race then goes through Ft. Mason, which has a few hills, and dumps out in the Marina district. Nothing too out of the ordinary here, except a sprinkler turned on all of a sudden about 10 yards in front of me and blasted a few people. I was able to get out of the way ok, but they got soaked.

Then, it's into the Presidio and an out an back over the Golden Gate Bridge. Going up the bridge was pretty raw, it was probably about 50 degrees with about a 20-25 mph wind right in our faces. The turn around was at the lookout on the north side.

The race continues back through the Presidio with a great view over Baker Beach. We then cut through the Richmond district and into Golden Gate Park. We spent about 5-6 miles in the Park, and got to cruise by the Bison Paddock, which was cool. I caught up with the 4:30 pace group at about mile 10, which was cool, and was able to stick with them for awhile. They started a few minutes ahead of me, so I was about 3 minutes ahead of a 4:30 pace for quite a while.

We then pop out on Haight Street at about mile 19. This is when it started to fall apart for me. The marathon 'wall' is typically around mile 20, but I guess it came a little early for me. I had to start doing 5/1 run/walk stretches, as my feet were starting to kill me. Plus, the run up Haight Street is a pretty steady incline.

We then cut through some neighborhoods and go over to Potrero Hill. This part of the course was pretty bad, as the streets were mostly abandoned and there were just a bunch of warehouses to run by. From there it's through China Basin, and we got to run by AT&T Park, which was neat. We ran right past it and could look right into the park at field level. I started to feel marginally better with about a mile and a half left, and ended up running the rest of the way from mile 25.

The finish was just past the Bay Bridge on Embarcadero, and there was a good crowd at the line, which was nice.

I saw Ana right past the finishing area and went to stretch out a bit.

During the race, I had 11 Accelerade Vanilla flavored gels (100 calories each). Quite a few water fillups. 2 bio breaks, one at 13 miles and one at around 21-22 miles.

Post-Race

Food: Banana, granola bar, some sort of mini cheese-flavored dinner roll, 3/4 of a large soft pretzel (extra salt), a bottle of Cytomax energy drink, and a couple bottles of water.
Here are my mile splits:

Mile	Time
1	10:24
2	10:03
3	10:01
4	9:56
5	9:51
6	10:21 (avg, missed the 6 mile marker)
7	10:21 (avg, missed the 6 mile marker)
8	9:29
9	9:47
10	9:58
11	10:08 (avg, missed the 11 mile marker)
12	10:08 (avg, missed the 11 mile marker)
13	10:25
14	9:40
15	10:08
16	10:40
17	10:25
18	10:16
19	10:40
20	11:01
21	11:22
22	11:55
23	12:18
24	11:54
25	13:45
26	11:10

My average pace was 10:37.

first marathon

2008-08-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

Congrats, J!

Ole' One Eye

2008-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

I recently moved my desk over by the patio door, so I could have a better view of the birds, squirrels, mice, and Kitty while I'm working. Well, today I saw an old visitor I hadn't seen in a while, a one-eyed grey squirrel I nicknamed 'Ole One Eye'. There was also a one eyed finch that hung out at the feeder, but he seems to have disappeared.

Anyhoo, here's Ole One Eye, taken with my phone. He took off when I went to go get my super zoom camera. You can still see his missing eye a bit though.

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

The entire female population of the Chandela Clan had birthdays in July. Beetle turned 12 on the 13th, and Ana's birthday was this week. Wish them a happy belated birthday!

The Various Predators of the South Carolina Lowcountry

2008-07-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

I went back to visit the family in Charleston, SC over July 4th. It was hot, but we had a good time, and visited a couple of very cool places in lovely Moncks Corner - Mepkin Abbey (a working monastery) and Santee Canal Park, the site of the first canal in the US.

Here's some pictures we took of the various predators we encountered.

A turtle at Santee Canal Park. Just waiting to snap your finger off. Don't get too close, I'm being serious. Now, see what happened? That's why you listen to your elders. We'll bring you to the emergency room later, they should be able to sew it back on.

Here's an Osprey from Santee Canal Park. A very regal looking bird of prey. Now, don't tease it, it'll swoop down and peck your eye out. Yes, it will - stop it. See there? That's what you get. You're new nickname is ole' one-eye.

A gator at Santee Canal Park. Yes, it's real, why would they put a fake alligator in the swamp? No, it doesn't look like a log. No, you can't go pet it. Hey, listen to me - oh great. Well, they've made amazing advances in prosthetics. Your nickname can be ole' peggy.

A snake, not sure what kind. No, I don't think it's poisonous, I don't think there are a lot of poisonous snakes in South Carolina. No, you shouldn't check to see. Great, look what you've done now. What, your vision's getting hazy? It's ok, we'll get you some vitamin water back at the gift shop.

And finally, tha' Pepsta'. A very sweet cat, she likes me. She only scratches and bites people she likes. I wish she wouldn't do it so hard though, I seem to be losing a bit of blood. Transfusions are fairly cheap.

Forster's Tern

2008-07-13T08:50:00.001-07:00

We took a walk at Shoreline yesterday and saw a new bird. The place was swarming with Forster's Terns, which are quite noisy and adept divers. They apparently spend their summers along the California coast where they fly in swarms over the water and periodically plunge their entire bodies in to grab small fish. In fact, they offer fish to one another when they are courting. The Forster's Tern is named after Johann Reinhold Forster, a German naturalist who traveled with Captain Cook during one of his Pacific voyages of exploration.

Forster's Tern in flight...

and at rest

I dominate at only a few things, one of them being growing tomatos

2008-05-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Others include Double Dribble on NES, eating NY style pizza, and Cranium/Pictionary.

Check out my tomato plants:

Here's a picture of them 2 months ago:

Sigh

2008-05-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, our Mourning Dove family wasn't with us very long.

The eggs must have hatched last night sometime, because when I went out to walk Beetle this morning, I saw the mother dove feeding two little chicks. Here they were first thing this morning:

Here's a shot of the babies from right before I left for work today (about 7:15am):

Here's what I found when I got home :-(

I had removed our other feeder and geranium so that squirrels wouldn't be able to get to the nest, but the pot they were in was pretty exposed. I can only guess that some birds came and got them. Oh well, I had read that the chicks mortality rate was like 80% in the first year, but it's still pretty sad.

Kayaking at Loch Lomond

2008-05-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

No, not the one in Scotland, the Santa Cruz city water reservoir. It's up in the Santa Cruz mountains but only about 45 minutes away from the house. This is a pretty cool place, lots of areas for picnicking, even a little island that you can paddle out to that has some tables + barbecues.

The lake is not huge, but plenty big enough for some nice kayaking. Here are some pictures.

A view from the boat out across the lake:

A rock face on the side of the lake:

Of course we need a bird shot, here's a Common Merganser (duck):

I came across this neat dead log in the water. I guess it's been there so long, a little stand of grass & weeds have started growing on the little bit of it that is above water. Makes you appreciate the adaptability of nature.

Most of the paddling is pretty much out on open water, but I came across a pretty cool section on the north end of the reservoir. It was very quiet and windy, and kind of swamp like. It reminded me of Apocalypse Now or Deliverance, but without the flying spears, raging water, or Burt Reynolds. Here's a picture a ways into this section.

Here's another one toward the end.

Straight to the top of the charts - Beetle's newest hit!

2008-05-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

Much to my chagrin, Beetle has strayed from her hip hop roots and has fallen in with the San Francisco hipster/emo crowd. And, she brought Shakey with her. I would have been fine if she wanted to continue with her bluegrass/Americana experiments, but she's gone a little too far this time. Sigh, what's a parent to do?

Oh well, I promised I'd post her song, so here it is. It's sung to the tune of Yael Naim's mind-numbingly annoying and soul-crushingly bad 'I'm a New Soul' (i.e. the theme song from the MacBook Air commercials). It's entitled 'I'm a Molesow'.

I'm a Molesow

I'm a molesow
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could get a biscuit if I learned to shake
But since I came here, it seems quite unclear
I find no treats even if I sit and shake

Blah blah blah blah blah . . . .

See I'm a molesow in this very strange world
Hoping I could clean the scraps off my parents plates
But why all this hate? I try to communicate
But my crabbing and snapping doesn't seem to rate

Blah blah blah blah blah . . . .

How NOT to grow cilantro

2008-05-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

I planted some herbs at Ana's request this past weekend. I have been wondering why the cilantro was not perked up, and I found my answer today:

So, not only is Kitty loud, he also likes to incubate cilantro. Oh well, at least he doesn't bother the squirrels or birds.

Yay! They finally fixed the fence!

2008-04-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Back in January (the 4th to be exact), we had a massive storm. Here's what our fence looked like afterward:

Well, they finally got around to getting the fence fixed, 4 months later. Here's the work in progress:

At least they are quick, they just tore the old one down yesterday, and they're already almost finished.

Rogue Chandela Clan Members

2008-04-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a little clip of our nesting dove and Kitty, the neighbor's cat. Both have recently taken up residence on our porch.

Bees drink?

2008-04-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

A dumb question I guess. I suppose I've just never thought of bees as the drinking type, or maybe I'd just never seen one. Anyhoo, as I was planting my herb garden this evening I saw this little guy taking a drink out of the birdbath. His little thorax/abdomen was bobbing up and down as he drank, too. Bizarre.

Baby geese

2008-04-27T14:40:00.001-07:00

There's probably something cuter than baby Geese, but I don't know what. I saw this same family this morning as I was biking back from the farmers market, and I saw them again as I was taking the molesow for a swim. This is at the Los Gatos percolation ponds.

Yay! Mourning Doves!

2008-04-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

It appears that a pair of mourning doves may have started a nest in our hanging geranium. I can't be sure, but it's been sitting in there all day, and the male has been hanging out on the fence all day as well. Cornell's Ornithology page on mourning doves says that they sometimes nest in hanging flower pots, so who knows. At any rate, here are some pictures:

The pa standing guard:

The mother incubating (I can see the pot really well through the window panel in my door, but it doesn't photograph well):

I'll keep an eye on them and see how it goes.

A+ - Yay!

2008-04-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Beetle's dog walker just started giving out report cards. Once I found out, I gave Beets a stern lecture so that she would be on her best behavior. She just got her first grade today and passed with flying colors. The most well-behaved AND the most photogenic dog.

This is her picture from the dog walking web site. She's labeled Tootsie, this is when she was wearing her Tootsie suit.

Tomato Update

2008-04-12T20:42:00.001-07:00

The tomatoes are really, taking off, here's a picture from today:

Compare it to this picture, taken 20 days ago.

Newest Member of the Chandela Clan

2008-04-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

One of our neighbors has a very rogue and loud cat named Kitty. He/she is pretty friendly and has taken to sleeping under our orange tree. Here's Kitty coming out after a nap:

Here's kitty hanging out on za yootoobz.

Kitty pile!

2008-04-05T12:14:00.001-07:00

Cats have a rough life.

Random Animal Pictures

2008-04-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

Some random pics.

The cats have taken to hanging out in the kitchen and on the counters. Not incredibly sanitary, but what can I do?

Also, one of the mourning doves seems to have started a nest in one of our hanging geraniums.

Here's one of Peppy, my sister's cat. She'll only drink water out of glasses.

What would an animal picture post be without a shot of the most photogenic dog?

Tomato Time!

2008-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Just planted our tomatoes today. I got a Yellow Plum, a Better Boy, and a couple of Oregon Springs. We'll see how they do.

Beetle!

2008-03-22T14:51:00.001-07:00

The most photogenic dog

2008-03-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from our walk yesterday with CGP.

Another walk/action shot:

A famous Beetle pose, sitting and surveying her domain in Houge Park.

Hmmm, what's this, Beetle smells something suspicious.

Ah, it's just Bailey, a young Chesepeake Bay Retriever pup. It's funny, there seem to be lots of dogs named Bailey - this is the second one I've met in Houge Park. But, there's only one Beetle, and she just happens to be the world's most photogenic dog.

Beetle dominating Bailey. Notice the cowering and lowered tail. Bailey knows who the boss of Houge Park is.

To make sure that Bailey got the message, Beets decided to chase her around.

Beetle felt bad, so she let Bailey chase her for a bit. Look at this crazy dog's big flopping Dumbo ears.

Some weird unicycling guy with his dog.

Beets, in a field of green, content that she has secured her domain against rogue pups and unicycle guys.

New camera

2008-03-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

I ended up getting a Canon A720IS after doing a bit of research (mostly, just reading reviews here and here).

I've only taken a few critter pictures, here's the first couple.

Beets (need to work on that red eye). This is her look when she's trying to pretend she's good but is actually getting ready to do something mischievous:

An insanely zoomed in close-up of part of the Shakester's head:

And one of Larry. Note how he camoflauges quite well with the floor. This is good for his sneakings about.

First day of unemployment (w/ pictures)

2008-03-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first day out of work.

Got to sleep in til' about 7:00am. The fuzzballs still aren't totally acclimated to daylight savings time.
Went for a run up St. Joseph's Hill. Didn't quite have the lungs to make it to the top.
Breakfast.
Made reservations for my snowboarding trip to Tahoe next week. Woohoo!
Went to Bay 101 to sweat a poker buddy of mine who was playing in the Shooting Star $10k buyin main event (a World Poker Tour event). His name's Andrew Robl (AKA good2cu). I only to got to watch about an hour or so, as he busto'ed in 22nd place (still won $20K), but we were able to catch up and chat a bit during a break.
Andrew has a cool story, he dropped out of college in Michigan a couple of years ago to play poker full time and has been traveling the world, making money, and living the life ever since. He moved to vegas a few months back. He has one of the most hilarious and over the top online poker player personas on the interpipes, but he's totally normal in real life.
Lunch at Fresh Choice!
Watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy on DVD/On Demand. Man I love that one where Peter goes on a date with Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Cooked dinner for the first time in a while. Nothing fancy, just macaroni with marinara sauce and veggie ground beef. I love that stuff.
Walked Beets
Homework. :-(
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

No Watch List

2008-03-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

I have watched a lot of movies in my life.

When I was a kid, it seemed like every movie was a 4 star classic. Then, I fell asleep in the theater watching Raising Cain. That's when I officially realized that there's a lot of crap being manufactured in Hollywood.

Bear in mind, this doesn't stop me from willingly watching bad movies (example, watched Saw 4 this weekend, which was, as expected, bad). Gore + horror movies are different though - a lot of my time from age 10-13 was spent watching every bad horror flick I could get my hands on. I still like watching this crap to see the new and interesting ways that directors invent to kill and torture people (in the movies and audience). I'm glad my parents weren't the types to do crazy things like prevent their kids from watching R-rated movies.

Back to my point. I'll tolerate crap on film if there's lots of people dying and blood spattering about. Not if it's a mainstream flick though. To that end, I've started compiling a list of the actors I'm boycotting. I refuse to give these people my money any longer after the dreck they've churned out.

The list:

1) Denzel Washington - I know, I know, he's supposedly great. But I've got two words for you - Deja Vu. Did you see that movie? Are you kidding me? Anyone who would associate himself with that movie is immediately tainted. I normally judge more on a person's entire body of work, but this stinker was enough to shoot Denzel to the top of my list.

2) Nicolas Cage - Another Oscar winner at number 2. I'm sorry, he's just not a good actor. The movie that put Mr. Cage on my list was Ghost Rider. I mean, come on. They weren't even trying for that one.

3) Ben Affleck - No further explanation needed.

Candidate for Future Inclusion

1) Halle Berry - Sure, I love Halle like everyone else. But, if she makes another one like Perfect Stranger, she's dead to me.

Ok, enough ranting. Back to 'work'. Tomorrow's my last day - woohoo!

Moving on . . . .

2008-02-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

I submitted my resignation today.

A little bittersweet, because I've met lots of great people at this stop on the career train, but mostly relief. My next step will be much more in line with my experience, skills, interest, and long term goals.

So, I'm pretty excited (well, as excited as I get). Tequila shots and beers await me in a few hours with a good pal o' mine.

Anyhoo, Ana took the camera to Taiwan, so until I get a new one (recommendations on compact point-and-shoot models welcomed), I have to recycle some old pics.

Here's how I feel today:

Heavenly Lanterns

2008-02-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

It is the end of the Lantern Festival. To celebrate, I went with a couple of friends to visit Pingxi, an old mining village in the hills outside of Taipei. Every year they celebrate the Lantern Festival by inviting people to come and write wishes on large paper lanterns, which you then send up into air, like hot air balloons, to carry your wishes to heaven. The strangest wish I saw on a lantern: "buy more Nike Air Shocks."

(see more pictures HERE)

lantern festival 2

2008-02-19T06:14:00.000-08:00

There are lanterns galore in Taipei right now, so I went to see the rest of the festival displays and snapped some more pictures, which you can all see by clicking HERE.

lantern festival

2008-02-18T04:57:00.000-08:00

I am finally in Taipei with a functioning camera just in time for the lantern festival, which celebrates the first full moon of the Chinese New Year. I went to visit a few of the lantern displays with a classmate today. Here are some of my favorites (don't forget that it is the year of the mouse!):

Birds from Shoreline at Mountain View

2008-02-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

We went for a birdwatching stroll over at Shoreline, the place where I'm going to be volunteering.

We identified a few birds.

Here's a willet:

Here's a ring-billed gull (NOT a seagull, very important to note). A very loud and strange bird that likes to eat drowning earthworms in the Great Plains:

A surf scoter (we saw him eat a clam):

A common goldeneye:

Here's a picture of a bunch of american coots. Known to be very awkward on land:

chandelaclan in miniature

2008-02-09T06:58:00.001-08:00

Here we are, the Chandela clan , in miniature clay form courtesy of the Dupree kids. We aren't too sure what is up with Shakey (bottom left figure).

Bird Watching

2008-02-08T14:54:00.001-08:00

This morning we went bird watching at the percolation ponds near our house.

beets

2008-02-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

After a night out for dinner at a fantastic little local restaurant J just discovered through jatbar, we came home to a slightly upset pup, who was none too please that we had lingered over our wine and missed her 9pm dinner hour.

chinese new year outing

2008-01-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

It is almost Chinese New Year's here, which means that I get to go home in one week for another visit. In the meantime, my class went on an outing yesterday to visit a local tea house and the Taipei New Year's market.

This is my Chilean Taiwanese friend Ivy. We are standing in the tea house in a room where they heat and dry the tea leaves in a special heating process that produces no smoke. The baskets behind us are placed over large holes in the ground in which charcoal and rice husks are burned. The tea leaves are then placed on top of these baskets and dried. This tea house still does most of packing and processing by hand.

These are my classmates from my newspaper readings course. Most of them are from Asia (Korea, Indonesia & Japan). The guy poking his head in the back is Russian. Behind us is the Taipei New Year's Market, which mostly sells typical New Year's snacks. You can barely see my jolly teacher standing behind us just over my should and wearing a green and blue sweater. She is very fond of teaching us Taiwanese slang. For example, "he is a bunny" or "he is cute like a bunny" means a guy is gay; "stir-fried rice" means getting it on; and, "car earthquake" means getting it on in a car.

Easy Vegetarian Chili

2008-01-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

I think I got this recipe from someone, but I'm not recalling the source at the moment. So, sorry for the lack of attribution (if it's required). Who knows, I may have made this up myself, it's not exactly rocket science.

Anyhoo, this is good stuff, and super easy to make. Use a good fresh salsa, from the refrigerated aisle (if you made it yourself, it wouldn't be easy enough to call 'Easy Vegetarian Chili'). Both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have a good selection.

Easy Vegetarian Chili

1 can of black beans (drained)
1 can of kidney bans (drained)
1 container of fresh, refrigerated salsa (not canned/bottled). About 14-16 oz will do.
1 package Morningstar Meal Starters Griller/Crumbles or other fake ground beef (Quorn also makes a decent ground beef substitute)
1 or 2 tablespoons of oil

1) In one pan, heat up the oil and brown the fake ground beef.
2) In another soup pot/saucepan, start cooking the beans and salsa together on medium heat.
3) Once the fake ground beef is browned, throw it into the pot with the beans + salsa.
4) Simmer on low for a bit, maybe 20 minutes. It can stay on heat for awhile, just make sure you stir regularly.

Voila! This will be enough for 4 or so decent-sized bowls. This makes good leftovers.

Here's a picture, still steaming!

Mmmmmm . . . . BEET SMOOTHIE!

2008-01-20T09:36:00.001-08:00

Hey - JoAnn thought this was a little gross-sounding but it's actually quite good. I got the recipe from a coworker and have been making them lately with my new Blendtec blender. Although I've never particularly liked beets (hadn't had them in years), they are super good for you and turn out to be pretty tasty in this smoothie.

Beet Smoothie

1 beet, peeled
1 apple, cored
A handful or two of spinach
.5 cup cold water
.5 cup crushed ice (or, just use 1 cup water if you don't want it too cold)

Optional:
A pitted date (for sweetness)
A touch of Kefir (for texture/creaminess)

Just put the stuff in the blender and puree. Deelishus! Here's what it looks like:

PS - a piece of beet fell on the floor once and Beetle ate it. So yes, Beets likes beets.

LOL at Cingular/AT&T - Part 2

2008-01-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

So, it was determined in my previous post that A&T/Cingular doesn't have the optimal billing/settlement algorithms in place. As I suspected, they sent me a refund check today for $0.29 since I overpaid my outstanding balance of $0.16. Pictures of postage and check below.

Now, let me think. Would it be more expensive/troublesome to them if I just tore up the check or if I actually deposit it?

taiwan scooter pets

2008-01-09T23:42:00.000-08:00

With the scooter as Taiwan's vehicle of choice, the scooter-pet is a pretty common phenomena. Today I had the best scooter-pet spotting thus far: an orange tabby cat perched underneath his owner's legs on top of two cases of soda, wearing nothing less than a bee costume. Yes indeed, a bee scooter-cat! Just imagine - if we had a scooter, J would probably train the squirrels and birds to ride along.

~A