01-31-2011 Run

After the race yesterday, I drove an hour South of Mt. Shasta to the Palm trees, 70 degree temps and Shorts wearing people in Redding, California.

Today I ran at the Whiskeytown Lake National Recreation Area. It is gorgeous here, I ran the Davis Gulch trail, a steep twisty turny rocky trail that winds its way in and out of a bunch of waterfall filled gulches that drain down in to the lake.

Here is picture I took from the trail that shows generally what the area looks like

Here is a pretty average shot of the trail, probably one of the easier parts.

Here is a picture of some Wild mistletoe that lines much of the trail, there are also a lot of wild California grapes along the trail.

I had a nice two days off, but now I have to head back to work. My boss warns me that I may be here until next Christmas. Hopefully my house will be sold long before then, and Rebecca will be out here with me! I think we are both done with the Midwest. Why would you stay in that cold, snow infested flat land, when you could be in a place like this??

Mt. Shasta Snowshoe Race

So this was a Western regional qualifier for the US snow shoeing Championships that will be held this coming March in Northwest Wisconsin, right near the Minnesota border!

This was my first time ever running in my new Crescent Moon - Gold 12 Racing snowshoes...

It was fun, my lungs are still burning 5 hours later. I wasn't sure what was gonna happen with this race, I had no clue how I would pace myself. There was fresh powder falling and it was on the side of a huge mountain. I ended up starting really slow and quickly realized that the main pack was way too slow for my liking so I just kinda took off, my legs ended up feeling like they were full of concrete pretty quickly, but the fact that I knew there were only 2 people in front of me gave me some motivation as I attempted to chase them down. I closed the gap pretty good, but my "normally devastating finishing sprint" was hampered by the approximately 200 lb snowshoes that I felt like I was wearing, I ended up with 3rd place over all, missing 2nd by probably 10 seconds and first by probably less than 20 seconds. Not sure when final results will be up somewhere, but I will link them when they are.

There weren't as many people in the race as I thought there would be, I think the fact that tire chains were required to get to the race site might have scared a few people away, but I like snow shoe running, and I did qualify for the National Championships so I might make an attempt to get back home for that.

01-28-2011 Run

01-26-2011 Run

01-25-2011 Run

01-24-2011 Run

It was 46 below zero in Minnesota yesterday. Working outside in that for 14 hours would have been a little uncomfortable. I guess for that reason I should be thankful that I'm working in Oregon!

01-21-2011 Run

This might go down as my weakest month for running since 2007. I'm feeling a lot better, so maybe things are looking up.

I did see this guy today though..

01-17-2011 Run

01-16-2011 Run

We finally got a day off at the last minute because our "superiors" (rolling eyes) decided that they need to spend today reviewing safety guidelines after three near fatal incidents in the past week. My suggestion was to give us more days off, so that people can try and get some rest, and so I'm not working with a bunch of zombies that could kill me with their screw up at any moment. Half the people I work with have pneumonia, everyone is coughing and sick. I was on anti-biotics for ten days, I've been off them for less than a week and I'm already sick again... The favorite saying out here right now is FML.. "Fu*k my life!"

Anyways, I got a little bit of much needed trail therapy today. It was pretty cool, because its really warm 45ish, and the melting snow is ripping down the mountains everywhere. I got nice and muddy, plus it is raining and foggy. My mind drifted back to Minneapolis and the 5 below and snow they have this morning and it only reinforced my drive to move out here. Our house will be for sale as soon as winter breaks...

*Update*
Went to Dr before I headed back to Lakeview because I was coughing up a little bit of blood and chest was hurting. I have Pneumonia. Doc put me on something called a Zpack, said it should take care of it. FML.

01-14-2011 Run

This has been a pretty tough week. As you can see, we are making progress, but it is killing us. People are getting pretty tired. Still 7 days a week, at least 14 hours a day..

The pipe is lucky enough to get carried in by helicopter, Myself... I get to snowshoe mostly.

update

OK, I have been "training" like crazy, just not running. My days have consisted of loooong snowshoe treks in in deep dark mountainous frozen forests. I have been so tired at the end of everyday that all I can think about is getting to sleep.. The worst is almost over for now, so I should get back in to the running game in the next couple of days. I think I am going to do the Mt. Shasta snowshoe race on January 30th, so at least I can say I have been training for that!

This is a pretty typical view lately. Double click on the pic to get a better view, the snow on the trees is frozen solid.

01-05-2010 Run

Another day gone.

01-03-2011 Run

Happy to get in a run!

01-01-2011 Run

Started off the year with a nice little jog. I have a lot of confidence going in to this year now that I am finally on track to get my perpetual groin injury taken care of.