Back to the States

Well the last 10 days have flown by. I can't believe I am back in the bay area now and will be back to work next Monday in Flagstaff.

Since my last post a lot has happened and most importantly all three ladies made it back to the states alive and not injured. Mission Accomplished.
I am stoked to see how they do in their upcoming races. First up will be Addie this Saturday at the US Half Marathon Champs in Houston, and then Kimmy at US Cross Country Champs in San Diego and the Brie will be racing indoors come the middle of February.

But I digress. Back to the previous 10 days. Let me think. On Tuesday the 18th Kimmy and I headed up to the Golf Course at 7am so she could get some work done on the grass. However it was not without it's complications. First she did not wake up from her alarm due to the new and improved ear plugs she had acquired, and secondly I lost the keys and spent 15 minutes frantically searching for them. Just when I thought I had ended her chance of working out that morning I found them at the bottom of my bag. Golfers would be on the course starting at 8:30 so we had to get the workout done before then.
We surprisingly made it through the security gate at the club without trouble and Kimmy got underway. Her 10x500m went very well and I was bummed that my injury would not let me partake.

Kimmy starting the workout just as the sun comes up over the horizon

Finishing up her workout

After her workout we headed back just in time for breakfast to meet up with Addie and Brie who had just awoke. They then hit the track and trail for their workouts. I timed Brie on her 12x300m while Kimmy took pictures of her and Addie working out.


Addie definitely set the record for most times around the mile dirt loop at the training center.

The following day all three ladies only had one run to do so we headed out to explore the town that afternoon. Our first stop took us to a frozen yogurt place which we would then proceed to frequent often during the rest of our trip.


Next door we found there was an italian restaurant. We went there to eat dinner on Friday. It was delicious.

Following frozen yogurt we drove to the Central Historical District. We were fortunate to find a very good parking spot and a nice gentleman who spoke some english helped us pay the parking fee and washed our car.
We walked around for about an hour checking out the old buildings and ducking into a few shops and taking pictures.

Main square

Building which is on their license plate. Must be important.

Big church. One of many many churches

A local chilling with her friends

About to turn down a street on which every shop on both sides of the street for 4 blocks was an eyeglasses store

On our last Friday the ladies all had a 3 mile tempo as part of their workout so they did it together.



On the last Sunday long run we went to Tangamanga and its a good thing we did as it was super windy. If we had gone to the same place as last Sunday it would have been miserable. As it was, Tangamanga was a big dustbowl.
Here is a baseball game which became invisible from time to time


Finally on Tuesday the time came to leave San Luis Potosi and venture back down to Mexico City. This was a day that I was not looking forward to. Although it was the reason I was here in the first place so I was at the same time excited for whatever adventure may come. It didn't set our nerves at ease when we were told that morning at breakfast that we were crazy/braze for attempting the drive to and more specifically through Mexico City.
The ladies did their final workouts at altitude that morning. Brie and Addie ran at the training center and Kimmy went to the park. The field where she was to do her workout was being watered at the time by some huge sprinklers which she had to run through. She nailed the workout and its safe to say if it should rain at San Diego she will be ready.

Somehow she timed it so that she was sprayed at every possible time by the sprinklers.

After the workout we ate lunch and loaded up the car. We were packed to the brim as the ladies decided to each bring their whole closet with them.
We took off at 1:30. We made great time and had no trouble getting to Mexico City in just under 4 hours. However as we arrived around 5:30 on a Tuesday we would be stuck in quite a bit of traffic. Luckily the traffic is so slow that chance of serious injury is low and if you are hungry you can purchase food from any of the hundred of individuals who stand in the middle of the highway selling such items.

It took over an hour to get through the city to our hotel. I read before coming down that driving here was insanity, but I thought they were over exaggerating. They weren't.
It's difficult if not impossible to explain the craziness of driving in this city, but I will try and give you some tips in case you ever find yourself behind the wheel down there.

1. Every rule you learn in the states about driving a vehicle needs to be thrown out the window in order to survive let alone get from point A to point B. The shear number of cars on the road and lack of space for said cars forces everyone, including you, to be a jerk.
2. To drive here you have to be simultaneously aggressive(there is no bad reason to cut someone off or to honk) and patient(it's not worth getting upset at being cutoff or being honked at).
3. Traffic signs and lights are blatantly ignored by all.
4. Don't drive in the left lane. You will inevitably get stuck behind people trying to make a u-turn.
5. Don't drive in the right lane. You will inevitably get stuck behind buses picking up people, double parked cars or tents.
6. Don't drive in the center lane. All the locals follow rules 5 and 6 which makes the center lane a parking lot and cars and busses that are double parked will suddenly lurch in to the center lane from the right lane.
7. Expect the unexpected at intersections. People will blow through red lights. People will turn left from the right lane and right from the left lane and people in the center lane are rarely going to go straight.
8. If a police car is behind you with its lights on, ignore it. They all have their lights on and at most he is trying to intimidate you to get you to make you change lanes.
9. Never stop at a stop sign unless you want to hear a roar of horns behind you.
10. Lanes marked on the road(if they even are) are never used. A 3 lane road often has 4 or 5 cars abreast.
11. Don't even think of using your turn signals for turning. They are only used to signal the person in front of you that they are going too slow and they should get the f*&% out of your lane.
12. Your horn is your best friend.
13. If you let someone in your lane or put on the brakes you can bet the person behind you will let you know how pissed they are about it.
14. Beware of the over 6000 speed bumps in the city, most of which are illegally placed and will severely damage your car if you hit them too fast. But hit them too slow and you will be honked at to no end.
15. And finally whoever has the shittiest car or cares the least about getting a dent has the right of way. If you want to change lanes then check and see if the car you want to get in front of is more or less expensive than yours. If it's more expensive lurch the front of your car into that lane and they will slow down. If it's less expensive wait for another car that is worth more than yours.

So, we make it back to the rental car place and turn in the car. The relief of being done with driving in that city is indescribable. I am just thankful we got there in one piece and did not damage the car.
We head in the shuttle over to the Camino Real. Brie and Addie do their double and Kimmy and I explore around finding a place to eat dinner and how to get across the skywalk to the airport. We succeed and meet up with the ladies for dinner around 7:45. After an enjoyable meal we get some internet and then say goodbye to Brie who is leaving on a 7am flight and head to bed.
Addie and Kimmy run the following morning. We get breakfast, pack up and head over to the airport around 10:30. My scheduled flight isn't until 3:45 putting me in San Francisco at 11:45pm. This doesn't sound like fun to me so I attempt to get an earlier flight. I am successful in doing so and my new flight will deliver me to SFO at 7:30pm. Much better.
Addie and I are on the same flight to Dallas while Kimmy is flying delta so we part ways at check in. It isn't until Addie and I get through security that we realize Kimmy was in the wrong terminal. I am not sure what was involved in her getting to the other terminal, which is not at all close to where we were, but she was successful in getting there.
I exchange my leftover pesos for American Dollars and board the plane to head back home.
Upon take off I am able to look down upon the cluster that is beautiful Mexico City.


I arrive at SFO on time and catch BART to the Montgomery St station where I meet up with Ben who had just finished up work for the day. How, with no qualifications or experience, he became the cross country and distance coach of soon to be Division 2 San Francisco Academy of Art will forever be a mystery to me. But I think jumping head first into new experiences is the best way to learn and I think he will do an excellent job.
We head back to his and Tyler's place and catch up on anything and everything.
Those two gentlemen headed to work early today while I slept in.
I walked from their place to downtown to deliver Ben's forgotten checkbook and explore the downtown area for a while before heading over to Rockridge to get some food and internet.
And now here I am finishing up my blog in Rockridge and about to catch BART up to Martinez at which point I will meet up with Bri and head to Davis for the night to visit old friends and have a grand old time.
That is more than a long enough blog and so I will spare you more blabbering and conclude by saying that the past month was an awesome change of pace and experience. I hope that I can continue running once my injuries heal up and I wish the 3 ladies that I was lucky enough to spend January with all the best in their running adventures.

Back in the states. San Francisco seems mellow and free of traffic in comparison to Mexico City

More of the same

Wake up, eat, run, shower, sleep, watch tv, find internet, run, eat, watch tv, sleep. Wal-Mart if we are feeling adventurous.
Such is the life at La Loma.
But the life of monotony will not be without its rewards.
For me, I will be rejuvenated and ready to head back out in the wilderness for another awesome season in the Grand Canyon.
For the ladies, they will certainly be reaping the rewards when they head back down to sea level and it comes time for them to race. It has been another great week of workouts and they are adapting very well to the altitude. I am stoked to see how they do in their upcoming races and I know they must be getting anxious to race as well.
While I had to tone back my running this week because of a number of different aches and pains I was able to hit the main days with the ladies. Friday I jumped in the middle of Kimmy's workout and did 3xmile and then finished off with Brie at the end of her tempo.

Kimmy at the start of her workout

Brie enjoying her tempo run through the park

Saturday I attempted to meet up with the local running group to go out and scout a new possible place to do a long run. I failed. I met up with them and tried to understand their directions to where we would run at which point I realized I would need the car since there was not enough room. I got the car and made it back in time to follow them at which point I realized I would need gas. I got gas but then drove around for an hour in the countryside unable to find them. Oh well. The social highlight of the week was today though as we ventured off to Wal-Mart to buy some food type things. It was an enjoyable trip.

Sunday we headed up to the same place as last week to do our long run since I failed to find a different place. We were praying for better conditions than last time. We made it up there a bit earlier in the day and it was slightly cooler and best of all there was just a slight breeze(although it felt a bit stronger by the end of the run). We pulled up to a large crowd of locals waiting for the bus and I'm sure we seemed a bit out of place. We took off down the road around 10:15am.
The same barking cocker spaniel was there to great us 3 minutes into the run, but besides that all went very smoothly. Kimmy is stoked on her new long run drink concoction of coffee, perpetuem and water I believe. She claimed it was way better than last week's orange juice/perpetuem combo, but I still think it tasted nasty. Either way she felt great and claims it was all thanks to the drink. I think taking the previous day off might have also had something to do with it.
I made sure to take my camera out on the run with us to get some shots of them running. I think it is a beautiful, although barren area. Rather than write anymore I will just show some pictures and you can decide for yourself.

About a mile into the run and enjoying the sun

About 3 miles into the run. Almost to the top of a long gradual uphill

Addie and Brie nearing the highest point of the run about 5.5 miles in

Kimmy and Addie can be seen way down the road shortly after turning around at the 6 mile point. You turn around and head straight uphill into a head wind. It's fun

Still uphill into a headwind at 7800ft. Mile 103 for the week for Addie, must feel good.

Kimmy and Addie nearing the top of the hill

Flat ground for a little bit

Running back through a small farming community

A couple horses grazing in the ruins of an old building.

Brie is but a small white dot off in the distance and the other two ladies enjoy a long gradual downhill about 10 miles into the run
We finished the long run and made it back in time for lunch and then relaxed the rest of the day.

We had a lovely run at the park this morning. It is certainly warming up though. It had been lovely for much of last week as it was cloudy and in the lower 60's, but it will be in the high 70's to low 80's for the next few days. Ouch

Tomorrow Kimmy and I will be headed up to the golf course at 7am to get a workout in on the grass. That should be enjoyable. I will then be timing Brie's workout and perhaps jump in on part of Addie's 7 mile cutdown workout. Who knows. That's all for now though.

Over half way done. Time flies

So, time is flying now. I can't believe we have already been here for over two weeks. It has been an amazing time so far and I'm sure it will continue to be. Goran has now left and we have become friendly with the Australians (the ladies are just excited they have all 4 seasons of Gossip Girl) who are very cool and down to earth. You would never guess they were Olympians.
Long Run

Looking out towards where we would be running. We went way out into the hills in the distance.

Ladies getting ready to run

We headed out last Sunday with a local runner named Victor so we could do a long run someplace besides Tangamanga. We drove for about 45 min and the fact that he spoke no english made it hard to grasp if he really knew where he was taking us. We pulled of the road and found our way to a dirt road. However it looked sketchy to say the least as there were dogs running around and run down houses and had a strange vibe. Victor said he would ask if it was safe to run here and park our car for 2ish hours. He came back about 3 minutes later and said it was not safe and we must leave right away. We turned back towards SLP to find someplace else. Clearly Victor did not really know where he was taking us. So we drove about 5-10 min backtracking at which point he tells me to turn off again. Once more we pull into another little residential area although it does not seem quite so sketchy. We do get some odd stares from the locals though. Luckily a local had just finished his run of 97 minutes and told Victor where to run. from my rough translation of their conversation it seemed to me that Victor, who was about to take us running through the small town, learned from the local gentleman that if we did that we risked being attacked by dogs. So he told Victor a route around town. The 5 of us headed off although no more than 2 minutes down the road dogs come barking at us. Luckily they stop and after that we have no more dog trouble, just some cattle and sheep.

However we have trouble of another sort. We are at 7500ft now and it is a scorching day with no shade and is super windy. Brie takes the run out hard, although she later denies it. The way out was a gradual uphill but luckily with a tale wind. About 5 miles out we enter a small little farming town with some houses and the people living there are astonished to see us although I wave and they seem friendly enough. We continued on until 42 min at which point we headed back. We quickly realized we would be running back into a block headwind. It was brutal to say the least. I haven't felt like that in a long long time. Victor pushed the pace all the way back and I trailed off the back just hoping to make it back. I made it back in what seemed like forever. Brie was already there while the other 3 added on. While Brie and I were there discussing the brutality of that run we glanced to the highway and saw a mule limping his way across the road towards us. After almost being hit by a number of cars he makes it to us and we see it is limping because he is tied to his hind leg. It just continues wandering off. The other 3 roll in with Addie being last as she ran longest (she is running 110+ miles per week up here). We quickly load in the cars and head back to SLP ready to sleep. Being the google earth fanatic I am I measured our route upon return and see that the ladies were averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:45-50 pace. Not bad considering the terrain and conditions.

Brie thinks she is recording the donkey but forgot to press record

Kimmy and Victor finishing up their run
German Silva (2 time NYC Marathon Winner) will be taking us out next Sunday for another run and we are all stoked for that.


Outside of long runs they have also been nailing all their workouts and seem to be adapting very well to the new environment.

Ladies cooling down after a workout

Sadly I may have been overdoing my comeback as my hamstrings have been shot since I did a couple 300's with Kimmy on Tuesday in 50-52s. I hope it's nothing too bad and look to be running with the ladies on their workouts tomorrow.

In non-running related news we heading out on Tuesday night to celebrate our last night with Goran who left to head back to London yesterday. We found our way to Buba's Delicious Pizza. It was delicious indeed and a nice change from the usual fare of the training center.

I headed out one night with Goran to time his hill repeats. The picture doesn't show it but it was an insanely steep hill overlooking the city. A very impressive workout.

In work related news I have seen that I will be leading crews in the Grand Canyon when I get back at least until April. I am stoked on that as I think it is the best time of year to be there.
That's all for now. I should be back in SF on the 26th and 27th of January and if you are in the area let me know as I would like to see as many folks as possible.

Adios

Time to Relax

Today being long run day is the first day since we arrived that I have had the afternoon to relax and actually get some internet. Yesterday was the first real workout of the trip and came in the form of 8x1km at tempo pace with 1 min rest. We did the repeats on a mile long dirt path around the training center that has each 100m marked. The ladies nailed it and had me hurting at the end but I hung in there and am quickly feeling better. I was around 50 miles on 6 days last week and should be around 70 miles on 7 days this week, but it may be prudent of me to take a day off. We shall see.
Day's are quickly falling into a routine which is nice. We usually eat breakfast at 8:30. Run at 10. Relax and shower after. Lunch at 12:30. Massage, or naps after that and afternoon run/cross training and lifting around 5. Then dinner after and then we usually relax and watch TV/movie at night.
Food is delicious and they make as much of whatever we want whenever we want it. Our apartment has 3 bedrooms for the 4 of us. I am in the master bedroom of course and Kimmy has her own room and Bri and her college teammate Addie share the other room. While we have a full kitchen we never use it as all our meals are prepared at the training center which is just a 5 min walk away.
I have to get going soon so I will just throw in some pictures.

Our apartments

The track

The ladies running on the golf course

Looking down at the facility and the rest of the city

Parque Tangamanga where we do most of our runs
That's all for now.

Crazy Awesome

Wow, it has been crazy awesome since Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday were more crazy and Thursday to now have been just plain awesome. The facility is amazing. New years was a great time and learning experience(don't show up to dinner before 9). And the training has been going awesome. From not having run more than 60 miles total from may to november I will be near 60 miles for this week. The australian national swimming team will be coming on the 5th. We have been hanging out with Goran Nava. He is from Serbia and ran the 1500 in Beijing. No one here speaks english which is forcing me to improve on my spanish which is happening slowly but surely.
Internet is near impossible to get and right now I have no time. However, I hope to have more time to post within the next week.

Off to Mexico!

I am currently at SFO terminal 3 waiting for my 6am flight tomorrow morning to Mexico City. It's 1015pm right now and I am planning on finding a comfy place to settle down and sleep for the night. Before then I will fill you in on how I got to this point and what I will be doing in Mexico.
As I returned from Tahoe to Flagstaff back in mid-October and was preparing for 5 weeks in the backcountry of south-east Arizona I received an email from Kimmy telling me of plans she had made with 3 other professional runners to head to an altitude training center to train for one month. They were looking for an "assistant coach" to go down and run with the ladies and make sure things ran smoothly(nice pun ehh?). She informed me that if I was interested I could go. Well it didn't take long to decide I was interested and so I made sure I could take time off from work and then informed Kimmy I was in. The next day I went on my backcountry project.
Upon getting back from the backcountry I slowly found out more details about where we would be going and how long we would be there. We will be at La Loma Altitude Training Center in San Luis Potosi, Mexico which is about 200 miles north of Mexico CIty.
Link to La Loma website
While it sounded like there would be 4 ladies going down, I believe it is down to just 2. Kimmy and Bri Felnagle.
Kimmy and I arrive in Mexico City tomorrow evening and Bri arrives the following day at which point we will drive up to San Luis Potosi.
So in preparation for this I have been running more in the last month than all of June-November combined, which means I have run more than 5 times. So I am hardly in good running shape, and I'm sure the ladies will be kicking my ass for the first week or so, but I am hoping the fact that I have lived at altitude for the last year will help me not be so embarrassed. In fact I will be coming down 800ft in elevation in relation to Flagstaff! So it should be a piece of cake.
I received my first passport ever upon coming home for Christmas and am very excited that the day I got my picture taken I had a new haircut which will be on my passport for 10 years.

I will be their driver for the duration of our visit and from everything I have heard and read it is an absolute delight to drive in Mexico City(sarcasm). Every website I have been to says the worst thing you can do is drive in Mexico City. So that will be fun.
At least they drive on the right side of the road down there.
As far as brushing up on my spanish skills. I haven't. But I did buy a small spanish/english dictionary of common phrases today. So I hope that with my vague recollection of what I learned in my spanish classes will help me get by with minimal embarrassment.
Of course, as most of you could guess, I am terribly excited at the prospect of eating a ton of Mexican food while I am down there.
Since getting back home from Flagstaff and arriving at the airport I have been quite busy visiting friends and family. I was able to stop by Paly and meet up with Himmel for lunch. The I continued onto Pleasanton to meet up with Ben where I had a lovely dinner with his family. We then drove up to Davis and stayed with Keith and played Frisbee golf late at night on campus which was highlighted by commandeering a scissor lift in a construction zone.
The following morning Ben and I made our way up to Sierra at Tahoe to hit the slopes after a ton of snow hit the sierra the previous week. Conditions were amazing and it was great to get back out in the snow. After a day of skiing we drove back down to the Bay Area and met up with Bri and having an amazing dinner at Cactus Taqueria in Rockridge. Awesome chile rellano with carne asada plate! We continued on to Studs Bar in SF to watch Arran's band play. Buscho was there freshly returned from Germany which was an added delight. The show was awesome. Ben and I then returned to his place.
The next morning I made my way home and had a spectacular Christmas with family.
I have since made my way to the Bay Area today with my new MacBook Air which I am currently typing on and eagerly anticipating my trip to Mexico. That is all for now. Time to find a place to sleep. I shall blog again from Mexico!
Adios!

Back in California and debt free

While leaving Flagstaff in the midst of a snow storm was sad it's great to be back in California. Before gong into events here I'll recap the last couple weeks in Flagstaff. I spent two weeks in Lake Mead fencing with a two day hiatus during that time back in Flagstaff to do a service project to finish off my AmeriCorps program. I have now finished AmeriCorps and just got my educational award with which I have now paid off my school loans and am debt free. Phew, that's nice to have out of the way.
My americorps project was a trash cleanup along one of the popular running trails in Flagstaff. I was able to get 15 volunteers to come out and help and many from the nau track/xc team. We gathered a ton of trash, much of which was quite unique including a full bottle of pills, a hula hoop, partially full bottles of vodka, and the winner for most bizzare trash was this:

my wonderful volunteers


At Lake Mead we were treated to some wonderful weather and amazing sunsets.

We were in some pretty remote places which required quite a bit of four wheeling which was a blast in our company Tundra. Although the office was not pleased that I beat the crap out of it. The front fender is now falling off and I got two flats.

Besides the fun in the Tundra we got a ton of work done. Here is a section of fence we completed. You can see it stretching off 3 miles into the distance.

After Lake Mead we had our company party which was a great time as we played office chair hockey with brooms at 3am in our warehouse. The next day my coworkers and I who were planning a climbing trip to red rocks by vegas came to the sad realization that it would not happen in the middle of a rainstorm so we each went our seperate ways back home. I started the 12 hour drive back to Carmel. I spent the night in Tehachapi and made it back home on Sunday around noon.
I have enjoyed relaxing and being at home and have much to do in the week I am here.
Top on the priority list is to eat at Taqueria de Valle which is difficult this time of year because they are often closed to be with family.
I am also going to spend much time with my family, and of course try and see as many friends as possible. I am heading up to the bay area tomorrow to visit Scott and go with Ben skiing at Tahoe where they have been raped by snow so far this season. Back home for christmas then back to the bay are to see friends again and leave at 6am on the 28th to fly to mexico.
Oh yeah, Mexico...once again I am too tired so I will get to that next time. Adios