Oh Boy! Why?

Why couldn't I have been more driven to more domestic deeds? Say - something like - creating the nicest yard in the neighborhood? Or - how about - one heck of a good home handy man? Sigh.....

It's not to be. These things interest me not at all. Instead my drive has always been toward endeavors of a slightly more extreme nature requiring a certain amount of physical endurance. Evidence? Professional rodeo - bareback broncs, climbing - both big wall and technical alpine, sailing - as in the mast in the water at 3AM kind of sailing, motorcycles - really fast mortorcycles, and last but not least - endurance sports, such as cycling 200 miles in a day or running marathons. Which brings us to the point of this post.

In less than 5 days I will be lacing on the racing flats and dragging my ass to the start of my 3rd marathon in 12 months. Apparently I'm not the only idiot that's going to do this, I'll be accompanied by 5,500+ runners, all with the same idotic goal; To run 26.2 miles in as short a time as their only slightly prepared bodies will let them. In all fairness, I'll only be running with a small portion of these runners situated very solidly in the middle of the pack. There will be a couple thousand running ahead of me and a couple thousand running behind me that I'll never see except maybe at the start or finish areas. The finish area won't count because I really won't be seeing anything except indescript volunteers prodding me along the finish chutes as if I were livestock. Gotta make room for that other half of the runners that are going to finish behind me you know.

I'm really not feeling very prepared for this one. I've only run ~460 miles this year in preperation of this race. My shins have been bothering me a lot and the leg muscles just never seem to fully recover. I've also been fighting a nagging cough issue since the beginning of March. My last long run was a disaster. Of course, heat, humidity, hydration, and fuel played a large part in that disaster and will be easily avoided this weekend with a little focus. But, it was a crash none the less, and these kinds of things do a lot to destroy confidence.

I will finish though. It will be painful. But I do know that my training has pretty well prepared me for a solid mid-pack finish. So now all I need to do is focus on resting for the rest of this week, get my fueling plan for the race in place, and concentrate on the positive aspects of this idiotic endeavor.

And I'll be able to add another "finisher" medal to the other sport paraphenalia hanging on the wall.

One of those positive aspects will be the calorie burn. I'm thinking 25-30 good ales worth!

So, it won't be long before you see one last post concerning this particular marathon and it will include a run report. Oh, and just to show how stupid I really am..... I just signed up for the Portland Marathon in October. Maybe I'll run it barefoot!

A picture of an actual runner from the Seattle Marathon..... Damn!

Cheers!

Kerrel: So Long Washington

So Long Washington, I am on my way to France to visit with my daughter, go to a couple volleyball games, be on vacation, and open my mind up to new cultures.

After 4.5 hours flight to Toronto, CA. (2,081 miles…we could convert that to meters for you Canadians = 3, 349, 044.864 meters) I found myself eating lunch/dinner/breakfast (depending time zones) listening to the well known Candadian favorite "Do The Hustle", and multiple renditions of songs by Paula Abdul. (Pop Hits ?? Canada vs. America )

Ending in France, total travel time 16h 40 min, 30 min waiting for luggage, 1 minute for a THOROUGH investigation ("har har") by French immigration authorities (did they even look up from my passport?) and I was nervous about this part of the trip?!? ( Hey Jason, go Air Canada on time all the way!)

Thankfully relieved to see my daughter at the gate in Paris, hence "All systems were a GO for launch in France!"

While trekking through the Parisian Metro (underground rail) and intertwining streets I thought I found myself in a Motorcycle Show…in fact no, it was typical center of the street parking downtown Paris. (Ron/Bob/Casey too bad you all cannot park your motorcycle's in the street in front of the office!)

After dropping off my luggage at the hotel, I was off like "I was shot out of a gun" on a daughter-guided tour of "Centre-Ville" Paris. Here is a shot of the Champs- Elysee with the Arc-de-Triumph, my daughter and I are not sure what happened to the girl on the bicycle but we didn't hear any sirens so she must have survived.?

For all you unlucky people working in America, here's the Louvre, one of the most famous museums in the world and former living quarters of Napoleon and Louis V. If that doesn't beat your workday, I am going to have dinner with "my daughters adopted family" in Niort on Monday who's, grandfather has paintings of their family vacations in the museum on display. (Edouard Garrido for any Googler's)

Yes, they do sell Bud in France…

And YES they do sell Fords in France!! Though, both of them just a bit smaller!

Then Gameday in Niort France! Picture is of my daughter's team proclaiming on their legs "On Est En N2" (for all you none French) "We are in N2", which means to you American's that they are moving up to a higher level in the French Volleyball league after sweeping their current league and currently 19-0!

Honestly, this is the best team (men or women) I have ever witnessed in my entire life. Camaraderie, teamwork, communication between players and coach! Super star not one, but as a unit unstoppable!

Whether it was a team that I played on, coached ,or watched my kids play on, this group of girls are the Greatest! Photo Left to right "O" Raphael, "N" Aline, "E" Julie, "S" my Lacey (USA) ", "T" Aurelie, "E" Amsetou (Cameroon), "N" Juliette, "N" Anne-Laurent, "2" Anne (German).

They have one last game to stay undefeated…this coming weekend in Toulouse, lets hope for a perfect season. What a group of people in one spot at the same time from so many different corners of the world melded into one unit.

YOU GO GIRLS! ALLEZ LES FILLES!

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Two days from now off to Normandy to achieve a life time goal of mine to view the beaches where the Allied invasion occurred during WWII.

End of Stage 1 "THE FRENCH CONNECTION"

Cheers,

Kerrel!!!!

Sunny Skies... In California

Now that we are rolling headlong into spring, we’ve not only had over three months to “play” with our new Leica HDS Laser Scanner, but we now have two of our top guys with a full week of intense training under their belts. Casey and Jason spent a week at Leica Geosystems HDS USA Headquarters in sunny San Ramon, California during March for their in-house training program. The guys were most impressed by the mid-70s weather and the catered meals for breakfast and lunch… but I think they learned a few things as well.

We have all been impressed by the capabilities of the scanner ever since we purchased it at the beginning of the year. However, what our scanning crew has brought back from California is the incredible power of Leica’s software. The bulk of the training was centered on Leica’s Cyclone and CloudWorx software, both impressive programs in their own rights.

Cyclone is a massive program that is not only the interface for operating the ScanStation 2, but also the foundation for data processing, point cloud registration including point cloud overlap, traversing and resection functions, as well as providing a complete set of 3D modeling and topographic surveying tools. Cyclone allows us to slice and dice point clouds in any way we need to best extract the information our clients need… and then some! We can create complete and accurate 3D models of structures such as bridges, right down to the deformity of each steel beam. We can also create highly accurate Digital Terrain Models, including vertical DTMs complete with contours. The next time you’ve got an undercut cliff, a cave, or even a tunnel, and are wondering how to get that surface into CAD for your engineers, give us a call. Or, do you have a twitchy engineer demanding ground shots at 1 foot intervals and are wondering how to give them what they need without breaking the bank? We can do that too. On top of all that power, Cyclone comes with a host of publishing options to quickly deliver useful information to our clients at all stages of the project, from the afternoon we wrap up field work to the delivery of the final product. Very cool.

After processing the point clouds in Cyclone, we will most likely go to Leica’s CloudWorx software to create our AutoCAD or MicroStation deliverables. CloudWorx runs within both programs, and allows us to take advantage of the rich point clouds directly in the CAD software to create our standard 2D maps or easily draft in 3D for engineering design use. It’s a brilliantly simple concept, really. I’m sure those of you who use AutoCAD regularly are laughing… thinking of all the cursing and screen punching that would take place when we try to import millions of points into AutoCAD. But it’s not so! CloudWorx turns the point clouds into blocks, and even though we can pick on each individual node in those point clouds to create our maps and extract information, AutoCAD is tricked into thinking it’s only dealing with a few objects and speeds along quite nicely. Imagine… it’s like bringing the real world into the virtual 3D environment of CAD to use as you please. No more unclear notes to decipher, no more busted rods, no missed features… we’ve got it all. Brilliant I say!

Besides Casey and Jason, there were 3 other guys in the class: two from Southern California and one from Anchorage, Alaska. They were all involved in different types of surveying, from ALTA surveys for the private sector and mapping for the Bureau of Reclamation in California, to plant mapping for the oil industry on the North Slope of Alaska. It was interesting to hear about all the different applications scanners are being used for. Our guys also had the pleasure of meeting Joel Hurt, the Director of Business Development for Scanning, and Geoffrey Jacobs, Senior VP of Strategic Marketing for High-Definition Surveying. They both had a lot of interesting ideas and suggestions. Our guys even came back with aspirations of becoming crime fighters! See the Leica ScanStation on the A&E Real-Life Series, CRIME 360, a new series which features cutting-edge forensic technology.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve got to get my guys off the sewing machines (they’re working on water-proofing their PGS crime-fighting capes) and get back out surveying.

Cheers!

Oh, I forgot I Had a Blog!

Someone just mentioned that I am supposed to keep this blog thing updated. Hmmmmm. OK.

Work:


Things are moving along but we are still not running at full capacity. Things do appear to be picking up and projects are trickling in a little more consistently the past few weeks. A backlog would be nice though.


We are currently running 2 crews full time and bouncing them around all over the state. Just a small sampling of our projects:

• Bellingham - Pipeline ROW retracements
• Olympia - Environmental monitoring project
• Port Angeles - Engineering design mapping
• Kennewick - ALTA/ACSM survey
• Redmond - Microsoft design surveys and construction layout
• Redmond - Microsoft ALTA/ACSM

The scanner is doing it's job very well. 3D Laser Scanning or HDS (High Definition Surveying) produces a very accurate, very dense 3-dimensional collection of point data referred to as a ‘Point Cloud’. The Power of 3D laser scanning is its inherent ability to capture extraordinarily complete and accurate 3D “as-built” or “existing conditions” geometric information quickly and unobtrusively. 3D laser scanning can be used for capturing high definition data sets for almost any conceivable use. If you can see it we can scan it.



We have been marketing and are now on several teams that will require our services in the near future. We do have some gaps in the field crew schedules so if any of you need some surveying or mapping now is the time to do it as these schedule gaps have been filling up.

Marathon:

Training is still on track. The Vancouver Marathon is just over 4 weeks away and I am nearing the end of full on training. The last 3 weeks are delegated to tapering and letting the muscles mend and recover from the intense training. I have been having a lot of trouble with my shins throughout the training and am looking forward to the tapering. Hopefully the pain and tenderness will go away and I'll be in tip-top shape on race day. The biggest trick for me (at my age) is to get through the training phase and to the marathon injury free.

I have high hopes of completing the marathon in under 3:30 and qualifying for the '09 Boston Marathon. How about a little marathon info for those smart enough to not be involved in the actual running of them?

• A marathon is 26 miles 385 yards. Every marathon.
• Early "official" marathons were closer to 40KM or just under 25 miles. (wish they still were!)
• The marathon is based on the legend of a Greek soldier who ran from the Greek city of Marathon to Athens to announce the defeat of the Persians.
• It is said that after announcing "We have won" the soldier fell dead of a heart attack.
• The world record of 2:04:26 was set in Berlin in 2007 by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie.
• The "Wall" is the point where easily burned glycogen stores are depleted, usually between miles 18 and 20, and a runner suffers from overwhelming fatigue. (It hurts!)

In other news:

Kerrel is headed to France next week to spend a couple of weeks with his daughter who is a superstar, professional volley ball athlete. He is excited about visiting his daughter and seeing many of the WWII battle sites. We are looking froward to all of the stories he'll be bringing back. He promised to post his experience on this blog when he returns.

That's it for today. More later.

Cheers!

Of Motorcycles, Miles, Wind, and Cool Weather

Well, I somehow convinced GVB into actually doing an 8 day 'Helge' style motorcycle adventure down to the southern California desert.  I think he may have been swayed by some promises of fame, grandeur, sun, and warm weather.  Oh, and a beer or two may have been used in the coercion.  Poor guy will never be the same again.....

The intent of the trip was to bomb down I-5 to Yreka on the first day and then on to Visalia on day 2.  A total of 1000 miles for the first 2 days and then begin to explore once we had made it to the warm sunshine of the southern CA desert.  There was to be much camping and much basking in the sun.  So the big GS was loaded with gear and GVB and I met at a Bothell coffee house for the beginning of our big adventure.

We were actually blessed with fair weather for the first day of the trip and this was the one I was most concerned with.  Of course my biggest concern was getting over Siskiyou Pass in southern Oregon without encountering snow.  Bombed along I-5 at around 70-mph and we were over the pass before dark.  There was some talk of trying to make Redmond on this first day but rain and darkness convinced us otherwise and we ended our day at the Best Western in Yreka.  Of course, we did have to do the Mexican Dinner thing with a couple of Dos Equis and then a few Sierra Nevada's at a local pub before calling it a night.

Day 2 started with a bit of an ominous look to it but broke off nicely and became one of the nicest of the entire trip.  As many times as I have driven the I-5 route I would have to say that this was one of the more scenic trips.  Colors were really brilliant and the Redmond-Redbluff region was as green as I have ever seen it.  As we traveled south through the Central Valley temps began to creep into the low 70's and I was thinking life is good!  We made our destination of Visalia in the early evening hours.  Once again, we partook of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in relatively massive quantities.  This was to become an all too frequent event and would become the downfall of all my best laid plans for frequent morning runs during this trip.

In the morning Mr. GVB had some academic responsibilities that needed to be attended to so I decided to go for a run.  It is amazing just how much the lingering effects of to many alcoholic beverages will effect your performance on a run.  I did about 5.5 miles at an 8.5 minute pace and every bit of it was just plain ol' ugh. 

A few points of note on the City of Visalia:

1. The city is far prettier than I remember as a transient kid living in a migrant workers camp.
2. The city is far more affluent than I remembered.
3. The city has a very large christian population, they even have large subdivisions dedicated to them.
4. The city is flat as a pancake.
5. The Sierras to the east are magnificent!

GVB and I were now in full on relax and take our time mode and the route out of Visalia was chosen based on its exploration value.  The southern Sierras hold many tiny threads of roadways that wind their way through the foothills and canyons and the spring weather had the wildflowers in full bloom!

The roads were about as twisty as you could get.  There were a couple where you needed to be practiced up on your slow speed maneuvers.  Most were just right though and made for some really fun spirited riding.

The original route had to be scrapped though due to snow conditions and road closures so we ended up having to loop right back to 99 and Bakersfield.  It was good to see that the oil industry was doing their job continuing to exploit and rape the earth so I can keep riding this fossil fuel burning beast.

By the way, this is about the point where the weather really decided to take a turn for the worse and never let up for the rest of the trip.  As we headed east out of Bakersfield the winds began to pick up and the temps to cool down.  By the time we had reached Tehachapi and stopped for a late lunch and a warming cup of coffee the winds were blowing at a steady 30-40 mph with temps in the low 40's.  As we pushed on toward Barstow the winds just continued to build.  I've had experience with cross winds on the bike before but this was GVB's first and it can be a bit disconcerting to say the least.  By the time we reached Barstow I do believe that my traveling partner was considering hopping a plane and leaving me to figure out how to get the both bikes home.  Can't say as I could blame him though.... those winds were nasty.  We stayed at a hotel in Barstow hoping that the 'morrow would bring better conditions.

Why the heck does Barstow exist?  I realize that it is a major coming together of several transportation lines including 2 major freeways and 2 major railways.  I also know that it's a pretty big military hub with 2 bases in close proximity but, damn.  This place is a real hole with not much redeeming quality to be found.  Even the pub, which took some hiking to find by the way, was tough to understand.  The clientele appeared to be more of a redneck bunch but the jukebox was blaring hardcore hip-hop????  Oh well, that didn't keep me from drinking more Sierra Nevada than I should have.

Another morning run skipped.

Winds were still blowing in the morning but I think my traveling mate's senses may have been dulled by the previous nights libations and we readied the bikes and headed south for J-Tree.  We are now officially in the SoCal desert and, you know, it's still not warm.  I'm beginning to feel a bit cheated.  Temps are in the 30's and the wind is blowing friggin' sand storm!  It's a short trip though and we are soon in front of our favorite desert cafe 'Crossroads Cafe' in beautiful downtown Joshua Tree.

And then after provisioning

we head up into the park proper.

After setting up camp we decided to do a bit of exploring.

What a beautiful desert.

And our little desert road seemed to wind on forever.

I was once again reminded that my big gazillion pound motorcycle does not like deep sand.  Almost lost it a couple of times but somehow saved it just before the point of no return and saved face.

We played for quite some time out here but camp and beer were calling and these cravings could not go unheeded.  I know it looks all warm and stuff but..... damn it was cold!

We did at least take the time to watch some of the more hardcore climbers endure the cold and do some routes.

And we did buddy up with our camping neighbors and drink more Sierra Nevada.... lots more.

Another morning run scrapped.

From J-tree we headed north through little desert towns and the Mojave Preserve on our way to Death Valley.

Did I mention it was cold?

Oh, and gas was expensive?  Fighting a headwind had reduced my fuel mileage from a respectable mid 40's down to a dismal 31.

I've always wanted a picture of my bike in front of the Amargosa Opera House.  You talk about the middle of nowhere!

We are definitely in the desert.  It's hard to find life anywhere in these hills.  At least it's dry.

It's cool to see negative numbers in the elevation column.

But the wind is blowing another sand storm up.

I think a motel in Beatty sounds better than camping in this stuff!

Guess what.  They served Sierra Nevada in that joint!

Another morning run skipped.

At this point I do believe that Greg and I were both thinking that maybe the warm Pacific Northwest may be a better option for riding.  So with that thought, we started heading north through the high desert of western Nevada thinking we could easily make Susanville by early evening.  We stopped for a late breakfast in Tonopah at around 11:00AM and the temp gage on my bike read 29 degrees.  Damn, it was cold.  By the time we made it to Reno it was a balmy 57 degrees though and we were beginning to thaw out.  We continued on and made it to Susanville at around 6'ish and found us another hotel for the night.

Of course, we went for dinner and, once again, found Sierra Nevada was served.  So after a fine meal and several Sierra Nevadas I pretty much determined that any training while on this trip was out of the question and just gave up on that idea.

Morning broke clear and cold..... of course.  Did you know that pretty much all of Nevada, a good part of northeastern California, and most of eastern Oregon are all pretty much at 5000 foot elevation?  It's hard to get warm at those elevations when you've got a cold front breathing down the back of your neck.

That lake you see in the background, it's FROZEN!  Yep, it was cold.  We continued north and decided to take a detour and run into Lava Beds via the tiny road that enters from the south.  It was a really cool road.

From there we chased little rural roads up through my old childhood stomping grounds.  I found it amazing how the old routes came back to me as I went along but yet I couldn't have given anyone directions if my life depended on it.  We even took the old Squaw valley short cut up to Sprague River where we just had to stop for lunch at this little joint.

Of course the food wasn't any good but the place was interesting to say the least.

We then headed west and picked up 97 at Chiloquin and made our way up to Bend for the night.  Bend has a really cool little downtown area that includes the Deschutes Brewery so..... we decided maybe some food and a few beers would help take the chill out of the days ride.  It worked, of course.

While we were eating breakfast in the morning the snow began to fall.  Damn, we didn't beat the front.  Loaded up the bikes and quickly headed north as conditions were supposed to continue to deteriorate through the day.  The snow continued to come down but the temps stayed above freezing (barely).

But the farther north we got the better the weather got.  By the time we reached the Columbia river the sun was shining and temps were pushing around the mid 50's.  We did run into some fairly heavy rain from Kelso to pretty close to Tacoma on I-5 but all went well and we made it safely home by around 6.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I of course would have preferred some warmer temps and less wind but that all just added to the adventure.  I would have brought more long pants and less shorts but that made for less laundry once I made it home.  Another sign that the trip was good... every time someone referenced the nasty weather and said they felt sorry for us on our bikes I immediately thought "don't".  I'd still rather be on my bike than stuck in your mini van with those noisy kids and disapproving spouse.

I had an amazing time!

Cheers to all!

Get a Survey Folks!

As reported by King 5 News:

DAY ISLAND, Wash. – A Pierce County family is being ordered by a judge to tear down part of their waterfront dream home because a small piece of land that runs right through the middle of the house.

"This is our dream. We've put every penny into this home," said homeowner Pamela Hubert.

A Texas-based company called Strong Capital recently bought about a 3,000-square-foot section of land from the railroad. It's covered by water half the time. Based on different surveys, the exact location of the area in question seems to move.

The Hubert's say their title company apparently cannot be held libel for the survey errors from years ago, mainly because the family does not have a special kind of insurance coverage for that. The couple says they made the Texas firm a fair offer for the land. Instead, they say the company wanted $400,000, even though the court said the muddy property is only worth about $2,500.

So why, exactly, does everyone expect me to be able to survey a parcel of land for $800?  That's a lot of liability!  Just something to think about.

Cheers!

It is NOT A Small World!

If anyone says that it's a small world we live in tell them to try running across even a small part of it!

Today was my scheduled long, slow run day with a target distance of 20 miles.  So I laced up the shoes just a little before 9AM and headed south from Lynnwood along one our suburban streets headed for Kenmore.

• Note 1:  Why can't our suburban communities provide pedestrian friendly streets?  Really.  This is a major arterial that connects south to north and it doesn't even have a shoulder.  Hell, it's not even bike friendly.

At about 4 miles in I arrive in Kenmore and picked up the Burke-Gilman Trail at the north end of Lake Washington.  The reason for choosing this trail is that I can generally run for great distances without having to stop and wait for cars or lights at street crossings.  Generally I can run unimpeded at whatever pace I feel comfortable at without getting in anyone's way.

• Note 2:  Cyclist, if you are going to ride at 25MPH, ride the streets or at least a less busy family trail.  Jeez, guys!  And, really, do you need to ride 3 abreast giving dirty looks at little old ladies walking their dogs and generally being terrorized by speeding 'Pace Lines'.  I'm a cyclist too but, I have to tell you, it annoys the crap out of me how you guys ride this trail.  That's why I stay off of it on my bike.

The middle miles on a long run are the best.  Everything from about mile 5 to about mile 18 just feels good.  You get into a groove and run on auto pilot while your mind wanders on to far more interesting things than running.  The miles click by at a very pleasing rate and it's actually easy to lose track of what mile you are on.  It's a good thing those miles are so good since the trail trends upward at a very mild yet steady grade from Lake Forest Park up to Ravenna.  It's not steep but if you're not careful it will kick your butt.  It was about here at around mile 12 that I began to have a bit of intestinal distress.  I was able to hold on down to just past mile 13 where I was able to convince the workers at the bike shop that it might be a good idea to let me use their restroom.  Thanks Bike Shop guys!

• Note 3: Seattle Parks, could we arrange for a few potty stations along the trail?  I, for one, would really appreciate them.

At this point I am basically at the UW.  Running through this stretch can be at least a little interesting.  What, with all the young hard bodies (both male and female) flaunting their stuff.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I gotta say though, it seemed a bit cold for tank tops and sport bras.  Just sayin'.

I made Gas Works Park at just past mile 16.  I really am fortunate to live in an area that has so many cool distractions for my long runs.  Ok, so maybe those fun middle miles I was talking about earlier end at around mile 16.  It sure seemed to get into the 'not so fun' stuff soon after Gas Works.  It is still pretty cool running through the Fremont District and along the ship canal through miles 16 and 17 but somewhere around 17.5 the scenery just gets UGLY!

The industrial zone through Ballard is just plain nasty for running.  On a bike or in a car you at least get through this zone quickly enough but running..... you just gotta' endure.  And of course, I'm beginning to really hurt about mile 18.  This certainly doesn't help my mood.

• Note 4:  Why is it that I do this?  Let's stop and discuss for just a moment.  I have a tendency to get sick, as in 'upset stomach' kind of sick.  My hips start hurting pretty bad.  Oh, the soles on my feet, they really take a beating.  Lower back begins to rebel.  Knees and ankles.... let's just not go there.  Fun?  I think, not.

Somewhere in mile 19 things get better, at least in the scenery department, when you get to the Locks.  If I wasn't hurting so much I would take a side trip over to watch a couple of boats get lifted from or lowered to the Puget Sound on their trip into or out of the Ship Canal and Lake Union.  Pretty cool stuff.  Seems like all that water being dumped through the Locks would empty that damn lake.... guess they got it figured out though,  still water in the lake.

Running does hurt though but I'm beginning to feel like the end is near.  It's amazing how fast miles tick by in the middle miles and how slow and grudgingly they pass in the late miles.  I check my GPS watch several times just to make sure it is even working.  Yep, running hurts. 

 

Finally I begin to see my destination, the Shilshole Marina Office where my loving wife is supposed to meet me.  Yea!  I'm gonna survive another long run!  After what seems like 3 miles I cover that last hundred yards or so and hit the stop on my watch.  21.07 miles.  That's far and it would be even farther if I was running around the world.  So, I have determined that the world is not such a small place after all.

At this point my loving wife has lost a little of her luster since I don't see her anywhere.  My phone rings (oh yeah, I do have the phone with me....) It's the loving wife.  She saw me pass her about a 1/4 mile back, she's parked at the Scandinavian Guy statue.

Damn.... you mean I have to walk back in the direction I just came?  Why didn't you honk, or yell, or something.... I would have gladly stopped!  Oh well, she redeemed herself by pulling out a towel, some dry clothes, and a sandwich when I got there.  Wow, what a gal!  Thanks babe.

Not too bad.  Scheduled a 20 miler but ended up doing just a touch over 21 at a moving pace of 8:55 per mile.  For those of you who want details, go here.

See, now you've gone and wasted your precious time reading about my masochistic ways.  Go on now.... go play.

Cheers!

Cap'n Ron