Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Nice little Wednesday at the Lake

An old friend of mine and his girlfriend are in the area, and were climbing at the Lake today. They were nice enough to invite me to join them after I was done with work. They were climbing at Horse Rampart, a place I have not been since the weekend after I got home from Joshua Tree. I was psyched to reacquaint with Willie, meet his girlfriend Heather, and to go back Horse Rampart, since I had some unfinished business with a route there called Plethora (5.11a).

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The Weekend That Was 5/17-5/18 2014

My wife Christina is a runner, and by that I mean that she runs because she thinks it is fun to run. I run too, but I am not a runner. I do not run because I consider it fun (alright sometimes it is), but because it is one of the most efficient methods for training my cardiovascular system. I think running is hard and painful and would much rather be swimming or biking or anything else for that matter if I could get the same volume out of it. Anyway, I have been doing a lot of running lately (some outside observers might even be fitting me for a "runner" label) for training purposes, and my distances have been starting to approach the length that most folks would consider real distance running. So when Christina mentioned she was running a half-marathon on May 17th, I (for some unknown reason) committed to join her. More foolhardy than that, I said I thought we should push our nearly-two-year-old son, Hank, in his stroller and make a family event out of it...sometimes I wish that I thought more and spoke less.

Christina and me before the run
Once committed there was no turning back, so I worked hard to fit the half-marathon into my training plan. It is about 11.9 miles around our block, and you can tack another half-mile onto that if you start at our house and run the driveway both ways. That route also has the distinct advantage of having close to 900 feet of elevation gain in it. The elevation gain more than makes up for the 0.7 miles it is short of a half-marathon. So I commenced working my way up to running around the block. I finally ran every step last Wednesday, having run/walked or even been picked up short of the full block in the past. I was incredibly psyched when Saturday morning finally rolled around and we were packing up to leave the house! By the time we got to the starting line I decided I wanted

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Weekend That Was 5/10-5/11 2014

Saturday:

Phil had driven up Friday night again this week and we set our sights on heading back to Old Sandstone. A part of the Lake that I have always had a special affinity for. Phil had a score to settle there with Mammalary Magic (5.10a) from earlier in the season, and was planning on putting that score to bed. Our friends John, Paul and Justin were planning on meeting us up there, so we had breakfast and jumped in the car. The psych was palpable.

Monday, May 12, 2014

The Fine Line Between “F” and “F-YEAH” Revisited

This is a rewritten version of a "Weekend That Was" post from May 20th, 2007 - the rewrite took place on May 12th, 2014 two days after repeating Pacific Ocean Wall (5.11d) and regaining that previous high point after nearly seven years in the doldrums of adulthood. Now that the past has been equaled, the future must be improvement. The rewrite is a sanitized and hopefully more mature version of the original - I updated the description of the beta as well.

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Weekend to Be 5/10-5/11 2014

This weekend's weather appears to be a little suspect, with Intellicast.com calling for a 40% chance of rain tomorrow and a 100% chance on Sunday. That translates into a 60% chance of at-least one rain-free day, and a 0% chance of a rain-free weekend. However, all hope is not lost! If one drills-down to the hourly forecast, Intellicast tells a much more promising story; only calling for rain overnight - late Saturday into Sunday morning that will clear up providing a gorgeous afternoon on Sunday. You should be planning on a full weekend of climbing at the Lake! Just allow yourself a little time on Sunday morning for a nice brunch or the like, by noon conditions will be prime for climbing!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Weekend That Was 5/3-5/4 2014

Sorry it's so late, but here it is:

Phil came up this weekend for another session of preparing for our trip to the Bighorns in July. Because we have the generous support of the American Alpine Club and The North Face via a Live Your Dream Grant, we want to make sure we have all of the details well-ironed before the trip starts. All this planning means we spend a good portion of the weekend discussing mundane details about food, fuel, and shelter - but at least we get to do this at the crag while climbing.

My right shoulder has been giving me some issues since I was in Joshua Tree, I'm guessing my repeated goes on Saturday Night Live might have had something to do with it. The Doc said it was not my rotator cuff and that a couple weeks of taking it easy would probably have me back to full-speed. I took this as reasonably good news and actually enjoyed my visit with Dr. Furukawa - it is nice to have a doc that understands the needs of an individual training for an event.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Quick weekend to be weather update...

The weather for this weekend looks relatively rain-free, with Intellicast calling for only a 10% chance of precipitation on both Saturday and Sunday. This translates into a 99% of one rain-free day, and an 87% chance of both days being rain-free. Of the two days, Sunday looks better, with slightly lower highs, but more sunshine and less wind.

I will be out at the Lake, but taking it easy because the my shoulder is not quite right yet after the thrashing it took in Joshua Tree.