So the other day I was accused of bailing out of the 1/2 marathon since my training had seemed to come to a halt. Not so.
Now I’ll admit, I’ve run into a few stumbling blocks. I’ve had a few unexpected things pop up recently that have cut into my training time, but there’s no real reason to go into them here. (I’m sure when I see you in person you won’t be able to get me to shut up about them.) Plus, the every 2 year occurance of my back blowing out came about 15 months early this time. So that has slowed me down a little as well. But I managed to make it through the St. Paddy’s Day Dash thanks to an heavy dose of muscle relaxers. God bless technology.
Anyway, the race is still a good 12-13 weeks out. I’m at a solid 4-5 miles at around 9:30/mile. The next big milestone is the Seahawks 12k in April. Shoot me an email if you are up for some runs around Greenlake or Lake Union, or better yet up on Cougar Mountain where there are some hills.
It’s been nice recently – as we mix in a few sunny days – to catch Greenlake before the day gets going. Here, I’m playing with an iPhone app called “100 Cameras in One.”
One of the things I want to start doing in 2011 is travelling to more places that are off the beaten path and writing about them. The first stop on the tour was Northern Arizona, including a town called Jerome, and a follow up hike in Sedona’s Boynton Canyon.
Jerome is an old mining town built on a hill. It was a fairly populated place until the mine shut down, and then had as few as 50 residents in 1950. Since all the houses were still in good shape, just abandoned, a bunch of artists moved up and took them over. So now what you have is a kind of old ghost town with art galleries.
The notable feature of the town is that it’s built on a hill. A few streets run back and forth through the town at different elevations. So you don’t walk north, south, east, west as much as you walk up, down, left, right, navigating from street to street (which is actually the same street curving around) via a set of staircases. For example, here are the directions you get when asking how to get from our hotel to a place to eat. “Go down the hill there. When you get to Haunted Hamburgers, walk down the staircase about 100 yards north. At the bottom of that staircase, turn left. There’s one place down on your left. If that doesn’t look good, walk down the stairs to the next street and you’ll see another place.” We spent a little time in one of the most bizarre and enjoyable watering holes I’ve ever had the pleasure to sit down in, “The Spirit Room.” There a bartender – who made her way to Jerome via Kansas City, LA and Lima, Peru – managed a single open room with a jukebox and a pool table. River guides, large flamboyant Native Americans, 75 year old locals, confused tourists and some funny but odd young locals all took turns telling stories, dancing, whooping it up, and asking questions. It was an odd crowd, but one you could appreciate.
We stayed in the biggest hotel in town, which turned out to be the old mining hospital. The hospital shut down with everything else in 1950, and it was another 25 years before someone bought it and turned it into a hotel. They say it’s haunted, and I believe it, because I had some pretty nutty dreams.
The next day we hit Boynton Canyon in Sedona. Now Sedona isn’t really off the beaten path for people who live in Arizona, but for us Seattlietes, I think it’s a fair to lump in there. Plus, we were on some different trails for 4 hours or so and only ran across about 20 people.
If you’ve not been to Sedona, it really is about the most beautiful place on earth to go for a hike, bring a philosophy book, clear your head and just marvel at everything around you. You just can’t get away from brilliant red rocks, stunning vistas, and changing scenery. One minute we’re walking nextto a canyon wall, the next we’re at a vista, and suddenly we’re in an ice trail and I have a mild concussion from slamming my head on the ground. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating the concussion part, but I spent some time on my keister in the depths of that canyon.
So overall: Jerome – an awesome place to get away from everything. Boynton Canyon – like all Sedona trails, just a marvelous spot for walking and reflecting. Get down if you can. You won’t be disappointed.
1) Merry Christmas everyone – It’s a little funny that we’re well into Xmas morning and some of you guys are still getting a few last minute gifts in at 4pm Xmas eve.
2) No WordPress access in China? – So I have an alternate spot set up for this blog, but am having trouble getting to the Wrodpress admin page. Very odd. Is WordPress blocked in China?
3) Beijing is gigantic – My first impression of Beijing was totally wrong, in that I did not understand how humongous it was. I’ll write volumes on this shortly. But think of the biggest most spread out city you’ve ever seen, and add 30 story buildings everywhere.
We’re headed out the Great Wall now and I’m getting hurried out the door. More later. Merry Xmas.
16 people – including 7 kids, 7 adults and 2 Grandparents.
4 cities in mainland China, over 10 days (or 11 depending on how you count that whole first day International Date line issue.)
I’ll have a whole new blog set up shortly with details of the trip, so email me if you want the address. But for now, we’re done with night one in Beijing. I’ve never been to mainland China, so I won’t lie when I say I was disappointed, when the first thing I saw after customs, the first thing I saw in the hear of the capital of china, was a KFC and Starbucks…
But, the real show starts today. More to come as we set up for 11 days in a foreign land.
So with my sister due to give birth any moment – or not for another week – I’ve had a chance to revert back to the way people used to communicate, via phone. It made me think about a few things.
1) The whole social media experiment breaks down when there are a few weak links in the network. Once you realize Aunt Betty doesn’t have an always on internet connection, the phone needs to be part of the plan again.
2) Without an efficient one-to-many communication system, poor dad is stuck repeating the same message over and over to everyone who calls.
So here’s what a digitally savvy couple needs in order to communicate with both their digitally savvy and non-digitally savvy family and friends.
Some app that will allow them to leave voice mails that other people can check. Maybe a Google Talk number would work for this. Does anyone have a good solution?
A dedicated Twitter account that they can use for baby-only news, and a mobile Twitter application to upload the data.
A Foursquare account so we all can follow where they are checking in.
Most importantly – it would be nice if some airline allowed you to buy a “Baby Birth” package which allowed you priority Standby access during a certain time period. Looks like this baby is going to come a little early, and changing travel plans has become quite expensive for the family.
Any other thoughts? What would make communication more efficient?
Sometimes over here at AndyBoyer.com, we get to turn our pages over to someone else, espcially if they have a compelling story to tell. So, we’re handing the content reigns over to our friend Luke Lawson, with a special article about Mo-vember.
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What is Movember you ask? No, it’s not a political site or get out the vote pledge. While both are great motivators to visit the Movember site (and I encourage you all to vote Nov. 2nd!) Movember’s purpose “is to change the face of men’s health”. How and why you might ask? Please read on! Taken from a great recent article written by Dan Zenka, Vice President of Communications for the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).
In ten countries around the globe, men will soon be letting their hair out to support awareness and raise crucial funds for finding better treatments and cures for this disease that affects more than 16 million men and families around the world. Since 2004, Mo’ bros and Mo’ sistas have raised more than $40 million dollars to support research for men’s diseases. What’s more, in the U.S. they are changing the way prostate cancer is viewed. The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG are the beneficiaries of Movember efforts in the States. In its first three years in the U.S., Movember raised $2.3 million to support prostate cancer research through PCF. This year’s goal is $2 million. That’s a whole lotta mo’s and mo’ola.
Literally and figuratively, Movember is definitely living up to it tagline: Changing the Face of Men’s Health. The teaching moment starts the moment anyone asks a participant, “What’s that on your face?”
The annual Movember campaign is fun, quirky and purposeful. It’s also proof that one should never be too quick to dismiss a good idea that might arise on a weekend afternoon while having a few beers with your mates. Interested? More information on Movember can be found at www.Movember.com.“
For me, it’s personal. I lost my father to Prostate Cancer when he was only 51. That’s too young. My father stood a near 100% chance of being cured had he gone in for a check up earlier in life. If growing a mustache for a month or, posting to my Facebook page, or continuing to fund cancer research, or writing this email helps just one person- I will be satisfied. Please consider joining me and/or my team “El Bigote” (the mustache) at: http://us.movember.com/mospace/534202/ make a donation or help spread the word further by directing your friends and family to the site. You don’t have to grow a mustache to join (or donate) and we need Mo’ sistas just as much as Mo’ bros!
