Snow Days

Dear Readers:

Today should have been a snow day -- it didn't happen. Even though the weather was cold, crappy, and the driving hazardous, I had to go to work. I'm disappointed. In grade school, that kind of freebie offered welcome relief from winter doldrums and homework. How come, now that I'm a veteran in the work force, I'm not able to claim my rightful place in history and grab my snow day. Hey! It's cold outside, traffic's scary, and I'm too old to take the bus. (And running a marathon doesn't count against me because that was on MY time and wasn't work related.)

Things just aren't the same anymore. Look around. Do you think we get our due respect? Time was, you could count on someone else going to work for you, like my parents. When I was a kid, I could rely on them bringing home the bacon and braving the weather to leave for work. You'd had thought my kids would have picked up their very fine habits and carried on the family tradition, but they haven't. They still expect me to act like my parents. I have to help with the dishes, take out the garbage, fix broken things, spend money for fixing something I broke, and worst of all, go to work on a snow day.

It just isn't fair.

Until later.

Badwater

Dear Readers:

The title says it all. One hundred years ago a mule refused to drink the water here. The white color is from salts crystallizing on the surface of the ground and forming hard deposits.

Death Valley Marathon Pix

Dear Readers:

I thought I'd share this photo from Death Valley Marathon. We ran on the Titus Canyon jeep trail; the runners are leaving Red Pass (5000 feet elevation). Click the picture to enlarge it.

Hardly Moving

Dear Readers:

Well, I finished my marathon. Things didn't look too promising before the start; the course had closed due to bad trail conditions, but the day before the race it opened for use. Yes! So I showed up in high-thirties weather at 3000 feet elevation, climbed to 5000 feet elevation till my legs cramped to a crawl, and huffed and puffed my way to the top. It was easy to tell the other runners were used to this kind of running. One by one, they kept passing me, and they seemed to be breathing easier.

But I had fun. After hitting the top of the first mountain pass, we headed down the trail to a low point, then walked back up to 5000 feet before running the rest of the marathon downhill. It seemed like I was staring at the ground a lot to avoid twisting my ankle on a rock and ending up face down in the dirt. My wife told me one guy did sprain his ankle; his friend was shopping for plumbers tape to wrap the ankle. Anyhow, this race was some experience and well worth the trip and effort. It took me two days, though, before I could sleep without sore legs waking me up.

Until later.