Dana & I had a great time spending 5 nights in St Martin (the French side of St Martin), 5 nights in St Lucia, and then one final night back in St Maarten (the dutch side of the St Martin). The first leg of the trip was quiet and relaxing as we stayed on a beautiful beach. I kept thinking it looked like a Corona commercial. We made some new friends in St Martin as a couple cats - which we named Simon & Boogers - hung around all week to eat any leftover food we had. We took a day trip over to St. Barth's where after I narrowly avoided puking on the boat ride over, we rented scooters to ride around the island.
After that we went to St Lucia to stay at a fancy pants all inclusive. In addition to some more beach time, we got to wake board, jet ski, hobbie cat, take a boat tour, and snorkel.
The honeymoon was a great time all around. It was nice being on such a long vacation, and after the excitement of the wedding it was nice to spend time with just the two of us.
And thanks to everyone for making the wedding such an amazing day! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend.
Since a picture's worth a thousand words, I won't say too much more. Here are the pics. Enjoy!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Dipsea
Sunday morning, I ran the 99th Dipsea Race. The Dipsea is the 2nd oldest race in America behind the Boston marathon, and there’s no race like it. You start the race in Mill Valley, almost immediately climb 671 stairs, keep running uphill, then run down a steep narrow chute called Suicide, then climb 1300 feet up to Cardiac Hill, down through the Swoop & Steep Ravine (might as well be Suicide part II with stairs to sprint down), then choose from a couple different options to finish the race in Stinson Beach. All told it’s 7.1, or 7.4, or 7.5 miles – depending on who you ask and which exact route you run.
The rules of the Dipsea race are also a bit complicated. First of all it’s a handicap race, like the Wauhatchie Trail run that we used to do in Chattanooga. So the old and the young start first, and 19-30 year old males starts last (I had a 1 minute headstart). Furthermore, they break the entire field into two sections. The Invitation is limited to returning runners who ran fast enough the prior year. Then everybody else (including me as a first timer) runs in the Dipsea Runners section. The DR section starts after all the invitational runners are on their way. So I knew going in that I couldn’t place highly overall, but I was shooting for a top finish in the DR section, and to secure an automatic entry (I forgot to mention this race is hard to get into) as an Invitational runner next year for the 100th Dipsea.
The race… Luckily I had been out running on the course. I ran up Cardiac Hill a couple times with the 2008 winner – 52 year old Roy Rivers (don’t let the age fool you… he is STRONG). I also ran the course out and back 2 weeks before the race with two guys who would finish in the top 15 overall. It was good to train for the long burn of cardiac, and for the required technical skills to race downhill. I also went to Stinson Beach 2 days before the race to look at the last mile again. I ran into a man in his 60’s who I had met on my training runs. He had run over 20 Dipseas, but was still out there to scout out his favorite short cuts. He gave some last minute advice – including don’t be afraid to use your right arm to move people out of the way if they won’t let you by on the left.
I started in my group with a single minute handicap, and was already catching the group in front of me (with an additional minute headstart) less than two minutes in. By the time I got to the stairs, I hit a wall of people walking. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT! LEFT! It didn’t work very well, and it was too early to start pushing people out of the way, so I wiggled through people, and ran up to the side of the stairs where I could. Perhaps the congestion was helpful in that it kept me from red-lining too early in the race. As I got toward the top of the stairs it cleared up a bit and I could move at my desired pace. I hit the mile-mark in 9 flat… Pretty slow considering I ran my first mile of a recent 10 mile race in 5:15. But I heard that Mark McManus, who won last year’s fastest time trophy (for best non-handicap adjusted time), ran that mile in 8:30, so I knew I couldn’t be far off pace. Shortly after the mile mark, I crested the hill, and started downhill on the first single track trail. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT!!! Hey dude, in front of me, either pass some people or get of the damn way! This is where I had to put my arm out and move a few people out of the way. Then after a short downhill section on the road, I hit Suicide. This was crazy… so steep, so crowded, dust flying everywhere. I wanted to fly, but I just couldn’t get by people. Luckily it was short, and onto Cardiac Hill. My plan was to run as comfortably as possible at the bottom, since I had almost 20 minutes of uphill running. I passed a lot of people on the first few switchbacks, but then the crowds seemed to be thinning out. Now I was catching some women in their 60’s, pre-teen boys, and middle to high school girls. A lot of these runners looked pretty strong. I saw a man in his 40’s toward his top who was running very well. As I caught him, he managed to hold a steady 30 yard interval over me thru the last few minutes and over the crest of Cardiac. I took a cup of water at the top… I hate drinking water during races, and forcing it down felt like a punch in the stomach, but I think it helped. Then I looked ahead and realized… we’re all alone! A minute into the downhill (gradual at first), I caught the guy in front. He yelled back TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO PASS, so I collected my energy & yelled GOING BY NOW. After I sprinted by I passed a race official who said I was 3rd in the Dipsea Runners section (they could tell by the color of our bib numbers). At this point I was flying. My legs were turning over very quickly, and gravity did the work. As I hit the steep downhills, I just tried to keep a fast pace, and had faith that between the time I put my foot out and when it hit the ground, that I would find a place to land. It worked pretty well, except for a couple stairs that I stumped on & actually put a hand on the ground. So I flew and I flew toward the finish. I would pass a runner every minute or so, but they were all stragglers off the back end of the invitational section. When I hit the road with just over a quarter mile to go, I felt the burn again, but just tried to pass every runner I could see.
I never caught the last two Dipsea Runners – a man & a woman both in their mid 50’s, but I finished the race in 53:29, which was the 6th fastest time out of everybody. I was very happy with the time, especially being my first race. Realistically I thought I would run 55ish. I’m already thinking of spots where I can shave time off that for next year – some technical spots like the downhill steps, and some more conditioning to drop 30 to 60 seconds off cardiac. The top 35 runners each receive a coveted plain black t-shirt with their finishing place on it. If I had been in the Invitational, I would have placed in the 20’s. I’m already thinking about a black T-shirt for next year (hopefully with a low number)!
So if you’ve gotten this far, you can tell how much fun this was for me. Congrats to 52 year old Brian Pilcher for winning the overall race – despite a pretty serious running injury about a week ago. I owe a lot to Alex Varner, Gus Gibbs, and Roy Rivers (who all ran very well this year) for helping me train on the course. Can’t wait till next year!
Here are the results. You’ll find me in 593rd place overall (but 3rd in the DR section – 19 seconds behind the winner who had nearly a 10 minute headstart). You can also see my 3 training buddies in the top 20 overall.
http://www.dipsea.org/2009/2009_prelim.html
Oh & finally 1 note on Roy River’s race: Because he was last year’s champion, he received a 4 minute “winner’s penalty” (reduced head start) for last year’s win. It drops to 3 minutes next year, then 2, then 1. Just another unique twist of the Dipsea Race!
The rules of the Dipsea race are also a bit complicated. First of all it’s a handicap race, like the Wauhatchie Trail run that we used to do in Chattanooga. So the old and the young start first, and 19-30 year old males starts last (I had a 1 minute headstart). Furthermore, they break the entire field into two sections. The Invitation is limited to returning runners who ran fast enough the prior year. Then everybody else (including me as a first timer) runs in the Dipsea Runners section. The DR section starts after all the invitational runners are on their way. So I knew going in that I couldn’t place highly overall, but I was shooting for a top finish in the DR section, and to secure an automatic entry (I forgot to mention this race is hard to get into) as an Invitational runner next year for the 100th Dipsea.
The race… Luckily I had been out running on the course. I ran up Cardiac Hill a couple times with the 2008 winner – 52 year old Roy Rivers (don’t let the age fool you… he is STRONG). I also ran the course out and back 2 weeks before the race with two guys who would finish in the top 15 overall. It was good to train for the long burn of cardiac, and for the required technical skills to race downhill. I also went to Stinson Beach 2 days before the race to look at the last mile again. I ran into a man in his 60’s who I had met on my training runs. He had run over 20 Dipseas, but was still out there to scout out his favorite short cuts. He gave some last minute advice – including don’t be afraid to use your right arm to move people out of the way if they won’t let you by on the left.
I started in my group with a single minute handicap, and was already catching the group in front of me (with an additional minute headstart) less than two minutes in. By the time I got to the stairs, I hit a wall of people walking. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT! LEFT! It didn’t work very well, and it was too early to start pushing people out of the way, so I wiggled through people, and ran up to the side of the stairs where I could. Perhaps the congestion was helpful in that it kept me from red-lining too early in the race. As I got toward the top of the stairs it cleared up a bit and I could move at my desired pace. I hit the mile-mark in 9 flat… Pretty slow considering I ran my first mile of a recent 10 mile race in 5:15. But I heard that Mark McManus, who won last year’s fastest time trophy (for best non-handicap adjusted time), ran that mile in 8:30, so I knew I couldn’t be far off pace. Shortly after the mile mark, I crested the hill, and started downhill on the first single track trail. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT!!! Hey dude, in front of me, either pass some people or get of the damn way! This is where I had to put my arm out and move a few people out of the way. Then after a short downhill section on the road, I hit Suicide. This was crazy… so steep, so crowded, dust flying everywhere. I wanted to fly, but I just couldn’t get by people. Luckily it was short, and onto Cardiac Hill. My plan was to run as comfortably as possible at the bottom, since I had almost 20 minutes of uphill running. I passed a lot of people on the first few switchbacks, but then the crowds seemed to be thinning out. Now I was catching some women in their 60’s, pre-teen boys, and middle to high school girls. A lot of these runners looked pretty strong. I saw a man in his 40’s toward his top who was running very well. As I caught him, he managed to hold a steady 30 yard interval over me thru the last few minutes and over the crest of Cardiac. I took a cup of water at the top… I hate drinking water during races, and forcing it down felt like a punch in the stomach, but I think it helped. Then I looked ahead and realized… we’re all alone! A minute into the downhill (gradual at first), I caught the guy in front. He yelled back TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO PASS, so I collected my energy & yelled GOING BY NOW. After I sprinted by I passed a race official who said I was 3rd in the Dipsea Runners section (they could tell by the color of our bib numbers). At this point I was flying. My legs were turning over very quickly, and gravity did the work. As I hit the steep downhills, I just tried to keep a fast pace, and had faith that between the time I put my foot out and when it hit the ground, that I would find a place to land. It worked pretty well, except for a couple stairs that I stumped on & actually put a hand on the ground. So I flew and I flew toward the finish. I would pass a runner every minute or so, but they were all stragglers off the back end of the invitational section. When I hit the road with just over a quarter mile to go, I felt the burn again, but just tried to pass every runner I could see.
I never caught the last two Dipsea Runners – a man & a woman both in their mid 50’s, but I finished the race in 53:29, which was the 6th fastest time out of everybody. I was very happy with the time, especially being my first race. Realistically I thought I would run 55ish. I’m already thinking of spots where I can shave time off that for next year – some technical spots like the downhill steps, and some more conditioning to drop 30 to 60 seconds off cardiac. The top 35 runners each receive a coveted plain black t-shirt with their finishing place on it. If I had been in the Invitational, I would have placed in the 20’s. I’m already thinking about a black T-shirt for next year (hopefully with a low number)!
So if you’ve gotten this far, you can tell how much fun this was for me. Congrats to 52 year old Brian Pilcher for winning the overall race – despite a pretty serious running injury about a week ago. I owe a lot to Alex Varner, Gus Gibbs, and Roy Rivers (who all ran very well this year) for helping me train on the course. Can’t wait till next year!
Here are the results. You’ll find me in 593rd place overall (but 3rd in the DR section – 19 seconds behind the winner who had nearly a 10 minute headstart). You can also see my 3 training buddies in the top 20 overall.
http://www.dipsea.org/2009/2009_prelim.html
Oh & finally 1 note on Roy River’s race: Because he was last year’s champion, he received a 4 minute “winner’s penalty” (reduced head start) for last year’s win. It drops to 3 minutes next year, then 2, then 1. Just another unique twist of the Dipsea Race!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Pictures from last month
It's been busy lately wrapping up wedding planning, moving, etc... But wanted to post some pics from last month. The first ones were from when I went to go run the first 15 miles of the Avenue of the Giants marathon with Jeff & Andy. Then I posted some of my favorite Pics from Jonathan & Jenn Steven's wedding. The day after the wedding, and before we left San Diego, I took Dana over to Coronado Island, and we went into the Hotel Del Coronado. That's the hotel that we stayed at when I ran in the high school cross country nationals. Running that event twice are perhaps my fondest teenage memories.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Guilty!
I am still going post a good writeup on my experience in court, impressions of the legal system, etc, etc... But with the move & wedding planning & all that I haven't been able to put my thoughts in writing. But now that the trial is over (the jury finished deliberating last week), I finally went online to see if there were any news stories. I found this one on the local CBS sight (view discretion advised):
Doctor Rosas Guilty
I'll have to check back to see how sentencing went.
Doctor Rosas Guilty
I'll have to check back to see how sentencing went.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Trial of the Century (scratch that) The Trial of the Week is over
The closing arguments are finished, and the jury is off to deliberate. Because I was just an alternate juror, I don't go into deliberation room, but remain on call. I will wait till the verdicts are delivered before I say anything about the trial (and when I can collect my thoughts in writing, I will have plenty to say). In the meantime, I'm back to working full time for Wells Fargo.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Pacific Heights
Dana & I found a place to live!
We had been apartment hunting the last several weeks. We had one place that fell through thanks to the owners. Dana was on a work trip last week and set up an appointment for me to look at a place in Pac Heights. It was a great two bed room spot w/ a lot of great amenities, including a large deck. The only thing is because Dana was out of town she didn't get to see it. But through the pictures & my description she was comfortable sending in the application. So last night we met with the owners (who this time were a very cool couple) and we signed the lease! I'll start moving in two weeks, and Dana will move in right before we leave for the wedding. Dana is getting the tour tonight. I sure hope she likes it :)
I'll send pictures of the apartment, as well as some other recent activities soon.
We had been apartment hunting the last several weeks. We had one place that fell through thanks to the owners. Dana was on a work trip last week and set up an appointment for me to look at a place in Pac Heights. It was a great two bed room spot w/ a lot of great amenities, including a large deck. The only thing is because Dana was out of town she didn't get to see it. But through the pictures & my description she was comfortable sending in the application. So last night we met with the owners (who this time were a very cool couple) and we signed the lease! I'll start moving in two weeks, and Dana will move in right before we leave for the wedding. Dana is getting the tour tonight. I sure hope she likes it :)
I'll send pictures of the apartment, as well as some other recent activities soon.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Busy Weekend (May 1 - 3)
Note- I wrote most of this a week ago, but never finished, and didn't have a chance to complete it. I'll catch up on the rest of my life shortly :)
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There's no rest for the weary as I packed a lot into the weekend. Friday after work Dana & I headed up to Healdburg (a little north of Sonoma) to go wine tasting with Julia (Stamps) Mallon. I think of all the people I still keep in touch with, who aren't from Tennessee or Georgia, I think I've known Julia the longest, considering I met her at the Foot Locker XC race in high school. It's cool to see her now married, with a baby, and still running fast marathons. Dana & I had fun hanging out up there with Julia, her mom, and a another couple that we just met.
Saturday morning, we continued the apartment search. We've seen a lot of good places that have come down in rent this year. I think we're just waiting for that perfect place. We thought we had found it two weeks ago, but it turned out the owners were a weirdo lawyer couple the lived right above, and wanted us to sign a lease that said we'd be personally liable for any mildew, and that we could keep bikes anywhere in the apartment or garage except for in a closet that was too small to fit a bike. NEXT.
After that it was off to a Kentucky Derby party. That was a fun event, where woman were wearing the southern style hats, one guy was dressed as a jockey, and one guy even dressed up as a horse! A friend had given me a pretty good handicapping sheet for the race with good writeups on every horse. Well, every horse except for Mine That Bird where he just said "If this horse wins I'll never bet on another race again, and I'll vote for Jim Doyle for re-election" (I guess he's a Wisconsin Republican). Well... if you watched the race you know that Mine That Bird flew from last to first on the inside of the rail to shock the field. In fact it was the 2nd longest longshot win in the 135 year history of the race. All I can say is maybe there's hope for me to run a 5k PR again.
After that party, I drove North to meet up with Baylor teammates Jeff Edmonds & Andy Anderson as they were running the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. My plan was to run the first half and provide them any assistance if needed, and otherwise just enjoy the workout. I decided not to register for the race just in case I was tempted to go the whole distance. It was a good thing because I was tempted. The course was two out & back legs through the secluded redwood forest. It was a bit lonely at times, but beautiful. The first out and back was a very slight uphill, but it went on for most of the 6.5 miles. All three of us were a bit more strained than we'd hoped, but we kept a solid 6:05-6:10 pace (the plan was for the to average 6:00 for the race - a 2:37). We turned around & were able to pick up the pace, get our legs back, and hit the half marathon just 45 seconds off 6 minute pace. My one contribution to that effort was to play crowd control when the half marathon runners, who started an hour after us, came toward us taking up the whole width of the road. At least they did a great job cheering for us. Between 11 & 13 miles, Jeff started to struggle a bit, so our pace was somewhat inconsistent. We hit the 13 mile mark in 1:18:45 (6:03 pace), then ran a bit slower the next two miles. I finally turned around at the 15 mile mark (1:32) and ran two miles back to the start. About an hour later I see Andy in the back of a park ranger's truck. We was looking and feeling great, but his lack of running caused a hamstring cramp that he couldn't shake out (his fitness came largely from his back country avalanche patrolling). A short time later Jeff emerged - weaving between the 10k joggers - and won the marathon in 2:48. It was over 10 minutes slower than what he had hoped for, but I was impressed at how he hang on given how bad he was hurting that day.
All in all, great to see both of them! For me & my run/workout/mini-race, I felt great when I turned around at 15 miles. I had told myself this past year that 1 marathon was enough (I ran California International in 2005), but now all of a sudden I feel like I'm curious what I could do. My 2:43 was a great effort in 2005, but I'm way more fit now than I was then.
----------------------------------------------------------------
There's no rest for the weary as I packed a lot into the weekend. Friday after work Dana & I headed up to Healdburg (a little north of Sonoma) to go wine tasting with Julia (Stamps) Mallon. I think of all the people I still keep in touch with, who aren't from Tennessee or Georgia, I think I've known Julia the longest, considering I met her at the Foot Locker XC race in high school. It's cool to see her now married, with a baby, and still running fast marathons. Dana & I had fun hanging out up there with Julia, her mom, and a another couple that we just met.
Saturday morning, we continued the apartment search. We've seen a lot of good places that have come down in rent this year. I think we're just waiting for that perfect place. We thought we had found it two weeks ago, but it turned out the owners were a weirdo lawyer couple the lived right above, and wanted us to sign a lease that said we'd be personally liable for any mildew, and that we could keep bikes anywhere in the apartment or garage except for in a closet that was too small to fit a bike. NEXT.
After that it was off to a Kentucky Derby party. That was a fun event, where woman were wearing the southern style hats, one guy was dressed as a jockey, and one guy even dressed up as a horse! A friend had given me a pretty good handicapping sheet for the race with good writeups on every horse. Well, every horse except for Mine That Bird where he just said "If this horse wins I'll never bet on another race again, and I'll vote for Jim Doyle for re-election" (I guess he's a Wisconsin Republican). Well... if you watched the race you know that Mine That Bird flew from last to first on the inside of the rail to shock the field. In fact it was the 2nd longest longshot win in the 135 year history of the race. All I can say is maybe there's hope for me to run a 5k PR again.
After that party, I drove North to meet up with Baylor teammates Jeff Edmonds & Andy Anderson as they were running the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. My plan was to run the first half and provide them any assistance if needed, and otherwise just enjoy the workout. I decided not to register for the race just in case I was tempted to go the whole distance. It was a good thing because I was tempted. The course was two out & back legs through the secluded redwood forest. It was a bit lonely at times, but beautiful. The first out and back was a very slight uphill, but it went on for most of the 6.5 miles. All three of us were a bit more strained than we'd hoped, but we kept a solid 6:05-6:10 pace (the plan was for the to average 6:00 for the race - a 2:37). We turned around & were able to pick up the pace, get our legs back, and hit the half marathon just 45 seconds off 6 minute pace. My one contribution to that effort was to play crowd control when the half marathon runners, who started an hour after us, came toward us taking up the whole width of the road. At least they did a great job cheering for us. Between 11 & 13 miles, Jeff started to struggle a bit, so our pace was somewhat inconsistent. We hit the 13 mile mark in 1:18:45 (6:03 pace), then ran a bit slower the next two miles. I finally turned around at the 15 mile mark (1:32) and ran two miles back to the start. About an hour later I see Andy in the back of a park ranger's truck. We was looking and feeling great, but his lack of running caused a hamstring cramp that he couldn't shake out (his fitness came largely from his back country avalanche patrolling). A short time later Jeff emerged - weaving between the 10k joggers - and won the marathon in 2:48. It was over 10 minutes slower than what he had hoped for, but I was impressed at how he hang on given how bad he was hurting that day.
All in all, great to see both of them! For me & my run/workout/mini-race, I felt great when I turned around at 15 miles. I had told myself this past year that 1 marathon was enough (I ran California International in 2005), but now all of a sudden I feel like I'm curious what I could do. My 2:43 was a great effort in 2005, but I'm way more fit now than I was then.
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