Ill-Mentored Youth

I'm not sure if it was the screech of rubber, the nose-diving hood of the the car, or the fact that the cross-traffic light was still green that first grabbed my attention. There should have been no reason for the car to be slowing down, let alone climbing all over the the binders. No cross traffic in the way. No emergency vehicles approaching. Not even one of my fixie-riding brethren jumping the light again. Nothing.

Then I noticed the skinny black youth in the middle of the crosswalk, his female entourage of three tentatively hesitating to follow. Running to make it through an orange light? No. Hustling to get out of the way? Hell no. He proceeds to look the driver in the eye, stand right there in the middle of the road, and break into a dance, taunting him to get closer. At this point I check again just to make sure that it isn't a result of the driver not paying attention and running through a red light. Again, no; the light is definitely still green in his favor. It was then that I fully grasped the reality of the situation and my blood began to boil. What arrogance prompts anybody to intentionally tempt the laws of physics in such a reckless manner? It doesn't take a higher level of intellect to figure out that that Man-vs.-3000lb car will always end badly. Probably the more important question is: what are this kid's parents actually teaching him if it doesn't even occur to him that his actions are plainly put, bloody stupid? I'm all about taking responsibility for your own actions as an adult, but at a young age, a fair amount of responsibility lies with your superiors to teach you the difference between right and wrong. Or, does it go further than that, and this segment of society knows exactly what they're doing, but simply displays an “I'll do whatever the fuck I want” mentality. After all, I've seen adults act in the exact same care-free manner.

My personal opinion is that these individuals feel a lack of control over their own lives, and as a result, like to exercise a certain level of control over situations involving themselves, and others, in often bizarre ways. Eating disorders are another similar example. If you think about it logically, starving yourself, or even worse, binge eating and then intentionally throwing-up, makes absolutely no sense, no matter which way you look at it. Yet there are plenty people who do exactly that. Psychologists have long since linked this phenomenon to a lack of control over aspects in ones life. Youth, in general, are very perceptive; it's a natural part of the development process, and I have to believe that instinctively, the fight-or-flight phenomenon will always come into play unless it is cognitively controlled. It stands to reason then that this youngster was intentionally exerting his control over his immediate situation simply because he felt like it, and not because of a lack of understanding. This begs another question: if this child's society is teaching him to behave in such a manner, who's responsibility is it to correct his actions? Had I not been in the middle lane of traffic, I was sorely tempted to pull over, grab him by the ear, and read him the riot act just like my parents would have done with me had I chosen to perform his same actions. Would it have been my responsibility, however, to do so? That's the more difficult question to answer, because it brings a whole host of other equations into play, not the least of which is that it's always easy for one to sit on the outskirts and make certain assumptions about a given situation which may or may not be correct. I'm not going to elaborate any further, but I do urge you to think about the question, because the answer has a profound influence on the way in which society is held accountable for it's actions.

The Coffee Snob

I can't drink shitty coffee any more. Sorry Nike, but I Just Can't Do It. Which is probably good because that means I don't end up reaching for another cup of stale, sawdust-flavored java at work. It's better for me. The only trouble is that I need to do some serious research into the East Bay Coffee scene, although I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be. Everything in my neighbourhood is either Starbucks and Peet's generic shit, or local coffee shops that just don't cut it. There are two world class local places in the City (Blue Bottle and Four Barrel) that know what's up, but that ends up being more of a treat than a place to hang out because it's just a pain going in to the City for coffee. It's great after (or during) a long summer bike ride, but the days of that are beyond numbered for '09. I went to a great place in NYC called Joe's (www.joetheartofcoffee.com) Their website is cool, and they have classes on, well, the art of making coffee. When I'm rich I'll have to invest in a fancy espresso machine but until then I'm going to have to keep using my French Press and milk frother. It's better than my current options around here anyway. And I get to make it every morning. Until then, I'll have to treat myself whenever I travel. Between this and Ducati I should have been born Italian. At least I can afford the coffee though...

Dividends

It's been a good, busy month; hence my absence from blogland. I just returned from F10 Sales Meeting up in Squaw, which showed very well apart from the usual few glitches and China dropping the ball on a few samples, but for the most part the line is looking very good. It was a particularly important one for me because my co-worker, Erin, is going on maternity leave in January, and I am taking over the reigns of the insulated portion of our business for F11. It's a great opportunity not only to diversify my skill-set, but also to breath a little technical life into the higher price points of the category that I feel is lacking for a brand like The North Face. The boss seems to have faith in me, which is great to see, and I have some cool ideas for a few new styles that I feel will add significant additional growth to the business. More on that later.

In the mean time, I got my first quote in an industry trade publication called Footwear Insight this month. Not only that, but the entire last paragraph is dedicated to a piece that I provided for the author so many months ago that I had actually forgotten that I had even written it until one of the guys at work showed me. They also pulled a sentence out, wrote it in bold, and had my title printed next to it, which is extremely good exposure for me in the eyes of my peers. My S11 line is finally looking like the line that I wanted to create when I started 3 years ago, so work is a good place to be right now! I just hope that the previous "owner" of my category hasn't already done so much damage that the dealers are no longer interested in our product. Then again, even if they are, the new stuff is going to be pretty compelling so I'm not too worried about it. At the end of the day, great product rules the roost in Running Specialty.

On another topic, I'm going out to see the new lady this weekend! Jenn is going to join me in NYC because she has some friends running the marathon, and my buddy Winston is letting us stay at his place on the Upper West side of the Park. I'm pretty stoked because I haven't seen her in over two months and we've got to know each other a lot better since then. She's way too good for me, so I'm focusing pretty hard to not fuck it up! It should be a really fun weekend so I'll take some pics and be better about updating ya'll in the coming weeks.

Love you guys,

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Finishing a favorite book is like coming to the end of a much enjoyed vacation. In this case, it's been more like an eight month sabbatical because 1068 pages of fine print takes a while to pour through. Well...technically, it was more akin to my college career because I picked it up and shelved it again a number of times before finally managing to bring it to its rather serene but inevitable end.

Ayn Rands signature novel, Atlas Shrugged, has been my constant companion, reality check, motivator, voice-of-reason and Gold-Standard identifier for all attributes necessary to those human beings who aspire to achieve greatness. It has helped keep myself honest when, despite one's best intentions, you're tempted to take shortcuts or simply throw in the towel through sheer lack of frustration or sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course I'm talking as much about the abstract as I am about concrete situations, but the ideals remain the same regardless. It's easier to take on seemingly tough tasks when you see the perspective of others who lead truly inspirational lives. After all, what is the point of living if you aren't aspiring to reach the highest level of whatever you chose to take on.

I haven't yet decided on what to fill this new gap in my life with. I think I might stay on the theme of Rand by reading some Aristotle. She credits much of her thought process to his works, although she disagrees with some of his ideals. Since I know nothing about either, it may be time to educate myself further.

Guten tag from Oakland!

AM: 5mi easy and the leg still feels ok

Guten tag from Oakland!

The bags are packed, my garden has been drowned in water, my passport is securely tied to my pocket and if I've forgotten anything I'll just have to buy it!

I'm off for Berlin... to what will hopefully be the trip of a lifetime! I still can't believe how well this worked out and have been waiting for someone to yank the carpet out from under my feet. It hasn't happened yet, and if I can just get on the plane, I should be set.

I'll have some pics up ASAP from the Marathon and final day of Track and Field just as soon as I can, and then it's off to explore the rest of the city with some friends.

Goodbye until then,

Jason

Hi Friends and Family

Sorry for the absence recently. I feel like I've been pulled in 15 different directions the past 3 weeks and haven't had time for anything on my own. Here's the short version of Jason's life at the moment:

Get up, stretch, work, go to the pool, come home, eat dinner, go to bed. I've had a friend in town the last 2 weeks, so I haven't really had time to breathe. Anyway, I started running again this week, just 20min at a time, and have been doing the bulk of my training in the pool still. The season is done, so I'm in no rush to come back at this point. I do want to be running by the time I get to Germany next week though, because it will be a great way to see the city. Speaking of which, I finally have my Visa. Ended up being easy once I had the doc's ready. One of the perks of going through Germany for my Shengen Visa is their efficiency, and one of the drawbacks is their efficiency. Works both ways, but I finally got everything together and am set to go. I think I'll get excited once I have some time to breathe, but for now I'm too busy to even think about it...

More to come later...

J

On Sunday, I did something a little stupid in the name of fun. Well, that's if your idea of fun is not only running yourself into metabolic oblivion, but also beating your legs to a pulp over 13 hard miles after not having run that amount, cumulative, over the previous 5 weeks. Not what I was planning when I agreed to pace my friend through what was supposed to be around a 73min half marathon. One of us was able to achieve said goal; the other was left walking for the final 15minutes. The only good news, and I'm stretching here, is that it wasn't the calf strain that halted my efforts at just short of the 6mi mark, but a distinct lack of fitness. I guess the daily cross-training was woefully inefficient in helping maintain fitness.

It's hard to tell what is actually muscle and what is simply a knotted mass of injured tissue, but the good news is that the calf is no worse than it was before the "race," which is not to say that it's better, because it still has a huge knot that no amount of effort on my end can relax, but just the fact that I was able to run is somewhat concerting, if only in the short term. I'm going to try and run on it again tomorrow on a far more sensible easy 5 miler. I'll take it day-by-day from there. New York is out of the question for 2009, which in retrospect is actually ok because I was kidding myself that I would be ready in time to run as fast as I wanted to, healthy or not. The smarter way to do this is certainly to start out small by racing a half in the Spring, figure out a way to stay healthy over the summer, and have a full 6 months to build the strength necessary to handle Marathon training over a 12week period. It's not what I was hoping to be doing in August 2009, but just being able to run again, at any pace, will make me really content.

In the mean time, I have a mini-vacation to plan, some friends to watch at World Champs, and a perfectly good pool that I am once again become far too well acquainted with.

Living Vicariously

Well, my running may be going downhill faster than the Peloton on the roads of the Tourmalet, but somehow I can still get excited about the sport that often brings nothing but bloody frustration to my life. At least temporarily, I have managed to transfer my enthusiasm for what was going to be the start of my own tough training segment into getting excited about seeing the culmination of my friends' efforts. Things are starting to come together with the planning of the next leg of my adventure through life: Berlin. My biggest fear about this little shindig so far has been accomodation, because when you combine any major event like the World Championships of anything with the word "city," things always get expensive. However, I finally knuckled down and booked what is to be the proverbial roof-over-my-head for the first two nights sandwiching the day of the Womens Marathon. I really need little more than said roof, but I managed to find what looks to be a great hostel right in downtown Berlin. It looks like it's only about 5k from the airport, and maybe double that to the stadium. I had a rough time searching to find the Marathon course route; however, I think I'm safe after giving up that game because I know that it runs through the streets downtown criterium-style. I can't possibly imagine I'll be too far from the action. I'll be sharing a room with no more than 4 other travellers in a modern building with a rooftop pool, internet, and a bunch of other stuff and it only costs 24euros/night. Even with the dollar being worth less than shit to pigs, I'd consider that a darn good find. The fact that accomodation seems far from sold-out makes me feel good about the fact that after Sunday night, I have absolutely no plans because I haven't the slightest idea where I'll be anyway. Hopefully I'll get the chance to hang out with Tera for a day or two, but Berlin looks like such a great city that I really won't be too bent out of shape if she's busy with the family and I end up exploring on my own. Flight to Geneva: Check. Return Flight from Geneva to Berlin: Check. Partial accomodation: Check. Now I just need to make sure that I don't need any Visa's, and I'll be set. Adventure on!

Surely I will have sorted this garbage of an overworked-right-calf-muscle-caused-by-a-short-right-leg out by then and can do some solid training over there too. Next on the Jason-Adventure update agenda: The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 166km Endurance Run, which is of course the reason I get to go to Europe in the first place.

The month of July, or the month of le Tour?

Apologies for the lack of enthusiasm on this site as of late. There is a direct correlation between my training and my energy level, hence my absence. Granted, part of the reason is because as far as I'm concerned, the month of July should be been renamed le Tour because nothing else really matters right now does it? In fact, it's probably the only month of the year when I can tolerate being injured. Two years in a row now. Oh well.

Yesterday was the first day in the Pyrenees, and from what I observed, I'll say right now that Lance will win his 8th Tour de France. He didn't win the stage and he wasn't even the first Astana rider to cross the line after Contador broke team orders and flew the coup. He may not even be the physically strongest rider in the race. However, in my mind, if Alberto was trying to stamp his authority as team leader of Astana he should have either picked a better time to do it, or done a better job with it. Armstrong didn't even bat an eyelid as he came by on the climb up to Andorre Arcalis, and only finished 21 seconds back. To anyone who has watched Lance over the years and can read into his non-verbal expressions it was advantage Armstrong. He has learned to play the master politician when it comes to the press, which is in stark contrast to his early days as a bike racer, but he is clearly the team leader, the smartest rider in the peloton, and has more knowledge and experience than everyone else combined. It's the subtleties of this event that makes it so exciting for me, because you cannot rely on the obvious to fully assess how a rider is doing. The strongest rider on the day does not always show his cards and you often have to look carefully to see exactly who is waiting to assert themselves in the most effective manner and this is exactly how I saw Stage 7.

Most followers believe that this race will be decided by the time we reach the final climb up to Mont Ventoux on Stage 20. With the Alps coming so late in the Tour this year, I'm going to call that this is not going to be the case, and rather that Armstrong takes the Yellow Jersey at the 11th hour. The 4 toughest days in the saddle are undoubtedly stages 16-20; 3 tough climbing days with an individual time-trial sandwiched in between. Lance won't win that Time Trial. In fact, I don't think he'll be top 5 which will unprecedented for him. The obvious fairytale ending would be for him to destroy everybody on the climb up to Mont Ventoux after losing time to Contador during stage 18, and I personally think that this is exactly how it's going to play out. Alberto is certainly the stronger rider in terms of physical capability, but he has show some weakness in not being able to rein himself back, and I think this is what is going to cost him the top spot at the 2009 Tour de France. I'm sticking my neck out big-time by making such bold predictions. That's what you do though when you believe the man to be one of the greatest endurance athletes ever to grace this planet.

One more sleep...

Friday :: AM: 5mi easy PM :: Another 5 easy

I think my leg is finally get back to normal. I don't get it; maybe it's just a part of getting old. Fortunately I've been on the bike a bunch, and I was in good shape before this shit started again so I don't think I'll be in too rough shape for pacing Tera in 3 weeks.

On a different note: it's going to be bike racing weekend. My mate Joe is coming out from Colorado and we're going to spend the weekend down at Laguna Seca for some AMA and MotoGP action. The weather should be good, we've got a campsite booked, the bbq is packed and the cooler is filled with beer. It's going to be and awesome time!

You'd think with all this going on I'd have enough to keep me busy. However, the calender now reads July and that can only mean one thing; it's Tour de France time! Lance is back, team Astana arguably has three of the strongest riders in le Tour, and it's going to be nothing short of epic! The only thing good about my stress fracture last year was that it happened on July 1, which meant that I was able to wake up and watch the stages live while doing some rehabbing at the same time. This year, hopefully I won't have that luxury since I should be out on the road putting in the miles. However, being the only one of my friends who pays $10/ month extra for extended cable channels only so that I can have Versus means that I'll have plenty of company in the evening to watch the action on DVR. Every year I get pissed when at least one of the top contenders gets busted for doping and I swear that I won't watch the next year. Forgiveness, eternal optimism or just plain excitement always overrides the disappointment of bad judgement though, and I'm even more stoked than ever for the action to start! With three famous climbs through the Alps starting on Stage 10, and the mountaintop finish at Mont Ventoux on the penultimate day, this is going to a battle right to the second-to-last day, guaranteed.

Stage 1 starts tomorrow in Monaco with the 15km Prologue Time Trial. I'm calling Cancellara for the win, and Levi, Alberto and Lance to all be in the Top 10. It's going to be awesome!

Forced-rest is just that

Yesterday :: PM: 10mi easy

I was pretty jazzed about running yesterday, so despite only getting 3hrs of sleep from 6am to 9am, I rested all day on the couch watching bike racing and then went for an easy 10mi evening run. The calf gave me a little bit of a scare after feeling fine on Saturday, so I came home and took care of it while watching US Track & Field Champs recorded over the weekend. This morning I decided to take the day off, despite not really wanting too, so I just stretched and rehabbed the leg. Repeat for the evening. Better safe than sorry because I need to get this fixed once and for all. There's always something with running...

The Magic that is the Western States 100

Yesterday I added another race to the must-do list.

After the disappointment of the cancellation of the 35th running of Western States last year due to forest fires, the atmosphere seemed particularly electric amongst all. No more was that more apparent than at the start line, where 445 runners and twice as many crew members gathered to see the runners off under the break of dawn. The Kimball-crew was a mixed bag of nervous-energy and contained-excitement for what was to come, and as a rookie to this event, I added to that the feeling of the unknown.

Having decided to spend the morning having breakfast with my extremely gracious hosts Ingrid and Kip at their home in Squaw Valley, I decided to catch up with the rest of the Crew at Michigan Bluff, the 57mi marker. Upon arriving, I learned from the rest of The North Face contingent that, for a number of reasons, our charge, Nikki, had the worst start to an ultra that she has ever experienced. Without being able to hold down any food or fluid, and the temperatures rapidly climbing into the 90's, she was in a terrible mess by the time she came into contact with her crew for the first time at Robinson Flats, the 30mi marker. Waiting patiently at Michigan Bluffs and with the computer connections down and no cel-phone service to keep up to date, we had no idea what we were going to face when she came in. We had already learned that a number of the top runners on both the men's and women's side had dropped between 30 and 38mi, underlying just how tough the conditions were very early on in the race. I was having my doubts as to if I'd even get the chance to run my part of this famed course as the faster runners slowly made their way in. The good news was that on the men' side, we had 3 TNF athletes in the top 8, and one more in the top 20; all looked very strong coming through the halfway mark.

So it was to the relief and excitement of all that our 3-time defending champion, although way behind on pace and obviously very rattled, came into the 57mi checkpoint at a run and with a fire in her eyes. Wanting to know exactly where the competition is a great sign because it means you're still in an attack, as opposed to survival, mode. After a brief stint at the check station and continuing on, we raced to the cars to get to the first pacer-station only 5 miles away where I was to pick her up and run with her through mile 80. I've gotten to know Nikki quite well over the years, which is one of the reasons I had the honor of pacing her, and we immediately fell into joking conversation to keep the mood light. It's sometimes tough to fill 4 hours with talk of stories and candid conversation, but not having spoken much in the past few months we were able to do plenty of catching-up to keep the attention off now 70mile-tired legs, and on everything from motorcycles to what constitutes a Montana-Triathlon. Ask me about that one later; that is a story for another time! In the mean time, unbeknowst to us, our boys continued to move on up the field and take advantage of the fast-starters who were beginning to come back.

As sometimes happens in these types of runs and although extremely fatigued, Nikki showed signs of getting stronger as the run progressed. When we met up with Molly, her second pacer who would take her through to the finish, I'm pretty sure it was her dragging my tired-ass up the hill to Green Gate with an increasingly apparent spring in her step. Moving into the night after leaving Green Gate to catch up with the two runners at the 93mi marker, the tiredness of all was starting to soak in. After much waiting, alternating between coffee and hot chocolate and enjoying the warmth of the evening having left the droves of mosqitoes to feast on the runners still down by the river, Nikki and Molly finally came through the final crew station just after midnight; well after the usual finish time for her on a good day and still with 7miles to run.

Despite finishing strong and both making up time on the girls in front as well as gapping those behind her, Nikki achieved a pretty strong PW, or personal worst, for the race. Ironically though, it's sometimes the tough races that force you to show the most character and resolve, and this was no exception. There was plenty of opportunity, and frankly, understandable reason, to drop as many others did. Once the short-lived tiredness fades, pride-of-character will emerge and show this to be a triumph over adversity rather than a disappointment because it's often in our apparent failures that we learn the most about ourselves. Nikki Kimball is one tough cookie and a true competitor and I, for one, am glad I was able to play a small part in todays victory. The men's leaderboard displayed the triumph of three elated runners, Kaburagi, Jez and Leigh having eventually finished in 2nd, 3rd and 7th respectively with Michael ending up well deserved 15th having raced World 100km Championships just a week ago.

Although I'm a far cry from even thinking of running something like this, I know that the day will come when I'll make the transition from crew-member and pacer to runner. I hope I enjoy the savage nature of the event every bit as much I anticipate that I will.

Thursday :: AM: 30min easy PM: 45min easy

Today was a good day. No, correction: today was a great day! Before the clock struck 10:00, I:

• Ran for only the second time in a week
  
• Booked a ticket to Geneva
• Talked to one of my good friends
• Set the DVR for SA v. Brazil in the Confederations Cup Semi

Big news first! A few weeks ago, I alluded to the fact that I would be saving my pennies for a rainy day. Well, I'm told that the forecast is 100% positive for thundershowers on August 21! I am for sure flying to Chamonix for The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc on August 28 and better still, I'm making a stop via Berlin to watch Tera and Paige race at the World Championships! If I look at the grand scheme of things, fate is certainly smiling on me at the present moment even if the running is having a few hiccoughs. Everyone wants to travel to Europe, especially when it's with your friends and coworkers to a beautiful resort town like Chamonix, but it's so much sweeter to when you get to see two of your friends dreams coming true! So the planning begins... I get in to Geneva at 1pm on the 22nd, and will be back at 1pm on the 27th. How I get to Berlin, and where I'll be for the days after that, are anyone's guess. I have some scheduling to do, but I think I may leave a lot of this trip to chance as I'd like to do some travelling with Tera and Paige after their work is done. Somebody pinch me please!

I also managed to run, twice actually, today as my calf finally felt good enough to test. I've spent a lot of time on the bike, which has been fun, so I'm not too worried about my fitness and mentally I'm now about as hungry as ever to start doing some serious training. New York is only 17 weeks away, and it's going to take that long to get myself in what I hope will be 2:25 shape. As long as I take care of myself I think I can get there with some aggressive workouts and some smart, if not high-mileage, training.

The bad news of the day is that SA lost a game that they should have won against Brazil. They were the better team, controlled the pitch for most of the game and had far more opportunities than the Brazilians did. However, a fantastic free kick from Alvez put an end to the run with 4 minutes left in regulation time and there was simply no time for the Bafana Bafana to retaliate. I guess it was simply too much to ask for a USA v. SA Final. The good news is that the South Africans played their best soccer in years, and with the World Cup only a year away, their timing could not be better. I cannot think of a better way to unite the country than the soccer boys doing well next year!

So, with a big day behind me, I need to wind down with some stretching and precautionary icing. This weekend I am pacing my friend Nikki for about 20mi of the Western States 100mi from Squaw Valley to Auburn. Since she's in with a fighting chance of a win, I need to be able to pull her through some of the tougher sections without worrying about myself.

Love you all,

When you can't run, enjoy the bike

Thursday :: 26mi ride too-and-from work
Friday :: 50mi: Long ride in, long ride home
Saturday :: 45mi through the hills

I went out the door to run after 3 days off, and my leg still didn't feel right. After running just 1 mile, I bagged it and went out on the bike instead. I hate not being able to train properly, but the upside is that I get to spend time on the bike which I really miss. Even after three longer days in row after virtually no riding this year, the legs still felt fine. I rode solo today, and there were very few other riders on the road which is weird considering the great weather. Overall it was a good day spend out in the sunshine though, although I'm hoping that I can return to my normal routine tomorrow.

Plans for the 4th are coming along nicely. I finally got around to buying tickets for MotoGP at Laguna Seca in two weeks time, and miraculously they still had a camp site available! The plan is to go down and watch some AMA racing on Saturday, cruise around the expo and then grill out, have some beers, and celebrate the 4th moto-style! It's going to be a great time!



Miss you all,

J

Mon :: 8mi easy. Had to limp home because my right calf let go again. No more Nike Zoom Elite's for me. I love them, but they're just too soft and stretch my calves too much.

Tues :: OFF, ice and rest.

So the good news of the weekend continued today when my friend John called me from Boulder and told me he got engaged! How stoked am I right now?!? My friends have the coolest things happening to them; it makes me really happy. I've only met his fiance once, but I think she's great. She's a PT too so that ranks pretty highly in my books. I don't get to see them nearly often enough; I think I need to make another trip back to the Republic of Boulder. In addition, Salym's belly finally exploded and out came baby Irelyn! Irelyn Hagen Hunter to tell you the full glory of it! I spoke to her briefly a few hours after she gave birth and she sounded remarkably calm considering, but I think that may have been the drugs talking! I can't wait to see the little one...

On a different note, I now have three bikes in my stable getting work done on them. For once, it's not my bike getting the attention because it's running great; however, the KTM is running like shit again, and Paige's Hawk had a bit of a mishap on Sunday and now has oil everywhere it shouldn't and is belching smoke that would make a Chinese factory proud! I took the airbox off and removed the carbs; both were covered in oil so I cleaned them out and tomorrow I need to get into the crankcase breather system because I think that is what caused the problem. Should cost nothing but time to fix though which is good, and it gives me something to do since I need to take a few days off from training to heal my leg.

Thats it for now. I'm off to shower off some of this gasonline stench

Does it get any better than this?

Fri :: 10mi easy
Sat :: 7 x 500m hills; 10mi
Sun :: 12mi steady

It's working. So far.

I have a tendency to get lazy when I'm tired, especially when I don't get enough sleep. Miss one days training though and your entire week is f'ed. Do that regularly and the missed training all starts to add up. So I've decided to keep myself honest by holding myself accountable with whoever reads this thing. Probably only 2 of you; thanks mom and Ginger. Today's what's-going-on-in-Jason's world update has nothing to do with Jason though, it has to do with two other amazing souls, who despite the distance and infrequent contact are on my mind frequently.

A few weeks back I received the incredible news that my friend Tera had been selected for the USA World Track and Field Championships Marathon team in Berlin later this year. To say that put a ridiculous grin on my face would be an understatement; only those that know how hard Tera has worked through-and-since college will realize what an incredible accomplishment this is. To have a good friend reach these heights is really quite incredible and I'm really looking forward to running the SF Half with her late July. However, the good news gets even better.

On Friday I was texting back and forth with someone who holds more respect and affection than probably anyone else on the planet. For various reasons we don't talk too much these days, but I know that she has been recovering from knee surgery the past month. Such things usually take a little while to recover from, at least in order to get back to 100+ mi/week of training anyways. Knowing Paige, she's probably still cross-training to the verge of exhaustion in order to maintain a high level of fitness, which has worked well in the past. I've learned from experience never to doubt her tenacity, mental toughness, and simple drive to be the best she can be. Neverthless, I had no idea how to even respond when she texted me that she was going to be at the World Summit to finalize travel and pick up gear for Berlin. Berlin!?! As in World Championships in August Berlin? "Oh ha - ya I was selected for the marathon" she writes back. No fucking way! So not only do I get to see one of my friends dream's coming true, I get to see two of them! How incredible is that! Believe it or not, the news potentially gets exponentially better than that too! I can't allow myself to get too excited about this part though because I'm only about 75% sure that I can pull this part off. Believe me... if I do, and I intend to do everything in my power to do so, you won't have to read it here because wherever you are in this great world; trust me, you'll be able to hear me! For now, let's just say that I'm going to be putting my pennies aside in case I need them for a not-so-rainy day!

If all this isn't motivation to bust my own ass to achieve my somewhat (ok, a whole lot) smaller goals come NYC Marathon in Nov, then I don't deserve to call myself a real runner.

I can't wait until Monday!!

Objective Improvement

Wed :: AM: 8 Easy
PM: 4 Easy with Drills

Today :: 12.5mi Progression run: 72min flat

The only flat run I have around here that doesn't take me through the 'hood is my route to work. Mostly I do it on the bike, but a couple of times a month I run it. Since it's flat I usually end up using this as my tempo run because running down hills at 5min pace makes me very nervous. It's just shy of the Half-Marathon distance so it's also a good physical and mental fitness indicator when I end up picking it up over the final 5mi. Although I seldom push it over the edge, it takes some resolve to pick it up after 8 solid miles of tempo. Today was the fastest I've ever run this route; roughly 75min for the Half which is 5:45's. Later in the season I won't be all that confident with this pace because it's not near fast enough to get me to where I want, but for now I'm happy. I'm also tired because it's been a mentally draining few days at work. Not that I'm complaining. It's almost the weekend!

Dead, Deader, Dead

Mon: 5mi Easy recovery
Tuesday: AM : 8 of some of the tiredest miles I remember in a long time...
PM : Nearly died at Yoga

Man I hope I'm recovered for tomorrow's workout...

Solid Weekend's Training

~15mi on trails :: steady

Sometimes it's good to mix things up a bit. I'm the worst offender when it come to routine and after a while it shows because your training begins to stall, mentally it's easy to burn out, and running just gets boring. So today I hit the trails for my long run. The trail system in the East Bay is really fantastic for exploring; the problem is that it is tough to avoid elevation. I've found a route that doesn't have too much walking, but for me, if I'm having to redline just to run slowly up a hill, it's too steep. This may not be a problem for trail runners, but I have no interest in struggling to run 9min pace up hill. Occasionally it's ok to just relax, take it easy and enjoy the run which is exactly what I did today. The legs felt great after 15mi of solid running yesterday, and I'm finally feeling like a runner again.

I just realized that I never posted final pics of my bike in it's new black-and-white dress, so here they are before I get the chance to destroy it again ;) I hope you all have had a great weekend!

Feeling Strong

AM :: 6 x 500m Hills, 10mi :: Steady, Hard aerobic workout
PM :: 5mi easy

I'm stacking too much of my mileage over the weekends and I'm starting to feel like a recreational runner. Once my sleep pattern sorts itself out and I'm able to get to bed a decent hour, I think I'll be able to fit more in during the week. This week I ended up falling asleep on the couch after work, waking up, and going right to bed; the end result was close to 8hrs sleep and I felt ready to roll in the morning. I need more of that. I have a 15miler at a steady pace tomorrow that I'm looking forward to because I think I'm going to head out to the trails, which will give me 30 solid miles in two days. This next week should be a great week for training though because the rest of the team is in China, which means I'll be able to get everything done in the office without interuptions. 9-5 is kind of a luxury right now that I'm going to take advantage of.

This afternoon I took advantage of a great record store out here that I've somehow never visited. They have a truly overwhelming array of new and used music on all types of media so I browsed for quite a while. I picked up a few more U2 albums missing from the collection as well as some other random stuff, including a few compilations from South Africa. I managed to get out without going too crazy so it was a good day. I'll be back for more next month.

Off to bed. Too much to do tomorrow to be tired.

J

Is it June already?

Has it really been 2 weeks since I was last on here? I honestly can't believe that it's June already, but since I'm entrenched in brief-writing I guess it must be. I have 6 pretty cool new product briefs that I'm working on for Spring 2011, and the line is finally starting to take shape the way I want it to. Things never happen as fast as you like in product manufacturing and you're never satisfied with product in the market because you're already developing 2 seasons-ahead, but I think I'm going to look back in 2 years time and be pretty proud of the S'11 Running line!

Speaking of which, running continues to go well. I'm not at the mileage I want to be, but I started with workouts last week anyway and despite easing into it I'm happy that it felt as easy as it did:

6x1000m @3min15 w/400m recovery

Almost 15sec slower than I've done them at altitude, but I was a little worried that after nothing faster than tempo pace for the past 6 months my calves wouldn't hold up. The legs were just fine though and I'm feeling ready to ease into some faster workouts. I'm going to need them in order to run decently at the SF Half in 7weeks...

Memorial Weekend Activities

Well, after a beautiful week of sunshine up in Squaw Valley, reality has set back in as the Bay Area weather has once again returned to it's shitty self. After a pretty lousy 45mi rain-and-cold encrusted bike ride, albeit shrouded in some great company of my friends Monique, Katie and Tori, the weekend has turned into a thoroughly uninspiring mess of laziness and couch-potatoe behaviour. I have managed to catch up on last weekends motorcycle racing, including the latest round of World Superbikes that returned to Kyalami, South Africa after a 7 year absence, which is great! It was really cool to watch some good 2-wheeled action as Nitro Nori continued to solidify his standing in the Championship.

Alas, I can only sit on the couch for so long before becoming bored and so once the motorcycle action ran out I have decided to embrace my feminine side and do some baking. Yes, you read correctly; it's time to make some first-class oatmeal raisin post-run recovery cookies and some chocolate brownies for the work-mates, who are always bringing sweets to the office. It's time to return that favor. I'll let you know how that one works out because it's been quite a while since I shocked the world with my snickerdoodle excellence at the Boulder Running Company. Damn that was a while ago.

Speaking of things happening a while ago; I picked up my fly-rod again while up in Squaw and realized that I haven't done so in almost 4 years. Ridiculous. I had the very pleasurable company of two of my friends from the East Coast, Helen and Alison, who are the first two girls that I've ever fished with and arguably a lot more talented and certainly good-looking than I. Helen was the first to show us up with the only decent fish of the morning. I was glad that she yelled at me from across the dam to take a picture because it was a realy beautiful rainbow, and while the action was fast and frantic, Helen and I only managed to play with the little guys. That changed on the second morning when I managed to figure out the correct pattern to keep the riff-raff off the hook, and landed 3 really solid fish. Taking pictures while trying to hand-land, remove the fly, and return exhausted roe-laden female trout to the water ASAP is a challenge at best and so the only shot I got is featured below. I was pretty stoked to get back on the water and can't wait to do so again at our next Sales Meeting in October. I'll hopefully be tapering for NYC Marathon and will welcome some more fishing into the schedule...

The cookies are almost done, the brownies are going into the oven, and after a brief feminine-moment I'm moving from one sticky mess to another because I need to change the fork oil on the racebike this weekend before I head back to the track. Cheers for now...

S10 Sales Meeting

It's that time of year again. Time to wrap up with S10, hand the work over to the sales team, and then write some solid briefs for S11. This season I have some particularly exciting and potentially rewarding briefs to write; way more up my alley and could bring some exciting technologies to market! However, before this happens I have to endure the painful reality of 75 deg. sunny days, time to train at altitude, and ice cream for dinner. Tough, I know, but someone has to do it. Yesterday I had a pretty solid 15miler on my usual hilly route, and it felt good to move again after a bunch of slower base-mile days. I followed this up with an easy hour up in Squaw today at 7000ft, where I'll be for the next 5 days. I was going to run again tonight, but we went to get Sushi instead. Good choice.

I got a random call from my friend Tera on Friday which made me very happy! It's so easy to lose touch with people, but getting calls out of the blue from some people really makes my day. She's potentially going to come out and run the SF Half Marathon at the end of July, which was going to be part of my training for Portland last year before I got my stress fracture. Knock on wood I'll be able to get after it this year. Things are starting to fall into place nicely with training, and it's nice to be up in the mountains with some great running right out of the hotel doors. I'm really going to have to be better about getting up on the trails in the East Bay hills... my daily routine in Oaktown is getting very boring.

I'm going to thake the opportunity for an early night, and a late morning, to get some solid sleep. Good night all

Back in one piece

My first day on the racetrack went about as well as planned considering I've been away for 10 months now. Last weekend I decided to take advantage of a Sunday trackday, which is very rare around here because of the demand for racing over the weekends and was at two minds with what to do with the opportunities of staying Monday and making it a double-header. The choices were to:

a) call it good with one day
b) do another regular trackday Monday
c) get my AFM racing licence Monday.

Although I'm not going to do much racing this year due to limited funds, I decided on to take the opportunity to get my license anyways. While more expensive than a regular trackday, getting your club racing license is actually a pretty easy affair. After 2 hours of basic classroom time where we learned the differences in safety rules, flags, bike setup, racetrack etiquette and daily procedures, the afternoon was dedicated to working with the instructors to make sure we'd be "welcome" on the track with other racers. Riders are basically judged on how well you understand consistency, handle being passed as well as making safe passes, and general riding skill. Having already riden the day before, I was perfectly comfortable hitting the track with one of the instructors, whom I know fairly well, and had no problem meeting their criteria.

To close out the day, the final test was practising race starts which was certainly the most tricky part of the day. Let me tell you something, it sounds easy to launch a bike at speed because you do it all the time getting in and out of the hot-pit entering the track, but when they introduce this little thing called a green flag and 20 other riders around you it's a tad more difficult. My first of 3 starts was an absolute disaster because I basically shut my brain off when the green flag dropped, promptly dropped the clutch, launched the front wheel sky-high and got zero drive off the line. Oh, and it didn't help that I was on the front row of the grid. But hey, I provided some first-class entertainment to the experienced racers and instructors on the side line! The second two were much smoother though and I managed to hold my own with most of the quicker guys, and pass a few more into turn one. My bike may be heavy, but the low-down torque makes it pretty fast if you get it right.

I now have my club racing license, and I actually feel very relieved to have taken the bike out on the track for the first time this season. I think I've been pretty stressed the last few weeks having not been able to test-ride it on the street beforehand, because I've had no idea whether I have actually addressed all the problems and put everything back together properly. Anticipation is one thing and adds the appropriate amount of focus to keep you thinking straight. Having self doubt that your machine will stay in one piece is another story, and is not something you want to have to worry about. Apart from the fact that RC51's don't like nuts and bolts and like to spit them out at every possible opportunity, she held up great and rides much better after going on a roughly 30lb diet of excess parts removal. I'm also now free to focus on my running more, because I have been spending a lot of energy in the garage getting everything prepped which will now be drastically reduced. The ironic thing is that now I have committed to this route as opposed to continuing to debate whether it would be better to remain riding on the street, I'm much more relaxed. It's tough enough to run at a high level without throwing motorcycle racing into the picture, but as long as I don't crash and break shit on both me and the bike, I think I can do both. Running will still remain the priority though until I feel that I'm no longer able to run fast, because no matter how much fun it is dragging your knee at 100mph, it just doesn't compare to the achievement you feel from training your ass of and running quick.

Until later...

Limping around

Team TNF at the finish

It's been quite a while since my legs have been so sore that I've struggled to walk. I'd forgotten how rewarding it feels! Usually it takes racing a marathon, or an extremely fast long run, to really damage your legs to a serious extent. The Relay managed to take me to this point.

Over this past weekend I joined eleven other teammates in running 199mi from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. With 36 legs being split among a dozen of us, we gradually wound our way down the coast one leg at a time. Since most have us, including myself, have never done anything like this before it was bound to be an interesting experience. None of us were disappointed. My first leg was an absolute bitch, so much so that I would almost not call it running. The first 3mi encompassed 1300ft of climbing straight to the top of a beautiful country road, after which time I got to scramble down 5inches of steep, mud soaked trails for the next 4mi and it was only after 7mi that I really got to stride out and run comfortably at a solid pace until the handoff at 9mi. Having estimated what would usually have been a comfortable 6:30 pace, I was having to push harder than expected right out of the gates, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the event.

I have to admit that the idea of spending 28hrs, cooped up in a van with 5 other runners, little to no sleep, and a lot of running left me not really knowing what to expect. However, our team could not possible have gelled any better! Every single photo that I took displays a huge grin of contentment, joy, and and pride on the face of every single individual. Sometimes serious, often goofy, but always optimistic, the six of us proceeded to take over, run, and hand off to our teammates throughout the night until the other half-dozen runners in Van 1 came in to relieve us for a while with their 6 legs. Not even the persistent rain could dampen our spirits.

Despite the after-pain, sleep-deprived and thoroughly basket-case Monday we had, there was not one of us who was not planning on running again next year. It is amazing how events like this can create bonding experiences like no other and it seems like the tougher the challenge, the closer you get. Once I can run again, I'll get back to the business of marathon training, but in the interim I plan on thoroughly enjoying the pain-induced satisfaction that only comes from giving everything you have to give.

My new friend Sara handing off on my final leg. I really wasn't sure if I was going to make this one, but somehow your body always remembers how to run at the right pace and I stayed right on track despite the pain in my calves and two vicous final miles.

Home for 30+ hours...

Whats going on in the garage?

I've really enjoyed rebuilding my bike. I've learned a lot, didn't bite off more that I could chew, and know far more about how things work than I did four months ago. It has been a good blend of fixing broken parts, learning what can safely be removed, with the operative word here being "safely," and enjoying some creative freedom. Note to self: double check what wiring can and cannot be removed before removing it. It will save you the pain of having to resplice the wiring harness you just hacked out. Don't ask.

To back up a bit, this journey started two years ago after my first track day. Over the subsequent months, I learned about what it means to really ride a superbike, because anyone who thinks you can do so on the street is either green or ignorant. Although most sportbikes are designed with racing in mind, the RC51 is particularly so since it was created with one goal in mind; to take the World Superbike Championship back from Ducati. As such, the suspension and steering geometry are, when set up correctly, not the most friendly for the street. Couple that with the fact that it's not the most nimble machine in the world (nicknamed "the pig" in enthusiast circles for being somewhat fat and stocky) and you have a bike that, while extremely stable at high speed, is just not good on most country backroads. My lust for street riding has gradually waned to the point where I simply stopped wanting to even take the bike out of the garage on a perfect Sunday morning because I always returned feeling completely unsatisfied with the ride.


So, after "one final ride" resulted in a gravel-induced, throw-the-bike-into-the-side-of-a-cliff lowside which destroyed the bodywork as well the front end, I'm permanently putting the bike where it belongs: on the racetrack. Note of experience to all; when better judgement is telling you otherwise, don't listen to the devil on your left shoulder telling you to enjoy "one more." Not on the ski slopes, not in the bar, and not on the bike. My friend Frank just joined the ranks of riders to crash their machines enjoying their "final ride." Luckily for me, I already had a set of race bodywork sitting in the garage and was planning on rebuilding the bike anyway, albeit in a far less substantial manner. No, I didn't take any pics of her in this condition. In fact, I hid her under the cover so that I couldn't get too down on myself.

Without boring you with any more bike-lingo speak and boring specifics that I know you really don't care about, enjoy some photos of the process from beginning to end. I'm holding out on the final product for the next thread, but don't worry, you won't have to wait long; I'm getting my club racing license on Monday May 11, so everything needs to be dialed by then. Don't worry, I'll make sure to take plenty photos before I get the chance to crash again. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a long journey that began with a love affair for fast bikes that started before I even had hair under my arms...



Before :: Looking beautiful and way too nice
for a club racer


After replacing bent forks and a repairing a bent front wheel, I discovered that the front steering tube was damaged as well. It gave me the opportunity to strip everything down, clean it well, and regrease all moving parts.







With the race subframe and tail, there is no space for the undertail which traditionally holds the battery and ECU. The battery mount is made from aluminum, riveted to the subframe, and the ECU is relocated to the rear. I've cleaned everything up a lot since this photo.












With the subframe off and all electronics removed, I was finally able to take a drill to the rear swingarm and mount the rear hugger. It's from a CBR 600rr, but was $10 vs $100 for the real deal. Still works the same though...










This was the body work I got used from the RC51 forums. A little ratty, but nothing a little 300grit waterpaper couldn't fix. The tank was dented pretty badly, so this is a used one from EBAY. Great find for $100. Looking pretty in primer...

Yoga ceiling images

I'm a little weird. Most of you already know this. Tonight I re-confirmed this as fact.

One of the things that I like to do during Savasana at yoga is stare at the ceiling and see what shapes I can make in the plaster. Tonight my subconscious must have been on overdrive because this is a list of what was on said ceiling.

• Rabbit. Wearing roller skates.
• Flying dragon (I see this one a lot actually)
• Pig
• Caesar, with the body and nose of a pig, riding on the back of aforementioned dragon
• Monkey (I manage to find monkeys every time as well)
• Flying something, like a bird, but it had no head
• Ridiculously detailed side profile view of a man's head
• Another monkey. Playing a trumpet

I'm definitely pretty fucking weird. Maybe that's why I live alone, don't have a girlfriend, and enjoy doing things by myself.

Good night folks

Boston Madness

After a pretty decent 15miler yesterday I decided to fuel my mental tank by resting and watching the Boston Marathon. For those of you who don't know, America, as well as the world, is riding on a marathon-high that hasn't been seen, arguably, in decades. With some seriously fast times being set in all the tier-one marathons this season, as well as a few exceptionally dedicated and talented Americans, Boston has seen a lot of attention in the weeks leading up to today. It didn't disappoint. With Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher both with legitimate chance of walking away victorious, going to work an hour late today was a must. So today I acted like an adopted New-Englander and observed Patriot's Day, if only for the morning. Both races were incredibly entertaining, for totally different reasons. Ryan continued to show his absolute fearless approach to taking on the Africans by throwing down the gauntlet from the first step, while Kara got to bide her time until extremely late in the game as the women went out at an almost embarassingly slow first 15mi. It's an absolutely different game when you're watching two people, who most of the world don't think can hang at the top, throw precedence to the wind and take on some of the worlds best. While both walked away with 3rd place finishes, and may in the short term be a little disappointed, I walked away with enough inspiration to last quite some time. My neighbour must have wondered who in the hell "Kara" was by the time he left for work! Yes, I know she coundn't hear me, but I guarantee you that she felt the support of millions of people waiting for her to pull off the race of a lifetime... Great race to both of you, and thank you for being such great ambassadors for everyone in the relentless pursuit of being the best they can be.

On a different note; I said that I wasn't going to post any work related stuff on here but I lied. Every now and then I get to do some pretty weird stuff and call it work, albeit on my own time.

Today I got to take 2 perfectly good shoes, well, 3 pairs actually, and chop them in half. Ya. Let me tell you, cutting a medium weight pack-boot in half with a hacksaw is a son of a bitch! Our tech reps are going to be using them as part of their educational toolkit when they go and clinic our accounts. Who said that manufacturing doesn't have a destructive side. Pretty cool. Don't worry Nikki and Brian, they weren't yours :)

To all who pursued their dreams on the streets of Boylston Ave today, I salute you.

Peace.

Sidecar action :: postponed

I was looking forward to my sidecar debut next weekend, but alas, it is not to be. Frank, owner and driver, crashed his R1 and broke his kneecap last weekend. He's ok, but obviously isn't going to be able to do anything for a while. So, I'm going to have to wait until we go out to Miller Motorsports Park out in Utah in September to have a crack at this game. The good news is that I now have both the time and the money to take the RC out to the track and watch some AFM racing next weekend, which I was going to have to miss in lieu of going down to Streets of Willow. So, it's not a total loss. Now I just have to get the RC back in one piece in time to get it on the track next Friday.

On the other hand, I had a very long week at the office this week; 11 and 12 hr days always make for bad training. I'm feeling pretty tired, but hopefully will manage to get some quality training in this weekend. A dozen of us from the office are doing a 190mi relay in 3 weeks time - from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. My 3 legs add up to about 20mi. No problem here, except that it's broken up into 3 legs and I have some pretty serious elevation gain. Should be interesting. We have a great crew though, so I'm sure it's going to be a blast and I'm looking forward to hanging out with the rest of the crew. Should be some good training too.

Hope you're all well!

Jason

Running tired

The weather is finally breaking, and I got a chance to ditch the gloves and long sleeves this morning. In recent years I've learned to love long runs. They give you time to really focus on your training, listen to what your body is telling you, zone out, whatever you choose. Today was tough though; pretty much a slog right from the start. I keep telling myself that these are the important runs to get through though because training tired is critical to get you through miles 20-24 in the marathon. You need to have bad days occasionally in order to enjoy the good ones, and I had a great 13mi progression run on Wed. I live for those, so the odd slog-run is ok.

On the flipside, I got the most awesome email today from someone I met a few weeks back when I picked up a trailer for my now race bike! Frank races sidecars. Yes, you read right, sidecars. They even have those in the US? The only time that I usually get to see sidecar action is watching the Isle of Man TT every year. Well, apparently I'm going to get far more acquainted with them, because he's asked me to race rear with him this year! Hell fucking yeah! I have no idea what I'm getting myself into but it sounds like a riot! So with a spot of luck, I'll get to race the RC later this year, but April 25 & 26, I'll be on the back of this beast at the Streets of Willow. The sweet thing about this is that you get to split the cost instead of going it alone, so two days of racing as well as practice and I'll only be out half the cost of what it would be to race my bike solo. Nice!

Over the next few weeks I'm going to put together a doc. on the rebuild of my machine from the past few months because it's starting to come together nicely. For now though check out the folowing link and pics.

http://www.team-excalibur.us/

Have a great weekend,

J

Learning to (HEART) The Bay

I'm learning to like the Bay area.

And I don't generally respond well to a change in routine. Change in my training routine. Change in scenery. Waking up late. Not so good for Jason.

Having left Boulder, Co, a little over 2 years ago, you'd think I would have long since adapted to life back in California. That hasn't been the case, and there have been many long hours wondering whether this has been the correct decision. Truthfully, I think at the end of my life I could look back and say that I may easily have taken two or three completely different paths and been equally happy. After many energy-sapping hours debating what to do about the above topic (which is not likely to change, oh, probably ever - and I won't get into at the present moment) I have come to two conclusions of which I am certain: the first is that running will forever be a part of my life; the second is that I cannot continue to be a spectator of motor racing. The beauty about running is that you can do it almost anywhere. The special part about the Bay Area is that I have three world-class racetracks within 2.5 hours of my home. And I fully intend to take advantage of this, because who knows when this might no longer be a luxury I can take advantage of.

This late-adopting technology stalwart is entering the blogosphere because unfortunately, as a result of his above characteristics, a lot of his close friends and family live nowhere near him and there simply is no way to communicate with everyone amidst the chaos of daily life. I am really enjoying my work, am growing and learning on a daily basis, and right now... honestly, I have absolutely no idea where it is going to lead me. The focus of these pages isn't going to be on work however. Hell, I already focus on that at least 10 hours a day, the last thing I want to do is spend more energy on it. You are, however, going to find a lot about two passions that presently mean more to me than anything.

:: Run Hard, Ride Fast