Day 23: Bogotá, Colombia

After the chaos of the past few days, and yesterday in particular, Marc and I had a much needed ‘sleep-in’ day. We didn’t really have much planned for the day since we were originally supposed to be coming back from the Amazon, so we just kind of rolled with it. Fortunately for all of my travel in my previous job, I was able to use my status to get us a pretty late check-out time as our flight is not until 1:30am tomorrow.

The city of Bogotá does a number of cool things fitness-related on Sundays. They close streets for pedestrians, cyclists, etc. They also run fitness classes in the street. We were able to see one from our hotel window. It was entertaining to watch. The sun was shining and the temperature was very pleasant (mid-70s). Marc and I had some re-arranging of our clothes in our luggage to take care of, and then we wanted to get outside since the weather was nice.

Our friend, Marcelo, is a Bogotá native and happened to be in town with his family. We were meeting them later for dinner, but he texted me in the morning about a good local market near our hotel in the neighborhood of Usaquin. Marc and I walked through it and he said it kind of reminded him of the booths at Pike Place Market back home. It’s always fun to see what people sell in markets in other places. We also checked out a local mall called Hacienda Santa Barbara (Go Gauchos!).

On the walk to lunch, I saw a sign for a place that teaches English called ‘Wall Street English’. Hmmm. Do they teach students how to speak like Gordon Gekko? Or is it more like this scene (see #4) from the movie “Stripes”? We had lunch at Local by Rausch, and Marc had a rum and coffee concoction called an ‘Aroma Café’ that he seemed to enjoy a great deal. Plus we tried a local dish that we hadn’t had before called ‘mazorca desgranada’ with braised brisket. Very tasty!

We walked back and watched Red Zone as we packed everything up. Marc and I have been getting a kick out of the Spanish announcers doing Red Zone (they use 2, as opposed to 1 in the US) during our time in South America. Interceptado! That was my favorite line. LOL. Unfortunately the Giants defense couldn’t do their job.... again, so it was a loss for Big Blue to the evil Cowboys. The game between the Cowboys and the Seahawks next week is going to suck as I despise both teams. 

Anyway we checked out and stored our bags before heading over to dinner with Karin and

Marcelo. On the way, we saw some more Christmas lights in one of the squares. They really do a great job with the lights in Bogotá. When we met up with our friends, they said that Medellín does an even better job with the lights. Dinner was way entertaining as we recapped our South American adventure, and Marc had some more fish. The choice of having some wine may have been suspect as we had to stay up for our 1:30am flight that was still 3 hours away.... And so it goes. 

You can find more pics of our adventure HERE.

Day 15: Galápagos Islands (Isla Baltra) —> Guayaquil, Ecuador —> Bogotá, Colombia.

Today is mostly a long travel day. Bags were pretty much packed for phase 3 of ‘Operation Cincuenta’ last night. Got up, had breakfast, enjoyed the last views of the islands, chatted with our new friends, and then we all took our final zodiac ride to land to head to the airport. The lounge at the Baltra airport was a hot, sticky mess. We were joking around with our fellow passengers. A few were continuing on with their adventures. Most were heading home. 

When we got to Baltra on 12/15, we were immediately told that the WiFi on the boat didn’t work. I got in touch with 5 groups of people immediately to tell them how to reach us in the event of an emergency and that was it. And when I was able to re-engage on 12/21 after we docked in town for a day of tortoise watching and an afternoon of shopping, nothing had changed in the world. 

I mean - the political situation is still a cluster. My New York Giants still suck. I’m still getting the crap kicked out of me in my weekly pick ‘em NFL pool. Nothing new. Yes, lots of drama going on in the world and stuff did happen this week that I would have normally kept tabs on, but did it matter when I reconnected 7 days later? The lack of internet also caused something amazing - people actually engaging with each other. WTF? Mind blown! Anyway.....

For Marc and I, the size of the ship was perfect. 40+ passengers — so not overwhelming in terms of lining up for excursions, food, or whatever. You were able to get to know your fellow travelers and also have your own downtime, if you chose to do that. We had a pretty social boat and people mingled about even if they came on with a group. The bar *MIGHT HAVE* been running so low on provisions that the crew needed to restock when we got to Santa Cruz on Friday to get us through the last night of the cruise. Don’t judge.

In addition to celebrating Marc’s 50th birthday, we had a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with their daughter and their son-in-law. Another couple was celebrating their 35th anniversary. All goes to show you that you should always embrace the positive and “eat the damned cupcake”. Good role models for the Becks’.

So we landed in Guayaquil, and had about 3 hours before our next flight to Bogotá. The lounge here was an utter oasis compared to the one in Baltra. Air-conditioning, plenty of chargers, decent WiFi to upload the 600+ pics we took in the Galápagos and a shower, which was lovely since we were literally landing in Bogotá and heading straight to dinner. 

When Marc and I landed in Bogotá and while taking the car service into the city, I was struck by the Christmas lights that were up all over the place. John, one of the guys from our trip, gave us a heads-up about this and he was right. It was really pretty. Based on what I was able to discern in the dark about the skyline, I was excited to see what the city looked like during the day knowing it is surrounded by the Andes.

We had dinner at Restaurante Leo, which came highly recommended. Let’s just say that

while the food was very good, it was definitely on the esoteric side. Literally bugs and worms esoteric. The kitchen offered Marc an opportunity to see the worms up close after he said the momojoy dish “wasn’t bad” and he politely declined. While at dinner, a couple got engaged and we applauded. Our server informed us that the gentleman is a regular at the restaurant and is a native English speaker. Most of the back of the house staff come out to congratulate the happy couple. His new fiancée speaks Spanish. Neither knows more than maybe 500+ words in the other language. Whatever works, right?

That said, Marc had a local coffee liqueur at dinner that we literally started investigating while still at the restaurant if we could get it at home. If not, clothes are going to be left in Colombia to make room in our luggage. Make no mistake about that! Tonight is also the night that we start the 15-day cycle for our malaria pills, which I am not looking forward to. I’ve heard nothing but unpleasant side effects when taking these pills. Let’s hope these are kept at a minimum for the both of us.

Day 7: Quito, Ecuador.

Today Marc and I got off to an early start because we were going to be heading south of Quito to Cotopaxi National Park to hike near the Cotopaxi Volcano. For context, Quito is situated at an altitude of 9350 feet so that’s pretty high for the Becks’. Our travel medicine clinic advised us to bring altitude sickness pills for this part of the trip and a future part of the trip. Due to some of the other meds we will be taking (i.e., malaria pills at a minimum), we were hoping that because our stay in Quito is relatively brief that we could skip them for this component of the trip. 

Marc and I met our guide, Carlos (wearing a Yankees hat so I knew we would get on just fine), at the park entrance and he took us to a few sites along the way to head up to where we would do our walk. The weather definitely improved from a viewing perspective as the morning progressed. We saw other volcanoes such as Rumiñawi and Sincholagua, as well as Laguna Limpiopungo. You can still see lava rocks from the 1877 eruption along the way to Cotopaxi.

Cotopaxi tops out at 19,347 feet and is the tallest active volcano in the world. It is part of the Andes mountain range. For comparison, Rainier tops out at 14,411 feet. The parking lot for the Cotopaxi Volcano itself is at ~15,000 feet. Maybe the highest altitude I had hiked previously was around 10,000+ feet.

Given how high the summit is, people who are climbing to the top generally get to the park a few days early to acclimatize themselves. We did not have that option. Our goal was to hike to the refugio from the parking lot. This refugio is the last point hikers can take shelter before they attempt to summit Cotopaxi. The hike was less than a mile and went up 1000+ feet.

The only catch for what seemed to be a short hike was that we were starting at 14,765 feet and hiking to 15,960 feet where the Refugio Jose Rivas was located. It was cold. I still had a decent amount of layers and felt slightly “Michelin-man” like. Truthfully, were not as properly prepared as we should have been from a clothing perspective. That added to the challenge of being at such a high altitude. 

I took lots of breaks, and did a fair amount of huffing and puffing but we made it there in roughly 50 minutes. I was gassed and I definitely felt the altitude. Of course, I forgot the aforementioned altitude sickness pills and left them at the hotel. DUH! Lonely Planet called this hike a ‘lung buster’ and, yeah, that would be an accurate way to describe it!

Fortunately we took plenty of pics on the way up because as we were coming down, Cotopaxi definitely started to hide behind some clouds. I also saw a guide with a Red Sox hat - glad he wasn’t our guide! We decided that we were going to skip lunch and have our driver, Mario, take us from Cotopaxi straight to the “Old Town” area of Quito. 

As Marc mentioned yesterday, traffic in Quito (and in Lima, for that matter) is pretty bad during the day, especially at rush hour. Since both cities do not have any kind of real mass transit, everyone drives or takes a taxi, which is essentially the same as driving. You also get to breathe in lots of toxic fumes while sitting in traffic. So we timed our return to Quito for the middle of the day to avoid traffic, which still was pretty bad by US standards (yes, even Seattle standards). 

Mario walked us around “Old Town”, which had some impressive architecture. We started at Plaza Grande, which has the Presidential Palace and the Metropolitan Cathedral. We then walked to the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which had some pretty jaw dropping designs on the ceilings and the walls. Construction on the church began in 1605 and didn’t finish until almost 1800. We also walked through the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco.

Then we checked out Casa del Alabado. The focus of this place is around pre-Columbian

(not Colombian) artifacts. Some of them were made as far back as 4000 BC! The artistry and handiwork on these items really blew us away, especially the detail on the really small pieces (think the size of your thumb). We have all of the pics, along with some descriptions on Dropbox here.

Walking back to the car in the public garage, we kept hearing car alarms going off. I don’t even know if people really pay attention to car alarms anymore. I feel like 20 years ago (when I was living in NYC), they went off so much that people just were desensitized to them. But they go off constantly. As a matter of fact, we had car alarms going off constantly near our hotel until about 3am last night!

On the way back to the hotel with Mario, I observed that Quito has their own version of “squeegee guys” - anyone who lived in NYC in the 80s/early 90s knows what I am talking about. We saw lots of people selling various things like fruit and water along the side of the road, but then we saw one guy who was juggling machetes in a “very liberal way”, which was a Marc quote. Go figure. 

We did some laundry (yay for upgrades that have a washer/dryer in the room), packed and had dinner at Zazu. Excellent local ingredients that were well prepared and great service. Tried some wine from Ecuador, which was good and a first for us. I submitted my football picks for the next 2 weeks and hope that the lack of a working injury report won’t kill me any more than when I do have one to reference in my “pick’em pool”.

Marc and I are ready to head off to the next phase of our adventure, which is the main event for Operation Cincuenta - the Galapagos. We may have internet. We may not. In the event we don’t post for the next week, we will stockpile our posts and upload them when we are back on land. 

On The Road Again....

Mixed marriage time: Broncos vs. Giants in Denver

Well, gosh. It has been awhile. I mean, really. Much has happened. Since the last post, I took a job at a healthcare technology company called Change Healthcare, and have been on the road quite a bit. It is not an exaggeration between work and personal travel to say that I have travelled 150,000+ miles in the past year alone (mostly for work, but a couple of trips to Europe interspersed in there). Pro tip: Once you hit 40,000 miles on Alaska Airlines, they give you free chocolate. Who knew? 

So what else is new? Well I am anxiously awaiting Game 7 of the ALCS tonight where my Yankees are taking on the Astros. Really hoping CC Sabathia brings it along with the offense. We went to Denver last weekend to see Marc's Broncos take on my Giants, and the completely opposite outcome happened that we were expecting (Giants won). Speaking of Marc, I'm doing my best to make him a Yanks fan for this fall.

Yanks visit Seattle Let's Go Yankees!

I said farewell to Facebook on Thanksgiving, 2016 as I felt it was way too toxic for me from a political perspective. I felt all sides were too vitriolic for me and the time spent on the platform just left me feeling negative and pissed off. You can find me on Instagram though where I get to look at pictures of beautiful places, funny people doing great things and whatever else my peeps like posting - although anything political gets an unfollow. 

The business travel has been a lot. I know, many of you know me from when I used to do that a lot, but I was much younger. Plus I really like being home, spending time with Marc and keeping to a routine. It is really hard to eat well and keep working out at a regular cadence when on the road. I put some pretty hard rules in place for my business trips when I started the role around exercise in to mitigate the impact of eating out all of the time. Yay for being a runner and for doing CrossFit! Lots of #viewfrommyrun pics posted on Instagram.

On top of Mt. Si. with Rainier in background

Last summer was fairly insane with travel from Seattle to Augusta, Maine every other week, so this summer, I decided to wrestle some control back. This has led to Marc and I getting in some hikes in a number of gorgeous places. Some were pretty technical and on one of them, I was just dreading going down because of how treacherous the trail was [spoiler alert: I survived but it took longer to get down than to go up].

In other news, I continue to brush up on skills around R, Python and SQL because it falls into that whole 'trying to suck less and challenge myself more' thing? While I have no intention of becoming a software engineer, I find taking the time to focus on this kind of thing helps me as both a Product Manager and a Program Manager. I'm reading a book on Submarine Design because someone told me it would be a great way to understand multivariate design as a whole. I'll let you know how that works out but this might fall into 'you can't make this stuff up'.

Top of Lone Cone in Tofino, BC

Marc and I decided to dust off our golf clubs, and the best thing about that from my perspective is that I didn't kill anyone at the range.... yet. 

We will see how long it will be before I post again, but in the meantime, thanks for tuning in and GO YANKEES!

You Can't Hit What You Can't See.

How did we get to the end of January already? Wow. 

Let's start off by commemorating what would have been Grandma Mollie's birthday today and also celebrate the 47th anniversary of Harv and Yvette along with Lisa's birthday, both of which are tomorrow. Good stuff and we will celebrate all of them "west coast style".

One of the things that I have done for most of my adult life was to write down my goals - personal and professional - every year. I wouldn't call them resolutions because I tried to build upon progress from the previous year as opposed to just starting a new behavior from scratch on January 1st. Plus resolutions in January tend to be broken by this time for most people so it just seemed like an exercise that was rooted in setting myself up for failure.

Why do I write down my goals? You can't hit what you can't see. For me, they become much more tangible when I have to look at them regularly and assess my progress on them. 

I didn't track my goals in 2013 because I was starting the 1st quarter of the year in Australia and the point was just go with the flow. And when I came back, I had the whole "unknown broken hand" thing so that just put everything into a chaos. Then for 2014, I was so consumed with launching and growing Upower that I just didn't think I needed to do it. That was a mistake.

So in 2015, I set out some goals which included winding down my involvement with Upower and what I was going to think through during Patagonia Caminada. Things were moving along until mid-April when Marc's "dandruff ball" reared its ugly head and then everything was thrown into chaos on many levels. 

5 months later, I was able to resume getting back to my working towards those goals. I tweaked a couple of them given changed circumstances but they mostly remained intact. What was shocking to me was that when I wrapped up 2015 that I actually made decent progress on what I was trying to achieve. Now how I got to the end point wasn't what I quite envisaged when I set everything out that January, but somehow I got there.

One of my goals last year was to read more books and I succeeded in that. It does help me relax. I finally was able to finish "Hamilton" by Ron Chernow after seeing the play over Thanksgiving. It was a LONG read but worth the effort. I learned quite a bit about that time in American history. I wouldn't say you need to read it before seeing the show but it probably wouldn't hurt given the musical nature of the performance.

Another book I recently wrapped up was "The Time of Our Lives" by Peggy Noonan. It's a series of columns she has put together over her length career as a speechwriter and as an author. One of the columns that was included was about the Challenger disaster 30 years ago and at the time, Noonan was Ronald Reagan's speechwriter. So she had to write a speech rather quickly for him to address the nation with. It was interesting to read the process that went into crafting those words in what was, essentially, on the fly.

[Side note: Another interesting piece Noonan had in her book was around gathering facts when Mt. St. Helens blew in 1980. It was a laugh out loud moment reading how she was able to piece together firsthand accounts.]

All of the news leading up to the Challenger and the story of how Christa McAuliffe was on the shuttle motivated so many people back then to dream big and set high goals. That's where you learn to set goals.... by being inspired by others.

As for how I am doing on my 2016 goals? I'm pretty happy with my progress this far. I know it won't all be upward progress throughout the year. Plateaus will happen due to other priorities or taking time to realize that I need to find a new gear. I'm ok with that. I'll just keep plugging away.

BTW, if you are interested in learning more about the post-mortem surrounding the Challenger disaster, I would encourage you to read this. It's a long read but well worth it.

19 Feb: LONG hike to Laguna de Los Tres!

This will be short because we hiked all day and it wiped me out with back to back 1/2 marathon hikes. I also am getting sick, but didn't realize that until later in the day.

After breakfast, we got in the van just after 8am for a 30+ minute drive to the hike start point. This second "half marathon" hike back to back wiped me out. The main reason is the optional 2k up to a glacial pool and 2k back down to the trail.

Before this part, the hike was nice and sheltered in the trees. Once we got to the optional part, it was an easy 1k and the hardest upward 1k I have ever done. Jill was first in under an hour because she motored up and did not stop. I was next but only because "fit" Rocket Rick kept stopping to take in the views.

The view was outstanding and possibly worth the effort to climb this crazy hill. We ate up there while enjoying the view and then began climbing back down.

Once down, we still had 9k back to the town and I wanted it over. I slowed down a lot and eventually got there but I ended up drinking 2-3 more liters of water before, during, and after dinner.

Dinner was entertaining with explaining to one of our guides what the term "six pack abs" means. We learned that in Argentina, the terms people use to describe those kinds of abs are referred to as a "chocolate bar" or "ravioli". For the record, our guide prefers "mushy chocolate bars" in this context.

Given my job at Scout, people keep bringing up college football references. Tonight we learned that at Notre Dame, their library has a "Touchdown Jesus" mosaic on the outside that faces the football stadium.

Unfortunately a little cough that I had over the past few days has progressed into something more fierce. I hope this goes away soon because we have some long hikes coming up.

Bringing 2013 To A Close (Oh, and Becks Are Now Employed).

It is amazing that 2013 is almost done. Fortunately for Marc and I, it was mostly a pretty phenomenal year and we are incredibly grateful for that.

We had the Australian Walkabout for 3+ months, which was an awesome experience and way more worthwhile than we ever could have hoped for.

We watched our parents get healthier and defy their respective ages. We also made our brother-in-law a CrossFit convert after he resisted for so long. :-)

We hosted another successful "Open That Bottle Night" (after we did one in Australia!!!) and JDRF dinner, and we had "Beck The Halls" storm back into our lives with a vengeance! Our families and our friends continue to make us chuckle and to be supportive of our endeavors.

We had visitors from all over, including 4 of our nephews and nieces. We got to spend Thanksgiving in NY and Christmas in SoCal, both of which were so much fun.

We mostly remained injury-free to pursue our fitness activities around swimming, running and CrossFit.

The decision to close Purple Teeth Cellars. Yes, this is a positive thing because we were able to close the business down on our terms so we can focus on other projects going forward.

We both found jobs that we are excited about (more below). It was worth taking the time off and then taking our time to find opportunities that we are passionate about.

And most importantly, we are both healthy and very thankful for that.

Some of the "not so great" things in 2013 include:

The broken hand and recovery with the "purple claw".

3 of our close friends being diagnosed with some form of breast cancer. Fortunately they all seem on the road to recovery. But HUGE dislike here.

The Yankees and the New York Giants 2013 campaigns (ok, this only negatively impacts one of us for this one and truthfully - not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things).

So in reality, it was a very good year for the Becks.

I'll let Marc decide if he wants to talk about his role, but he is happy and excited which is all that matters to me.

About 3+ months ago, I asked a close friend if she wanted to move forward on an idea that we had only talked about in passing. She said yes pretty quickly, which was pretty exciting but a little scary.

Reason it was a little scary was that this is a completely new space for me. We have created a non-profit called "uPower" that will focus on getting underprivileged kids in Seattle to after-school fitness activities. My role is "Executive Director" - aka the "GSD" person. The initial emphasis will be working with local CrossFits here in Seattle and pairing up with local schools.

It's been a busy few months trying to get this off of the ground, but we have made a ton of progress. You won't find a website yet as that is still in development, but behind-the-scenes... trust me, I have been busy working with my co-founder on building the best infrastructure we can so we are hopefully in a position to scale this concept properly. 

I am fortunate to have an awesome Board of Directors to help me out so we can move this concept forward. We are lucky to have a network of people who can connect us with experts as we get more educated on a myriad of topics. And yes, it's a whole new subject matter for me but I am embracing the challenges ahead.

So with that, onward to next year. Hoping for all of you to have a wonderful 2014!

Keeping Busy In San Francisco.

We just came back from a pretty busy weekend in San Francisco, which was filled with great times with family and friends. I also managed to squeeze in a half marathon, which we will cover in a separate post.

The plane ride and some recovery time after the race allowed me to read Wheelman: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever. Not sure I would recommend it because it just confirmed what I already thought of Lance Armstrong. That's not a knock on the authors from the WSJ, as it was meticulously researched, but it just provided more insight as to what a diabolical and selfish person he is. If you're interested in how pervasive the drug culture was in cycling and the extent to which Armstrong wanted to protect his legacy, read the book.

Our time in SF had us hitting some excellent restaurants. Coqueta, which focuses on Spanish cuisine, was the standout. We went to Frances to celebrate the 1/2 marathon finish, which was also excellent. Great service too. Rich Table had so much hype, so it was slightly disappointing that it didn't knock your socks off. That said, it was very good and even better to catch up with some of the SF cousins.

We went and visited with a former neighbor of mine from Massapequa, who is now a paramedic with the SFFD. It was really fun catching up with him, and he told us of a museum we never heard of called 'The Disney Museum'. It's historical artifacts from the Disney family about how Walt Disney & Co. became the massive entertainment company that it is today. Not really for kids, but for those of you who grew up with Disney as they grew up, you'll appreciate it.

Marc is a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and it just so happened that the Cartoon Art Museum is showcasing an exhibit on some of the drawings used in 'The Sandman' series. It was interesting, but unfortunately they had some other kind of festival going on that made things very loud and chaotic in there, which took away from wanting to read more about the drawings.

It wasn't what we would call an awesome sports weekend by Beck standards. The Broncos lost and the Red Sox advanced to the World Series. The New York Giants are about to kick off for MNF, so no news on if they will put their 2014 1st draft pick status in jeopardy.

And yeah, Congress and Obama finally got their act together.... until we get to do this again in January-February, 2014. Good job, elected officials! Idiots - all of them. But props to Chris Christie for giving up the fight against same-sex marriage in New Jersey - progress for my friends who live there!

All in all, a fun and a busy weekend in SF catching up with a bunch of people. Now back in Seattle to face reality and the Giants playing on Monday Night Football.

'Schmuckitude'!

[NOTE: Given that this is mostly a political post, it should be noted that this only represents the thoughts of Jill. Marc's thoughts will remain his, unless he chooses to share.]

I don't think it is an actual word according to the Oxford University Press, but if 'physicality' can somehow become a word and be overused by every sports analyst, then 'schmuckitude' certainly has its place.

I would argue that basically any elected official, particularly the ones who spend at least part of their year residing in "the other Washington" deserve an "overachieve" in their 'schmuckitude', with a couple of notable exceptions. BTW since I live in Washington State folks, DC is "the other Washington". And it certainly seems appropriate given that I assign failing grades to both the executive (yes, Obama gets an 'F' for his bullying and temper tantrums) and the legislative branches for their lack of leadership and understanding of the woes of the average citizen. 

But Senator John McCain had a great quote today. He said, "Leadership, I must fully admit, was provided primarily by women in the Senate." And of course, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) deflected the compliments with saying it was "truly collaborative effort," adding that all in the group deserved "kudos" for working on the deal. McCain joked that he had won "a small side wager" from Collins in the course of their negotiations. Hmmm. Maybe more women are needed in positions of power. 

I was sad when Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) had decided not to run for re-election as she had been another common sense member of the Senate, but she had enough of the extreme partisanship that has taken over both parties in Congress. The good news is that she has been active on Twitter and on other social media trying to hammer home that Congress should use common sense for the good of the American people. I hope she is effective.

So goody. The Democrats say they won and the Republicans will bring up many of these issues in 3-4 months (sans Obamacare, which does nothing to solve the real problems with our healthcare system). We'll get to go through this again! Yeah, President Obama and Congress! Continue to embody 'schmuckitude'! Oh by the way, you all suck.

Speaking of women in positions of power, I enjoyed reading this interview with Condi Rice about her recently announced role with the selection committee of the new College Football Playoff System. Regardless of her politics, she seems just as qualified as anyone to be sitting at that table given her background, yet it is still sad about the sexism that exists regarding her selection.

Switching gears ever so slightly, this Q&A with Roger Federer cracked me up. Between this and this interaction with a fan a couple of months ago, he is my all-time favorite male tennis player.

Had a great time with friends over the past weekend. My awful golf game showed up (my good one never does), but I got to be outside, and laugh with Marc and friends. Life is good.

And finally, Mr. Rosen -- I also love David Burke Townhouse. Thanks for sharing your story and your humor with a wide audience. It brought a huge smile to my face reading about you.

Interesting Reads, Cooking Adventures, Etc.

It's been a busy month, thus far. Running, cooking, CrossFit, friends, quick trip to Whistler, getting ready for the JDRF dinner and helping Harvalicious with his "Barbells for Boobs" fundraiser. 

I never get around to reading as much as I would like, but found a few articles over the past 3-4 weeks that have been interesting:

I had NO IDEA that if you declare bankruptcy that pretty much every debt will be forgiven, except for student loan debt. I am not sure which "genius" decided on that, but it has the potential to stifle innovation and risk taking in America. I am all for paying your debts but this is absurd. You try and get a new start, and your student loans will always be with you (but not your credit card debt). Not good.

Fascinating read on the sequence of events that took place after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Good job, Esquire.

What a cool story about a "sommelier on wheels". Shows that you can always pursue your dream if you really are passionate about it. It would be interesting to understand what was involved in the service portion of the Master Sommelier exam. 

I am convinced that Gianni Agnelli was "The Most Interesting Man In The World" before Dos Equis came up with the moniker for their very hilarious ad campaign.

It's not looking good for the Yanks to make the playoffs. I am pretty much "anyone but Boston" at this stage, but I think it would be pretty cool if the Indians and Pirates made it to the Fall Classic. The Giants are off to a horrific start. No O-Line and a leaky defense. Not sure how Kevin Gilbride still has a job and how much more of a pounding Eli Manning can take.

Running is going well mostly. Some aches and pains, but getting through the workouts and improving efficiency.... hopefully.

Spent the long Labor Day weekend in Whistler, BC. Hung out with a good friend, golfed for the 1st time since getting the broken hand fixed and cooked some lasagne. Good times.

On the home cooking front, Marc picked up for me "Modernist Cuisine At Home" as a gift and I have been busy trying things out like "Sous Vide Pork Belly" for an upcoming dinner party challenge, omelettes, pressure cooked vegetable soup, amongst other things. It's definitely educational and I look forward to seeing how I can "up my game". Other recipes I have worked on include an heirloom tomato salad from "Down Home: Downtown", which was great, and Chocolate Pudding Souffles with Almond Butter Ganache, which was adapted from "Michael Mina: The Cookbook". Yes, you read that right - Jill baked.

We are still fundraising for JDRF (will be through mid-November) and have our big dinner on Saturday. The dinner is sold out, which is awesome. Hovering around $18,000. Thanks to all who have donated to date! Harvalicious (aka Dad) is also fundraising to provide mammograms for those who can't afford them. You can donate here! Harv is going to do a special CrossFit workout with his "box" on October 5th for the cause! More to come on this.

23 Mar: Port Douglas (QLD) --> Tongue and Opal Reefs (QLD) --> Port Douglas (QLD).

Yeah, it was challenging capturing how rocky it was on the boat ride out to the reef

We had such a great time snorkeling on Thursday that we decided that we needed to go out for a 2nd time. The only debate we had was whether to go back out with the same company (they have 30+ sites so they would hit different ones if we went) or to go to a completely different part of the Great Barrier Reef. 

We opted for the latter. The weather was supposed to be windy for pretty much the remainder of our time in "Port" but today was the better of the days, so off we went. Let's just say that I was glad that I took the seasickness tablets first thing. In case you didn't know, they are only preventative so if you get seasick and haven't taken anything, you're pretty much on your own. The winds got up to 20 knots and it was a bumpy ride out. I stayed outside and took in the fresh air, which helped a lot. And I wasn't alone. +Marc, on the other hand, was enjoying the upper deck with about 5 other people including the Captain!

And we got to see this up close - just wow!

More awesomeness in the GBR

Anyway it was sunny at the 1st site and the visibility was pretty good. We saw some different fish and similar ones to the ones we saw the other day. We went off to the 2nd site, and it was raining. Fortunately it didn't affect the visibility so we saw more and more. It was a bit choppy out there so they didn't want us venturing too far away from the boat. Same for the 3rd site. 

The ride back was bumpy, but not as bad as the way out. We got off of the boat and saw one of the crew members from the boat on Thursday. She was laughing and asked about the conditions. Turns out her boat opted not to go out because of the winds. Go figure. Anyway it was nice seeing her for a quick chat before we caught the shuttle back to the hotel.

As we got off of the bus, a couple was waiting for the shuttle to head into town. We learned they were from the Bay Area and that the wife tends to get pretty seasick. And they were going out on the boat we went out on today. Oh boy. We gave them some tips and then gave them the rest of our seasickness tablets. Hope it worked out for them!

Nemo? Are you there?

We showered and had dinner in town at a place called Nautilus (I know what the Pequa folks are thinking). The motif was completely not what you would expect with a name like the Nautilus. I felt like I was in Bali at a resort there. Anyway the food and wine were pretty good, and we were able to get the shuttle back after a long day. Glad we get to sleep in tomorrow.

On another note, the guy from the East Bay reminded me of someone and I couldn't place it immediately. Then it came to me. This guy looked like Shaun O'Hara of Big Blue. Then I checked his Twitter account just to confirm that I wasn't an idiot for not recognizing him and his timeline confirmed he was in NJ. LOL. Bet +Danielle, +t razz, and +sharon would have defriended me for sure after that one! Maybe even +Jarrett as well!

Thanks again for tuning in. We continue to be grateful for all of the comments, likes, messages, emails, etc.

10 Feb: Bicheno (TAS) --> Freycinet Peninsula (TAS) --> Bicheno (TAS).

I was really excited for today's hike because it was going to be along a couple of beaches, which I knew +Marc would enjoy being Mr. WaterClown and all. The weather forecast had the morning as the best part of the day with respect to sunshine, so off we went to the Freycinet Peninsula -- home of Freycinet National Park.

Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula

The hike was a circuit (aka loop) around Wineglass Bay and then along Hazards Beach along the Great Oyster Bay (oddly enough, I grew up in the township of Oyster Bay in NY). It was pretty sunny when we started and also very crowded on the trail. It was a Sunday so more people were out for sure, but the main lookout, which is where most people stop was in the 1st mile of the hike.

The lookout was great and we saw the beach which is on Wineglass Bay (gorgeous). We then moved to actually walk along that same beach. Met a couple from San Francisco, which was fun. They were still lamenting their Super Bowl loss but still in great spirits enjoying their time in Australia. We walked along the beach and boy - was that water cold!?!

After going in knee high, Marc and I set off for the rest of the hike. It crossed over a small ridge to Hazards Beach, which was also really nice. A couple more clouds came in, but we were still able to see clearly through the water as we hiked. We finished what was a fun hike, although the trail was crowded, and then ventured over to the Freycinet Lodge for a well-earned burger and chips. 

After cleaning up at the hotel and catching up on some email, we caught dinner at a local seafood place. The fish was fresh and simple, and Marc found something he liked as well. Not a super exciting

View of Hazards Beach into Great Oyster Bay during our hike

day, but a nice one in that we got to be outside when the weather was pleasant and the hike we took was scenic with much to look at.

All that aside, I think with the recent longish hikes that we are happy that tomorrow (Monday) is slated to be a rest day as we venture over to the other side of Tasmania to Cradle Mountain for, you guessed it, more hiking. :-)

Thanks again for tuning in. We really appreciate all of the messages, public and private, about us blogging and posting pics. I will continue to reiterate how fortunate we are to be able to make this journey.

BTW, we have updated with titles many of the pics from Tasmania (through Sunday). Go have a look at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeasawaterclown/sets/72157632680608349/detail/

4 Feb: Hobart (TAS).

View of Cornellian Bay from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens during Jill's 5-mile run

Ah, Super Bowl Monday! Who is excited?!

Definitely slept in until 8:30am or so after the long day yesterday. Started the day with me getting in a run along the coast to Cornellian Bay and back through the Botanical Gardens while +Marc swam for a bit. His ankle was a bit stiff so we were hoping that getting it moving in the pool (non-impact) would help. Fortunately it did but we decided to take it easy in walking around Hobart. 

It kind of worked out that we had allocated this day to watch the Super Bowl, which

started at around 11am local time. After icing the ankle, etc., we made our way to a section of town called Sandy Bay. Our research told us that one of the pubs there was going to have the game on and be serving lunch. They actually had the game on our TV in the apartment but we wanted to see if we could get some Tassie-atmosphere.

Super Bowl Monday: Tassie Style!

We missed Beyonce and the 1st half was a bit of a joke. We got situated at the Doctor Syntax Hotel (aka pub) as the 2nd half was starting and before you knew it, the power outage happened in New Orleans. As it was a Monday afternoon, the pub wasn't too crowded but we received assorted questions from locals on the rules of the game, who we "barracked for" (cheered for), etc. Also present was a 49'ers fan but really the bulk of us wanted a more competitive game and we had 21+ deficit going. Not good.

Well I guess the 49'ers woke up during the 30+ minute power outage. BTW, the LIPA references all over my Facebook timeline were classic due to their ineptitude during Hurricane Sandy. The game was interesting all of a sudden and the teams were separated by two points! In the end, the Ravens held on and that was that. But at least we had a good Aussie pub lunch and ended up seeing an interesting game.

After the game, we walked around Sandy Bay and Battery Point, where we found a Long Beach (give it up for the 11561!). Some nice neighborhoods and beautiful weather. Grabbed some dinner at a restaurant where I tried some local mussels (massive) and trumpeter (similar to halibut - good). Caught a sunset by the waterfront and went back. Another fun day and Marc's ankle got better as the day progressed. Woo woo!

Recovering from A Near Miss on the PR Front.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible year on the running front. 

I did need some time to separate myself from the result in PDX a week or so ago. I actually was so mad right after the race that I signed up for another race at the end of the month that I was "confident" I could crush with a new PR. Especially with the Whistler PR invalidated because the court measured short. Don't get me started on that one.

Then reality set in. And lethargy too, to be honest.

I ran a lot this year. I had success at Ragnar by running 25+ miles over a short period with 3 legs, including the anchor leg. I ran it almost exactly to plan by going z1 in the 1st and 2nd legs and going for broke in the 3rd leg. Too bad that steep uphill in the heat got in the way for 1/4 of a mile!

I broke a new PR about 6 weeks ago in the 5K and actually placed 2nd in my age group (not a typo). I paced Marc to a new PR in the 5K, which I was really proud of - meaning proud of him because he hates running and I had the privilege of helping him for a change. 

Oh - and I did PR in NYC earlier in the year, in spite of my own ineptitude. So that's something.   :-)

We also had our JDRF Dinner and are inching close to raising almost $20,000! You can still donate here. Thanks to all who have donated to date.

So yep, we have been busy. And now we have the NFL in full swing along with the MLB playoffs. I wish I could say that the Mariners have gotten a clue about how to run a baseball team, but they haven't. The Yankees overachieved to get past Baltimore and were summarily swept by Detroit.

The Giants have started off in an uneven way, as per usual. They continue to have to come from behind in order to make wins happen, or make it close at the end and lose. The Broncos have also gotten off to an uneven start with Peyton Manning now the starting QB and recovering from his neck surgery. So who knows? 

We are testing out a new blogging tool for an upcoming project we are working on, so we will see how it works with respect to hyperlinking, inserting pictures and what not that we can typically do from a regular laptop as opposed to a tablet. If things look wacky, please bear with us as we figure it all out!

Unedited Race Report from PDX Half Marathon.

It's fair to stay that I was probably at around 80-85% heading into race day, 'the day before' "carboloading" at VooDoo Donuts notwithstanding.  I thought that by keeping up with extra cardio and mimicking the heart rate that I would have on my z2 runs that would help compensate for the fact that I was not able to run for extended periods of time without being in some pain.  So the focus became getting the runs in once a week and focusing on speed work.

And before we know it on race morning, I am off.  Find a groove, stick to it and take the 1st quarter of the race in a conservative manner since the only real hill was in that section.  At this stage, I was really happy that we drove the course the day before because I knew when the hill was going to be over and didn't have to guess when that might be.  I was really happy with the mile 3 split of 8:45.

I decided that I was not going to check my Garmin for "real time split" during each mile.  I would look only at my overall lap time over the course of the entire race and my elapsed time, and figured that would be enough to manage the race.  Once I crested at the top of the hill just before the 5k mark, I reminded myself to pick up some speed but not get ahead of myself on the downhill.  Again, didn't look at the watch and saw a 7:58 at mile 4 so I was pretty happy because I definitely felt like I was not taxing myself.

The only snag in this was that I was so focused on keeping an even cadence up the hill that I forgot to take my gel at :25 mins in.  I took one at :40 and decided that I would take another one at 1:05 and at 1:25, and figured that would be ok.

Miles 5 - 10 honestly felt really good.  I saw Marc at mile 6+, kept taking in water and was thinking that this was a pace that I felt I could maintain for awhile.  I was sticking between 8:10 and 8:20 for those splits, and was happy but knew the real work was in the last 5K of the race.  I can't say there was much to report in the middle section.

Somehow in mile 11, I started feeling very fatigued and my breathing was starting to labor.  I deliberately decided NOT to look at my watch in the middle of the lap (mile) to see what pace my watch said.  If you have learned anything this year, it's to go with your feel, Jill!

Needless to say when I saw my mile 11 split, I was not happy.  The course is flat and I was giving everything I had.  I tried going faster and maybe I increased my exertion level, but it didn't really help when I saw my mile 12 split.  I saw Marc and he actually ran with me for about 1/4 mile, and I was just struggling.  I was giving everything I had, trying not to give up even though the goal time was out the window.  My legs were going, but the results were not commensurate with the effort I was giving, which was a real downer.

I took the turn off of the main highway finishing mile 13 and just tried to beat my PR from NYC.  I tried to get my legs up that hill quicker.  It just wasn't happening.  I couldn't find my exact time because of issues with tracking, but I was pretty sure I came within 5 seconds of my PR. On the wrong side. Sure enough my official time was 1:49:54 - 3 seconds slower than my previous PR in NYC.

That sucked.  Obviously I was injured but to get THAT close and not at least beat it was a true bummer. Logically I know I gave a great effort and did the best I could considering I hadn't run 13 miles in one stretch since June (!).  In my heart though, I am disappointed and frustrated because I really don't know what else I could have done to better manage the race.  Would micromanaging miles 12 and 13 helped after I saw problems in mile 11?  I don't know.

Takeaways:

• Managed most of the race without micromanaging it and it worked really well for the 1st 10 miles.  This is good.
• No matter how much elliptical time I log, I am now past the point where I run a pace that necessitates getting out and hitting the pavement more than I did in August and September. Yes, was in a lot of pain but would it have been worth it to take 2 Tylenol Extra Strength before the run and during the run while I was training?  I think I would consider it now even though conventional wisdom is against taking pain relievers so you don't mask an injury and do something worse.
• Doing the mileage I did at Ragnar (25+ miles) was a mistake if I have a fall race longer than a 10k on my calendar. I'll have to stick to 15-17 miles total going forward.
• I gave everything I had in this race, so I guess there is something to be said for that.  I didn't give up and didn't leave any time out there, although I almost left some of my insides just after the finish line but fortunately got myself together. Yeah, lovely....
• Not sure how to measure sweat rate but I get pretty salty after long efforts, even now with taking the Power Bar Gels. I don't know if I need to take Hammer Enduralyte tablets even for half marathons now as opposed to just full marathon efforts.  My clothes were absolutely soaked.

So that's the recap.  Like I said, the effort was there and I did the best I could with training, but the result wasn't.  And that is no one's fault.  It's just a part of racing, I guess.

But at least Big Blue and the Pinstripes won! Unfortunately the Broncos lost though for Marc, who deserved better for being such a great cheerleader. Other positive was great friend, PNak, PR'ing the full marathon and coming in under 4 hours and celebrating at Paley's Place later on in the evening! Plus we had good meals earlier in the weekend at Pok Pok and Wildwood, which caught Marc in a somewhat overwhelmed position looking at the SAVORY menu (normally it's the sweets!)

Trail run? Really?

So we are two weeks post-NYC and the best thing I could say about my recovery period since then is that I actually rested.  Not really by choice, but because I caught whatever cold/flu thing has been going around as we returned home.  It has really knocked the wind out of me, but I finally had enough and decided to venture back to Crossfit yesterday.  I took it really easy, but was happy to get back it. And clearly I did enough squats to make my rear end sore.

I didn't know what I would be doing today, but last night one of my friends (and running buds), AK, decided to e-mail me with an interesting proposition -- do a 4-5 mile trail run near our respective houses.  For those of you that know me, trails are NOT my thing.  I tend to do dumb things like sprain an ankle, lose a shoe in a bog of mud (yes, this happened), etc.

KK and AK's collard greens with bacon!

I decided to accept because I needed to get a run in and having an excuse to take it easy, and AK has been wearing me down to get me on the trails.  We had her, her husband and some others for dinner last weekend and she was definitely doing some lobbying over some amazing pulled pork and collard greens.  :-)

As I was chatting with Marc last night about it, I said one of the things that I need to focus on during a proper trail run is that I need to ignore pace and focus on effort, along with the experience of just being on a trail.  Turns out that AK asked me about that same thing as we drove to the park, and she concurred that I needed to just recalibrate what I should expect to get out of a trail run.

We went out this morning and it turns out that it probably ranked pretty low on the technical side, and didn't have 'too much' on the "Rocks and Roots" side (H/T to other friend: RP).  I trusted AK to know a course where I could feel challenged in a good way, and have a good time, and of course, I was right.  It also seemed poetic after the body of "Caballo Blanco" was found yesterday. His story was a major focus in Christopher McDougal's, "Born To Run", which I read last year and enjoyed.  RIP, Caballo Blanco.

Big Green Egg Pulled Pork!

AK was great in giving me some tips and at times, she was more aggressive on the downhills (my weakness on trails - all mental).  It was good.  She would slow down to let me catch up.  While it felt hilly, it wasn't too bad on the elevation scale.  It did feel like a harder effort just because I hadn't run in 2 weeks (or done much of any physical activity) and because of the lingering cold.

Unfortunately I had some issues with the Garmin so I am showing AK's capture of the run.  The weather ended up being pleasant, and while it was pretty windy elsewhere, we were protected from it in the trees (as predicted by AK).

Paleo Twinkies by MMKR!

Going back to the pulled pork (which was smoked in the BGE!) and collard greens discussion, one of our good friends MMKR brought over one of her baking creations known as "Paleo Twinkies".  While a couple of tweaks needed to be made, they were tasty and Paleo!  Other dishes have been conjured up at Chez Beck recently like smoked whole duck, cassoulet, lasagna (made with leftover BGE pulled pork - holla!) and some Bo Ssam for Super Bowl Sunday -- and of course a Big Blue win!  OTBN, as usual, was a huge success with great friends, amazing food and some stellar wines.

Marc, Erik and Dave getting ready to carve one of the smoked ducks!

Finally we are officially into baseball season, although you wouldn't really know it.  You probably missed it that the Seattle Mariners played 2 real season games in Japan against the Oakland A's.  And yes, those games counted and pretty much no one in those markets saw the games because they were at 3am PST.  But somehow MLB Network and ESPN are advertising "Opening Day" for this upcoming week.  

I think it was a disaster all around because the Mariners have now gone back to playing pre-season games after playing 'real' games.  Huh?  One of the many reasons I, along with many others, continue to think Bud Selig is a schmuck.  But hey - Go Yanks!

Before I forget, special congrats to my awesome coach, Kim, for her awesome performance in Texas this morning in her Ironman!

2012: New Year, New Goals, and NE 70th Still Sucks

Well it’s definitely been awhile since the blog has been put into use.  Most of the blogging towards the end of last year was around running and after NYC, I really needed to detach from all things related to running for a bit.  The timing of NYC works out well for that because you have about 7 weeks until the end of the year to start fresh. 

Then I got superstitious with Big Blue starting to get on their winning streak, so I decided that my blogging would definitely have an effect on how the Giants would do in the playoffs.  Clearly it worked.  That also delayed the inaugural blog entry for 2012.

We have been doing some cooking along the way so I am going to break up the blog entries into where I am at with my running, and then write a separate one about the Giants along with the culinary experiments taking place in Chez Beck.   All in all, 2011 was an excellent year on so many fronts and we were so fortunate to share those good times with great family and friends. 

So many positive things happened in 2011 but I knew that I needed to figure out what I could improve upon in 2012.

The more I thought about it, the more I kept going back to my nutrition strategy and how it played a huge role in both marathons I laced up for in 2011.  One of the takeaways from running a marathon was understanding that while a marathon is twice the length of a half-marathon, it doesn’t exactly work like that from a fitness and nutrition perspective.  It’s almost as though you’re running 17 or 18 miles in the 2^nd half as opposed to running 13 miles.

Continuing on the nutrition theme, I also decided that I started focusing on marathon nutrition strategy only when I decided I was going to run a full.  While that seems logical, it takes awhile to figure out what works and what does not work as you exert yourself for longer periods of time.  So I got some guidance, which has worked so far.

I made a commitment to start early in the season on assessing how I could have more energy later on in the marathon distance.  Even though I will not be building up to long (16+ miles) for at least a couple of months, I want to get my body used to certain fueling strategies early on.  The benefit will be that when I ramp up my mileage that the tweaks should hopefully be minimal to keep the energy levels consistent in a marathon.

Other things to work on – increasing upper body strength and mobility via Crossfit, more “business” massages (aka – nothing relaxing, but productive), sticking with the heart rate zone training with Kim at TNMultisports.

The past couple of weeks have been really positive on the training front, and I feel like my fitness is close to where I’d hope it would be after the break.  Also when you get some of these runs in with friends to laugh and chat about life, that’s a double win.

Today’s run was listed as a strength workout mixed in with a long run.  READ: HILLS.  That called for me to dust out the plan for NE 70^th.  The last time I did 70^th was on some hill repeats last year with Melissa and Meagan of NW Crossfit.  I recruited CP to join in the fun since she destroyed me and drew blood (no, really!) the previousTuesday during a track workout.  

Well this morning’s run didn’t disappoint in terms of the suckage factor on NE 70^th and I think we were just relieved to gut it out.  This was one of those runs where the overall pace didn’t matter and finishing did.  Um, a round of ice baths for everyone.  Yippee!  

This Weekend….

What I disliked about this weekend:

• Seahawks winning. Ironically my hatred of the Seahawks and their fans was increased exponentially by a bandwagon Seahawks fan, who tried to convince me that "Seattle plays by the rules. They don't skirt them. In the recent past, they seem to have followed the highest ethics and tried to do things the right way." Yeah, ok. Pete Carroll is a shining example of playing by the rules (see Bush, Reggie – I am sure Pete didn't know a thing and I love how he left USC, including the players he recruited, with a bunch of penalties without any real punishment for himself) and holding his players accountable with this quote:
  • "I'm not disappointed in a guy being in a donut when they've got maple bars like Top Pot has," coach Pete Carroll said. "However, under the circumstances I think they were closed or they were trying to closed or something like that. "So that's definitely one we talked about it, and he's most remorseful about it and all that. I do understand the allure of the maple bars."
  • I wouldn't even care about what Pete did, except for the sanctimonious claim by my friend about the perceived purity and goodness of the Seahawks organization. For the record, I think all professional sports teams cheat on some level. Sad, but true.
• KC being outmatched by the Ravens. Snooze fest in the 2^nd half. Was KC's offense so anemic because of the Charlie Weis media frenzy about going to be the offensive coordinator of the Florida Gators?
• Most importantly, what happened in Arizona and the aftermath.
  • The shooting itself and the deaths of people who wanted to peacefully participate in the political process.
  • "Reputable" news organizations on both sides of the political spectrum prematurely reporting events that had to be horrifying to the families involved. Yes, the news is breaking minute-by-minute, but evaluate your sources and their credibility. The focus to be first to report has trumped being responsible.
  • The pundits on both sides trying to score points whether it is on hateful speech, gun rights, etc. without knowing anything about the suspect. How about taking a leadership role in bringing down the rhetoric instead of increasing it, huh?

What I liked about this weekend:

• Our government leaders (again: credit to BOTH sides) actually acting in a constructive way to not over-react, thinking through their responses to the public and praying for the families of those involved. I hope that line of thinking continues. Gotta hope, right?
  • I also happen to think that the vitriol in politics is too much now. It turns me off as it discourages helpful discussion around the real issues facing the country and how to work together to solve them.
• First proper stairs workout in my life (325 steps up * 4 rounds – wow!) and then a quick visit to Crossfit after. Thanks, TN Multisports!
• Saturday's football games. Both close until the end. Rex and the Jets putting their money where their mouths are. I'm probably in the minority amongst Giants fans about liking Rex. And what the heck was Jim Caldwell thinking with that timeout call in the last minute of the game?! Peyton Manning's face when that happened said it all in terms of what he thought of the call.
• Marshawn Lynch's run – absolute determination. Buffalo Bills fans are crying in their beer.

UPDATE: Friend from Buffalo responded by saying, ""Bills fans are crying in their beer?" Nah...Fabulous run, Marshawn, but you're still a thug! Seattle fans, you can keep him!!"

• A guarantee of a QB controversy in Seattle now that Matt Hasselbeck realizes he actually has to work to keep his job. Hasn't played consistently well for a long time, although he was excellent yesterday afternoon. Will the Seahawks go for the local boy in the draft, Jake Locker, who has been coached for the past 2 years by a Carroll disciple – Steve Sarkisian?
• Most importantly, awesome food and wine with great friends.

We'll see how the GB-PHI game turns out to assess whether it goes into the like or dislike column for the weekend.

Does Everyone Automatically Default To Cheering For The Underdog?*

Question: Do you always cheer for the underdog if "your team" is out of contention (that is where the asterisk comes in)? If you don't have time to read the whole blog post, just skip to the comments and answer the question if you don't mind.

Most of you know that I grew up in NY, which means that I am a Yankees fan and a Giants (football) fan. Some people out here have tried to get me to switch those primary allegiances to Seattle teams, but most people know better. That also means that I actively cheer against division rivals such as the Cowboys, Red Sox, Rays, and the Eagles.

I have been having a debate with a friend (I'll call him "Tony") about cheering for the underdog, which started out of my pronouncement that there was no way in hell that I would be cheering for the Seahawks this weekend. Let me clear, "Tony" is not one of the people who has said "cheer for the Mariners because they are nice guys". He has his primary allegiances, too – one of which is one of the above mentioned rivals, no less! We have debated about our shared division, etc., and have agreed when both of our respective teams have sucked or performed well (or if the other person's team sucked or performed well).

Even though I have happily resided in Seattle for the past 8 years, the only local team that I have been remotely interested in cheering for has been the Seattle Sounders. The fan base for that team is consistently engaged and very knowledgeable about the sport. I have made my dislike for the Mariners organization and their fans well known here and here. I haven't talked too much about the Seahawks, and my disdain for the team and their fans. Let's leave the Sonics out of the equation for now.

We are in football playoff season so now we're in crunch time. I am more disappointed in the Giants choking than anything and I don't think they deserved a playoff spot. Let's make that clear. But something happened for the 1^st time ever. A team with a losing record made the playoffs by winning their division – and yes, that would be the Seattle Seahawks. While I think it is lame that the Seahawks made the playoffs with a losing record, I understand why every division needs to have a seat at the table.

What I think is a disgrace is that a team that has won 4 more games, the New Orleans Saints, has to travel across the country to a team that has a losing record. Yes, it is the current system but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed to reward teams that win more games (you can add in strength of schedule, etc., but at least it is more of a meritocracy). Furthermore the Saints managed to win 11 games in a division that also holds the #1 seed for the NFC, and the 3^rd place team won 10 games! Clearly the talent was in the NFC South this season! I can only hope that the competition committee changes things in the offseason to seed the 4 division winners and 2 wildcards that rewards talent and consistency as opposed to mediocrity. Sorry – winning your division with a 7-9 record is mediocrity and even that's a stretch when you have a losing record.

Anyway Tony and I have been having a debate this week about me not cheering for the Seahawks. I am going to do my best to not exclude context to be fair to him, but I am not going to include all of the text because it's a lot. LOL.

["Tony" – if you're reading this, and you feel I misrepresented you, I apologize. That is not my intent.]

Some statements from "Tony":

• "Finally, most people root for the underdogs in games like these. i can't imagine why anyone not from New Orleans could possibly want the Super Bowl Champs from last year to win. What a great story ... if the Hawks could win!!!"
  
• "What I don't get is why you would actively root against your current home town? It is so exciting to be in a town with the buzz of a winner, especially if your team is out. That is why I cannot fathom how you could root for the Saints."
  
• "Oh come on. You are saying you don't want a positive buzz in your home city because the fans are fair weather? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face..."
  
• "And [sic] i still don't understand why the prospect of excitement...in this city...the city you live in...regardless of how fair weather you believe the fans to be...would want you to be actively against this team."
  
• "I think you are completely wrong. Most people root for the underdog and will root for the Seahawks. They ALWAYS root for the underdog."
  

To add some additional context and I am hoping that this makes it more fair to "Tony", I have made it clear that Seattle fans are fairweather – see above. And to be fair, I think "Tony" meant to say "home city" as opposed to "home town" since he knows where I am from. So please disregard that distinction. And my disdain for Seahawks fans started when the Giants played here a few years ago and lost by 3 points, and the Seahawks fans went around saying they crushed the Giants. Whether it is bitterness or not, the reality is that the arrogance of the fan base turned me off to the Seahawks for the forseeable future.

So now we are having this debate on Facebook and now I am asking you – do you always cheer for the underdog if "your team" is out of contention?

I happen to disagree with "Tony" that most people will tend to root for the underdog and in this weekend's case, will root for the Seahawks (BTW, this excludes Seahawks fans from the conversation since that is "your team"). Here is why:

• Pre-scandal, Tiger Woods had tons of fans cheering for him to break Jack Nicklaus' Grand Slam record. Ironically, I was not one of those people because even before he became a regular on the NY Post front page, I thought he acted like a petulant brat. But there is no denying his endorsement abilities and the fan base that enjoyed watching his talents on the golf course. Tiger may be an underdog now, but he had plenty of people in his corner wanting to watch greatness happen and to say that "they were there".
  
• I do not know many people who were cheering for Virginia Tech (the lower ranked team) in the Orange Bowl when they played Stanford. There was so much authentic buzz around Harbaugh and Luck's next move that people wanted to see them dominate. I also think that people think that athletes actually go to class and are held accountable at Stanford as opposed to most D-1A schools.
  
• I do not think people are going to be cheering for Green Bay because they are the lower seed against Philadelphia. My thoughts on Michael Vick aside – there are many people who have some very strong feelings about his past actions (and rightfully so), and wish him nothing but failure. The positive thoughts for GB outside of Wisconsin are probably more about hoping the Eagles lose than GB winning.
  
• People want compelling match-ups as they move forward in the playoffs. They want higher caliber play. Do they always get it? No. But that's what the fans want. And the NFL doesn't want blow-outs as the advertising rates increase throughout the playoffs. As another friend of mine said, who ironically is a fan of a baseball rival of mine, "they [Seahawks] played like crap all year and are being rewarded for being only slightly less crappy than the Rams." We'll call him "Dustin". LOL.
  
• I managed to get home in the 6^th inning of Roy Halladay's no hitter in the playoffs this year. I am no Phillies fan, but I have a lot of respect for Halladay and how he dominated the AL East – probably the strongest offensive division in baseball. I was cheering for Halladay and pacing while I watched him achieve this feat. Sometimes you cheer for a specific player. Halladay happens to be one of those players for me. And I am happy he gets to compete for the post-season (realistically it wasn't going to happen for him with the Blue Jays) because he is one of the best over the past decade.
  
• Has anyone met the marketing arms of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Manchester United, Liverpool, Los Angeles Lakers or the Dallas Cowboys? Yeah, those are some dumb people how they somehow have converted millions to cheer for those teams all over the world (and aren't hometown fans).
  

Now these are examples and I can cite many more. "Tony" can make legitimate arguments countering the above bullets, but my point is that who you cheer for is not always an exact science. Sometimes it is about the underdog (like Oregon vs. Auburn). Sometimes it is about a perceived injustice (like Arkansas vs. Ohio State). I became a Drew Brees fan on March 14, 2006 when he signed with the New Orleans Saints after being with the San Diego Chargers. I was actually at the game in SD when he dislocated his shoulder against the Broncos. That's when AJ Smith decided to go with arrogant and obnoxious Philip Rivers and cut ties with Brees. What Brees has done since on and off the field has been nothing short of incredible.

So based on the lameness of Seattle fans – not just mine, but many other Seattle transplants who have experienced crazy fandom, I am not cheering for the Seahawks. They don't deserve my passion. Maybe they don't need it. I don't care. As "Dustin" said:

"I like "authentic buzz" which you don't get around here (except with the Sounders). I was turned off for good when I realized that the only cheering you ever get in Safeco is that which is prompted by the scoreboard or the hydro races on the centerfield screen. For all the enthusiasm of some fans here, the sports IQ is terrible (even this morning one radio host talking about how it would be great to have "a couple of more home games" if the Seahawks win this one on Saturday!). I have a different tack on the fans here though - I think they are not demanding enough. Ownership of these teams has been lame for years and the fans do not make them accountable enough. Fans are getting hosed but they don't seem to notice or care."

There you go. If you're still with me, just answer if you always default to cheering for the underdog if you have no skin in the game (i.e., your team is out of contention).

Baseball, Football and Working Out Some Kinks

Baseball season is in full swing, and the Yankees have gotten off to a strong start. I typically don't put much stock in the April standings given that over the past 5 years in the AL East, both the Orioles and the Blue Jays were comfortably in 1^st place by the end of the month. By the All-Star Break, both teams were well out of the race for the division. I know the Red Sox faithful are debating whether to jump off of one of the many bridges that go over the Charles River, but I don't think they should worry. After all, the Yanks got off to a slow start last year and it seemed to work out well for them. Of course, I would love for the Sox to have a bad year.

The insanity that was the NFL Draft took place this past weekend. As a Giants fan, I do care about who they pick up but it's hard to say now if the draft is considered a "good one" for Big Blue. You tend not to know these things until a few years from now. I will say that the biggest shock of the year came in for Marc's team when the Denver Broncos drafted Tim Tebow from the University of Florida (and my brother-in-law's alma mater). Many reasons existed why Tebow was a high risk pick even though he had tremendous success on the college level and is considered a "good character" guy. Whatever. He's not a Giant, but I do hope he is successful in the NFL. Myron Rolle, too. If you haven't read his story yet, you should – it includes being a top player in college football AND being a Rhodes Scholar.

I had 2 runs scheduled for last week. Did one of them a day later than scheduled because of some other commitments, and it went pretty well. I always try and learn something new on a run in terms of something I should try again and something I should stay away from until I am more prepared to take it on. I did 7 miles on Thursday and as mentioned last week, my upcoming race is on a flat course, so I was at Greenlake again doing a couple of laps. I was trying to hit a specific pace without hitting my lactate threshold. Was mostly successful except for the very end because I slacked in mile 5 and went a little slower than I should have. Oh well. Lesson to pay more attention, but overall a solid run with some good lessons learned.

Yesterday I had 8 miles with Coach Lesley and the gang. I was excited because the start was right near the house, which means I can sleep later – woo woo! I felt kind of sluggish for the 1^st couple of miles keeping up with 2 of my friends that I was slated to run part of the way with. The wind definitely didn't help either, but at least the forecasted rain came in earlier than expected, so we didn't have to deal with that. I ended up settling into a decent pace and probably felt better in the last 2 miles than I did in the beginning of the run. Maybe the fact that I was done with the Stone Way climb helped.

But being the glutton for punishment that I am, I wanted to get to at least 8 miles. That meant going up the hill towards the house. So nothing like trying to sprint out the last quarter of a mile of a run up a hill – even if it was relatively small compared to other ones that I run regularly. As soon as the run stopped and I was walking back to the house, I felt something "squishy" on the bottom of the my foot. Uh oh.

Thinking I had a blister, I immediately reached out to Lesley for some advice. Well it was more like an "SOS". I have been very fortunate on the injury front for some time (knock wood please), so I wasn't sure what to do about this. We eventually figured out it is a 'hotspot', so for now, we are icing the foot. 36 hours later, it is a heck of a lot better but this is going to need some TLC from now until Sunday.

I'd also like to take this time to wish my friends who are running in races next week the best of luck – they are in events in New Jersey, Eugene (OR), Lincoln (NE), San Francisco, Vancouver (BC) and Long Island (NY).
OK folks, game time approaching…. Wish me luck! I hope I am ready!