Merry Christmas to All

Christmas is here - well almost.  It's 8:00 in Utah on Christmas Eve.

Last night Amber, Susie and I went to Salt Lake for the Mannheim Steamroller concert.  This is the second time we've gone.  We went two years ago and enjoyed it immensely.  Last year we went to the Delta Center to see TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra).  It was fun, but the mood wasn't the same and I much preferred Mannheim Steamroller.  I like TSO's music, but I didn't care for their performance.

About noon today I read an email that Mel sent me on Thursday.  She had already run about 13 miles.  I hadn't run anything - well that's not quite true.  I played 3 games of racquetball and shot hoops with the young men for about 2 hours.  Some stop and go running in those events, but nothing close to what Mel did.  I also did a 4 mile walk on Wednesday during my lunch hour.  I'm into a little cross training, don't want to get to sore from just running

I responded to Mel's email with my own stating what I had done during the week.  An hour later I got a message that she had just finished up a 5 mile run in 51:10.  Way to go MEL.

I've been a competitive guy lately, it runs in the family.  I think I got it from Justin and Jason.  When we lived in California I took Mel with me and the scouts on a hike up Mt. Baldy (10,068 feet) when she was no more than 9.  All the boys took off, Mel and I just hiked at our own pace and we caught up to the troop when they all stopped at a creek for a break.  Mel wanted to keep going, so we did. Half of the scouts jumped up and ran to get ahead - can't let a 9 year old girl beat them to the top.  As we continued to hike & climb, we passed more and more of the boys.  By the time we got to the top.  The only boys that were ahead of us were Justin and Jason.  I think they would have rather died than to let their little sister beat them to the top.

So I packed up my stuff and headed to the base gym.  I spent 29 minutes on a treadmill (lots of motion, no progress - felt like a squirrel in a cage) before it crapped out so I switched to running circles around the indoor track (10 laps for 1 mile).  Now I'm making progress and running in circles is a little bit better than running in a squirrel cage, but harder to keep my speed constant.

Final result, I ran 6.3 miles in 58:10 miles.

Thank's Mel for the motivation.

Merry Christmas Feliz Navidad

You want to do What? Really? Come on, be reasonable!

It's the end of the year and I'm looking for ideas to keep me motivated and working out next year.  I know that Mel has big ideas for fun things to do, so I gave her a call.

Earlier this year she ran a half marathon.  That's 13 miles.  Now she wants to do a marathon.  Thats double the 13 - a total of 26 miles.  I've always been told that when you have a goal that you want to achieve, break it down into smaller units so that you can see progress and have bite sizes pieces to work on.  I decided to apply the idea of breaking it down into smaller steps.

26 miles = 45,760 yards

26 miles = 137,280 feet

26 miles = 1,647,360 inches

Maybe that's not such a good idea!

Fortunately Mel is a better thinker than I am.  She broke it down into weeks before the big event and activities to achieve each week.  Look at her blog to see the details.  She's working out six days a week.  Two days of cross training, 3 days of short runs (if you call 3 miles a short run) and a longer run (7 miles) on Saturday.  And that was for week two!   The shorter runs get longer and the longer runs get huge.  The marathon in on April 21.  She had 125 days to prepare.

Go Mel!

I've never run anything over a 10K (6.3 miles).  However, after talking with Mel this evening, perhaps I have a new target for 2012.  Can I train in Utah and keep up with Mel as she trains in Arkansas? Wow!  That's a big commitment.  I've started to break it down, not into feet and inches, but into time.  Can I dedicate at least an hour a day to working out and 4 or 5 hours on Saturday?

I have two weeks before the new year starts.  Two weeks to write-up my own plans and then decide on my commitment.  I'm not sure if I can put in the time and miles (I still have a life and the Grand Canyon is calling me again).  But it sure sounds like a challenge, and I've considered doing a marathon but never taken it past the 'considered' phase.

Where has the year gone

It's December 11, the month is nearly half over.  Where did 2011 go?


It's been a delightful year.  Two new grandchildren has blessed our lives and only our own precious little baby is still at home (sorry Amber, could resist rubbing it in a bit).  Amber will be off to school in a few weeks and then it's just Susie and I.


Susie, Amber and I went to Boise on Dec 3rd and met Marcus.  Cute little guy.  Definitely another keeper!  Twelve grandkids and they've all  been keepers.  They've been fun too.  If I'd known the grandkids would be so much fun, I would have had them first.
As most of you know, I spend a fair amount of time at the gym, trying to stay in shape.  This last week while I was working out in the gym when I spotted a gorgeous young lady.  I asked the trainer who was near-by: "What machine should I use to impress that sweet thing over there?"

The trainer looked me up and down and said: Try the ATM in the lobby."

Sounds like I have a lot more work to do to get in shape.  I just looked at my numbers this afternoon.  I'm now up to 161,316 calories burned off this year and I've done at least one workout every week.  Yeah! if I can just hang in there for 3 more weeks, I will have been successful in meeting that objective.

I must admit that a lot of my calories burned comes from my activities in the backcountry.  Fun things, like floating the San Juan or Green Rivers in a kayak, or hiking in Zion or Grand Canyon National Parks.  I always try to be safe, particularly in the backwoods because you never know when you might come across a bear or cougar.  Since Susie got after me a few years back for doing a solo hike on Mt Borah, I've tried to keep safety in mind.

When it comes to bears, my personal favorite bear defense gun has always been a Beretta in .22 short!   I've found over the years when hiking in bear country I never leave without it in my pocket.  Of course we all know the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the "Buddy System".

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this it means you NEVER hike alone, you bring a friend or companion, even an in-law, that way if something happens there is someone to go get help.

I remember one time hiking with my brother-in-law in southeast Idaho, up near the Tetons.  Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear and man was she MAD!  We must have been near one of her cubs.

Any way if I had not had my little Beretta I am sure I would not be here today.  Just one shot to my brother-in-law's knee cap and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.

Sorry about that.  Susie told me that I need to focus on the topic at hand and quit telling stories. However, there is a risk that if I don't pass on the stories from my internet friends I'll start telling stories about my own family.  And that might be embarrassing.  Like the time that ... ah, guess I'd better stick with the internet stories - they're safer.  Besides, I don't want my grandkids saying the same thing about me that Justin has said about his grandfather.  Before Justin got married, he told me that he needed to apologize to my dad.  As the story came out, it seems that everytime we went to Grandpa Brown's place, Grandpa told the same stories (Ah yes, I remember those stories).  Then, when Justin and I were putting a new roof on our house, Lamar, an older gentleman in our ward, came by to lend a hand.  The reason for the apology -   in less than an hour, Lamar had told Justin the same story four times!