"Into the Wild"

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I am here in Denver, CO still.  I was in town for the Denver Danskin.
These events are always good for first time triathlons because of the short distances.

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I finished the great book, "Into the Wild."  You have to have an open mind when reading this book.  Some people see him, "Chris" as an adventurous individual attempting to live off of the land and give up everything that we as a society need.  He came from an excellent background, and made his own personal choices to live off of the land.  If you read about the book that basically covers the whole book.  The rest of it is filled with facts mainly from the original publish in Outside Magazine that really made the book possible in the first place.  Some people think that he was reckless and ignorant and died for being an idiot and too cocky.
I guess you have to read Into the Wild and make your own decision about how "life" is lived and perceived.  In my personal opinion, I thought that this was a fantastic read!

Magellan Triton 400 Handheld GPS

The YouTube Video is on the 500, I purchased the 400. The only difference was the Altimeter and Barometer. The GPS already shows you elevation and the (true) likely hood that I would use it is kinda low. I bought this item for several reasons.

Reason number 1: Geocaching (its more convenient than you could ever imagine.
Reason number 2: Hiking, I love the fact that you can just run a muck, I mean (explore) and the GPS will basically leave bread crumbs for you to follow back to where you came from :)

I will be going to France in about three weeks now and I will be a Tour De France whore! YES!!! I am scared and excited at the same time! I am going with the one I love and finally FINALLY put some stamps in our passports that we have had for so long now!


Magellan Triton 500 Handheld GPS

YouTube - Magellan Triton 500 Handheld GPS

Minnesota Winter vs Summer

A lot of people complain about MN because of the incredible winters and the harshness that comes with it.
Then summer comes, and the mosquitoes come out and attack the life out of you!  So they can't wait for winter to come back again to kill off the mosquitoes.
When I landed in the airport a few days ago there was a shirt that said (Bite Me)
with a picture of a mosquito on it.  I didn't get it at first, but now I am back at the airport and it makes more sense than I want to personally relate it to!
Here are some more pics from this weekend.

Legendary Comedian George Carlin Dies - AOL News

Legendary Comedian George Carlin Dies

Legendary Comedian George Carlin Dies - AOL News

 
I wonder if he went to Heaven or Hell?

Duluth, MN

If you recognize this name it would only be for several reasons. You are an Iditarod Trail sled junkie, you knew that "The Good Son" cliff scene was filmed here, or you are a Marathoner and have heard of the Grandma's Marathon.
I originally came into this town with almost no feeling about participating in this event. As always though, my good friend Nate is able to help me find that motivation to run another half marathon or whatever the case maybe at the event that we are at. In this situation it was either the half or a full. Since I just ran the San Diego Full, I decided not to attempt another full just "yet."
Either way, I find that this event seems to be more of a hassle in the first place. There are a lot of restrictions and rules that a lot of runners might find annoying. As I read on RunningEvents
that if you even think of running with music, you would get you banned. Usually since I am a sponsor we are allowed to run these events, last minute or not. In this event for the first time I was told no. So I did not run a half marathon this weekend.
This was a personal issue, but Something that I am not used to and or complain about on my blog, since I attempt to keep my blog pretty high tempo. and up beat. So by the end of the day I pretty much just pushed it to the side knowing that I truly do not need anymore stress in my life. especially in situations that I think that I can control when I really cannot.
But what made me feel really bad was later in the day.
I got into the elevator going from the 9th floor working my way down with random stops picking up other passengers. The elevator stops at floor five and in comes a nice lady. I saw her look me up and down as most people do when they enter elevators. she then proceeded to ask me if I had run the Grandmas Marathon. I told her no, that I had wanted to, but they wouldn't let me. I was not wanting to go into my cry baby details, so I changed the subject and asked her how her race had gone. I don't know what the time limit is, but she began to tell me that she finished the race, that they "let" her. But they cut her number so she wouldn't count because she was too slow.
Maybe this happens in other marathons, I just had never seen it first hand. I did feel really bad for her.
What I do like about Duluth, MN is the country... I did get a small amount of time to explore it first hand while geocaching the small town.

My Weekend Off

I actually had a weekend off!
I pretty much did not do anything less than next to being a bum all day. I do find it difficult to go from full speed ahead to zero in 2.3 seconds, or something like that.
A lot of people never know that I am in town in the first place, so for awhile I kinda find myself sitting in my house not doing anything.
I try to read, but become distracted. I'll go for a jog, but this Texas heat steals my breathe. So if I decide to sleep in and not run early in the morning, then there goes that opportunity. I do the obvious (geocaching) with friends and family, which is good since I never get to see my family!

Anyway. I am already beginning my work week and I am flying out to Chicago right now. To finish off at Duluth, MN. I'll take pics and let you know how that Marathon goes.
Oh yeah,
I began to read a book called "Into the Wild"
I am more than half way through and probably should be finishing up very soon.
Here is a quote from the book....
"Because we are cable of dieing, is what makes life so beautiful"
In all honesty, I think I misquoted it... but it is something of that aspect. I think you get the jist! ;)



Crocs - Events

YouTube - Mario Cipollini on camera

I don't care what language this is in, this is STILL funny!

Mario Cipollini on camera

YouTube - Mario Cipollini on camera

Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions - NYTimes.com

Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.

Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions - NYTimes.com

Sports?

I have had this discussion before in the past with friends and or strangers about cycling, running, swimming.  SOME people feel that it's not a sport because there is no contact or that there are only a select few that compete in these events.
I guess it just depends what side of the tracks that you are standing on when this topic comes up.  So I met a guy this weekend that told me that he likes to jump on/over/under things, almost Jackie Chan style.  He "claims" that it's a sport now.  With MY personality I wanted to see what his jumping/climbing/ and all of his sillyness combined was all about.
So he gave me a demonstration.

As I watched him to back flips and other tricks that easily reminded me of Jackie Chan, he can now have my vote that his passion is a sport.  ;)

My Drive Home...

I found this pic on my camera.  I took this in Chicago a couple of months ago, but it reminds me of how silly I can be at times.
I am working my way home from Austin when I pull over and decide to gas up.  I see these old school Coke bottles and thought that it would be fun to purchase one.
I am driving my six hour drive back to Edinburg, and begin to get a little bit thirsty.  I then reach over for my Coke can and as hard as I try it does not unscrew!
This really was an original style Coke bottle and I could not remove the lid without the device that comes with it!
So I basically sat in the car, staring at the Coke bottle until I had to gas up again and just went ahead and bought a gatorade!  :)

Austin Danskin

I drove up to this event to mix it up a little bit.  It's weird how when you drive all the time, you want to fly, and then when you fly all the time, you want to drive.  This was my last opportunity to drive to an event since my house is located so far away from everything else.  When the tour comes back near the end of the year for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon I hopefully will drive up for this!  The whole time that I was in Austin for the Danskin people kept talking about how they are already pumped up for the SA Rock & Roll!
Here is a past picture of me stopping at mile 9 to say hello to someone very special!

While I was in Austin this weekend, I of course went out to sixth street. 


This weekend was Philips last weekend with me.  He is moving to another tour that focuses on concerts, this is a great opportunity for him since music is more his passion than running, or endurance sports for that matter.  He has been to 40 different countries, so I hope when we meet up again, that it will be overseas to some random city located somewhere on the globe.

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San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon Photos

Bobby Overton, ran/walked with me most of the way.  I had excellent field support also!

From the wise words of my good friend Patrick (The Stick Guy) talking to my g.f.
"The reason I like Stephen, is because he is not afraid to try something new"
What he meant by that, is that I am probably a big dummy for running yet another marathon without training  again!   :(     He was one of the large factors that peer pressured me into running the Honolulu Marathon 6 months ago.

I will be heading out to Austin early in the morning tomorrow.  I might take my MTB with me and probably hit some of the local trails, this of course is all depending on my free time!

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The Prelude

Here are some pre marathon pics...
it's ok to eat a Chicken Chingaderas before a marathon right?

While at Freds Mexican Restaurant a LARGE amount of cyclists came out to promote cycling awareness!  It was pretty awesome to see!

The hotel had way a couple of pillows to help with my sleep after the Mexican Food !

At the expo I ran into another of Michael Balls Claim to Fame Rock Racing Girls.
(she's a bad ass on the bike) but face to face, she's really nice ! 

and.. last but not least... how can you have a San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon without Elvis!!?

Run the San Diego Marathon

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