A little dehydration can go a long way. I flirted with a little bit of it today toward the end of my run. Sometimes when I'm out there my mind starts to drift and things get a little silly. I become incapable of complete thoughts and I find myself fixating on a single noun. Today it was shoelace. Don't ask. I have no idea. I used to think this was just some sort of transcendental state you reach when you're really in the zone or whatever. Stupid. It just means you either need water or calories. I sweat like a little piggy, so usually it's water that I need. Today I think I needed both. A GU packet and some water at 7 miles got me through the last 2.5 miles and back to the car where E was already waiting. The achilles are both a little sore from all of the new exercises. No race for me this weekend. I need to stay focused on being healthy for the fall.

While on the subject of running, I have to say that I am a little disturbed by the amount of crap you can take along with you on a run these days. I'm all about preparation and taking care of yourself, but a 2-gallon size fanny pack with water bottles hanging off it really seems like overkill on a trail that has drinking fountains every 2 miles or so. Also, I feel bad for some of the folks I see out there holding a water bottle while they're running. They look completely miserable. They don't even make eye contact. It seems like they could just leave some of that stuff at home or in the car, maybe go for a shorter run and not be literally weighed down with their need to feel prepared.

I admit that I sometimes feel a little vulnerable out there on the trail. Today I had my shorts, socks, shoes, heart rate monitor, GU packet, and car key. I have no idea what could happen to me out there that I have to worry about, but I think it's safe to assume that I am prepared for nothing. Still, I know what I need to do to get me through a run and I have only had one day in the last year where I could have used a cell phone or something while I was running. My calf cramped and I had limp 2 miles back to the house. It really wasn't that big of a deal.

Also, for anyone who's interested, the new techy fabric running shirts are a total scam. As someone who sweats a lot, I should be a prime candidate for a moisture-wicking polyfiber blah blah blah shirt. After another week of running in high-90s weather, I actually bought in last summer and swiped a couple Nike Dri-Fit shirts off the clearance rack at Nike outlet in Tulare. I guess the actual experience of running in the shirts was okay. It wasn't really exceptional. I mean, a sweaty cotton shirt is about the same as a sweaty poly shirt as far as comfort, weight, etc. The major failure for the techy stuff is the stench! Holy crap! It's like the shirts have a little stank bank and every time you wear the shirt it deposits a little more stank in the bank. Then you wash it and it somehow secures the stank so that every time you wear it smells at least as bad as when you took it off last time. After trying everything I could to remove the poly pew, E actually demanded that I toss the aforementioned Nike shirts. I'm back to the best running...old race t-shirts.

Feelin' a little better about the irrigation today. Jose gave me some good advice and it seems like the whole thing is going to be a little cheaper than anticipated.

I'm digging Sean's Rock Lobster cyclocross bike. It was built in Santa Cruz. I might seriously consider unloading a couple of bikes to get one of these gems....Maybe some time in the fall when things settle down a bit. A nice handbuilt NorCal bike would be a great addition to the fleet. On the other hand, I have like 5 bikes right now and I've ridden exactly none of them this week. Or last week. If I get one, then Sean will have one (actually I think has two), Ernesto in Wisconsin will have one, and then me. We could all go ride at the same time, albeit 100s-1000s of miles apart.



For about 6 months of 2002 we were like the 3 Misfit Amigos, riding around Davis, talking shit, eating shit, and racing our bikes all over the place. Then Sean moved to SC and Ernesto (aka Karl) to the land of cheese. We still e-mail each other a lot, but it's not nearly as much fun to ride without those two knuckleheads around.

Here's a little dilemma for the weekend. Some of my teammates are trying to talk a couple more of us into a race this Sunday. The problem is that the race is only a mile and a 1-mile race is FAST! Very very fast! I haven't done anything close to fast since some time in early May. Can I get the old bones rolling for Sunday? I dunno...we shall see.

Nickel stack of funk iPod/12" single gems of the week:
"Alright" - Janet Jackson and Heavy D
"Buffalo Stance" - Neneh Cherry
"Audience Pleasers" - Organized Konfusion
"Do That There (Remix)" - Lyrics Born
"19" - Paul Hardcastle

I have to confess. Before the Tour de France started this year I was a naysayer when it came to Armstrong. I didn't think he had a chance in hell. Oops. I was rooting for Ullrich. Double oops. Now I think I might be pulling for Leipheimer just because. Still, Armstrong seems pretty unstoppable at this point. Le train bleu is killing just like 2 years ago.

Tonight I finished the irrigation plan for our backyard. I have to have my friend Jose look at it tomorrow since he knows about twice as much about irrigation as me. We want to have it installed before we head to the Northwest so that all of E's gardening effort doesn't go to waste in 110 degree heat. I think I am going to take next Tuesday off and dig all of the trenches for the lines. Those should be some exciting photos! Have I mentioned that our backyard is huge? Jose keeps saying that our backyard is the size of a neighborhood park. I think he might be right. It occurred to me at some point tonight that we might not be able to afford all of the pieces to install the entire system..pipe, wires, sprinkler, joints, marlex, nozzles, valves, valve boxes....Hmm, I guess I should check on that.

I do love my mountain bike. I was looking at it tonight while I was grilling some flank steak that E had marinated. That bike is just pure, simple function. No suspension, frame built in Santa Cruz. Ernesto so rocks for trading away that beautiful frame to me. I think I might go all out and turn it into a singlespeed, but not until we get back from Oregon. It would be a little tough to ride with Erin on her full suspension bike if I'm smoking up the hills in one gear and teeth chattering every descent while she bombs them.

Today was an easy run, just 20 minutes and some core strengthening and achilles exercises. The old achilles tendons are finally starting to come around. Tomorrow I have to run for an hour and at a pretty good pace. I honestly can't wait. I haven't been this stoked on running probably ever.

This weekend we're heading to E's mom's place in Sonoma Co. I have to go up there for work on Saturday. I helped design this garden that's opening next weekend to much fanfare and this weekend I have to head up there and make sure everything is ready to go.

This is certainly not the deepest thought ever, but Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" is just mind blowing. His playing is so crisp and honest and perfect. I never get tired of it. I can listen to it over and over.

It's damn near midnight.

Strike three and I'm out like trout.

Yesterday, more sushi for lunch and another run along the American River Trail. This time it was 10min warm up / 20min @ tempo / 20min cool down. I ran the tempo at about 6:30 pace. Both semi-imjured achilles are feeling tons better thanks to this eccentric calf exercise E found on the web.

After the run we went to La Fiesta on Alhambra. It's owned by the same folks that own La Favorita, the best taqueria in Sac. La Fiesta is a little less cool. The dinner menu is a bit limited and they have fewer agua fresca choices. Still, it was good stuff.

I woke up this morning to the news of bombings in London. It's impossible to stop that kind of attack. How do you stop someone if they have a bomb in their backpack?

Also, Judith Miller's still in jail. I wonder how the ACLU has come down on this one. She's not a journalist, she's a storyteller for the crazies.

Marty is probably still on the east side, climbing near Mammoth. I wonder what the weather is like over there this morning.

A couple weeks ago Erin and I went and saw Digable Planets at this club called Empire in Sactown. The place kinda sucks. It's a total police state in there. The place is crawling with bouncers. Anyway, the show was great. The DPs rocked it and their DJ was nice, too, even if he was wearing a Lakers jersey. It was the first time I remember going to a show where the artists hadn't released any new material in a decade. Even John Fogerty had released a new record when I saw him back in '96. It occurred to me that all of my favorite hip hop acts are getting old. I might just go see the Gift of Gab or Outkast when they're pushing 60. Hell, Neil Young is still rad with his AARP membership card. I've no doubt that Gab will be, too.

Hello. This is my blog.

There are a lot of different things that might creep into the text around here. Music. Bicycles. Running. Design. Politics. Family. If you know me you are not surprised that I might be down to talk about these things.

We'll see how I do with actually keeping up on this.

A little about my day...

I woke up late and got to work even later.
I had sushi for lunch.
Again.
Spicy salmon roll.
Again.

After work I went for a run along the American River Trail. 45min @ 150HR and then 4x100m strides at the CSU Sacramento practice track. I don't know what I'd do without that trail. When asked about the importance of public parks, Getty Museum garden designer Bob Irwin said that without Central Park, New York City would be uninhabitable. I kind of feel that way about the American River Trail in Sacramento. That 40-some-odd miles of paved paths with people running, walking, and riding their bikes is absolutely the coolest thing about living here.

Albums of the past 6 months:
-"Orange Rhyming Dictionary" Jets To Brazil
-"The Evens" s/t
-"Same Shit, Different Day" Lyrics Born
-"Organized Konfusion" s/t
-"1,000 Kisses" Patty Griffin

Song of the week:
"We Belong Together" Mariah Carey (no joke - i love that song)

I talked to my man Steve the other night. He's up in Arcata, chilling with the lumberjacks and dirty hippies. I still haven't been to that town, though we're plannng to be up there in 3 weeks or so. I know it's beautiful but it seems a little small for my taste. Once I was talking to Steve on the phone and he sounded like his nose was clogged. He said he had caught a cold. "Most of the town's sick," he continued. Huh? Most of the town's sick?! "Yeah, sometimes a few people will get sick and then half the town catches a cold at the same time." That's some small town relations that I have never experienced.

Anyway, Steve is up there because he loves fish. He studies, counts, draws, catches, and eats them. He could be doing a lot of things. I might be the one with the graphic-based job, but he kicks my ass on the drawing table. Instead, he chose the outdoors and now he's doing the fish thing, running as many miles as he can, working when he can, and mostly just living. I don't get to see him as often as when we lived in the same house or town or area code, but that's alright.

Since high school, some of my friends have done some crazy things. Dreams and goals have pulled us in all kinds of directions, to various time zones and levels of financial stability. Married with babies, living in a warehouse in New Orleans and repairing bicycles, flying to Uganda to help make documentaries, getting Phds, succeeding in the New York art world, moving to London to teach, running an urban gardening program, creating special effects in Hollywood...

I could go on and on. One thing I realized recently is that I am getting worse and worse about keeping up with everyone. 6 or 7 months go by and I have no idea how some folks are doing. It's July, damn it! I haven't talked to most of my friends since the holidays or before! I'm going to keep writing here on this site. I'm hoping that this site can create a place for a bunch of my friends to check in with what I am doing. Maybe they'll feel compelled to comment and relate what they're doing and I'll start hearing from everyone a little more often. I'm reachin'...