I ran today at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve and the ascent up Razorback Ridge trail was great as usual. However, the descent down Hamms Gulch had an unpleasant surprise. Apparently the park has decided to take water drainage measures to the extreme and literally bulldozed at least 50 giant troughs throughout the trail. For the downhill runner, this amounts to 50+ speed bumps that totally upset the rhythm and really become annoying about midway down the trail. I appreciate the park’s maintenance of trails, but this seemed excessive and overkill. After all, the Windy Hill area is not a rainforest and is not even one of the wetter spots on the Peninsula. Moreover, the trail before the bulldozing was not in bad shape and it didn’t seem like water runoff on the trail was ever a problem. In fact, I often chose to run Windy Hill after rains because it never got that muddy. I guess I will have to build in a couple more minutes for the descent or instead run up Hamms Gulch (as opposed to down) so the troughs will have less of an impact. The run itself was fun with 10.5 miles covered over 72 minutes.

Today was the last day of classes of the Fall semester! It’s unbelievable how fast it flew by. Now I have to study for one final, take it next Tuesday, and then fly home to Sammamish for the winter break!

As far as running, I had a speedy run today at Los Altos Hills even though my legs felt a little tired. I have run many days in a row now so I plan on taking tomorrow off.

Regarding school, I gave my presentation on Lease Guaranties in Real Estate Transactions and I think it went well. Now I have to put together the paper this week which should not be difficult after completing all the underlying research and getting a good start on the questions.

A racing lesson proved at the Chicago Marathon last weekend: run through the finish line! Never let up until you cross that line! Adriana Pirtea, whom I watched run while she was at UTEP and I was at running Rice, unfortunately strolled down the home stretch too casually to be narrowly beaten by Berhane Adere who came out of nowhere. She essentially blew it – especially sad because this was her debut marathon

See video of the womens finish here.

In the mens race, both Patrick Ivuti and Jauad Gharib gave everything they got, but Ivuti wound up taking it by five-hundredths of a second because of his final dash in the last few meters and lean at the tape – unbeleivable!

See men’s video here.

Photo Courtesy: Chicago Marathon

Me on the summit of Picture Peak (a self-timer image – not bad)

Here are the trip reports from the fabulous weekend at Sabrina Basin in the high Sierra!

• CascadeClimbers.com
• UW Climbing Club

Also check out my newly created gallery at SummitPost.org!

Panorama of upper Sabrina Basin with Powell Ridge (left) and Picture Peak (right)

Exercise: On Monday I returned to the gym (it has been awhile) and worked on shoulders and chest with dumbbells and cable cross-overs. I felt okay for not lifting in so long. On Tuesday I ran for 45 minutes at Arastradero preserve. It was a good run with cool temperatures and a stiff breeze.  Today I went out to Wunderlich Park and enjoyed another fantastic trail run from the base up to Skyline Blvd. It was amazing to see the weather change as I ran up the hills with clear skies and comfortable temps at the bottom to chilly fog and mist at the Skyline crest!

NBA: The Spurs demolished the Utah Jazz and are on their way to the finals. It’s tough not to like Manu Giniboli, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker.

Here is another photo as me on the Matterhorn climb at camp in the evening.

Exercise: Today I ran at Arastradero Open Space Preserve before work and felt much better than last week’s morning run at Arastradero. I’m sure part of it is that I now know where the hills are and when they end.

NBA: I haven’t been blogging much about the NBA, but the suspensions to Diaw and Stoudemire are absolutely ridiculous. The NBA all but handed the next game to the Spurs. It’s sad that the league is going to get in the way of a great series. And also, congrats to the Warriors on a great season – they accomplished a lot and it was fun to watch them play.

We have made it to Ashland, Oregon on the drive from Seattle to Palo Alto. Ashland is known for its Shakespeare Festival during the summer. We are about 14 miles from the California border. It’s unseasonably cold around here with rain showers and a chilly wind. The drive was through some nice countryside and we ate some tasty teryaki and sushi this evening. Tomorrow the plan is get an early start and make it to Stanford in time for the Cinco de Mayo celebration around 2-3 pm.