The Coffee Bandit

Having escaped the fires of Yosemite (not really, see my last post), we made the long drive back across California to the Monterey Bay. Grabbed some quick groceries and ice at Trader Joe's before heading up to Compagno's Deli. Little did we know how much of a local legend this place was. The place is covered in marine nameplates, hats, memorabilia galore-- and the beer selection is stocked for those returning from overseas. The sandwiches were enormous and delicious, and then the owner Bennet gave us a slice of the best PB & Chocolate pie I've ever had. From there we drove out to the 17-Mile-Drive along Pebble Beach, with these disgustingly large houses & pristine golf courses. Stopped at the clubhouse, but we weren't exactly dressed for a drink at the 18th green pub. So, onwards to Carmel, which was a cute little town on the shore up on a hill. Spent some time on the beach and at a coffee shop before the final drive of the day: down California-1, the Pacific C...

Yosemite National Park is famously the area that began the concept for the National Park system. It is arguably the most beautiful National Park, and certainly the most talked about, especially in the news this past week. One of the things I happened to learn last week on a hike is that fires are natural to areas like Yosemite and need to occur for the life cycle of the trees and vegetation to continue. The beautiful political combination of sequestration & global warming in this "Rim Fire" story is what's making it big news. But I should note before continuing-- No, we were nowhere near the fires. We did not see them, feel them, or get engulfed by them. They really got going the day after we left.

The drive from Oregon to I-5 started with an hour of back roads through wide open prairies, with a nice view of Mount Shasta for a bit. From there, our first stop in California was, of course, an In-and-Out Burger. Definitely didn't go an hour out of the way, no, definitely not. We then spent the night just south of Napa, before going to Wine Country on Wednesday morning.

Going from a park to a town or city on a trip means certain obvious changes—both positive and negative. Better eating choices, but pricier. Better sleeping surfaces, but you have to deal with your hostel roommates snoring all night. Our time in Oregon was spent mostly in towns (Newport & Klamath Falls) and the city of Portland, with the four hour exception of Crater Lake National Park on Monday.

When you go walking by night up a street and a man, visible a long way off-- for the street mounts uphill and there is a full moon-- comes running towards you, well, you don't catch hold of him, not even if he is a feeble and ragged creature, not even if someone chases yelling at his heels, but you let him run on.  For it is night, and you can't help it if the street goes uphill before you in the moonlight, and besides, these two have maybe started that chase to amuse themselves, or perhaps they are both chasing a third, perhaps the first is an innocent man and the second wants to murder him and you would become an accessory, perhaps they don't know anything about each other and are merely running separately home to bed, perhaps they are night birds, perhaps the first man is armed.  And anyhow, haven't you a right to be tired, haven't you been drinking a lot of wine? You're thankful that the second man is now long out of sight.  - Franz Kafka, Meditation...

Seattle is known as a windy, rainy city. Yet, for the twenty hours we spent there, the skies were blue and open. My flight landed at a quarter past ten, and Danielle and I explored Pike Place, the Waterfront, and Belltown during the afternoon and evening. Later, we had drinks (& skeeball) on 2nd Ave with friends Doch made from Scotland and Australia. Morning after, had breakfast at the hostel before catching a ferry across the Sound to the Olympic Peninsula. Very chilly and windy on the boat, but still sunny and with great views of the coast. From there, we had a two hour drive towards Port Angeles and Hurricane Ridge. The road crossed a few more rivers and had plenty of forest and lakes for scenery. After the Olympic Visitor Center in Port Angeles, we had about an 18 mile climb up to the ridge. Believe it or not, I was a little jealous of the cyclists riding up. We did some summitting of our own at the top, garnering some amazing views of the snowy peaks of the Ridg...

I am nothing if not consistent. With my hopes and claims of a daily blog foiled, I'll have to try my best to do a recap of the week after the fact. The links on riding days go to Strava, which is a run/ride tracking site where you can check out the elevations charts and my speedz. The mileage next to the day is self-explanatory (I hope), and the feet climbed are vertical. If you want to see the cue sheets themselves, the data is here on Ride with GPS . Saturday, or as I like to call it, Day 0, was the bus ride up to Burlington, VT. I left my ride packet (with all my cue sheets for the week) on a bench in front of Waterfront Park. Very slick way to start the week, indeed. We sleept in the University of Vermont's dorms that night, which was different. I don't miss dorm rooms. In the evening, Pops and I walked into town to Church Street, Burlington's pedestrian-only bar/restaurant/random-street-performer boulevard. Ate at Sweetwater's with the team, and even had a fe...

I'm on a coach bus pulling into Burlington at the moment. I'm thinking about trying to keep up with the ride this year thru Bolgger-- maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I figured to start, I'd post the annual letter I wrote this year to donor-hopefuls. And hey, if you're reading this, go donate some money! I still have to meet my minimum! Without further ado: "Hello everyone, I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits, and you are enjoying the beginning of your summers! I write to you today seeking your support for the Anchor House-- a charity for which I've raised funds in the last four years. To the many of you who have donated to me in the past, my thanks go out to you yet again. For those of you who have not, or don't know exactly what this letter is about, please allow me to explain. In just under four weeks (July 13th), I will head north on a bus from Waterfront Park in Trenton, NJ to Burlington, VT with my Dad & about 200 other rid...

the Interior , a (small) set on Flickr. My favorites from our trip last Summer.

Before I ran the marathon on Sunday, I made a playlist for myself to listen to. I combined songs from parts of all the playlists I'd made for my last eight long runs into one big one, 3:59:38 long on race day. Having finished in just under 3:40 , I didn't listen to the whole thing. I skipped some songs, and just didn't get to some. I decided to post my playlist-- if you're curious to listen, it's below. I chose to upload on 8tracks over Soundcloud because the latter's website is totally unnavigable, but ended up getting stymied anyway by 8track's limit of two songs per artist per playlist. Not that anyone would have listened to all four hours. So, this is a condensed version.. only 2:15. Or alternatively, it's my marathon playlist if I were to have almost won the Marathon itself. And the $8,000 prize.  It's a combination of newer rocks and hip hops, with some classic rocks in there as well. Also not necessarily safe for work, unless you've g...

One year ago this Sunday, I crossed the Monongahela River on mile 11 of my first half marathon. As I looked over to the other side of the Birmingham Bridge, I saw the other portion of the field-- the marathoners. Who were only half-way done. There was only word on my mind at that moment: "never". And yet, five months later, I won free marathon registration ($90 value!) at the Great Race 10K expo. From then on, the only phrase on my mind was "why not"?  So, I did. Or, more accurately: I will. This Sunday (Cinco de Mayo), downtown Pittsburgh, 7am. I felt like for my first ever marathon, actually training during the Spring would be a great idea if I want to be confident in finishing. Back in December, I sat down with a Hal Higdon Novice 2 program and molded it a bit for my schedule. Came up with this training plan , which is the blue line below. The red line represents the actual training I did. All in miles: TOO MUCH VARIANCE! But, the gaps! I can expl...