What a great day to ride!   Got a call from my buddy ‘DirtBikeMike’ last night.  He had a free day and wanted to ride.  Can’t think of a better way to spend a Wednesday, but riding trails.  It was perfect, dry trails, cool, overcast.  SWEET!

Click the pics for fullsize.

What an AWESOME place to run!   As planned, I flew to Las Angeles, met up with my buddies for the weekend and we drove the 8 or so hours to the Grand Canyon.   Everything went according to plan, and it was just a beautiful run.  I ended up not doing the full RIM2RIM2RIM and caught a ride back to the South Rim.  I’m not in the best shape, ran too fast to early, and was pretty fatigued by the time I reached the North Rim (about 24 or so miles).  I really didn’t care to run all the way back, much of it in the dark. It just seemed pretty pointless at the time, considering that I’d not be seeing the beautiful terrian  due to darkness.  

So rather than going back the same way, and probably end up doing of of those not-much-fun deathmarch’s, I ran from the South Rim to North Rim, and had a much better time going back around in the car, seeing some new sights,  having a (delicious) burger and a beer and enjoying the rest of the day.   ( it was about a 4 hour drive to get back to the South Rim)

Here is a short video, and the full picture gallery.  A GREAT run!

  Here is the full photo gallery, I don’t have captions yet but am working on it.  The easiest thing to do is click the SLIDESHOW tab, and sit back and enjoy the scenery, though the slide show pics are kind of small.  You can click the thumbnails to get larger pictures.

http://daveharperphotos.irun100s.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=131097

Enjoy!  I highly recommend the Grand Canyon!

This weekend was the annual, neighborhood Tennessee/Florida party.  Our neighbors, (and most of their friends) are Tennessee fans, their son, Terry, played for the Vols at one time.  So a couple hundred people, a pig cooked in the ground all night long, and TONS of other food, about 8 big screen TV’s, music, karaoke, games, well, it was a party.   As the night wore on, and the band was playing, they asked William if he wanted to play some guitar.  I missed some of the first part, but got most of it, though it’s on my digital camera and the sound is aweful.   It was all spur of the moment, so he didn’t have any written music or anything planned, he just played a few things he knew from memory.

Then Ashley and Emily got Mandy all duded up in Tennessee colors to give pony rides to the children.  They had a great time, and got a lot of laughs with their ‘Gator Entrance’ billboard on Mandy’s butt.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re Gator fans, but in honor of our friends, we let Mandy represent the Vols.  (click the photo for fullsize)

It’s kind of a right of passage for ultrarunners.  To run the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in a day.  Not a race, just a fun thing to do.  And not recommended or approved by the Park Service.

I’ve never done it, but in a few weeks I will.  I’ll be flying to Los Angeles, meeting some friends and off we go on the almost 50 mile trek, down the canyon, over the Colorado River, up the other side to the North Rim.  Then back.  Some photos below, not mine but an idea of the terrain, I can’t wait to get out there.  Click picture for fullsize.

It’s a slow process, but it’s progress in the right direction.  My running continues to come along.  I had a great workout yesterday. 

In June, a buddy asked me to come to Tahoe to pace him in his first 100 mile run, the Tahoe Rim Trail.  I despirately wanted to go, but because of my fitness, I was not comfortable telling him yes right away.  I asked him to let me get one of my benchmark workouts in over the weekend and let him know after that.  Well, that workout did not go well.  A course I’ve run in under 2 hours(in perfect, cool weather), and usually 2:15 to 2:20 in mid-summer conditions, took me just over 2:50 on that June workout.  Not only that, but I’d planned on doing that loop twice.  Just couldn’t do it.  Based on that, I had to turn him down, and miss being part of his first 100 mile run.  It killed me, but it motivated me.  I’ve run that same loop every other weekend since then, and yesterday clicked it off in 2:23, and still had plenty of energy to play some baseball with William afterwards.

That’s a great step forward.  Unfortunately, I’ve not done so well on the weight loss side of things, a week of vacation, with ‘pre-vacation’ and ‘post-vacation’ excuses, and I’ve not lost an ounce in 2 1/2 weeks.  I have had a lot of good beer though! 

Has my running turned a corner?  FINALLY?   I think so!      Only a short run, a little over 4 miles, but for the first time in months, I REALLY felt good.  I ran hard, pushed the hills, and was very surprised that while I certainly wasn’t what I’d call fast, a couple 3 minutes off my best for that course, it was a time that fits in with a lot of training runs I’ve done when in much better shape.    

Keep in mind, I normally run in the hottest part of the Florida day(1-3 oclock), or evening thunderstorm conditions so humid I need gills to breath, so even when in good shape, it’s really difficult to run well in mid-summer.  Most runs this year have turned into a test of survival, slow jogging (badwater shuffle type stuff), or taking walk breaks.

This run was hot, muggy, and with humidity better suited for a catfish than a human, but I was truckin!   Pushed the pace,  push hard on a uphill, then back off and recover without almost stopping.

I’m sure it helps that I’ve lost 8 lbs in the last 3 weeks.  With Tamara’s help, I’ve been very focused on a quality diet. 

Well, that’s not much news, but it’s good news to me!

 Congratulations to all the Badwater runners that just finished the 31st Badwater Ultramarathon.  First time in three years that I have not been out there putting it all on the line.  I missed it.  A buddy of mine was wearing a SPOT GPS tracking device, so I could go online, and see his updated track every 10 minutes.  It was very cool.  

 OH, and good luck to the VOLSTATE runners that start their 500k (320 miles!!!) trek in Tennessee tomorrow.  Some supported with a crew, and some that, believe it or not, will go the whole 500 kilometers with NO support crew.  They carry what they need, and stop and buy anything else.  10 day time limit.   

THAT sounds like fun next year, huh?!

Oh, check this price of gas for folks going through Death Valley…

At least I can’t, not anymore.  As much as I love running, over the last few years of ‘only ultra-running’ type workouts, ie. SLOW RUNS, my upper body has continued to get weaker, and my body fat has gone UP.  NOT a good thing.  So I’ve started a new program with some high intensity running, and high intensity weight lifting.  Not isolated, body builder type stuff, but explosive, full body workouts including uphill sprints and gymanstics ring workouts.   All it REALLY means is that right now, I am very tired, and very sore, but hey, I’ve lost 5 lbs. (only 25 more to go!) 

Update on the HISTORY CHANNEL Modern Marvels SUPERHOT episode, that features the Badwater Ultra, with a few seconds of ME running in the event.  It will be rebroadcast Saturday the 28th at 7:00pm Eastern. look for #32, Spiderman shorts and cowboy hat.  Shouldn’t be difficult to find, huh?

Ashley, the horse whisperer, has trained another of our Arabians to ride.  She did the same with my horse, we got them as youngsters, having never been ridden.  And two weeks ago, she got on Uno (TCA The One his registered name, we call him Uno) for the first time.  Since then, her and I have done several rides around the property and he’s just doing great.

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 Fathers Day has come and gone, and my big present?  A pedicure from Emily.  Full blown deal, she primped, painted and ground dead skin off my feet with this electric drill thing.  Don’t I look pretty in my flaming Superman pajamas and painted nails?  Thanks Emily!

OK, I admit, not my first pedicure either! The first was by Tamara the night before 2003 Ironman USA, in Lake Placid, NY.  Which was one of my most memorable events, not my best, but very cool, finishing in the same Olympic Skating Oval that Eric Heiden dominated the Olympics with 5 gold medals many years ago.  LINK TO REPORT OF THAT EVENT  Her and Ashley gave me French Pedicure.   Pretty weird, I know.

Last night , about a four second snippet of me running at the 2007 Badwater 135 Ultramarathon made it on the History Channel’s Modern Marvels:Superhot.  

 A buddy of mine recorded it on his phone, and posted it for me.  THANKS MANNY! 

HOW COOL IS THAT!   I’m #32 and about 40 seconds into the video.