The Long Run

Andy Skurka: Bay Area Speaking Engagements this week

My college teammate and the ever impressive adventurer Andy Skurka is going to be back in the Bay Area. I have writtten about him a couple times before. Most recently, when National Geographic did a huge spread on him in their March 2011 issue about his 176 day trek circumambulating Alaska. For more details read:  Andy Skurka's Alaska Track in National Geographic

In case you need anymore reason to get excited, I would also like to remind you that Andy Skurka has also been called an "Adventure God" by Women's Adventure Magainze writer Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan. About him she also wrote:

-“Andrew Skurka is smokin’ hot. Not just looks-wise (he’s been compared to Tom Cruise, but it’s more like Mark Wahlberg with a dash of Eagle Scout); he’s hot because he’s a true adventurer.”
-“He’s as inspiring as he is drool inducing.”
- “I found myself following his Grecian-sculpture calves up a brutally steep trail one Sunday afternoon.”

As you can see, within Andy there is something for everyone. Risky, showerless adventure to get your inner mountain man excited, as well as rugged toughness that can both awe a woman and make her nurturing side shine right on through. So, if you want a chance to see Skurka live, make sure to catch him this week. He's on a speaking tour and he has four engagements scheduled for the Bay Area, two of which are being hosted by one of the BATC's original sponsors, The Sports Basement.

For full details and a complete schedule, visit: http://andrewskurka.com/slideshows-clinics/current-schedule

The "Circling Alaska & Yukon" slideshow recounts my 4,700-mile 6-month hiking/skiing/packrafting trip with great images, video clips and stories. The "Ultimate Hiking Gear & Skills" clinic focuses the backpacking gear, supplies and skills needed to make hiking fun, without compromising your safety or comfort. He will be selling and signing his new book, The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide, at all events.

Here are the Bay Area dates and locations:

Sunrise Mountain Sports
2455 Railroad Ave
Livermore, CA
Mon, March 6, 7pm: “Circling Alaska & Yukon:
Tues, March 6, 7pm: “Ultimate Hiking Gear & Skills”
$5 admission, $2 for Boy Scouts in uniform

Sports Basement – Bryant Street
1590 Bryant Street
San Francisco, CA
Wed, March 7, 7pm: “Circling Alaska & Yukon”*
Thurs, March 8, 7pm: “Ultimate Hiking Gear & Skills”
Free admission

*If you go to Sports Basement on Wednesday, look for me there! :)

My Teammates' Websites

Recently, my boyfriend Pablo created a website for himself, and that led me to think that it would be fun to share the internet info for all my teammates. Not everyone has a website, but they all have some source of info sharing. So, make sure you check out their sites, "follow" them whenever possible, and of course, if you have comments, share them. Enjoy!

Pablo Solares - Mexico: http://pablo-solares.com/

Leo Manzano - USA: http://www.leomanzano.com/

Jacob Hernandez - USA: http://www.jhern.com/

David Torrence - USA: http://twitter.com/#!/David_Torrence

Treniere Clement Moser - USA: http://twitter.com/#!/trenieremoser

Kyle Miller - USA: http://twitter.com/#!/search/kylemilleratx

Jackson Kivuva - Kenya: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackson-Kivuva/140849762607933

 

Back to the Bay - Weekly Update

After a little over 4 weeks of altitude training in Albuquerque, I am back in the Bay Area for a few days. Things are quite different here, compared to Albuquerque...the air is so much thicker, the scenery is so different, but I do have to admit that the people are great in both.

My favorite thing about being home is getting to see my family and friends. I had a nice chance to catch up with my parents on the trip back from Occidental College, where we spent many hours discussing house plans and dream vacations. At the moment, I am in Berkeley, where I am about to spend a friend night with Alysia and Louis Montano. I'm not sure what exactly is on the agenda, but I think it will involve yummy home cooking and possibly a movie. Fun! But before that starts, I'll give a quick review of my last week. 

After 31 days of relative inactivy (outside of practice time), this past week brought lots of movement. On Thursday the entire team flew to Los Angeles for the Occidental High Performance meet. We had a lengthy wait for baggage and then a major mix up with rooms, but at the end of the day we all bunked up together and finally got some good, oxygen rich sleep.

We passed the time before our race with some epic Uno games and a visit to the movie theater. Leo, Pablo, and I saw the matinee of Pirates of the Caribbean at one of those fancy theaters where you have to reserve your seats...except that there were only 3 other people in the place, so we purposely disregared our seat assignments and sat wherever we wanted.

On Saturday, I opened my season with a 1500m race, which I dedicated to my teammate Sally Meyerhoff. I wish I could have gotten a better time (or a win) for her, but my performance was decent. I was 9th in 4:11. I was in good position until about 200m to go, but then it was clear that there is still a good deal of rust in the legs because I didn't have any turnover on the finishing stretch. Let's hope that this next month of training/racing will help me clear that out. The race is below.

 

Watch more video of Occidental Oxy High Performance Meet 2011 on flotrack.org

Well, that brings me up to speed and also to my computer time limit. Time for some fun with friends. :)

In Memory of Sally

Yesterday I received the very unfortunate news that Sally Meyerhoff, my college teammate at Duke, top 10 marathoners in the US, recent winner of the PF Chang's Marathon, and successful Triathlete, was hit by a truck yesterday while biking and killed.

Marathoner Meyerhoff, 27, killed in cycling accident

Sally was the most alive person I have ever known. Whatever her emotion was, the world knew. At Duke, even if everyone was having a crappy day, when Sally came to practice happy, we would all end up laughing and smiling. It's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that she is no longer with us.

I recently lost my grandmother, who was like a second mom to me. While losing her has been very difficult for me, she had a long life (living to 94), so her death was something that I could rationalize. Losing Sally, however, who was in the prime of life and set up to do such great things, is something that makes absolutely zero sense.

My heart goes out to the Meyerhoff family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

 

Andy Skurka's Alaska Trek in National Geographic

Awhile back I wrote about Andy Skurka, my former college teammate who has become an ultra-hiking king. Actually, the proper term is "Adventure God" and apparently the ladies go gaga over him!

Here is a link to my post: Andy Skurka: Adventure God & The Debate on Dating Over High Achievers

Well, prepare yourself to be further impressed! This month, Andy has a huge spread in National Geographic (March Issue).

Check out the article here: Alaska Yukon Trek: Circling Alaska in 176 Days

The article details Andy's 4,679-mile solo hike/ski/paddle trip around Alaska, a trip that lasted 176 days and was filled with challenges that I can't even imagine. I touch base with Andy every now and then, and to help break up the monotony, I sent him a couple postcards (via his mom who inserted them in the supply packages). Being the nice guy that he is, Andy sent me some Grizzly Bear hair in return. 

This Fall, after completing his Alaska Trek, Andy was right back at it. He flew out to the Bay Area to compete in the Marin Ultra and I got to see his meticulousness first hand.

As an overachiever myself, I LOVED that he had printed out his own topographical maps since he didn't think the course map was detailed enough.

 

I was also more that happy to help him write the locations of the aide stations on his arms.

 

 

But, although he may be an Adventure God, at the end of the day Andy is still a boy and his corner did get a little messy...

Keep it up Andy! We're all very proud of you!  :)

 

LA Cancer Challenge: Fighting Pancreatic Cancer

This Sunday, October 31, I will be participating in the LA Cancer Challenge in West LA at the VA Grounds. I will be "racing" (I just came off a 3 week break) the 5k for Team Tyler, in support of my friend Tyler Noesen who has pancreatic cancer. Nike has been kind enough to supply us with our team jerseys for the second year in a row, so regardless of my finishing time at least I will look good out there.

This will be my third year racing in the LA Cancer Challenge. Supporting cancer research is a cause very close to my heart. When I was 10, my aunt Susie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Susie was in her mid-30s, she was a nutritionist, she biked and hiked regularly. She was not the type of person that you would ever imagine could be sick. She only noticed her tumor in the first place because she had recently lost some weight due to a new exercise routine. She had her tumor and one ovary removed, did everything in her power to stay healthy, and was in remission for 7 years. It all came as a shock to us when the doctors told us that her cancer had returned. Unfortunately, her surgery did not go as smoothly the second time. The cancer cells had spread all over her abdomen, creating too much of a battle for her body to fight. Susie survived another 6 months, but in the end we lost her. In a world where we are taught that there is a reason for everything, it is still hard for me to find any sort of meaning in such a senseless disease.

The fact that my friend Tyler has pancreatic cancer also boggles my mind. He ran at Cal and was the image of health. He was diagnosed four years ago, at the age of 25, and he only discovered his tumor in the first place because he was playing soccer one day and he thought he pulled a muscle in his stomach. When they did an ultrasound, they discover a grapefruit sized tumor which had already metastasized. The last four years have been full of ups and downs. There have been periods of fairly normal living and then periods where he has been in the hospital every day getting his plasma exchanged.  He has had his spleen removed and been on dialysis 4 days a week because the chemo has basically destroyed his kidneys.  He has seen his weight fluctuate by as much as 60 pounds. Nevertheless, he has tried to live a normal life,  even going back to work when his health will permit it. But the important thing thing about Tyler, the thing that amazes everyone who has had the pleasure to meet him, is that despite all of these things he has continued to make the lives of those around him better.

Seeing someone like Tyler makes me wish I was smarter (so I could develop a cure) or richer (so I could fund someone smarter than myself to do so). Since I am neither, I will fight this disease in any way I can, and at the moment that is through raising awareness with races like the LA Cancer Challenge. My aunt Susie never did radiation and/or chemotherapy because she found that none of the studies on ovarian cancer treatments proved that the drugs available at the time were effective in fighting her disease. Tyler has tried a few different chemotherapy treatments, but as he says, "basically it's just a fight against time for me now, how long can I hold out, and hopefully I can hold out until something comes through that will be able to address this disease." Unfortunately for him, at the moment Pancreatic Cancer is greatly underfunded and decades behind in research. It is the only top ten cancer with a 5 year survival that is still in the single digits. Please join me in this fight to change that.

On Sunday I will be running for Susie, for Tyler, and for all the men and women who's lives have been touched by cancer. The more small victories we achieve, the closer we get to winning the war.

It is my goal to raise $500 for the cause. To donate, click here: DONATE TO TEAM TYLER

If you feel like racing a 5k or 10k, Team Tyler wants you! If you are going to be anywhere near the VA Grounds in West LA, I will be hanging out after the race so come find me and say hello!

For more information on Pancreatic Cancer and to hear a few words from Tyler, check out this video below:

 

For more information on Tyler, visit his Blog of Life.

Cupcake Tour of San Francisco, Part 1

My friends and I had a lazy day, so we decided to go on a cupcake tour of SF. Since we wanted to walk from locale to locale, and since we also didn't want to send ourselves into a sugar coma, we limited ourselves to the Hayes Valley neighborhood. This meant that we stopped at Citizen Cake (note, this has now moved to 2125 Fillmore St.) and Miette Confiserie (449 Octavia St.). Being the competitor that I am, I saw this as more of a Cupcake Test than a simple Cupcake Tour. As such, I wanted to make sure we had proper documentation. Below is my evaluation.

Also, if you want a little beverage to break up the sugar, stop by Blue Bottle Coffee (315 Linden St.).

Citizen Cake vs. Miette Confiserie (on Octavia)

Notes: Neither store had that wide of a selection, although Citizen Cake did have a few signature flavors to choose from, as opposed to Miette's measley one. Also, it does appear the Miette Confiserie may have had a smaller selection of cupcakes than their main store in the Ferry Building (Miette Patisserie), but I believe my evaluation would still be the same.

Chocolate Chocolate Comparison: Winner = Citizen Cake
Citizen Cake had far better frosting, and Miette had far better cake. I wasn't a huge fan of either. Since frosting is such an essential part of a cupcake though, I would have to vote for Citizen Cake.

Vanilla Vanilla Comparison: Winner = Citizen Cake
Citizen Cake by a landslide. The vanilla cake was much better than the chocolate here, and the frosting was DELICIOUS! Miette's yellow cake/vanilla buttercream cupcake was gross. The cake, ick. The frosting, crisco.

Signature Comparison (not totally sure of the names...): Winner = Miette
Citizen Cake: Toffee something-or-other & Hostess Cupcake Wanna be
Miette: Ginger overload
I wasn't a huge fan of any of these. The Toffee flavor was super sweet and I'm not a big toffee fan to begin with. The Hostess Cupcake was my least favorite. I thought it tasted like crap. The ginger was very strong, but I liked how moist it was inside, and the cream cheese frosting was good. I guess I would vote for this one.

Overall, I would say Citizen Cake was the winner today. In my book, it beat out Miette by a lot.

Next up to test:
Marina/Cow Hallow neighborhood: That Takes the Cake & Kara's Cupcakes

Easter Weekend Trip to San Miguel and Mojoneras

This past weekend the athletes of Team Cook had a chance to take a little excursion. We’ve been training in San Luis Potosi for 5 weeks now, passing our time in Groundhog’s Day fashion (run-eat-nap-run-eat-sleep, repeat), so a nice Easter adventure was much appreciated. After our morning hill session we promptly freshened up and hit the road. We headed south to San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful Spanish Colonial town full of narrow cobblestone streets and colorfully painted building. We were all feeling a little lethargic as we approached the city after a long morning and a 2 hour drive, but we were suddenly revitalized when we noticed that we were driving next to a truck full of 8 circus lions.

After a quick shower (and an ab session for Jacob), we headed into town. It was Good Friday and we got lucky when we made it to the center just in time for a procession honoring Jesus’ burial. Men and women lined the streets as black clothed pallbearers processed with a massive shrine. I felt so lucky to stumble across such a beautiful and sacred event.

   

After we headed to dinner at Pueblo Viejo, a Mexican restaurant just off the main square. While we waited for our table, we had a chance to take in the beauty of the city on the rooftop terrace. When dinner came, we feasted.

On Saturday, we spent the morning wandering San Miguel’s outdoor markets and enjoying the vibrancy of a city full of people, street performers, and unique shops. Our main mission that morning was to procure a piñata and it’s filling, because our next stop after San Miguel was Leo’s hometown of Mojoneras, where many of his young cousins would be waiting for us.

When we reached Mojoneras, we received a very warm welcome from Leo’s family. Their hospitality was more than could be expected. We were greeted with an amazing dinner of nopales, enchiladas de pollo, rice and beans, after which we were invited to attend the church service that his cousins had planned. In a town comprised of a few families, almost all of which are related, it was amazing to be allowed to be a part of such an intimate and beautiful event.

   

On Sunday, we woke up early to get our long run done before the Easter festivities began. We were all very pleased to discover that Mojoneras was a distance runners paradise: Situated at 6,550ft above sea level, the town is surrounded by dirt roads that run as far as the eye can see.

After 12 miles of running and a few exercises, it was time for some fun. We quickly showered and headed over to Leo’s father’s family’s house, where a dozen or more expectant children greeted us. The excitement in their faces as the piñatas were hung and the fire in their eyes as the candy started to spill forth made everyone watching smile and laugh. My two particular favorites were the toddler girl who could manage to do no more than spin the piñata in circles and the 5 year old boy who proclaimed after his candyless turn at bat that he had “won the head” of the piñata.

  

After all the treats had been claimed, we headed back inside for a feast consisting of pollo con mole, rice, tortilla, tostadas, sopa de pollo, and jugo de pina. I have never tasted such fresh and delicious food (except for maybe last year when we visited Leo’s family). Everything was handmade and in the case of the chicken, I pretty sure it had met it’s end that very morning. It took all of my willpower not to make myself sick by stuffing my face.

Before we left, I was excited to have a chance to encourage some of Leo’s female cousins to pursue athletics. When we visited last year Leo told me that for most of the women in his family, getting married young and having children is the only option they know. Education in his town extends to 3^rd grade and few women ever leave Mojoneras. When I visited this year, I brought some running clothes and autograph cards. While my lack of Spanish language skills prevented me from talking much to the girls, it was neat getting to show them that the woman in the picture was me (“Soy yo”) as I tried to plant another seed of possibility in their minds.

With the feasting and festivities finished, it was time to head back to San Luis Potosi. While we were all a little tuckered out from so much excitement, each one of us seemed to have a smile plastered on our face as we napped during the ride home.

Congrats Team Tyler & Thank you LA Cancer Challenge

Thank you to everyone who supported the LA Cancer Challenge and Team Tyler on Saturday! It was a beautiful day in West LA and there was a wonderful turnout. The event earned $503,556.00 for Pancreatic Cancer research and Team Tyler far surpassed it's fund-raising goal by earning $5,736.00 with our 34 members.

I am proud to say that Team Tyler dominated on the race course, (although it was a bit unfair since our team was composed of many former collegiate runners as well as several current athletes). We even had the support of the Long Beach Poly High School Boys & Girls teams, Tyler's alma mater. If you want to see the results, click here: LA Cancer Challenge Race Results.

To be honest, I was a little nervous stepping to the finish line, considering that I have been laying on a beach for the past week and I ran in trainers. In the end though I actually got a 17 sec PR from last year, running 16:05.1 for 5k.

I am making this post using the painfully slow internet at a coffee shop in LA, so I am only going to add one picture for now, but keep your eyes posted on my Facebook Fan page for more race photos later in the week.

LA Cancer Challenge this Weekend

This Sunday, October 25, I will be participating in the LA Cancer Challenge in West LA at the VA Grounds. I will be "racing" (the word is in quotes because I am in my break phase) the 5k for Team Tyler, in support of my friend Tyler Noesen who has pancreatic cancer. Nike has been kind enough to supply us with our team jerseys.

Supporting cancer research is a cause very close to my heart. When I was 10, my aunt Susie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Susie was in her mid-30s, she was a nutritionist, she biked and hiked regularly. She was not the type of person that you would ever imagine could be sick. She only noticed her tumor in the first place because she had recently lost some weight due to a new exercise routine. She had her tumor and one ovary removed, did everything in her power to stay healthy, and was in remission for 7 years. It all came as a shock to us when the doctors told us that her cancer had returned. Unfortunately, her surgery did not go as smoothly the second time. The cancer cells had spread all over her abdomen, creating too much of a battle for her body to fight. Susie survived another 6 months, but in the end we lost her. In a world where we are taught that there is a reason for everything, it is still hard for me to find any sort of meaning in such a senseless disease.

The fact that my friend Tyler has pancreatic cancer also boggles my mind. He ran at Cal and was the image of health. He was diagnosed three years ago, at the age of 25, and he only discovered his tumor in the first place because he was playing soccer one day and he thought he pulled a muscle in his stomach. When they did an ultrasound, they discover a grapefruit sized tumor which had already metastasized. The last three years have been full of ups and downs. He has had periods of living a fairly normal life and then periods where he was in the hospital every day getting his plasma exchanged.  He has had his spleen removed and he is now on dialysis 4 days a week because the chemo has basically destroyed his kidneys.  He has seen his weight fluctuate by as much as 60 pounds. Nevertheless, he has tried to live a normal life,  even going back to work for periods of time. But the important thing thing about Tyler, the thing that amazes everyone who has had the pleasure to meet him, is that despite all of these things he has continued to make the lives of those around him better. 

Seeing someone like Tyler makes me wish I was smarter (so I could develop a cure) or richer (so I could fund someone smarter than myself to do so). Since I am neither, I will fight this disease in any way I can, and at the moment that is through raising awareness with races like the LA Cancer Challenge. My aunt Susie never did radiation and/or chemotherapy because she found that none of the studies on ovarian cancer treatments proved that the drugs available at the time were effective in fighting her disease. Tyler has tried a few different chemotherapy treatments, but as he says, "basically it's just a fight against time for me now, how long can I hold out, and hopefully I can hold out until something comes through that will be able to address this disease." Unfortunately for him, at the moment Pancreatic Cancer is greatly underfunded and decades behind in research. Please join me in this fight to change that.

On Sunday I will be running for Susie, for Tyler, and for all the men and women who's lives have been touched by cancer. The more small victories we achieve, the closer we get to winning the war.

If you want to donate to Team Tyler, click here: DONATE TO TEAM TYLER

I will be hanging out after the race, so if you want an autograph card, a picture, or just want to talk, come find me and say hello!

For more information on Pancreatic Cancer and to hear a few words from Tyler, check out this video below:

For more information on Tyler, visit his Blog of Life.