My Christmas Wishlist

I have been asked several times what i want for Christmas but I can never remember in the heat of the moment so I thought I'd post it to remind me (and anyone else) of things that I want/ need. If you want to get me any of these things you may want to ask Martha first just in case she bought it for me.

So here goes (in no specific order):

• Cold weather running clothes (tights, tech shirts, running jacket, etc)
• Entrance fees (Ogden Marathon, Top of Utah Marathon, Utah Half Ironman)
• Yak Traks for running on ice
• Running socks
  
• My back waxed (gross but true)
• Timex Ironman 30-lap (I really liked the one Emily gave me years ago but it is dying. I saw them at WalMart for about $25.)
• A snow blower (so we can get out once the plows bury us every time it snows)
• Music for my Zune (not iTunes)
• Dress shoes (slightly more adventurous than my black Docs although they are great. I need different colors)
• A snowboarding trip (lift ticket and rentals)
• Time with Martha
  

I'll probably update this once or five times between now and Christmas so check back when you can.

Holy running in the snow Batman!

Ok so, in the spirit of randomness, I am writting about two basically unrelated experiences.

FIRST:
I was on my way to swim laps at lunch on Friday. Those of you who know me, know that I am a huge Batman fan. I couldn't help notice this wannabe batmobile. Check it out. I think he did it in the right spirit but missed the target completely.

SECOND:
Yesterday I ran in the snow (accumulated) for the first time this year. I can't believe that we don't have any real snow to speak of down here in the valley. I tried out a new trail that starts at 1st dam (at the mouth of Logan Canyon) and goes to Green Canyon about 2 miles North. Once I got to Green Canyon I started going up hill and had snow for what ended up being the middle 4 miles of an almost 8 miler. Anyway, it was beautiful... and kinda cold (the sun wasn't shining in the canyon). I took my phone with me and took a few pics and a video. Two of them are the snow-covered dirt road in Green Canyon and the other one is from the trail between Logan Canyon and Green Canyon. It looks out onthe valley including Utah StateUniversity. Click on it and see ifyou can spot the "A" on old main.

House Progress... and Other Stuff

So the sellers accepted our counter-offer and we were going to close near the beginning of December. Today we got news that they want to close on the 24... Before Thanksgiving. That is cool because we will be done paying a mortgage for a while but that also means we have less time to get all of our stuff out of the house and up to Logan.

In other news, I took 3rd place in HRI's Biggest Loser Contest. I lost almost 20 lbs between mid-June and the end of October. It earned me an extra $100 bucks. Woo hoo!

For Halloween I was a basketball player. People said I looked like Bill Walton. See for yourself.

Also last Saturday I changed the starter in the Jeep. It was a pain and took a while but I was successful and best of all... It works!

Tomorrow, Martha and I are going to the season opener for USU men's basketball. Sweet! The best part is that my company gave me the tickets and a sweet parking pass that lets us park super close. Hopefully I'll get some sweet pics to post.

Also a few weeks ago, I had Dave from work come and help me refinish the wood floors in Dillan's and our room. Here is how it turned out. We didn't worry about color matching the outside and inside. We just patched the holes and put finish on. I like them a lot more now. The process is called Nhance. Google it or e-mail me if you want to know more.

Moving Back to Logan

Just an FYI for anyone who cares:

Last week Martha and I began the process of moving back to Logan. I have been working there since March. We have not sold the house yet but my grandma (91) fell the previous week and so we have decided to move in with her for a while. This will allow Martha to stay at home with Dillan and Grandma while I work. It will allow Grandma to not have to go to a nursing home and be able to stay in the house where she is comfortable. We are moving in the upstairs. It also eliminates the daily commute for me which I have been loving. Martha quit her job and she has been here in Logan full time since last Wednesday.

Yesterday, we finally got an offer on the house. It was not a very strong offer, so we countered back. We should hear back today to see what happens. Hopefully, it will all work out. I'll try to keep you all posted.

Frary Peak Hill Climb

So I ran a super hardcore trail race this past Saturday. It was the Frary Peak Hill Climb. My fried from DML, Jake, told me about it. Unfortunately he couldn't make it because he was leaving on a cruise. Poor baby!

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Frary Peak (behind the clouds in the pic above) is on Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. They have buffalo and antelope that roam freely out there. Unfortunately I didn't see any of them on the run.

The race was just short of 10K, half up and half down, with an elevation difference of almost 2000 ft between the start/finish and the turn around point.

There were only 6 brave (or stupid) souls who ran the race this year. We did a time-trial-type start where each runner started up the narrow single track a minute after the guy in front of him. I started 5th. By about 1/2 way up I caught the guy who started 2 mins ahead of me, but just before the top, the guy who started after me passed me. I caught him by about half way down and was about to pass but my shoe was untied.

I caught him again just before the bottom and passed the finish line about 30 seconds before him. (meaning he only beat me by 30 seconds). My total time was about 1:08:45 (45 of those minutes were going uphill).

Afterwards we had brats and hamburgers and froze our butts off. It was cold at the beginning of the race, but got even colder and windier afterwards.

Birthday and 5K

So I thought I'd take a second to write about my birthday and show off some of my new toys. Last weekend I took the young men on a backpacking trip up Ben Lomond, a respectable 16 miles (thanks Dad). Check out the scout blog if you want more info. Anyway, Martha surprised me with an early present. A North Face/Nalgene back pack similar to a Camelbak. I took it on the trip and it was great. I wanted one so that I could go on longer adventure runs in the mountains. It's already gone almost 30 miles with me. (see my mapmyrun.com training log. Search for Eglefino)

My next present goes along with the first. I needed a new pair of trail running shoes for my adventures (mountains and upcoming snow runs). Thanks to generous donations by my Mom and Martha's mom I was able to get these awesome shoes. Sweet eh? I've only run in them once so far but I think they are winners.

As many of you may know, yesterday was my birthday. I did not do the typical, take-the-day-off-work routine because we we having an "Elite Retreat" Wednesday-Friday. We had a big barbecue for lunch with the entire company and all the attending franchisees (Zees). Guess who got suckered into flipping burgers... that's right, me. Cool. I hadn't told many people about my birthday and didn't expect to get any special treatment so I didn't mind. After lunch I decided to go 4-wheeling with the zees up Mount Logan. I grossly underestimated the time that would take. We started gathering vehicles around 3pm and I finally got in my car to drive back to Ogden at about a quarter past 11. Here are some pictures of the adventure. We had 14 of us total. Only 1 machine broke down and had to be towed, thus adding to the delay.

After a quick shower, I got to bed just before midnight. This morning I got up and ran my first 5K as a 29-year-old. I actually did pretty well. It was a prettycasual affair and no bibs were used and places weren't announced, but times were read off and I was shocked to run 21:08. I think that is my best time as a married man. About 3 minutes faster than the Cherry Days 5K in July. Go Me!

Well I hope you enjoy this update and pics. We'll see when I write more... Oooooooo, mystery.

Jeremy's Running Adventure

So this last Saturday, I decided to try to go for a long run up Ben Lomond. I knew I wasn't going to get to the top, but I thought I'd see how far up I could go in an hour and then turn around and come back. I made it up just over 4 miles to the part where the trail switches over to the west side of the mountain before I turned around. The uphill portion was rather uneventful other than passing a few hikers and a mountain biker. I turned around and started flying down the mountain.

I was feeling pretty good on the way down and was having flashbacks of why I used to love this kinda thing. I am pretty sure I was on a running high. I think I even screamed for joy. A few seconds later, I apparently didn't lift my right foot up high enough to clear a rock in the path and I went down.

As I got up in disbeleif, I realized that I had cut my right hand, my right knee, and I'm pretty sure I had rolled over a pretty sharp rock on my back. I stood up and looked around for my water bottle (I didn't want to be dehydrated). I found it partially opened and was relieved to see that I still had some water and it wasn't muddy.

I noticed as I got up that my shirt was suddenly muddy. I guess all my sweat mixed with the dirt on the trail when I fell. Despite the fall I was still feeling pretty good and continued running down the mountain almost as if nothing had happened.

I passed a bunch more mountain bikers on their way up the mountain and couldn't figure out why they all seemed to look at me funny. When I got to the car I think I found out why. Apparently I had achieved the worst case of nipple burn I have even seen or experienced. I guess I didn't notice it at first because of the fall. I thought that was just where I had grabbed my shirt with my bloddy hand.

I had Martha take some sweet pics so you could all enjoy this experience with me. Check 'em out.

2 More Races

I have participated in 2 races since I last posted here. I did the Cache Valley Biathlon in June. I ran the 5 mile run portion pretty close to 40 min and finished the 16.5 mi bike at a total time of 1:35. I think I did pretty well but would like to see if I can do better next year. Because I don't have a decent road bike I borrowed one from one of the guys here at work. I was nice to actually be able to move.

Also, as a spur of the moment decision, I ran the Cherry Days 5K in No. Ogden on the 4th of July. I was hoping to do better than I did but for not being prepared, having the first mile plus uphill, and a couple of tired legs from a workout a few days earlier, I think that the 24:08 I ran was pretty solid.

I have been trying to increase my training and mileage. There is a triathlon in August I want to do (Sprint distance), and another in September (Olympic Distance) that I want to do. I am also starting to contemplate running the half marathon in August (about half way between my two tri's).

I ran about eight and a half on saturday and felt decent. That was the longest run I have done in years. It was encouraging to think that in a month or two I could be up to running a half marathon. We'll see how that goes.

The good news is that I have been losing weight along with my training. I was about 230 just after Christmas, and before I started running again I was pretty consistently about 226. Compare that to the 209 that I was this morning. Not bad. Not bad at all. I need to keep going though.

Common Ground Race For Ability

So last Saturday was the Run, Walk, and Roll Common Ground race in Logan. It has been 3 years since I've ran that race. I was doing fairly well on my training and was hoping to run the 10K but about a week and a half before the race my left thigh started to hurt pretty bad. I still don't know what's wrong with it. I think it may be close to a stress fracture or a pulled muscle but I've never had either so I don't know.

Anyway, I decided to do the 5K because I figured I could limp through it if I had to. I actually did fairly well for a fat, out-of-shape guy. I finished in 23:57, my best in the past several years. I was hoping to break 25.

Martha biked the same 5K course pulling Dillan in the trailer and won the bike division in about 20 minutes. Given that she has only gotten on a bike once before this this year, she did pretty well.

Harris Research was kind enough to sponsor the race which allowed everyone's entry fees to go directly to Common Ground. There were about 10 or so HRI employees that ran.

The rest of the fam ran the Brain Injury Association's 5K in SLC the same day. It seemed to be the biggest one yest with over 600 participants.

Sick and wrong

So here is a picture.

If you can't tell, click the picture and look again. This girls is wearing men's briefs as a tank-top. Look where her head is. I don't think I need to say any more.

Have a great day!