With the start of the school year, I have been very, very busy and don't get a lot of free time these days to get the 'ole blog up to date. This is just a short post to chronicle the past couple of weeks.
Over the Labor Day weekend, my longtime friend Ann Wojciechowicz flew in from Kenosha, Wisconsin to pay a visit. We got right after business, driving down to the New River Gorge in beautiful Fayetteville, West Virginia, where we took a whitewater rafting trip down the New River. While I wouldn't say this was the most death-defying river I've been on, there were enough class 4 rapids to keep you paying attention!
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| View of the New River Gorge. |
The next day, Ann and I went rock climbing on the Endless Wall. This is a must-do on any rock climber's A-list. While it had been a long time since I had been climbing (years ago south of Bozeman, Montana), I always enjoy the opportunity to do it.
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| Ann gets started on her climb. |
As with the whitewater rafting, we weren't climbing El Capitan, rather 5.5 type of stuff that kept us alert and focused. After several hours of this, we did a cool 90' + free fall rappel off the top. Wowzer!
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| Yours truly being one with the rock! |
The weekend culminated in an Ethiopian dinner in Pittsburgh at Tana (man, do I dig injera). It's always good to reconnect with friends and they don't come much finer than Ann!
I also had an impromptu weekend trip out to Utah to crew for my Laurel training partner and friend Eric Grol who was attempting the Wasatch 100 Ultramarathon. This race is one of the Grand Slam ultras and while it seemed to be a much more laid-back affair than Leadville, it looked to be a really tough course. Eric had run and finished this race last year and confirmed my initial impression. The race started at 5 AM and due to the irregular aid station spacing and limited crew access, I would not be able to see Eric all the way until mile 40. Yikes! So, I spent the morning working on a grant proposal for work and then went for a 10-mile run up the beautiful
City Creek Canyon urban trail that starts quite literally in the middle of Salt Lake City. This trail is a real gem; run it if you are ever in the city.
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| The Utah state capitol building in Salt Lake City. The City Creek Canyon urban trail runs directly from here. |
Unfortunately, the altitude got to Eric so he had to pull from the race when I met him at the aid station. When this happens in a race, it's never easy and, of course, the "what ifs" and second guessing begins. But Eric is a tough runner, having completed Oil Creek, MMT, Wasatch, etc., and was comfortable with his decision. I thank him for trusting me enough to ask me to crew for him.
The next day, Eric and I got a chance to sightsee at a history museum in Salt Lake City and also went to a small military museum east of town at Fort Douglas before we headed back the next day. I won't get into my train wreck of a return trip, courtesy of South"worst" Airlines. Time to get back to work ...
