Carrie Loomis---American Idol hopeful

My daughter Courtney has a friend who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. They have been friends for many years. Courtney and Carrie are both 17 years old. Carrie Loomis is a great singer with hopes to make it big one day. She would love to get a chance to be on American Idol. Carrie would love an opportunity to win a "fast pass" to the front of the line at the American Idol auditions on Aug. 14th. You can click here to vote for your favorite American Idol hopeful. Carrie would really appreciate your vote. Thank you!!!

Congratulations Badwater friends

I wanted to let everyone know how my friends did at Badwater last week. I am a little slow at updating their triumphs. Sorry about that! Lisa Bliss did an incredible job with an outstanding time of 34:33:40!! She was the 1st women finisher!! What a studette!! Arthur Webb ran a very impressive race and finished in 37:48:35!! Arthur is 65 and this is his 10th finish. Dave Harper had a fantastic race and finished this difficult race in 46:13:35!! I am so proud of all of them and to their commitment to challenge themselves and to push the limits. They are all very motivational "movers and shakers". So let's all get our groove on and do something to challenge ourselves physically this weekend. You will feel better for it....guaranteed.

Western States 100 Documentary

Tomorrow, July 28th at 3pm eastern time on NBC, the Western States 100 mile endurance race will be shown as a documentary. Jeep World of Adventure is covering it. For more information you can check out this link.

MY RUN

This is a great motivational video that is so inspirational. I hope you enjoy it. Keep moving, friends.

Never stay at the Nugget Motel in Carson City!!

Saturday I paced my friend Karyn Hoffman at the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 mile. I ran 25 miles with her and really enjoyed doing so. Karyn has not been training like she would have liked to, due to an injury to her lower leg. Despite her lack of conditioning and time on her feet, she did awesome. Unfortunately, I don't know her exact time, (the results are not posted yet), but I think she will do great at Leadville. I am a true believer in not overtraining and her layoff might just pay off for her.

I've just got to tell you about my funny Motel stay. Matt was on call for the weekend, so I went up to Carson City alone. My friend Karen told me about this GREAT place that they were familiar with, and so I booked a room for Friday night. When I arrived in town, I excitedly drove to my Motel and just about died when I saw the place!! It is set up to rent to people from one day to a month. As you can imagine, the place was just a haven for the unlovely. There was a man out in front of his room BBQing on the bed of his truck!! Every resident looked like they had been up partying for days. There is a saying in the horse world-----"rode hard and put away wet". Yup, that is exactly what they all looked like. It was the perfect place for someone to end their life. A cheap motel on a side street behind a casino. I tried not to think about what these walls had seen. The room was clean though and I just had to laugh when I sat there alone in this raunchy Motel. Oh, note to self, never stay at the Nugget Motel again. I kept waiting for someone to knock on the door looking for a "date". Wow. Karen and I got a big laugh out of this experience.
My sister Shawn's birthday is today and we celebrated with her by going out to dinner. Happy Birthday, Shawn. I love you!!!!

Badwater Ultramarathon-Challenge of the Champions

Tomorrow morning starts the Badwater Ultramarathon race. It is a 135 mile race that starts in Death Valley, 282 ft. below sea level, and finishes at Mt. Whitney at 8360 ft. The air temperature can hit 130 degrees, the pavement much hotter. This brutal, nonstop race requires an unusual commitment and discipline to train. Three friends of mine will be out there running this race. They all will run this race for different reasons. All three of them have put in many miles of running, hours in the sauna heat training and a incredible desire to finish this race many of us cannot fathom. I will be watching and cheering on, Lisa Bliss, Dave Harper, and Arthur Webb.

Arthur will be running his tenth Badwater in a row at the young age of 65! He is running to raise money for the Valley of the Moon Childrens Home. He is also running to honor his former crew member Vince Pedroia, who died in May. Vince was a friend of mine too and a great animal Neurosurgeon.

You may go to this site and watch a short video of the Badwater race. I hope you enjoy it.

Pacing at Tahoe Rim 50 mile

I am leaving this morning to Carson City, Nevada, to pace my friend Karyn Hoffman at the Tahoe Rim 50 mile. It is a difficult, but beautiful course and I have been lucky enough to have run it 3 times before. She and her husband Mike are running it in preparation for the Leadville 100 mile in August.

Karyn is a very strong, tough runner and I know that she will have a great race tomorrow. I am looking forward to spending time with her.

My Sister Shawn

Shawn is my younger sister. She is 2 years younger than me and lives about 2 miles from our house. She is an artist, and unlike me, is very creative. She can draw like nobody's business, and she is quite the home decorator. She is in a constant state of redesigning her home. Every time I visit, she has new color on her walls, or a new plant or tree in her yard. I wish I was as talented as Shawn is. She inherited her creative abilities from both my Mom and my Dad. I, on the other hand, got the gift of gab. Go figure.

Shawn has lot's of friends and loves to travel. She is also really good with managing her money. I'm not sure where she got that trait from. That is not a trait I even came close to getting. As I have mentioned in this blog before, I spend everything I have and then more. Shawn is also a great writer and you will enjoy her blog because she always has something funny to say.

I don't know if any of you remember the DeFranco family, but they were a singing group when I was a teenager. My sister just loved Tony DeFranco and once while traveling with our family across the U.S. and Canada, she insisted that we take a drive 150+ miles out of our way to drive past their home in Canada!! Well, to make a very LONG story short, we found their home and we actually went up to the door and knocked. The DeFranco's dad was there preparing their home to sell and let us come in and take a tour. Believe it or not, somewhere, we have a picture of my sister Shawn sitting on their toilet. She wanted to get their kooties or something like that. I still laugh when I think back on that trip.

I am lucky to have a sister like Shawn. I know that I can count on her and she is always available to help me with this blog. She is great with computers and tivo's and everything mechanical and she can even fix things that are broken in her home. I am not able to do any of those things. Sometimes, I pretend to be good at mechanical things, and people who don't know me might think I am creative. Do I look creative? I think not. Shawn is an artist, writer and story teller, I am an athlete who can skin a snake, climb mountains, and has dreams of exploring Africa. I asked Matt what creative abilities I possess. He thought long and hard and finally came up with....."you make people smile." Hah!! Oh well, I know he loves me very much. With or without any real creative traits.

Ouch, I hate running injuries!!

I thought this was an appropriate cartoon. It sure made me laugh! I am happy to say that I have none of these things going on right now. Run softly out there.

My Mom and I at the finish of Western States 2007

"Love stretches your heart and makes you big inside." Margaret Walker

Running Fast and Feeling Down

I had a good run last evening, despite feeling emotionally drained and weary. Matt's father is very ill with Colon cancer and my Uncle is in an Oregon hospital dying of Lymphoma. To top that off my Mom found a lesion on her leg that the Doc wants to further evaluate with another biopsy. To say that I am feeling depressed is an understatement. I am sure that it doesn't help that I am coming off of a high from W.S. and everything seems overwhelming at this time. It's time to pick myself up and put a smile on my face! Life is just too short to stay feeling like this.

Back to my run. It felt good to run the trails and I felt like I was flying! The funny thing is, I was probably just coasting along. It does feel good to feel like you are really moving even if no one else thinks you are. It's time for me to get my butt back in the pool. I really miss swimming and the way it makes me feel. Nothing hurts and you've had a complete body workout. Wednesday will be my first day in the pool since W.S. As you recall, my swimming was really sucking and I needed to concentrate on my running and so my swimming really suffered.

Well, I am off to the Hospital for a day of fun and hard work. I hope everyone has a good day at their jobs or just a fun day doing something that makes you happy.

Promising to do our BEST!!!!

My friend Bob turned me onto this great video clip. It was so inspirational and emotional that I just had to agree with him that it is totally worth sharing. Promising to do our Best at everything we do is the best we can ask for. Don't settle for anything except for being the best we can be. Whether it is running, swimming, or just being you, striving to give our everything leaves us with no regrets. And having no regrets is what allows us to feel free. Get out there today and do your BEST!! You won't regret it!! (no pun intended)

Happy 4th of July!!!

I hope everyone had a great day today spent with friends and or family! I had a nice run up to the top of Sugarloaf followed by a day spent with friends and then to watch a fireworks display at my Mom's. It was super hot at about 100 degrees. I ate more food today than I have eaten in 4 days! I feel totally HUGE and I hope to burn about 1200 calories in my dreams tonight. Sweet dreams everyone!!