Time Passing

“I'd like to make myself believe –
That Planet Earth turns slowly … “
- Owl City, “Fireflies” (video after post)

Continuing with a couple of themes I’ve touched upon recently – how quickly time is moving lately, and the therapeutic effect of riding bikes with my kids – today’s post is a collaboration of sorts: a story about riding with my son last month, which I meant to have posted a few weeks ago if I hadn’t been juggling about 10 other things simultaneously.

The occasion was somewhat nondescript, other than having a general sense of “Hey – it’s already July, and we haven’t done anything awesome yet this summer!”, but the destination was quite specific:


A rocky outcropping that stands as a ridgeline sentinel overlooking two adjacent canyons in the middle of the Fort Ord open space. Viewed from the proper angle, it cuts a pretty imposing figure above the surrounding landscape.


And that little person standing on top of it [click to enlarge] would be my 11-year-old son.


Visiting this spot – visible at right-center above - had been a goal of ours for a while, and requires a pretty challenging ride to reach. You either take the direct route through about five miles of Fort Ord’s steeply rolling terrain, or take a longer, more gradual climb to the adjacent ridge (on the left above) before doing a quick down-and-up to the outpost – and from either direction, there are uphill stretches that are mandatory dismount and push sections. There’s really no easy way to get there, but we opted for the longer, more gradual approach on our way out.


The top of the rock is fairly nondescript, as the only things to attract your attention are an old wind gauge …


… and some pretty views overlooking all the trails you took to get here.


You also get a nice sense of the geographic character of this area, and an appreciation of why it was such an ideal training ground for battlefield operations back in its US Army heyday. Rolling canyons, rocky bluffs, natural overlook towers ... this would certainly be a sweet place to play soldier for a while.


Nowadays, thanks to the Army base closure and the Bureau of Land Management's restoration efforts, it’s a very sweet place to run and ride bikes – and after playing around on top of the rock for a while, we had several miles of hilly terrain to cover before reaching the car again.


Since we took the gradual route coming out, we opted (well … I opted; he didn’t really have a choice) for the direct, steeper route home, which includes this asphalt section affectionately known as “Black Death” by locals. My son zigzagged back and forth across the steepest pitches like crazy, but managed to keep the wheels rolling all the way to the top; what he lacks in raw power he makes up in resolve.


From the top of Black Death, it’s a mostly downhill final 2 miles back to the neighborhood we started from, where we wrapped up the ride just like every other week. There wasn’t anything especially monumental or instructive about this outing; it was mainly an opportunity to check something off our to-do list that had been a long time coming.

Which, when you think about it, it what summer is all about.

*
Postscript: Here’s another example of how quickly time is passing me by lately: since doing this ride last month, the 11-year-old boy in the pictures has become a 12-year-old. I’m afraid that the next time I sit down to write about him, he’ll be an 18-year-old young man who can’t wait to leave us. What I wouldn’t give to make the world turn more slowly sometimes.

Owl City, “Fireflies” (click to play):

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Another Saturday at the Sea

"We've got to get right down to the sea -
We've got to get to the sea ... "
- Jack Johnson, "To the Sea" (song after post)

Given that last weekend’s post was a bit of a downer, I figured it was only fitting for me to report on a much happier Saturday at the sea, courtesy of a few bikes, two little girls, and a beautiful summer day along the ocean.


We saddled up the bikes and set out from Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, which is always a beehive of activity on weekends, and also holds a special spot in my daughters’ heart for another reason, which I’ll explain shortly.


For the time being, though, we left the crowds behind for a while on the coastal recreation trail that stretches through historic Cannery Row and along the waterfront …


… including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is another favorite stop for our kids, but today was just a landmark on the way to a different destination.


Continuing past the Aquarium, the tourist crowds thin out a bit again, and from here to the town of Pacific Grove it’s pretty much smooth sailing …


… just ask this smooth sailboat.


Beyond Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove, the rec trail ends and the road opens up into a wide, smooth, gently rolling boulevard that hugs the coastline, unless you make a sharp left turn about a mile up the road …


… and head for the Point Pinos lighthouse, which is ironically one of the best-hidden little destinations on this tourist-crazy peninsula. It was built in 1855, and is the oldest continuously working lighthouse in the state.


If you’ve got a couple of curious little girls and a bit of free time on your hands, you can walk inside and explore the whole thing – which, of course, we did. We went upstairs and downstairs, looked at old beacon lights and touched the foghorn, and spoke with a woman who was a resident of the lighthouse for three years while her Coast Guard husband was stationed there. When you can throw a bit of education in with your exercise, it’s always a nice bonus.


The girls didn’t want to dally too long, though, because they were a bit anxious to return to Monterey …


… and visit my friend’s ice cream parlor on Fisherman's Wharf. Remember when I said how cool it was to have a friend who’s an orthopedic surgeon? As far as my daughters are concerned, the fact that another friend of mine has an ice cream parlor is at least 100 times cooler. Especially when said friend likes to give free ice cream away to charming little daughters of training partners. This is pretty much an automatic stop for us now on our rec trail outings.


There might be better ways to finish a bike ride than sitting on a wharf on a beautiful sunny day eating rainbow sherbet and watching the sea lions commandeer the shoreline … but if so, I’m not aware of them.


All that was left was to say goodbye to the wharf and roll back to the car, with a fresh reminder of all the wonderful things this area - not to mention this life of ours - has to offer.

It’s amazing how therapeutic a nice bike ride can be, and how restorative it is whenever I get to the sea.

**
And since last weekend's post included a pretty mellow Jack song, this time around is more upbeat; it's the title track - and one of my favorite songs - from his new album.

Jack Johnson, "To the Sea" (click to play):

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Special Agent Minimus

When I was a kid, I sometimes imagined what life would be like as a spy - charged with keeping confidential secrets, only able to disclose carefully selected bits of information to certain people at predetermined times, knowing that one false move could result in disaster for me or the agency I’ve committed to serve.

About 30 years later, I’m finally getting a sense of it, from a handful of shoe manufacturers who protect their secrets as if lives depended upon it – the latest of which comes from a mainstream company who has been making strides towards minimalist footwear for quite some time now.

On that note, think of this post as a high-level intelligence briefing, where I’m authorized to divulge information solely on a need to know basis, and keeping some other details under lock and key until another day. The occasion for our meeting is to partially unmask a running shoe whose appearance has thus far remained strictly classified: the New Balance Minimus, scheduled for release in March 2011.

Actually, the cover of this shoe is about to be blown wide open in the very near future anyway, as it will be presented at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer trade show next week. New Balance will offer a whole collection of “barefoot inspired” footwear – including something called “wellness” models, which seem to directly target the everyday minimalist market currently occupied by VivoBarefoot and Soft Star, among others - and my NB contact was nice enough to pass along a bit of background information, and even a few dossier photos of the running model.

There’s a much more thorough portfolio of information available about the Minimus shoes, including some insight to the development of the collection, and what makes it different from existing minimalist footwear, here on the New Balance website. Otherwise, the company is intentionally telling the story slowly, and is officially only releasing snippets of images, which follow below:

A positive ID: That's our man - Special Agent Minimus

Along with his partner in crime, who goes by the code name Vibram

A thin mesh heel, and suspiciously FiveFingers-looking strap

And if you think I’m exaggerating this secrecy thing, it’s worth noting the e-mail exchange I had with the rep shortly after receiving the pictures:

Me: Those look cool – do you have any pictures of the whole shoe?

Her: For now we aren’t releasing full shoe shots … as soon as I have permission to release them, I’ll send them along.

In other words, once her agency lifts the security clearance, she’ll forward that intel to my agency, and we’ll have full disclosure on this elusive target. Until then, it’s still a bit of a cloak and dagger game – but I think I’ve learned enough about Special Agent Minimus to know that I’m very anxious to meet him in the flesh sometime.

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You Are the Technology (You're Also Pretty Hot, and Buck Naked Except for Your Vibrams)

Every now and then something comes through my inbox that makes me wish I had a completely different life. Truth be told, it’s been happening more and more frequently lately … but that’s a separate story.

Anyway, the latest event to trigger such a reaction was the launch of a new microsite for the Vibram FiveFingers Bikila. It’s an intentionally provocative campaign called You Are the Technology, and it’s the kind of thing that makes me wish I had gone into computer programming or website design – because I’m 100% certain that the people who made this site had an absolute blast while building it.

Basically, the site features a fairly good-looking man and woman - Adam and Eve, presumably? - as naked as they were in the Garden of Eden … except, that is, for the pair of Bikilas on their feet. (My snap judgment is that the dude is a much hotter dude than the woman is a hot woman – but maybe I shouldn’t be saying that out loud.) They cleverly conceal their naughty parts - although trust me, the site is still fairly NSFW – and have writing scrawled over strategic parts of their bodies.

Adam?

Here’s where it gets fun: from the main splash page, you click on the male or female to zoom in and read the writing. Once zoomed in, you can scroll up or down, and there are several spots on the body where the arrow will turn into a hyperlink finger. Click those, and the models rotate and/or zoom in further so reveal a narrative about natural running. Click again to zoom back out, then pick another spot to zoom in again and repeat. And so on and so on.

Eve?

The narrative is told in a head-to-toe direction, and is generally the same on each model, but it’s worth clicking around both models just for the “wow” factor of it all. Here’s the thing, though – once you get started, the site is kind of a time magnet, so make sure you give yourself enough time and space to check it out from top to, er … bottom. I’ve already mentioned that it’s probably NSFW - and I can also attest from personal experience that if your six-year-old daughter happens to be looking over your shoulder just as you’re looking at a close-up hi-res shot of somebody’s butt, it will most likely send her into hysterics. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sound interesting yet? If so, go check out YouAreTheTechnology.com for a while, then feel free to weigh in below to let me know what you think. Is it crazy? Cool? Maybe a little creepy? Is the dude hotter than the girl? Discuss.

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GU Mandarin Orange Winners; CLIF Winner APB

A quick post to announce winners here, and another post to follow shortly ...

Michael Helton and CK: send your address to me at info@runnningandrambling.com - you've won the GU mandarin orange giveaways!

Also, following up on a previous giveaway - Snowshoe Hare, you have 48 hours (until midnight Friday) to contact me with your address, or I'm giving your winning CLIF bar entry away to someone else. Get going, girl!

As always, thanks to everyone who participated. Look for another giveaway drawing (a pretty cool one, if I do say) coming up next week.

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Mandarin Orange GU Giveaway

Holy cow … July is practically over already! This probably won’t be remembered as the best summer ever at Running and Rambling, but it just might go down as one of the fastest-moving. I had a post in mind that described how quickly summer was passing me by, but I haven’t actually gotten around to writing it yet, because, um … time sort of passed me by.

In the spirit of quickness and brevity, I’ll keep this giveaway post short – but I’m still throwing in a little anecdote to show you that I really do pay attention to these product situations.

When I paced Gretchen at the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 this month, I noticed that a lot of runners (including Gretchen) had their own stashes of energy gels in drop bags. It initially seemed strange to me, since I knew that there would be gels handed out on the course.

I started asking around, and discovered that some people had tried the course gels (the brand of which I’ll keep anonymous) in years past and didn’t like them, or found the pouches too big to stash conveniently in a pocket. Then I began checking to see what kind of gels people were voluntarily carrying in their place – at their own expense, in most cases - and almost unanimously, they were carrying GU.

I know my observations were just a few snippets from a very long day with many more people than I directly observed, but I think it says a lot about how dedicated GU users are to sticking with a brand that works for them. I also know that if I run the TRT next year, and if the same gel sponsor is on the course, I’ll do the exact same thing with my own private GU stashes. Keep my Roctanes and Jet Blackberries coming, and I’ll run until the sun goes down, and keep running until it comes up again.


So you get the idea: GU rocks. This spring I announced that a new mandarin orange flavor was being developed, and I was lucky enough to get some prototype packs in advance of their release. Well, the new flavor is now available in stores, but I’ve still got a lot of the pre-release packs – and if you’re one of the two winners I pick from the comments section below, I’ll mail you a healthy supply, plus a couple other flavors thrown in for good measure.

See? I can be quick sometimes – and unlike a fleeting summer, in this case quickness isn’t such a bad thing. Log in below, and I’ll pick winners on Wednesday night. Good luck!

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All at Once

“All at once, the world can overwhelm me -
There's almost nothing that you could tell me –
That could ease my mind -

Which way will you run, when it's always all around you –
And the feeling lost and found you again -
A feeling that we have no control.”
- Jack Johnson, “All at Once” (video after post)

These are kind of interesting times around Running and Rambling headquarters lately.

It’s a period of transition for our family in many ways – most of them good, but all of them with a degree of uncertainty that cumulatively seem overwhelming at times. At the same time, there are some bigger projects I’m trying to work on as well, creating one of those situations where I’ve got about 10 different things I’d love to pour myself into, but barely enough time to do any one of them effectively.

The weight of it all was enough to compel me to spend several hours on a beautiful Saturday getting lost in my work – but fortunately, this was my office:

A nice little bench above Carmel Beach where I stole some time for myself to sort through some thoughts and give focused attention to one particular project that’s been weighing on me for longer than I would have liked.

The day ended pretty well: the satisfaction of finally making some progress combined with the serenity of a perfect beach day were enough to ease my mind for the time being. However, it’s probably only a matter of time before I’m trying to decide which way to run next.


This post isn’t intended to be cryptic, or indicative that life has taken a bad turn; on the contrary, I’m very grateful for the situation I’m in, and faithfully optimistic that I’m following the path for which I’m intended. I guess the main point is to say that things might be unpredictable around here for the near future, but I think some of the end results will be worth all the trouble.

And in hopes of starting the week on a less melancholy note, I’ll kick off another giveaway drawing with my next post. Until then, let’s just enjoy the music.


Jack Johnson, "All at Once", live at Kokua 2008 (click to play):

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