Terrible Analogies

Yay!  Let’s hear it for me.  I broke my own toe.

Now, I’d like to say that I broke in in a desperate Muay Thai death match, in a bare hands wrestling match with the last panda on Earth, or while hiking barefoot across the vast exploding lava fields of Hawaii’s Big Island, but alas this was not the case.  I broke it, pedestrianly enough,  tripping over the tub while attempting to lower the window blinds.

My dead sexy, gorgeous foot...disfigured!

The pain isn’t relegated to my toe, but instead tends to occasionally travel halfway up my shin in threads of dull pain.  My Mt. Whitney run is in less than a month, and now I get to finish my training runs with a busted toe.  This should be interesting.

Yay!

The more I watch this clip, the more I’m reminded of the movie District B13.  Doing a quick IMDB search for Damien Walters, I’m surprised to discover that he hasn’t had the opportunity to display his skills on screen.

If you haven’t seen District B13, then you’re in for a treat. Although I think some of the stunts that Damien Walters demonstrates in his video steals some of D-B13′s thunder, it’s still well worth the rental price.  

….and that’s it for me for the week.  Woot!  Happy Friday!

At this weekend’s Celebrity Championship tour, Michael Jordan was greeted with this unusual sighting at the 17th green:

Umm….wow.  They certainly take their golf seriously up in Tahoe. I was watching this on television and wasn’t sure I saw what I thought I saw until I found it posted on youtube. I figured somebody must have posted it online, and I wasn’t disappointed when I went looking for it:

Thank God for the webbernets, preserving those important moments for all time…

I got into work before 6am yesterday just so I could leave early and grab a quick run up at Iron Mountain in the Poway / Ramona area.  The Ellie Lane portion of this run crests over three high points, and isn’t for the weak willed.  When I hit the trailhead it was in the upper 80′s, humid, and windless deep in these mountains.  This was probably one of the toughest runs I’ve had in quite a while, and I was smiling the entire time…

I’ll be updating this post in the future with more pics, maps, and technical details.  There’s quite a bit left to photograph.  Hopefully it’ll be a bit cooler on my next hump up this hill, allowing me to not only enjoy the run more, but the scenery as well.  Today I just wanted to get this thing over with.  I was running low on water and my hands were insanely swollen due to dehydration.  I have a pic, but didn’t want to gross anyone out.   Ahhh…good times

As always, feel free to click on the pics to embiggen…

The run begins just off the shoulder of highway 67

It's rattlesnake season. I saw quite a few tracks in the dirt, but so far no snakes.

Yep, they weren't joking today. High heat and humidity makes for a painful run.

This run looks sooo inviting at first...

...but once you're past the initial grove of trees, its true unforgiving nature is revealed.

The first real challenge of this run is the steep log hill

A section of the trail near the first peak

Decisions, decisions. I almost always opt for the cruel meat grinder called Ellie Lane.

On Ellie Lane, looking down towards Ramona

Ramona Overlook

Looking back at the trail I just ran up

The peak view of Ellie Lane. There was a haze in the air today, but on clear days you can see out to the Pacific ocean.

Near the end of the run Ellie Lane skirts past a small lake

There was quite a bit between the peak and the end of the run, but due to the heat and technical difficulties with my camera (the final few photos came out strangely), I didn’t capture everything I wanted to (table top rock, the rock-walled chicanes, oak tree bench, etc…).  Ah well, I guess that’s something to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.

Even though I had to work on Saturday, I still managed to squeeze in a quick 7 mile run on the Mt. Woodson loop.  It was 85° at 2pm when I began the trek up, and by the time I got back to my car my Camelbak was drained.  Let me tell ya, that was a hot run…

I’ve updated my Mt. Woodson trail loop entry with some new pics, so if you’re interested in following me up someday, take a look at it to get an idea for what you’ll be in for.

My assault on Mt. Whitney is still set for the beginning of September.  In preparation my long, grueling mountain trail runs have been increased.  I can usually be found on Iron Mountain, Elle Lane, or Mt. Woodson three times a week now.  I plan on hitting Mt. Baldy / San Antonio this weekend to get a bit of elevation training in.  Can’t wait!

Follow the hiking trail to the base of Mt. Woodson

New stairs!