CrossRoads Blog

I know I have said it before, but I am going to say it again - nothing is more important than family, friends and our health!! All the other is truly not that important or simply the stuff we fill in life’s empty spaces with (not to get to Roger Water’s-y). I also seem to be getting more and more sentimental the older I get. So when it looked like all was lining up to have a Thanksgiving this year with as big a family group as we have had in years, we were pretty excited. In particular because Brother Dominic was coming in from New York. Sister Kerry was also making her first trip to the hometown of our Grandson. Becky and Rolland and there youngin’s would be there, of course M3 with parents in tow, Zac and his clan, and the ‘old’ folks would all be sitting around the big house with us smelling the bird in the oven and watching the Lions losing on the TV. Yep… time for that old cliché - it just doesn’t get any better than that!

What can I say, it was a great week, including: talking old times, catching up with Dominic, playing with the Grandson, cooking with my wife and my Mother, eating, eating, eating some more, going to Wal-Mart (again - this is what you do in McAlester), lot’s of pictures, watching Zac’s clan enjoy the easel, doing the Tulsa Mall Black Friday trip and just like last year we got the M3-Santa Picture and scored some cool Jordan Nike’s for him, eating German chocolate cake, eating pumpkin pie, eating pecan pie, and did I mention eating?

The find of the trip was the local track up at the High School. We of course needed some runs, including some speed work while we were there and we found the track open, just up the street and a great place to run. Not only did we do our speed work there one day, we did our long run on it as well (so much better on the knees and joints versus running on Carl Albert Hwy there). Having never ran on a track (least in forever) it was really nice, and I think we both had our fastest 4X mile repeats ever (I was doing sub 6:15 average which is fast for this old man).

The best part of the trip of course was all the catch up and laughing about old times with everyone. It was extra special having both Dominic and Kerry to shoot the breeze with. I think it’s been 10-12 years since we did that. I know it won’t be that long before it happens again. The grandkid was of course his same old perfect hambone star-of-the-show self. I think you will see evidence of this by checking out all the pictures (this time they will only be 75% M3 shots versus 90% normal!). In particular you will want to scope the Santa costume shots because you know we had to get him some get-up for this trip’s pictures. Kimberly also captured a great video that portends of his future rock stardom (check it out on youtube HERE). It was also nice to see how Becky’s family has grown so, her and Roland sure raised some great kids.

We had a great ride home too as the old man had joined us for a quick trip to the Valley of the Sun. Along the way we even got to catch a little early ‘White Christmas with some decent snow around Amarillo and the area. Seeing we had ‘road-tripped’ it, it was nice we had driven OB2 (which stands for “Old Blue Two” in honor of buddy Clay’s old Ford Truck he called Old Blue) with Four Wheel Drive. Even though we really didn’t need it, it was nice to know we would have been fine had the road gotten worse, and the same could not be said for the Coupe.

As always, it won’t be long before we venture back to the land of the Sooners and Cowboys - but next trip will be very, very special because: we got a Grand Daughter on the way!!! Some PICS HERE

They call the Big Sur Half Marathon a ‘destination race’ (one of the top 3 in the country), and it more than lives up to its billing as a ‘must run’. The Central California Coast is just an amazing piece of our planet. When we heard about a race that starts in Monterey, heads down Cannery Row, through Garden Grove and along an amazing stretch of the Pacific, umm, book it Dan-o was an easy decision! As with most destination races, the race itself is only just one piece of the overall experience. And with our hotel in downtown Monterey, essentially two blocks from the race start, one block from Fisherman’s Pier, and just a little walk to Cannery Row, there would be no doubt of this. Even before we the road I was having visions of Cioppino Bowls dancing in my head.

So upon arrival Friday while we didn’t make a complete beeline for the seafood (we checked into the hotel first) I think it was less than two hours after we got there that we had an awesome piece of Blackened Pacific Red Snapper and a nice Halibut steak in front of us at a little place called Monterey Fish House. The place is very small and really caters to locals, but it was well worth the squish and living room environment.

Saturday was as full as day as we could cram in considering we always like to call it an early night the day before a race. We started the day with an early stroll along the water and piers. Of course we had to do a little walk around Fisherman’s Pier and reminisce about the time we had the boys with us and we ate at the little restaurant at the end of the pier and Mike and Zac put Dungeness Crab exoskeletons (their dinner) on their heads (PIC HERE) - ahh where did those days go? Then we headed over to the Race Expo to pick up our bibs and race packets. Seeing it was going to be a cold one, I grabbed some of the cheapo gloves and Kimberly picked up a pair of compression pants she could wear under her shorts - the girl may always wants to look good, but is will to sacrifice for warmth always :-). After the expo we took a little walk down to the Cannery Row section of Monterey. A very cool little stretch that was once full of Canneries of course, and now consists of shops, restaurants and the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

After walking around some of the shops, having some more excellent seafood at Louie Linguine’s (an excellent spot in the Cannery with great views, a fun vibe, an really good clam chowder) we got some tickets and headed into the massive Monterey Bay Aquarium. We immediately realized that to do this place right you need a full day, and we sadly only had a couple of hours. We did manage to hit all the main areas and attractions but did not do the place justice for sure. I took a ton of pictures, of course shooting through glass you will not get what you hope for, but some of them actually came out pretty decent. The star of the show right now has to be the Seahorse exhibit. These things really are amazing. There is one bred that has even developed legs and arms that look like branches - it’s scary cool evolution. Do check out some of the shots, a couple I got zoomed right in on the sea creature - some it may even take you a minute to find it as it blends in so well. After a little more walking around we headed back to the room, ate some of the homemade pizza we brought (as is a pre-race night tradition) and called it a night.

A 6:15 start time means a 4:00 alarm clock even though we could walk to the start line from our room. While we for sure lay out all the ‘gear’ the night before, there are many things to get done before a race including a little warm up run and most importantly the oatmeal and coffee! We both sleep fairly decent, though not long, neither of us had any major injuries and we were feeling pretty good - all good omens for a great race. We put on the gloves, downed B12 and headed over to the start line. I gave Kimberly a kiss, we headed to our start lines and before you knew it we were off.

The course was spectacular. Aside from the runs we have done along the Rim of the Grand Canyon perhaps, I can’t think of a more scenic place we have ever ran - in fact I repeated the course the day after the race by myself. You start off right next to the piers, circle back through Monterey and run down the center of Cannery Row, then you are right out running with the Pacific on one side and the California cool homes of Garden Grove on the other - sweet! It’s more or less and out an back course with slightly different return. The last bit is especially nice as you run along a stretch of a bike/pedestrian path that runs about 18 miles totally along the coast in that area. The course has a few little hills but is fairly flat and fast. In particular the last couple of miles are slightly downhill so if makes for a nice finish which comes right back into the Fisherman’s Pier area and close to the Hotel. We both had very good runs. Kimberly had a new Half Marathon PR with 1:55:03 and the top 15% of her age and of all women. I ran in 1:36:13 which was top 4% overall and a new PR for me too by 10 seconds or so. We hung around the finish line for a bit and got our very cool pottery style medals.

After the race it was still early and we wanted to take advantage of the area. So after a quick shower we headed 10 minutes south to the ‘perfect’ little town of Carmel by the Sea. We tried to walk off the race legs, stopped into a few of the shops, tried to find something out of place in the town to no avail (even a leaf) and finally got my bowl of Cioppino at Flattery’s Seafood Grill - which was most excellent by the way. After lunch we drove a little further south and stopped at Point Loma Reserve. What an amazing place. When you picture that idyllic view of mountains and California coast, this is the place. We did a nice little hike and took some pictures of the Sea Lions and amazing shoreline. This is another place where I wish we had a full day to hang out, but it was getting late in the day and the bodies were starting to fade fast. We headed back to town, took a little walk to the local Sprouts and picked up some easy foods we could eat in the room - no fancy dinner celebration required, just some turkey, a little chocolate and a good bottle of Vino in the room - a perfect night to cap off a perfect trip. PICS HERE

It’s really nice when my business and our running (err ahh..) habit can come together. It’s particularly nice when it does so in support of a great cause. Such is the case with the ‘Race To End Domestic Violence‘ a 5K running event sponsored by the Arizona Foundation for Women here in Phoenix. It’s a great organization and one Kimberly and I are honored to support. There are a lot of options out there for your help, but when you see some of the stories that this group is here to put an end to, you know it’s worthy. A couple of staggering statistics…. Every 36 minutes in Arizona, a police officer responds to a domestic violence incident where a child is present. Every 30 minutes in Arizona, a family is turned away from a shelter due to lack of space. Every 19 minutes in Arizona, an arrest is made as a result of domestic violence incident. There is a domestic violence related death approximately every five days in Arizona!

My business industry is one of the largest contributors to the cause and always puts together a sizable team to run (or walk) in the race. This year in order to have an even bigger turnout, the race was ran in conjunction with the 34th annual Phoenix 10K (one of the oldest and largest races in Arizona). In fact, they set it up so that you could run one race right after the other - which of course me and Kimberly were one of the 150 out of 2500 runners who did both!

The race is held downtown and ran basically on the same roads as the Komen and every other downtown Phoenix race (flat and fast). That meant a fairly early rise and drive. It was a nippy day and we had to park a ways from the start at the Bolin Plaza so the cold was a good motivator to get the running started. Kimberly and I had a little different strategy for the races. Seeing 5K and 10K’s are fast and normally all out type runs, and this being the first time we ever tried back-to-back, deciding how fast to run them was tricky. Kimberly decided to run the first race (the 10K) more or less all out (as much as you can as your body knows you have another fast 5K coming) and chill on the 5K somewhat. My plan was to try to run both equal, kind of like I was running a 15K race speed.

We both did very good, Kimberly got a PR in the 10K at 51:10 and followed up with a 26:25 in her 5K (both top 10% in her age group). I did 44:38 in the 10K and 21:36 for the 5K which was good for top 10% overall in both runs. We were happy with the results considering most people just ran one race, in fact in the combined overall I finished 22nd and Kimberly was 56th place.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the mall and seeing what we could find for the grandkiddo and those other little ones in the land where the wind comes whipping down the plains. Next week we are off to the beautiful California Central Coast and Monterrey Peninsula for the Big Sur Half Marathon!