Police Week

Throughout the year there are various national days such as secretaries days, teachers day, bring your kid to work day etc. I never pay much attention to such events. However this week is national police week. Take a moment and think about the work that law enforcement officers do. Remember cops run toward the danger that everybody else runs away from. So many people are quick to criticize law enforcement, but try to give thanks this week and pay respect to the men and women that are willing to serve their communities. Having known somebody that lost their life in the line of duty this is an important week for me. I know it has nothing to do with kayaking so my apologies.

187 lost their lives last year.

36 so far this year.

Some extremely wonderful organizations:

COPS - Concerns of Police Survivors. A wonderful organization that supports those that have lost a friend or loved one in the line of duty.

Officer Down Memorial Page. A place to play tribute to those that are gone but not forgotten.

Support Officer. A local network in the Bellingham area that helps all people going through a tragic event not just law enforcement.

Drive To Remember. A cross country drive honoring those that lost their life last year.

National Law Enforcement Memorial

The national memorial wall where the fallen officers names are placed.

Cypress Head Trip Report

Click for a better view of San Juan Chart

We enjoyed a camping trip Cypress Head this weekend. M and I joined another couple for an overnighter to Cypress Island in the San Juans. Our plan was to leave from near the Guemes Island Ferry in Anacortes. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anywhere to park and were forced to go to Washington Park instead. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it put us behind schedule for the currents. We kind of missed the bus so to speak. We wanted to minimize our crossing distance so we followed the shoreline on Fidalgo Island for awhile then crossed over to Guemes. The flood was causing us to drift a bit and we had to dig in and work pretty hard to make it around the point to Yellow bluffs before the current was in our favor. After a short break we crossed over to Cypress using the flood in Bellingham Channel to carry us along toward Cypress Head. The weather was great. Nice and warm and flat calm water. We reached Cypress Head pretty tired and ready to be done.

Cypress Head is a beautiful camp site offered by Department of Natural resources. There is no charge to camp here. The head is a tombolo with a sandbar attaching what seems like two separate islands. There are trails throughout with great views of some of the surrounding islands. I thought that it was early enough in the year that it would be pretty quiet especially on a Friday night instead of Saturday. This was definitely not the case. Every spot was taken and then some by the end of the night. We set up camp enjoyed a nice meal and settled in to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. That is when the party started! Two sailboats had come in and unloaded their load of drunks with enough booze to drown an army. I’m glad they to wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of the San Juans. They started singing (very badly I might add) and never let up. As the booze flowed the volume of their retched voices kept getting louder and louder. One of them was playing an accordion. I have never been an accordion fan. I find them incredibly annoying under the best circumstances. About midnight I had enough and asked them nicely to tone things down a bit. Now keep in mind every campsite was filled and why they thought everyone else wanted to be a part of their party I don’t understand. My kind request to quiet down (I swear I asked nicely) was rebutted with a nasty request for me to place my flashlight up somewhere that would have made sitting uncomfortable. This was when I lost all patience and Mr. Nice became Mr. Profane. Some members of their group were kind enough to make peace and things got quiet after that, well quieter than it was anyway.

There had been another much larger group of kayakers camped there as well and they left at 5:30am. I’m sure they appreciated the good nights sleep interrupted by the drunks.

The next morning we were able to enjoy a free ride on the currents most of the way back. The weather wasn’t as nice as the day before, but still very pleasant. We saw several porpoises as we crossed Bellingham Channel. It’s always a bonus to see the wildlife. We were forced to take a bit of a break for ferry traffic as there were two ferries coming into Anacortes as we went by Ship Harbor. I am always amazed at how fast these big ships travel. Overall the trip was a nice getaway. Next trip will be Barkley Sound on the west side of Vancouver Island next month.

M waiting for a gap in the ferry traffic

Looking out toward the Cone Islands from Cypress Head

Leaving Cypress Head

Wishing I had an air horn to wake up the drunken sailors early in the morning

A small boat stuck in the brush on Guemes. Do the tides really get this high?

Paddling along Cypress Island

Northwest Paddlers To Take On Kenai Peninsula

Three Pacific Northwest Paddlers are off to start a 500 mile paddling journey around the Kenai Peninsula. I love to follow the adventures other take. I have spent some time around Kenai Peninsula as a kid when I used to fish commercially. It is an incredibly beautiful place. I wish them the best of luck. Check out their site for much more info.

http://ourowntwohands.blogspot.com/

Ignorance

Ignorance. - the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today was another wonderful day at Deception Pass. The water was glassy calm, no wind and finally no snow. We started off early in the ebb current playing in it as it built up to it’s max of 5.01 knots. Not too strong for Deception Pass standards, but still strong enough to be respected. As we were playing in th eddy line of Canoe Pass three other boats showed up. Two people in a canoe and two individuals in separate kayaks. None of them were dressed for immersion. Not even wet suits. Fortunately they at least had PFD’s on. What astounded me the most was the woman paddling the two person kayak. Look at the photo above. The front cockpit is empty and not covered. Can you imagine how much the boat would fill up with water if it capsized? The other paddler (not pictured) appeared to be a little more knowledgeable, or so I thought. I watched her cross the eddy line and manage not to capsize by pure luck. No edging, no lean and to make matters worse when she would do a back stroke she rotated the paddle shaft so that the power face was pointing forward. She just giggled with pure ignorance as she was crossed the eddy not knowing how close she came to capsizing. I’m sure she would have kept plenty warm in her sweatshirt she was wearing though if she had to swim.

The day continued to surprise me as a class of students showed up. 12 students two instructors, all very nice. I was pleased to see that they were all dressed for immersion with dry suits and/ or wet suits. However there wasn’t a single helmet in the group. It is more common for me to see people wearing helmets here than not. As they were practicing crossing the eddy performing low braces and edging I watched as one after another capsized and had to be rescued. I was amazed as I heard the instructor giving instruction on how to get back into the boat with a T-rescue. One of the students told me this was a basic kayak class and that most of the students had never been in a kayak before today. How responsible is it to take a class and throw them directly into Deception Pass with little training and no experience? I helped perform one of the rescues and the student had absolutely no idea how to get back into the boat. He had to be told every step, where to put his hands, how to slide his legs into the boat, which way to turn, etc… WOW!!!!

It is no wonder the Coast Guard is so concerned about kayak safety lately. They held a special meeting with boating deputies a couple of days ago in Bellingham just to address the recent deaths in the area. There were six boating deaths in Whatcom County last year.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/392069.html

My day of paddling was great otherwise. Conditions were perfect. Not too cold, not too warm. Current could have been a little stronger, but it was strong enough to get some good training in. Every roll was nailed. I had to laugh as I was practicing my rolls in the current when a tour boat came by so that the tourists could take photos of the crazy kayaker.

And of course the wildlife didn’t disappoint either. I got to watch a Bald Eagle soar out of the sky and grab a fish out of the water probably within 50 feet of me. Slight problem though. The fish was too big for the eagle and he couldn’t get airborne again. He flailed about trying to gain flight once making it out of the water only enough for me to see that there was a fish he was holding onto. We watched as he became weaker and weaker floating in the water. It looked like he was trying to paddle to shore with his wings. I’ve never seen such a thing. Myself and another paddler got closer. I thought for sure the eagle was going to drown. Yet when we got close enough he decided to let go of the fish and was able to fly away.

Click on the above image for a larger view of this desperate eagle.

We finished the day with a little more rolling practice and Bowman Bay and a little more talk about our next trip, which will be a camping trip to Cypress Island next month. Can’t wait!

Running Red Rock

M and I just returned from a trip to Vegas. We stayed at the Red Rock Resort way off the strip. This is totally the way to do Vegas. Much more peaceful. We rented a car and on Wednesday I headed off to do a little adventure running. I have read that Red Rock Canyon has some great running and I was not disappointed. I am still early in my marathon training so I thought I would do a 4 mile loop and see how I felt. If I felt good enough I would continue on for a few more miles. I was scheduled for 7 miles with my training program, but with the heat, and dry air I wasn’t sure how I would do.

I started by asking one of the rangers at the visitor center what trails she suggested. Her name was Porsche. A nice older lady. I imagined with a name like Porsche in a town like Vegas she must have been a stripper back in the day, but now that time has taken its toll she has moved on to park ranger. I told her I wanted to go for a run through the park. Her response with a dumbfounded look was, “you can’t run here.” Great I thought they must have some rule prohibiting running. What kind of place would prohibit running? She explained that there were rocks on the trail and you can’t run on rocks. Okay good I wouldn’t be breaking any rule, she just thought I was crazy for wanting to run. I explained that I didn’t mind and in fact preferred to run on trails. She just didn’t get it and didn’t have any advise for me.

I set off from the visitors center on Moenkopi Loop (#1 on the map). This was supposed to be a 2 mile easy loop. Well I missed a turn and after running about 1 1/2 miles I came across a couple and asked them when the trail turned back. They said they had gotten lost too and gave up and were heading back. Well I’m too ornery to give up so I just kept going.

I think I was on a dried up creek bed and not an actual trail. I had brought along my camera and my pace was constantly broken up by the need to stop and take photos. Plus it was hard to get a really good pace with the variation of surface and unsure footing. The wind was howling directly in my face as the elevation kept going up. No problem just turn up my music and I’m good. After nearly 4 miles I ended up on the road. I followed the road for a while till I came across another trail. Every car that drove by looked at me like I was a lunatic. Haven’t they ever seen a runner before? After 7 miles I ended up in the Calico Hills. These beautiful red rocks are an amazing rugged sight to see. The wind had died down and it was generally down hill running now. I could tell whenever I was getting close to the road on the trail because suddenly the trail would become better marked. I guess the rangers feel that those that might get lost generally won’t go more that a 100 yards off the roadway.

I finished the last bit of my run with the visitor center in sight. Almost there I picked up my pace and was feeling great. That is until I realized the visitor center where I had left my car was still a ways away from the fee booth that I had just sprinted to. Turns out I missed another turn and what I thought was the visitor center was actually the fee both. The visitor center was up the hill.

My overall run was more then 10 miles. Temperature was mid 70’s. Total assent 1300 feet. Totally wonderful run! The elevation issue was a great boost for me since I was worried about a marathon I am doing in August that has 2500 feet of assent spread out over 12 miles. I did a good portion of that in half the distance so I am a lot less worried about the marathon now.

I enjoyed Red Rock so much that I took M there the next day so we could hike around there together. Here are a few more photos of this wonderful place. Click on the image for a larger view.

The Kindness of Strangers

I am a regular reader of the blog GB Regulators and as I have written about in the past I had recently lost a friendly bet with one of the “Regulators” Joshua. A fun competition to see who could learn to roll first using only a Norsaq. Well Joshua won and I paid up. I sent him a package with some local Northwest items. A shirt and a beer from Boundary Bay Brewery, which is here in Bellingham, and a small package of smoked salmon. Well being the good sport that Joshua is he returned the favor and sent a package my way as well. Since he is from Green Bay Wisconsin he sent some cheese and sausage. As wonderful as that was he went a step further and sent me a Norsaq that he made himself. I am truly impressed. I have read enough of his adventures that I don’t feel like he is a total stranger, yet I have never had the pleasure of actually meeting him. Yet he took the time to make something by hand. Totally cool! This will go perfect with the Greenland Kayak I will be building in September with Cape Falcon. I want to rush out and try my gift. However I have decided to wait. I am going to wait till I finish my Greenland kayak. Till then I will keep using my modified rolling stick. I think it will be so much more appropriate on a Greenland skin on frame Qajaq.

My rolling stick on top compared the Joshua’s Norsaq below. My rolling stick is from Cunningham’s book, Building the Greenland Kayak. It is clearly not a traditional design. I carved it down from a piece of scrap wood left over from a paddle I started that I have yet to finish. Joshua’s Norsaq is much more traditional and much better looking! If this is what I get as a consolation prize to a lost bet imagine what the winner would get.

Thanks Joshua!

Stupid Product Feature

Yakima has come out with a new kayak rack. The Bow Down. Not a bad looking rack. I like the fact that it folds down flat when not in use. But was it really necessary to include a bottle opener in a kayak rack. Come on, were paddlers really screaming over the lack of a bottle opener on their kayak rack. Maybe we need to open a beer before a launch. Nothing says have a safe paddling trip like downing a beer before you leave. Okay I know there are other bottled beverages besides beer that one may need a bottle opener for, but this just seems stupid to me.

Isn’t It Spring Time?

Fresh snow in my yard before sunrise 03/29/08

Off to Deception Pass again this morning for a paddle on a fine Spring Day. Well that was the plan. It is Spring right? I woke up this morning to fresh snow in my yard. Well a little snow wasn’t going to stop me so off I went. A little slippery roadway slowed me down a little, but I still made it in time to meet a friend for a great day at the Pass. The current was mild today (5.13 max ebb) with minimal wind. Perfect conditions to shake the rust off after being away from the rough conditions for awhile. Not another boater in sight. It was very peaceful having this wonderful place to ourselves.

We took our time paddling along the shore and I saw an arch that I have never noticed before. It looks like if the tide were high enough one could paddle all the way through. I think it is pretty cool that every time I go back I see something new.

Although the current was predicted at 5.13 it didn’t really appear to be that strong. I feel kind of crazy for feeling this way, but I wish the conditions were a bit stronger. It was hard to play in the current and do eddy line peel outs since the current wasn’t moving enough.

We had a bit of everything today. The waves stacked up with the wind opposing the current allowing us to do a little bit of surfing. Then a short while later the wind completely reversed making the water absolutely glassy calm. We had rain, sleet, snow, and at the end sun. A little bit of rolling practice at the end in Bowman Bay which just made me feel like I chugged a Slurpee giving me a massive brain freeze. I nailed several offside rolls. My new Werner Ikelos was wonderful. I love this paddle!

Many great plans were made for future paddles. We hope to head back to Deception many times this year to really refine our rough water skills. We want to work on rescue practice amongst the currents. Nothing beats real world experience. This will make us far better than any lake practice session could.

The only downer of the day other than the cold snow was that the parks were nice enough to raise the launch fee. I still don’t understand why kayakers have to pay a boat launch fee when most of us don’t even use the boat ramp, but instead use the beach itself.
I’ve ranted about that before so I’ll shut about that for now.

I love that this wonderful place is within an hour of my home. I feel very fortunate to have such world class paddling so close. A great reward for many hours of overtime I’ve put in lately at work.

Got Seals?

I little cross country advertising for a new organization. The Northern Lights Qajaq Society. A new website for traditional kayaking. The site is still new but it has some useful links and cool graphics. I especially like the Got Seals T-shirt. These are being sold as a fund raiser for an upcoming event, the Traditional Paddlers Gathering in Minnesota in September. Since this is 1,627 miles from my home something tells me I won’t make it.

There is also more info at Alex’s site, The Next Best Thing To Greenland, Minnesota. I might just have to get the shirt anyway just for the cool logo. Plus I like to support such efforts.

Timberline Marathon

I’ve decided to scrap my plans to run the Chelan Marathon in exchange for the Timberline Marathon. on September 13, 2008.  I hate running on the streets amongst traffic and Chelan was going to be entirely on roads amongst traffic. Yuk! I just recently learned about the Timberline Marathon and a friend and I have decided to run this together. 26.2 miles of dirt. The entire race is on trails. The race starts on Mt. Hood in Oregon. The first two miles are above the tree line and the last race evidently had fresh snow at the beginning last year. I’m hoping that is not the case this year. The good news is that most of the run is downhill. 3000 feet of elevation loss! Very cool. The course follows a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. This trail runs from Canada to Mexico. My biggest fear with this race isn’t the 26.2 miles of high elevation trail running, although it should be. My biggest fear is the bees. Every report I read and even the registration warns of the yellow jackets. Apparently everybody gets bitten or stung (not sure what yellow jackets do). I have a huge bee phobia. I can deal with riding 120 mph on a motorcycle (not that I would ever do that……again) or 140 mph in a car (not that I would ever do that………again) but bees, now they bother me. I’m sure I’ll cope somehow.

This will be my second marathon this year. First one will be Haulin Aspen in August. Yes I know, I’m nuts.

Check out some of the cool photos that I stole (I mean borrowed). All photos courtesy of Rogue Multi Sport.

Google Maps and NOAA Charts

I was just given a link to a really cool website that I thought I would share. It is Google Earth with all the NOAA marine charts overlaid. You can zoom it in and also change the view with a slider in the upper right so that the satellite image shows through onto the chart. Pretty cool stuff. So check it out here at http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/

Below is a sample image of my favorite place to paddle, Deception Pass. I’ll be paddling there next on March 29th.  When you check out the website zoom in really close to Bowman Bay just north of Deception Pass.  There are a couple of kayakers paddling in the water and several on the beach.

Vancouver Island Presentation

Tonight I heard a great presentation on a journey paddling around Vancouver Island. Roy Massena gave a talk about his 34 day journey around the island with some friends they did in 2007. He mixed in some good safety messages and talked about the logistics. But he also told some great stories about the people he met along the way. Some really cool stories about the First Nations people that he met along the way. Unfortunately there is also the account of a man they met paddling near Brooks Peninsula. The man was completely not prepared for the exposed paddle he was setting out on. He was lacking on the necessary skills and equipment. Roy later learned that this paddler was lost at sea and never seen again on this very same paddle. There is a trip report with lots of cool photos. A good read when you have the time to sit down for a bit.

Roy’s trip report.

Pacific Horizons

Tonight I had the pleasure of viewing Pacific Horizons. WAKE brought Bryan Smith to showcase his film and what a great film. It was standing room only. Lots of action, fun characters, and groovy music. Listening to the audience ooh and ah as we watched the action was pretty cool. Filmed on the waters of the wonderful Northwest it showcased some of the best paddling and paddlers in the world. Although as Bryan pointed out what we consider the Northwest is actually the Southwest for our Canadian neighbors eh. Bryan spoke before and after describing how the filming was done and the characters he met along the way. I got a chuckle out of his description of how things were filmed on the Skoomumchuck. They did much of the filming there from powerboats operated by some of the locals. Evidently the ride in the powerboats was more scary than the time in the kayaks. The powerboat operators were just as excited to “buck the chuck” in their powerboats as the paddlers were in their kayaks.

As I watched the paddlers being tossed in and out of the crazy waves I thought there is no way I will ever do something that crazy. But then I remembered that I thought the same thing about paddling in Deception Pass and now Deception Pass is one of my favorite places to paddle.

Dubside was featured as well. I was impressed with how Dubside could be on the water within 12 minutes of arriving at the put in. That includes all the time it takes to put together his folding kayak. It usually takes me longer than that and I don’t have to put together my kayak.

Bryan is leaving in May to start filming a second film that will be filmed on the East coast, “Eastern Horizons” perhaps.
I left with my own copy of Pacific Horizons and a desire to hit the water ASAP. Unfortunately my work schedule is and has been way to crazy for any free time to paddle. Hopefully soon.

Check out the film if you can. Any paddler will enjoy it and it is so well done that even non-paddlers will enjoy it too. Below is the trailer for the film. Enjoy!

Haulin Aspen

I’ve signed up for my first marathon of the year. Haulin Aspen in Bend, Oregon. A friend and I are going to make it a motorcycle trip as well. We will ride our bikes there and then I will pray that my legs aren’t too much like hamburger to be able to ride back home. He and I are fellow motorcycle instructors that often teach together, but rarely get the chance to ride together. So the ride itself should be a blast.

The course sounds tough. 99% of it is on dirt, which I really like. There is only one real hill to worry about. Unfortunately this hill lasts for the first 12 miles. 2500 feet of elevation gain. Compare that to Portland Marathon that only has an elevation gain of 150 feet. Oh my God what have I gotten myself into! The scenery should be awesome as the course goes through the Willemette National Forest with views of Mt Bachelor. Highest point of the course will be at about 6000 feet. Insane Asylum here I come!

Pay Up Succor!

Today I finally got together my payment to Joshua over our Norsaq bet. We had a friendly little bet over who would learn to perform a Norsaq roll first. Well now he is hitting these rolls left and right and I’m still learning. Well I’m a man of my word so off in the mail soon will be my payment. A little bit of local flare, but nothing too obnoxious. Being as he is from Green Bay it took everything I had not to just fill up the box with Seahawks items. I’ll reveal more later. I want Joshua to get his winnings first before I say more.

Kayaker rescued from Chuckanut Bay

From the Bellingham Herald 02/29/08

BELLINGHAM — U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued a kayaker who tipped over in Chuckanut Bay this afternoon.

Petty Officer Corey Barrett said a Coast Guard unit was patrolling the area when the woman’s kayaking partner called 911 at around 3 p.m.

The woman, who is in her 40s, spent between 20 and 30 minutes in the water and was unable to get back into her kayak. Aid units were called to treat the woman’s mild hypothermia, but she was warmed up without having to be transported to the hospital.

Kayakers Stranded On Saddlebag Island

From the Bellingham Herald 02/25/08

ANACORTES — A Coast Guard crew from Bellingham came to the rescue of four stranded kayakers from Saddlebag Island east of Anacortes.

No injuries are reported.

The Coast Guard says the four became stranded around 5 p.m. on Sunday after their kayaks washed away, while they were hiking on the island.

The Coast Guard says one of the kayakers was able to swim out to the three kayaks that washed away. It says the kayaker then paddled to the mainland to call for help.

Skagit County authorities contacted Coast Guard Station Bellingham to assist the remaining four kayakers.

Obviously there are some pretty obvious lessons here. Carry your boat higher. Tie them to something on shore. Carry a VHF or at least a cell phone. Pretty basic stuff. What has left me bothered by this story is the response that is being put out from some of the locals including one local paddler from WAKE a Bellingham Kayak club. Let’s be glad that this story has a happy ending. I have no problem learning from the errors of others. But I try to learn without being rude. Some of the best advise I received when I first started my career was from somebody that had been on the job for a long time. He said, “don’t ever laugh or make fun of something somebody else does because someday you will do something worse.” Of course I must admit he was scolding me for laughing at a co-worker for something they had done.

I am thankful that these people are okay. I am sure they have learned from there misfortune.

Ikelos - Taking Dreams and Crafting Them Into Reality

I’ve moved up to the Ikelos paddle by Werner. Today was my first paddle with it. Ikelos is a very aggressive high angle paddle and it moves a lot of water! I feel like it is going to get a little getting used to. When I try to paddle with it with the same amount of pulling force I’m used to I tire myself out. It has such a large surface area that it gives a lot of resistance. A relaxed paddling pace with the Ikelos moves me faster than a steady work out pace with my Cyprus.

Like the Cyprus the Ikelos has a foam core. Very light and very buoyant. I didn’t try any rolls with it. However I have in the past rolled with the Corryvrecken a very close relative to the Ikelos and found it extremely easy to roll with. The only difference between the two is the foam core. The Corryvrecken doesn’t have the foam core. I think this paddle will really show its worth next time I am in Deception Pass. A really powerful paddle for bracing. rolling, and just plain taking control.

Like all Werner paddles I have tried the quality is wonderful. The shaft is super smooth, which I find very comfortable on longer paddles. I started originally with Aqua Bound paddles. Their shaft has just a bit of a rough texture to them. Barely noticeable on shorter paddles. However on a full day paddle it felt like it was digging into my skin.

To test out my new paddle I went for a short cruise along the Bellingham waterfront. I left from Fairhaven and traveled along the Taylor Dock. As I left I saw one of the Alaska State Ferries M/V Aurora tied up for service. The Aurora is one of the smaller ferries and I assume it is only here for service. The Alaska Ferry system leaves for Alaska from Bellingham and has a pretty nice terminal in Fairhaven. Often used for formal events it is especially nice at night. Bellingham has a long history of logging and coal mining all supported by the water. Growing up in this area the waterfront was filled with wood pilings left over from the old days.

A few years ago Bellingham cleaned this area up and created a “boardwalk” (actually made of cement not boards) that went across the water. Part of a trail system that connects miles and miles of wonderful trails. During the Bellingham Marathon this boardwalk was used as part of the course. Pretty impressive to see over 2000 runners running along this path. Recently a local coffee company added a coffee house at Boulevard Park. Clearly Bellingham has no shortage of coffee stands, but this one is pretty nice. It is a great place to sit back and enjoy the water. It is so close to the water I almost expect them to offer drive through service for paddlers soon. (let’s hope things don’t go that far). I also like that the city chose to give this space to a local coffee company rather than a take over the world coffee company like Starbucks. The weather was wonderful today. Flat calm water, no wind, with temperatures in the mid 40’s. Unfortunately M has been feeling a little under the weather lately so she wasn’t able to join me.

I don’t know what it was about me today, but everybody was waiving at me and saying hello. A few took photos. It’s not like there is a shortage of kayakers in this area so I shouldn’t have been that strange to see paddling along. Everybody was very nice except the little kid that was defending his beach along Boulevard Park. He had taken up cover behind a log and was shooting at me with a make believe gun fashioned from driftwood. Reminded me of myself as a kid. I loved playing cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, or any other war type game. Of course there was always the endless argument when the other kid would insist that he hadn’t been hit and refused to play dead.

Wow how did I get so far off topic. I guess that is what paddling does for me. Takes me to another place. A place away from work, bills, and other life stresses. Ain’t kayaking great.

Portland Marathon

I’ve done a crazy thing. I’ve decided to run another marathon. I ran my first last year after some pressure from a co-worker to run a half. I decided to run last years Bellingham Marathon after my training progressed beyond 13.1 miles. This year will be different though. Last year I ran the marathon almost exactly 13 weeks after starting to run. And when I say starting to run I mean it. I was not running at all before that. My first run in that 13 week period was two laps around a local high school track followed by desperate gasps for oxygen and long drinks of water. During those 13 weeks I was forced to stop running for two weeks due to injuries. So now I have 231 days or 33 weeks to properly train. I am focusing on strength training now with some running mixed in. A little prevention to try to prevent the knee injuries I suffered last year.

Last year my goal was to finish. This year I want to break 4 hours. That would be a 9:10 per mile pace average. Shouldn’t be too hard. Last years pace was 10:02. This feels slow when I run, but spread out over 26.2 miles it is a chore!

I chose Portland because I can ride the train from Bellingham all the way there. No driving afterwards will be nice. I can kick back stretch out and sleep. Plus I have family in Vancouver right across the river from Portland.

Okay so it gets worse. I have an even bigger goal. I want to become a maniac. Not sure if I will be able to pull it off or not, but depending on how my training goes I might try. To become a marathon maniac I would have to run three marathons in three months. There are other ways, but I think three in three months would be the easiest.

So I am definitely planning on Portland and I have my eyes on Chelan and either Seattle or San Antonio. San Antonio would be awesome because it is a rock and roll marathon with live bands playing throughout the course. Plus the weather would be so much better in San Antonio in November than Seattle weather in November. However paying to travel to run a race is not exactly in the budget.

So what do I get if I become a maniac you ask? Just a T-Shirt and the satisfaction in knowing that I have done something that most have not. When I think of how hard a marathon is I just remember that I actually had a harder time finishing the Deception Pass Dash kayak race.

Oh gotta go the white coats are here to take me away to the inSane AsyLum.

So What’s In a Name?

I’ve been looking back at a few of my past posts and realized that for some it may seem a bit strange the way I refer those around me. My wonderful wife is always referred to as M, my friend that I often paddle with J, etc. I have called my wife M or Miss M since we were kids and it is just something that has stuck. I also do this to keep a bit of anonymity. Kind of one of those “the names of those involved have been changed to protect the innocent” things. Plus it is a little quicker to abbreviate one’s name ( No I’m not really that lazy). Also I have always been a fan of a couple of movies that do the same. James Bond for one has the characters M and Q. Then there is the movie Men in Black with such characters as J played by Will Smith and K played by Tommy Lee Jones.

And for anybody that really knows me in a professional sense the above poster seems that much more fitting.