Tags: climb, cycling, mapmyride

As I prepare for 10DL in 2010 my training grounds in San Francisco. This panorama in full screen will blow you away. This is the water that I swim and row in every weekend (although Adam is encouraging me to put in more miles on the bike in preparation for our mountain ride). Props to the photographer Michael Schrengohst

Tags: open water swimming, panorama, pilot boat, san francisco bay, Training

Congratulations to a few good friends of ours who competed in the Nashville Country Music Marathon and ½ Marathon this weekend.  This year’s race reportedly had over 30,600 finishers, the largest total in the race’s 10 year history.  Take a look below at the starting line from this weekend.

½ Marathon:
Suzy Demirjian                       2:28:28

Full Marathon:
Brian Sewell                            4:07:07
Chris Bove                              4:18:08

Through word of mouth, we’ve heard that number more of you also raced this weekend.  Shoot us an email and we’ll get your name on the website.  Congratulations to all of you who finished.  What an awesome accomplishment! The folks who put on the Rock & Roll Marathon series do a phenomenal job.  They place live bands all over the course.  It makes for a fun experience and definitely lifts your spirits in the doldrums of miles 20-26.  If you’re thinking about your first marathon or 1/2 marathon, you should definitely look into one of these events.

Rock & Roll Marathon Series

• Phoenix (full & ½ Marathon)
• Nashville (full & ½ Marathon)
• San Diego (full marathon)
• Seattle (full & ½ Marathon) – Inaugural event June 2009
• Virginia Beach (½ Marathon)
• San Jose (½ Marathon)
• Chicago (½ Marathon)
• San Antonio (full & ½ Marathon)
• Las Vegas (full & ½ Marathon) – Inaugural event December 2009

More adventurous training. Last week I completed two important rows (for myself). I rowed 4-miles to Alcatraz from Ghirardelli Square and 8-miles to the Golden Gate Bridge from Ghirardelli Square. Both rows are done frequently by other members of the Dolphin Club, but they are new to me and therein lies the adventure.

Oh, how quickly I leave the protection of the city. Just a few miles off shore and I am totally cutoff. I see the sky scrapers and houses, but could not scream to them if I capsize. No one can help me out here, I am self-reliant. This feeling of self-reliance is really healthy, I think, to put life into perspective. So much of life has safety nets, it’s nice to feel the pressure of pure objective danger. And it’s nice when I dock the boat and that danger vanishes. If only life were as simple as rowing.

Tags: Alcatraz, bridge, ghirardelli square, golden gate, objective danger, perspective, rowing club, safety nets, san francisco bay, self reliance, Training

For those of us in California the riding season started on January 1, and for others the riding season is just starting. No matter where you are the season for riding has arrived. Riders start your engines.

Tags: adam hazlett, cycling, Training

Lately Adam and I have been kind of obsessing over the new X10 GPS watch. Here is another example from an X10 fan site of what we can do with this watch. Below see how Suunto Ambassador Manuelo Bustelo mashed-up the X10 and Google Earth to track and share his first day of Costa Rica’s Guanaride, one of the world’s toughest and most beautiful mountain bike races. The video clip has me itching for the weekend! 2 more days… tick tock.

Tags: ambassador, beautiful mountain, costa rica, earth, fellow, guanaride, mountain bike races, obsessing, video clip, x10