It's "Leave Your Car at Work Week"

Wednesday evening: After a 12 hour day at school with both classes and parent-teacher conferences, I decided to leave my car at school and run the 13 miles home at 8 pm. I've found it's a remarkable way to clear my head after a full day in the classroom. Now that I've gotten home (10 pm), I also realize it will be a great incentive to run back in just 8 hours, as I don't have much choice in the matter with my car there now. Favorite moment running back tonight? Passing a digital "Your Speed" display built into a speed limit sign. The sign clocks drivers speeds as they go through the 40 m.p.h. zone. "45" - "48" - "42" - "6" ... At first, I thought it was a speed gun glitch but then I realized who it was clocking. Classic.

States Runner is now also the Journey Runner... and, There's a Problem with That

Last weekend was an adventure where family life goes running. With my wife out of town, I decided to take both of my girls along on my Saturday long run. As I plodded down the path first to ballet practice, then a park, the zoo, a playground, and a muddy stream, I realized that this day was just as much of an adventure as my solo cross-state treks. I'm not giving up my goal to cross all fifty states on foot by trails, but I also think it's important to point out that you don't have to do a monumental trek to enjoy the adventure that distance running has to offer. Where do you need to go? Can you plan ahead to run there? Adventure Found! Therefore, I've registered a second web address: www.journeyrunner.com

I'll eventually rearrange my site to show an interest in both. For the time being, however, that address simply points to my statesrunner.com site.

Here's a video I shot of our 8 hour, 150 pound cart over the 22 mile ordeal. This video proves I need to upgrade my camera resolution - sorry for that. Improvements on the way this summer.

Dean Karnazes Maintains His Pace Through Phoenix, Arizona

Several transcontinental (or transcon) runners have now chimed in on their thoughts about
Dean Karnazes' attempt to run 3000 miles across the country this spring. When thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, we had a saying for that kind of talk, "You hike your own hike." Anyone who has put one foot in front of the other and gone from sea to sea has endured their own limits, regardless of their support or lack thereof. Witnessing any attempt like this is always of interest to me, so when I saw that Dean was coming through Phoenix this past Sunday, I had to check it out.

His crew set up a 5k fun run at Tempe Town Lake, the second in a 12 part series across the country to raise awareness for Dean's cause. I'm not sure what I was expecting really. A big bus, to be sure. A few crew members and a banner tied to a railing somewhere. Boy, was I off. Two identical tour buses, two pickup trucks, a minivan, a few mountain bikes, two pacers who run and bike with Dean, and a personal physician. In the unseasonably warm days Dean ran through to get to Phoenix, his crew had him taking up to six ice baths per day to keep cool. It may sound posh, especially compared to my own solo trip with a ten pound hip pack and almost twice the mileage on trails. But my impression of the day wasn't filled with resentment as can be tempting when someone else yells Bingo and you already had a row.

I really feel for the guy. He's got events lined up all across the country with paid participants. A network is counting on him to maintain a schedule and arrive on time, not get sick, injured, burnt out, or excessively needed at home. His sponsors want to make sure their products and names are getting their money's worth. It really looks like a difficult combination of an X-Games commercial for a cooking show about rice. There's lots of hype. There's support from the public. There's a willingness from corporations to see what their return will be. And amidst all that, at the center of that excitement, there's a guy jogging 6 miles per hour trying to cover 40 or so miles each day. The excitement would be fun. I'll admit that but I don't envy the pressure. Nor the schedule. He's able to spend about as much time taking in his surroundings as a 10 year old spends reading birthday cards. That's not his fault. To make the whole thing fit into a 75-day commercial, he has to keep going.

To put some perspective on this, he covered almost exactly the same distance from Anaheim to Phoenix in one-third the time as I did from Reno to San Francisco. Granted, I was running trails over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and wearing all my gear but I could also slow down and take a light day if my body needed it. That is a luxury even the well-equipped Dean doesn't have. I return to my A.T. phrase, "You hike your own hike," and there's no doubt that Team Dean is certainly doing his trip in his own way. It's big, it's loud, and it's getting loads of attention.
And for that I'm happy for him.