Your what hurts?

About Me? I grew up in smaller town Iowa. Graduate of Iowa State. I currently reside in Washington state working as a software Program Manager. Your what hurts? This was a common question from my high school track coach. He was also the shop teacher,...

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The Goat With A Note One day the Princess was at the zoo and came up to a big fenced area.  It was a zoo inside the zoo. 

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Acorn Man

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Acorns Yesterday when I was walking around I saw a bunch of acorns on the ground For some, that may be a reason to celebrate…

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Toking Princess Poem

In this world lives Princess M She’s a rare and beautiful gem There is something that is a bit of a joke…

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I got the opportunity to catch the Blue Angels flying for Seafair this year. It also gave me the opportunity to try out the Nikon 200-500 mm lens I just picked up. The show was cool as always. However, the clouds kept them from doing the high altitude maneuvers and we didn’t see fat albert at all. The new Amazon plane made an appearance though.

We watched the show from the new 520 bridge so we didn’t get to the really close up shots but still enjoyed it.

Here are some of the pics. As I’m not a professional and don’t really spend any time in Photoshop they are straight from the camera.

    Blue Angels @ Seafair 2016 I got the opportunity to catch the Blue Angels flying for Seafair this year. It also gave me the opportunity to try out the Nikon 200-500 mm lens I just picked up.

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Vapor Man!

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Wine Bottle

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Sideways Girl Petting Imaginary Dog

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Simple Fireworks

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My drunk day! 

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June 18, 2016

I figured I needed some punishment so I ran in the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on Saturday.  Ok, the truth is I had been planning on running it since January but a broken collarbone in March put a small thorn in my training plans.   I was also supposed to do the San Fran Half in April, however, my wife told me I couldn’t because it was only a week after my collarbone injury.

My strategy on Saturday was really to finish and have fun.  I ended up taking 65 pictures during the run and sent most of them out to people to pass the time.  I finished 35 minutes slower than my time in 2014.  I attribute at least 10 mins of that extra time to the photo taking.

I really liked the route this year.  The race started out at the Space Needle and then hopped on 99 south to go thru the tunnel and down the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  I miss the days when the St. Pats dash followed this route cause it’s a great view and has the bonus of going downhill.  After traveling the viaduct, the route turned into downtown and went by Kings Street Station.  Right after the 4-mile mark the course for me got slightly boring.  It heads down Dearborn St and Rainer Ave for 2.5 plus miles.  It’s just city streets with not a lot of scenery.  The music and cheerleaders do help though.  Under one of the bridges on Rainer were some very cool drummers—I believe their name was Taiko.  And farther down was a lively Mariachi band on one of the overhead walkways.  The scenery improves again when you make the turn to start heading back and go past Seward Park and up Lake Washington to I-90.  It’s always cool to see the people and flags on Lake Washington Blvd supporting the troops.  Once you reach I-90, you head into the tunnel.  Both times I did this race I thought this part would be horrible.  You go up hill in a tunnel.  However, for some reason it’s not so bad and I motored thru it with tons of energy.  After the tunnel was a different story.  I hit the wall and the lack of training was evident.  In the last 3 miles of the course I saw five people down and being treated by medics.  That is one thing I don’t remember seeing in the past years.  I probably would have been one of them if I hadn’t stopped to take pictures and my extra-long water breaks.  The final miles of the course wrapped around the stadiums and finished next to CenturyLink.  I got some laughs when I stopped at the 13-mile sign for a picture with the finish line just a block away.

I wouldn’t recommend running a half marathon without proper training, especially if you’re not an experienced runner.  I got by mostly because I put in a lot of miles walking, hiking and a few short runs during the last few months.   But it still wiped me out.  I was pretty much a zombie for the entire next day and spent most of it napping.

Below are the pics I took at the mile markers.  They are a little dark.  But it was a Seattle overcast day.

2016 Seattle Rock n Roll Half Marathon June 18, 2016 I figured I needed some punishment so I ran in the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on Saturday. 

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It Looked Better in My Head

It Looked Better in My Head

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Bored at Work on Friday

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May 28, 2016

Trail: Lena Lake (7.79 miles*)

Headed out to the Olympic Peninsula for the long Memorial Day weekend.  A friend recommended Lena Lake as a hike to do in the area so we decided to check in out on that Saturday.

If you do go to the trail, I’d recommend following the easy directions on the trail site.  We failed to do that and decided to use Waze to guide us.  Waze took us on a ~15-mile adventure on some forestry/logging roads.  The whole time driving, I kept thinking that I was sure the Lena Lake review said the trailhead was on a paved road, why would those people lie to us.  The trailhead is indeed on a paved road that is easy to get to off of highway 101.  It all worked out as the detour allowed us to see some great scenery and the extra hour it took is to get there on the backroads actually kept us from having to hike in the rain.

The Lena Lake trail is very well maintained and was pretty dry over most of the hike.  I was surprised given the rain that the area had been getting.    The hike takes you through wooded areas and you can hear rushing water as you progress.  You can get a few glimpses of the water down the hill here and there but nothing substantial from the trail.  At the 2-mile mark you cross an area that looks like it should be a stream under a bridge but it was dry.  The rushing water starts somewhere around there and appears to be coming out from below the rocks.

The lake was very pretty and serene. We enjoyed a snack lakeside and took in the view, birds and nature. There were a few campers scattered about but not on top of one another. Quite a few more were on their way up when we made our way back.

We took the easy, paved route out from the trailhead and my wife would highly recommend treating yourself to a homemade ice cream shake (she had pineapple and I had chocolate) at Kelsey’s All Natural. Here are a few of the pictures:

*GPS miles measured from the parking lot.

Lena Lake May 28, 2014 Trail: Lena Lake (7.79 miles*) Headed out to the Olympic Peninsula for the long Memorial Day weekend. 

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Simple Flower

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Mailbox Peak

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Messing with the Princess, Tasty!

Messing with the Princess, Tasty!

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