The "United" Empire Strikes Back...

It's Saturday morning and my original 8:55 AM flight from Lansing, MI to Denver, CO is delayed for 3 hours.  Something about a cabin pressure issue...

I've been in Lansing since Wednesday night to teach an Intro GIS class at MSU.  Getting here was an adventure in ineptitude for United Airlines.  My outgoing flight was delayed 2.25 hours due another mechanical problem - a gear indicator light.  As the annoucement was made for the delay, I sprinted to Customer Service to rebook my flights as I had "already" missed my connecting flight in Chicago to Lansing.  I'm glad I ran b/c I was 4th in a line of 75-80 people.  If you've ever stood in a Customer Service line you know the lines move glacially...cockroaches move faster...

So I was rebooked on a United flight to Minneapolis and a Northwest flight to Lansing - I seriously doubted my luggage would make it.  I was correct.  The luggage spent the night in Chicago, I spent the night in Lansing.  I spent at least 1 hour in my hotel room with United and Northwest to arrange delivery of my suitcase to my hotel.  Neither would accept responsibility b/c I had not filed a claim report in person at the Lansing airport.  Here's the rub - there was no one to file a report with!  My flight arrived at 11 PM in Lansing and customer service for NW and UAL (in Lansing) hours are 7 AM - 9 PM...  AND they said they could not do it over the phone even though they had all the information they needed from the computer systems.  I WAS LIVID!

So no thanks to NW or UAL, I had to drive to the Lansing airport after class Thursday in my 2-day worn clothes to pick up my suitcase.  I now have clean undies!  Class continued Friday and the students were happy with the materials and presentation. 

I toured the old "Holiday Inn" homestead, got some dinner at Clara's (an old railroad depot in downtown Lansing) and went to a Blues Fest for about an hour.  Headed back to the hotel, packed my suitcase, talked with Karen, and went to bed in preparation to be home in Denver by 11:30 AM MST.  That was not to be the case...

So, here I am in the Lansing airport waiting for a delayed flight and hope to be home by 5 PM today...I'll miss a cookout this afternoon...BUT I am hiking Mt. Princeton tomorrow with good friends Pete and Nancy.

In sum, UNITED SUCKS *SS! 

Climb On!

A Hard(rock) Weekend...

This past weekend, I had the joy (and pain) of pacing my good friend Scott Olmer at the Hardrock 100 in Ouray/Silverton, Colorado. What is the Hardrock 100 you may ask??? Well, for some reason, some folks think that the marathon distance is not quite enough nor is a 50-mile run. Nooooo, they have to run, walk, trot 100 miles in 48 hours! Honestly, I can't fathom the idea but that's what folks, like Scott, want to do in their spare time. And they enjoy it....

Several weeks ago, I was approached by Bob Rayburn (one of the regulars at our Thursday night Southern Sun Happy Hours) and he quite simply asked "would you be interested in crewing for Scott at the Hardrock this year?" Crewing a runner means that you are a pacer, a motivator, a drill sergeant, a nutritionist, a stop watch - all for the purpose of motivating the runner to the finish line. Being a runner and an avid mountaineer, I was curious and asked what it entailed. Bob's reply..."well, all you have to do is do 2 legs - one is on Friday night and the other is taking Scott to the finish line..." Sounds like fun - count me in! What did I get myself into....

Friday, July 11th, 2:30 PM - Ouray - the little Switzerland of North America. Ouray is probably one of the prettiest places in Colorado with a small town surrounded by majestic peaks. Google it sometime, you'll see... I call Bob to learn that Scott is progressing nicely from his 6 AM start and should be in Ouray around 8 PM to pick up his first pacer of the race - me. My leg with Scott consists of "Ouray-Engineers Pass-Grouse" - 15.8 miles (5785' gain/2775' loss) in about 6:30 hours in the dark...with headlamps...through Bear Creek Canyon...average trail width 3' ...narrows to 1.5'/2'...with exposure...watch your step...or it's down the canyon with a not so good outcome. Apparently, there has been no injuries - serious or mortal in this section. I'm still a bit leery at this section b/c my new flashlight (in the LED section at Target) is not an LED rather it's the old fashioned yellow bulb (like the ones from childhood) and I've got a serious case of vertigo at the moment. While focusing on this one yellow beam, my equilibrium is not cooperating at the entrance to the canyon. Fortunately, Scott has a great LED light to brighten the path and the vertigo goes away. We proceed over up the mountain to an aid station around 12,000' and continue for the next few hours to the pacer hand-off at Grouse. We reach Grouse - it's 2:30 AM Saturday and Bob continues with Scott for his 32 mile leg that will take him until 4:48 PM Saturday...

Saturday, July 12, 3:30 AM - I'm back in Silverton at the cabins Scott has rented for everyone. I'm tired, my feet are wet from numerous stream crossings, and all I want is sleep. I crash hard for 5.5 hours and awake to the noise of Bob's wife, Jana, stirring in the main room of the cabin. We head over to the Brown Bear Cafe for pancakes/sausage/OJ/lots of coffee. We have the rest of the morning and afternoon to follow Scott's progress at "Hardrock Central" as well as play tourist in Silverton. About 3:30 PM, Jana and I decide we better head to Cunningham Gulch for the "pacer hand off" we believe to be around 5:30-6 PM. Much to our surprise, Scott has made up an hour over the day and arrives in at 4:48 PM. Scott and I leave the aid station at 4:49 PM and were on our last leg to the finish line in Silverton. The leg consists of 2700' gain/3840' loss - better than 14 hours ago. We work our way up the mountain - hiking slowly and gain the summit ridge in 2 hours. From there, the race is on - running down 3840' to Silverton! We run on goat trails (even saw one!), we run on Jeep 4WD trails, we run on single track trails, we run through streams filled with snow melt until we hear noise from the motorcycle rally at the old ski resort in Silverton. We're close! We break through the trees - the last 0.5 miles to the finish line! I slow down to run with Scott rather than ahead of him - no need to pull him through, he knows the finish line is there. We chat about being done, about his accomplishment. He thanks me for crewing him. We near the finish line and I slow down to walk into the crowd - the pacer does not cross the finish line - only the Hardrock finisher. Scott finishes another 100-miler in 38:35 ranked #30 out of 98 finishers - damn good!

Sunday, July 13th, 9 AM - the awards presentation at the Silverton High School Gym. There are hundreds of people here for breakfast and the awards program. Family members, volunteers, pacers, athletes - you name it. The breakfast is great - eggs, sausage, fruit, sweet rolls, OJ, coffee - the awards program entertaining. Bob and Scott ask "sooo, now that you've experienced a 100-miler as a pacer, what about as a runner?" My answer - quite simply - no. I enjoyed the experience as a pacer - would do it again if asked. But running/walking/sleep walking 100 miles - nope...I'm interested in altitude, going higher...

Climb On my friends!

Meet Karen...

Okay, I know I've been REALLY slack on my outhiking blog - I think I need to set an Outlook reminder once a week to write something new - note to self - set reminder on Monday AM...

Here it is almost summer in Colorado and to say it's been a busy 2008 would be an understatement! Between traveling for work in April and May, teaching Denver classes in June, and attempting to start the 14er season with all the snow STILL in the mountains, I decided I would write this update to share with you someone who is very important in my life these days, my girlfriend Karen.

I first met Karen in 1998 as part of a Colorado Athletic Club "How to Climb a 14er" group that a mutual friend had formed. Basically it was 10-12 folks from the club who were interested in hiking easy 14ers and we "trained" over 4-6 weeks with progressively higher mountains culminating with my first 14er on Mt. Bierstadt. During the "class", my former spouse and I got to know Karen and her former spouse. Over the next 3-4 years we double dated with them - catching a flick sometimes, watching the Nutcracker Suite at Christmas and dinners out in Denver or Fort Collins.

About 4 years ago, Karen and her then husband moved to Albuquerque, NM for a business opportunity and as sometimes happens, we lost touch with them. Fast forward May 2007, an ESRI business trip takes me to ABQ to teach classes. Remembering they lived there, I emailed the only email address I had (Karen's) to meet for dinner and catch up on news/life. Well, life had changed f0r Karen as I came to find out during my visit. We had a wonderful meal, I met her son Ethan, and we caught up on 4 years of news. My connection with Karen had always been platonic but now the connection felt different for some reason. Towards the end of my week in ABQ, I posed a hypothetical email question "If I asked you out to dinner, what would your answer be?" Creatively, I received a hypothetical "Yes." I was nervously excited and interested to see where this could lead. I had no expectations - heck, I was in the midst of my divorce as was Karen. But for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could open myself up to another person again.

Fast forward June 2008, Karen and I have been dating for a year. We have a wonderful relationship (even if it is long distance for now) and our connection with each other is strong. We see each other at least once a month - twice a month if work takes me there. We have similar interests in some things and others are individual pursuits (i.e. my climbing "addictions" for example). I am a friend to her son and we sometimes plan my visits to coincide when he's there too. It's a kick, Ethan is totally into Star Wars, as am I, so we run around the house sometimes with light saber battles and shooting down Imperial Star Destroyers!

We all see each again end of June for a music festival - Karen, Ethan, and me - I'm looking forward to it!!!