RaceReady News

We're back from our week's vacation in Kauai. Gerry & I were there mid-June, celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. We really had a marvelous time. There is plenty of hiking to be done. We hiked Waimea Canyon on 2 different days. One day we hiked from the bottom of the Canyon at Menehune Ditch up toward Wiliwili Camp, for a nice 14 mile round trip hike. Four days later, we hiked the Waimea Canyon from a differenct perspective, exploring the upper edges of the western wall and hiking down to Waipo'o Falls. Beautiful!

We enjoyed snorkeling at both the North Shore - Ke'e Beach and Tunnels were great! - and also at the South Shore, near Poipu Beach. Water temperature was perfect! Coral reefs are spectacular and there is certainly an abundance of fish! At Ke'e Beach we saw sea turtles ranging in size from modest 30 pound turtles up to 150 pound turtles! Too bad I didn't have an underwater camera! Gerry actually swam under one of the 150 pound turtles - what a great picture!

We avoided the Resort type of accomodations and instead stayed at our own Bamboo Cottage for Two, located near Kalaheo. I would definitely recommend staying here! The Cottage is peaceful, comfortable & clean, quiet and located on the sunny South Shore. We dined on our private lanai in the evenings, often tiems feasting on delicious multi-course seafood meals.

All in all it was a wonderful week in paradise! We didn't do much running, but got plenty of exercise following our "Plan" of hiking one day, snorkeling the next, and repeating until it was time to board the plane back to reality.

Continue reading "KAUAI!" »

Posted by mary button at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We were in Vegas last weekend for the New Vegas Marathon and the related Expo. It was a good show for us and we got to meet customers from all over the country, and world too! After standing for 2 days on an Expo floor I really look foward to running.

A few years ago I discovered the Red Rocks Canyon National Conservation Area It is truly a beautiful area with over 25 miles of hiking trails. Last year we got "off the beaten path" and explored several miles of the trails. The rock formations are quite beautiful.

This year I decided to run the hilly scenic loop. It's a very hilly 13 mile loop - elevation gain of over 1,000 feet prior to reaching the highest elevation near mile 5 at 4,772 ft. Although it is pavement and cars can drive the one-way loop, I found very few automobile traffic. Plenty of bicyclists "do the loop" too, and I highly recommend visiting the Red Rocks if your travels bring you to Vegas. Although the Red Rocks is a mere 17 miles from the Strip, it seems like it is worlds away!

Posted by mary button at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite the 80 degree weather we have been experiencing this past week, Thanksgiving is less than a week away! This year we will visit with Gerry's family in Southern Illinois. This has been our tradition for the past several years. Gerry comes from a big family and grew up on a farm with mom dad & 7 brothers and sisters. These days there is no longer a farm, but his parents live in Edwardsville IL. Thanksgiving Dinner is held at his sister Ginny's house, just outside of Alton. We have a wonderful feast, and usually there is at least 25 people, including parents, brothers & sisters, neices and nephews.

On Saturday morning, our tradition is to participate in the annual Great River Road Run. It is a 10 mile race that starts and finishes in downtown Alton and this will be the 46th annual race. Gerry's uncle Mike Brazier is the only runner who has participated in every single one of the 45 River Road Runs. We're fairly certain he'll show up again this year for #46. We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. It's a great time to get together with the family, and do a great race, too!

Posted by mary button at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)