Australian Open

It's another grand slam tennis event. It's 'live' really late, so I'm being bad and staying up way too late. But it's worth it.

Tonight Wozniacki beat Schiavone in three sets. Two days earlier, Schiavone played the longest women's match in Open era history at over 4 hours with the final set taking 3 hours of that time. Schiavonne won the French Open last year, and I'm really sorry I missed that now.

I don't think I'm going to see better matches in this tournament than the last two I've seen with Schiavone. She plays a brand of tennis no one else dare play. She's wild, in your face, explosive, funny, and a fighter. She talks to the ball, to herself, she laughs at her mistakes, diggs big holes from crazy aggressive points, and then fights her way out them.

Tonight against Wozniacki, she could've easily gone out a lot quicker. You see it all the time. The concentration is smashed. The player is lost. They miss shot after shot. Shiavone says 'Hell No' to that!

And I have to wonder, what makes her fight to the end with such guts. There are great tennis players, and then there is great tennis. Tennis with shots that surprise you, shots that they don't teach, because they're not high percentage. Shiavone uses these shots with such charisma, that even when she loses, it's thrilling to the core.

So here's to you Francesca Shiavone. You inspire me because when everyone else is thinking, oh this is it. You smile at the odds and give it everything, your way, and on your terms.

this image is from this site http://tennis.it/schiavone-jankovic-portorose/

The Yellow Building

I can't remember if I tried to open the door. Seems like I should have at least knocked maybe.

Chinese Cactus Chilli

I can't stop eating this stuff lately!
It's good on everything! Well, except for yogurt perhaps.

Here was an odd sight a few days ago on a walk. Prank? or winter warmers for our prickly friend?



Ahhhh! A direct link!!

My friend gave me a cd for Christmans or a birthday many years ago, like say 15 years. I listened to it then and I wasn't blown away or anything. I think our tastes in music were going on different paths at the time. The cool thing is I recently popped that bad boy in and track 6 just wowed me! So I called him up and said ,"Hey man, thanks for giving this to me 15 years ago!" To which he says while laughing, "that's great you finally got around to it!" Funny how that works.

Pine Creek Run

Went to Red Rock Canyon the other day, and I decided to try out a new trail head named Pine Creek Canyon. I figured I could run south and north onto various trails, and collect a good number of miles. Not soon after I started I passed an older gent who smiled and said, "oooh you picked a bad trail to run son, this one's ah rocky!" I had already come across a fair share of large rocks, but nothing too crazy, so I kept on. I had dressed for 60s, and this side of the canyon was getting shady quick. My whole venture was a bit chilly.

I also kept running into dead ends on the trail. I would run into a cluster of bushes and then jump up some rocks and....there was no where else to go! I did see some mountain goats though which was cool. I also had to wait for a tour bus group of about 40 people walk by me. Many of them said Hi to me which I didn't expect for some reason.

Overall my run was all over the place. Lots of stopping and walking to take pics, video, be cautious, or just figure out where the trail was going. My gps battery died so I had no idea on my distance. There was one short maybe 300 yard section of trail that was nothing but soft red clay. It was slightly downhill and had periodic 2x4s embedded in the soil to prevent erosion. Those 2x4s were like little mini hurdles and with the clay so soft, it was easy to haul butt down the hill and feel like a gazelle for just a bit.

Here's a video of me running down a fairly steep hill. The rocks are not super jaggy here, but they are loose and round which makes them quick to roll on you. The Cascadia 5s did really well for me on this outing, giving my feet plenty of protection. I feel like I spent so much time hopping and twisting, that in many ways this run was really a core workout, maintaining balance constantly. I'm glad that I felt no unusual leg aches or pains today. So far, I am liking the Cascadias! I may have to revisit this trail later when I get a pair of minimalist trail runners to feel the difference for myself.

Maybe someday I'll laugh at this trail.

Mermaids

Well well well, looks like things between Ariel and what's his name didn't go too well. Like you can trust a Prince! Two feet and then you ended up on a slot machine.

Running The Gun Range

Just a couple miles or so from my house...

I think if I continued on this path I might end up in Utah :O

Spinach Physics

Well silly me, I finally changed my time zone! And you thought I was posting at 2am. Pacific Time is crazy, I think oh I'll call them, but wait, oh crap it's way too late now.

A few nights ago, Liz made some homemade spinach pasta. It was guuuud!!

They're big, they're tall, they're targets for graffiti, and they give us the juice we demand. It's easy to tune them out, but powerlines always catch my eye. They line and transform the landscape, scream 'civilization', and just look like big metal monsters frozen in a line sometimes. If I were an EE guy I would be nerdy enough to tell you everything about this pole. I did well in the power chapters in physics. Not so well in the other chapters :)

Here's me running a couple weeks back by some powerlines. I'm tiny to view, but believe me when I say that a Smartwool zip up top is soooo verrry nice!!

Today I had a really good run at Red Rock Canyon. It's been almost 2 months since I've run there. I'll save that post for another day though as my thoughts are a bit scattered right now.