Sunday, December 31, 2006

New Year's Eve 2006 (San Francisco Day 1)

In 2003 and 2004, we have spent part of the week between Christmas and New Years in Tahoe. We decided last year that there were too many people and it was too much of a rat race. For a change of scenery, we decided this year to spend the New Year's Eve weekend in San Francisco.

Taking off in mid-day, we headed down to the city. Sharon and Jack had done a jigsaw puzzle of San Francisco recently and were interested in going to a number of places highlighted on the puzzle. We drove down Lombard Street and then headed to Telegraph Hill.

We were able to get a spot in the lot on the top of Telegraph Hill. There are some great views of the bay from the small circular parking lot. We toured Coit Tower and its murals. We ended up taking the elevator to the top. From the top, the views of the bay and the city are spectacular.

Next, we headed to the hotel; we are staying at the Argent Hotel. After lounging in the room, we headed to Ghirardelli Square. Sharon had made a dinner reservation at McCormick & Kuleto's Seafood Restaurant. Sharon had prawns for dinner, while I had Opah. We also had a Matanzas Creek Chardonnay.

Finishing dinner, we wandered along the streets to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 before taking a taxi back to the room.

Moblog Fisherman's Wharf

Moblog Coit Tower

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Cosmic Cafe Concert

Sharon, Jack and I met Joe and Cindy at Cafe Luna for dinner. Sharon and I have been to this restaurant a number of times over the last ten years and the food has always been good. Sharon and I had short ribs, while Jack had quail.

Afterwards, all of us went to see Drew and Morgan play at the Cosmic Cafe. Drew's band for the evening included Morgan on keyboards, Matt on drums, Kellen on bass, Eric on guitar, Jason on sax and Dan on trumpet. They played for almost two hours including our favorite--Morgan, the Conqueror--and a nice James Brown tribute cover.



Moblog Cosmic Cafe Show

Friday, December 29, 2006

California Historical Landmark #934

Temporary Detention Camps
for Japanese Americans
Sacramento Assembly Center

California State Historical Landmark #934

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located in Walerga Park at the northwest corner of Palm Ave and College Oak Drive Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 40.102 W 121° 21.079.

You can log your visit to this site at waymarking.com.


Lest We Forget

Walerga Assembly Center was established by the United States at the outset of World War II to aseemble and temporarily detain, without charge or trial, 4,739 Sacramento residents solely because of their Japanese ancestry. Approximately 120,000 persons were uprooted from their West Coast homes and interned in ten war relocation centers. Over two-thirds were American citizens by birth. Given the opportunity, many thousands left the ten centers to work on farms and in war industries or to serve with valor in the armed forces. Their acts and deeds gave living proof that Americanism is a matter of mind and heart, not a matter of race or ancestry. May this memorial remind all Americans to be alert so taht such injustices never recur.

Camp Kohler succeeded Walerga Assembly Center with the departure of the last Japanese American internees in late June, 1942. After being taken over by the Army Signal Corps, the camp's facilities were greatly expanded to house and train military personnel. Camp Kohler became one of the Corp's three principal training centers during World War II.

Dedicated by the Japanese American Community of Sacramento in cooperation with Sunrise Recreation and Park District.

February 1987.



The temporary detention camps (also known as 'assembly centers') represent the first phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, could be built in isolated areas of the country. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention.

Constructed at a migrant workers camp 15 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, this assembly center was also known as Walerga. It was occupied for 52 days, from May 6 to June 26, and held a total of 4,770 persons, with at maximum at one time of 4,739. Evacuees were from Sacramento and San Joaquin counties. Aerial photographs indicate there were 11 blocks with over 225 buildings; one block was likely devoted to the military police and administration. Once the center was closed, it was turned over to the Army Signal Corps and became the basis of Camp Kohler.


Thursday, December 28, 2006

Morgan and Jack


Night at the Museum

Jack, Sharon and I went to see Night at the Museum. While there are kids movies I would recommend, this is not one of them.

Placerville Show 12/30/06

From: Andrew Heringer
Subject: Placerville Show This Saturday

Join me on Saturday, December 30th, Cozmic Cafe, Placerville, Ca, $5 at door, music from 8 to 11, the cd Unfold will on sale for the first time in Placerville

the band will also include: kellen garcia; matt lemaire; eric frank; dan byers; jason galbraithe; and morgan heringer.

opening will be J- Pac Attack aka Jonathon Packard

come out for a night that will rock your socks off and give you the energy you need to live strong through the weekend and have a crazy new year*s eve - and lift 43 elephants... at once.

hope to see you there

-a

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

2006 Kings versus 76ers

Morgan, Jack, Sharon and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. The Kings pulled away in the second half and won by a score of 101 to 76.

In addition to our two season tickets, we used two seats in section 122, row c. Morgan has never had a chance to see down this close to floor. While it is fun to be able to see their faces, I feel like I can follow the game better from our seats. At half time, Sharon and I ran into Randy Patane who we worked with at the Farm Credit Banks.

For the first time this season, Bibby shot better than 50% going 9 for 15 from the field. Nevertheless, I still have no idea what kind of offense scheme the Kings are trying to run; I wonder if they do.

In the last three or four games, rookie Quincy Douby has been the first substitution of the game. To me, he looks lost on the court. I do not understand why Musselman has gone away from using Ronnie Price.

Chris Weber looked very ordinary. In 26 minutes, he had 4 points on 2 for 9 from the field and 7 rebounds. His contract has one more season after this season. I have read some reports that Philadelphia is considering buying out his contract.


While we were sitting down low at the beginning of the first quarter, Jack caught a t-shirt that was thrown into the crowd!

Drew covering Your Song

Monday, December 25, 2006

Dead Man's Chest

Sharon, Jack and I spent the afternoon watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. With a 2 hours and 20 minutes running time, the movie could have benefited from some editing.

I spent most of the movie smiling thinking about the fact that two years ago Drew went on a casting call for Pirates for the second and third movies!

Christmas Day 2006

Although for the first time Jack is repeatedly voicing his opinion that Santa Claus does not exist, we had a great Christmas morning. Jack is the perfect age for the holiday.

We are looking forward to seeing Morgan and Drew on Tuesday and Wednesday and having a chance to celebrate Christmas with them.

With the rest of the morning spent cleaning up the house from Christmas Eve, we decided to have a simpler Christmas Dinner than past years. We ended up barbecuing some hamburgers.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Christmas Eve 2006

After spending most of the day cleaning up the yard and house, we met Sharon's brother Tom, her nephew's Kevin and Eric and her mom Rosemary at Good Shepherd for the Children's Mass.

Heading back to the house, the group expanded to include Sharon's brother Tim, his wife Kathy, their daughters Erin and Eileen, Tom's wife Becky and Jim. Sharon made a great dinner, including a pear and walnut salad, prime rib, green beans, roasted potatoes and cresent rolls.

Finishing dinner, we adjourned to the living room and opened presents.

Tom and Becky made a yule log for desert.

It was a very nice Christmas Eve. It is the first time in four years, since 2002, that we have hosted the event at our house.

Christmas Eve Photo Album

Drew and Jack

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Sanborn's Christmas Party


We spent a long evening at the Sanborn's Christmas Party. Kids were invited and there was an appearance by Santa. Although we had intended to try to make it an early night, it was midnight by the time we got Jack home and to bed.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Little Miss Sunshine

Sharon and I ended the day watching Little Miss Sunshine on DVD.

2006 SEAS Christmas Program

We went to the SEAS Christmas program in the morning. The theme was Christmas around the world. Each class sang one or two songs and there were a number of solos. Jack's class sang Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. The were all wearing reindeer antlers.

3rd Grade: Art Lesson C

Sharon spent Thursday morning as the Art Docent for Jack's 3rd grade class. The lesson looked at The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, The Adoration of the Magi [shown below] by Angelico and Lippi and The Journey of the Magi by Sassetta. Each of these were a narrative painting of the events surrounding the birth of Christ.


For the art project, each student illustrated one of their favorite parts of the Christmas story. Jack draw the magi traveling on camels.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

2006 Kings versus Wizards

Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Washington Wizards basketball game. After leading by a score of 59 to 52 at halftime, the Kings got blown out in the third quarter and outscored 44 to 24. The Kings ended up losing the game by a score of 126 to 119. The Kings now have a record of 2 wins and 9 losses in December 2006.

It still looks to me like the Kings do not have any type of a set offense. The bright spot for the Kings was Kevin Martin; he scored 40 points on 13 for 23 from the field. This is his career high in points. Ron Artest did not play. He was a last minute scratch with a sore knee.

Like the Christmas day game in 2003, the Kings encouraged everyone to dress in white, distributed inflatable noise makers shaped like large candy canes and dumped "snow" from the rafters at half-time.


The Kings also gave away a lot stuff during the game, including a number of 40' LCD TVs, DVDs, playstation portables and at least one Playstation 3. We did not win any of the major prizes, but I did catch a Roundtable personal pan pizza that was thrown into the stands!

Snow in Arco Arena Video

Moblog Snow in Arco Arena

Doug and Jackie Christie Update

In where are they now, Chris Sheridan takes a look at players who have recently disappeared from the NBA, and what they're doing now.

Doug Christie: Appears on a reality television show with devoted wife Jackie. Try to go to dougchristie.com, and watch what happens. Also, here is a recent photo.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

California Historical Landmark #592

New Helvetia Cemetery
California State Historical Landmark #592

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is near the Northeast corner of Alhambra Boulevard and J Street in Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.384 W 121° 27.897.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.


Established by John Sutter in 1849. Purchased in 1857 by J.W. Reeves, who later deeded it to the city of Sacramento. 1009 Chinese buried here were shipped to China by the Chinese Societies who deeded their plots to the city.



The Helvetia Cemetery was located on the property which is now Sutter Junior High School, 3105 I Street, Sacramento.

Between the dates of October 12, 1955, and March 27, 1956, all of the human remains were removed from the old Helvetia Cemetery at Alhambra Boulevard and J Streets, formerly known as the New Helevtia Cemetary. The bodies were relocated to the Sacramento City Cemetery, St. Joseph’s Cemetery, the Masonic and the I.O.O.F. and East Lawn Cemetery.

According to a newspaper report, 5,235 bodies were found and another report indicates that approximately 1,000 Chinese had been buried there.

Antstock

In November, Drew performed at the Antstock awards ceremony. Awards were given in six categories between live performances from three participating bands, Jebél, Andrew Heringer and Links.
Andrew Heringer and his band performed next, bringing to the amphitheater a light Jason Mraz-inspired rock set with acoustic guitar, percussion, trumpet and more. On the subject of Los Angeles, Heringer sang, “You’ve got so many stars but not the right kind.

Heringer came back to sing with Links, a harder-edged rock group with a Brandon Boyd-like lead singer.

Lobster Butter?!?

It is amazing how things get spread around the web. One of my sister Lee Ann's pictures showed up on a german language food site [Foto van LeeAnn Heringer]. The only thing that she can figure is that when you search Flickr for Lobster Butter her photo shows up!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Laboring

Two weeks ago, I ran the California International Marathon. My body has not recovered very well. I have been struggling trying to get back into some kind of training routine. My hips and the top of my hamstrings are brothering me. The colder weather is not helping; it was about 40 degrees when I went out to run tonight.

I have always enjoyed running; it helps me burn off stress and provides a zen like state for insights to bubble up. More than anytime that I can remember, running is a struggle. Rather than running, I am laboring.

I am trying a number of things that I have never done before, including walking for short distances in the beginning, middle and end and stopping and stretching during the run. These strategies are helping me get through the run, but I am not sure that my legs are improving. The only good news is that my back is not brothering me.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Cunningham's Christmas Party

Sharon and I spent the evening at the Cunningham's Christmas Party.

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Caroling

Jack and I went with some of his Cub Scout pack to go Christmas caroling at an assisted living home. The boys sang some Christmas carols and then passed out some Christmas cards that they had made at the November Pack Meeting.

 

Friday, December 15, 2006

Pleiades, Aldebaron and Andromeda

At the cub scout den meeting last week, Brun showed the kids and adults Pleiades (a cluster dominated by hot blue stars), Aldebaron (a large orangish star) and the Andromeda Galaxy (a spiral galaxy about 2.5 million light-years away) through his telescope. It was very cool.

El Jardin, Elk Grove

Continuing our quest to find some different places to eat in Elk Grove, we tried a Mexican restaurant called El Jardin. The food was not very good. Sharon actually said "it was the worst Mexican food in the world." Adding insult to injury, it was pretty expensive for standard Mexican food. We will be adding this restaurant to the list of places where we are not going back.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

December 2006 Cub Scout Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the December meeting of his Cub Scout Pack. The pack had four activity stations for the kids; the boys each made a picture frame, two christmas ornaments and a marshmallow snowman. Over the course of the evening, each of the kids got a chance to talk to Santa.

They finished the evening with a christmas ornament exchange. Each of the kids brought a wrapped ornament. Sitting in a circle, they passed the ornaments around while the music played. When the music stopped, they kept the ornament that they had in their hands.



Moblog December Pack Meeting

Sutter County Landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks
in Sutter County

NO. 346 Hock Farm - [map] - {39.04858,-121.6332}
NO. 929 Thompson Seedless Grape - [map] - {39.14538,-121.78207}

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

California Historical Landmark #1013

Site of the First African American Episcopal Church
established on the Pacific Coast

California State Historical Landmark #1013

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at 715 Seventh Street in Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 35.041 W 121° 29.776.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.




This is the site of the first church building associated with an African American religious congregation on the Pacific Coast. The church was the Methodist Church of Colored People of Sacramento City, formally organized in 1850. In 1851 the congregation was admitted into the African Methodist Episcopal Church, becoming the first African Methodist Episcopal Church on the Pacific Coast. First known as Bethel, the name was later changed to St. Andrews. The original 1850 wooden church building was the site of the first statewide convention of the California Colored Citizens which met November 20-22, 1855.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

My Maternal Grandfather

My maternal grandfather, Keith Abbot, was born 99 years ago this month, December 7, 1907. He died in 1970. This picture was taken in 1908 with his mom, Jessamine, grandmother Etta Gillette Curtis, and his great-grandmother Emma Wickes.

I have a number of vivid memories of him, including he and I dove hunting in the Feather River bottom, fishing on a half day boat out of Newport Beach and shooting bottle rockets on the beach at Puertecitos, Mexico.

His mother, my great grandmother Jessamine, lived into her 90s. I can remember visiting her at her home and later a rest home in Southern California.

JibJab 2006 Year in Review

JibJab just released “Nuckin’ Futs”. Its a recap of 2006 set to "Jingle Bells." It includes appearances by Britney Spears, Mel Gibson, Saddam Hussein, George Bush, Brangelina, e-Coli, and more!

read more | digg story

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Kings out of the running

Gavin Maloof: Kings "out of the running" for Iverson
The Kings are no longer in the Allen Iverson sweepstakes, according to team co-owner Gavin Maloof.

'We're officially out of the running,' Maloof said by phone. 'We never got to that point to be in the running. I don't think we got to the point where we were talking or negotiating. It never got to that point.'

Monday, December 11, 2006

2006 CIM Map

I am currently running with a Garmin Forerunner 205. Using data downloaded from the Garmin, I generated the map shown below from my run in the 2006 California International Marathon. The track is color-coded by speed and you can see my speed sliding over the course of the race.

click on the map for a larger copy!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

John Frame Birthday

Sharon's Dad, John (Jack) Herbert Frame, died in May. Today would have been his 89 birthday. Sharon organized a trip to the grave and a dinner to celebrate her dad's birthday. We picked up her mom and met Tom and Eric at the cemetery. I was surprised at the number of graves that were decorated with Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Some of the displays were very elaborate.

Afterwards, we headed to the Macaroni Grill for dinner. Tim and his family joined everyone for dinner.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

First Birthday Party

Wading through the crowd at the start of the Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving, we ran into Sandy, a childhood friend of Sharon's. Sharon and Sandy grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the grammar school and high school together.

They invited us to their daughter's first birthday. We spent Saturday afternoon at the party birthday.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Drew Birthday Pics

Between December of 2000 and June of 2001, Drew grew his hair long and has wore it that way over the last five plus years. He recently cut it shorter. You can see the current length in a couple of pictures from his birthday.

 

Thursday, December 07, 2006

December Bear Den Meeting

We held the November meeting of Jack's Cub Scout Bear Den at our house. The topic for the den meeting was astronomy and the boys completed all of the requirements for their astronomy belt loop.

We made a 27 foot by 20 foot scale model of the solar system in the driveway using string and sidewalk chalk. Brun came to the meeting and brought his telescope. He showed how to set-up, aim and focus the telescope. Everyone got a chance to look through the telescope at a couple of objects, including the Andromeda Galaxy. The boys spent some time reviewing a number of terms, including planet, star, solar system, galaxy, the Milky Way, black hole, red giant, white dwarf, comet, meteor, moon, asteroid, and universe. They finished the evening watching a 20 minute video on the solar system.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

CA Historical Landmark #418

Empire City
California State Historical Landmark #418

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located 0.1 miles south of Empire, California on the west side of County Highway J-7 (Santa Fe Avenue). Empire is 5 miles east of Modesto, California on Highway 132 (Yosemite Avenue). There are 4 other California State Historical Landmarks in Stanislaus County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 38.239 W 120° 54.167.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.

 

One mile south of this spot is the site of Empire City. Founded 1850 by John G. Marvin. Head of navigation on the Tuolumne River, naval supply depot and 2nd county seat of Stanislaus County. Destroyed by flood in 1861-62.

1850. John S.(?) Marvin, a lawyer from Boston, founded the town of Empire City, on the south bank of the Tuolumne River, just above Crescent City.

June 10, 1854. The first county election was held and Adamsville was selected as the county seat by thirty votes over Empire City.

October 21, 1854. An election was held, which moved the county seat from Adamsville to Empire City, by a margin of 29 votes. Empire City was founded in 1850 and in 1854 had over 200 residents.

May 7, 1855. The first meeting of the County Board of Supervisors was held at Empire City replacing the old County Court of Sessions. Members of the board were: D.B. Gardner, John Newsom and Robert Smith, with R. McGarvey serving as clerk.

December 20, 1855. An election was held moving the county seat from Empire City to La Grange by a vote of 558 to 139. La Grange was a mining town, having more population and wealth.

Winter 1861-1862. The rivers swelled in a horrific flood that inundated many river settlements.

Stanislaus County Landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks
in Stanislaus County

*NO. 347 Knight's Ferry - [map] - {37.817667,-120.652983}
*NO. 414 La Grange - [map] - {37.663806,-120.460500}
*NO. 415 The Willms Ranch -[map] - {37.800667,-120.645667}
*NO. 418 Empire City - [map] {37.63731,-120.90278}
*NO. 934 Temporary Detention Camps - [map] - {37.501833,-120.857667}

List of California Counties

 

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Monday, December 04, 2006

Christmas Tree 2006

I am curious whether the economics of Christmas lots is changing.

In 2001 and 2002, we picked out trees and had them flocked at a lot on the Jackson Highway. The proprietors said that they had been in business at that location for 20 years. The lot did not appear in 2003.

We switched to the Christmas lot in the Cal Expo parking lot. This lot had more than 100 trees already flocked in a big tent. When we mentioned the other lot, the Cal Expo staff said that they had ran them out of business. We bought trees at Cal Expo in 2003, 2004 and 2005. This year the Cal Expo Christmas tree lot did not appear.

Sharon really wanted another flocked tree. After the marathon and the indoor soccer tournament on Sunday, we ended up going to a lot on Elk Grove Boulevard near old town. They only had three trees already flocked, but one of them was just about right. I picked up the tree on Monday night after work on my way home and we spent the evening decorating it.

Blog about Drew's Music

From And then she woke up:

Blog entry about Drew's Music
I went to a concert in the Nixon. Links and Andrew Heringer played. Links was a lot of fun. The leader singer needs to work on his diction. I think I understood the lyrics for two out of the eight or so songs they played. Their guitarist is incredible. He also played the drum for Andrew Heringer. That man is just amazing. I love his stuff. Flist, listen to him. He is on iTunes. He has two albums out. They are both fantastic and worth the money. The concert was extremely intimate, as the Nixon has only 65 or so seats. They set up the stage to look like their living room. It was wonderful. I had a Firefly moment while watching Andrew play 'I Cannot Remember.' He uses a drobo (I think that's how you spell it?). It either is or is very similar to a slide guitar. It reminded me a lot of Firefly music, that kindof celtic cowboy sound.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Holiday Indoor Tournament

Staggering away from the California International Marathon and back to my car, I headed to Jack's indoor soccer tournament. Starting at 8:30 a.m. in the morning, Jack' team was scheduled to play four games. They won the first game 2 to 1 with Jack scoring the first goal. They tied the second game 2 to 2, won the third game 1 to 0 and lost their fourth game 0 to 1. I got there in time only to see the fourth game.

For each game, the teams were awarded points depending on whether they won, lost or tied and how many goals they scored. Jack's team had the second highest point total for the day and qualified for the championship game. Jack scored the first goal of the game and his team went on to win the tournament championship by a score of 3 to 2.

Each of the kids got a t-shirt proclaiming them the Indoor Under-8 Holiday Tournament Champions. I am sure that Jack will sleep in it for a week!

Holiday Tournament pic 1


Holiday Tournament pic 2

2006 CIM

By nature, I am a pretty competitive person. Nowhere is this manifested more intensively than when I am competing with myself. When I signed up for the California International Marathon, I agonized about how to approach the race. One approach would be to view the marathon as a training run for some larger goals. Alternately, I could attack the race and see what kind of time I was capable of running.

Standing at the starting line, I still was not sure how I was going to run the race. The race provides a number of pacers; these were runners carrying signs for different overall times. For example, one runner had a sign for an overall time of 4 hours, while another had a sign for 3 hours and 45 minutes. These signs were attached to poles and afixed to their backs so that you could see the signs during the race.

As the race started and I settled into the first mile, the pacer with the 3 hours and 45 minute sign was about 300 yards in front of me. The beginning of the race includes a number of downhills. Probably predictably given the stubborn dutchman that I am, I made a decision to catch the group that was running with this pacer on one of the downhills.

I settled into that group and ran with them for more than 10 miles. At that point, my goal was to try and stay with the 3:45 pace group through 13 or 14 miles and then try to hang on for a sub 4 hour marathon.

The group running with this pacer was pretty large, probably more than 75 people. At an aid station after the 10 mile mark, the road narrowed considerably. I wanted to make sure that I got some water. Everyone was getting in everyone else's way and I ended up coming out of the aid station 200 to 300 yards behind the pacer. I made a small effort to catch back up, but realized that to do so would take a lot of energy and backed off.

I rolled through the half marathon in 1 hour and 56 minutes. From the 11th mile to the 19th mile, I lost speed steadily, but was still able to carry a pace of about 9:45.

I really slowed down in mile 20. Larkin met me at mile 21 and ran with me to the finish. I was very glad to see him at that point. I just could not carry any speed at this point. We ran the last five miles in the range of 10:50 to 11:20 per mile. My overall time was 04:13:47.

I was a little disappointed with the overall result, but I am also realistic. I am not 28 years old anymore and, as Sharon keeps saying, I probably did not do enough long (20 miles or more) training runs. I am pleased with the fact that I never stopped running.

The graph shown below shows my times for each mile. Click on the graph for a larger copy!

California International Marathon

At the start of the California International Marathon

Saturday, December 02, 2006

2006 Soccer Tournament

Jack's soccer team played in a year-end tournament. The five teams in the tournament had a combined one loss in the regular season. Jack's team lost the first two games by the scores of 0 to 3 and 2 to 4. They then won their second two games by the scores of 5 to 1 and 3 to 0. His team ended the day with two wins and two losses. It turns out that the first two teams to whom they lost were select teams; the kids actually tried out to make the team.