New Year's Eve 2010

It snowed on the 30th. That's right. Snow in Tucson. We decided to go up to Oracle and see it first hand. Here is a picture I took of the Catalina Mountains from the In N Out Burger parking lot.

Cholla cactus that is feeling the chill.

That's the warmest clothes we have. Well at least the kids. Amy has more jackets/coats layers than anyone I know. Unfortunately she doesn't really appreciate it. Patagonia and OR labels mean nothing to her.

Here is the picture from our run. It was 29 degrees. That's cold to us. The screen on my Garmin had a hard time changing numbers because it was so cold. Hope you got to participate. Send in your pictures so I can post them. (The two wet spots on my shirt are from my heart rate monitor. I have to get the contacts wet for it to be able to read my heart rate. Seriously, I'm not lactating.)

Then a few fireworks to end the night. They just became legal in Tucson. Everyone was setting off their little bottle rockets (which are still illegal) and Roman Candles. I had to take it up a notch.

Happy New Year from Team Brenton and Broken, Beat & Scarred!

The Kent Effect

One morning Amy and I went for a run together. We don't get to run together much because of work schedules, and driving the kids around after school. We talked about stuff. I don't really remember what stuff. Just stuff.

I do remember one topic though. I think the reason I remember it is because I figured I was in for a lecture. We were talking about our climbing trip with Mike and Terry. I said that I had forgotten to wear my helmet, and that it was becoming a habit.

Amy said it was because of Kent. Kent doesn't wear a helmet, and thinks it's ridiculous. That's good enough for me. He's a trauma surgeon after all. Mike doesn't wear one either. I think it just has to do with the time they both started climbing. They are about the same age, and no one wore a helmet when they started.

Regardless, I like both of these guys quite a lot. I've always said that Kent is the big brother I always wanted. Turns out Mike is the other big brother I wanted too. Maybe I'll start slowly and quit wearing my helmet for sport climbing.

Check out the above pic of Kent. Now you see what I mean.

Christmas Haul

Team Brenton had a good Christmas. We hope yours was great too. I made out pretty well. Chalk, tape, Reverso 3, a pair of Sanuks, and a renewed subscription to Trail Runner. What more could a guy ask for?

Brett and I got out to climb one afternoon after I got off work. We did a little liquid ice climbing. That's right, it rained on us. I had worked so hard to get off early (which is not an easy feat during Christmas peak at UPS), gave up a half a day's sleep, and Brett used up half of one of his days off so we could go get rained out. It never rains here in December.

Yes Michelle, we are stupid enough to go climbing in the rain. We got three routes in, and had a good visit on the way to and from the mountain. Brett successfully cleaned the anchors all by himself for the first time, and didn't cry or die.

It's not often I get/have to wear my rain shell.

3rd & 4th Biannual BB&S, Team Brenton 2.5K Fun Run

I am running a little behind this year on getting the information out on this event, but it is still on. The rules are simple, and the same as last year. Here they are listed below for those of you who are new to BB&S. 1. Sign up by making a small donation at: http://www.100friends.org/. This is a great non-profit run by one guy named Mark Gold. He lives out of a hotel room. He gives small amounts of money to people who are trying to make a living, but have a need. It might be 50 cents, or 15 dollars, but it will be enough to help them be self sufficient. Amy and I liked the charity and felt it was worthy. Please research it for yourself so you can feel good about your donation. http://www.parade.com/news/2010/12/19-the-shoestring-philanthropist.html (The story from the Sunday Parade magzine) His facebook page can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/100-Friends-Project/266622643087 2. Run 2.5K on December 31st 2010, and then run the second 2.5K on January 1st 2011. Running can be substituted for walking, skiing, cycling, skipping, crawling, any non motorized human powered activity you choose. (2.5K is 1.55 miles) 3. Have fun, and feel good that we are helping someone we don't even know because that's what good people do. 4. All finishers will receive a finishers prize after providing photographic evidence of their accomplishment that will be posted on BB&S. Amy and I will be running from 11:45 on the 31st to 12:15 on the 1st (approx). If you are in town and want to join us we'd love to run with you. If you are out of town and want to join us give us a call, we'll put you on speaker phone, and we can run together that way (520-977-7820 Rik, 520-977-7816 Amy).

Christmas Songs for the UPS Guy

I picked a few songs for the poor weary UPS box monkey who might have to get up at 11:15 pm to go sort packages, or spend all day and most of the night delivering. Christmas cheer is only four days away. Enjoy!

Correction

Amy has brought it to my attention that she was not third in her age group as stated in the post below. She was actually first. I am now in trouble for not listening carefully and reporting the news incorrectly.

Special Day

This afternoon I went for my first run in two weeks. Christmas peak at UPS makes me lazy. Don't feel too bad for me because I went climbing last Saturday. While I was running I looked at the Catalina Mountains. The sun was shining on them, and the air was really clear giving them that special glow that they only get in the early evening in winter. I automatically thought "man I wish I was climbing right now." Then I started to think about what a great day it had been. First off my favorite niece ran her first 5k this morning. That is a picture of her below. I think she got all of her cute from her Uncle Rik (never mind the guy in the background trying to push over the soccer goal). Amy and Philip ran it too. Philip ran a 22:41. A little disappointing since he has run sub 20 minutes before. Amy came in third in her age group, and got a realy cool Christmas ornament as a prize.

Here is Harley crossing the finish line.

Then I started feeling bad about wasting a Saturday with such great weather. I spent it just hanging around the house with Amy and the kids. That really was kind of nice though. Utimately I ended up on that run where I came up with all the thoughts you are reading now.

I also talked to a guy on a Niner mountain bike. It was the same bike I have been thinking about buying. He gave it a rave review. It was nice to talk to someone who had actual experience on the bike.

Even without a fun climbing trip it ended up being a good day.