09/02/07 New Mexico Marathon

What a day! I don't know what was more of a shock - getting up at 4:30am (which was 3:30am in Los Angeles) to start at 5:30am, the altitude (5,000-6,200 feet), or all that clean air.

It was particularly special for me to run in my old hometown (La Cueva High School, class of 1989; University of New Mexico, class of 1993).

The marathon started on Tramway, which parallels the city along the base of the mountains. When I lived in Albuquerque, I used to run along this street quite frequently, but never before in the dark. It was actually quite pleasant despite the 8 miles of uphill because there was a beautiful view of the city lights below and also because it was difficult to see just how steep the hill was in the dark.

Bright camera flash + early morning darkness = funny facial expression.

The start!

Running north on Tramway near the top of the hill just as the sun came up.
Dad asked me if I wanted any coffee around Mile 8.

It made me smile and suddenly, I no longer needed coffee. Thanks Dad!

Then the sun was up by the time I started the seven mile downhill cliff.

That was quite an awakening.

Dad kept up a pretty impressive pace during this gel handoff. The Sandia Mountain range is seen in the background here at Mile 13. During the race, I saw cows, a hummingbird and lots of roadkill - very different than my usual LA city scenery.

Nancy and Dad stood in this front yard of a house along Rio Grande Blvd. Notice the Christmas tree lights still attached to the wagon wheel. As runners went by, they thanked Dad and Nancy for "coming out" to cheer. Nancy realized that the runners probably thought that they lived inside that house. Big misconception. Dad usually gets the Christmas tree lights down by April. Around Mile 18, the runners were on a bicycle path for about three miles in the Alameda open space so Dad handed me a gel that I saved until Mile 20.

Deputy James McGrane, with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, was killed in the line of duty on March 22, 2006 while making a routine traffic stop. His family has started the Deputy James McGrane Officer Survival Training Fund to support a street survival seminar for law enforcement officers in the State of New Mexico, with the objective of helping police personnel stay alive throughout their careers regardless of assignment or incident. Part of the entry fee from this event went to that fund. Deputy McGrane's parents are seen here at the finish line behind me.

My average pace was 8 minute miles for a total time of 3:29:38, but more importantly, I felt pretty good. The finisher's medal is actually a hand painted ceramic medallion with the state flag and red chili decorations.



Third place in my division (females age 35-39) and fifth woman overall out of 108 women. There were 182 men for a total of 290 runners. We had lots of room to run, and there was never more than 3 people on any street corner yelling at the runners.

Smiling at Dad during the award ceremony.


The post race phone calls to Mom, Lorenzo, and Coach John.

I definitely would not have had such a great day if Nancy and my Dad hadn't been there. Thanks to them, I kept smiling, stayed energized and felt great!

New Mexico Marathon Results Page

08/26/07 Urban Dare Los Angeles

After a morning of running in the trails while my coach rode along, John and I went to the Pan Pacific Park near the Farmer's Market Grove for the Urban Dare Adventure Race which started at noon. This event permitted participants to walk, run or use public transportation as they went in search of checkpoints which they photographed with a digital camera and showed to the race director at the end of the event. Some of the early tasks took place in the park: find a tennis ball with your team number on it (there were A LOT of tennis balls all over the place), then take it to the race monitor who then gave us a sheet of paper with the word "University" on it which meant that we had to find little signs scattered about, each with one letter and a number on them, for instance "S=18" then find all the letters in your word and add up the corresponding numbers. Then we had to turn in the number to a race monitor who stamped our race "passport" and it was off to the Grove and the Farmer's Market where we had to find the next items, one of which was an Angel sculpture decorated as a tourist.

Next we had to find the park named for the actor who played George Von Trapp in the "The Sound of Music." Now I can recite and sing the entire soundtrack for this film - a talent that I am not terribly proud of, but I attribute to my mother's love of this musical. Since the rules permitted us to call anyone we wanted for assistance, I called Mom and asked her if she remembered the actor's name. Her response: "Oh, I know this! He's .... (silence), well he sang 'Edelweis' and fell in love with Maria, and oh my he certainly is handsome in that uniform!"

To which I replied, "Yes Mother, but what was his NAME?" Eventually, I had to ask her to call me back if she remembered - which she did later, just as we were about to cross the finish line. After we went to PLUMMER Park (named for Christopher Plummer), we had to solve more clues, complete more tasks, and perform a few dares, then we eventually made our way into Hollywood where we had to find the Star for the only person to ever win a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony, and an Oscar Award which was for best supporting actress in "West Side Story." Now I must tell you that this is my mother's OTHER FAVORITE MUSICAL which I can also recite backwards and forwards. Fortunately, I didn't need to call Mom for this one. I remembered Rita Moreno from a kids' program called "The Electric Company" as well as the song about how much she liked to "Beee Eeen Ah-mer-eee-ka!" The problem was how to find her star on the Walk of Fame. Fortunately, John's friend (thank you John Elder!) was able to find it on the internet. Of course, when we went to the address, we couldn't find it so I looked around and saw other adventure racers across the street huddled over a star on the sidewalk. We quickly crossed the street and we were about to pose for our picture in front of Bob Marley's star when I thought to myself, "Hey, he wasn't in West Side Story!" That's when we discovered that each set of racers had a different set of instructions. Clever race director. Luckily, Rita was two stars away from Bob.

The "Five Minute Time Bonus" Challenge gave us the option of asking six non-racers to form a human pyramid. As we were running down Sunset Boulevard towards the finish line, I realized our options for finding six people were rather limited so I had to get resourceful. First stop: The Body Shop but there were only four "employees" taking turns on the pole at that hour. Darn, our team probably would've received a TEN minute bonus if that plan had worked. Next, I dashed into the pool area at The Standard Hotel which was full of people dying to see and be seen. The first table I happened upon had five guys and one girl. I asked politely, "We are in this scavenger hunt race and need a picture of six people forming a human pyramid, so could you please do it for us?" Then I turned to the girl and said, "You could be on top!" They all laughed and thought it was funny, then one of the guys said, "What's in it for us?" Well, $20 later, they eventually agreed and we got this great photo while they got a little humiliated in front of the beautiful people and probably only got about a drink and a half out of my $20.

Then it was off to the finish line at the bar named for a beautiful rock formation that was also an ampitheatre in Denver. Now if there is one thing I know, it is the location of the bars on Sunset. And NO, not because I frequent them often. It's because part of my eight mile running route includes two miles of the the Strip. Once we arrived at the Red Rocks Bar & Grill, we weren't officially done until one of us made a "bullseye" on the dart board. Although we were both hot and exhausted, John and I took turns trying not to injure any bystanders. At one point, I threw all the darts together because my arm was getting tired and I was trying to save some strength for the lifting of the beer mugs that was soon to come. About 5 minutes and 3 snapped arm muscle fibers later, I actually hit a bullseye! We turned in our camera three hours and forty minutes after we started with only one wrong turn that caused about a 15 minute delay and one wrong photo (I thought the first Academy Awards were held at the Pantages, but the right answer was the Roosevelt Hotel). John and I gave each other a high five, then turned around to see about 30 other teams already seated in the bar drinking what could've easily been their second or third beer judging by the volume of their voices. We heard that the winning team finished in under two hours. I'm pretty sure they must've been riding city busses that were "juiced" or else they used jet packs. Anyhow, we had a terrific time discovering sections of Los Angeles that we never knew existed. Afterwards, we were pretty tired, but with a new sense of accomplishment: we had battled with bad cell phone reception, out run city busses, successfully navigated about 8 miles of the wild west side of Los Angeles, conquered the cool kids in the cobana, got to see a stripper in action without paying cover charges or buying a single drink, and managed to have a blast during most of it!

Ninja Warrior game show - Audition Video

If you are like me, you probably don't watch a lot of television so you've never heard of a show called "Ninja Warrior" or a channel called "G4" - but I have to admit that I can't watch enough of it! The show is an obstacle course game show where the challenges are extremely tough - many people don't even get past the first stage! And now I am officially entered into a contest to become the lucky winner who gets flown to Japan to compete on the show!

Click here to see why it is the best show ever!

Click here to see my American Ninja Warrior Challenge Contest Video!

Remember to check the Ninja Warrior website again after August 3rd to see if my entry becomes a Top 10 Finalist!

Thank you so very much to Lorenzo for being a video and editing genius!

AUGUST 3rd UPDATE - Well, my video didn't get selected as a top 10 finalist, but I had a great time making it and thanks to everyone for all the support!

07/14/07 Ten Hour Scout Adventure Race!

My first adventure race was the Scout Adventure Race in Orange County, California near Irvine Lake where teams of four people would have to navigate, trek, mountain bike, kayak, rock climb, zip line and traverse slack lines in order to accumulate points. My first official adventure race team was named "My Kind of Party" and included two veterans (Nick & Louis - both of whom were local to the area) and two rookies (myself and Corey). No, we didn't wear all matching outfits - we wanted to have fun, not look like idiots. We were supported by Lorenzo who stayed at base camp keeping our drinks cold, our tires inflated and our spirits lifted.

The start/finish area was at a campground near the lake. The mandatory team meeting started at 8:30pm the night before the race. During this meeting, the race director cheerfully announced that the race would begin at 3:30am, and better yet - the maps were still being copied and would not be available until 10:30pm, a mere five hours before the start. Fortunately, I was not the designated navigator so the map was meaningless which allowed me to leave the meeting early and try to get some extra sleep. Ignorance truly is bliss. However, I soon realized the other teams' strategy: Bring numerous small, loud children to the campground, get them all hopped up on sugary caffeinated snacks, then let them roam free and create havoc as other teams tried to map check points or rest up before the start.

This race had an extensive list of "Mandatory Gear" which competitors had to keep with them at all times throughout the event. One of these required items was a compass. Since I don't know how to use a compass, I resented this unnecessary burden of 3 extra ounces. But after careful consideration, I realized that the compass might indeed serve a useful purpose after all - I could always drink the liquid inside of it if the situation became desperate enough. Proud of my resourcefulness, I gladly tossed the borrowed compass into my Camelbak.

Oddly enough, the mandatory gear list did not include flare guns. How would the search and rescue team ever find us? I seriously doubted the helicopter pilot would be able to hear me blowing my mandatory plastic whistle over the roar of the chopper engine. I thought about asking Nick and Louis about flares, but didn't want to insult their navigational skills.

The race began on foot in complete darkness. Click HERE for a short video of the start. The topographical map showed the elevations of hills and valleys with checkpoints scattered all over like bad acne. I had no idea how we were going to find any of those pimples in the dark. But fortunately, Nick and Louis had a pretty keen sense of direction, and we found the first four CPs after covering almost four miles in about an hour. Then it was back to base camp to pick up one more mandatory map, grab a quick snack and head back out into the darkness on foot for some CPs that were at the top of three different steep hills - much too steep for bikes.

At one point, Louis asked me if I had a lighter because Corey had a tick lodged into his shin. Contemplating just how tough Corey might be, I was fairly sure he could withstand a few seconds of leg hair scorching, but considering the fact that Corey had doused himself with potentially flammable insect repellent and he possessed an above average quantity of body hair, I was hesitant to risk the possibility that he would become completely engulfed in flames. I doubted anyone was tough enough to survive that and still finish an adventure race. I didn't want to lose a valuable member of the team, and I especially didn't want to carry his charred remains across the finish line in order to avoid disqualification, so I found a tube of Aquaphor (like Vaseline) in my pack and smothered the tick. Eventually, I used some tweezers (the one item of mandatory gear that proved useful) to pull it out of his leg.

During the run, I literally tripped over one of the check points and Corey also found another that we weren't even trying to find. Five hours and sixteen miles later, we had apparently used up my supply of "Dumb Luck" and Corey's supply of "Beginner's Luck." So we went back to camp in order to transition to the next phase of the event. Corey and I easily climbed the rock wall and floated down the zip line before the boys all eagerly jumped on their mountain bikes. Being the chick who was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of spending hours on my least favorite event (aka: walking and pushing the bike) in the sun, I used my gender-based excuse, "I have to change my sports bra" in order to procrastinate just a bit longer. In reality, changing that sports bra really did give me a renewed sense of energy and I was ready to go. We cheerily clicked along for about three miles downhill before realizing that someone forgot to bring the map. Rookie mistake. This is where "Beginner's Luck" and "Dumb Luck" combined to create "Dumb Beginner's Luck." After about a 45 minute delay, we were back on track and on our way to collecting more checkpoints. The ride was really not that bad. Even the part where I fell didn't suck until the bruise really started to develop a few hours later.

Hey guys, wait up!

Unfortunately, my bike got tired before I did and simply refused to cooperate. The rear brake kept engaging making each rotation of the chain harder and harder. Although the boys were all rather experienced bikers, none could really figure out the problem because they seemed unfamiliar with my hydraulic disc brakes. I silently cursed my decision to buy whatever gear the cute guy at the bike shop recommended as my team mates stuck alan wrenches into my bikes many orifices, all to no avail. Between the map delay and my bike's technical difficulties, we were quickly running out of time and we realized we would not be able to accumulate any checkpoints on the kayaking portion of the event. So we went back to camp hoping there would be enough time to complete the slack lines and then cross the finish line before the race finished at 1:30pm.

On the way back around noon, the weather was pretty warm. I actually felt fine for most of the event. But it suddenly became downright HOT once Louis announced that it was 99 degrees. This was one of the few moments when I wished there was a solo entrant division. Again I pondered the necessity of carrying a mandatory glow stick, space blanket and long sleeved shirt during this portion of the race. Maybe if three of the hungry and stranded team mates became desperate enough, we could baste the fourth member of the team in glow stick juice, spread him out on the tinfoil blanket and broil him.

When we got back to camp, we had about 45 minutes left before we had to finish. Just enough time to eat something and regain some leg strength before attempting the slack lines. As I munched on what seemed like the 256th energy bar I had eaten that day, I desperately wished Clif bar came in "Corona w/Lime" flavor. Then I got up and began to put my climbing harness on. As the belt lightly slid up my backside, an excruciating pain radiated from a place deep within me where the sun doesn't shine. I wondered how many female adventure racers still possessed the ability to bear children and I seriously considered replacing my bike saddle with a 1961 Chevy Impala bucket seat.

For those who don't know, traversing across a slack line is like the opposite of tightrope walking. The line you have to walk upon is not tight, it is "slack" - hence the name. For support, you can hold onto a rope above your head, but this rope is also slack so it isn't very helpful because it jiggles back and forth. A LOT. After more than 16 miles on foot going up and down steep hills and ravines, and bushwhacking through sharp prickly shrubs, then another 20 miles or so of hot mountain biking on fire roads with no shade, sprinkled with a little rock wall climbing and a touch of zip line - just to ensure your nerves are completely and utterly frayed - apparently the race director and my team mates thought it might be yet even more "adventurous" for Corey and myself to attempt this slack line section, you know, to get the full experience (translation: to cause an absurd amount of damage to each and every fiber of muscle in your body). Whatever miniscule bit of strength I may have had left in my legs was quickly extinguished as I watched the participant before me convert his slack line into a slingshot and fling himself face first into the ground about three feet below. By now I was out of clean sports bras and could not think of any other believable excuse that could create enough delay to skip this event so I climbed on and tried to get it over quickly with minimal wobbling. Naturally, it lasted for an eternity and my stomach felt like a blender full of Clif Bar/Gatorade martini - shaken, not stirred. But I managed to avoid the face plant and still had enough fumes left in me to grab my team mates' hands and jog across the finish line.

Nine hours, forty-five minutes after we started, we gave each other high fives, simultaneously congratulating and thanking ourselves for not abandoning, maiming or killing one another.

Click HERE for Lorenzo's photo gallery of the event.

If you are a data geek - here is the first 8.5 hours from my GPS watch (the batteries ran out before we finished!)

07/04/07 Holiday Mountain Bike Ride

I decided to use my day off to train (my rear end) for the mountain bike portion of the Scout Adventure Race which is coming up on July 14th. So I went to my favorite trail run, Sullivan Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains. It was a beautiful day and Sullivan provided lots of shade. Unfortunately, this trail was also as busy as the 405 freeway during rush hour. As I started at the trailhead, I saw two fellow Mountain Goat trail runners, Peggy and Rob. I said "hello" to them and got no response until I added, "It's me, Angela. You probably don't recognize me on two wheels." They briefly greeted me, then turned around and mumbled something that sounded a lot like the word "traitor."

I continued up the path just as many bikers were coming down it. Faced with the sudden prospect of repeated head on collisions, I tried to quickly remember the proper trail etiquette: Downhill bikers yield to uphillers, or was it the other way around? When in doubt, I figured it couldn't hurt to pull off to the side of the trail no matter which way I was going. Of course, this led to quite a few standoffs where both I and the opposing biker would simultaneously dismount and command each other to "go ahead." It got to the point where I was getting more exercise simply mounting and dismounting than I was from pedalling. As I made my way farther up the trail, there was less traffic, but I still had to dismount for the occassional tree trunk across the path because my bike jumping skills are non-existant (and I have the scars from previous attempts to prove it). In fact, when I stepped one leg down to contemplate the best way to get over another tree trunk, I actually tipped over and fell to the other side, so just the thought of jumping an obstacle causes problems. I snuck a guilty glance to make sure no one saw my tumble, then reminded myself that it might not technically be a "fall" because I was actually standing still at the time. Falls = zero, Tip Overs = 1. Then I walked the bike over the jump. It didn't help when a 40-something year old mom, and her three little kids all zoomed right by and gracefully jumped over the same tree without the slightest pause. Not to be deterred, I forged ahead until I reached a pretty steep gulley or trench or whatever you call a 15 foot downhill followed immediately by a 15 foot uphill. After seeing small children whizz through the air with the greatest of ease, I was both humiliated and inspired. The inspired part of me really wanted to tackle that gulley, but there was some sort of official pit stop party taking place on the other side where about 7 riders casually munched on energy bars and seemed to be waiting for some form of entertainment as they looked in the direction of the gulley. Determined not to suck at this sport any more than I already had during the past 45 minutes, I decided to dismount the bike and inspect it for some sort of mysterious technical problem. Relying on my acting background, I pretended to adjust important looking gadgets and hoped the audience would continue on their way soon. Unfortunately, I now think that the peanut gallery was on to my stalling tactics because they slowed down their consumption of food to ESPN super-slow-motion speed. Then, of course, who should appear but the Mom and her kids, hooting and hollering on their way back through the gulley towards me. That did it. I decided that I could not take any more embarrassment, nor could I afford to risk further injury less than two weeks from the race so I turned away from the Trench of Terror and went back down. When I finally reached the end, I realized that I could have completed the same distance in less time if I had been running and carrying my bike. At least then I wouldn't have had to spend all that time getting off and back on again.

Driving with the bike on the back of the car - hopefully this is legal during the race...

06/21/07-06/24/07 Hockey Camp!

Weekend Warriors Hockey Camp - Vail, Colorado

Coaches: Jim, Kevin, Rob, Nate, & Nick, the goofy looking guy on the right

Jim was our Goalie Coach, and Canadian Kevin talked funny.

He would say, "It's all ABOOOT OH-FENCE."

It was a weekend of reviewing basics, acquiring new skills, playing some great hockey, and making new friends, including a goalie named Chris - who looked suspiciously identical to J.S. Giguere. What do you think?

Coach Jimmy taught the four goalies some new warm up techniques.

Highlight: facing my first ever penalty shot - and making the save!

Rick, the camp director seemed equally happy at the bars as well as on the ice, while Chris and I decided to see if our goalie instincts could withstand the challenge of alcohol.

Jimmy, Angela, Chris and fellow goalie Mike try not to think about the Sunday morning game that started a few hours after this photo. Of course, during that game, Coach Jimmy taught us yet another valuable hockey lesson: How to convert alcohol into energy.

Coach Jimmy was just as helpful off the ice, but later that night, Chris and I started suffering from some mysterious form of "Goalie Vision" and Coach Jimmy was nowhere to be found.

What is camp without a practical joke or two? And when I was asked about the sudden appearance of "silly string" and water balloons after the final Sunday game, I simply responded that I had suffered too many pucks to the head - yet another helpful piece of knowledge I learned while at camp. Thanks Weekend Warriors!