My Thanksgiving Weekend in Pictures

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot with my trail club + family


Back on the trails baby!


Feast in Santa Barbara for 20+ thanks to my cousin Kathy


My nephew Jaden burning some post-Thanksgiving calories on Rock Band


My adorable nephews (Joshua, Jaden, Jeremy) at the Grove


At the start of a little 1 1/2 hour trail run at night w/ my friend (& trail newbie) Charles


Great friends, vodka + boob grabbing = perfect bookend to a great Thanksgiving weekend

Hope everyone had a terrific holiday weekend - bring on December!

Race Report: Santa Monica Mountains (as a Volunteer)

Ok, so it's not much of a race report. In fact, we were all so consumed with our volunteer duties (and yes, some actual food consumption as well) that I didn't really see most of the winners coming in. What I do know is that anytime you either race or volunteer at a PCTR event, it's always good times. Special shout-out to Sarah (the RD), Stuart, Evan, Lori and of course, Sara for making it a great day under the sun.

I now leave you with some photos. Can't wait to run the trails myself!


Lori and Sarah at the start


The 30/50K-ers taking off


Sara taking care of t-shirt duty


Evan and Kim (and their son Tim) at the 30/50K aid station


Stuart on the knives


Kim with some words of encouragement for Lori


Overall winner of the 50K, Dominic Grossman coming across the line at 4:3X:XX


Gun-to-the-Head winner of the day, Lori


The crew. Good times.

The Volunteers

So I told myself that whenever the PCTR crew rolls into So Cal, I would either be a participant or volunteer. This weekend the stage is set in the lovely Pt. Mugu/Sycamore Canyon area - one of my favorite trails in the great Santa Monica Mountains. Given the current set of circumstances and my s-l-o-w return to running, I had to stick to the latter.



Funny thing is, I probably will know more people volunteering at this race than actually running it. Along with yours truly, I will be joined by my gal Sara, Stuart, Evan, and Josh among others.

While I'd much rather be cursing up a steep dirt road donning a race bib, this is the next best thing I suppose. It's always good to give back to this sport we all love so much.

It should make for a fun weekend. Good luck racers - be sure to say 'hi' if you've signed up!

New LA Marathon Course Announced!

The actual street-by-street details of the new LA Marathon course were announced to say and as a native, let me tell you that this will be a magnificent run and a HUGE upgrade from years past. Finally, we just might have a world-class marathon worthy of this great city of mine.



I'm more familiar with the 2nd half of the course since I reside in West LA, and those are certainly where some of the highlights for me will be. Specifically, being able to run down Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills/Westwood and then finishing down famous (and downhill) San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood. I think any runner who have run down these streets can attest to how truly awesome that will be.



Have not signed up yet, but barring further setbacks to my injured foot, I hope to see you guys toeing the starting line with me on March 21, 2010!

Meb's Mojo

I need some of it right about now.

After a disappointing 2008 year for Meb Keflezighi in which he spent most of working back from a stress fracture of the hip, many (including yours truly) counted him out. But he battled back and dare I say, even better than ever this year winning the Houston Half Marathon in January, a national cross country win later in the year before finally winning the ING NYC Marathon this past weekend.

What a comeback year for Meb. And when I heard he would be in Niketown in Beverly Hills tonight, I had to come by and steal some of that mojo. Didn't stick around for his speaking engagement and autograph session, but I did manage to get him to autograph my brand new pair of Nike Lunarglides that I just purchased. They will be my comeback shoes.



While I'm not running any real distances yet, I'm going to keep battling and hope that it will all come together soon. Foot's still throbbing in that spot at times, so I know it's not a 100% yet. After almost 14 weeks on the shelf, it's been difficult to keep my hopes up. But they are. And I fully intend on coming back better than ever.