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Happy New Year!!!!!
I was planning to go to a New Years celebration tonight, something I haven't done in years. Re-aggravated my sore back last night while moving a fat patient from an EMS cart to our ER bed.

Crap. No party for me. Looks like QueenBuffness and I will be spending the evening limping around the "GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker" instead.

Not that that's such a bad thing. But a party would have been ok, too.

So, here's wishing each and every one of you a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a good year and that next year will be even better!

Add on here:
Here's Tony Bennett giving you a little encouragement for the coming new year.

Left Wing, Scumbag Lawyer, Keys Marines Car....
I realize that's redundant but Grrrrrrrrr. This kinda crap just makes me want to cause harm to someone.

It seems that a young Marine was visiting a friend in Chicago while on leave and this Piece of Shit Lawyer took exception to the Marine decals on his car. Our young Marine caught the Prick keying his car and summoned Chicago's finest.

You need to read the story, and as you're not likely to see it in the MSM go here - Black Five and check this shit out.

The Chicago Legal Machine appears to be willing to screw this kid in order to protect one of their own. And Young Marine has to deploy back to Iraq in a day or so.

Bastards. A pox on them all.

It's that wonderful time of year again - time to look at the cornucopia of ultras, triathlons, and marathons available in 2008 and plan my season! I get such satisfaction out of seeing a whole year of races planned out. As I mentioned last year, a full schedule is proof that I'm choosing to live in this world instead of on it. Each race is a guaranteed adventure for the heart, mind, and soul.

For 2008, I'm feeling the need to train specifically for my anchor race (the Western States 100) for the first half of the year, and leave the second half of the year flexible. I think that will give me a good checkpoint to look at where I'm at in various Series points rankings, take into account that I might need a break, or want to do some tri's as a change of pace. I've also tried to leave some space in for other races that might pop up.

Here's my tentative schedule for 2008:

1/13 - Angel Island 25k, Marin, CA - This should be a great setting for pictures and a fun way to kick off the new year. I will still be in my "aerobic phase" of my training, but variety is always good. I can also put some points on the board for the new Pacific Coast Trail Runs (PCTR) Race Series, which looks like a lot of fun. The Pacifica 50k on 1/19 is also a lot of fun - if my schedule (and wife) permits, than maybe that one too.

2/2 - Woodside 50k, Woodside, CA - My hometown course, and I have serious bridesmaid karma on this one (three second place finishes in three tries). Perhaps I can break my streak!

3/8 - Way Too Cool 50k, Cool, CA - One of the classics, and shares some trail with the Western States 100. I should be about a month into my speed training, so this will be a good checkpoint race. It will be good to catch up with everyone too. It's also a points race for the PA/USATF Series (not posted yet, but will be here), which I hope to be focusing on for the year. My last year as an under-40 runner...yikes! And I don't mean "yikes I'm getting old", I mean "yikes those 40-year olds are much faster". ;-)

3/22 - Rucky Chucky 50k, Foresthill, CA - I was pleased to see the Rucky Chucky back for 2008, and enjoyed running it in 2005. This race will give me a chance to cover that section of the Western States trail and know it intimately. ;-) This is also the first race in the 2008 Fuel Belt Ultrarunner. Net Series, which was a lot of fun last year.

4/12 - Diablo 50m, Diablo, CA - What better prep for the WS100 than 13,000+ vertical feet in the blazing sun? This race seemed to work as good training grounds for the likes of Jasper Halekas, Bev Abbs, Caren Spore and others for their summer 100's, plus I have some unfinished business on that mountain that I would like to put to rest. This race should be a good checkpoint to see where my weaknesses are, while still having enough time to adjust the training before WS100.

4/21 - Boston Marathon, Boston, MA - Why? Why not! I love this race, and have the lucky excuse that work takes me there every April. I plan to run it for fun, drink the beer at Heartbreak, get a kiss from the Wellesley girls, etc, etc, plus enjoy a day of watching America's finest female runners at the Women's US Olympic Trials. Race costume optional on both days. ;-)

5/3 - Miwok 100k, Marin, CA - A gorgeous race, and good training for WS100. I'm excited to go back and get more pics! I'm not going to run it super hard, but it will kick off a month of very long runs/races as the peak of my training. Another race for the PA/USATF Series as well.

5/10 - Quicksilver 50m, Almaden, CA - I did the 50k last year, and it was full of hills and heat. Ill take a tip from Graham Cooper and Jeff Riley (top ten finishers at WS100 last year) who did this as part of their States training last year. My legs should be tired from Miwok, so we'll see how I hold up.

5/18 - Ohlone 50k, Livermore, CA - An optional race if I have any legs left after the last two weekends. Heat and hills, and plenty of good pics. Ohlone might even be a fun one to hike!

5/25 - Western States Training Run, Auburn, CA - I plan to do the first training day of the weekend to cover the two tough climbs on the WS100 trail.

6/14 - Santa Cruz 50k, Santa Cruz, CA - One last 50k in the coastal redwoods before beginning my taper. Also in the PCTR Series.

6/28 - Western States 100, Auburn, CA - The anchor race for the year. OMG! It freaks me out just to write it down. My goal is sub-24 hour, but honestly I would be honored just to finish it.

At this point in the season, I'm planning to take a few weeks off and see where my head and heart is at, as well as where I'm at in the various Series competition. If I'm doing well in the PA/USATF Series, than the Headlands 50k and Whiskeytown 50k could be new and fun. The Ultrarunner.net Series would steer me more towards the Sierra Nevada Double Marathon (which would be good to do right for once) and Lake of the Sky, which I loved last year. It I have another 100 in me, then maybe Rio del Lago or the Headlands 100, or try a 24-Hour Race. Or perhaps I will be ready to hit the bike, and do the Donner Lake Tri, Vineman, and/or some centuries. One thing for sure, I will probably make it back to the Helen Klein 50m, which is a points race for both the PA/USATF and Ultrarunner.net Series. And this year, Thanksgiving will likely be at home, so the Quad Dipsea will be back on the schedule.

Whew! I better get crackin' on the training! Let me know if any of you are going to be at these races. I look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers and happy new year, SD

By request, here's another one from the archives.
Guitar Stories................

I've been playing guitar for about 34 years now. Sounds like a long time and I guess it is.

Now that I think of it, I ought to be much better than I am after all that time. But I never really wanted to be a "Guitar God" or anything. I started playing mainly to pick up girls.

Yeah, big surprise that one. I had a buddy who was as ugly as Fidos Ass, but he picked up the girls because he could halfass play guitar. I figured if that ugly mutt could do that and I'm only half as ugly as him................... Yeah, a plan was formed and I went out and got a cheap Epiphone acoustic box.

I had played guitar for about 6 months when I was 13 but that shit was a lot like work and I was so ADD (Attention Defecit Disorder) I just couldn't do it and being forced to practice made me just wanna break stuff. Mom got tired of fighting about it and that was that for 5-6 years till I got the Epiphone.

I found that I really liked to play. I didn't pick up any girls but that was ok too. I played the shit out of that cheap ass Epiphone for several years. The neck got loose and had a big bow in it, but I kept right on with it.

I finally acquired a newer box this way.........

I was working a construction job in Iowa and was in the hotel bar getting good and drunk one night with the foreman and his beautiful wife Alice. In walks this big dude playing a nice guitar, rather poorly. He looked kinda like Hank Williams Jr, but had even less talent.

He said, "Call me Otis". So we did.

We sat there awhile and proceeded to get more drunk and finally went up to Otis' room to burn some rope I happened to have with me.

Like I said, Otis was a big fella. But Otis was a lightweight. John, the foreman, and I were pretty close to Olympic class drinkers at that time and Otis was not up to the task of trying to keep up with us. That would've been ok, but the more he drank, the more he kept trying to hit on Alice. Remember Alice?

Bad move.

John told Otis to keep his hands to himself ......... Twice. Once more than most guys would've and I thought that was pretty nice. Twice wasn't good enough though. Otis Put his hand on Alices' leg again and John quietly got up and excused himself. I didn't know what he had in mind, but I knew it wasn't gonna be good for ol' Otis.

I think subconsciously, Otis must have known it too. His lack of beer drinking KungFu, coupled with the rope we'd burned, made his belly decide that it was a good time to do a crash evacuation maneuver of all contaminants. He bolted to the bathroom and started puking his guts out. Alice and I started getting ourselves ready to go when John came back.

With a tire iron.

And hostile intent.

John was NOT a fella to get riled up. He had every intention of beating Otis to a friggin' pulp and at this point, only Otis' lightweight constitution and the locked bathroom door had saved him. With some difficulty, Alice and I kept him from beating in the door to get at Otis and killing him.

To this day I believe we saved the life of that dumbass.

John was in a cold fury and started looking all around for something to vent on. And saw that nice guitar sitting against the wall.

Up came the tire iron...............

and I snatched it right out of his hand from behind. And it was a damn good thing I had it too, 'cause he whipped around and gave me a look that flat scared the shit out of me.

I told him not to smash up a perfectly good guitar just because it's owner was an asshole. Well, He snatched that guitar up and was getting ready to smash it into the wall when Alice said she wanted it. Alice didn't have any desire to own a guitar, but she was smart enough to know that a guitar smashing spree at 2 o'clock in the morning would just about guarantee us all going to jail. Smart girl.

John just handed it to her and that was that. We all left to the sound of Otis blowing chunks in the crapper.

As we split up at our rooms, Alice handed me the guitar and said, "Here, I don't want this piece of shit. You take it."

I've had it ever since. The statute of limitations for that crime ran out about 1984, so I guess I can tell the story now. It's been a good friend and companion through many adventures. But it's never been as good a friend to me as it was to Otis.

It saved his life.