Grays and Torreys

While I was in Denver, we also hiked two 14ers. These were #2 and #3 on my list of 14ers - Bierstadt was #1. Brian Austin and his family was in town as well, so they joined us for the hike.

Alex and Tommy at the trailhead ready to get started.

 Group picture at the trailhead. We were on the trail and ready to go by about 8:30am.

 Grays Peak is the the left, and Torreys is to the right.

 There was a mountain goat at the top.

 Kyle tried to get my picture with the mountain goat - this is the only picture we got though. I guess he didn't want to be in a picture with me.

At the top. Sun, Tommy, Kyle, Me, Alex, Brian and Eva. We didn't think Sun, Tommy or Alex would make it, but everyone kept telling them they were almost there. Took us 4 hours to get to the top, but I was happy that everyone pushed through and made it all the way.

After Grays, Brian, Sun and the kids started making their way down the mountain. Kyle and I decided to go ahead and summit Torreys as well since we were right there. This is Kyle with the path up Torreys behind him.

At the top of Torreys.

It is is pretty at the top of these mountains. Love looking out at the Rocky Mountain range.

Brian needed a break from carrying Eva, so Kyle took over for most of the way down.

After dinner, we went to some of our other cousins home for dinner. Alex, Laci and Tommy on the trampoline.

The kids dinner table - Megan, Tommy, Laci, Alex and Samantha.

 The bid kids dinner table - Kyle, Sun, Eva, Brian, Kristi and Scott. Dinner was really good (thanks Kristi for cooking) and it was nice to sit on their patio and visit.

On Sunday morning, Kristi, Samantha and Megan were running a 5-mile race. We found out that the start line was at Cheeseman Park which is a 5-minute walk from Kyle's apartment. I decided to run with them - Cheeseman Park to Wash Park. Good start to Labor Day.

After the run, I went back to Kyle's and got ready to leave for the airport. I barely made my flight because the rental car had a flat tire, but Kyle put some air in it for me and I made it to the airport ok. Good thing for my employee badge to avoid the security line.

Happy 30th Kyle!!!

Tomorrow (September 8th) Kyle turns 30. I can't believe he is already 30...seems like just yesterday I was celebrating my 30th.

Last weekend I was in Denver so I told Kyle I would take him to a nice restaurant for a good dinner. He chose a place called Root Down in the Highlands area of Denver - it was a great choice.

We sat on the patio which overlooked downtown Denver. The atmosphere was great and the weather was perfect.

Kyle - have a great day tomorrow - I hope you do something fun and memorable. Thanks for hosting me (and Kellyn) the last couple of times in Denver...and thanks in advance for hosting me either more in Denver or wherever you end up after graduation. Congrats on all of your accomplishments and I can't wait to see where this year takes you. We have lots of great family memories from the first 30 years...here's to another 30 :) Love you brother.

San Diego Weekend

This last weekend I spent the weekend in San Diego with some friends. We pretty much hung out at Mission/Pacific beaches the entire time.

Dave and I trying on some hats on the Mission Beach boardwalk.

Titanic...and the tip of the iceberg.

Picture before dinner on Saturday night - Steve, Tim, Me, Dave and Mike.

I thought this picture was funny.

Saturday night we had dinner in the Gaslamp District.

Photoshoot on a bridge.

Tim and I ran on Saturday morning - pier to pier - 5.5 miles total (but we probably walked about a mile)  - the first 3 miles were at a 7:55 min/mile pace.

Dinner Saturday night was at Joe's Crab Shack on Pacific Beach.

Sunday morning we went for another run, and then did some yoga on the beach (actually just poses :)

Sunday afternoon we walked around Seaport Village...

...and the Hotel Del Coronado.

 I flew back to Phoenix Sunday afternoon. Fun trip!

AZ Road Racers Summer Series

This summer I did 3 races (out of 5) in the AZ Road Racers Summer Series. Heather signed up for all 5, and when I saw on Facebook that she had posted pictures of the first one I asked for more details. While these were nowhere near the caliber of NY Road Runners' events, they were still good events and kept me in somewhat ok running shape through the hot Phoenix summer.

Dates, times, locations are as follows:

Race #2 - June 10, 2012 - Reach 11 Park - 24:52 (8:00 min/mile)

Race #4 - July 14, 2012 - Kiwanis Park - 25:51 (8:20 min/mile)

Race #5 - August 12, 2012 - South Mountain Park - 27:41 (8:55 min/mile)

My times got slower as the summer went on - not good, but I think it was because it just kept getting hotter and hotter and my running outside kept getting less and less. Looking forward to cooler weather to try to break an 8 minute mile :)

Summer Streets 2012

Yesterday I went to NYC for Summer Streets. I did this in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (I guess I did not blog it last year) with the same group of friends. I did not want to miss out this year so I went back for the day. My flight was supposed to leave PHX at 9:35pm on Friday night, but we were about an hour delayed so I was an hour late landing. I arrived at JFK at 6:15am on Saturday morning, and took the Air Train to Howard Beach to take the A to Foley Square where I met up with the Corpus' and Jennifer. 

Eric and Noah playing a little soccer in Foley Square

They were handing out these little applesauce packets - Micah and I both really liked them.

This was about a quarter of the way - we were in NoHo here.

At the Whole Foods picnic area at 24th Street. They are opening a Whole Foods at 57th and 2nd (they are about 4 years too late in doing this - I always had to go all the way to Union Square).

Micah was hungry before the rest of us were ready for lunch. He almost went through this entire container of Puffs.

The annual "jumping" tradition at Grand Central Station.

Noah participated this year.

Noah did great this year - he walked/rode his scooter the entire 7 miles with no complaining!

The group after lunch on the UES. Dina joined us for lunch.

We finished walking around 12:30pm and had lunch at Chipotle in my old neighborhood. Jennifer was really nice and offered to drive me to JFK so I wouldn't have to take the subway. My flight departed JFK at 4:30pm and I landed in PHX at 6:30pm. I definitely went to bed early last night. (I would have stayed the weekend, but I had signed up to do a 5k this morning (and convinced others to run) so I needed to be back for that).