Friday, April 18, 2008

iFive:K and Alaska Planning

April 18, 2008

I ran another race last night: the iFive:K in downtown Charleston. The race started at the maritime center and continued down in front of the battery. There were only about 300 people running, so it was a much different experience than running with 30,000 in the Cooper River Bridge Run. I finished in 28:52.99, which I realize is still a long way from fast. I had a good time though. I also noticed a few other Boot Campers running. I guess I'll be seeing them bright and early again in about ten days. Not sure I'm ready for that again, at least maybe not until classes are over.

In other news, I'm planning a trip to Alaska. We'll be flying out at the end of July for a week-long stay. Right now our itinerary includes a glacier-viewing, whale watching cruise at Kenai Fjords National Park on our first day, with another day there for hiking or kayaking. After that, we'll be heading back to Anchorage for a night before taking the Alaska Railroad up to Denali National Park for three days of trying to pack in as much as that park has to offer. It's shaping up to be pretty expensive, but I'm confident it will be well worth it.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Cooper River Bridge Run

April 5, 2008

I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run yesterday here in Charleston. This is a 10K (6.2 mile) run that crosses the Ravenel Bridge connecting Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. This is the first time I've participated in any kind of distance run and, in fact, this is the longest distance I've ever run. I've never had any interest in running, except in training for basketball and hiking. I've been participating in Boot Camp this Spring, however, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I ran with two other people from my med school class and we had a really good time. We sort of took it easy and finished in 1:13:33, which I thought was pretty respectable considering we had exams last week, so none of us had done anything physical in the previous seven days. Anyway, the race was a fun experience and the Cooper River Bridge is an amazing piece of architecture. Running across it definitely gave me a different perspective on just how massive it is, and what complex engineering must go into designing something like this. As for running, I've already signed up for a 5k in Charleston later this month. This time, hopefully, I'll have some time to practice beforehand.

About Boot Camp: I signed up for this workout this semester, kind of on a whim. I wasn't in shape at all and I thought that maybe Marine Corps drill instructors would be able to motivate me to push myself a little more than I generally do in the gym. I think attention span is my biggest problem; I get so bored at the gym doing anything other than playing basketball. Boot Camp was a great experience and I've already signed up for the next session this summer. The workout is intense, but doable and the instructors, it goes without saying, are great motivators. I think that I was probably in the best cardiovascular shape of my life at the end of the 12 weeks, so I'm hoping I won't let myself slide too much before the next session starts!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Return to Yosemite

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Last week, I returned from a trip out West to Yosemite and San Francisco. I met up with a friend from college, Nick, and two guys from Indiana, Ryan and Nathaniel. We spent one night at Nick's place in SF before heading out to Yosemite.

Yosemite was my favorite place of all the parks I visited this summer during my long road trip; so, I was excited about the prospect of returning, especially knowing that there would still be snow on the ground. With much of the higher elevation areas under significant snow cover, we weren't able to do any hikes that went much over 5000'. Still, we managed a nice scramble up to the edge of Lower Yosemite Falls and, the next day, a fairly strenuous day hike past Columbia Rock to a nice view of Upper Yosemite Falls. I think the highlight of our hiking experiences, however, was a short, easy trip around Mirror Lake with some spectacular views of Half Dome and North Dome. The stillness of the lake provided the perfect reflecting pool for the huge rock walls.

We spent both nights camping in Upper Pines campground. There was plenty of snow on the ground and the sleeping situation was pretty frigid with temperatures dipping into the low 30s. My three partners didn't bring sleeping pads (inexperience, I guess), so they were pretty miserable the first night. The next day, all three of them bought sleeping pads at the Curry Village store.

I was sleeping in my +20F rated REI Kilo Plus, on a Therm-A-Rest 4 self-inflating pad. Even so, I was pretty frigid; but certainly not miserable. I could've worn more layers inside the bag; but I was using most of my insulation for a pillow. Since we were car camping, we didn't have to worry so much about weight. Nick bought a cheap 6-person tent from Wal-Mart (can't remember the brand, Ozark Trail or something) and it actually seemed pretty solid. It had a tremendous amount of space. I'm 6'1" and I was nearly able to stand straight up inside; and, with four big dudes, we were able to keep some nice buffer room in between us. However, considering how cold it was, we might've been better off huddled together in a smaller tent.

Having lived essentially all of my life in the Southeast and Southern California, I don't have a lot of experience with snow and this was my first multi-day experience with significant snow exposure. Truthfully, a lot of the valley was clear of snow, but Upper Pines is so thoroughly shaded by the, well, pines that temperatures there seemed to stay a lot lower than in much of the rest of the valley. Anyway, I learned the importance of having plenty of warm, dry socks to rotate as they become wet, which they inevitably do (especially if you're just wearing trail runners). Still, I don't regret my shoe choice. My feet were only cold at night, and I think I could've avoided even that if I had just brought one extra pair of socks (I brought 3). I should've been fine with 3 (one to wear, one to dry and one to sleep in) if only I had been a little more conscientious about drying the wet socks.

On Sunday, we headed back to San Francisco and started recharging the batteries. The next day, we headed over to Berkeley to check out their campus. It's definitely very active in terms of protests, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. There's basically a Swiss Family Robinson living in the trees at the proposed sight of a new athletic building.

After leaving Berkeley, we headed back to San Francisco to visit Telegraph Hill and hopefully catch a glimpse of its famous wild parrots. We didn't have any luck, though. I was lucky, however, in that I unwittingly bagged another peak by walking to the top of Telegraph Hill. I wouldn't have guessed that the only high point I'd reach on this trip would be in the city of San Francisco and not in the wilderness of Yosemite.

I still think San Francisco is a great city. Not sure if I'd want to live there; but it is a place I'll probably consider when it's time to look for a residency in about 3 years. Being back out West, I realized how much I miss it, even though I'm pretty happy with my life in Charleston.