The check's in the mail....

The REI dividend check, that is. My son Caden and I went to both REI and the North Face (Outlet) Store in Berkeley yesterday to purchase some much needed items. There wasn't much of anything at the North Face Outlet, and the big sign at REI reminding patrons that dividend checks will be mailed out next week kept me from buying anything (our dividend should be just over $500).. With a 20% discount off any one item the week after dividends go out, I think I can wait a couple more days to do my big buying..

My wife is running the Napa Marathon next weekend, so I've been working my training runs in before hers (meaning I get up at dark:30 and spend the first half of the run trying to convince my body that I'm not in the middle of a nightmare). When I went to bed last night it was pouring (seriously POURING) down rain, so I was delighted to hear absolutely nothing when I got up this morning. I only had about 90 minutes before my wife needed to head out, so I simply added a climb up "Snake" to my standard 7 mile loop. The loop by itself is a great little mindless run, but adding the climb up Snake transforms the entire distance into a serious butt-kicker. Roughly 11 miles around with over half of it being seriously uphill and the rest being even seriously'er downhill, it sure beats the heck out of doing leg press at the gym. There were some posts earlier about running in the rain. Luckily I dressed for it, because just after reaching the top of Snake, the skies opened up and I was SOAKED.

Fantastic ideas have been flowing in for the "Alternative uses for Powerbars at the North Pole" contest. Some of the better ones so far include the "bowling alley" and "paddle ball". Keep the ideas coming. Don't pull any punches!

Two event-related things I did accomplish today were to finalize some travel details and buy the shoes I'll be racing in - Montrail Hurricane Ridge XCRs (see picture). I'm slated to fly out to Oslo on April 2nd and arrive in Longyearbyen the afternoon of April 4th. In addition to an extra day before the race, I get a bonus day on the tail end to do some dogsledding - assuming I'm not in traction.

~B