gear

With ten days before I leave and the movie-themed countdown in full force, I was torn between "Force 10 from Navarone" and that other "10-related movie"... Call me crazy, but I think the one I picked will make for better mental imagery come race day if things don't go so well.

WELCOME TO T-MINUS 10 DAYS!!!

After my wife and I put our kids to bed tonight, I scooted off to REI to pick up some things I ordered earlier in the week - wool socks, waterproof socks, ear muffs, Polartech pants, wind/waterproof "hanging out at the hotel" pants by North Face.. I'm now 98% set from a gear standpoint (missing are those pesky tights and a face mask). Greg Hind from GH Sports sent me some glove liners today (Thanks Greg!) and I finalized all of my travel reservations (I even shifted one of my seats up a row and to the other side of the plane).

OK, maybe he wasn’t a “wise” man in the classic sense, but relative to the company he kept, he was quite the thinker. Part of what is making this journey to the North Pole so interesting is the logistical exercise of researching and collecting the appropriate gear, physically getting to Longyearbyen when no flights out of the States hook up neatly with flights from Oslo to Longyearbyen – and then there’s the training for the marathon itself (which at this point is the least of my worries – I’ll be ready as ever to run if I can manage the TRUE challenge of getting myself to the starting line!)

Man oh man!! First we woke up to a massive rock slide in the city that nearly leveled Showgirls Cabaret in North Beach. Then, Greenspan's comments yesterday (didn't he retire?) trigger a MAJOR sell-off in the Chinese market (down 9% in a single day), which spilled over in to the U.S. resulting in the biggest drop in the DOW and S&P500 since 9/11. THEN (as if that wasn't enough), the sky opened up for the fourth straight day and dumped rain and hail on the city all day long. If it weren't for the fact that conditions at the Pole will be much worse than anything little ole San Francisco can throw at me (short of the city sliding into the ocean), I'd have blown off my run.

Two major scores today and oh what a HUGE load off my wallet/mind! A VERY good friend and 2006 Western States 100 finisher agreed to loan me not only his "Kenny from Southpark" coat, but also an expedition weight snowsuit that's been field tested on Mount Denali.. At least while I'm NOT running, I'll be as snug as a bug (assuming a bug can ever be truly snug)..

I was a bad runner today because not only did I wake up BEFORE my 5am alarm to shut it off and return to bed, but I also let the foul weather we've been having over here in the Bay Area get the better of me by cycling IN-DOORS on my trainer.. That gives me only 6 days left this week to get in the 50 miles I jotted down on my planner. I should make up some mileage on Wednesday when my wife will be at a Mommy and kid's only dinner at a friend's house (or, put another way, a "Family ex Daddy" dinner). If it's not raining, it will be a great opportunity to squeeze in one of those rare 18 mile mid-week runs we all dream about but never actually have time (or the guts) to plan.

Well maybe I should have first watched the Canadian video Brad alerted us to this morning (see "How to dress at -25" under Latest Stuff). But it was hard enough getting my brain in gear to go out at 7.45am as it was.

Actually, I've got the layering thing down pretty well -- I am usually too hot. The hardest thing was deciding what shoes to wear. Do I stick with lightweight training/racers to help me keep up with Patty, or use something more substantial to help keep my feet a little bit warm and dry. While the snow plough had been down my street already, I was sure we would be slogging through at least six inches of powder out on the trial.