Cancelled

I woke up coughing several times last night. Ugh. So when I did wake up at 7:30 am, it was apparent that today's hike was not going to happen. I still have a low grade fever and am congested, even though I can tell that the antibiotics are starting to work. I called my friends on my amateur radio and told them we weren't going to make it.

I'm really disappointed. I was really looking forward to this hike and, especially trying out my new boots on the trail.

Unfortunately, neither Duane nor I were able to rest in the afternoon. Our son's Taekwondo class had a charity "breakathon" to support school tuition for poor children in Mexico. (They break boards for pledges of so much money per board.) And then right after that, he had a TBall game. We went out to dinner and didn't get home until 7:30 pm. At least I didn't have to cook, but was really tired when I got home.

On a positive note, Duane has located a foot store! I will visit tomorrow.

A Hike in the Fog

Today we hiked for 4 hours in El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve, off of Skyline Drive just 4 miles north of La Honda. We met at the parking lot near Skeggs Point at our usual time of 7:45 am. The weather was a thick "pea soup" fog. The sun never did shine and it was more like hiking in the rain, as it was very cold, wet and muddy.

We hiked through redwood forests, the earth below thick with loam and the hills dotted with woodwardia ferns. The trail was very rocky, similar to the trails in Castle Rock State Park, but with lots of sandstone formations. We hiked the Tafoni trail to the Resolution trail, which is named for the DC-6 airplane that crashed into the mountain side in 1953. The Resolution trail passes right next to the wreckage, some of which is still visible from the trail. Hikers are now restricted to the trail, but photos of the crash site are available online.


The Resolution, a British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines DC-6, Flight No. 304-44, was approaching San Francisco airport on its way from Sydney, Australia via Honolulu, Hawaii. The plane was carrying 11 passengers and 8 crew. Shortly after crossing over the California coastline, while flying in fog much like today, the airplane crashed into the shoulder of King’s Mountain at an altitude of 1,950 feet and broke up, scattering burning wreckage over a half-mile area in Corte Madera Canyon. All 19 people on board died in the crash, including 31 year old American pianist William Kapell, and it remains the worst aviation disaster in San Mateo County's history. The accident was attributed to human error: The flight crew failed to follow the appropriate procedures for an instrument approach to the airport.


We hiked back on the Fir trail and, since we arrived at the end an hour early, chose to do another loop down the Fir Trail to the Methuselah trail and back up the Sierra Morena trail to Skeggs Point and the parking lot. The uphill hiking is definitely getting easier!

Hot On Your Trail: Alum Rock Park

The marine layer is back. After several days of absolutely glorious weather, we awoke at 6:00 am to overcast skies and much cooler temperatures. We ate our breakfast and this time headed towards the eastern side of Silicon Valley and Alum Rock Park. Although we had written directions to the park, this time we thought we give "Roger", our GPS, a try. Roger took us to the back entrance of the park. Nix that. We went back to the written directions. We arrived before the park officially opened, which was great because we didn't have to pay the $6 parking fee!

Today after the hike, we had the Honoree pot luck Picnic. We brought sandwich fixings in a thermos cooler and left it at the picnic table. For this purpose, we were glad of cooler weather. Our team leader, Tifin, stayed behind to watch over the food items.

Alum Rock Park is located in a canyon in the East Hills of Silicon Valley. We left the picnic area and first hiked up the hill to Eagle Rock, which shares a hill with a large variety of antennas. As it happens, the W6UU repeater (owned by SCCARA) is located here, as well as microwave, cell phone and other antennas. The trail to Eagle Rock is negotiated via a series of switchbacks up a steep hill. This was steeper than the trail we hiked at Castle Rock State Park last week, but neither Duane nor I were physically exerted nearly as much as we were then. As usual, I needed my first "rest stop" about 15 minutes into the hike. I seem to need some physical exercise before my kidneys start kicking in.


We took a break at Eagle Rock to look at the panoramic view of the southern end of Silicon Valley. We did some stretching exercises and then continued on back down the hill, this time taking the fork to the North Rim Trail. The next part of the hike was the second steepest climb, also up a series of sharp switchbacks. After getting to the top and walking a short way, another set of switchbacks took us back down. The trail meandered around the canyon until we descended and crossed Upper Penintencia Creek.

We are currently in the second "fast" group and we needed to come up with a name. Our unforgettable "Nature Girl", came up with "Hot On Your Trail." Duane came up with "Second Nature," which was clever, but didn't exactly convey the meaning that we wanted. The consensus was for "Hot On Your Trail."

Next came the steepest part of the trail, during which we ascended a series of sharp switchbacks. This was the most difficult part of the hike, but even so, neither Duane nor I were as winded as we were last week at Castle Rock. We walked up the hill through a damp oak forest, full of poison oak, and dotted by wild flowers. We passed some beautiful blue lupine, red Indian paintbrush and other beautiful wildflowers.

Instead of walking back down the same way we came, we took a sharp left turn and descended down a long series of slow switchbacks that took us farther into the canyon as we descended. At last we got to the bottom, the final half hour of the hike following Upper Penitencia Creek. It took us about 3 hours, but I think I could have hiked for another hour, at least.

And I think I would have preferred that, because we ended up waiting almost an hour for all the rest of the hikers to arrive back at the picnic site. The marine layer never did burn off, with the result that we all cooled down and put back on every layer of clothing that we had. By the time everyone else arrived back at the picnic area, we were chilled to the bone.

Before eating, several of our honorees told their stories. (The only reason I have not mentioned their names here is out of concern for their privacy. Blogs are more public than they may desire.) There was one lady who told us her story about being a stem cell donor. That was very interesting as I was unaware of what donors of this kind experience.

Eventually we had our pot luck, but as we were so cold, we didn't stick around for a chat. Duane and I decided to get in our car, turn the heat up full blast and try to thaw out on the way to our son's Tball game! We got there just in time to see the last inning, before going home to a nice HOT shower!

Pole Clinic & Hike in Sanborn Park

Duane and I packed our gear last night, so we were ready for an early morning start. When the alarm went off at 6:00 am, we showered, dressed and ate breakfast. Duane's getting better about getting up so early on a Saturday morning. I'm somewhat more used to it as I drive our son to school every morning. But still, I dislike eating breakfast so early. I'm just not hungry this early in the morning.

We met at the parking log at El Paseo de Saratoga shopping mall, in front of Le Boulanger. This is one of our team's carpool meeting places. I'm awake enough for a cup of coffee now! After a short wait, we drove over to Sanborn Park. We arrived just as the gates opened, paid our parking fee, and parked our cars.

Sanborn Park is nestled in the hills of Santa Clara County, just above the City of Saratoga. The Youth Science Institute hosts children's summer camps in the thickly wooded park. Since Duane decided that he wanted to do the pole clinic, I decided to do it with him, even though I felt that I needed the hike more than the poles. I went into the pole clinic thinking that poles were optional and that I probably didn't need them.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Our presenter, Jayah, who hikes with the Sierra Club, was very knowledgable and enthusiastic about her subject. She showed us how to use poles and the proper way to adjust and size them for our bodies. Most of the newer poles even include shock absorbers! One of the benefits of the poles include transferring some of the energy and shock from your joints to the poles, thereby saving your knees from some of the stress. It's not a lot, but it might make a difference on a long, strenuous hike like Half Dome. Another benefit is that your fingers don't swell up as much when you have something to wrap them around. When hiking without poles, it is natural for the arms to swing in rhythym with the gait, which pushes blood out to the fingertips where it has to fight gravity back up the arm.

One of the things I have been looking forward to learning about was gloves. Today's pole clinic also featured both regular and fingerless gloves. The trick was to pick the right size of fingerless gloves, which ran very small, so that they would still be the right size when/if your fingers swell so as not to cut off the circulation. The gloves are a very lightweight nylon polyester with synthetic leather grips and padding. I bought both fingerless and regular gloves. It wouldn't be a bad thing to start these early morning hikes with a pair of regular gloves until my fingers warm up. I've also been wondering what kind of gloves we should use for the cable section of the hike. The answer is, it turns out, cheap gloves from the hardware store! What is needed is something with a really good grip that you don't care if it gets cut up or damaged.

After getting equipped with both gloves and poles, we walked off with Jayah in the lead, teaching us techniques for using poles. The poles are adjustable and are lengthened on the downhill in order to avoid bad posture and leaning over the poles. The poles are shortened on the uphill. Uphill is definitely easier than downhill, which appears to require somewhat more coordination, although I'm not sure why. When walking over cement or on a bridge, pick the poles up so you don't dull the tips or get them caught in a crack between planks! Who knew that poles have rules!?

I haven't done much hiking in Sanborn Park. Our son did a science camp there one year. So it was nice to get out and see some of the park's beautiful redwood forests and lush green ferns. Because of the pole clinic, our hike was shorter, but even so I'm glad I went to the pole clinic. I bought the poles that Jayah picked out for me and I learned something new and potentially useful for our Half Dome Challenge.

First Ascent

On Saturday, our Team in Training Hiking group did our first actual on-the-trails practice hike. Two hours dashing around the hills of Edgewood Park, on the ridge between 280 and Redwood City, just north of Canada College.

The expected rainstorm held off for half a day, so we enjoyed sunshine instead of a drenching on this first hike. We woke up at 5:30 am (very, very early for me) to meet for carpooling at 6:45 am and and the whole team at trail head at 7:45 am.

I'd driven past this park many times but had never stopped there; didn't even know there was a park with trails. We both wore our new backpacks, and Christina her second pair of new hiking boots. And I tried out our new tiny camera. As directed, I drank lots and lots of water on the way to the hike. Bad idea!

Where's the bathroom??!! By the time we all got underway at 8:15, I badly needed to go, but there was nothing around except bushes. Uh Oh. Maybe there is a proper facility at the other end of the park, where the main public entrance is?

We divided into three groups, depending on what hiking pace we expected to match. Those of us who hope to qualify for the Half Dome hike were told to get into the fastest-pace group led by mentor Debra. We dashed off, with me trying to keep up. TnT hikers have a motto 'Hikers don't run!', but this was not walking like I'd ever done out in the woods. More like the fastest heal-to-toe scamper you can do without running, a bit like the Olympic walking race event.

We stopped at every trail intersection, to practice reading trail maps and getting un-lost. At our first break, another guy ran into the bushes to relieve himself, but I was too embarrassed to join, and we were soon on our way again. Debra reminded the group that we should aim to synchronize our pee breaks, so that we didn't need to wait for just one or two at every break. Two stops later, a second guy scampered into the bushes to pee, and I decided that just peeing was maybe better than nothing, so I found my own bushes and went. And went. And went. Longest pee in a couple of years. Ahhh, the relief! Thankfully, the need for #2 was now gone and I enjoyed the rest of the hike. I could even sip more water and try out the energy bar trail snacks.

I learned that this park is famous for massive displays of spring wildflowers and for butterflies. This early in the year, I spotted just isolated examples of four kinds of flowers: Lupine (Christina called these "blue ploopins" as a child), Hounds tooth, an unidentified tiny ground-level blue star, Indian Warrior. None of use knew what any of these were, but this page has helped me. We also saw a large jackrabbit 60 feet off the trail.

The fast hiking pace makes it hard to see what there is to see. If it weren't for the goal of getting up to Half Dome this spring and raising money this way, I would definitely not choose to be so hurried. I gather that TnT aims for a fast pace in the Half Dome hike partly because of the long duration of that hike, but mostly because of the traffic congestion that happens at the bottom of the final 45-degree 1050-ft-climb cables near the summit. We have to reach that point before the summertime crowds arrive: early birds, rush hour begins, and metered on ramp.
And so, I'll make a game of seeing what I can at speed, and stealing quick photos of what I've found. Others are already helping me at this.

Today, we both kept up with the fastest, fit hikers in our fastest group. It helps a lot to have long legs. This will hopefully get easier to sustain, as we drop weight and get in shape. I've lost 5.5 pounds of my -35 pounds target. Christina began earlier and has already lost even more. Fitness wise, I can already see and feel a huge difference from where we started and even since last week. No aches the day after! But I did have a three hour nap when I got home.

They Made Me Wear This Silly Hat

Duane and I arose at 5:30 am for our first Team in Training hike! For those of you who know Duane, this is HUGE. He gets out of bed for work grudgingly, but on weekends, don't even think about stirring him before 10:00 am. We got into our hiking clothes and I fixed us both some oatmeal with dried blueberries. We're supposed to eat breakfast 1-2 hours before the hike and drink some water. So we did.

We had laid out our clothes and fixed up our packs the night before. For this hike we were supposed to bring 40 ounces of water. We used our new hydration system and filled it up to about half full. Rain was still possible, we we made sure to include a poncho. For clothes I was definitely "stylin'" this time! I had my purple long sleeved undershirt, my Team in Training t-shirt, and I found in my closet an old pair of black workout pants that I had previously missed. My hiking pants won't arrive until next Thursday. But at least I wasn't displaying colors of fluorescent yellow, red and sky blue. Ewww!

We had stopped at the local Safeway the night before to purchase an assortment of trail mix bars. We read the labels on all the packages to find the product that contained as little soy as possible. Soy, while high in protein, is also a phytoestrogen. Soy raises breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women and is implicated in thyroid cancer. I wanted a few calories, and some protein, but without the soy. We bought several boxes of fruit and nut bars to try them out. My sister-in-law Rose, the personal trainer extraordinaire, has recommended a couple of good bars, but I haven't had time to pick them up yet. These will do in the meanwhile. I put two bars in the side pocket of my pack, as well as one bottle of G2 fruit punch, for electrolyte replenishment.

We arrived at the carpool area by 6:45 am, dropped off Duane's car, and then drove up to Edgewood Park together. The photo above is of our team assembling at the trail head. Right before the hike awards were handed out. Duane won a purple and green pedometer for being the third highest fundraiser of the week. Then our social event coordinator asked if anyone who hadn't previously hiked with Team in Training was wearing two purple clothing items. I was, so I raised my hand. For wearing team colors, I received a green and purple party favor. Since next Wednesday is my birthday, our social event coordinator pulled out this goofy fool's hat for me to wear while hiking. The incriminating photo is on right. So much for my fashion consciousness!

Today, I also packed my amateur radio. I taught part of a ham radio Technician license class right after the hike and I was hoping to give my students a demonstration of the power of ham radio while on the trail. The class was occurring at the Silicon Valley American Red Cross in San Jose, and I would be speaking to them from the trail in San Mateo, right off Highway 280. Not bad range for a handheld transceiver running 5 watts!

We did a few stretching exercises and away we went! So far, one of the most valuable exercises I have learned is the calf stretch. When I stretch out my calf muscle properly, I have no pain at all in my Achilles tendon.

The trail gently sloped up hills, through meadow and chaparral woods, in some places steeper than others. But what goes up, must come down and it was easy on the other side. Along the way, we stopped to admire the panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay, and the many wildflowers that dotted the landscape with color.

All of the steps we have been doing up Communications Hill must be helping, because I was ready to go on another hike after we got back to our cars! Go Team! Hike On!

Kickoff!

Today was our first meeting. Many expectant hikers showed up at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Center in Palo Alto, fresh and ready for a challenge at 9:30 am. Our campaign manager gave us an overview of the program, information about fundraising, a training calendar, and directions to all of our conditioning hikes. We also got a nifty exercise jersey. Strength training and exercise will be taking place on Tuesday evenings. Friday is a day of rest and all of the other days are "YOYO"s or "Your On Your Own". That's not quite as bad as it sounds, as our training calendar has suggested workouts that we can do on our YOYO days.

We were also introduced to our honorees: people who are living with blood cancer, four of whom were there today. Some are young, some are older, some are in remission and some are not. But all of them clearly are fighters with a great attitude!

Our group of about 40 people is split into several teams. Our team leader is Bowman, who has done a Team in Training hike before and is now mentoring the newcomers. There are a few people who have done previous hikes, marathons or other events, but they do not seem to be many. He will be leading us on our conditioning hikes.

We finally got information about the Half Dome hike, which involves a 14 mile hike with a 4800 foot elevation change. More information is also available at the National Park Service's website. Can we do this? Even the idea of doing this is daunting, but we are going to give it our best try. Who knows? With diet, exercise and training, perhaps we can do what it takes. There is a deadline and if our trainer decides that we aren't ready, we won't make the cut. We have to raise money AND be fit. It's not an either/or. If we don't make the Half Dome cut, we'll be doing a different hike in Yosemite more suited to our abilities. But I'm still shooting for Half Dome!

Our Tuesday evening workouts will be held in at a local community college's track and field area. I've been told that we'll be doing a lot of up and down the bleachers. I really can't say that this sounds like a lot of fun, but perhaps this will be a good lesson in humility?

We Did What?

Please send Duane and Christina packing - to the summit of Yosemite's Half Dome! What better way to get in shape, lose weight, and raise money for a good cause all at the same time?
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training organization has agreed to train us in fitness and endurance hiking. Our goal is to hike from valley floor to the summit of Half Dome on June 20, 2009.

The catch is, besides getting fit, we each need to raise $3,200 in donations for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We ask for your help in this challenge.

Your donations will make a difference in many lives. And, this is a high-leverage deal you cannot pass up; it is far better than a Ponzi scheme! Duane's employer Google will generously match your gift (to Duane only). And our federal government guarantees you a 30% return on your investment in one year! Your gift grows three times larger:

For a $100 donation, your net cost after taxes is about $65. Your $100 plus Google's match becomes $200. All of this will go to cancer research and patient services; we've handled our training costs.

We'll be hiking in honor of:

• Loren Sand
• Christina & Duane's Mom & Dad
• Louise Sciutti
• Rose Capurro
• Peter Gnemmi
• Gene Berman
• Dr. Mitchel Berger
• Dr. Michael McDermott
• Dr. Bruce O. Berg
• All of the incredible volunteers of the To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation

We'll be hiking in memory of:

• Elizabeth Burkhalter Ruyle
• Toni Sciutti
• George Berry, KC6ULT, SK
• Sara LaBoskey

Please make a donation to support our participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

We hope you will visit this blog often. We'll be posting updates on our progress. Thanks for your support!