Weekend: Milestone reached.

Saturday was spent climbing at Devil's Lake. Franck and I left at about 5AM. With 4.5 hours of sleep and a small bowl of flax cereal to sustain me throughout the day we were off. We hiked up to the west bluff to climb in Cleopatra's Amphitheater. My goal... knock off my first trad climb while on lead.

Franck led the climb first and I followed. Just to get a feeling for it. So once we rappelled down, I geared up, a set of nuts and some small cams. Throughout the climb I placed 5 pieces of protections 2 cams and 3 nuts (I think...) plus used an existing piton (prob from the 60's or 70's). The bottom 3/4 of the climb is easy. With very large area's for feet it made placing gear very easy. The top 1/4 was a bit more exposed. Once on top I clipped in direct (there is bolt on top of the needle) and stood up to enjoy the view. Franck cleaned the climb for me and critiqued each placement.

My second lead of the day was Queen's Throne. Same deal as with the needle, Franck lead the climb first and I followed. I will admit as soon as I got to the top I had some hesitation of leading this climb. Though the climb had good protection it lacked the big ledges that the needle had for feet. So after some thinking and looking out on to the lake we hiked down off the climb. Once at the base I looked back up at the 1"-2" wide crack that goes 50-60 feet in the air.......

"I'll do it"

So I gear up with just about every single cam we had with us, a full set of nuts and about 10 draws.
Racked up. Helmet on. Tied in. Belay on. Climb on. Climbing.
I had never climbed with that much weight on me before, I almost fell backwards on the first move. On the way up I felt very confident, placing a piece of protection every time I had good holds to stand on. Once on top I felt...well...happy, not sure if there was any other way to describe it. Maybe thirsty...but more happy then anything. Besides that...I just sat down to enjoy the view for a minute. I built an anchor and Franck cleaned for me and again critiquing each of my placements. After Franck leading one more climb we hiked back to the car.

In the news....

These are two new stories I have come across in the last day or so.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070725/sc_livescience/studyobesityissociallycontagious

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/fit.nation/obesity.map/

Weekend:

The weekend was rockin'. Saturday I ran and climbed. At the gym, I did mostly laps up and down the modirate routes because of the loud noise coming from the Basket Ball tournament . Very hard to think and not to mention when I'd get down or to the top and look back there would be about 20-30 people standing and watching. I left after about an hour.

Sunday started the same way running. I opted not to go to the gym because that tournament. The afternoon was spent doing yard work, cleaning up the front of the house and now that kris had the driveway resurfaced looks really good. And after yard work I played with the pups. So to end this....here's a cute picture of Homer resting after fetch.

Harry Potter.....

Kristen and I got to Boarders/Starbucks around 10:45 last night. Got some coffee, because we figured we were in for the long haul....boy howdy! We were right. This was INSANE......it's a book! Someone got hurt which brought out an Ambulance, Fire Department and I think a few squad cars, but I don't recall. With tons of Wizards and Witches of all ages running around it was a made house.
This picture was taken (and uploaded) around 12:30, the lines started moving right at midnight. There was a fun raffle that if you one you got the first place in line and a signed poster (not by J.K.). Just so happened the group of girls behind us one of their friends one....OUCH the screams...my ear drums are still bleeding a little inside.
They broke us up in to 4 colors. I heard that other locals and stores used the 4 houses of Hogwarts. Which makes more sence to me and would probably have been more fun because we could bitch or brag about what house we got sorted. So by about 1:00 our line started moving, we were pink and the last line to move. Once we got in to the building (all that time we were in the parking lot) it took about another 45 minutes to actually get the book. The girl in front of us kissed her book and hugged it all the way to the counter. Kristen was happy she got the book and her free poster (which will be proudly displayed in her classroom come fall.) I picked up the latest Uncle John's bathroom reader. Getting home about 2:30 and to bed by 3.

....and who was there to wake me up promptly at 6....a little black Lab named Scout....

And then...I ran 4 miles...more on that next time however.

Running with the pups.

Yesterday I skipped climbing because of a stupid yard work oops that happened on Sunday. I have been giving my hand a chance to rest. Kristen and I decided to take the dogs to a near by dog park that we haven't been to yet. Homer and Scout loved it! Running, fetch, and smelling lots of other dog butts. They where in Heaven. The park is basically a big open field with trails mowed though tall grass. I took them on a run and wore them out. it was a quick little 1/4 mile thing. Scout kept trying to cut though the tall grass to get back to Kristen, but would rejoin me every time I called her. Homer has this issue where he runs semi-sideways. I think it's cause his back legs move faster then his fronts.

Busy...busy......finally time to post.

This week I promise to get at least 3 posts in.

Saturday: I am in need of shirts and pants. So on Saturday Kristen, Lubka and I went to Woodfield mall to do some shopping. Some how I just kept finding deal after deal from places like The Gap and J. Crew couldn't find anything I liked at Banana Rep, . It was my lucky shopping day. Kristen picked up a cute jacket from Wilson's.

Sunday: I got Kristen up at 7:30 and went went for an (almost) 10K run/bike ride. She road, I ran. Took about a hour. After that I mowed the yard as we waited for Reese to join us for some plastic slinging (indoor climbing) at the climbing gym near by. Kristen did a climb that she has been working on for a while. Without even thinking about it, at that. Just goes to show that most of this crazy ass sport is in your head. I also ticketed of a route that I have been trying for a while. It was good to see Reese and Brian though. I miss climbing with those two (it's been months) , if even it was at a gym. The afternoon was spent with more shopping. Followed by a dinner of grilled fish and a good night sleep.

Weekend: 5.10's

I spent the weekend climbing in the gym. Something about outdoor in 95+F weather and 80% humidity...didn't sound fun.

I did finally get a route (Pretty in Pink) that has been pissing me off. It looks so damn easy, except for the crux. (The crux is around the blueish oval shaped hold) Talk about a balance-y move. My though through the whole thing was "Don't scrap your glasses on the wall". Real fun climb, even though it's in a gym.

Over the last month or so I started to take Franck's advice and started to climb a grade or two above what my mind thinks is the limit. Combined with the lesson that Natasha taught me in the Red River Gorge (Tricked me in to climbing my first 10a). (Thanks you two) I find myself being able to climb in to the 5.10s and even attempted the occasional 5.11.

This has also taught me that grades are all subjective. A 5.whatever could be a 5.something else where (or hell even in the same place). Just do it if it looks fun. So...in the words of Natasha.... 5.fun!


Info about the 5. scale Yosemite Decimal System

End of the week.

I don't' think I blog enough anymore, and for those of you that read this blog fairly regularly I apologize. Nothing to exciting going on in the world for me of late. I have been keeping an eye on my folks house as they trekked out to Colorado to help my bro get his new business together. So it's been good to see Cal and Alpine and Mitsy (she's still alive!) But besides that it's been run, work, climb, sleep. I'm on a gear ban this month so no fun toys for a while. Unless the climbing gods bestow upon me some cams.

Weekend:

Saturday was spent running, cleaning and climbing. (shocker huh....) The run was not bad, except I decided to go off trail a bit and try and find a new route ended up getting caught in a patch of those spiky purple flower plants....not fun......I'm also not sure about my new North Face shoes. They are suposed to be "waterproof" cause of the Gore-tex lining...but my feet were soaked after running though morning dew. And I did yet another climb at the sports complex that I haven't been able to do.
Sunday was spent at VE and after dinner I went on a 3 mile run. Then sleep......Weekends really need to be longer.

Palic says, don't try to run 3 miles after a dinner of Orange Chicken...DO IT!