It is hard to get started writing in here again. I did some running this weekend. Saturday I ran on Cougar Mt. with the club. I did about 12 miles I think. Today I was to meet a few people in Redmond and ended up running around Lake Sammamish with Richard. His fancy watch said we did 22 miles. I think that is enough until Tuesday or so. I need to get my hair cut tomorrow. Abby called me to say she ran a five miler in Greenfield on Saturday. Good job abigail!

Poor fishing lately. I went down to the Green today and I was on the Skykomish on Friday and Saturday. This rain we are having right now will help. Peace.

I can use today's horoscope as a reminder for myself in the future. It reads:

Sagittarius
November 22 - December 20
It isn't always easy to think about how your life is going, dear Sagittarius. Imagine if you were alone in the world, with nothing to hold you back or force you to do one thing or another. At least once a month, consecrate an hour to "visualizing" what your life would be like under these conditions. This will help you figure out what is impeding you today.

I just put the archive link back in the left-hand sidebar. It hasn't been there for a long while. I plan to write more in here, which would amount to writing at all. I'll have to keep my attention on the above horoscope.

I came home as a surprise Wednesday/Thursday. I timed it so I could run in the Old Home Days Mug Race. I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I don't know whether that was due to the margaritas and beer the night before, the jet lag or the relative humidity I am no longer accustomed to. After the race there was the parade. Here are two pictures I tweaked to look like old post cards.

I just took this with my camera phone. I didn't run today but I volunteered at the Seafair Marathon this morning. No fishing either. The rivers are either up from the snow melt (it was near 90 today), or they were full of swimmers and rock throwers. Short work days this next week. Ciao.

Hey, I finally got another one. I understand that fish pictures can get tiresome, but this one was big and it is the first of the season. I got it on my own sherbet jig tipped with shrimp. I'll be able to eat well for more than a week.




This steelhead measured 33 1/2 by 15 1/2 inches. We think it is a really early summer (spring run?) It fought like hell too. Woo hoo.

<* ))))) ><~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another race tomorrow. This one is the Capital City Marathon. As always I hope that I am ready for it. I ran Sunflower two weeks ago and what encourages me is that I didn't run my tank dry, I finished strong and I wasn't hurting afterward. Two weeks is a relatively short time in between two races like this though. I'll need to leave very early in the morning. I'll get to stop in at Cabela's on the way back.

I ran really well. I came in 22nd overall in the Iron category with a time of 3:06.32. the course is beautiful and the weather was perfect. It has been a cold spring, so the flowers are not out in any numbers yet.

Hi. I'm up in Winthrop, WA for the Sunflower Relay and Iron Event with a few friends from Eastside Runners. Many others will be running in either Eugene this weekend or in Vancouver. This may not make much sense to those of you who don't run, but running these can be addictive. I'll be running in the 21.7 mile Iron category. I was reading through the Sunflower Relay and Iron Runner Briefing and these entries caught my attention:

• The Sunflower course travels over varied terrain, including trails, unpaved roads, bridges, fields and grazing lands. You will also cross small streams, wet terrain and fences. Please pay attention of your footing.

• Portions of the course travel through private property and are accessible to the public only during the Sunflower. When you come upon a closed fence, either step through or open and close the fence after you pass. Respecting these rules will ensure many future Sunflower races—thanks!

• You may encounter grazing animals and other wildlife—don’t be alarmed and keep on running.

• You will be traveling through tick country. Check yourself and your clothing after the race.

This sounds like it'll be fun. Winthrop has public wifi. Woo hoo.

This is just f*****g great.

Greetings. Here is some political stuff. I loved this in college and frankly I wish that I had heard this information way back then. Thom Hartmann explains the differences and similarities of conservative and neo-conservative American thought. Listen to the first half of this hour in which he, to me, spells it out very clearly. In addition to his vast knowledge his show lacks the vitriol which usually colors a talk radio show. Here are the podcasts to the show.

My other favorite talker is Ed Schultz. You have to subscribe to his show but you can listen online also. I listen to AM 1090 in Seattle. In western Massachusetts you can listen to WHMP out of Northampton. In my old area of south Florida you can listen to WINZ AM940 out of Miami.

There is a link to the left which will take you to an electoral vote site. Right now he has the map for the Democratic Caucuses and Primaries. There is usually timely information and commentary also. This site was repeatedly cyber-attacked by those on the right. They'll probably do the same for the 2008 Presidential Election.

I can't show you any fish from the last day of the season because I didn't catch anything. I don't know the name of these mountains but this was taken from the Index side of the North Fork of the Skykomish River on Friday, February the 29th. The day started out like this and it was truly beautiful, but by late afternoon it had devolved into a cold, wet, windy mess.

I'm still living in the same place (should move) and working at the same job (should change). My running is going well and I'm monitoring a potential injury. It let me put in a relatively swift 16 this morning along the East Lake Sammamish Trail with some friends. I'm looking forward to the Mercer Island Half next weekend and depending on my leg the ultra (50k) at our Mt. Si relay and ultras.

The car broke down last Monday and I was able to get it back on Thursday after paying the very hefty bill on a card. I essentially bought the car. I can't swing a new one and for the price I would have been buying someone else's problems. It looks like I'll be able to make my way down to the Kalama for some late April fishing without worrying about the car being able to make it. I hate driving to Mt. St. Helens though and this is even further. Y'all have a great week.

From Elizabeth Gilbert's book, "Eat, Pray, Love":

"So I stood up and did a handstand on my Guru's roof, to celebrate the notion of liberation. I felt the dusty tiles under my hands. I felt my own strength and balance. I felt the easy night breeze on the palms of my bare feet. This kind of thing-a spontaneous handstand-isn't something a disembodied cool blue soul can do, but a human being can do it. We have hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That's our privilege. That's the joy of a mortal body. And that's why God needs us. Because God loves to feel things through our hands."

-chapter 60, pg.188

I got a new phone today. It's an update to
my old one. I'm back on the grid.

Hi all. My phone died so if anyone has tried to call me after 10 or so yesterday morning that is why it is going to voicemail. I didn't do anything special for my birthday other than hitting some tackle shops and then buying some beer.

I ran the Seattle Marathon yesterday. I had a great race. I finished 167th overall. I was able to run with a few friends until the hills separated us. I fell short by one minute to qualify for Boston. Because of the rules and my age next year I qualified for 2009 though, when I'll be in the next age bracket. I'd like to get my 3:20 none the less. I was just very pleased that I didn't fall apart at the 18 mile mark. I don't think that I need to say that hitting the wall is no fun. Being able to keep my steam while traveling under I90 was a win in its own right. Greg pulled away from me on Galer and didn't look back. That was about the 20 mile mark. I last saw him whizzing through Interlaken. My splits were nearly even, coming within about a minute of each other. My first half was 1:40 and change and my second half was 1:41 and something. As I just wrote, the hills start a little before the 20 mark. I think that feat is my other win in this race. My third is that I'll be able to go to Boston, circumstances permitting, in '09.

So I took today off and caught a bunch of chum. I kept this one because it didn't look like a dinosaur. It still had sea lice on it. I've got to go home and cut it up now. Y'all have a good week.

The wind kept us out of work today, so of course I went to the river. I've worked on jigging for coho and I kept this one today. They react well to the green plastic tubes I use. This is probably the last of them I'll keep. She had some great eggs but her meat is washed out. She measured at 28 inches. Chum salmon are next. It should be fun.

I heard this on the way home from work today. Well, actually I was on my way to get the emissions tested in my car. It passed. After that I had enough time to swing through Fall City for a little fishing. The Raging River has made a very nice pool as it enters the Snoqualmie, if anyone is interested. I and another guy had no luck there. About the commentary I heard today - go listen to it. Halloween sets the story up - he is a storyteller by trade - but the larger story he tries to get his hands around is life. I highly recommend a listening. Clicky clicky "All Things Considered, October 31, 2007 · Storyteller Kevin Kling tells us of ghosts, but not the scary kind. After a motorcycle accident almost took his life six years ago, Kling recalls, his coma kept him in what he thinks of as two worlds."

I also enjoyed his poem about fishing from last year.

Cool, it worked. I can again post directly from my phone. It looks like my life is all fish. Well I don't get here that often and I didn't think that y'all would want to read about what I should be doing. I still haven't figured out the Portland Marathon logistics yet. If worse comes to worst then I'll drive down at three in the morning on Sunday the 7th. I did my final long run yesterday of about 9 miles on Cougar Mountain with the Saturday morning Eastside Runners group. My leg is ok I think and I won't be doing much for the rest of the week anyways. I feel optimistic about putting in a good performance next week. I want a 3:20 or better. I'd say wish me luck with the run but what I really need is good fortune in finding a ride down and accomodations for Saturday night. It looks as though I'll be missing this year's Salmon Days in Issaquah. Too bad. I'll also be missing the run. I've wanted to run Portland since I started contemplating doing marathons. Here is the Salmon Days print for this year:

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0802070829.jpg
Originally uploaded by nthaniel

This is a test post from my phone. Joe with a fighter on the Green.