Sunday, August 30, 2009

Running in Yosemite

The last weekend, we stopped by Yosemite National Park on our way from Death Valley. We came in through the east entrance (from Tioga Pass) and stopped for a hike to Gaylor Lakes. The trailhead is right there at the entrance. It took about half an hour to get to the lakes from the trailhead. Once up there, the weather was perfect and I just had to go for a 5-mile run even though I hadn't really planned for it. Absolutely beautiful. It's just a different feeling running in the grandeur of Yosemite, at 10,000+ feet with not a single soul in sight. Top it off with dipping your feet in the lake and you have a great run. The best thing is that since the hike is less than half an hour, you could just get a water bottle and get up there and go running to your heart's content. No need to lug your heavy backpack up there. On the way down, you can see a bunch of lakes/ponds on the other side of the road. We saw at least half a dozen.

Mark this as one of those hidden beauties of Yosemite.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

How much can premature celebration cost - part 2

This weekend was the World Athletic Championships in Berlin, Germany. The women's 10,000m final was very interesting if you read this post at letsrun.com. Meselet Melkamu started celebrating a bit too soon (6 inches according to letsrun) and Linet Masai squeaked by for the win - by 0.1 second. Gold medal gone, just like that.

A couple of years I posted a link to another case of premature celebration. That one made the difference of bragging rights to the Chicago Marathon and an extra $60,000.

Moral of the story - unless your last name is Bolt, you better not start celebrating until after you've crossed the tape.