ATY Preview

Here are just a few photos while I blog from my frozen, undisclosed location in Las Vegas, New Mexico tonight, on my way home from Arizona. I'll have plenty of ATY pictures once I get home to my software! I promise a full report once I get settled in. This one is of me talking with Woofie on the track. Woofie is an old running buddy of mine from Arizona. We spent quite a bit of time on the Pemberton Trail in the McDowells running when I lived there. Woofie also works on the medical team at Badwater each summer.

Bob from Drymax sent me these photos, I finally got to meet him in person! He came out to the track and talked with many of the runners. Drymax also came on board as a sponsor at Across the Years this year, each of the runners got a pair of Drymax running socks in their race goodie bag. Thanks to Drymax for their generosity and I hope to see a lot more runners in Drymax socks in the near future.

Here's a picture of the race board that is updated as each runner crosses the mat on every lap. During the race it helps you keep track of your splits, the number of laps, miles, and kilometers completed, and you can see where you stand relative to the other runners crossing the mat just before and after you.

Here's a picture of Phil Rosenstein running with me. I met Phil last year at ATY and ran with him during the Father Crowley section of Badwater last summer, we were having foot problems at the same time. Phil ran across the country on Route 66 this past summer and raised money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. Phil and I had plenty of interesting conversations during our shared laps on topics ranging from his run across the country to mashed potatoes to the virtues of plastic bags.


Flora and I ran and talked for a while. I just met Flora at this year's ATY. She is working on a Ph.D in Forest Ecology at Berkeley. We talked about Ph.D programs, academia, and being true to your own passion. That seemed to be a recurring theme for me in the back of my mind as I circled the track this year. It was refreshing to talk with Flora, to reflect on and share my experiences having been through and recovered from the academic world, and listen to her talk about her interests, hopes, and fears. Whatever she decides to pursue, I know she will do well.

Here I was running with Lisa Bliss, 2007 Badwater women's race winner. She's also medical director of Badwater, among other races. Lisa is awesome, she's fun to talk with and so nice. I look forward to seeing her at future ATYs, Badwaters, and other events. She ran so strong at ATY this year and I know she didn't have an easy run out there, she was hurting. Good job Lisa.

I couldn't have picked a worse day to start driving home. Wow. The roads were nasty, seemed like New Mexico doesn't have snowplows. Must not be in the budget this year. From the Arizona State Line to Gallup it was 15 miles of crawling along I-40. There were jacknifed semis and cars on their roofs in the middle of the highway, the snow was piling up past the shoulders into the roadway, and I was afraid I was going to run out of gas before Gallup! Once I got to Albuquerque things improved considerably, but now it's cold and icy. Tomorrow I hope the weather will improve for the last few hours to Fort Collins.

Tomorrow I get to see Dennis and the girls!

More ATY photos and stories in a few days!

Photo credit: All photos this post courtesy of Bob McGillivray of Drymax Socks