Race the Base Half Marathon

Well, we had our 2nd ever Race the Base half-marathon on Sunday. They had a 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon, and a kid's 3K. Angelica and Helen ran the 3K and I ran the half-marathon.
Angelica ran well and finished strong...

Helen lost interest about half-way through the race and I had to go back and help her finish. Once we got her going again, she finished strong as well....

I ran a 1:45:02. I felt pretty good about the time considering I haven't really trained much since the Tokyo marathon in March. I figured I could live with getting beat by Buz, but it was a kick in the shin seeing the photo finish of myself getting beat by this guy...

I hope I can run like that when I'm 80. I've decided to hit the running hard again with plans to run the Hokkaido marathon next August.

Nuidoishi Yama

Ryan and I made a 2-day exploratory trip to Shimokita peninsula to verify rumors of big, climbable walls. We had a late start and made most of the trip after dark. I almost ran over 5 serows and an odd anteater-looking animal. At the trailhead, we slept in the car and woke up at 0500 to see a huge, granite rock overlooking us...Nuidoishi Yama. After a 5-hour approach from hell, we found the base of the rock with nice new climbing anchors in place. There was beta in a tupperward container at the base which showed 8 pitches ranging from 5.10a-5.11b. The first pitch was 5.10a and Ryan led it pretty easy. Being beat from the approach in and pretty new to leading, we didn't attempt the next pitch. But, we did discover an easy 30-minute approach for next time. I'll bring my aid gear as well next time to ensure we can get further up the climb.

Nuidoishi Yama

President's School Address

Well, Obama delivered his long awaited speech to school children and all the hoopla was apparently just hype. I was a bit disappointed, having two young daughters ripe for indoctrination into Obama's socialist army. I sat outside the schoolhouse this afternoon, eagerly waiting for the flood of newly brainwashed 9-year olders to emerge from the school doors burning their bras and brandishing picket signs. But, I didn't see so much as a black armband or a single fist of power thrust into the air. Apparently, they were just told to do their best and to stay in school.

Seriously...I don't normally voice my political views here, but the hype generated around our President wanting to address school children is rediculous. Some guy on Fox News went as far as to say that the president shouldn't have a relationship with school children. He basically said that such practices lead to personality cults such as those which supported Hitler or Stalin. There's a huge gap between hearing a back to school speech and singing praise to our Dear Leader. I'm also not so sure there's anything wrong with our children admiring our elected leader. One of the clearest memories I have of my early school days is making a jelly bean birthday card and sending it off to Ronald Reagan. I thought Ronald Reagan was just about the coolest guy on earth. Anyone who knows me now can see just how much correlation there is between my youthful admiration of Ronald Reagan and my adult political views.

Daisetsuzan Traverse

Well, Ryan and I made it through our epic hiking trip. We had planned on 4 and a half days of hiking, but were able to pull in exactly 24 hours earlier than expected. It rained for 2 of the 4 days, but was absolutely gorgeous thoughout. Many of the vistas were what I would expect in parts of Canada or Alaska. We saw 4 grizzly bears on our first day, but all from afar. We slept in a cabin the first night, as the cabin curator warned us that two grizzlies were seen walking through the tent area the night prior. We didn't see any bears for the rest of the trip, but saw large deer, tons of chipmunks, alot of frogs, and all sorts of birds and insects. The hike was extremely strenous in the time we did it. We were putting in 12 hour hiking days. We finished off our last day with some Asahi beer and a soak in the onsen. Later on, I may sort through the pics and put up descriptions, but for now, here's a slideshow.

BTW...I've been having technical difficulties with my photo sharing site, so check back regularly if you're having troubles viewing them...

Daisetsuzan Traverse

Update

Haven't blogged in awhile...been busy fighting the war on terror here in northern Japan;) Angelica and Helen will be going back to school at the end of the month. Rose has managed to eat out with her friends nearly every day this month. Rose's mom is always working with her two jobs.

I'm still climbing just about every weekend. I've nearly mastered the art of rappelling. Other than some cuts and bruises, I've managed to avoid any major mishaps.

I'm leaving on an epic trip next weekend. My friend, Ryan, and I are hiking the Daisetsuzan Traverse. The trip will be a 5-day hike atop the Daisetsuzan mountain range in northern Hokkaido. Its supposed to be incredible backcountry full of hot springs and grizzly bears. The weather can also be notably harsh...10 Japanese hikers died from exposure there about 3 weeks ago. I'll post pics and stories when we get back.

Charlie Don't Surf!

Before setting off for the Philippines, I had decided that I was going to get my open water scuba certification at Puerto Galera and that I would try surfing at Baler. I often make plans like this before vacationing in the Philippines, but my plans often fall through. Many times, I find myself quickly disenchanted by the areas I visit in the Philippines. The really great places in the Philippines are often packed with tourists or way overrated. Other places may offer one or two really great things, but the other aspects simply annoy. Baguio's not bad if you can get over the poor air quality. Sagada's beautiful, but they try to charge you to just walk around. Puerto Galera doesn't seem to offer much beyond good diving. Montalban is a rare climbing spot, but is almost too dirty to enjoy. Boracay is simply wonderful if you're the type who likes a crowded "party" atmosphere on gorgeous white sand beaches. etc, etc, etc.... As was the usual, my vacation was half over and I'd given up my plans to visit Baler. But, while sitting at a restaurant on what used to be Clark Air Force Base, I happened to see an airline magazine with an article on Baler. The pictures looked nice as they always do. But, while magazine pictures are often misleading, I took it as a sign and decided to go anyway.
Since coming to live in Japan, I've come to believe that life is best enjoyed when you rise early as opposed to stay up late. We left Rose's village at 0400 and, at about 0530, we were given this wonderful view of the morning mist rising from the Cordilleras. This drive was rather fantastic. It was slow and bumpy and the locals all seemed pleasantly surprised to see a white person taking the rough ride over the mountains. The temperature was cool, the air was fresh, and the landscapes were green. I didn't see the dusty clutter common throughout central Luzon.

When we reached Baler, we headed for Barangay Sabang. We found there a nice scene of the bay with empty beach for as far as we could see.

Baler is what I would call "pleasantly developed". There are only a few beach-side hotels/restaurants and the rest of the town seems undisturbed by tourism and surprisingly clean for a town in the Philippines. I saw no McDonalds, no mall, not even a chain grocery store. If you wanted anything, you had to visit the local market. But, while lacking these amenities spreading across the rest of the Philippines like crab grass, there were still a few comfortable establishments where you could enjoy decent western food along the water's edge. An additional plus is that I only saw two street vendors during the entire trip. One was a peanut vendor and the other was a lady selling fresh fish. They were friendly and unaggressive. The peanuts were just in time for the San Miguel beer we were enjoying. I found the the locals to be great as well. While I think Philipinos are among the friendliest on earth, it is often difficult to tell whether they are sincere or not. The Baler locals seemed very laid back and friendly. Many would say that its like that everywhere in the Philippines, but I felt something different with Baler.

Anyone whose seen Apocalypse Now likely remembers the famous helicoptor assault scene with Robert Duvall's character. In this scene, Colonel Kilmore (Duvall) shows Lance how the waves break both left and right around the river delta. He tells Lance to go surf while he holds the beach.

This is "Charlie's Point" where the scene in the movie was filmed. While it doesn't quite look the same 30 years later and with the movie set gone, you can see the waves breaking as Kilmore described.

I'd always wanted to try surfing, so I checked out one of the few surfshops along the beach. While I thought it a bit pricey, I paid 300 pisos (US$6) for board rental and surfing instructor for an hour.

While the waves were very small today, I gave it a shot.

My brother-in-law, Alpie, gave it a shot as well.

As with most hobbies, surfing is harder than it looks.

With about 30 minutes of practice (and a timely camera capture), I was able to walk away with this shot of me actually surfing.

Me and my instructor, Chris. Overall, I give Baler very high marks and plan to return. I anticipate even more fun with better surf conditions.

Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines

During my recent trip to the Philippines, I visited Puerto Galera in Mindoro Province. I stayed in Barangay Sabang during the visit. Barangay Sabang sits on a relatively heavily developed bay full of hotels, resaurants, and dive shops.

There were several narrow alleys full of street vendors and girls offering massages. While I understand this is all due to economics, nothing bugs me more than these "pesky" folks who latch on to every tourist that walks by. Local transportation...

But, the biggest reason I came to Puerto Galera was to get my open water SCUBA certification at one of the Philippines' better dive locations. After shopping around the internet, I found the best deal at VIP Dive Resort. For $25 less than getting open water certified in Japan, I was able to get the course and 3 nights accomodation right behind the dive shop...cheap and convenient.

John Barrett was my instructor and the owner of VIP. I was lucky enought to get one-on-one instruction for the entire open water course. I found the course rather easy. I can see it taking significantly longer if I would have shared the course with other students. I'm very happy with my experience in the course.

This guy (can't recall his name) went on a couple of boat dives with us. I really enjoyed the scuba diving. On the first couple of dives, I was so focused on maneuvering in the water and controlling myself in the current that I missed alot of the scenery. But, once I got the hang of it and was able to relax, I was able to take more of it in. On my last dive, I got to spend 5 minutes about a yard from a rather large leatherback turtle. He was just sitting on the bottom munching on something...indifferent to the three divers staring at him.

Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of what I saw of Puerto Galera. Aside from the diving, I think I'd prefer to spend my time elsewhere. It was just a little too noisy and crowded for my tastes.