K&S Invades Seattle

The Gum Wall downtown, not all of Seattle is this gross.

Two years ago one of my best friends of over 30 years, Kevin Kowalk, came to Arizona to visit all the way from South Korea and we hiked the Grand Canyon.  It was an adventure of a lifetime that I blogged about and worth revisiting if you get the chance.  Last year he and I hit Chicago and although we only had one day to hang out, we made the most of it.  And now for the third year in row Kevin was in the States and at the end of his business trip he flew up to Seattle for another K&S reunion.  Being that Seattle is my new hometown it was only fitting that the old band got back together here in the land of indie music and grunge, so we went out to explore the city to learn and experience all we could and maybe even get that elusive record deal.

Seattle's music scene is legendary and in the heart of it all is the Croc.

His first night in town we went to the famous Crocodile Club in Seattle's Belltown District.  The Croc is a tiny little venue that has been around for decades and virtually every band that got mainstream success that came out of Seattle, cut their teeth here.  My cousin Matt joined us as he was interested in seeing one of the 3 bands we were seeing that night.  Note that indie rock is not my thing, but Kevin was really interested and so was Matt so who was I to be the buzz kill, well at least for the moment.  Before we went to the club we went to a few local bars including one of Matt's favorites, Cyclops , as they have a ton of IPA's, and then a quick trip to Shorty's.

Coulrophobic?  Then don't go to Shorty's.  We left abruptly.

The concert featured 3 bands, with the headliner the main draw for Kevin and Matt.  The first band went on and I would describe them as a Sponge Bob Square Pants rock band as they had a lot of theatrics and happy music and their keyboard player was dressed as a starfish.  Yes, a starfish.  The second band was from Portland, so there's that, beyond their hometown they were more of a hipster band and trying to be ironically cool or something.  Hmmm, yeahhhh.  The headliner was really the band Kevin and Matt were fans of and they were better than the other two, but it just wasn't my type of music, maybe a bit too fem for me.  So I left out all of the band names here purposely because music is subjective, everyone has their own taste, so it wasn't for me, but I was still happy to go to an iconic club downtown and listen to live music and both of them were happy to have seen the headliner and enjoyed the show.

At the Boeing Factory with many of their jets behind us. Wait, no pictures!

The next day Kevin and I headed to the Boeing factory just north of Seattle in Everett for a tour.  I know what your thinking, a plane factory, how exciting?!?!?  But just as Michigan is, still, the car capitol of the US, here in the Pacific NW, we are the plane capitol as Boeing has been in existence and providing tens of thousands of jobs here since the inception of flight. So to actually see the factory where they make them in an assembly line fashion was actually quite fascinating.  No cameras are allowed on the tour, I guess they don't want to give away any secrets, but we learned a great deal about how it all started.  Seems William Boeing was actually from Detroit and after going to college at Yale, he went out to the Pacific Northwest in the early 1900's to further his family's prominent timber business. Around this time airplanes were being rudimentarily created and he became fascinated and decided he would go into the plane building business.  With that he and a partner formed B&W and got a contract to build two planes for New Zealand.  During the construction his partner decided he wanted out and moved back East leaving it all to Boeing who completed the contract and as they say the rest was history.  Boeing now creates their jets in the world's largest building, a nearly 100 acre building where they can build six 787's at one time as well as at other facilities all over the US and the world.  It is pretty impressive to see it in person and we were both glad to have visited.

Don't worry, explanation below.  Could someone please pass the Purel?

 

From there we headed back to downtown Seattle, met up with Matt again and since he is a local, he gave us the downtown tour starting with the infamous Pike's Market where you can watch them throw the fish that people order.  It is a fun thing to see but after a few minutes, you've seen enough.  Right down the street is the very first Starbucks store and there was a line down the block because I guess getting coffee from the first Starbucks must be more special than going to one of  the other million locations downtown. It's just coffee people!  Around the corner Matt showed us the disgusting Gum Wall which literally is an alley way between Pike's Market and the port.  For some bizarre reason this has become a poplar spot to take wedding photos, seriously.  Although not the day we were there.  It was as vile and disturbing as you can imagine and I am sure I contracted any number of diseases just being that close to the gum.  But of course just to take it up a notch I pretended to lick the wall.  A few people appeared shocked, but then again this is Seattle, probably going to take more than that.  But keep in mind, I did not actually lick this thing, although my friend Bacon says I should have made a YouTube video of me licking the wall and started a new trend.  I guess there's always next time.

The Famous Pike's Market.  Watch out for flying Salmon.

The very first Starbucks, but certainly not the last one.

Onwards we headed down to Pioneer Square to take the Underground Tour.  Yes, another tourist tour, but this was equally interesting and educational. Wow, did I just say that, I must be old.  Anyway, stay with me because it is quite a story in the formation of Seattle and it's all true.  At the turn of the century there was a massive fire that burned all of downtown Seattle, over 100 acres.  The main cause of the fire was from a local wood shop, however, remember this is the early 1900's, Seattle still had outhouses, but had just recently received a shipment of toilets from England. However, not having any sewage system they just basically had toilets in outhouses, meaning the waste just ran out in the streets and when the fire started, the sewage burned and caused many of the toilets to explode, shooting upwards like a geyser.  Upon the rebuilding of the city, they now realized they needed to build a drainage system with piping; however since most of the new brick buildings were already constructed they came up with solution to make the second floor of every building the new first floor and they planned to fill in then land between the buildings up to that level for the road, thereby all the first floors of the buildings would be underground and they would run all the drainage pipes through the original first floors.  Well an undertaking like this would cost quite a bit of money and since there was no taxes on business, at that time, the town council decided they would tax the most profitable businesses for the money.  Keep in mind it was the Klondike Gold Rush era with plenty of people coming through the Seattle port on their way to Canada in search of their own gold fortune, thus there was a fair amount of money floating around the port and many, many men in search of one or two things before they left for their gold adventure: booze and sex.  Well no doubt there were many saloons but as the town council soon learned after sending out a survey to its townspeople, there were an inordinate amount, thousands, of women that listed their profession as seamstress, which was just a cover for prostitute with one Madam leading the charge.  So after the Mayor and Police Chief conducted a lengthy investigation, it was determined that Madam Seamstress agreed to pay for all of the town to be rebuilt and each of her employees would pay a $10 a month tax as well and she was happy with this arrangement as the town's prosperity was good for her business.  Thus Seattle was rebuilt on the backs of....well you can fill in the blanks.  As the town was rebuilt it was then essentially built upwards leaving the original road and first floors of all the original business underground and you can now take the tour under the city to see some of it for yourself.

An old bank vault that at one time held over 2 tons of gold.

One of the original toilets that didn't explode.

As you go underground it really feels like you are in a basement, not really creepy or too dirty.  One of the original saloons is still intact, just a little warped after 100 years.  On the sidewalks above there are spots that are glass covered so when down below you can see people walking above, although the glass is so shadowed you can't see through it, more shadows and light.  The gold rush had brought thousands and thousands of people through Seattle daily and when there are that many people, there is money to be made and two prominent business were also formed as as result.  One man started selling hiking boots to all the travelers heading north explaining the harsh winters and conditions in Canada and the need for such footwear.  While another man sold all the warm weather clothing they would need to undertake such an expedition.  Those two men, John Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.  And as well as there was legitimate money to be made, there are always those trying to make a fast buck as well and Seattle soon was selling gophers by the boatload.  Why you ask, well someone came up with the idea to sell to all of these eager gold rushers that gophers can smell gold, so if you have a few with you, when you get to your claim spot, turn them loose, when they burrow underground, dig there.  Hence the term Golden Gophers.  So there you have the dirty history of Seattle all the prostitutes and raw sewage that paved the way for the grunge era in the 90's.  Seems more appropriate now, doesn't it?

First time in Seattle, well you know what you have to do!

The next day Kevin and I went back downtown to the world famous Space Needle, because no first trip to Seattle would be complete without seeing it.  Built for the 1962 World's Fair the Needle still looms over Seattle even though there are many buildings taller, however none of them offer a full 360 degree view.  It was a bright, sunny day, making it perfect for going up to take a few photos.

A look south, too cloudy to see Mt. Rainier though.

Looking North at Lake Union.  Float plane in mid-flight and my office down below just north of the crane.

After the needle we went to Gas Works Park on the north end of Lake Union where Kevin got some great photos as well as some photos of Seattle overall.

A look from the North end of Lake Union at downtown Seattle.

SafeCo Field and CenturyLink Park.

Looking downtown from the South.

We also drove through the University of Washington campus which is very nice and by their newly renovated football stadium, neither of which hold a candle to MSU, but out west they are the best in the region.  We also went on a search for a Chinese buffet for Kevin.  Yes he lives in South Korea and thus he has his fill of Asian food on a regular basis, but he was looking for American-Chinese food and we sadly learned that Chinese buffet's don't exist in Seattle.  We have plenty of Chinese restaurants but not buffets so we ate at a solid Chinese restaurant, good, but it wasn't the same and Kevin was left to head home buffetless.

Lighthouse on Vashon Island, shades of Michigan for sure.

The South Beach of Vashon Island.

For our final stop we took the ferry over to Vashon Island where my cousin Matt lives.  As well as seeing the Needle, no trip to Seattle is also complete until you take a ferry somewhere.  One of the coolest things about Seattle is that you can live on any number of islands and take a ferry to downtown to work every day for very cheap, especially if you don't bring your car.  Vashon Island sits just south of Seattle and is about a 20 minute ride to downtown. The island is quite large and has about 10K residents, however it's no tourist stop, it's basically a suburb on an island with tons of parks and green space and it's own small downtown and schools for those that live there year round.

It was a great way to cap Kevin's visit as we went to the lighthouse and viewed the shores of Seattle from afar.  This trip allowed us to do and see any number of things and actually left Kevin saying that if he ever does move back to the USA, something he's been saying for years, Seattle would easily be at the top of his list.  In the end K&S may not have gotten the record deal we've been chasing for 30 years, but we were able to get together for a third year in a row and that hasn't happened, maybe ever, since Kevin first went to South Korea in 1990.  I still owe him a trip over there and would love to see that part of the world.  For now I got to completely explore my new hometown and I got to do it with one of my best friends and my cousin, making it that much more enjoyable.  So now I leave it up to you , should you ever have an interest in going up a Space Needle or seeing a half-exploded toilet underground or maybe you want to see a starfish sing, you want a Starbucks coffee, or a ferry ride,  just say the word and we'll send a Boeing Dream Liner to pick you up.

K&S three years in a row, on the ferry to Vashon Island.
This is a good picture of us, but it does seem kind of gay, not that there's anything wrong with that!

 

More Random Thoughts

Welcome to the Murder Capitol!

Only in the D!

On one of my trips to Michigan this year I was at my friend John Eloff's for his famous Pig Roast/BBQ, always an epic time, I went with him down into the belly of Detroit to the Eastern Market where we picked up the pig from the butcher.  This part of the D is not good, not that there are any good parts anyways, but you go in, get your stuff and leave immediately, leaving skid marks on the pavement if needed.  It's not a safe place, anything and everything you might have read or heard about Detroit, it's all true and probably even worse.  It is the murder capitol of the USA and one of the most dangerous cities in the world you know, although I suppose you won't see that on any Detroit Chamber of Commerce brochures. We parked in an alley around the corner from the butcher shop next to this graffiti.  Maybe it's my low-level sense of humor but I found this extremely funny, the fact that someone would take the time to spray paint Poop Juice and Queef, of all things, next to the gang tags.  Some of the other stuff we saw, well, I don't feel comfortable even mentioning, other than a mannequin was involved, let's just leave it at that.  So John being the great friend that he is, had to go into the city for work recently and went out of his way to go by the alley and the graffiti was still there so he had his co-worker take this picture, which makes it even funnier to me as the likelihood of an investment banker, in a suit in an alley in the D, well it's generally not a good combo for survival.  Book your trip to Detroit now!  Thanks for risking your life Johnny!


From the D to a beautiful Island...

My cousin Matt enjoying some pancakes with non-Vashon Island strawberries..

I am fortunate that even though I am new to Seattle, that I have family here, my cousin Matt.  We grew up together and after college went our separate ways and now here we are, years later, back together again.  Matt lives on Vashon Island, a cool place where you can live and still work in Seattle as the ferry goes every hour to downtown in about 20 minutes, which he has done the last 4.5 years.  Vashon had their annual Strawberry Festival so I headed over to the island to take part in the festivities including their annual 10K/5K race.  The race was early in the morning and I was running the 10K and Matt was going to do the 5K.  This was the 33rd year of the race in honor of legendary Vashon Coach, Bill Burby.  The race went well and I ended up 10th overall and placed in my age group despite the extreme hilly nature of the course.  As a cool highlight at one point you run along the eastern ridge of the Island and you get a clear view of Mt. Rainier.  After the race we headed over to the pancake breakfast and had the strawberry pancakes where I then learned that Vashon used to grow strawberries by the truckload but not anymore.  So despite it being the Strawberry Festival, the strawberries actually come from elsewhere.  Not unlike the Traverse City Cherry Festival where the cherries are not yet harvested in time for the festival and are then flown in from Washington, ironically.  So there you have the dirty little secrets of two festivals.  I guess you never know what's in a name.

Matt and I Pre-Race.

From the wayback machine...

Trent and me 20+ years ago "on set" of one of our films.

In a previous blog I mentioned how my brothers and cousins and I made movies when we were little kids.  Well when I got older I bought a video camera and my friend Trent Tollstam and I decided we would make our own films.  During these years we used to go up to my family's property in Northern Michigan, 40 acres of woodlands, for weekend trips in the middle of winter.  The old cabin was quite rustic and in the winter there was no running water and only a wood stove, but for some reason we thought it would be fun to make movies and so we would drag all of our stuff down the 1/2 mile trail, trudging through knee high snow and then using a guerrilla style of film making we ended up churning out some quasi-decent works, especially considering we had zero budget, no acting ability whatsoever and we were even light on creativity.  However our first masterpiece, "Hunting Season", a 5-6 minute tale about being stalked and attacked by turkeys, and easily Trent's tour-de-force,  turned into "The End", a 5+ minute tome in the vain of Brian's Song, which then spawned the remarkable "Long Walk", a 20 minute sojourn with an absolutely unbelievable scene in the middle that still makes no sense to this day, but it definitely makes the movie. Along with the movies I also have hours of tape of us doing Jackass style things long before Jackass existed.   I share this now, not merely for personal embarrassment, but because I recently came across my old camera and these movies I converted to VHS and it got me thinking that I should put them on DVD, or should I?  The movies were only shown to a very limited audience; family, a few co-workers and even the family of the Senator we both worked for at one time, so with apologies to Trent's wife Amanda, I'm glad you're already married to him because after watching some of our antics, you may have had second thoughts.  Intrigued? At any rate, anyone that wants to see any of these classic works, you'll have to visit me in Seattle and even then it'll cost you. Or wait, maybe it will cost me, is there a price on humility?



The hills are alive with the sounds...... of me cursing!

Yes, I draw like a 5 year-old, but you get the point.

Where I live now is supposedly on the Sammamish Plateau.  I say, supposedly, because it's the hilliest damn plateau I've ever come across in my life.  In every direction from my place I have enormous hills, enormous!  Maybe I don't understand the definition, but to me a plateau means flat lands.  At any rate, I was telling my dad how hilly it was and that when I run it's always a challenge because there are so many extreme hills in every direction.  Not to mention that I live on top of a hill on the plateau.  Needless to say, I am getting in a lot of hill workouts, like it or not.  Not usually good times.  At any rate I drew this rudimentary picture and sent it to my parents to explain my plight, feel free to laugh at my lack of drawing skills. But the hill from my place to the lake is about the same height of the Space Needle, 600 feet, so virtually every day I am up and down that thing.  Fun.  You know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger..........or it just kills you, we'll see which comes first.


Oh Portland, here we go again.

Hmmm, sometimes words just aren't necessary.

I keep getting contacted by a recruiter for a job in Portland, Oregon.  In case you haven't been paying attention to my blog, Portland is not my kind of city. So I find this funny, although the headhunter that has contacted me twice already doesn't seem to get the joke.  Too bad for her, I've been trying to be tactful,  I may have to be more blunt next time.  Portland go ahead and stay weird, but just stay away.


More Cougars, YES!!!

Cougar Mountain on a summer morning.

Since I moved I was almost chased by cougars, not the right kind though :(, but now I live in the shadow of Cougar Mountain.  Seriously.  This the view from my place looking South at Cougar Mountain on a recent morning.  So far I have not had any animal cougar sightings, although I'm told the park to the west of me has black bears.  Whatever.  I sure do wish it was this kind of cougar though, then I'd be at the Cougar park daily:

Jennifer Aniston, still making it happen.  Although she's not chasing me either.  Dammit!

Let the College Football season and scUM hating continue!!!!

Looking good bro!  But it's not "Hail to the donuts" dumbass.

I am so happy that the college football season is all but upon us.  The fact that they are in training camp has me bursting with excitement.  One of my greatest joys is not only cheering for my beloved Chippewas and the Spartans, but vehemently cheering against and hating anything and everything scUM.  They have the worst fans, an enormous and crappy stadium and arrogance off the charts, mostly from dickheads like the two above who I guarantee did not attend scUM, at best they graduated from some crappy downriver or shitsville town high school yet they will forever profess their love for all things scUM.  Screw them and Screw the Blue!  It makes no difference if CMU or MSU have a bad season, I'll hate scUM no matter what, if you can't understand that, I don't know what to tell you.  I'll be having my own Spartans-Wolverines battle in Seattle on September 7, more on that later.  Time to play some football!  FIRE UP CHIPS! Go Green!


Accents aplenty.

Why thanks for stopping by Miss Russia.  Be sure to tell all your friends.

In a previous blog I mentioned how my blog seems to be frequented by people in many different countries.  At the time I posted that, Germany had the most readers(outside the USA), however since then the Russians went on a mad tear and are now leading the charge, considerably, for the international sect.  Although in addition, many more countries have found their way to this site, for whatever the reasons.  Again, I don't advertise and only post the blog on my Facebook, so it's amazing to me how it not only finds its way across the world but readers in those countries keep coming back.  I'll never understand why I guess because I certainly don't pander to any other countries or to anyone to read my silly little blog, however I do seem to attract accents, but that's another story.  At any rate thanks for reading, hopefully you find something enjoyable about it from time to time, if not, too bad for you.  Here is a full list of all the countries that have repeatedly stopped by the blog:

Russia
Austria
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Cyprus
Ecuador
France
Germany
Indonesia
Italy
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
Netherlands
Romania
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Ukraine
United Kingdom

That makes 21 countries besides the USA.  Now that is Portland Weird.  Who's next?


Cousins, through the years

The Original Six cousins, 1976.  Readers really seemed to like this photo, so here's a follow up.

Reunited and reposed, 1996.

The bottom row back together again, 2013. My cousin, Trucker Todd, visited Matt and I recently in Seattle,  I mention this now because it was an epic night and there is a tremendous story that will be told soon.  Stay tuned.
Can we get all 6 of us together by 2016?

Thanks for stopping by!

 It's not Arizona, but I guess living here isn't so bad, it's no Detroit..
Poop Juice!  



StuMar West: Mt. Rainier Edition

This picture hung at my grandparents home for all to see for many years.
Back Row:  My brother's Jeff, Rob and Cousin David
Front Row:  My cousin Matt, Cousin Trucker Todd, and myself. 
Circa 197......old. 

Growing up in Michigan I was really fortunate to have two cousins close by, David and Matt.  My dad's sister, my Aunt Sue, their mother, lived only about 30 miles away near my Grandparents and there were many, many weekends that our parents got all us kids together.  Between my two older brothers, Rob and Jeff, all of us were within 5 years of age, so we had a lot in common at that time of life.  Often times, as parents would or should do, us kids were either banished to the basement or outside to create our own fun.    Somehow we became in possession of an 8mm camera and soon StuMar Pictures was born. Just like Steven Spielberg did as a child, we spent many hours and days making our own movies.  Unlike Spielberg, however, none of these "films" were of great quality, after all we were only little kids, but we did make a few feature films entitled; Crump, Return to Crump, Little Children and our own version of James Bond.  They were all horrible I'm sure, but like good parents and grandparents our families all got together to watch our premieres each and every time.  I'm not sure I'd want to see them nowadays, but then again, I suppose it would be good for a laugh.  As we grew up we all moved our separate ways.  But just this last weekend I was able to get together with David and Matt here in Washington and we decided it would be a great idea to go to Mt. Rainier for the day.  So with that, 3/5 of StuMar headed south, albeit without those cool pants of yesteryear.



No Matter where you are in Seattle, you can almost always see Mt. Rainier.

The three of us figured out that we hadn't been together in almost 10 years, the last time being at their mom's funeral, my Aunt Sue.  I'd seen David a few times in between there, but I hadn't seen Matt since I moved here to Washington this summer as he lives near Seattle on Vashon Island.  Unfortunately Rob is in Maui and Jeff was in Banff National Park in Canada, so all 5 of us couldn't get together this time, but maybe someday we will.  So Saturday morning I went to the Fauntleroy Docks to pick up David and Matt from the Vashon Ferry and we drove down to Mt. Rainier.  

Looking south from Seattle to Tacoma, Rainier stands tall.

Rainier really does stand out like you can't even begin to imagine.  It truly is like something out of a postcard every day.  Standing at 14,410 feet in elevation it is one of the 20 highest peaks in the USA, with Mt. McKinley in Alaska being the tallest at 20,320.  The drive to the Mt. Rainier National Park is less than 100 miles from Seattle, but it takes over 2 hours with the switchback roads and two-lane traffic.  However, despite not being together in years, the three of us seamlessly connected just like old times.  We told great stories about our grandparents and parents and had a fantastic time reminiscing on the way there.  Even though all 5 of us lived in 5 different states, until I moved to Washington, we spent our first 18+ years together  in Michigan and that bond will apparently never be broken.  It was great.  As we made our way to the park entrance, we then drove another 45 minutes or so up the mountain to Paradise where they have a lodge and visitor center. 



The road up, windy and scenic.



The drive up was very scenic.  At times we were buried beneath the shadows of massive pine trees and then we'd be on the edge looking at the range of mountains all around.  The road does stay open in the winter, although tire chains are virtually mandatory to ensure a safe passage.  Cell phones don't work anywhere in the park and that's a good thing as I am as guilty as most of constantly checking my email and such.  Up here you can't do those things, so you have to soak in the views, relax and have a good time, as it should be.

 When you could stop and take it in, the scenery was fantastic.

A view of the lodge with cars parked along the road, on our way up. 

Once we arrived at Paradise we soon learned the biggest challenge, parking.  With a fairly decent sized lot already full we were forced, along with many others, to continue on the one way loop road to parallel park about 1.5 miles away.  We walked up to the Lodge and had lunch at the Paradise Inn, the only place to eat, before they closed at 2:00 p.m., then went over to the Visitor's Center and looked at some of the 3-D Maps and trails and then went out to hike.

From the Lodge and Visitor's Center.

Marian Falls.

With Mt. Rainier virtually staring us in the face, we first headed up the Alta Vista Trail to Marian Falls.  It was a short hike and the Falls were nice, but having grown up in Michigan, we'd all seen falls much bigger, however, never near a mountain.  We then headed up the Skyline Trail which went West along the base of Rainier, before going right up it.   The slope was mostly subtle so you could keep going and going and before you knew it, you were miles from the Lodge.  But it was sure worth it, especially today as the temperature was a perfect 70 and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Looking back as we climbed up. 

Looking back to the South.

With Rainier at 14K feet, the Lodge is at about 5440 feet and we then hiked about 1K feet up and even though we were now in the snowy area, the temperature didn't seem to change or at least have any affect.  I suppose if you plan to summit you would definitely need cold weather provisions.  The trail we were on ultimately led to Camp Muir which is the base camp for the first night for those doing the summit and is about 5 miles from the Lodge.  Mostly led by a guide company, it is a rigorous climb to the top, with one Ranger telling us it has all the challenges and effects of climbing Mt. Everest despite being smaller.  But just being as high as we were, the views were indeed worth any efforts we had made.

Matt and David. 

Getting closer to the top! Well for today anyway. 

Snow in late July? Must be a long ways up. 

The infamous Mt. St. Helen's to the south. 

 Mt. Baker, another prominent Washington peak.

Mt. Rainier, as close as we were getting to the top today.

After really just sitting and taking in the views in all directions, we started our hike back down.  It's a lot to take in visually, stunning in every direction, especially on a day like today with the bright sunshine and blue skies.  We took a less traveled path on the way down and found ourselves all alone on a ledge of the mountain.  We stopped for a moment and realized we could see Mt. Baker in one direction, Mt. St. Helen's in another, Rainier was behind us, the Nisqually River and Falls were below with wildflowers in every direction and then it all hit us, that maybe we hadn't stayed in touch all these years like you might hope.  Life's trials and tribulations had affected all of us at various points, but yet here we were today, the three of us, just like it was 1980, acting like kids, cracking jokes, telling stories, enjoying our life's history, knowing that our grandparents and my Aunt Sue were there with us in spirit and so very happy I'm sure that we all found our way together at least for today.  Hopefully it's not another 10 years before we can make it happen again.  And next time maybe we can get Rob and Jeff in on it too, StuMar Pictures may just have another film to make.  But for today, it was a fantastic time with family at one of nature's most spectacular creations.  You know they say a picture is worth a thousand words; today I think we just made millions.

StuMar Lives!

StuMar West waiting for the other two.

Appreciating the Journey

Vancouver, USA, the Orignal!

On Sunday morning I ran the Vancouver USA Marathon, and as the Mayor would tell you , the Original Vancouver not the Canadian copycat. Just like the Phoenix Marathon, I had put in a lot of training and planning, ultimately hoping for  a much better experience this time.  I felt really good, felt prepared and ready to go.  But in the end the results were almost identical, at least on the surface.  Looking a little deeper I'll try to explain as to why that despite similar results, I feel much more satisfied.

With Vancouver being a few hours away I left on Saturday morning and arrived about Noon time at Esther Short Park to register, right downtown where the race would both start and finish.  They had a full runners expo, like most large scale races, and I checked in and got my shirt, race bib #723 and goody bag, which was only average at best.  I then proceeded to go to my hotel to rest up and maybe even try to nap, which I was able to do for about 45 minutes.  I had brought my lunch, careful as to what to eat the day before.  At 5:00 p.m. I went to mass at St. Joseph's in Vancouver, I mean a few prayers for health couldn't hurt right? After mass I went to eat some buttered noodles, carbs, for dinner and then back to the hotel where I just relaxed and eventually fell asleep.  I woke up at 3:00 a.m. Sunday feeling good, the race was at 7:00 and I was about a 5 minute drive from downtown.  I drank some coffee, ate a banana and some peanut butter and eventually left around 5:30.  Much to my surprise I easily found a place to park right along the park and just proceeded to walk around to stay loose, did some stretching, I felt very comfortable.  My mindset was much different this time, I really tried to be much more relaxed about it and so far it seemed as though that was the case.  About 6:45 they lined everyone up, the Mayor thanked everyone for coming and then, shockingly, proceeded to say a prayer.  I was certainly okay with that, but I was surprised to have it happen in today's world as it seems we always have to be fearful of offending someone.  But it was a nice touch. As I was standing in the lineup I said something to the guy next to me, Jim from Pennsylvania, and he said he was going to try and break 3:30 so I thought I'd stick with him so as to not go out to fast, which I think was a problem for me last time.  After a nice rendition of the National Anthem, off we went.

Esther Short Park in Downtown Vancouver, WA the start and finish of the race.

The weather was just about perfect, maybe a touch humid for me after living in Arizona which has no humidity, but it was in the low 50's and very cloudy with no wind, so you really couldn't ask for much more than that.  The first part of the course takes you west of town about 7 miles before essentially turning around and coming back on the other side of the road.  It's more industrial so there weren't many people along the way.  Pennsylvania Jim and I had become pretty good running friends by that point as we were running side by side. He was wearing a watch and was keeping us on pace.  Turns out he's run over 50 marathons and some ultra's(100 mile races), he was about 50 years old and in town for business, thought the marathon would be fun to do.  Runners, we are weird people.  But Jim and I were running stride for stride and it really seemed effortless the first ten miles or so, which is exactly what you want.  One change I had made this time was to use a fuel belt, which you attach around your waist and it holds water bottles.  Having leg issues the last time I was determined to ensure that I was hydrated.  I didn't think I would like wearing a fuel belt for a number of reasons, but I had trained with it and it wasn't a big deal, plus it also had a small pouch so I brought my own gel packs and thereby could have the flavors I liked and not have to worry about what they might be handing out.  I mention this now because it had a huge impact later on, we'll get to that in a bit. 

Fuel Belts, sure they can help, just be careful what you put in them.

As Jim and I were running somewhere around mile 10 or so this guy ran up next to us and I have no idea what he said, but he was upset about something or so it seemed, and then proceeded to run ahead of us.  The guy was in his 50's and had longer hair and to me he looked like Gregg Allman.  He had a weird running motion, but he obviously was a good runner and when he took off past us I said to Jim, "Was that Gregg Allman?"  Keep in mind, I'm really not a fan of Gregg Allman or know his music and not sure why I said that but Jim found that hysterical, so of course I proceeded to milk that over the next few miles saying things like:

"Who knew Gregg Allman was a runner, I mean with all the drugs and booze he's consumed, he's really cleaned up his act."
"Did you see Gregg Allman take that corner up ahead, not only he is a skilled musician, he runs like a Kenyan."
"Do you think Gregg is the fastest Allman brother?"
"Do you think Cher is here to cheer him on?  I'm going to keep my eyes peeled."

 Gregg Allman, musician and marathoner?

None of that may sound all that funny now, but I have to tell you after you've been running for an hour and half, you have to do anything you can to stay energized and Pennsylvania Jim was loving it.  With all of the banter we had I had yet to turn on my iPod and didn't until about mile 14.  Up to that point the course has been relatively flat, but starting around 14.5 you go uphill for about 2 miles.  You also are now back in downtown so there are more twists and turns in the road and a lot more spectators, which helps, especially with some fairly difficult hills.  We also finally started to see some spectator signs, which is always fun.  Some of the best:

"Nipple chaffing turns me on."
"Run a Personal Record and I'll wash your clothes for you."
 and the absolute ultimate sign:
"Even Chuck Norris NEVER ran a marathon!"

Cancer, sure, but what about a marathon Chuck?

Hands down the greatest sign of the day.  Right around 15 the hills started to affect me and I could no longer keep pace with Jim, I certainly wouldn't want to slow him down, so he went on ahead.  I knew he'd break 3:30, he was just in a zone.  I was also starting to really feel nauseous and had for the last few miles.  Going back to my fuel belt, the person that recommended it to me is someone who is an elite level marathoner, done well over 50 and in addition to the belt he said that gatorade is more for replenishment, so I should use a GoFuel in the bottles, a powder drink that is like gatorade but has all the things needed for while you are engaged in exercise.  I thought that was a great idea, so I had filled my bottles with GoFuel but I also made a classic rookie mistake.  I had purchased an orange flavored powder but I never tried it out before that day, I merely mixed it up that morning before I left and filled my bottles.  Turns out that was a bad move because it completely disagreed with my body and I could feel it in my gut.  At that point I had drank 2 of my 3 bottles full of it and I could feel it sitting in my stomach, painfully and I felt like I was going to throw up at any time.  Not a great feeling in general, certainly not while you're running at a decent pace.  But I proceed to go on, albeit slower up the hills through the north end of Fort Vancouver on a beautiful tree lined street.  The course was really nice at this point, just difficult.  After a few more miles and a few moments of dry heaving, while running, I really, really, really had to take a leak.  Of all the times I've run, I think that has only happened to me about 3 times, but it did make some sense to me because I had consumed more liquid than usual as I was determined to stay hydrated.  So around mile 19 I just couldn't take it anymore, saw some bushes up ahead and ran behind them and took a leak.  I really, didn't want to stop, I was worried that if I did that I'd have a really hard time getting going again.  But I also didn't want to piss myself.  Some people do, but it's not like I was going  to win this race or anything and I also half thought that maybe when I stop I'll be able to throw up and get all of the GoFuel out of my body because I could taste it and feel it and knew that as the culprit of my nausea.

At Mile 20, I thought I was dead.

After running behind the bushes, it only took less than a minute, I got back on the road and came to the hardest part of the course. At about 19.5 there is a ridiculously steep hill that goes for over a mile.  If this was the first mile of the marathon it would be really tough, but around mile 20, it just seemed unfair.  I knew it was coming and thought I would be ready, but at that point, I was really feeling sick and tired of course and it just knocked me on my ass.  I was going at a snail's pace and sure I was disappointed that I couldn't attack it, but I just wanted to get up it.  I'd been going uphill for the last few miles, with no downhill relief and it was just too much for me.  I finally got up the hill and saw that there was some downhill ahead, but unfortunately even though I'd been climbing for roughly 3-4 miles, you go down all of that grade in about 1/4 mile, in other words, it's extremely steep and no relief because you have to watch your footing dramatically or you'll tumble right over.  So it was almost as tough going downhill, but finally at the bottom I knew it was going to be relatively flat most of the rest of the way.  But I was really hurting physically, still dry heaving at points, but nothing coming out, so the GoFuel was just sitting inside me, taunting me.

At Mile 20, I thought I was dead.
At Mile 22, I wished I was dead.

The course was much flatter, but at this point I was just hanging on. I was going very slowly and I knew that, but I didn't have the same type of emotions I did last time because my legs were fine. The only issue I was having besides fatigue, was from the GoFuel and that was self-inflicted, because I should have never done something different going into the race.  Runners go by routine and for whatever the reasons, I thought I'd have no issue with any kind of liquid, so I never tried it out ahead of time.  Classic rookie mistake.

At Mile 20, I thought I was dead.
At Mile 22, I wished I was dead.
At Mile 24, I knew I was dead.

The only saving grace for me at this point was that the course was really beautiful.  We were running along the Columbia River on a bike path, it was part woodlands, part condos, lots of people out cheering us on.  Plenty of people offered me encouragement as they could see I was struggling.  It was a nice feeling, but I was really feeling awful and I knew that one more challenge was ahead.  Having studied and driven the course ahead of time I knew that as we left the river trail we would head back to Fort Vancouver which meant an extreme uphill right at Mile 25.  Again, this was a tough uphill even if it would have been a the beginning, but at Mile 25?!?!?!!  It was as brutal as I imagined, but I slowly made my way up it and as we left the Fort we were back downtown. The streets were lined with people on both sides, all the roads were completely closed and finally, FINALLY we were running downhill.  A little late don't you think?  But it did make for a nice finish.  As I turned the final corner and could see the finish line about 1/10 of a mile ahead of me, I heard the announcer call my name, as they were reading the bib numbers of finishers coming in. Of course he mangled the pronunciation, but still, hearing my name as I got close to the end, I have to say, it was pretty cool.  Although, quite honestly, there was going to be no Boogaloo finish for me, because all I wanted to do was cross the finish line and hopefully throw up.

At Mile 20, I thought I was dead.
At Mile 22, I wished I was dead.
At Mile 24, I knew I was dead.
At Mile 26.2, I realized I was too tough to Kill!!!!!!!!

I'd like to say it was a great finish and I suppose in some ways it was, but I proceeded to cross the finish line and then sat on a curb, as they had no chairs for anyone(one of the few negatives).  As I was sitting there, a guy I saw hurting around Mile 15 that I had shouted some encouragement too, who then caught up to and ran with me before fading back, come up to me.  He had just finished and said he'd been following me, trying to keep up.  He said he could tell I was hurting too, but seeing that helped spur him onto finish.  That was nice to hear.  I then proceeded off to the medical tent and told them I was going to throw up, they were prepared, and I sat there for about 15 minutes and nothing happened.  Then I laid in the grass for about 15 minutes and nothing happened, so I went back to my Jeep.  As I was changing my shoes, that's when Mt. Saint Helen's erupted.  It was an absolutely awful feeling as I proceeded to purge anything that was in my body, which was mostly all liquid at that point. A woman in the car next to mine came over and sat with me and gave me some of her water and a towel.  She was very helpful and I thanked her.  At this point I got very, very cold and was shaking and I didn't have any warm clothes, so I got in my car and turned on the heat full blast and tried to warm up. After about 10 minutes or so, I felt good enough to drive back to the hotel.  I then tried to take a shower, but ended up laying in the tub with the water hitting me, for maybe 1/2 hour. When I stood up, Mt. Saint Helen's Part 2 was there and I think I may have even thrown up a piece of a crayon I might have eaten when I was 3 years old.  It was violent, ugly and took what very, very little energy I had left in me at that point.  I was extremely fatigued from running as it was, now I had absolutely no fluids or any replenishment in me.  So I crawled into bed and tried to stay warm and just laid there for about 2 hours.  I couldn't sleep, I was just completely exhausted.  Finally I decided to drink some gatorade and that was fine.  Eventually I ate some chocolate chip cookies I brought, because they are my absolute weakness and I hadn't eaten any in a really long time, as I had tried to eat healthy leading up the race.  The cookies stayed down and about 2 hours later I was really feeling pretty good.  Finally.  I had no leg issues, very little soreness and now that my body had some good fuel I was pretty much back to normal.  I sat in the hotel hot tub for a bit, relaxed and then ate a little bit and soaked it all in.


In the end I ran this marathon in 3:54:04 compared to 3:56:37 last time, so hardly much difference in time.  But last time I had trained so hard and felt so prepared and yet my body let me down and it was out of my control and virtually impossible for me to accept. This time, I may have bonked or however you want to look at it, but it was by my own doing.  Without the GoFuel, would I have done much better, I'm sure I would have, but how much better, who knows.  One thing I have learned is that 26.2 is just a long, long ways and you can do all the training runs of 20 and 20+ you want, but on a race day, there are just so many variables beyond your control that you have to appreciate all you can.  Last time  I couldn't do that, but this time, not only could I appreciate what just happened, but it also made me realize how much I pushed through the Phoenix Marathon despite the cramping.  Comparing how I felt physically after this race compared to that one, it seems impossible that I even finished in Phoenix.  Yet this course was much more difficult, so slower, and I had nausea issues, so again; variables.  But looking back, 13 months ago  I couldn't even run 2 miles without stopping, let alone at any sort of pace.  Since then I've run over 2000 miles, I've run in about 15 races including a few 1/2 marathons and 2 Marathons in the last 3 months.  What was I really expecting to have happen, I mean I'm not a professional and a year ago I was on the couch?!?!?!?  Am I disappointed that I didn't run faster, sure.  Do I think  I can, no question.  But if I didn't have the high expectations and went after them, I'd certainly never achieve them.  I mean on any given day I can run 20 miles and not many people can do that.  Last year my life got completely turned upside down and I was grasping at anything to not only stay afloat but try to make sense of what the second half of my life would hold because it certainly wasn't going to be anything like I had envisioned.  Just over a year later, now I can truly appreciate what I have been able to accomplish; how I am in the best shape of my life, that I have a tremendous family and friends that have and will support me through anything; I've made new life-long friends; and most importantly I've gotten back the confidence I lost in myself as I was knocked over the edge last year.  I am too tough to kill and maybe it took me a while to get that feeling back, but without appreciating the journey that was needed to get here, I could never fully appreciate the results.  A sincere thank you to everyone who has been with me on this journey, I honestly would have never made it without you.  Phoenix Marathon 2014, I'll be back! 

Hey Gregg Allman, wait up!

I don't look too bad for having just run 26.2 miles and puking my brains out just minutes before this. You can even see remnants on the sidewalk behind me by my Jeep.  I'm all class you know.