The Adventures of Familia Bajaboy

My first trip to Elias Calles was in 1997.  I met a couple who were from the tiny little village about 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas.  Very few people actually even know it exists but I had a connection.  Over the years, I have gotten to know it quite well.  In fact, my wife and I celebrated our wedding on the beach there in 2004. We now have a number of friends who live in the area including our good friends Jack and Harriet. We decided to take a vacation from our vacation and head down to visit them for a few days of fun. They have a beautiful house which sits right on the Pacific Ocean.  We always enjoy our time relaxing, story telling, and just hanging out with them. After a day of playing in the waves at Cerritos Beach, we decided to have a feast.  Abuela Rosemary made chile verde from scratch, hand made flour tortillas, and rice.  Lidia, whose family sold the land to Jack and Harriet, made some outrageously delicious frijoles....

I promised Pancho that I would deliver a small tv/radio to him during our summer break.  I'm sure he figured I'd forget but I was certain I would follow through.  I asked the kids if they wanted to join me for a turn-around road trip and they were stoked to join.  Now to decide when to head over..... We were about a week into our month long stay in Baja and had just finished doing some work on the casita.  Our builder and amigo was visiting with us when I mentioned PSR.  Roberto had never heard of this place nor visited the Sea of Cortez for that matter outside of the big towns likes Santa Rosalia and La Paz.  I jokingly suggested he join us and he quickly accepted.  We would leave the following day. I quickly threw some tents, chairs, and other odds and ends in the truck.  The next morning I picked up Roberto and 8:00am and we were on our way.  The kids were ready but I reminded them we had many miles of dirt road ahead of us.  We s...

With less than a week to go, I am trying to wrap my head around my fitness for next weekend's race.  I started off the year making huge strides.  Unfortunately, a late season injury slowed my progress to a halt. My injury occurred at Lost Boys 50 mile trail run in at the end of April.  Talk about an epic, challenging race.  The point to point race, with 9,000 feet of gain, starts in Anza Borrego desert, heads up Pinyon Mountain, up Oriflamme Canyon, up to Cuyamaca Peak, over Middle Peak finishing at Cuyamaca Lake.  The race started off with Brian Gonzalez warning us about severe weather conditions.  As it turned out, we had wind gusts between 50-60 mph coming out of the desert and then windy and cold rain the for the final 20 miles of the race. I was running in the top 20, way beyond my expectations as I hit the summit of Cuyamaca Peak.  Suddenly my left knee seized up leaving me to hobble down the hill frustrated and cold.  I still manage...

As I entered February, my goals were to increase the distance of my long runs and allow my body time to recover.  Thus, I found myself running less days per week but doing longer weekend runs. Early in the month, I ran the Sean O'Brien 50k. http://www.strava.com/activities/86539631 .  I had a fantastic day. In fact, I dropped 27 minutes from last year's result.  My legs were stronger which is a direct result of my daily lunge routine. Another highlight this month was running 32 miles of the Secret Canyon trail my running club, San Diego Ultra Running Friends, SURF.  Many of us have invested sweat equity with   San Diego Trail Fit  cleaning up local trails including Secret Canyon. I finished the month hiking up El Cajon and El Capitan peaks.  This is a difficult hike I use as a recovery day.  With over 3500 ft of elevation gain in 11.5 miles, this is not a casual hike. A few years back, a veteran runner explained the importance o...

With the blessings of my wonderful wife, I entered San Diego 100 again this year.  Last year was such a wonderful experience.  As expected, I experienced a myriad of feelings from true bliss to despair to excruciating pain.  I had a wonderful crew cheering me on and pacers guiding me along.  It really was the perfect day.  No, I did not meet my time goal but that was not a major objective. This year, I feel I am in better shape as I ramp up my training.  I have introduced cycling and lunges into my training routine.  I believe my diet is better as well as I move closer to a plant based diet. Here are my January numbers: Running Miles:  96.54 Elevation Gain:  22,264 Lunges:              1080 Bike Miles:         85 Bike Trainer:      101 minutes

Elevation Profile for San Diego 100 Five years ago I was set to sign up for San Diego 100 Endurance Run.  I was in shape, had time to train, and my wife gave me her blessings.  But life works in mysterious ways and my daughter Mikayla was due to arrive on race weekend.  While Tracy encouraged me to sign up, I realized it was not my time. With Gabriel turning 6 in August and Mikayla turning 4 next week, I now have a bit more time to train.  I have survived a year and a half of building up my mileage including my longest race to date, Cuyumaca 100k, I decided it was my time to go for it.  So this weekend, I toe the line. While I do not feel as if I'm in top shape physically, I feel more than prepared mentally.  I am ready to feel the joy and misery of endurance sports.  I have paid my dues, learned my lessons, and studied from the best. Unless I am pulled from the course, I will do everything in my power to finish before the 32 hour cut...

Bahia San Rafael/Bahia Asunsion Thanksgiving Trip 2012 We crossed at the new Chapparel Border crossing in San Ysidro on Saturday, 11/17, about 5am. We were sent to secondary for a quick inspection. I asked the friendly inspector about obtaining and paying for FMT. He said the immigration office and bank were open 24/7. I didn't need a permit this trip so I don't have any first hand info. The drive down was uneventful for the most part. We stopped at Las Pasaditas in El Rosario to get some food to go. While waiting for our meal, Dern popped in to say hello. He was driving north and saw my truck outside. He suggested the road to San Rafael might be rough which was my fear. We had light rain from El Rosario until the turn off to Bahia Los Angeles. We filled up in BoLA and headed out of town. The road started off miserable and got worse as we headed out of town. I had a full truck and drove slowly. Between the recent rains and the Baja 1000, this was ...