Kickoff at Rice-Eccles - Utes beat Pitt by 3 - pretty fun game!!!

Some Great pics of the boy. He is getting so big and so grown up. I miss him every second of every day he's not here.

Hurt in the Dirt!

July 31, 2010 - I took part in an endurance duathlon called the "Hurt in the Dirt" in Ogden. It was 4 miles trail run/10 miles mountain bike ride/4 miles trail run/1o miles mountain bike ride. There was a 4 hour time limit, I did it in 3:19 - if my run had been a bit stronger the time would have been much better because my bike laps were really good. ANYWAY, it was a total blast - I'll give you a little detail as we look at some pictures:

This is getting ready to take off on the shotgun (they literally started and ended the race with a shotgun blast) start. The run started with a 100 meter dash to jump over a fence (see below)


and then proceeded into densely forested areas where we had to jump logs, duck under branches, run through the river (twice),

(missing a head, but that's me in front!)

climb a looooong set of stairs to a plateau in the park and then descend the steps on the other side, only to have to run up a steep embankment and immediately descend a sandy slope to a, what I like to call, duck and jump - there was a fallen tree to jump over with a low lying branch right above it - so I, being somewhat tall - had to duck and jump at the same time, pretty funny looking, I'm sure! We had to zigzag through thick undergrowth, dodge branches, run through gravel and do it all 4 times! (2 laps per leg to equal 4 miles) Then we transitioned to mountain bikes (and yes, I intentionally left out the part where I had to walk for 5 minutes to shake off cramps in my calves! you don't need to hear about that...) -

(taking off after first transition)

The mountain bike course had fallen trees to bunny hop, gravel beach along the river to dig through, 5 climbs (some had names - heartbreak hill, "Ouch", pain in the ash (a section that had a fire a week ago or so) - two of which were so bumpy it was like climbing up the buzz strips on the side of the freeway - you know, the ones that wake you up if you drift over too far??? Yeah, SUPER bumpy (not to brag, but I made EVERY climb! Riding with Sean and Paul definitely gets the climbing skills honed)! Then there was the "hike a bike" about a 1/2 mile section of 1' deep sand that you could not ride your bike through, I tried every time - hahahaha! By the third time through, I was ticked, but then SO happy when I could get back on the bike and hightail it out of there! There were a couple of really technical downhill sections that I bombed down (again, riding with Sean and Paul is the key!) and had a big grin on my face the whole way - the climb is the work, the downhill is the payoff! There was more zig-zagging through the forest on some TIGHT single-track, lots of dodging obstacles, a couple of places to jump off the bike and climb rocks or fallen trees, just good old-fashioned crazy fun!

So, I finished pretty strong, I was very happy the race ended on the bike because I could really push the last mile or so, whereas running I probably would have limped over the finish line. When I finished, a bunch of my friends had shown up to cheer me on - they were awesome during the race - screaming for me to get going as I passed them on each lap - and Roosters pub had mugs of root beer for the racers - strange recovery drink, but REALLY tasty, I highly recommend it!


My cheerleading crew! Adam, Marcee (who was also my coach on this race), Syd, Christine - who found her new love at this race as he ran by her, took a triple-take, and made a good enough impression that she went and got his number after the race, and Jess - who has been to 3 of my races now! These are some awesome friends!!! Thanks guys!!!

So, that was a fun race - 20 miles of biking and 8 miles of running through a crazy course. Luckily it was fairly cool for most of the race. We even had a little rain to keep the dust down and me cooled off! I had a blast and I will definitely be back next year!!! Those of you reading this, should be racing with me ;-)

Griff at the Soccer Clinic

Real Salt Lake has been doing free soccer clinics in SLC lately, and we finally made it to one! Griff did really well on most of the skills, juggling was a challenge, as it was for all the kids his age. He was really good on passing and the power on his shot was very strong! Shooting accuracy needs a little work and dribbling was OK - can work on keeping the ball a little closer as he runs with it - he did get through the cones pretty quick though. But, as always with Griff, he just smiled, laughed, goofed around and loved it!

Waiting for the coaches to divide up the kids. I would say there were 200 kids and about 20 - 1 Mexican to White kid ratio. It was a bit annoying, they had everything in Spanish and even had a Spanish language radio station broadcasting non-stop and it was SO annoying. ANYWAY, here's Griffin-bug in action! The best part was when one of the coaches asked for the kids' "Papers" (actually, the scoring sheets keeping track of each drill) and all the Mexican kids got really nervous...

This is the power shot test, Griff performed very well in his age group! Good looking form there!

The passing drill, again Griff was very solid with this skill.

In line for he dribbling station. The scratch on the nose is from a spill he took earlier in the day. He's a tough kid when he needs to be!

Start of the dribbling drill, in and out of flags to a cone and sprint back!

Looking solid! Good concentration!

Sprinting to the finish line!!! GO GRIFF!!!

Run up to the shooting accuracy drill, looks really good.

Looks like the foot plant is a little early, but he did hit the 20 point marker on the money! (there were 30 and 40 pointers too)

Ugh, toe poke, but he got it off the ground to hit the target.


Fabian Espindola of the MLS Champion - Real Salt Lake. Really nice guy! Signed a t-shirt for Griff too. Griff gave him a high five and got this pic. Pretty good!

Really cool that RSL is getting involved in the community like this, now they need to develop an academy like they do in Europe!

Griff's Green/Yellow test

Griffin doing some Tae Kwon Do kicks for his Green/Yellow belt test. He knows the stuff, just could be a bit crisper I think. Still, he does a good job and he was practicing on me today and he knows how to do the stuff he's been taught!!!

(Oh, this was quite a bit longer but I got a text right in the middle of it that shows up on the screen??? That is weird!)

Griff is my HomeBoy!

The Griffster and I sporting the "Nick is My HomeBoy" t's on Father's Day! Couple of good looking boys right there if I do say so myself...

*Nick* is Nick Rimando the Goal Keeper for RSL. If you need a reminder, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayKR8m-DBA4

Skip to 2:40 (Robbie Findley goal) and then to 5:14 for the PK's!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Got a nice surprise this last Memorial Day Weekend, and got to have Griff from Sunday to Tuesday. We had a blast as always. The weather was awesome, we played football, Frisbee, Croquet, went hiking, the whole 9-yards! Here are some pics:


Big Griff looking ready for summer!

Griff and Blakers!!!

Griff on a bridge on the South Fork Trail (made me wish I had my bike!!!)

A couple pics of the two good-looking guys together!


Blakers and Aunt Amy. Blakers was a hiking maniac!

Griff and Jax skipping rocks with Paul.

Jax getting ready to hike! With Amy and Andrea bringing up the rear.

Griff, Paul, Blakers, Kaja and Dave heading to the trail.

Griff up skateboarding at Gramps' place with Kamas.