Hale Freezes Over 10K

I competed in the Hale Freezes Over 10K this morning down in Orem, benefiting the Hale Center Foundation. They did a fantastic job putting on the race. Helpful volunteers, well marked course, quality technical t-shirts, organized registration, punctual, good post-race food (including pizza!), great prizes and awards, and a fun MC. These things aren't easy to put on, so to get all these things right is a real feat.

They had two races--a 5K and 10K--about 50 ran the 10K. In addition to the great prizes, the winners received some nice awards, including season passes to the Hale Theater. As it was, every person who registered received a pair of tickets to the upcoming production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

The course follows surface streets, dropping down to Geneva Road, which means it climbs up a couple steep hills on the way back. Here's how my split times looked:

Mile 1 6:31
Mile 2 6:43
Mile 3 7:19
Mile 4 7:48
Mile 5 8:00
Mile 6 7:39
.11 M 6:45

Finished in 44:43, a 7:19 min pace. I'm pretty sure that's the same time I ran my last 10K in, the Mesa Turkey Trot. This was a tough race. I was certainly winded on the uphill portions. I barely had a kick at the end. The final results are here. I came in 11th overall, 8th out of the men, and 3rd in my age group, 16 seconds behind the 2nd place guy. Blaine, from my running group, was right behind me in 4th.

If I'm still around, I'll definitely be running their Highway To Hale race in October.

YakTrax

I tested the YakTrax Pro out today on a 4+ mile run, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. I traversed everything from deep snow to compacted ice, yet never lost my footing or felt unsafe. I tried the same route, which includes some steep up and downhill, with regular trail shoes, and I was slowed to almost a crawl on the uphill. Today I was flying. They're snow tires for your shoes.

Court-side

I wanted to give a public shout out to Joey for giving me my first taste of what it feels like to sit court-side at a basketball game. It's pretty sweet. We watched the Cougars destroy this poor Eastern New Mexico team.

(photos taken with my Blackberry, so the quality isn't very good)

Top 15 WORST Movies of the Decade

No fancy posters and stats for this post. These films aren't worth it. You can seek out more info on them when you have absolutely nothing better to do.

In order to make this list, a film not only had to be terrible, it had to make me ANGRY at having viewed it. They have no redeeming value. I want everyone involved with the production of these abominations to be severely punished. I want people who like these movies to punished.

Obviously, I had to chose from films I had the misfortune of seeing. I realize there are perhaps hundreds of other movies I could have added to this list. Hopefully I dodged a bullet by not seeing them, so please don't add comments asking me why this or that POS movie didn't make my list. If I didn't see it, it's not here.

Please DO add comments that defend any of the titles listed below...

...so I can make fun of you and your terrible taste in film.

These are in order, with #1 being the worst film of the decade.

#15 Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)

#14 The Cell (2000)

#13 A Day Without A Mexican (2004)

#12 Battlefield Earth (2000)

#11 Georgia Rule (2007)

#10 Little Nickey (2000)

#9 Speed Racer (2008)

#8 Running With Scissors (2006)

#7 The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

#6 The Brown Bunny (2004)

#5 The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (2005)

#4 The Polar Express (2004)

#3 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)

#2 Don't Mess With The Zohan (2007)

And the WORST movie of the last decade? (and Oscar winner for Best Picture to boot)







#1 Chicago (2002)

Vegas Christmas

This is a bit late, but here are some photos from Christmas in Las Vegas. I stole most of them from Ashley's blog. Thx Ash!

We watched the BYU Cougars decimate the Beavers in the Maaco Bowl

Cali & Ash's dad rented this little place for the week. It was ok :)

We spent a lot of time at this poker table playing games.

Or sitting here playing Wii. It's been over a decade since I've had Nintendo thumb.

Christmas Eve Family Talent Show

I think 25% of the trip was spent taking pictures, posing people for a pictures, or getting on special outfits for pictures. In this instance, a good hour was spent trying to get the kids to look at the camera. I captured the moment from upstairs.

The Earl Family. I acted as photographer on such occasions. By my count, there must have been 32 of us staying in that house. Thanks Earls for allowing me to share Christmas with you, again!

LVTC Resolutions Run 4 Miler

I spent a week over Christmas in Vegas with Cali's family. Before I left, I looked up this little race put on by the Las Vegas Track Club. It was held the day after Christmas at a nearby park. There were about 100 people there for both the 2 mile and 4 mile races. I opted for the 4, along with 52 others.

This is us lining up at the start. I'm on the far right side.

It was in the 30's, but I opted to go minimal on the race clothes. My hands were numb for the first two miles, but I warmed up after that.

Crossing the finish line into the chute. My time was 26:58. Good enough for 4th overall and 1st in my age group. (The next guy in the 35-39 age group came in at 39:20, so I wasn't sweatin' it.) Scored another ribbon to add to my race wall.

Chatting it up with the locals after putting on some sweat pants.

They had us write down our resolutions for 2010. Mine's right below "Lose 10 lbs., again!"


This was a fun group. I'll be checking their website every time I head to Vegas.