Angel Island Run

This weekend I did a wonderful run on Angel Island down in the San Francisco Bay. It was one of the runs organized by Pacific Coast Trail Runs, whose motto “Runs that aren’t races in beautiful places” certainly was true for this event. The weather left a little to be desired – it was absolutely teaming down with rain as we waited to board the ferry out to the island, and there were times on the first lap of the island when it just seemed like a bad idea to run in such conditions, but after a while it turned out to be just fine – a little muddy, but great running weather.

Angel Island is a beautiful place with stunning views of San Francisco, the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges, Alcatraz, and Marin County. It was the “Ellis Island of the West Coast” in that it was the processing place for immigrants coming into the country from the east and it has been a military base from Spanish times up until quite recently. Now it is a California State Park, and the Ranger’s house there is perhaps in one of the most beautiful settings you could ever imagine. I wonder how you get a posting to that position?

What a contrast to be running along secluded wooded trails one minute and then every now and again coming into the open and seeing these breathtaking views of the bay and city. Even on a grey day like this last weekend it was impressive. The run was 25km so we got to do 3 laps around the island (each one at different levels). Very nice indeed and highy recommended. The folks at Pacific Coast Trail Runs put on a good event.

A New Running Aid....

After being scornful of GPS devices for runners for the last year or so, I finally broke down and bought one the other day. The idea of needing to know precisely where you are on the planet and how fast you are running and what your way back home is always seemed a little silly for a pastime as simple and basic as running. However, I do admit that sometimes it just helps to know how far you have gone - so you can turn around at the right time because, if you leave it to your own judgment, you will likely always turn around way too soon.


So I bought this nice little device – the Garmin Forerunner 201 and it is a truly amazing package. Just 3 in by 1.5 in, it fits nicely on your wrist and it gives you so much information – instantaneous pace, average pace, distance traveled, elapsed time, rest time (since it knows when you are not moving), even grade change - and it is accurate too! It even plots a little map of where you are relative to your start – enough to make sure you don’t get too lost on the way back.

I had so much fun with it, and, I confess, I am hooked. It will become as indispensable as the water bottle I carry I am sure (well almost anyway).

A River Runs By Us ....

We had quite a lot of rain in Northern California over the Christmas and New Year period. While I remained dry, thanks to the levees on the Sacramento River, there was and still is plenty of water flowing down river just a few hundred yards away from my door. My house is built in an area that would naturally flood every year if the river were not controlled, so I have more than a little interest in these things.

Here are a couple of pictures taken today on what was a beautiful Sunday afternoon here. One of the Sacramento River from the top of the levee close by my house; another of the Yolo Bypass – an area that is deliberately flooded by diverting water from the river in order to take some of the pressure off of Sacramento’s levees. That is Sacramento in the distance.



Since Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans, everyone seems to be much more attuned to the potential for flooding. Individuals at the Army Corps of Engineers, who build and maintain the levees, have stated that New Orleans had better levee protection than Sacramento does! Now that New Orleans is devastated, Sacramento is the most vulnerable large city that is in danger of flooding. I would imagine flood insurance is selling quite well these days (I have mine already).

The New Car

So this weekend I bought a new car. Its something you have to do every 6 or 8 years and so I plucked up the resolve to deal with those car salespeople did the deal on Sunday. Actually it turned out to be quite painless in the end - it's just that I have this general mistrust of the whole car buying process and everyone involved in it. I just know that I am being screwed in some way or another.


Anyway, what I have is a 2006 Volvo XC70 in Lava Sand Metallic. It is a beauty! I am enjoying the new car smell, and being very careful with my driving (there is always that period of extreme defensive driving and careful choice of parking place until you get the first door ding and then things get back to normal).

Let My People Go Surfing

I have just finished reading Yvonne Chouinard’s story of his business life and how he built his company, Patagonia, into the company it is today. The book's title is Let My People Go Surfing (one of his early ideas was to allow people to take time off to do what they enjoyed provided the work got done – so if the surf was up, they could cut out and go surfing). I have always admired Yvonne Chouinard as a climber, adventurer and as a business person. He always seems to have done what he enjoyed doing, he has made some great products and he has one of the most ethical and environmental companies that I know of.

The sub-title of the book is "The Education of a Reluctant Businessman". I must admit, I have always felt somewhat like a reluctant businessman (if I can call myself one). Businessman never seemed to be a role you should necessarily aspire to. What on earth I was doing getting an MBA, I do not know - just one of those aberrations of my life in the 80's.

Anyway, I would highly recommend the book, as a business book, and as a good read for anyone who cares about the environment. It should be mandatory reading for any MBA program. If only more businesses were run with just a fraction of Patagonia’s ethics.

Olde English Bread Pudding

In recent years I have become a one-dish wonder (this is opposed to my previous career as a zero-dish wonder). Every time I have ever been asked to bring something to a dinner party, pot-luck event or whatever, I have produced a bread pudding.

Many years ago I came across this recipe for Olde English Bread Pudding, and being a big fan of bread pudding, I gave it a try. It was good, actually, even though I say it myself, it was great. So since that time, I have rarely diverged from that standard. With my limited cooking skills, why risk a change when you know something will work out and taste good.

Anyway, for posterity, here is the bread pudding recipe.

½ cup of Sugar
3 Large Eggs
2 cups of Whipping Cream
½ cup of Milk
2 tablespoons of Butter (at least)
½ Loaf of French Bread (day old preferably)
pinch of Salt
1 tablespoon of Vanilla
3 tablespoons of Currants (at least)
¼ cup Apricot Jam
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (at least)

1. Cut bread into squares and butter lightly (1/2 in to 1 in)
2. Arrange bread in layers in a buttered dish sprinkling with currants as you go
3. Whisk eggs and sugar together until blended
4. Bring Cream, Milk, Salt to boil and remove from heat
5. Gently but constantly whisk egg/sugar mix into cream/milk mix
6. Strain mixture over bread in bowl
7. Add remaining currants and butter to top
8. Bake in bain-marie for 40 mins at 350 or until golden brown.
9. Boil jam and sieve to remove the chunks and stir in Grand Marnier
10. Spread jam and Grand Marnier mix on top of the pudding.


Of course, as you will recognize from the ingredient list – it will taste good, it has to taste good with so much butter, cream, and sugar in it. While there are undoubtedly skills involved in cookery, your degree of success is enhanced if you liberally use these unhealthy ingredients.

A very Happy Christmas to one and all....

Well it is almost a year that I have been writing this blog. When I started I didn’t really expect to keep it going, but I was surprised how I have enjoyed writing it. I have also enjoyed reading other friend’s blogs and it has become a great way to keep in touch.

One of the things I said when I started was that the blog could be viewed as an ongoing Christmas letter – and it can, all the eventful (and so many more of the uneventful) things in my life this past year are here. So this year the Christmas Cards went out and instead of a Christmas letter (which I have never done anyway) I just made a reference to my blog site.

So to everyone a very Happy Christmas (or, if you would prefer, a very p.c. Happy Holidays) and all the very best for 2006. If you are coming here as a result of my Christmas Cards, then welcome and please check back from time to time.

Driving Two Extremes

This week I got to drive a couple of different cars. At the weekend my friend Becky kindly allowed me to drive her Toyota Prius – the most popular of all the hybrid vehicles. I am getting ready to buy a new car and the Prius is right up there on my list so I was keen to take it for a spin. I do so much want to buy a Prius because it is the right thing to do, but I am afraid I found it a bit cramped for my 6ft + frame. The visibility wasn’t great either, though I could get used to that. In all other aspects it is a great vehicle but I just wish it were a tad larger inside.

Then this week I went to Oklahoma City and went from the sublime to the ridiculous. I reserved a Compact car but on arrival I found they were out of that size and so I got upgraded to a Lincoln Town Car. The Lincoln Town Car is a huge boat like gas-guzzling monster that I would be embarrassed to drive down my own street in. But, in Oklahoma City no body knows me so I had a blast cruising down the freeway, in what must be one of the largest saloon cars on the market today.

What a contrast in those two vehicles. It’s not just that the Lincoln is a larger car; it also doesn’t strike me as being well designed or as well made as the Prius. The controls for things like the side mirror adjustments, the lights, the gear shift, etc all seemed a bit clunky and just did not feel like they were built to last. I am afraid that is the feel I get when I get inside most American cars – there is something they just don’t get about good design. That of course is just my humble opinion.

It was interesting to find that in the links to the automobile sites above, the Toyota Prius's catchphrase is "so advanced it makes the future seem obsolete" while the Lincoln Town Car is just the Flag Ship of the Lincoln Fleet. The nautical comparisons are quite appropriate for the Lincoln I think.

The California International Marathon…

This weekend was the highpoint of Sacramento’s running year, the California International Marathon, from the town of Folsom to the steps of the State Capitol in downtime Sacramento.

Now I had planned on running the entire marathon, I was even somewhat trained for it, but for the first time ever, I listened to my body (that’s what everyone tells you to do isn't it?). I had been wrestling with this leg/hip problem for at least 4 weeks and I just couldn’t get things working right. I think the term is – I had a hitch in my giddyup. So I listened to my body and just ran a half of the marathon (as part of two person relay team).

It was just great, 13 miles is my preferred distance anyway - long enough to feel like you have done something, not long enough to damage you for weeks to come. It was perfect conditions for running too - clear, cool and dry. While the winner, a Russian guy, finished the whole 26.2 miles in 2 hrs 18 mins, I turned in a respectable (for me) 1 hr 50 mins for just half that distance. I was well pleased.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas..

As predicted, after the Thanksgiving weekend, the inflatable turkey on the roof of the house across the street was removed and replaced with a Santa on his sleigh complete with reindeer.

Then the next day it got better with the arrival of an inflatable globe containing various Christmas characters in the front yard. The amazing thing about this device was that it somehow has it's own little snowstorm going on inside the globe - snowflakes are somehow being circulated around the globe.

But that was not all, a couple of days later, a trio of snowmen appeared on the front lawn.

It's just all too weird for me, though I must admit I feel a bit Scrooge-like for poking fun at it. Thank goodness this is the only house on the street that is resorting to this kind of tacky display.