Mammoth update #1

I am very well aware that this update is long overdue, but trust me people, I have my reasons. I will start from the beginning and move forward from there. For those of you who don't know, flying to California is EXPENSIVE. Now, make that Mammoth Lakes, CA, and the ticket price only goes up. Only one flight a day is offered into the Yosemite/Mammoth regional airport. So to find the cheapest flight I decided to drive to Fort Smith, where I would then fly to Memphis, from Memphis I would fly to L.A. and from L.A. into Mammoth later that night. As if this day wasn't going to be long enough already my flight from L.A. to Mammoth was canceled due to weather concerns. This meant spending the night in L.A. and then waiting around until 6 pm the next day for my flight. By the time I had finally arrived in Mammoth there was no gas left in the tank for a run, so I opted to head straight to dinner to meet the other runners. The food was great, the beer equally great, and the company was warmly welcomed after spending nearly 24 hours by myself on planes and in hotels. Since this point there has been little to brag about. I ran for about a week before my hip once again got the best of me. I have been spending most of my time at the gym on the bike or eliptical. I am probably getting in more work than I would have had I been running this entire time. Since there is little or no pounding on the body involved in cross training I have been spending at least an hour every morning working my aerobic system, and in the evenings performing a bike workout or easy 45 minute ride.

Now, on a brighter note, the town is absolutely beautiful, and the weather was great for the first week and a half of my trip. Since the beginning of November the temperature has dropped considerably and we even had about a foot of snow recently. The best part of my trip so far was being told I could get out of town for a few days for Thanksgiving. Upon being informed of this, I went home and bought a plane ticket to Houston. There was no way I would have been able to go almost 9 weeks without seeing Rachel, so this was just the pick me up I needed.

Lastly, on my way home from grabbing a few drinks and playing some pool last night I experienced my first bear sighting! It was amazing. What a beautiful animal. I was stopped at a stop light when the black bear crossed the road about 50 yards in front of me. He ended up walking through the parking lot I had just left, so I drove immediately back to the lot and got out of the car to get a better look. Black bears are known to be pretty peaceful and even scared of humans, so I felt pretty safe standing about 10-20 feet from the beast. It probably wasn't my brightest moment but very much worth it. Well that is it for now. I will post again next week. Hopefully I will have some more bear sighting news!!