I arrived home from Iraq last Thursday but just four days later I was back on a plane and headed west. During my my three and a half days at home I managed to go into work and catch up as well as get in a few bike rides, two rounds of golf – one a charity event for my hometown of Fountain Hill. (I love to golf but I suck at it. Laura doesn’t understand golf so when she asks how bad I am, I tell her that I am the equivalent of a 6-hour marathoner at golf.) Also got a lot of “mulching” done in our once acre yard, visited with freinds at our running club’s clubhouse and entertained company from St. Catherine’s Canada. On Saturday night after golf, mulching and biking and some quality time with Mojave the cat, I went into Philly to watch my wife run some night time laps at Back on My Feet’s Philadelphia 20 in 24, the second running of this set-time event staged at Boathouse Row behind the Philly Art Museum. What a perfect day and night to run in the City of Brotherly Love. My wife loves this 24-hour race and has convinced quite a few of her friends to enter as a relay. And many of last year’s relay runners entered the solo runner, “Lone Ranger” division this year. It’s a natural progression. There were 207 Lone Rangers. I stepped in and did some race announcing for a few hours at night before and during the Midnight Glow in the Dark loop but my mic was taken away from me by none other than that pink tutu-clad ultrarunner and crazy Brit, Keith Straw, fresh off of his finish at the Badwater 135 a few days erlier. It was great seeing folks from many of the local running clubs Laura and I belong to including the Pagoda Pacers of Reading. Ron and Helen Horn of the Pacers did the timing for the event.

Tuesday morning I was on a plane to Salt lake City for the big Outdoor Retailer’s Show. This was pretty fun as we – Runner’s World – were in charge of the Endurance Zone and Endurance Lounge. We had treadmills set up and some amazing duels were going down – Nicole de Boom vs Scott Jurek – in a skirt no less, and two-time Western States winner Hal Koerner up against Leadville champ Anton Krupicka. Anton, Scott and Hal have to be the three smoothest runners I have ever seen – hands down – and a testament to the caliber of runner in the ultra community. There is some ridiculously serious talent out there.

Now I’m in San Francisco staying on the embarcadero with a great view of the bay.  I’m on my way to the race expo where I’ll sell books. If you’re in town, stop by and say hello. It’s a typical San Francisco morning – foggy and overcast. Like Mark Twain said: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”