Safety was a priority for Purchase in the development of the course. Blue lights with emergency phones are accessible throughout the course. Emergency exits are also marked on the course.

With every step I take
A little something of me is left behind
Even while I move forward, progress
Eyes fixed on the future heading toward me
Arms swaying at my side
Tiny radiant sheer moments
Of who I am to be
Churn and pulse into who I am
And quickly fade and dull
Into past me's
As they shed from my skin
Trail in my wake
And finally scatter with the wind

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31. [DOC]

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TrailFire

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through EbayGivingWorks.com you can donate a portion of your Ebay profits to "BeatingDebt.org".

October 10th, 2008 - 4:40 pm ICT by ANI -

Washington, Oct 10 (ANI): Using advanced dating techniques, scientists have determined that a trail of stone tools and fossil bones found in China, suggests that early humans left Africa 1.8 million years ago.
Over a million years ago, a band of early humans left their stone tools and two front teeth near a stream in southwest China.
For decades, the precise age of the fossils has remained a mystery, leaving open a central question in paleontology that how quickly did our human ancestors reach China after leaving Africa?
Now, thanks to advanced dating techniques, scientists may finally have the answer.
Chinese paleontologists discovered the two incisors in 1965 and the relatively simple stone tools in 1973 in the Yuanmou Basin.
The teeth came from a hominin, the group that includes humans and our exclusive ancestors, and might be from the species Homo erectus, a direct ancestor of humans that may have been the first human to spread beyond Africa about 1.8 million years ago.
Lacking solid dates, researchers thought until a decade ago that the earliest humans didn”t reach Asia until 1 million years ago.
But a series of dates for fossils from one site in Java, Indonesia, in particular, have recently shown that Homo erectus was there 1.66 million years ago and possibly earlier.
This changed the old textbook view that human ancestors spread around the globe only after they had big brains and more advanced stone hand axes, which appear in Africa about 1.6 million years ago.
Now, a team of Chinese and American researchers has redated the Yuanmou Basin site using a paleomagnetic technique that relies on rock samples to determine the direction of Earth’’s magnetic field when the rocks were formed.
Although the original hillside where the fossils were found has been excavated, the discoverers recorded the layer of sediment where they uncovered the teeth and tools.
The new team traced that sediment layer - or time horizon - throughout the basin, collecting 318 rock samples from it.
The researchers reported that the fossils came from a layer of rock just above a magnetic landmark known as the Olduvai-Matuyama reversal boundary, which is at least 1.77 million years old.
This makes the fossil site slightly younger, about 1.7 million years old.
This age estimate represents “the oldest definite fossil and archaeological evidence of early hominins in China and mainland East Asia,” according to co-author Rick Potts, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Taken together, these dates from at least three fossil sites are convincing many researchers that early humans were moving rapidly across Asia 1.77 million to 1.66 million years ago. (ANI)

source: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/early-humans-left-africa-18-million-years-ago-suggests-ancient-fossil-trail_100105649.html

Yeah, I drew this thing.

It's the "poster" for Big Walk. Big Walk is the realization of my discussion with Scott Knowles...the now-professor who was part of the 24Hrs. trio that began a series of 24-hour walks in American cities (among other things).

It's unreasonable top make a poster for this, because I'm only taking 25 people with me. And of those 25 spots available, there are actually only 20 spots left (or so) and of those, I am sure that the group helping organize it will be taking up at least 8.

Big Table is a group of people I asked to get together with me every Thursday at 1pm. Why? These mentors of mine, doers in their own right, festival organizers, volunteers, idea-people, resource-collectors, arts-minded, cultural individuals are altruistic enablers. They come together every week to help anyone within the group to realize an event, project, festival, whatever...

Big Walk (the name takes the moniker from Big Table) was put together by the members of the group, and the trail has been plotted by the members of the group. I could not have planned it without them, and now I am super-anxious to see it come to fruition.

Big Walk is scheduled for 8am on November 8, and will finish at the starting point 16 hours later, at midnight. We will be walking across the city back and forth, up and down, north of Ottawa Street primarily...but keeping within the oldest quarter of the city (closest to the Detroit River).

We plan on stopping for four sit-down meals and some short tours of certain select spots. We also plan on visiting several local businesses, some you may know, some you may not, to increase awareness of what they have to offer. Most of these stops will be culturally significant or historically significant stops. So we're not stopping at a car dealership, or a mall.

What will everyone take from this walk, besides sore feet? I think we will have a renewed sense of our city, in the area researched, because we will be unable to ignore the subtleties we are habitually glazing over when we drive or bike. These walkers will be seeing the trash (or lack thereof) in certain neighbourhoods, the road conditions, the abrupt endings to bike lanes, and the faces of many houses we have never turned our heads to enjoy.

Personally, I look forward to seeing how much environmentally significant spots we discover, or discover ruined. The city life finds us hunting for parks and green spots more and more, and I hope that I can leave this walk with the sense that not all is lost in the natural history of Windsor. My home.

If you want in, e-mail me. phoglounge@gmail.com

I will soon release the locations of our meals, snacks, breaks, etc.

El destino final son las antenas de Calvia corriendo por la reserva natural del coll de sa creu.

Primera posibilidad: Salida a las 9:10 desde el castillo de Bellver

Segunda Posibilidad: Salida a las 10 desde el Coll de sa Creu.

Pau estará a las 10 en el Coll de sa creu y yo a las 9 en la clinica Femenias del castillo de bellver. Nos veremos todos a las 10 en el coll de sa creu para ir hasta las antenas y volver.

Para los que hagan el recorrido largo la bajada de vuelta se hará por génova.

Un abrazo. Podeis confirmar si vendreis.

Despues podemos ir a pegarnos un chapuzon a Son Hugo

Featured activities included in the general admission fee are: cider making, face painting, a petting zoo, sand art, tattoos, scavenger hunt, and live music.  For an extra $1 fee, visitors can participate in scarecrow building and pumpkin carving contests. Prizes are awarded in each event. The carved pumpkins and decorated scarecrows remain on the Nature Center grounds and serve as a backdrop to the Center’s “Pumpkins and Scarecrows” parade, held at the Center the following week (on Sunday, October 26th, 12:30-3:00 p.m.).

Throughout the afternoon, Caribbean musician Conroy Warren will provide musical entertainment, encouraging festival guests to dance and drum along with his contagious style of music. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, and the Center’s gift shop will be open, offering great children’s toys, nature products, and other seasonal items.

The Greenburgh Nature Center is 33-acre nature preserve with trails, pond, orchard, and gardens. The Center contains a live animal museum, exhibit areas on nature and the environment, a greenhouse, and gift shop. The Center is located at 99 Dromore Road, off Central Park Avenue, in Scarsdale, NY. Parking is free, and handicapped parking is available. The center’s grounds are open daily dawn to dusk throughout the year. The Manor House exhibits are open daily except Fridays and a few holidays, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on weekends.

For further information, call (914) 723-3470 or visit the website www.greenburghnaturecenter.org.

Westchester.com   link to original article

The last part of my fall series from Kenosha Pass. Hope you caught one and two, I can't decide which day is my favorite yet between all three. Perhaps this whole series is my favorite on Cocktail Hour.

After yesterday's post about film coming out so much better than anything I took digitally, my Grandpa sent an email to say "...you must remember that film is capable of recording an image with more resolution and a greater range of color then our new technology, the digital chip."

How right he is, and thank you again for the reminder. My favorite person in the world to talk photography with and look up to in this lost art.

Hope you have enjoyed the series, this time of year is so beautiful. I can't believe over and over again how lucky I am to be out here in Colorado and experience what I believe is one of Mother Nature's favorite places in the world.

Stay warm.

Sign up for Thomson CC Urban Legends Tour HERE !!!

 

`lush;- 

Continued photographs from yesterday's post. I'm posting four today instead of my max of three, hope you enjoy.

Walking around... sometimes the marks on trees reminds me of looking at the clouds that form shapes and pictures.

This one reminds me of a dog's head, can't decipher the rest.

What do you see?

I still can't believe my film came out 1,000 times better than anything I took digitally.

What I really loved about this photo is the red leaves tucked against the gray trunk...

...and mimicked here again in a completely different park of the hike.

Fall has always been so beautiful, but since living in Colorado it's a million times enjoyable.

Tomorrow I have some film photos that turned out vintage-looking. Horses, cowboy hats and a railroad...

One of the best things about being a landscaper is that after a hard day's work you get to sit on your own handiwork!

In the quiet morning darkness, I found my way to the race start. It wasn’t easy as I had to drive this very windy road to the top of a mountain and was difficult to see the street signs. I pulled into the middle school parking lot, along with a bunch of other crazies! This reminded me of the JFK start last year, cause the morning meeting place was at a school also. It’s pretty smart actually because it’s easy access, lots of parking, and BATHROOMS. Weather was PERFECT. High 50’s and clear. Went to the bathroom a couple of times and checked in and was trying to decide if I needed a drop bag or not...hmmm... I decided against it. I felt like there would be plenty of Aid Stations and since I was wearing my Nathan pack, I had room to carry all my gels, etc.. I didn’t think I would need to change shoes or clothes, so nope, no drop bag. What I noticed as I scanned the crowd while awaiting the race start was how few women were present. I thought about titling this post, “Hanging with the Boys”. Seriously, we women who were there are studs, man!!  :)

I had my pack on and inside I had about 5 or 6 different gels. I figured anything else i needed i could pick up at an Aid Station.  

We were off at 8:05am. We had about 1/4 of road to get onto the first part of the trail. It was mixed trail with some narrow and some wider portions, a couple of low bridges to cross and then a long stretch of wider trail covered with small pebbles.  Not too many hills at first, which was a nice way to starrt!  Between the fist and second aid stations was maybe the one of the toughest climbs I have ever experienced in a race. TOUGH, TOUGH, TOUGH. STEEP. So steep that if you stopped and stood there, you would have a heckuva fall backwards. WOW. Lots of climbing. Somewhere in there was also one of many tough downhills, which just crushed the quads. I didn’t feel much in the beginning, but toward the end, every descent was painful. OUCH. Just before the second aid station, I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie: there was a high bridge crossing, but get this: the bridge was wobbly and shaky and it was a true adventure to get across. I cannot even remember the creek below us...i don’t think it was very deep, so falling would not have been a good thing. After crossing shaky bridge, got to aid station #2 and grabbed a bunch of snacks, one of which was a new discovery for me: square shaped pretzels filled with peanut butter. A PERFECT MIX! Salt and protein. I grabbed a bunch of these at all the stations! YUMMY. Leaving this station, we then grossed a road and headed up a mountin. We had to climb some built in rock stairs and then continue climbing up to a flater part of the trail. Basically, i think these next 20 miles, we ran on the near edge of this mountain. The trail was all single track. It was very forest like - huge trees all around and during different sections, i could look to my left and see the wide & beautiful Tennessee River below. Gorgeous. I had to stop a couple of times and take it all in. Gorgeous, untouched nature! Up there, it doesn’t matter whether you are a democrat or republican, doesn’t matter how much gasoline costs and even if you can get any, it doesn’t matter that the economy is in serious financial crisis that could last a long time; none of it matters...it’s just me and the trees and the water and the beauty of taking in some fresh air and taking on a challenge. Ok. back to the trail. 

There were rocks. And when i say rocks, i don’t mean a little rock you might find in your backyard, i mean seriously, big rocks and boulders; some very sharp and pointed, some slippery with moss, some just freaking BIG. Mile 17 was the absolute craziest. It was so rocky and treacherous, some of us had to stop and look around for the trail markings because we couldn’t see them! Good thing we went in the right direction and soon saw the little pink flags that marked the trail. Whew. That was a brutal stretch of about a mile or longer. You could not go fast here even if you wanted to. It was a crawl. At 17 miles. Nice. My feet probably got the most beat up in this section.  I banged my toes into rocks a couple of times, but no falling! Some rocky sections were runnable and I have to brag a little here..cause I am very good at this...navigating my way pretty quickly over these sections. Some of the women around me were taking these sections pretty gingerly, but not me, i just swiftly moved along. It’s a strong point.  My weak point is that I am not a fast walker or climber. On sections that require walking/climbing, I am just SLOW. I wish i was better, but not yet. Gotta keep working in it. There runnable sections were fun and freeing. It’s pretty motivating when you have a runner in front of you and you are watching their feet move. And it’s just as motivating when you have someone behind you...you want to keep going. You don’t want to slow up. In the later miles, we had 2 Aids stations where as soon as we left, we had long climbs that were not runnable. This was kinda deflating in that after getting some fuel, you want to be able to just take off...but it wasn’t like that...it was get some fuel and start walking, start climbing!! I was fortunate in that i never took to long at the aid stations. I only had to re-fuel for water in my pack once, so all i was doing at the stations was grabbing some snacks and then moved along. I never sat down.  I never chit-chatted with anyone. Just kept moving. In the late, late miles, around 23-29, on the hilly sections especially, i really felt like i was drunk or something...i was stumbling and weaving. it was funny. I think after a while, you do get a little delirious out there. especially on those sections where no one else is around. People often ask, “what do you THINK about for all that time?” Well, i will tell ya...i wan’t thinking about much other than the present moment. My thoughts were: “when did i take my last gel? ouch, my feet hurt. how many gels do i have left? wow, that guy seems to be moving fast. ouch, my right groin kinda hurts. my left ankle is hurting. man, i am feeling good all of a suddent, cool. wow, where did that guy come from and how did he pass me? cool, i can see that woman ahead, i’m gonna pass her on that rocky section.” these were my thoughts. up on the trail, it’s tougher to let your mind wander. you might fall on your face or on your ass if you do! :)

A couple of times, in the later miles, i was getting kinda irratated at the climbing. When this happened, I did have specific thoughts; i thought about when I was 12 years old, in the hospital with my legs up in traction cause they were broken. i thought about all the tubes coming in and out of me from my various other injuries. And i thought about a friend that I made while I was there: a young boy named Jagade. I remembered his beautiful smile and thought about how sad it was that he died. While we were in Children’s Hospital together, his Leukemia took his and he would never have a chance to be out in the mountains like me and tackle this kind of challenge. I thought about all the kids who never get this chance, for whatever reason! And I got pissed off and tried to climb faster and more determined.  

Soon enough, I knew I was coming near the end. I came to a crossing in the trail where there were 2 teenage volunteers. “Way to go”, they said. “you’re almost done.” I smiled. “only one and a half miles left”

Me thinking: WHAT, are you freaking kidding me? Ah, MAN. I thought it was maybe 3/4 mile left. Crap! “

I swear that was the longest 1.5 miles in my life! Once we got to the final stretch of road, i ran and passed a guy and never looked back. I crossed the finish line while some strangers clapped and cheered me on. I asked the timer person what the time was: 8:04 she said. I have to say that I am bummed to have not finshed under 8 hrs. My watch said 7:57, but i knew that wasn’t right because somewhere along the way, i inadvertently clicked the stop button and i didn’t know for how long time was stopped. However, overall I am proud and happy.  

I changed my clothes and got in the car. Went to a store in town a lot like Whole Foods (called GREENLIFE) and got 2 big slices of pizza and murdered them. Then, I got a cup of coffee and a protein drink and drove 2 hours back to Atlanta. 

 

It’s sunday as I write this report and my quads are super sore, but i got outside for a short walk. i did try to run, but it was too painful. I feel much better than I did after JFK. Not nearly as sore.  I have theories on this which i will write about next. For today, it’s been nice to savor in the satisfaction of personal accomplishment.  Thanks again for all the kind words of cheer and support!

 

What’s next??

So, yesterday Mr. O.J. Simpson was found guilty of an armed robbery that went down on Sept, 13 2007. Now O.J. can be facing up to life in prison. He was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for the robbery. O.J. thought he was Rick Ross or something, this is how it all happened in-case you haven't heard.

"The events that led to Simpson's final downfall began in the distinctly ordinary surroundings of Room 1203 of the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on 13 September 2007. Two men, Bruce Fromong and Al Beardsley, had set up shop in the room, spreading out their memorabilia from Simpson's distinguished sports career.

The men had been told by a friend, Thomas Riccio, that he would bring a buyer to meet them. But instead Riccio brought Simpson and a gang of other men. At least one them was armed with a gun. They burst into the room, angrily shouting a stream of obscenities. The two salesmen were pushed against a wall and Simpson and his gang gathered up their goods in pillowcases and then marched out of the casino. The two shaken men called the police and gave them the extraordinary news that they had just been robbed by OJ Simpson."Paris Harris, The Observer

O.J. got owned pretty hard. I'm pretty sure everyone couldn't wait till he slipped up!

Final Word? lol

Ahir es va cel·lebrar la VIII Pujada al Castell de Alaró.

Com sempre va esser una carrera molt maca on es va poder gaudir del excel·lent ambient de les curses de Muntanya.

Varem trobar a faltar a la Natalia i al Xisco quan varem pasar per davant casa seva.

 

Prement damunt aquesta foto teniu algunes fotos de la cursa.

 

Amb aquesta crónica voldría agrair a la gent de Sa Milana per l’homenatge i glosa que me varen fer. De veritat no m’ho mereixia però em va fer molt feliç i em va emocionar molt i de lo que estic mes content es de que els meus pares varem venir i estiguessin allà amb  na Pau i amb mi per gaudir d’aquest moment tan guapo.

De veritat moltes de gracies a tots el de Sa Milana: Joans, Pedro, Manel, Tonis, Miquel, Aldo, Amaranta, Roser, Pedro, Jordi, Nadal, Xisco, Natalia i molts més. Sempre recordare aquest moment.

 

Aqui vos posso el texte de sa glosa que me varen fer i un link al video. Tambe podreu veure en la mateixa plana de youtube el video de la sortida.

 

Havia de ser un mallorquĂ­

amb ben posats es tions

per fer ultramaratons

no es ver, Toni ContestĂ­?

 

No basta trencar garrons

que trenca ungles i unglons

per poder arribar a la fĂ­.

 

No mes hem de despedir

sense lloar altres valors

d'un home tan agradĂłs

ben amable i bondados

quan cor es un tremolĂ­.

 

Sa Milana - AlarĂł

 

 

 

Here's a map & information on the mountain bike trails in Sprain Ridge Park, in Yonkers.

Here's a map and information on the mountain bike trail system at Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill.

deshalb ging es gleich bei minusgraden in die berge. traumhaft schöne trails, herrlicher herbstlauf, frost und schnee. heute leider ohne daniel, mittwoch dann wieder mit.

I have the best husband in the world. Think of him as the backbone of Cocktail Hour. If he wasn't the driver, if he didn't ever plan any day trips, if he didn't ever drive us a little out of the way just because he thinks that I could get a great photograph, I wouldn't be here as often as I am.

Also, I can't forget his patience for stopping and waiting whenever I need to get just the right shot, change a lens or put some new film in. Thank you over and over again.

Today we drove up highway 285 to the summit of Kenosha Pass. Crowded? Yeah. Beautiful? Gorgeous. I shot 4 rolls of film in about 3 hours, on top of pictures on my digital camera.

All these pictures are film photographs.

Out of the 4 rolls of film, I narrowed down 10 pictures that I really, really wanted to show you but I'll break it up into three days.

Have you noticed the theme of today? Signs and I suppose plaques. The photo above was part of an engraved poem on a bench that we had lunch on.

I'll see you tomorrow for some amazing close-up photographs.

More details later.