Willie Movie

Talent

One of the things I'd like to do with my little blog, is something that I love to do in person. That is, tell people about something or someone I love! In future postings, I'll probably extol the virtues of Smith's Rosebud Salve and Aerosoles but for now, let's take a look at photography.

http://www.jaywatson.com/caballero.mov

http://www.jaywatson.com/elmirage/green.html

http://www.jaywatson.com/elemental/mag.html

The name is Watson - Jay Watson. He is an ultra-talented photographer who happens to know how to train squirrels. He's like a young Johnny Cash singing in front of Sam Phillips and his future is bright.

Also, I love him.

I did it for the bling

"I did it for the bling" and "I did it for the chocolate" - two captions I saw on the back of t-shirts worn by groups of girls at the Nike Women's Marathon SF. When you sign up for the full or half-marathons, you pay $85 which benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - $16 million was raised from this race. That's the best part.

The other excellent parts are the views of the Golden Gate Bridge running through the Presidio and the bagpipes at mile 11. Then at mile 12, they hand out Ghiradelli chocolates. When you finish, either at 13.2 miles (me) or 26 miles (other amazing women) there are men dressed in tuxedos that hand you 'the little blue box' with this inside:




However nothing compared to hearing Jess Nichols cheer me on at the end, and crossing the finish line with Jenni Adair.

Willie

Willie is a squirrel. Not just any squirrel. I'm going to sound cheesy right now, but we treat her kind of like a baby - and we can't wait to show her to our guests.

We discovered her in our backyard in the Spring. We saw that she came day after day, so we named her. Once she got closer to us and we found out she was a girl (the teets, ok!) we rationalized that 'Willie' could be short for Willemina.

One day, we went to four different stores looking for peanuts for her. Four. That is no exaggeration. We started putting the peanuts on our patio, so we could watch her from the sliding glass door in our kitchen.

Jay, who has the patience of a Saint, was determined to get her to take a peanut from his hand. I wasn't so sure he could do that, but eventually he did. The next stage was coaxing Willie into the kitchen, then onto the couch in the kitchen. The real feat was when Jay got Willie to eat a peanut from his lap - twice. During the first few months of all this, each morning one of us would get up to make coffee and yell excitedly to the other, "Wille is here"!

We were so happy to play the peanut game with her that sometimes Jay missed the train and I was a little later to work than I meant to be.

A few months ago, she stopped coming around. We were very sad. I told Jay, "Maybe she fell in love". But she is back and cuter than ever! The other day she came into the house and got on our piano! And this morning, I was outside watering and called her name, and she ran towards me. Until we have our own baby, Willie is it.

Running

Two years ago, I thought I'd never want to be a runner. It just seemed like something I'd hate, even though my Dad enjoys it. Over the last five years, I had gotten interested in surfing and cycling - purchasing my own Klein bike with a bonus, and trading a sweet TV and DVD player for an 8-ft. board. I liked these sports and put some time into them.

I'd have daydreams that all I needed in life was a pair of great jeans, a cool shirt, a beautiful necklace, long-flowing hair, a guitar, an old convertible cadillac, a surfboard, and a bike. I liked the idea of simplifying things. One day I thought, running is probably the most simple sport there is, in terms of what you need. You can do it anywhere, any time. All you need are the shoes. I think that's what got me started.

I thought trail runs would be a cool way to go because of the nature aspect and the softer ground. I was right.

My girlfriend Jenni and I have been training at 6AM on Mondays and Wednesdays, for a Half Marathon in SF soon. In preparation for this big event, I signed up for a 10.5 mile race in Big Basin, which is my third trail race.

Big Basin is California's very first National Park. It is a beautiful park with lots of big redwoods, and although you feel like you've gone to the middle of the earth, it is only one hour from many places in the Bay Area. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=540

Yesterday's race was the hardest run I've done, not only because it was it the farthest I've run, but there were a lot of tough situations - mainly the climbing. We ran up and alongside steep waterfalls, ran uphill for what seemed like forever, got stung by some angry bees at mile 5 (behind my ear - ouch!), and just the constant navigation of tree roots, rocks and tight spaces. My legs are completely sore right now.

But I did have fun, and I'm proud of myself. I even got a 2nd place medal, for being 2nd in my age group.

I thought I'd never want to do a marathon, mostly because I didn't believe I'd ever be able to. But because I feel good about yesterday's run, I'm contemplating signing up for the Big Sur Marathon in April, 2007.

I'd need to keep up and increase my training over the winter. A wonderful movie that I saw the night before Big Basin, will be one of the sources of my inspiration. It's called "Saint Ralph" and I'd recommend it to anyone, as my Dad had recommended it to me.

And now, I will hobble away from my computer.