Above is a photo of my good friend Phil Rosenstein. I want to congratulate him on his heroic finish at the Leadville Trail 100 Miler "Race Across the Sky." Phil's participating in the Grand Slam of Ultra-Running as well as the Last Great Race, both a series of our nations oldest and toughest races. Phil Adds, " Following the race, one of the medical team diagnosed me with a mild case of HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). Apparently it's common to a lot of the runners. She asked me if I ever had any difficulty breathing during the race and I just laughed and said "Only since I got to Colorado three weeks ago!". I also experienced some blood in the lungs as well. And extensive muscle damage due to the lactic acid - non-runners do not want to know how I know this. Experienced ultrarunners know what I'm talking about."

Here is Phil's remaining schedule for 2007:
Sep 8 - Wasatch Front to complete the Grand Slam
Sep 15 - Angeles Crest to complete the Last Great Race
Oct 13 - Heartlands 100 (maybe even more?)
Nov 9 - Great North Walk 100 (probably)
Dec 30 - Across the Years 48 Hours

Phil continues to inspire me and motivate me to achieve great things. I thank him for his tutilage and friendship!

It was a HOT weekend in New Hampshire. Friday I enjoyed my first day of vacation by joining my sister, brother-in-law and 2 nephews at Hampton Beach. The sand was hot for sure and the surf was up. Waves were topping out at about 6 feet as the lifegyards raised the red flags and warned of rip-tides. Portions of the beach were blocked off from all swimming. We had a great time as I dove for whole clams and gave the shells to my nephews as souvenirs. We even found a hermit crab living in a shell inside one of the clams. Very cool indeed and always nice to spend a day with the family.

Saturday Sarah and I spent our entire day at Water Country in Portsmouth. The place was packed as the temps rose to record highs of near 100 degrees. The evenning Thunderstorms never reached us but a cooling wind blew through over night. Sunday... us and a few friends hiked to Franconia Falls out of Lincoln Woods where we enjoyed an entire day of swimming in the frigid waters of the Pemi.

So I went from Salt, to chlorine to the baptising waters of the Pemi all in the same weekend. Now its a few more days off.. maybe some light running to keep the legs fresh... and then I'm off to the Grand Tetons for the 100. I'm very excited about the whole adventure. I'll be flying and running solo out there... which is good... perfect for soul searching.

SJ