Cascajun

I had dinner last night at Nona Rosa’s Ristorante & Pizzeria (113 E. Magnolia Street) in downtown Bellingham. I had the eggplant parmigiana after a goat cheese & marinara appetizer and followed it up with a delicious cream puff dessert. Yummy! Other diners at the table had Sicilian meatballs, lasagna, and pork skewers. Everyone was impressed with their meal.

I’m getting in shape for the Bellingham Traverse. I’ll be participating on a tandem team; my portions of the race are the road run (5.5 miles), mountain bike (6 miles), and trail run (3 miles). My teammate’s portions of the race are the road bike (18 miles) and open water paddle (4 miles). We have a .5 mile Team Trek to the finish line at Boundary Bay Brewery. It’s a really fun race, but I’ve never done more than one leg of the six leg relay.

Today I did a one way solo run from my office to downtown Bellingham. After lunch I biked back to the office.

The All American Rowing Camp is coming to Bellingham, WA with a team of elite college rowing coaches to hold a Master’s Rowing Camp at the Bellingham Bay Community Boating Center on Friday 11 July 2008 through Sunday 13 July 2008.

Don’t let “Master’s” or the awesome credentials of these coaches intimidate you! They are excited to work with newer rowers in flat water or open-water craft. You learn in your own boat or you may rent one. If you have enough hours in your rowing craft to be comfortable and are able to focus on refining technique, this is the perfect venue to increase your enjoyment of rowing.

Instructors are:

• Jim Dietz, Head Rowing Coach at the University of Massachusetts, six-time Olympic team member; and
• Mark Wilson, National Collegiate Champion, National Elite Champion, and Director of Rowing Development at Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

Instructors will use video footage to work individually with participants on their personal goals for rowing. The camp includes group rows, individual coaching, class instruction, potluck dinners and lots of comraderie and fun.

I participated in the 2008 Dan Harris Challenge and finished first in my class of rowing shell: 1X-R1 (Rec 1, length less than 21 feet). I was also the only entry in my class, but did better my time over last year by about 15-minutes. The rowing conditions on Bellingham Bay were excellent.

I got out for a run and mountain bike ride on a beautiful spring day in Bellingham.

A run over Sehome Hill; over South Hill via Taylor; and down the South Bay Trail.

A mountain bike loop through town, including some of my favorite trials on Galbraith.

I went for a nice, long run around Bellingham’s south side followed by a fairly strenuous mountain bike ride on Galbraith Mountain.

I wasn’t on fire like yesterday, but it was a great ride anyway.

Frankie Dammann, a member of the New Whatcom Rowing Club, took some great photographs of the 2007 Dan Harris Challenge.

Take a look at them for yourself - http://www.esplor.com/dhc/dhc.html.

I got out for a jog during the lunch hour today.

I had a great ride today on Galbraith Mountain with some friends I know through The Hub Community Bike Cooperative.