22nd annual Tram Road Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT - GREG KLEIN 760-324-7069

Nearly 400 athletes from around the country were tough enough to complete the 22nd annual Tram Road Challenge on Saturday.



The 6K run/walk began at 500 feet elevation and ended at 2,643 feet, with the final kilometer being the steepest portion of the race.

The event benefited Palm Springs Police Activities League (PAL).

"This event is very challenging and there were some great times recorded," said Greg Klein of Klein & Clark Sports. "It was nice to see so many runners come out for such a worthwhile cause."

The men were led by Tim Van Orden of Venice at 29:58. Perry Scanlon (30:25) of Desert Hot Springs and Jeff Klemmer (31:21) of
Joshua Tree trailed behind.

The overall female champion was Brigid Freyne of Temecula at 34:54. She was followed by Laura Conley of Woodland Hills (35:06) and Nance Tran (37:02) of Tarzana.

The next event for Klein & Clark Sports will be the Palm Springs Half Marathon/5K on Feb. 17 beginning at Ruth Hardy Park.

For more information contact Klein at 760-324-7069 or greg@kleinclarksports.com.

More information on the Tram Challenge and other events can be found at www.kleinclarksports.com.

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Rawr.

That's all for today.

We hike AND sleep!

Took the JP to Idyllwild on Saturday before work. Definitely calmed me down and tired me out! We had a contest to see what the biggest stick Scout could fetch would be.


Then all day Sunday at Jamba, Monday at KC Sports and at the dentist for TWO and a HALF HOURS (yeah, my mouth still hurts from that one!). After today at work, I needed another day in Idyllwild. JP picked me up from work with Scout and we made our way up again. This time we hiked longer on the Devil's Slide trail. It tired Scout and I out so we slept on the way home.


Awwwww.

More travels...

(Idyllwild)
Last week I went to Idyllwild with Mike before work. I don't know anything that calms me down more than fresh mountain air, trees, good company and coffee during the drive. We stopped a bunch and got to Humber Park with Scout. Not only did she go running wild in the wilderness but she ran up a rock 90 times the size of her and did a suicide jump off of it. Bad Scout!

Saturday was an official travel day with JP and the Scout. We drove to Oak Glen, an apple orchard mountain town with a really old schoolhouse. It's one of the closest places to go to see the leaves change and see that the seasons do indeed change. We took a nice walk and got some chocolate and honeycomb from a tiny shop near a petting zoo. It was tasty and the air was chilly finally. I can't wait until it gets further into October and November since the leaves had barely started changing color and the pumpkins weren't quite ready yet. Last year we went to get apples and I spent the night making apple crisp and damn was it good.

After some doing some convincing we continued up the mountain to Big Bear Lake. I mainly wanted to check out the visitors center and get more information on the town. (Big Bear Lake)
It's about a two hour drive from Palm Springs though, so it'll be awhile unless I find something I can't say no to. But come on - driving home for a couple of hours to hit a lake with a log cabin? Damn near worth it! It's always been my dream to own a cabin on the lake, so some day for sure.

Oktoberfest in Big Bear is going on right now too and I'm hoping to make it to that. I need some celebration - I'm very German, I work way to hard and I haven't had anything to drink since the last party at PS Power baseball, so why not? I'm about due for a knockwurst and beer in a stein. Gemutlichkeit!

Other than that, there are a ton of upcoming events to work - tram road challenge, some stuff with Power and of course, Catalina. Gaudi!

On a side note, this site seems to hide that work at least 55-60 hours a week pretty well, don't you think?

Beverly Hills, baby.

I love driving. And the open road. (That's my new driving buddy, Scout.)

The ability to jump in the car and go see all sorts of things is incredible. Even before I got my license, I was obsessed with the go-kart my family had. When I finally got a car, I didn't have my license yet and my parents said I could drive on the stipulation that I didn't leave the driveway. You'd better believe that every day after school I was in that damn Geo Prism going up and down the driveway.

If semis weren't so abnormally large, I would totally drive for a living. Just drive around the country seeing new sights and meeting new people.

I was in Disneyland for Labor Day helping out at the half-marathon. The boss took me all around the parks to pick up the clocks following the race and I was like a kid in a candy store. People don't understand that coming from the mid-west Disney is sort of a big deal - it's an opportunity saved for the rich or families who save up all of their money for a vacation. Anaheim was pretty sweet, too.

(Heading down Santa Monica Blvd near West Hollywood.)
Today I drove to Beverly Hills. I took the 60 there, so it was a traffic-filled boring drive. On the way back, we'll say I took an alternative route (I got a little lost) and got a chance to see Rodeo Drive, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood sign and the Hollywood Video IN Hollywood. Oh, and I saw a prostitute. Yeah, that's right. A real, live one.

Los Angeles is very weird - it goes from this strange ghetto to all of these cultural areas (Thai town, Little Armenia, this Latino district) to BMWs and Cadillacs and millions of dollar homes on Rodeo Drive all in an instant.

A couple of getaways

Went to Big Bear again! I love it there so much. It's a huge lake and a resort-looking city about an hour and a half from here. It was definitely a welcomed day trip after work on Saturday. Sunday I helped give out free Jamba at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films which was great, because I love getting out into the community and out of the store.
Today I found out I'll be helping out at the Disneyland Half Marathon for Labor Day! Score. I'm so excited! Anything I can do at community and sporting events/activities makes me so happy. Gotta get those hands mighty dirty before getting into business for myself.
I've got a pretty decent calendar after that - Nike Run Hit Remix in LA that Jamba is picking up the tab for me to run five miles in September, another triathlon, working at the Palm Springs Tramroad Challenge 6K uphill that Klein and Clark Sports is putting on, possibly a Nike marathon in San Francisco, helping with the Catalina Eco Marathon in November, Tinsel Triathlon that I'm running in in December, and then I'm going home for Christmas! My events calendar gets better and better.

Work hard, play harder

I finally beat the heat on Sunday and to the Padres game in San Diego. Mike, Bob and I saw some great ball and then walked all around the Gaslamp and the beach. It was great weather and by the end of the day (walking barefoot on the beach at sunset after chowing down some AWESOME pizza) we all wanted to move there. I still think it'd be sweet if one of us got a place there, then we'd eliminate all hotel fees because there'd be someone to stay with in the desert AND near the beach. Anyway, we stayed in the best hotel ever on Pacific Beach and didn't want to leave the next morning. Good times.
Definitely looking forward to leaving the desert again, but life is picking up big time with triathlons and 5Ks coming. I guess we'll see what happens. The waters are calming a bit after it seemed everything was falling apart, which I'm happy about. Things can only get better after such a rough patch. Lots of decisions to make about what I'll spend my time doing - there are a lot of different directions to go at this point. Would have been cool to go home for a little while, but a little glad I didn't - still, I'm really bummed I have to miss the state fair.
I hate being an ambitious, ADD hippie sometimes!

All stirred up

Okay, seriously. How could you not LOVE that face?

More on life later. Career can wait, puppy cannot.