Run for the hills!

A world class athletic event is happening in our backyard this weekend. Starting at 5am in Squaw Valley this Saturday, I — along with about 450 other runners from all over the globe — will begin a journey that traverses the Sierra Nevada range and ends up at the finish line in Auburn 100.2 miles away. I will get to see the sun rise twice, on Saturday morning then again on Sunday morning, without the benefit of sleep.

The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra marathons, and it is regarded as the Boston Marathon of ultras (Western States is slightly tougher, mind you. Heartbreak Hill? pul-lease. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a comparison.)

An ultra-marathon is anything longer than the standard 26.2 marathon distance, and you might think “Why would you go longer than a marathon?” Since most ultras are trail races, the dirt trails are much more forgiving on the joints and are more scenic than pavement. Running ultras takes major physical conditioning, but you have to be strong mentally too. It’s fun to push your mind and body to the test.
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Tommy Tune Hearts Sacramento

Has anyone else been to see Dr. Doolittle on the Broadway Series? I saw it last night. The cuteness of the show was enhanced by the cuteness of all the little children in the audience cracking up at the animal jokes. Very fun. I’m actually not a musical theater buff but I hear that Tommy Tune who played Dr. Doolittle is big in that world. He was outstanding. Just in case I didn’t get the child-friendly jokes and dialogue I had a woman sitting behind me who was clever enough to guess the punchlines and shout them out before the actors could. I’m sure she was trying to be helpful. For example when Dr. Doolittle had an epiphany and realized aloud that although he had learned every animal language he had neglected to learn the most important language of all, the woman behind me was kind enough to volunteer, “the language of the heart” which indeed was his next line. Way to go lady. At the end of the play the cast gathered round and Tommy Tune addressed the audience, saying that he loved Sacramento and noting that we are all so lucky to have so many trees. Then he hung around to sign autographs. Very sweet. Anyone else see it or any other plays here lately?

PAT VOGELI: A cure for housing woes?

The slew of articles and rumors on a declining housing market had my husband and I pretty uptight when it came time to sell our house for something slightly larger. We worried that whatever profit the market did provide could be devoured by realtor’s fees and repair costs, so we weren’t even sure if we should hire a realtor. It didn’t ease our confusion any when one realtor told us flat out that the market was dead (not exactly inspiring our confidence) and another submitted a proposed selling price that was so inflated and greedy even we could tell it would leave us sitting on the market forever. Luckily, we met realtor Pat Vogeli while helping a friend shop for houses. Simply put, Pat was AWESOME.
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What is Sacramento Watching?

I just noticed a new feature on Netflix that caught my eye. It’s called “Local Favorites” and it focuses on which DVD’s people from Sacramento are renting. Featured as a “Local Favorite” is the Ellen Degeneres stand-up special “The Beginning.” Hmmmm…Ellen DeGeneres is one of the top choices for Sacramento film watchers, and the Monarchs are WNBA champions…correlation?

Slow-down, crash or soft landing?

The most-commented stories on SacBee.com always seem to be about the Sacramento housing market. Yesterday’s piece is no exception. with people arguing in the comments section that the market is a) vastly overpirced, with up to a 50 percent price reduction on the horizon; b) in stagnation, with no price increases in the future, but no “crash”; or c) just taking a breather.
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Here it comes

101 … 105 … 109 … 109 … 108 … 109 …100 … and then a cooling trend next week, all the way down to 98. Read it and sweat.

I have to admit to feeling like I brought this all down on us, after spending the better part of an hour talking to my native San Francisco pal about how Sacramento really isn’t hell on summer earth, touting the Delta breezes, lots of shade, two rivers, etc. “Well,” she says. “At least your housing’s affordable,” which is something only a San Franciscan would say.

Fill up the kiddie pools, folks, it’s going to be a long week.

City vs. County

Which is best, city or county?

I now live in the county, just outside the city limit. But I still miss the city. I grew up in East Sacramento, next to East Lawn. By high school, we’d moved to the edge of Carmichael; by college, I’d moved back downtown. I’ve lived city, suburb and rural, in every corner of the county. I still like the city neighborhoods best, but a couple years ago I happened to trip across the perfect house for me in the county, so there I am.

In my dealings with the various bureaucracies, I have to say that the city beats the county every time, in my experience. Overall, I found living in the city much more pleasant and interesting.

Let’s go to the list:
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Crime Capital

OK, are we all just going to pretend that the Bee didn’t scare our pants off yesterday with this “biggest crime increase in the state” business? (Also, is the local media just going to pretend our own SinghCity didn’t predict it?) Some staggering details–the crime increase was more than 4 times higher than the national average, for example. I also think this quote from the police chief is weird

“What I’m drawing from that, is that the answer is something beyond the Police Department. Clearly, as a community, we need to think about this.”

Clearly, when we are victims of violent crime, we need to look inside and ask ourselves whether we were asking for it. Or perhaps Najera is slyly pitching the blame upward to Fargo? Or asking us to patrol our borders to keep out trained thugs from Chico? Not sure. But clearly we need to think about it. And clearly we should as a community start that thought process in the comment box at The Sac Rag. (Note: If your comment includes the word “immigrant” it will probably be deleted, unless you are an immigrant and you’re saying you’d feel safer in Jalisco.)

We’ve arrived!

The polarizing neighborhood of Tahoe Park, where I live, has finally reached the brass ring of gentrification. We can finally stand proud and call ourselves a real neighborhood. No, we don’t have a celebrity in our midst (not yet, ahem ahem), and no, we don’t have a high profile al Quaida sleeper cell investigation. You know your neighborhood is truly on the map when you get your first Starbuck’s.

The nearly completed minimall on the corner of 65th street and Broadway (dubbed “The 65th Street Corner“), at the extreme north eastern end of TP, is going to be anchored by none other than the city’s 698th Starbuck’s franchise (roughly). Notably, at exactly one half mile from the ‘Bucks at F65 (map link) I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it might be the closest franchise to an existing one.

Here in TP, we like our iced mochas with a shot of irrelevance.

Signs of summer

Is anyone really missing triple-digit weather? Pleasant as the temperatures may be, it’s difficult to believe it’s almost officially summer without one or two of those sizzling Sacramento days. Without them, you have to look for other signs.

Here’s one: The first stack of wood spotted piled in parking lot, soon to be a fireworks stand.

Others?