This weekend was a whirlwind of outdoor activities for me. On Saturday was the I-580 "opening" - an event that allowed walkers, runners and cyclists the opportunity to get on the new freeway portion between Reno and Carson City. I connected up with a few other cyclists and hit the roads from home to ride the new stretch. All told the ride was a nice 41 miles for me, with some good offshoot climbs in Washoe Valley on the way back. You know, because 41 miles is simply not enough as it is. The freeway will be nice once it opens for realz sometime in the next month. It'll make my daily trip to the kids' school a faster and more pleasant experience with freeway speeds the entire distance, and eliminating a couple of typically long stoplights.

I estimate a few thousand people participated while I was there, and only a few idiots who thought weaving through crowds impressed us all with their biking prowess. I did spot one teen girl wearing her helmet backwards, but couldn't get to my phone fast enough to snap a pic.  I did snap a few other photos though.

The ride was nice, my butt bones didn't hurt as much as in the past when we finished. Must be callusing. The surface was nice and smooth for the most part, but there were a couple of places where the connection from surface roadway to bridge surface wasn't complete. Saw more than one water bottle skittering off across the road when the bike hit the bump!

Sunday was run-day. I didn't expect much in the way of company, since as of Friday afternoon, I had received no responses to the run announcement. Given that, and my propensity for exploration, I loaded up the Nathan with 70 ounces, mixed a batch of Perpetuem liquid with chia seeds for nutrition in a couple of smaller hip bottles, and I was good for a decent length trip.

I had been out to 4th of July Lake a few times, always beautiful, but as an out and back, an anathema to my desire to tread new ground as much as possible. I had seen that there is a possible lasso with only 1 mile of repeated terrain possible and decided that since nobody was coming, I'd do it. 

Turns out, there were a couple of attendees. I left it up to them as to if they wanted to do the lasso or an out and back. Both elected to explore. Boy, was that a mistake on their parts!

Things went pretty well, I was sharing my water and nutrition with one of the women, who, despite not bringing anything but a hand bottle, decided to do the whole thing. She's an amazingly strong runner, but she was still feeling the effects of the 50-miler from the weekend previous. During the ascent from the pit, I got lots of looks, and at one point they both semi-seriously clobbered me and fired me from ever leading another run. At about mile 9, I gave her the last of the water in my Nathan. It made for a dry finish. I offered to buy her breakfast once we were done. I figured it was the least I could do after screwing her so badly on the run.

Instead of breakfast, we did have a couple of classic Cokes and an order of fries at the Carson City Red Hut. Tasted awesome after the run!

All in all, this was a great weekend. Exhausting, yes, but it's great to be out and about in this part of the globe this time of year. Remind me of that when it's not so nice come January.

In the environment I am working, we use MS Word - customized to within a hairsbreadth of its life. Across multiple code templates that are loaded when Word starts, document/code templates that are available only when a particular document type is open, and even docm files that are documents that contain code, there is close to 100K lines of VBA code. That's a lot of code to manage. 

As part of the management process, changes and/or updates are necessary. That's pretty much what we do, most of the time, and add new functionality when users dream up something new. All good. The issues I was running into was the time spent looking for a particular function or module that I could leverage as is, or repurpose with limited modifications. 

The search ability built into the Visual Basic Environment is limited to open code documents and templates. And, unlike OpenOffice code, Word's code is not simple text files that can be searched via really handy tools such as GREP. It looked like I had to roll my own. No problem. VBA contains a self-referential method to examine the code itself. What I did was open all the code templates/documents, extract the contents of all the modules' subs and functions, and built a single searchable Word document, color coded and styled to identify template, subs, functions and comments.

After the initial code development and ensuring it all worked, I put it all in a portable docm, slapped an interface on the front and created a few bells and whistles to make using it easier. Now, all I need to do is open the codeoutput.docm file, and double click the start button on the document to launch the options dialog, click the appropriate generate button, and get a fresh cup of coffee while it grinds through all my templates and code documents.

There are a few options that I can select as shown in the image below. You can identify folders of code templates to include, and individual code templates/files to exclude. Both of those processes are point and click using the "+" and "-" buttons. To add, click the "=" and use the folder/file picker to make your selection. To remove, select an item in the list and click "-".

Clicking the "Sub & Fcn List" button generates a three-column table list of all your subs and functions, and includes the first line past the name of the sub or function and saves the file as "Sub_Fcns<yyyymmdd>.docx" in the location where you've indicated. Why the first line past the name, you ask? I includedi t, since I usually put a comment here that indicates the purpose of the sub/function. All public subs/functions are highlighted. Snip below.

Clicking the "All Text" button generates the whole enchilada. It creates and saves the file as "Code<yyyymmdd>.docx" in the location you've indicated in the form. What I did after that is convert the document to a chm file, so I didn't have to open the document for searching if I was knee deep in Word code. Launch the .chm, and keep it open for reference.  

Each module is styled as Heading1 and each sub or function is styled as Heading2. That way, you can collapse the document to an outline and speed around if you want, and, if you convert it to a .chm file, the styles can become TOC entries. What it looks like is shown below. 

Click the "Save Settings" button to save the folders to include, files to exclude and file types for the next time you need it. 

If you want to download the docm that does it and modify it for your own purposes, click below and have at it. I'm sure many can improve it. The code has a digital signature verified by Verisign. I'm legit! 

For any out there in the big cyber-world who has been following my musings, you might have noticed that I have been doing a fair bit of running on the Tahoe Rim Trail these past few weeks. I had an unannounced goal of completing the trail this summer, a thing I had started in the fall of 2009 and continued in 2010 (I seem to have lost the summer of 2011 somewhere). 

That first season - while training for a race I never started -  I had run Tahoe City to Brockway Summit, Mt. Rose to Brockway, Mt. Rose to Spooner, Spooner Summit to Kingsbury, and Echo Summit to Big Meadow. I still had a few segments to do, and decided this summer was the time to do them.

First was Tahoe City to Bayview. Long (36 miles) and hot and solo and unsupported. Toughest thing I've ever done.
Second was Big Meadow to Kingsbury. Ran with some seriously demented people who thought a mile-long side trip straight up to the top of Freel Peak would be a good idea, and me being likely equally demented, I agreed.

This last segment was from Echo Summit to Bayview. I hit a stretch of trail I had done previously at Dick's Lake, so I didn't need to circle the Velmas on this run to make it a true circuit on the TRT. I'd say this stretch was both the most challenging from a technical-footing standpoint and also blessed with the most spectacular scenery. Given that combination, looking at the scenery required – for me, at least – a complete stop. It took me a bit longer than I really wanted to complete it, but I had to look around! By my recollection, I saw 13 lakes along the way. All picturesque, all worthy of at least a few minutes' viewing time. I also walked quite a bit of it. I was solo, and unsupported, and really didn't relish a twisted ankle (or worse) several miles into the Desolation Wilderness. When the footing gets dicy, this boy walks!

Some photos for your viewing pleasure. Full downloadable set, here.

I was able to finish strong and ran the downhill past Granite Lake to Bayview: something I definitely DID NOT do when emerging from my run from Tahoe City. That time, I was pretty damn happy to simply remain vertical. 

I celebrated my accomplishment with a Nalgene of Recoverite slush, and watching the cars drive by. After about 20 minutes, my stomach announced its emptiness and presence, and it was off to Red Hut to gorge myself on a late brunch. 

Give me a month, and I'll be back, repeating the series of runs. Though I'll split the long nasty from Tahoe City to Bayview into two, and do it as a series of nine runs. Who wants to join me?

It may be hard to believe, but Nevada scored a top three finish in a numerical competition against all the other states and the District of Columbia, finishing only behind the Washingtons (DC and the state thereof). What did we finish 3rd in, you might ask? The number of retail Starbucks stores per capita. 

Makes sense that DC - being the caffeine-fueled capital of our caffeine-addicted country with non-stop legislative lobbying, and Washington state being the home of Starbucks - topping the list at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. But there we are in third. 

Go Nevada!

After the fun and games in San Diego last week and the week before, it was time to get my legs back ready for my final push to complete the circuit of Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail. I joined some regulars and a couple from Salt Lake City who popped over to our area to escape the heat and smoke of their hometown for a weekend. Well met, Jacob and Lynn!

The plan was to start at Spooner Summit, drop down to Spooner Lake, skirt the south and west side, then climb up to Marlette Lake. At that point, the group was going to split up with the people doing the TRT endurance race heading back via the access road to Snow Valley Peak (13 miles) and George (the TRT Race Director) and I taking our visitors on a bit more of the TRT. George needed to do some marking where the first aid station for the races were going to be, and we also thought Jacob and Lynn would enjoy the view from Marlette Peak, not to say the rest of the views weren't spectabulous! The route we ran was all on the race course, so anyone wanting to get a sneak peek, here ya go!

I think the total distance was a bit more than they bargained for when they showed up, but I hope it was worth it for them, for the views and bragging rights! We did 18.25 miles (despite what the screen shot below shows), and I think about 50 feet were flat. It was either up, or down the whole way, seemingly a LOT more up than down. 

My IT band flared with pain on the drop from Snow Valley Peak to Spooner. I hope it recovers enough this week for me to do my scheduled run on Friday. My plan then is to complete my circuit by running from Echo Summit to Dick's Lake, and out of the Desolation by way of Bayview. We'll see how it goes. 

It's been a little while since the last post, and contrary to my natural inclination, I haven't been idle. I spent part of the last two weeks in San Diego, where I finally caught up to my daughter who is having the summer to beat all summers. She was there for a week already, participating in a sculpture class with my mother in law, then was taking a week-long surfing camp at Ponto Beach.

When I finally got there, she was finishing up, and we added Spencer to the last day's class (He had been away at a different camp near Susanville for "the best two weeks of my life" before we dragged him to San Diego.) I of course, had to immediately hit the local Roberto's for some awesome tacos. Though I still can't fathom the popularity of the California Burrito they sell - carne asada, french fries, sour cream and Pico de gallo. Really? Skip the sour cream and definitely the french fries and toss in some avocado, and you've got yourself a deal!

We also had time to catch a Padres game. Good seats and great weather turned my kids into Padres fans. Too bad they lost, and aren't doing so well this season. The stadium was spectacular!

While the kids were in their camps (Mikaela at the San Diego Zoo camp - "Don't pick me up on time, I want to talk with my friends!" and Spencer at a nerd camp learning Java coding on the campus of UCSD), Risa and I got some miles and saddle time logged on the bicycles. She is doing a 65-mile ride in September and needs both. I tagged along because before I found running, cycling was my thing and it's hard to beat a ride along the beach! She's doing the Medio route of Levi's Grand Fondo with a few thousand of her closest friends - and Spencer. While they ride, Mikaela and I will be hanging at home doing Dad/Daughter stuff. I wonder if I can convince her to run a few miles? :-)

All in all, a fantastic trip, even with 9 hours in a car each way. Bringing the bikes was definitely worth it. If I ever retire, and can escape, San Diego definitely beckons to me.

Yesterday was the last long run for the group training for the TRT 50K/50M/100M races coming up at the end of the month. I tagged along because... well, I really don't know why. Oh, yes! I remember now! I tagged along because they were running a stretch of the Tahoe Rim Trail that I hadn't been on in its entirety yet. As of about 3 pm yesterday, I can scratch the Big Meadow - Heavenly stretch off my list. That leaves only the section between Echo Summit and Dick's Lake that I have yet to be on. I plan to hit that later this summer. After that - who knows? I may stop long runs. They HURT!

This run started out in the cool shade of the Big Meadow Trailhead. We had gotten a couple of accomodating spouses/moms to schlep the surprisingly large group of runners from the finish to where we started. That way, nobody had to do the drive after the run, when all anyone wanted to do is eat, drink and rest. At least, that's all I wanted to do. Kind of interesting the number of us wearing blue shirts with black shorts. We looked like a bunch of running bruises.

The basic path is an uphill with a drop to Armstrong Pass, then climb again to the trailhead to Freel Peak. From there, we drop to Star Lake, and a bit more past that, then climb again to Monument Pass, and finally drop the last 5 miles pretty consistently to the parking area at Heavenly's Stagecoach lift parking area.

For a reason best explained by early head trauma resulting in apparent brain damage, most of us decided it would be "a good idea" to climb Freel Peak. You know, "Hey, since we're right here, and all, let's do it! Besides, it's only a mile up and a mile back from here, and what's one mile when we are already doing 23.5?" (The answer is obviously an additional 8.5%. ) Heck, I hadn't done it before, and I'm doing this overall madness for the new trails and adventure anyway, so I went along with it.   

OUCH! That climb was difficult. Just a mile, but about 1000' in elevation gain in that measly 1 mile. Took me over 30 minutes to get up, and, once there, another 30 to snap a few photos and scramble back down. The route down was "prescarious" a portmanteau of precarious and scary. And it was in places. My baby cows were very unhappy with me for making them do all that work on the way up to begin with, and the quads complained as well on the way down. 

Once down from the Freel adventure, it was off to Star Lake. The lake looked as inviting as always, and Dave was unable to resist the siren song. He dropped his pack, shoes and socks and dove in, potential chafing be damned! Of course, he's crazy-fast and was dry by the time he hit Monument Pass, and passed me like I was standing still (OK, I was.) That was the point where the following manglement of Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" coursed through my mind.

Yep: Hello Wall. I really need to figure out my nutrition process/balance/stuff if I want to continue to participate in these long adventures. I simply cannot stomach another Perpetuem tablet. I forced one down and nearly gagged. I had a couple of avocado burritos and a stabby bar though. I ate one burro, shared the second, and lost the Stabby bar somewhere along the way. That gave me a net of about 450 calories over nearly 7 hours of continuous exercise. I'm guessing that wasn't enough. I ended up walking a good portion of the downhill 5 miles to the end.

The end was inviting. I have figured out that the best incentive to finish is an ice-cold lager (this time it was Pacifico), and salty potato chips. Absolute yummers! 

Thanks, gang for letting a non-TRT participant tag along on your training run. It was "fun." It was hard. It was rewarding. And the people I ran with are the best. Good luck to all in your race!