31 January 2012

Running - 2012 Mt. Ashland Hill Climb Run registration to begin 20 March

I recently received an email from the organizers of the Mt. Ashland Hill Climb Run announcing that registration would begin this year on 20 March, earlier than before.  The field has been expanded to 360 runners, up from 300 last year.

I've written about running this straight uphill 13+ mile trail run in 2010 and 2011, and other interested runners asked me to alert them when registration opened,  You may consider this your alert.

As is traditional, the race takes place the first Saturday in August (4 August 2012).

Since it's my business, let me remind you that you should book your hotel rooms now, because August weekends in Ashland are about as high-season as it gets.

18 January 2012

Airlines - Alaska Airlines (Horizon Air) to add service in California and Reno

This is a short post to note Alaska Airlines' announcement today of new service to begin on 4 June of this year.

Horizon Air, Alaska Airlines' subsidiary that flies the Bombardier Q400 turboprop, will operate new flights between San Diego and Monterey, Fresno, and Santa Rosa, as well as between Reno and San Jose.

The Reno-San Jose service also makes possible easy connections between Reno and Alaska's extensive service to Hawaii.  From San Jose, Alaska serves four of the five airports in Hawaii that receive mainland traffic: Kona, Maui, Honolulu, and Lihue.

Monterey is an all-new city for Alaska Airlines.  It will be interesting to see whether they add additional northbound service from there on Horizon Air to Alaska's hubs in Seattle and Portland, which other cities such as Fresno, Santa Barbara, and Santa Rosa already enjoy.

Horizon Air's service is top-notch, and as I never tire of pointing out, still includes complimentary beer and wine.

I'm sorry that Eureka and Redding lost their service a while back, and I would do somersaults if Horizon were ever to come to Chico, but I'm just happy to see that the Golden State clearly remains important to Alaska Airlines.

For flight details including schedules, please see Alaska Airlines' press release.