Where Chris Runs

The Ferry Run, Completed

2011-08-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Ferry Run last Friday (actually now the 12th of August) confirmed, again, something I’ve known all along. I’m just not honest with myself.

"some things in life you cannot measure by degrees"

The run seemed simple enough, 29 miles, really flat. I had even scouted out the route by car ahead of time, carefully making mental notes to myself. I knew there was no public water between mile 7 and 16. I said to myself that if I really needed water there were farm houses I could get water from. I knew this wouldn't work, I know myself. It was hot, high 80's, no cover, my single bottle was almost empty around mile 12, but, “I don't like the look of that house” or “that one’s too far off the road” etc. “That one looks trashy, I'll see what the next one is like”, this went on for a few miles, all the while not drinking the last few gulps in my bottle, saving them for when I really needed them. Mildly dehydrated I came upon a house with sprinklers on.

Whew, barely made it!

I held my hat in the sprinkler to get it wet, then attempted to fill my bottle from the fan sprinkler going back and forth. it was taking forever, so with my bottle half full I got frustrated and quit. The water was warm, smelled funny and tasted worse. I was now only a mile from the Ferry, so I convinced myself there would be water at the Ferry. I knew there wasn't water at the Ferry, I'd checked it out earlier, but I was convinced, so convinced that I poured the nasty tasting water over my head, so as to not drink it by accident.

Looking South up the Willamette River, yes that's unusual.

There wasn't water on either side of the Ferry. Jeanne came out to check on me around mile 15 and road crew me in, I was pretty nauseous and bitchy. She informed me that there was absolutely no shoulder on the road until Lincoln. I knew this, I'd scouted this out too, making a mental note that there was no shoulder for 5 miles. At the time, that didn't seem very far, and just stepping off the road when a car went by, didn't seem like it would be a big deal. Stepping off onto steeply sloped loose gravel every few minutes started out as annoying and quickly bloomed into outright frustration. By the time I'd reached the Lincoln store at mile 20 I was ready to quit. I started the "dismount", waist pack unhooked and flung into the back of the car, same treatment given to sunglasses and hat, and the complaints started pouring out. She handed me a Coke and said, "drink some of this and lie down for a few minutes", and as has happened many times, like the commercial of life, I was reborn.

I'm not sure where I was, exactly, but I was 15,000 miles from where I started.

It wasn’t a pretty finish, but the last 9 miles were much better than the previous 9. It’s a beautiful run, one that I intend to do again. I think some consideration could be given to day and time of day that the 5 mile stretch of the Salem-Dayton highway with no shoulder is run. Late afternoon on a Friday probably wasn’t the best planning. I went passed 15,000 miles, somewhere in the middle of some hop fields and boarding the Ferry on foot with the other cars was a treat.

Ventis Taphouse was too full to get in, when we got there, but sushi is never a bad second choice.

Next up, Hood to Coast, which is more about social endurance than physical endurance, then Autumn Leaves 50 miler the last weekend in October.

The Ferry Run to Venti's

2011-08-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the opening of the new Venti’s Cafe and Tap Room in Salem, I’m very loosely organizing a Ferry Run for Friday August 12th.

Gallagher Fitness and Venti’s Cafe are co sponsoring a GFR/V2V, Venti’s to Venti’s Run/Walk every Friday for the next six weeks. You register at the Downtown Venti’s between 4:00 and 7:00 PM then walk or run to the New Venti’s, earning you a $2 off coupon for an entre at Venti’s and a $3 off coupon for Gallaghers.

The Ferry Run will start at the New Venti’s at high noon, run through downtown Salem, out to River road in Keizer. We will then take Wheatland Ferry Road, cross the Wheatland Ferry, .for free on foot. Then come back on Wallace Road over the foot bridge to the Downtown Venti’s to register. Then it’s just 2 more miles to the New Venti’s for eating, drinking and relative merriment.

The total round trip route is about 29 miles, a map can be found here. I was planning to take about five ish hours to do the first 27 to the Downtown Venti’s then walk the last 2 miles in. There is plenty of water along the course and numerous stores. There shouldn’t be more than 6 to 7 miles without easy water access and about a 15 mile stretch from mile 7 to about 22 without any stores. Jeanne will be able to be out on the course and we could easily arrange a water drop somewhere near the ferry. There could easily be ways for shorter distances too.

If you’re interested, email me at owensx41@gmail.com and we can coordinate etc.

Birthday Reflections

2011-08-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

I don’t normally pay birthdays much mind. In fact, I prefer something bigger to be going on so that my birthday isn’t a big deal. For some reason, it’s feeling like a big deal this year.

A brief recap of my 48th year:

Jewelia got married on the Oregon coast. It was, in the interest of accuracy, the day before my birthday, but I needed some highlights.

Jewelia and Tyler

My first DNF ever came on my first 100 mile attempt at Lean Horse in South Dakota. I felt like I learned so much from this experience and maybe I did. And maybe there is just a lot to learn.

Where the Buffalo Roam

After only completing 55 miles at Lean Horse I felt like I had a bunch of training I didn’t use up and attempted a Boston Qualifier in Tri Cities in October. It was probably my best marathon effort ever, but very strong headwinds for the last 10 miles proved to be too much.

7 Brides Tap Room

I took the month of November “off”, only running 70 miles for the month, then in early December found out I’d been selected in the lottery for Western States. My training was going along so well, including a 35 mile run to 7 Brides Tap Room in Silverton, OR and then the first of three separate sprains to my left ankle, including one during Peterson’s Ridge 40 miler, my second DNF.

My ankle almost permanently looks like this now.

In between these sprains and recoveries I managed 70 miles at The Pac Rim 24 in Longview WA.

This picture is only here because Elliott is so cute.

Then came a very fun time at the Western States Training runs, Memorial Day Weekend.

I'll be back.

Followed a month later by Western States, which was the trifecta for DNFs.

So, what have I learned. Not much, unfortunately. I wish I could point to one specific thing, either in training or on race day, but it’s been a combination of things, that mostly just boils down to train more and get more experience. I do have the feeling of unfinished business for these three races, but am in no big hurry to settle any scores. I’m going to run on a Hood to Coast Team, and event I’ve always described as more social endurance than physical endurance. Then set all of my sights and training on running a 50 mile PR at Autumn Leaves in October. PR is 8:46, but I’m really gonna shoot for sub 8 hours. After that I’m probably going to give in and get the much needed surgery to repair a torn labrum in my shoulder. I originally injured it last November attempting a crazy stunt, even by my standards. I injured it throwing a towel over a shower rod at a hotel in Pasadena. My seasoned advice? If you ever find yourself, freshly out of the shower, in a hotel room bathroom in Pasadena, just leave your towel on the floor.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

2011-07-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

A weekend trip to Jessica and Aaron’s wedding brought me hauntingly close to the Western States starting line and the view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from the east, and the thin high desert air stirred up a fair bit of regret. But first, it’s strange the things that spontaneously incite an emotional reaction. I was on a quick morning run in Yreka, CA with Jeanne’s son Mitchell and dashed into a MacDonalds for bathroom break, and was confronted with this.

Van Gogh's Starry Night in a MacDonalds Bathroom in Yreka CA.

While fighting back a sudden rush of tears, I thought of the now very poignant line from Don McLean’s song Vincent, “but I could have told you Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”.

Running in the hills around Carson City NV was very cathartic, I couldn’t help but think about Western States and what went wrong. I also spent a good amount of time thinking about getting back to Squaw Valley. I also just enjoyed a landscape very different from where I live and run.

View South from the Jack C. Davis Observatory

Ash Creek Canyon

Ash Creek

Cougar Sighting

2011-07-19T08:51:00.001-07:00

I saw a cougar, and I have a witness!!!

Last night I ran to the Baskett Slough, Jeanne met me at the Baskett Butte trail head where we were going to walk a mile loop together. This was her first time and I was hoping we would see a lot of deer or a bald eagle.

We had barely left the trail head, hiking uphill we passed a girl bird watching, when Jeanne said, "what's that?"

I looked up the trail and seeing the back of tan animal sticking out of the tall grass I assumed and said, "oh, that's a deer"

As I was noticing the long tail, Jeanne corrected, "I don't think that's a deer". The cougar then turned out of the grass towards us, before slowly turning and walking up the trail and around a turn out of view.

I alerted the bird watcher girl, and the three of us walked together nervously for a bit.

We completed the loop, notifying the few other people we saw. One of them, a guy I see there regularly, said there was a sign up at the trail head that a cougar had recently been seen in the area. Well now it's been seen twice!!!

Altered Western States 2011

2011-07-14T14:49:00.001-07:00

Several years ago in the Newport Marathon, I followed a shirt for a few miles that said, “After all the explanations and all the excuses, what you accomplished is exactly what you intended to accomplish”. I believe this. I’m now 0 for 2 in 100 mile attempts. Both times, ultimately, it was what I lacked in preparation that did me in.

Still believing.

I loved everything about Western States. I loved the atmosphere, both human and scenic. I loved the challenge. I even love the knowledge that if I say, “the ice just beat me up more than I could handle”, to someone that wasn’t there, it doesn’t mean the same as it does to someone that was there.

Beautiful Squaw Valley.

We stayed 2 nights in Reno, at Jeanne’s niece and fiance’s house. Jessica and Aaron were so gracious with their home and the mental distraction of others (not others also freaking out about an upcoming race) being around was an unexpected bonus. We spent Thursday day up at Squaw Valley, attending the workshops and soaking in atmosphere and sunshine, then back to Reno for sushi....reverent pause.....then moved our base camp to Squaw Valley on Friday, including a little nap in the back of the new Subaru, which is the perfect race weekend vehicle we expected it to be.

A nap in the Subaru.

The only time I ever have trouble falling asleep is the night before a race, unless I have a beer that night, but that’s a whole other scientific experiment. I had been waking myself up at 4:00 for the whole week before WS to hopefully promote earlier bedtimes. This didn’t work, I just got less sleep for the week. The US Track and Field Championships were on TV Thursday night. Not only did I stay up watching them, but that jacks my enthusiasm up sky high. So, little sleep the night before, but I’m not sure that had much contribution to success or failure.
Awake at 3:30 and still lamenting over what to wear. I don’t know why this is such a dilemma for me? It should be fairly simple, but the added knowledge that whatever you start in is what you’re carrying for the first 4 ish hours does make you think about it a little more than usual. I had clothes stashed in a few strategic drop bags and socks in all of them. I made a bad calculation in my Infinit drink, again!!! I brought enough, I just didn’t bring enough to have too much at each drop bag, and didn’t really think through, that if I don’t use it, there is no going back for it later, I’m learning, slowly. They gave away (ha, strange thought given the entry fee) some Moeben arm sleeves, or arm panties. I’ve never worn them before but I like the idea of removable sleeves instead of a throw away long sleeve shirt. I’ve had several instances of starting in a singlet with a long sleeve shirt over. Then a few miles in, you’re burning up and remove the long sleeve shirt and now you are sweaty wet in a singlet and it’s still 36 degrees, and that is cold like no other cold. So, short sleeve shirt, arm panties and gloves seemed the right combination for the 38 degrees it was outside at Squaw Valley. I had a funny altercation with the volunteer regarding what size arm panties I needed. I signed up for everything medium, but I’m a tweener. If I order medium, shirts will run large and I’ll get a tent. If I order small, shirts will run small and it will look like I’m wearing by little brothers shirt. So, the volunteer looks at my card, looks at me and says, “you ordered medium, but you might want a small”. Thinking she was making a disparaging remark about my biceps, I showed ‘em off for her. “Do you want to try the small on to see” was her reply. They seemed too small, which pleased me so I took the mediums and went on my way. They were too big, I was pulling them up constantly for the first 15 miles.
I knew 2 other, non famous, people running Western States. One, April, I would know by face, we’ve run together a few times. The other, Ric, I’ve emailed numerous times and have seen a picture and know his number is 286. I really didn’t expect to see either. We started in the dark and in all of the excitement of the start, moving up the trail with 400 other runners, barely a few minutes into the race I hear, “Chris?”. April and I are side by side at the start. We talk for a bit about taking care of our ankles and she gradually pulled ahead of me. Half way up to Emigrant Pass, I was thinking about the chances of seeing April, and wondering whether I’d see Ric or not. Then I looked to my left and there was 286. Ric and I made it to the top of the pass together, but I pulled ahead a bit at the top and on the way down.

I could probably write forever about the snow and ice. I’ve never run on either. At first, it was fun. Even the first fall on my ass was met with laughter. It wasn’t long before I passed the first injured runner, which sobered me up a little. A few falls on my ass later, the fun had worn off. I kept seeing stains on the snow that were obviously sports drink, and thought to myself, why would anybody be wasting their drink, when the challenge of carrying enough to the first aid station was a very real concern. Then I fell forward and caught myself on my handheld bottles and had my drink squirt out, oh, that explains that! Not too long after that discovery, I started following a trail of what was obviously blood. I would catch up to the bloodied runner later, but it was quite a bit of blood in the snow. The falling really took a toll, mentally and physically on me, especially the falls on the icy parts that hurt much more than on softer snow. I was moving pretty slow, and with each fall I became more tentative. In retrospect, I probably fell more often as a result of running tentative. But my big time loss came on the Fall of the Lost Sunglasses. It seemed like an ice cliff. it was probably not a cliff by any definition, but it was steep and icy and seemed to go down forever, especially when both feet slipped out from underneath me and I found myself sliding down in “break up the double play” position. About 50 feet later I got both heels dug in and came to an abrupt stop. At which time, my sunglasses popped off their perch above the bill of my cap and skied down the rest of the mountain alone. I sat, frozen, for a while watching them vanish into the distance, then surveyed my options for getting back to the “path”. A 45 degree angle back seemed the most sensible, but required me to carry both bottles in my mouth, leaving my hands free to assist in the climb. This worked, though I occasionally needed to use a bottle to break a step in the ice/snow for my next step. I’ve tried to calculate how much time this fall cost me, and I really don’t know. I know I was pretty shaken and sore after it, and was so relieved when, after a few creek crossing in the snow, I got back on solid ground.

Ice burns.

There were some great opportunities to make up some serious time once we got out of the snow. Long gradual downhills on forest service roads with great footing. I just never really got my legs back. I was unprepared for the distance between aid stations, and for the hill coming up to Mosquito Ridge. I’m sure I saw the distance, 7.3 miles and I remember in the course description briefing somebody referring to it as “quite a haul” but I never really put the two together. I got behind in water and salts and blew up on the hill. I staggered into Mosquito Ridge and got weighed, I was down 6 pounds. Dr. Mike was awesome, strongly encouraging me to stay in the aid station and hydrate and “get my shit together”. I’ve paraphrased the speech he gave me to several people and I’m not sure I even heard it the way he said it, but I sat down for about 15 minutes, drank, took an Scap, thought, drank some more, peed and was on my way.

I ran better for a while. Ric had passed me while I sat in the aid station, I called out for him, but no real sound came out of my mouth. I caught up to him about a mile out of Mosquito Ridge, I had some decent momentum at that point and tried to encourage him to go with me, but he was hurting pretty bad. After Miller’s Defeat I was staying ahead of the cutoffs but I wasn’t putting any distance between me and them. I was starting to get a sinking feeling as I came into the Last Chance aid station, I was expecting to hear that I was about 20 minutes ahead of the cutoff. I was pretty shocked when they said 10 minutes. I didn’t get her name, but a young (everybody seems young these days) blonde girl working the aid station saw me deflate and did an incredible job of not only getting me out of the aid station but having me believe I was going to make it to Devil’s Thumb in time.

I didn’t make it in time. I came in 12 minutes behind the cutoff. The 36 switchback up to Devil’s Thumb were almost surreal, passing people that had or were in the process of literally quitting on the course. The rest is pretty tail between the legs academic. Jeanne and I spent so much time pouring over crew plans, drop bags, which aid stations she could get to and when and I never even made it to her. We did head down to track to watch the 27 and 28 hour finishers coming in. That was very inspirational but I don’t think it’s what will motivate me on my next attempt. Instead I think it will be the way I perceived the reception at Devil’s Thumb.

Every single volunteer at every single aid station were amazing. If I tried, I couldn’t come up with a single, small complaint about the organization of any part of Western States, I was truly amazed by the whole experience, so what I’m about to convey, I know, was all in my own little head. Prior to Devil’s Thumb I felt received at each aid station as an athlete. An athlete having a bad day maybe, but an athlete none the less. The cheers had a tinge of pity at Devil’s Thumb, empathy is probably the correct term, but I didn’t hear it that way. I had already, privately, acknowledged my defeat about 20 minutes earlier, this was just the confirmation. It was hard watching them coordinate how and who to drive me back, I realize that’s part of their job, but it felt like I was inconveniencing people, and I hate that. I know myself and I wish that the memories of watching others finishing would be my darkest hour motivation in the future, but it won’t. It will be those very sincere, very well intentioned cheers for the fallen, that I don’t ever want to hear again.

My Dad and Western States

2011-06-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

My Dad, Dale Owens

My Dad spent his last Father’s Day running a 5k at Mount Tabor in Portland, Oregon. I don’t remember the exact sequence of events and it doesn’t matter enough to do the painful “research”, but I think he was in between 2 surgeries for the brain tumor that ultimately took his life. Three generations of Owens boys ran that day. 2 things vividly stand out in my mind: Nathaniel was high school track and cross country fit, and ran the first half mile with me at about 8:00 pace, which was somewhere in between where I would run, and hanging back for Dad. There were runners he knew and had competed against up ahead of him and he felt like a dog on a leash running next to me. On a long downhill that winds back around itself, I cut him loose and told him to go. Watching him take off at sub 5 minute pace weaving in and out of 8:00 minute runners was amazing to watch. The course was a big loop followed by a shorter loop. You pass by the finish with about a mile to go. Nathaniel and I had both been finished for quite a while when my Dad and Mom came by the finish line together. This turned out to be way more than Dad was capable of and with an easy “quit” in sight, I asked him if he wanted to call it a day. “Nope, I’m fine” was all he said, with a smile. As we passed the finish chute, a race official called me over and explained that everybody else was in and they were getting ready to take the finish chute down. I explained the situation and my Dad’s tenacity. He asked if I knew the remainder of the course as he was going to call the volunteers in, but that he would leave the clock running and finish chute up until we got in. I assured him I knew the course and off we went. The finish area was nearly empty when we got back, but a few volunteers remained as did the finish chute and the clock, 1:08 and some inconsequential seconds.

2 weeks before this Father’s Day, I ran Newport Marathon for the 3rd time. I don’t remember what my goal time was but it must have been 3:40 as I clearly remember hand signaling 1 5 1 and a thumbs up to friends at the half marathon point. I didn’t run 3:40. Despite my good friend, Steve, jumping in and trying to “run me in”, my back tightened up and I “quit” around mile 18. I was shuffling up the last hill (yes, there is a difference between quitting and not finishing) and my Dad was waiting at the top of the hill for me. There was no parking available up there, so I knew he had walked to be “out on the course” for me. He ran the last awkwardly steep downhill to the finish with me. I remember being embarrassed to be coming in late. I don’t know why I always insist on apologizing if my time isn’t what I told people it would be. He didn’t seem to care.

I’ll enjoy Father’s day with my kids and their families this Sunday, then head out for Western States, which will be the biggest running challenge of my running life so far. Dad would have loved this. Jeanne would not be crewing alone, as there would have been nothing on this planet that would have kept him from being a part of it. Dad had 2 great sayings, that rattle around in my brain all the time: “It’s not what you do today, it’s what you do every day, that counts”, has been my training mantra for years. “It’s not how fast you go, it’s how slow you don’t go”, I have only started really appreciating and understanding lately.

I have no idea what’s ahead of me, in the middle of next Saturday night, I’ve never been there before. But I know what Dad would tell me to do.

Western States with Training Wheels

2011-05-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

We’re heading out on Thursday for a training run weekend on the Western States Trail. I’ll be able to run the last 72 miles of the course, broken up over three days. 32 on Saturday and then 20 on Sunday and Monday. They have over 100 people signed up to do this so far, which is cool, since it will feel race ish, but I’m planning on taking it real easy. I’ll be able to run the part of the course that will run at night in the daytime, which seems like a good thing right now, we’ll see if I still feel that way after seeing it!

I’m taking a few clothing and shoe options, wow, that sounds like I should have purses for the ensemble. Normal aide stations will be in place, so I should also get a good feel for distance between stations and where drop bags should be and what should be in them.

Jeanne will also be able to figure out which aide stations she can get to in time. I realize some people do races like this with no crew at all, but a lot of planning needs to go into a crew of one.

I’ve decide to delay the decision on whether to use a pacer at least until after this weekend. It would be nice to have someone that knows the course with me in the dark. But I tend to lose concentration on where I put my feet when I have someone to talk to. Sure, there are other factors like motivation etc, but not getting lost and not running off a cliff or stepping on rolling objects are bigger concerns in my mind right now.

It just occurred to me that I should find cool places to eat down there...........

Seattle Sunshine

2011-05-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

This is mostly just to post some photos. I was in Seattle for a very quick 2 days but had a fantastic run around Green Lake. The kind of morning that you wish you could just run forever, because it feels like you can.


A cup of beer on a bench on a ferry.


Seattle at dusk after sushi.


Aurora bridge on morning run.

Green Lake

This Low

2011-05-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

The good times, seem good enough. I’m gonna try writing about the bad times, and hope to look back and say, “see, it wasn’t that bad”. My running confidence is at an all time low right now. I’m less than eight weeks from Western States, and right now, I feel like it’s going to swallow me whole and spit out my bones. April should have been 300 miles, it was 142.

My left ankle is probably at 80%, but my right one actually hurts more then the left now. I’ve messed up my right side pretty good, probably from compensating. My shoulder hurts, bad. It really doesn’t affect my running but it is another constant pain. MRI reveals a partial posterior and superior tear of the labrum and tendonosis of the sub scapularis and supraspanitus. Not really sure what that means, but what I heard was, “you hurt it, it didn’t heal well, you may need surgery but you can try physical therapy first”.

At the time I wrote the above, I had stopped doing the exercises I was supposed to be doing, hadn’t been to chiro or massage in several weeks and had stopped worrying about what I ate. My general mood was, “what difference does it make, I keep getting hurt anyway”. In the midst of this pity party I said the wrong (or right) words to myself. I said, “even if I do all these things, I’m not going to get back to perfect in time”. Then I thought, “when have you ever been ‘perfect’”. Something always hurts a little, sometimes even a lot. And with that, my pity party was, intellectually at least, over. I started doing my exercises, got adjusted, got a massage, started eating better. And within a few days, running was actually fun again.

A 20 mile night run last weekend was a bit of a struggle finishing at 2:00 AM, but 33 miles this weekend went really well. I can still let myself get freaked out by how little time there is before Western States but for now, I’m trying to follow the best advice I’ve received so far. “I think you have got to think about doing the best you can in any given week and let it take you where it takes you”.

10 miles down, 23 to go to get back to here.

It’s been quite a while since I logged 60 miles in a week but hit 63 last week. Now I just need to string a bunch of those together. I meant to include some links and complete endorsements above but will do it all here at the end instead.

Dr. Zohra Campbell for chiropractic care and yoga instruction and Kristel Wonderly for massage at Indigo Wellness Center have been fantastic. I’m also very impressed with Jeff Blanchard, physical therapist at Therapeutic Associates. And lastly, Cafe 22, whose only drawback is they don’t serve alcohol.

Cafe 22 burger after 33 miles!

Ups and Downs

2011-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

It’s been an up and down 9 weeks. So much so, in fact, that it’s kept me from updating this blog. Before I could finish writing about something good that happened, something bad would happen and I wouldn’t feel like writing about something good. Then, just as I was ready to start writing about the bad stuff, something good would happen and I’d be right back in the same boat, only backwards ish.

So, with the help of my running log, and notes jotted or emails sent to friends. Here goes the last 9 weeks in semi abbreviated form.

5 Miles Per Bride, March 5, 2011

For several weeks, I could feel myself needing a long, point to point, run. I hadn’t been over marathon distance since October, and the loops of my local runs were starting to wear on me. My favorite part of long distance running is getting somewhere. From the minute I signed up for Pacific Rim 24 hour run, which is a one mile loop course on March 19th, I knew I needed a destination run to offset that craziness. The best destinations for me are always food and/or beer, so when I went looking for something 30 to 40 miles away, the destination became obvious, Seven Brides Brewery and Taproom. Seven Brides Brewing is a great story:

“Several years ago, three dads and two uncles would gather on a Saturday in one of their garages to master the art of home brew. Before long, the salesman of the group said, “You know, this is good enough to sell.” So the friends set out to do just that.
The name “Seven Brides” actually came from the dads’ kids. Between the three of them, they have only daughters. With the rising cost of wedding nuptials, the guys decided they needed to sell enough beer to pay for their daughters weddings. Each of the girls has a beer named after her.”

One of those “dads” was Nathaniel and Jewelia’s chemistry teacher in high school, Phill Knoll. Phill is also, I might add, a very good runner.

Shannon, Tracy and Paul at mile 8.

I got very lucky on weather, 6 hours of running and about 10 rain drops, total, on my head. I ran the first 8 miles by myself, then met Paul, Tracy and Shannon at Oak Knoll Golf Course. We picked up Denice and Jane 5 miles later in West Salem. I had some form of company all the way to mile 22. It really helped having a 14 mile distraction. I stayed pretty steady the whole 35. I didn't have much spirit for the uphills, in fact it was pretty laughable how quickly I "gave up" on some of them.

Seven Brides! Mile 35.

I had estimated finishing at Seven Brides Tap Room between 12:30 and 1:00 and pulled in at 12:42. Two young ladies were waiting at the door with a beer and water, saying "Are you Chris? Phil (Knoll) thought you might need this" Doesn't get much better than that!

Have to drink water too!

Maybe it was the distance, maybe I was just really hungry....but at the time, I thought that was one of the best burgers I ever had!

Fall Down Go Boom, March 9, 2011

Post crash

McDonald Forest has been a perpetual source of adventure for me and this night was no different. It was misty, foggy, wet and dark, so pretty much like the rest of this Winter/Spring. Coming down the mountain I was running faster than I could see and I’m blind as a bat at night. While I was on the main trail and I knew the footing was ok, even if I couldn't see it, I could trust it. Once I hit the technical section, I slowed to what seemed a safe pace given what I could see. I was probably no more than 200 meters from being out of the tricky shit and stepped on a root I never saw. My ankle turned and I went flying head first down the hill. My head lamp ended up in the brush, fortunately the light stayed on and I was able to find it. I was pretty messed up. I couldn’t put any weight on my left foot. I banged up my right knee, elbow and shoulder pretty bad. To make matters worse, my already messed up shoulder made using crutches almost impossible, but more on my shoulder later.

Looks worse in bad light!

Pacific Rim 24 Hour, March 19, 2011

10 days after my crash, I was feeling well enough to give Pacific Rim 24 hour a try. I did a test 10 miler the Wednesday before and everything felt good enough. I had three basic goals and some things I wanted to work on. My three goals in no specific order were: Run between 100k and 80 miles, stay on course for as much of the 24 hours as I could without going so deep in the well that I needed a long recovery. These goals were, in some ways, complimentary and contradictory. I went through the first 40 miles pretty comfortably and was well ahead of the pace I wanted. At this point I realized that I was either going to hit the 100k to 80 mile range way too soon, or would eventually be tempted by 100. So I decided to take a break. Physically, this hurt me more than it helped me. Of course my little nap was curled up in the back seat of a sedan, but more on new car selection later. My back really tightened up during the break. I got it loose again after the 40 mile break but took another one at 100k and it never did loosen up after that one. I decided 70 miles seemed like a nice round number in between 62 and 80 and that by virtue of the 2 breaks I accomplished the “staying out there goal” too. My legs felt pretty good and I was still able to run at 70 miles. It was pretty humbling and inspiring watching the leaders go past me every 5 or 6 miles. By midnight there were probably less than 20 people still on the course and they were all studs. The thing about a timed event on a short loop is that you are routinely getting passed by people that are in better shape than you, not necessarily more talented just better trained. It's pretty humbling to watch it go by, again and again.

Awesome picture Jeanne took of me crossing the bridge near midnight.

I Handled food and water really well. Even peed 4 times. I still need some work on early pacing but am getting better and better.

Contacts, March 22, 2011

My crash in the forest confirmed one thing for me, my luck with running while not really being able to see, might have run out. So, thanks to Dr. Huggett I am now an everyday wearer of contacts. So far, so good. I should have done this a long time ago!

Shoulder, April 4, 2011

My right shoulder has bothered me since hurting it throwing a towel over the shower rod in a motel in Pasadena, while there for my sisters wedding. I finally broke down and went to my doctor. His preliminary diagnosis is a torn labrum, but x rays MRI’s and Orthopedist still to come. Surgery, if necessary can wait until after Western States.

Fall Down Go Boom the Sequel, April 10, 2011

Peterson’s Ridge 40 miler, became an 8 miler for me. Stepped on a rock and sprained the same ankle again. I tried to see if hobbling it out would help but quit at 8 miles.

Fall Down Go Boom III, April 23, 2011

I was recovering nicely from sprain 2. I ran a pretty solid 17 miles the next weekend so I decided a guided trip through “the Maze” of MacDonald Forest would be a good idea. Another step on another rock decided otherwise.

Very cool path during 17 miles in Bellevue, WA

I’ve got myself to current. I’m taking a few days off to let my ankle calm down and think through some training decisions. I’m really in need of some positive running experiences right now!

Eventual Milestones

2011-03-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

I’ve been debating the merits of a treadmill at home for years. For the majority of my years running, I’ve had a gym membership. This gave me the opportunity to run on a treadmill when necessary. “When” necessary really is necessary has also been something I’ve debated for years. Coming back from an injury is a good time for treadmill running, as you are never miles away from being done, if something goes wrong. Really, really nasty weather might be another, though I’m skeptical of this. Ice is probably the only weather that should be used as an excuse for running indoors in the Willamette Valley, and we don’t get ice that often. Running while sick is another decent reason. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, with the exception of maybe the first day or two of a fever, I go through several days of too sick to run outdoors but not too sick to run indoors. So, really, this is probably not more than 10 days a year total. That isn’t enough to justify a gym membership, which is why I canceled mine. It certainly isn’t enough to justify purchasing a treadmill for the house, which is exactly what I just did!

Why? I was sick last week. I came back from Vegas with Smoking Redneck Spotted Fever. It drove me crazy to not run for 5 days, that’s part of it. Jeanne will use it for walking when the weather is bad outdoors, that’s another part. And then there is the “solving the morning running, bathroom dilemma” reason, which may end up being the perfect reason to get one. Time will tell. I’ve added a new “surface” to my running log. I started this year tracking surfaces run on. So that I could see how many trail miles I logged. I added a treadmill surface, though I really hope I don’t use it too often. So, to date for 2011, after my 5 day hiatus, I’m at 288 road miles, 36 trail miles, 21gravel road miles and 7 treadmill miles. This brings me to almost 14,000 miles since I started running. I should pass that milestone this weekend. All of this has me pondering things like “can treadmill miles really be counted in distance, since you don’t go anywhere” and “is the impact of body weight minimized on a treadmill, since you aren’t propelling your own body weight forward” and so on.

Mobile test

2011-02-28T15:23:00.001-08:00

It's WonkaVision

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wrestling With What Defines Us

2011-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

I didn’t run this morning. It was on my schedule, 3 in the morning, 5 in the evening, a nice easy day after a tough weekend. I felt really good after my biggest week and weekend so far this year. It was a normal morning. I woke up at 5:45, checked the weather (on my phone, which is also my alarm clock), 40 degrees and raining. No real response other than thinking about what to wear. My closet has a window, the blinds are always closed. I don’t know why I opened them to look outside, I never do this. Once I did, there was no getting dressed. I told myself I’d make it up tonight, but I felt cowardly all day.

Mile 1 from Kings Valley Highway

My penance tonight, was 38 degrees and raining with wind. That seemed about right and fair. I took off for the Baskett Slough, with a wind at my back and light rain.

I was really pleased with my weekend. 16 miles on Friday and 20 miles on Saturday and then a weekend at the coast with very fresh feeling legs. I ran out and back on Saturday, very close to dead even splits. As I was coming back on a country road just outside of town, traffic seemed unusually heavy for a Saturday morning. As I got closer to the high school, I figured out why. A local high school boy, Charley Engelfried, had died last week while wrestling. He pinned his opponent, was declared the winner and then collapsed as he was leaving the mat. He was pronounced dead soon after that, the cause, an enlarged heart. I was running passed the high school, 15 minutes before the memorial service. It seemed surreal to be nearly 50 years old, 18 easy miles into 20, running passed those on their way to mourn the death of a 17 year old boy.

Mile2

The wind was really starting to pick up as I turned down the gravel road. The ducks are starting to pair up in the Baskett Slough, I disturbed them 2 at a time today.

Mile 3, entering the Baskett Slough

The galvanizing force of a child dying is sobering. Even people that didn’t know Charley, and I didn’t, speak with reverence when talking about “the wrestler”. As I was running away from the high school, I wondered if he considered himself “a wrestler”? I ran passed a house where my daughter Jewelia, who was 13 at the time, sold her first violin. The parents were buying it for their daughter. She had never played a violin. The parents didn’t play either. I wasn’t sure how they would, in any way, evaluate the quality and value of the instrument, so I told them what we payed for it, how long Jewelia had played it etc. The parents asked if Jewelia would play it for them, she did, and they bought it. I wondered if the girl still played the violin, I wondered if she ever played it. I wondered if she considered herself “a violinist”?

A little passed mile 4, Baskett Butte trailhead.

The rain started coming down heavier as I started up the trail to the top of Baskett Butte, and as I climbed ice started to mix with rain. As the trail turned toward the South, I could feel the wind that would be in my face the whole way home. At the top of the Butte, the ice in the rain, driven by the wind stung as it hit my face.

Mile 5, the top of Baskett Butte, looking toward home.

It seems there should be a difference between what defines us and how we are defined. For years, as a child, Jewelia had a hand written motivational phrase pinned on her wall. “We can’t know who we are, until we know what we can do”. I don’t know who said it, I’ve googled it many times with no success. Being “The Wrestler” didn’t define Charley but I hope the hard work and discipline of wrestling helped him define himself. Music doesn’t define Jewelia, but I know that every aspect of her is influenced by her love and commitment to her music. Lawyer, father, salesman, artist, astronaut, runner are all just descriptions, aspects of us all. It’s our pursuit of these things, our finding out what we can do, that tells us who we are.

I planned this run to be hard coming back. I stopped to take pictures on the way out, with the wind at my back and daylight still in the sky. Now, with darkening clouds in front of me, and a strong wind in my face I ran strong home. Attacking the hill coming out of the Baskett Slough, checking my watch at the 2 miles to home mark. “If I hammer it, I’m home by 6:15”. Tonight, thanks in part to thoughts of my reluctance to run in the morning and thoughts of Charley and Jewelia and everything that defines us, I ran well. Tonight, I was a runner.

3 Nights In the Forest

2011-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

Western States will have many elements that I have very little experience with. First, there’s the 100 miles, more on that later. I do very little trail running, very little hill running and very little night running. So, when I found out about a group of runners in Corvallis that run up McCulloch Peak, in McDonald Forest, and then back down. I thought, trails, hills, night, Wednesdays in Corvallis, that sounds perfect. Ah, the best laid plans.....

Night 1
I’d been nursing a tight lower back for a few days, I had voices in my head and outside my head telling me I probably shouldn’t, but the emails inviting me to come run seemed so nice and genuine and, I'm stubborn and self centered so I decided to run anyway. The "group" meets at the Oak Creek Trail Head at 5:30 on Wednesdays and hikes/runs up to the top of McCulloch Peak and then back down. I misjudged how long it would take to get there and arrived at 5:40 which is dark! There were several cars in the parking lot, and only one trail visible, so I figured they may have a 5 to 6 minute head start on me. I'll take off and either catch them on the way up or meet them on the way back. About a quarter mile up the trail I came to a “T” with trail going in either direction, I guessed left, went another half mile ish and came to a fork, I guessed left again and ran for a little bit until the trail turned into a bushwhacked trail at best! “This can't be right” I ran back down to the fork and took off right. It might be worth noting, at this point, that not only was it pitch black but very foggy, and there were glowing eyes in the woods. I went up the right fork for a while and the trail just ends. I see a little bushwhacked trail and follow it for a while but it's really overgrown. It seemed doubtful that 5 to 8 people ran through here, but I got down on my hands and knees to examine the tracks in the mud just to be sure. Deciding they hadn’t gone this way I turned around and ran all the way back to the original “T”. I remembered that there was a little kiosk at the trail head, and thinking maybe there was a map and that I was sure it was less than a quarter mile back to the trail head, I headed back. Yes, there was a map, but, it's really small, behind glass with condensation and I have no glasses on. There was no way I could read it. I run back up to the “T” and head right, which is slightly downhill, get to another fork, one way goes up, the other down. I choose up! For the first time I'm now on a serious uphill, with switchbacks, so I'm now convinced I'm on the right trail and start to calculate how long it should have taken them to get to the top and at what point I should see them coming down and give myself a time to run to. I get to that time and still haven't seen a soul. Well, I’ve seen eyes, so, without departing into an meaningless discussion on whether woodland critters have souls, I decide to run for another 5 minutes and if I still haven't seen anyone, I’ll head back and call it good. 5 more minutes and no sign of anyone, 'cept the eyes in the woods. I turn around and run the downhill switchbacks in the foggy black, successfully making it back to trailhead. No falls, a few stumbles, no running off a cliff and no badger attacks, and also, no cars in the parking lot except mine. So, by process of elimination, they must have gone right and then right....and then who knows?

I did get and hour and 40 minutes of peaceful solitude, running with the woodland creatures.....just not quite they way I'd planned it.

Night 2

I made sure I wasn't late to meet the Corvallis, run in the forest at night, group. I was about 10 minutes early, and introduced myself to each as they arrived, 10 of us in all, plus 4 dogs. They were all good looking runners, and very nice and friendly. A few from the group are running Western States this year. We started off down a forest service road, NOT on the trail that I started on last week, so I had no chance of ever going the right way last week. The ascent, for them, was a mixture of walking at a pace I couldn't match and running. I ended up running much more of it than the others because I just couldn't walk that fast. 1,600 feet of elevation in 4 miles was a grunt, to say the least, but the clear skies and a full moon were amazing. On the way up I noticed that the batteries in my headlamp were dying and the light was getting dim, it wasn't really an issue going up because the pace was slower and I could use the light from others mixed with mine to see my footing. We took about a 5 minute break at the summit, looked at the stars and the city lights, which was really cool, then headed down. It didn't take long on the descent to realize I had a problem. A, they were flying town the mountain, B, I couldn't see well enough to keep up. I was staying within about a 100 meters, occasionally losing sight around turns. At one point on the way down I saw lights in the woods to the right of me at about the same elevation. I remember thinking that if that was them, they must be further ahead of me than I thought, because the trail must have turned back somewhere, so I picked up the pace as much as I dared. My light was almost dead by this point. The next 15 minutes was a surreal combination of, "I don't remember hearing a creek beside the trail on the way up.......oh, that stump looks familiar.......I don't remember a deep muddy section like on the way up.....I'm heading downhill and obviously east.....I'm at least going the right direction".....and then, an orange gate and a road. Sulpher Springs road to be exact. I have no idea where I missed the turn, although it was obviously just before I saw the “lights in the woods". There were two houses a little ways down the road, so I headed that direction to see if I could get directions to the trail head. Having made it to something resembling civilization, heading back into the forest didn't seem like a wise idea. The first house I came to was inhabited by a very nice man named Gene, who was a retired Timber Faller, I'm not sure what that is, exactly, but he mentioned it about 24 times, so I remembered. I asked how to get back to the forestry station and he said it was about 4 miles and gave directions that really didn't seem correct. As I was debating following, what seemed like flawed, directions or heading back into the forest he offered to drive me to the trail-head, which I took him up on. This meant several stories about logging in the old days and asking me if I knew several people, I didn't know any of the names he asked about. By the time we got to the trail head, all of the cars were still there as were a few of the runners, they seemed genuinely relieved to see me safe and informed me that a group of 6 had headed back out to look for me. My first instinct was to head out looking for them, but was wisely advised to stay put. I thanked them and told them they could go, that I would wait for the rescue party to return.

Then things got really strange. 2 guys with mountain bikes showed up, they were heading into the forest, on bikes, at 8:00 PM. We asked them to let the search party know that I was back safe, if they ran into them. Then a giant semi truck comes pulling up this dead end single lane
road, explaining that he was coming from Albany, looking for hwy 99 and got lost, making my getting lost look damn near normal. This was a HUGE truck, the kind that looks like it could house a small family in the cabin. He then proceeded to spend the next half hour trying to turn the truck around using the driveway of the forestry station. There was no way he was going to make it without a bunch of cars being moved. Cars that belonged to the people in the search party. Eventually 4 of the search party of 6 returned, explaining that all had figured out that I had run down to Sulpher Springs road so the other 2 were going to go that far looking for me and then head back. We were able to move enough cars for the truck to get turned around and he, at least, was rescued, though I have no confidence that he'll get where he hopes to go. The 4 left a note on one of the cars of the 2, said that they were heading home, and that I should feel comfortable doing the same. I had told Jeanne I should be back to my car by about 7:15, the trail head is out of cell range so she didn't get any word from me til almost 8:45. She was, justifiably, worried. I owe a huge thank you to everyone, but especially Frank and John, who not only stayed out on a very cold night looking for me, but were very gracious in responding to my apology email and inviting me out to try it again.

Night 3

I know this isn’t very suspenseful but, I made it! I didn’t get lost, I didn’t fall down and it was so much fun. We started out in heavy fog, which makes the headlamp less of a light and more of a vapor machine, but about half way up we rose above the clouds and it was clear, warm and unbelievably beautiful. As it turns out, the trail that I thought I missed last week, wasn’t even correct, I actually got off course even before then, so had I decided to double back, I may not have figured it out. This is, and will be, a great weekly workout for me in preparation for Western States, provided I can stay unlost until then.

Shoes n Such

2011-01-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Baskett Slough Trail

2011 will be my year on trails. Of my almost 14,000 miles run in the last 8 years I bet I don't have more than 200 total miles on trails. That will change big time this year. Ive got 5, maybe 6, trail events coming up prior to the big trail event, Western States in June. I've scouted out some places to get some good trail training close to home, and I even got some trail shoes! After a lot of research, advice and a frustrating sales person experience, I've settled on the Brooks Cascadia 5.

My new Brooks Cascadia 5

I'm a pretty loyal shoe wearer. My first pair of running shoes were a pair of Saucony that I got from a discount rack. My second pair, was the result of "expert" guidance, Asics 2070. Since then I've worn nothing but the 2000 series Asics, going through a new pair every 6 to 8 weeks. I just took 16 pairs of them to Goodwill a few days ago. So, switching to a new shoe is a pretty big deal. My most important feature in a trail show was traction. The trail running I have done in road shoes has, at times, been more like skating than running. My first run in the Cascadias was on very slippery trails. We had a lot of rain and then temps in the 20's. Muddy, icy and slippery in the Baskett Slough.

Icy but no wind


The Baskett Slough

More Baskett Slough

They felt really good. I ran pretty aggressive, especially on the downhills and my footing was very good considering the conditions. I didn't make a pretty sharp downhill turn and ended up crashing through some brush, so there are limits to their traction. Fortunately there was brush off trail to run into, and not a cliff (insert smiley face here). The sole is thicker than my road shoes and at times I felt a little disconnected from the ground, but I also didn't feel the rocks on the gravel road either. This will be a once a week run for the next month or so, until the days get a little longer. I will also do several night runs here in preparation for Western States, now that I'm less afraid of the things that go bump in the night.

Furry Friend

Working on Mysteries, 2011

2010-12-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

The big event that put all other plans temporarily on hold has come and gone. I’m in for Western States. I can now start to put 2011 together, but it also provided a very nice 1 month mental running vacation, that I think I really needed. I only ran when I had nothing else to do, instead of planning my days around my running. I ran 71 miles for the month of November, it’s been good for my legs, good for my head and good for my life.

Now, my next 6 months will be preparing for Western States. I’ll figure out some races between here and there, but everything will point to the 100 miles between Squaw Valley and Auburn on June 25th. I ran my first longish, 16 miles, run since October this morning. I actually ran 14 miles last weekend but it was with friends, talking the whole way. I really think that hours spent running alone in your own head is as much a part of ultra training as miles on the legs. I’ve spent the majority of my 7 years running, thinking that the way to make running harder is to run faster, and I still think that’s true, but I need to learn some new things. I need to search out some hurdles that I generally avoid. The big one is hills. I don’t mind running hills, and I ran some pretty big ones last year, but I don’t go looking for them. And I need to be running downhills as much as up hills. That’s almost the entire Western States course, you’re either going up steep, or coming down steep. If it’s windy, I usually try and start into the wind and finish with a tail wind, I need to start reversing that when I can too. On runs over 3 hours, if Jeanne crews me, I need to have predetermined breaks, like an aid station would be rather than have her where ever I decide I want a break. I’m not sure how it got stuck, but the Bob Seger song Night Moves has been stuck in my head, “working on mysteries, without any clues”.

So this morning I started out with a pretty strong wind at my back, yesterdays heavy rain having also enticed thousands of worms onto the road. As I left the pavement and headed into the Baskett Slough my road companions changed from worms to newts, everywhere. I ran some hills, not big ones, but enough to make me think.

As I was getting dressed to run, I was watching a show about poachers in Africa and the effects they have on different species. Their concerns were the same problems that humans hunting creates in general, that we search out the largest, most dominant male animals. This leaves lesser males to reproduce, which weakens the breed of the species over time. As I was running through the Baskett Slough, I thought about how many friends I know that have chosen to not have children. Smart, strong, healthy people deciding to not breed, while Harvey Danger Lyrics, “Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding”, rattle around in my head. I wonder if, as a species, we aren’t poaching ourselves, and why? Careers, travel, not wanting to bring children into a cruel world, “my dogs are my children”, I know all the words, but I don’t know if that answers why. Maybe it’s pretentious to believe that having children betters the world in some way, but millions will be born every year without those hopes, anyway.

As I made the turn to head south at Van Duzer Vineyards, with 5 miles to go, the headwind brought me back to running. I could see rain coming over the coast mountains and figured I should make it home before it hit. I could feel fatigue in my legs during the last few miles, strange to feel that after 15 miles at an easy pace. The oak trees are bare with the exception of moss and mistletoe, by the time they have their leaves, these 16 mile runs through the Baskett Slough will be an easy day, and Western States will be getting close.

2010 A Space Oddity

2010-11-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

I had three goals for 2010. I had a lot of things I wanted to do, but only three that could really be considered goals. Those three were, PR in both the 10k and Half Marathon, and complete a 100 mile event.

Then, some funny things happened on the way to the Forum. For starters, I didn’t even run a half marathon, all year. I did PR in the 10k, minutes after learning Nathaniel had been in a car accident that brought a house down....well at least a garage. My 100 mile attempt, while a great learning experience, ended much the same way Nathaniel's car and said garage did.

So, I thought I’d salvage what was left of a Summer of hard work with an attempt at Qualifying for Boston at the Tri Cities Marathon, in Richland WA last weekend. I needed 3:30 to qualify for Boston, 8:00 minute pace. It’s not so much that I’ve gone out too fast in the last few, it’s more what those early miles have taken out of me mentally.

Just before the start.

Halloween Day, I ran my smartest and probably best marathon ever. I didn't hit the split button on my watch, I just was casually aware of my time. I know the first mile was 7:47. I know at mile 6 I was 12 seconds behind pace. I know at mile 9 I was about 30 seconds back. I know that I went over the half marathon mat just under 1:46. I know that miles 14 and 15 were both just under 8:00 minute pace because I was worried that I was slowing down, but thought it strange that nobody was passing me. I was more relaxed being a minute behind pace than I’ve ever been being a minute or two ahead.

Mile 14 and blue skies.

Mile 16 was up and over the cable bridge with the now very strong cold winds at my back. The short distance with a tail wind wasn’t worth the tightening in my back. Coming off the bridge I slowed quite a bit and tried to get my back loose. Once I got back up on the river path with the wind in the face my back felt better, this was really the first time, at mile 17, that I really concerned myself with my
time. I was now 2 minutes back. I felt strong and was ready for work to begin. The wind was now 25 mph straight into our face and would be that way the entire 10 miles coming back in. I ran as hard as I've ever run in a marathon from 17 to 20, but my times were 8:15, 8:21 and 8:23, this felt like 7:30 effort and maybe it was. The wind was so strong at times that it would blow me off line, at mile 20, almost 4 minutes down and not able to get close to 8:00 pace. I went through a very strange 2 minutes of pragmatism arguing with desperation and realized, it was over. I took my foot off the gas and enjoyed an easy run in.

While 2010 won’t end with a long list of accomplishments, it might be my most satisfying year running. The run from The Dalles to Sisters really cemented my love for multi day journey running that will be a big part of my running in the future. I also think I truly understand some things that I thought I knew, but I really didn’t comprehend.

I’ve got a lot of ideas for 2011, but all of those decisions will have to wait until after Dec 4th.

Raised from the dead

2010-10-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

I've been fine. I realized, in the week following Lean Horse, that I had a ton of base miles in my legs that didn't get used up. So, I picked a marathon 8 weeks out. I've been putting in a lot of speed and tempo runs. And so, at the risk of jinxing myself, I'm in pretty good form to take a shot at a Boston Qualifying time on October 31 at the Tri Cities Marathon in Richland, WA.

2011 Boston Marathon sold out in 8 hours when registration opened this week, so if I do run under 3:30, I'll be qualifying for 2012.

I've made a few other conditional decisions. I'm going to enter the Western States Lottery next month. My qualifying time is still good. If I get in, I'll assume this is the universe guiding me. If I don't, I'll figure some other things out. Regardless, I'm about 99% committed to running across Oregon next summer. I'll run from the California border to the Washington border along hwy 97. When, in the summer, will depend on Western States.

My last long run is home from work tomorrow. I've been working half day on Saturdays for the last 6 weeks, so my long runs have been the 18 miles home from work, plus what ever extra miles I need. Tomorrow I just need the 18, which is nice.

9 days to Richland. Weather looks good, low of 42, high of 59, with no rain. I'm feeling pretty good about this!

Wild, crazy and dead: Lean Horse Hundred 2010

2010-09-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

Lean Horse, my first 100 miler. It would be tempting to start at the end and get it over with but.....Jeanne and I flew into Billings Montana on Thursday. It was the closest airport we could use frequent flyer miles, but it required a 5 hour car drive to Hot Springs. It was 103 degrees when we landed, and “big sky country” was as advertised. As we drove, I found myself grateful for the way the plan had worked out. The long drive gave a sense of arrival, I anticipated a long drive back as a sense of victorious departure. With a belly full of purchased food and from an air conditioned car it’s easy to appreciate the beautiful emptiness of Montana and Wyoming. But as we drove past the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn, without seeing the buffalo roam, or the deer and the antelope play, it's hard to imagine wars fought over this desolation.

Where buffalo roam.

We did see deer and antelope and even buffalo but not in the same quantities of another nomadic species. Sparkling Harleys, rolling, like middle aged water, downhill toward Sturgis. It’s strange how it is that some people get stuck in places others escape to. And most of these places shared one of three adjectives; wild, crazy or dead.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are absolutely beautiful. Lean Horse is a very well organized event, and the town of Hot Springs and everybody affiliated with the race made this seem like the perfect choice for my first hundred. I was well trained and well rested, and I fully expected to have very fresh legs early. I also had a plan, and in the end it was having a plan that proved to be my undoing.

Just before the start.

There were aid stations every 4.5 to 6.5 miles apart. The third aid station was at mile 16 and this was the first one that Jeanne could meet me at. My plan was to start with two bottles of Infinit, that would last me until I met Jeanne at 16. After that, I figured it would take me less than an hour to go from aid station to aid station so I would pick up one bottle of Infinit at each aid station. The Harbach aid station was at mile 35 with 6.5 miles of moderate uphill after. I planned on getting to Harbach around 1:00 PM and figured it would be getting hot around then. I figured that would be the first time I’d take 2 bottles with me.

On the Mickelson Trail

This might not have been a bad plan, but the mistake was having no alternative plan. The first 16 miles took me longer than expected, I felt a little sluggish to start and the Argyle road hill from mile 4 to 16 is a pretty decent climb frequently into a headwind. It was also close to 80 degrees by 9:00am as I came into Argyle aid station. I had used up my 2 bottles and had been out for 3 hours, I should have taken 2 new bottles but I didn’t, because that wasn’t the plan. This lack of adaptation created a death spiral for myself. The more dehydrated I got, the longer it took me to get from aid station to aid station, the longer it took me, the more dehydrated I got. I was really struggling at mile 25, I tried to go pee but couldn’t. I was worried about how far behind my expected paced I was and I panicked. Had I taken the time to rest, hydrate and pee at that point, I think I could have corrected my earlier mistakes, but I didn’t. I had already thrown up once so I didn’t want more food, I took one bottle and off I went. By the time I hit Harbach at mile 35 I was 2 hours behind where I expected to be, but I took a break anyway. I drank some coke, changed my socks and toweled down with a cold wet towel. I left that aid station with 2 bottles and ran that 6.5 better than I had for quite a while. Jeanne was surprised to see me when I got there, and I told her that I thought I was starting to “come around”. I was even starting to think positively, I told myself that if I just took it easy through the heat of the day, and it was now in the 90’s, and kept making progress that when it cooled down at night I’d be ok. The slight downhill out of the Mountain aid station brought with it a new problem, a stabbing pain in my lower back with each step. It was ok if I walked but almost unbearable if I ran. I initially thought it was muscle cramping, but as I went along it felt less and less like muscle pain. As the trail flattened out around the 45 mile aid station it didn’t hurt quite as bad as it had on the downhill. I took 2 more bottles and a little food. In addition to already obvious dehydration issues I had created for myself, I also wasn’t eating enough. The Infinit is 220 calories per bottle, above and beyond that, I’d had a few bites of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, half a granola bar, a cliff shots gel and a half a banana. All by itself I don’t think this would have been a problem and I think I would have eaten more once the weather cooled down, had I made it that far. I reached the turn around in just over 12 hours, still well under the cutoff but more than 2 hours later than I’d expected. My lower back hurt every time I tried to run and I started thinking about the prospects of walking the 50 miles back. I say thinking, I did the math and realized it could be done, but the idea of walking more than half of something I had referred to as a race I just couldn’t reconcile.

“The saddest of times were when I was racing and no one else was aware of it.”
John E. Morelock, Run gently out there, 2010

As I walked the bridge that crossed the highway leading to Hill City, I just couldn’t convince myself that I wanted to walk for 16 to18 hours through the night. I decided somewhat by submission that if I couldn’t run, I didn’t want to continue. It was around this time that I looked down and for the first time noticed that my stomach was huge. And then pieces started really falling in and out of place, and I also realized for the first time, that I hadn’t peed all day. I didn’t know what it would take to get myself back to being able to run, I knew I’d have to get rid of the water my body was collecting. I wondered if I kept walking, would I eventually pee and would I then be ok. I wondered if I rested for an hour, would that help. It was in these wondering moments that I lost the will to continue. I knew something was wrong me, though I didn’t believe, at the time, it was dehydration. I told the people at the aid station I couldn’t be dehydrated, “I’ve had 40 oz of fluid per hour all day” and I believed that. After I officially dropped out, Jeanne drove me back to the Harbach station with medical aide to have someone “look at me”. They said I was severely dehydrated and insisted I go to the hospital. I argued with them too, insisting I’d had plenty of fluids. I told the same story when I arrived in the emergency room. By now, however, I was fighting against armed resistance, a prostate exam revealed an enlarged prostate that would not allow a catheter to be inserted despite 2 valiant attempts on their part and a lot of screaming and crying on my part. As they were preparing for a third attempt I begged for other alternatives, even offering to drink Drano if necessary. I eventually convinced them to let me try and pee on my own. I managed to produce a few ounces of something that looked like iced tea, which gave them something to analyze and allowed them to start an IV. I had to stay until I could pee again on my own and that took several hours but I did, it still looked like iced tea. My lab results indicated a low grade infection, but it also showed my electrolyte levels to be good. By this time I had started thinking about each aid station, and Jeanne had my splits recorded and I began to realize my big mistake. My plan had no back up plan. It feels really stupid to say this now but, I truly didn’t anticipate or prepare for any deviation from this plan until around mile 60.

I’ve been examined by my doctor, once home, and had new lab work done and according to Dr. Weaver I’m “Back to perfectly normal”. I don’t think there was anything wrong with me other than dehydration and bad decisions. I’m back running, feel great and on to new challenges.

There is more to it than that, and maybe it’s why it’s taken me so long to write this. We lie to ourselves all the time, sometimes it’s for the best, sometimes not. Sometimes it allows us to gain perspective on things, sometimes it allows us to postpone feelings until we can deal with them later. But regardless of the reasons, or explanations of subconscious, I’ve always maintained that at 2:00 AM, staring at the ceiling, everybody knows the truth about themselves. This was my first DNF, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve quit. Despite slogans like “Just Do It”, and phrases of “giving a 110%” and “laying it all on the line”, most of life is really just an exploration into what makes us surrender. I’ve never run a race without a goal time. I’ve never had a goal time that I didn’t think I could accomplish. Sometimes I beat this goal time but I usually don’t. At some point in any race, if you push hard enough you will find out where you quit. When I hear marathon runners or now ultra marathon runners refer to a 5k as “easy” I know, they’ve never tried running one fast enough then. We all will quit if pushed hard enough. What made this DNF so hard to swallow was it wasn’t because of how hard I pushed, it was because of decisions I made. At mile 55, in the condition I was in, I know I made the right decision to quit. But the truth is, I was intimidated by 100 miles. I expected to have no problems until mile 60 because my brain needed to have no problems until mile 60, because I couldn’t get my head all the way around 100. When I struggled, early, I panicked. I’m intelligent enough to have done the arithmetic to figure out how much fluid I needed given the pace and the heat, I just refused to address a problem in the first 60 miles because I was scared. That was a lot of training, a lot of money and a lot of patience on Jeanne’s part for me to come to that conclusion, but it’s the truth.

8 days to Lean Horse

2010-08-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

It's getting really close. 2 days ago, this was titled 10 days to Lean Horse, then I didn't finish it, then I ran some more, now it's 8 days to Lean Horse, I'm starting to get really fidgety. Last Wednesday, I had it in my mind that under no circumstances did I want to run the route home from work again, so with no real plan in mind other than to try and meet up with friends for part of it I ran aimlessly all over Salem. I ended up with 18 miles instead of 20 and felt really worthless for the effort. Saturday and Sunday, I put clear plans together, followed the route, the food plan etc. and had very good 20 and 16 miles runs in very hot conditions, there is something to that whole positive thinking crap. This Wednesday I just sucked it up and ran home from work, with no drama. I had a good planning ahead moment and a bad one this past week. The good one involved shoes. There is a movie called Spirit of the Marathon, it's an ok documentary following several runners as they prepare for the Chicago Marathon a few years ago. One of the runners the film follows is Deena Kastor the American Women's marathon record holder. There is a scene in the movie where Denna receives her shoes from her sponsor company, Asics. She receives a huge case of them! Probably 20 pairs of shoes. Not 20 different kinds for her to try out, 20 of the exact same shoe because at 120 to 140 miles a week, you go through a lot of shoes! Well I ordered 2 pairs at a time for the first time and it reminded me of that scene, I even said "Look, I'm Deena Kastor light".

Shoes for Lean Horse arrived in plenty of time.

LH1 and LH2

Each shoe will have about 50 miles of "break in" miles. I'm not planning on changing shoes during the race, but will have a second pair ready just in case. The bad decision, was with my Infinit Nutrition Drink. I can't believe after my miscalculation on my run to Sisters, that I almost let it happen again, but I would not have had enough for Lean Horse. So I had to make an emergency purchase, pay for 2nd day shipping etc. That's gonna be some expensive koolaid.

Last full week, 68 miles total with a long of 20. I have a 20 miler this Saturday and 12 slow on Monday, other than that just easy 3 to 5 mile runs each day to keep loose......crazy close now!!!

3 weeks to Lean Horse

2010-08-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

The highlight of last weeks running was my 6 hour night time run in The Basket Slough. This is my favorite local place to run. It is the scene of my embarrassing Virgin in the Dark night time running episode. I chose it for this run to force myself to use a headlamp for a long run, but I may also have chosen it to exorcise some “things that go bump in the night” demons. Sure enough, first pass through, all I see are glowing eyes everywhere I look, and I have this overwhelming sensation of being watched and it is seriously creepy. Second pass through, I force myself to stop and look into the trees and brush and confirm that yep, there are dozens of deer everywhere. Once I convinced myself they were deer, I learned to take some comfort in their presence, figuring that if they were there, nothing higher on the food chain was. The run was very successful, I ran through the transition from dusk to dark, and ran until 2:30 AM so I experienced running sleepy. Many people complain about motion sickness from running with a headlamp. I don’t ever get motion sickness from anything, so I didn’t expect any problems, but it’s nice to know that I can go that long with a headlamp with no issues. I had some uncomfortable chafing issues chronicled in a separate post if you’re morbidly curious. I added grilled chicken to my approved foods list, I meant to try chicken broth too, but forgot all about it. That 30 miles was my last “long” run before Lean Horse. I’ve got a few more 16 and 20 milers, but I get to start slowly decreasing my overall miles. The only downside is I’ve been eating like crazy, and have grown especially fond of chocolate milkshakes, at all times of day. I’ll need to start cranking the calories back as I taper the miles, which is too bad.

For the week. 64 miles with a long of 30. I’m feeling pretty good about where I am right now. I just need to take care of the little things, like lists and supplies and chafing recovery!

Fear and Chafing

2010-08-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Warning, this blog contains subject matter that may be considered mature in nature. Seriously, a warning.....if you keep reading, you can’t TMI or WTF me later......stop now.

Ok.

I have long contended that Runners World was not intended for runners that actually run a lot. Because if it was written for runners that run a lot of miles, every other article would be about chafing or diarrhea or urine color or frostbite on seemingly valuable appendages. There’s an old runners quote, “Run long enough and something is bound to happen”. This is true, and that something frequently involves losing skin from someplace painful.

I use Body Glide to prevent chafing. Like many things running related, there may be better products available, I experimented until I found something that worked, then I stopped trying other things. I need it more in the winter when my skin is either cold and/or wet, and usually use it on runs 20 miles or longer regardless of the weather. It used to go on (from top to bottom), the inside of my arms, my nipples, the small of my back at my shorts line, pretty much everywhere inside my shorts/between my legs and all over my feet. At my current weight, 148 thanks for asking, I don’t need it on my arms and small of my back.

I ran out of Body Glide a week or so ago. It’s not a big emergency in the Summer, I run without a shirt most of the time, and I needed to go to Portland to get more shoes and figured I’d get more Glide when I was there. Then, the trip to Portland kept getting delayed, and before I knew it it was Saturday Night and I was getting ready for a 30+ mile run in the middle of the night and knew that I needed Glide. I get these little sample bottles of different anti chafing stuff in race bags all the time and usually just throw them in a box full of stuff I don’t know why I save. I retrieved one and applied it everywhere Glide goes.

I am here to report that not all anti chafing lubricants are created equal. It was cold and pretty windy in the Basket Slough Saturday night. It’s 3 miles from one entrance to the other, so I was basically running the same three miles back and forth, into the wind one way, with the wind the other. By my third trip into the wind, my nipples were rubbed raw. As I came up to the car at the Hwy 22 entrance I asked Jeanne to grab me a new shirt, thinking that might help, it didn’t. For a while I was running with one hand in my shirt to hold it away from my chest, then decided to tie the shirt around my waist and be cold. At some point I glanced at my watch, which I wear on the underside of my wrist (in running mode) and noticed red spots all over the palm of my hand. It took a minute for me to realize what it was from but when I turned the beam of my head lamp onto my chest I looked like a nursing mother for a vampire baby!

I arrived at the Hwy 99 side and found Lynn waiting with Jeanne and taking pictures. He also offered band aid advice, which turned out to be a great suggestion and meant I got a picture with P n J sammich in my mouth and bandaids on my tits! They did work. I was able to wear a shirt over them and had no further issues......well, until the hot water of the shower hit them at 3:00 AM!

Jeanne waiting for me at 11:00 PM

18 miles raw

Sammiches and Bandaids

4 weeks to Lean Horse

2010-08-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

If I didn’t keep a running log it might be difficult to go back and piece together the week of running before the wedding. Jewelia and Tyler are married and somewhere on the California Coast I presume. There was surreal light on the Oregon Coast for the wedding, William Bragg, an amazing Salem Photographer has posted one shot from the wedding, we all can’t wait for more. I set out to run an easy 8 miles last Monday and let myself get sucked into 8 hill repeats at Bush Park in the middle. Wednesday was one of my toughest 20 miles home from work runs in quite a while. Hectic day at work, not enough to eat that day, hot, grouchy, no energy from step one. At mile 5 I said to myself, “self, what’s the worse that happens, you get home at 8:00?” Things didn’t get any better from there, but they didn’t get any worse. I’ve got 7 long runs left between now and Lean Horse, they aren’t all gonna be perfect. I had a very good chiro visit and very painful massage on Thursday and ran 9 miles in Lincoln City Saturday morning, pretty fast. I’m not running fast very often these days and it felt really good. I said when I got back, “I could have raced today”. Then I found out good friends Bill and Steve had finished first and second at the Liberty House 10k in Salem that morning!

I’m continuing to experiment with foods. Everything I ate on Wednesday I didn’t like, but that might just have been me, I didn’t like anything Wednesday. A 6 hour night run, back to back 20’s and then 4 other 20 milers and then I better be ready. As I have no real idea what’s ahead of me, I feel ignorant saying this, but I feel ready. My weight is dropping but strength is staying. I was 148 this morning and I’ve never been this low, this far away from a big race. I’ve also never felt this strong at this weight before. I’m pretty confidant in the training I’ve done so far, and what’s left as far as training goes doesn’t scare me.....well the 6 hours at night does a little.

For the week. 43 miles with a long of 20. My legs feel really good after an easy week and the stress of the wedding behind me. I’m looking forward to a week where running is the challenge!

5 weeks to Lean Horse

2010-07-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve decided to do weekly update on my preparations for my first 100 mile race, The Lean Horse Hundred in Hot Springs South Dakota. A good friend of mine crewed his father in law for a 50 miler this weekend and his father in law had to drop at 30 miles, due to stomach issues. I jokingly suggested that he blame his crew. As it turns out he was trying an electrolyte replacement drink he’d never used before on race day. I sometimes think I over obsess about race details. I know, back in the old days, guys just showed up and ran. They drank out of streams or garden hoses, ate whatever they could find, or nothing at all and from all reports, did just fine. Of course, these mostly oral traditions have probably left out all of the details of when that lack of planning didn’t work out.

I got quite a bit of warm weather running in this last week. I got a little dehydrated on my 20 mile run on Wednesday, just got caught on a longish stretch with no water anywhere. I’m trying to really tune into and fine tune my understanding of my bodies requirements for fluids, food and electrolytes. I experimented with some different foods on my 35 mile run on Saturday. I’m trying to add anything to my current list of foods I can eat while running. Prior to Saturday, that was a list of 1, P n J sammiches. Well I guess Fritos and Coke would make it 3. I have now added Clif Shots raspberry gel, and bananas to the approved foods list. If anybody receives a grant to study the affects of Coca Cola on athletes late in an ultra event, I want to be first in line as a test subject. It’s almost spiritual.

35 miles went really well on Saturday. I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep so I got a 40 minute head start on my day. It was pretty hot by the time I finished so the early start was nice. I ran 4 miles on my own, then 7 ish with Jane, who drove all the way out from Salem to get an early run in and beat the heat. Jeanne met me on the road at mile 18 and road crewed me the rest of the way. I ran into a little bit of blues between mile 18 and 22, but then recovered and ran the last 7 really strong. Then my 3rd burger of July and a beer at Block 15 in Corvallis, love love love that place.

For the week. 76 miles with a long of 35. This weeks mileage will be down a little, what with Jewelia and Tyler’s impending nuptials....funny word.

Epilogue, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

Smith Rocks

To begin, I hate excuses. I followed a shirt in the Newport Marathon several years ago that said, paraphrasing, “After all the explanations and all the excuses, at the end of the day, what you accomplish is exactly what you intended”. Having said that, I did a lot of things right and I made some mistakes, and hopefully I learned some things. I think the challenge was fair. I think completing it in 4 days was within my abilities and I think I trained well for it. I’ve broken my thoughts into a couple of categories.

The course and daily mileage. Putting big miles and big hills together early took it’s toll but I’m not sure how I could have broken the miles up any differently. Doing less miles on either Day 1 or Day 2 probably would not have saved the day 3 meltdown (much more on that later) and I would have just been further from the finish. If anything, maybe 2 or 3 more miles on Day 1 and/or getting all the way to the bottom of Cow Canyon on Day 2 might have helped but these thoughts are exclusively with the benefit of hindsight, so I think I planned the course about as well as I could.

The heat. When I planned this run back in the Winter, I knew it would be hot. When we had such a mild early Summer, I started getting the feeling that the first heat wave of the year would hit on my week. When the forecast was going up with each day closer to the start I was mentally preparing myself for heat. In the week before the run I tried to schedule all of my runs for the heat of the day, but these days were rarely even in the 70’s. No amount of mental preparation was going to help a jump from the 60’s to the 90’s. I got a late start on Day 1 and spent more time in the heat than I needed to, other than that I was starting at dawn each day. As tough as the heat was I think the constant exposure to the sun was worse. It was hotter on my run up the Gorge last year but I was moving from shade to sun regularly. On this run I was never in the shade, ever!

Calories, salt and water. Here is where I made some big mistakes. I rely on a drink blend from Infinit Nutrition to provide me with 220 calories and enough sodium and electrolytes in 20 oz of water per hour. This has worked very well for me for a while now. But, I have a confession. I don’t know if I made an arithmetic error or I didn’t realize how much Infinit drink I would go through or a combination of the two, but it was obvious after Day 1 that I did not bring enough Infinit. I have a back up plan, S Caps, a sodium and electrolyte pill, just in case I get to the point where I can’t keep Infinit down. I have a second confession. I have a bad habit, when I’m feeling strong, of thinking I don’t need anything. It’s stupid, maybe even semi machismo, to wave off volunteers at an aid station or to tell Jeanne, I’m fine, I don’t need anything. A few things happened on Day 2, which was the hottest day, had the biggest hill and was my longest mileage day. I started mentally rationing Infinit knowing I didn’t have as much as I need. In retrospect, this would have been ok had I started taking the S Caps or some other means of getting salt, but I didn’t. I also didn’t eat much on Day 2, because I felt good and wanted to just keep going. I didn't pay for this mistake on Day 2 and still felt good when I finished but I had very little energy that night, and very little appetite. So I was in a pretty deep hole for calories and salt when I started Day 3. I was still thinking that I needed to ration the Infinit, saving it for later in the day when it was hotter. By the time I decided to eat at mile 8, it was too late. I recognized the symptoms of hyponatremia, nausea, swollen fingers and hands, but as it’s happening, for the first time, it’s difficult to figure out what to do. You are thirsty, and your impulse is to drink water, but that just makes the problem worse. People say “listen to your body”, but some times, and this is one of them, it’s not good advice.

The upside of these mistakes is I got it figured out, recovered and finished in good health. I've learned that I need a schedule for water, calories and salt. I feel good about the completion, grateful for the hard lesson and thankful that I had Jeanne with me.

My sights are now set on the Lean Horse 100 August 28th. And I've already started thinking about journey runs for next Summer.

Day 5, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing but blue skies.

This was easily the most beautiful and scenic part of the run, and it was beautiful the whole way. It was exceptionally clear today. I could see the three peaks of Sisters almost the whole way, and it was really cool to watch them get closer and closer. I had a similar feeling running from Portland to The Dalles last summer, how cool it is to run far enough to run from one ecosystem to another. I started out surrounded by sage brush and ended up surrounded in pines. The one constant that I haven't talked about yet was the bugs! I can tell they changed because the bites changed but they were everywhere and always there, and the bites are everywhere!

I felt good running today, and at a much faster pace than earlier days. I even pushed the last hill really hard and my legs were burning by the top. That's when I was informed that our mapping of gravel roads from Terrebonne to Cloverdale were off by a bit and I had a mile further to go than I thought. I laughed thinking how I would have felt about that had I decided to try and run the remainder yesterday. Today ended up at 17 miles making the entire journey a 132 miles.

The peaks of Sisters in my sights.

I'm finished, I feel good about the completion, but I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it in four days as planned. I've given a lot of thought to what went wrong on Friday and what I could have done differently, but I'll save that for tomorrow, today I'm just happy to be done and home. Thanks to everybody that emailed and texted words of support and encouragement, and there is absolutely no way I could have even considered this without Jeanne helping mile after mile.

You may not get the joke but, some people call me Maurice.

Day 4, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

A pretty weak attempt at a game face.

I went into today with a pretty wide range of expectations. Worse case, I commit to doing everything I can to take care of myself and to start, run as long as I can and when I can't go any further, reevaluate at that point. Best case, I rebound completely and run the remaining 43 miles today.

The weather changed a little, it was still warm, but there were early morning clouds, a little humid and a wind coming from the southwest. Early on, I didn't like having a headwind but as it warmed it felt good to have it in my face.

Not really the 100 mile point but close enough for symbolism.

I ran pretty well today, considering how poorly I felt yesterday, I felt really good. I was very careful with hydration and sodium, Jeanne did a great job of keeping me on target with fluids and food. I have a bad habit of when I feel good, I don't want anything, no food, little to drink, I did this on Thursday and paid dearly for it yesterday.

I had fun watching the plovers run in front of me feigning that they couldn't fly to lure me away from their nests. I added porcupine to my list of types of animals I've seen dead on the side of the road. I saw a large gopher snake stretched across the path to the Crooked River Gorge foot bridge, and heard a rattle snake.

With road crew extraordinaire high above the Crooked River.

At the rest stop at the Crooked River bridge, mile 18, I decided that I didn't have 43 miles in me today. I wasn't making very good time due to the head wind, and the clouds had burned off and it was warming up quickly. So the only question left was how much to run today and how much to leave for tomorrow. I ran to a lower canyon crossing of the Crooked River and called it a day at 27 miles. I have 16 miles to mop up in the morning.

Cooling my legs down in the Crooked River.

I sat in the river for a while, changed and we headed back to Madras. We have completely exhausted all dining possibilities in Madras so we went into Terrebonne looking for someplace to eat. We found a road side pub and were going to settle for it, when I noticed there was a rock climbing store near by and wanted to go in. We got to talking with the guy in the shop and he strongly encouraged us to try The Terrebonne Depot

for lunch. What an unbelievable cool place with fantastic food.

Fantastic Fish Tacos with rare Ahi Tuna.

I've learned a lot on this journey, it's not over yet so I'll save the analysis of mistakes and good decisions til after tomorrow. I'm looking forward to not getting up quite as early as we have been, knocking out a quick 16 and heading for home.

Day 3, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

I was in pretty good spirits at the start.

There won't be too many pictures, and I'll try and keep the descriptions of today's events semi discreet. I had 2 miles of down hill left of the descent into Cow Canyon and felt pretty good early. The down hill was a little fools gold I think but I ran pretty well to the 6 mile point and the base of the first hill of the day. Just about everything started going wrong at that point, and it never got better. I had no energy in my legs for the first hill and felt horrible. The plan was to eat at mile 8 at the top of the hill and I had half a P n J. I threw it and everything else up before mile 9. I tried drinking some Infinit which I've never had any stomach issues with and promptly threw it up too. By mile 11 I knew I didn't have enough electrolytes or calories in me and took an S Cap, electrolyte pill, and continued drinking water. I tried to drink as much water as I could but I was very weak. At mile 14, my hands and fingers were starting to swell and I hadn't peed all day. I've heard of this happening to runners but had never experienced it before. I tried laying down in the back of the car for a little while and tried eating a little more but nothing seemed to help.

Freshly dead.

I had to stop at 21 miles. I was starting to weave on the side of the highway and was going so slow I wasn't making much progress anyway. I'm not sure what this means for the rest of the journey. I realized that I'm eating about the same as last year and trying to run 50% further. I also am having a difficult time adjusting to the heat. I can do something about the calories, yesterday took a lot out of me and I didn't have much of an appetite last night and didn't eat enough. I've eaten much better this evening. Tomorrow is supposed to be a few degrees cooler. I have 44 miles left. I'm committed to taking care of myself as best I can and starting tomorrow, we'll see what happens from there.

Day 2, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

An earlier start today.

I will find out where Lebron James is signing while I write this so expect a comment somewhere. I was really scared of today's run. I tried not to let it show, but I couldn't get my head around an 18 mile hill. I knew I had 10 miles to the base and my goal was to just get to the Deschutes River with as little drama as possible. I got a very early start, 5:15, and made sure I ate just before getting to the river, correcting 2 mistakes from yesterday. It was pretty drama free, despite the fact that from the moment I came up out of Tygh Valley I was staring straight into the mountains that would be with me for the rest of day.

In Maupin, on the Deschutes River bridge.

And then, came the hill. I was really surprised by how good I felt early on the hill and had to keep reminding myself how long it was and to take it easy. I usually manage a run in my head by breaking it into smaller pieces. I never was able to break an 18 mile hill up into anything that made sense or helped. I don't remember exactly where it was but I had the thought that this is what it must have been like for boxers to fight Muhammad Ali. You just keep getting hit with that left jab, over and over again. It's relentless. If you try and get mad or frustrated about it and hit back, wham, you get nailed with the right cross! Eventually, you realize that you can only hope to survive, you can just resign yourself to the jab. It hurt. I've never experienced anything like this climb to Criterion Summit. I know there are much bigger climbs out there in the world.

The Miami HEAT!!!!! STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!!!!! If you care so much about your "Legacy", and most people with legacies never cared about them before they had one, this is the worst choice you could make. If you win, it's discounted, and if you don't win, whoooooo boy, you just went from one of the greatest players ever to forgotten!

I'm back, just before the top of the summit I saw Sisters for the first time. Well, I saw two of the peaks but that was enough, I got a pretty big surge of energy. Several times, Jeanne walked with me for a little while after the car and that helped a bunch too. She also had some cold Coke in the ice chest and I have become such a huge believer in the psychological powers of Coke late in a long run, it's amazing.

Just another bug on the road, with Mt. Hood in the distance.

The Summit

I made an error in measuring yesterday, I think I was closer to 32 miles than 33. Today, I logged 35 before calling it quits for the day. All the big climbs are behind me. I still have 64 miles of running in very hot weather, and I'm not taking that lightly, but I am very relieved to be up and over that hill!

Day 1, Sisters to Sisters

2010-07-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

From Sorosis Park in The Dalles, OR. Mount Adams in the background.

This is a pretty big piece of meat I've bitten off. I was as mentally prepared for the heat as I think I could be, but I wasn't ready. Not only is it hot, there is absolutely no shade, anywhere. A few days running in the 80's, or even the 70's might have helped. It was very tough to go from the 60's to the 90's. But before the gory details, 2 very big hotel endorsements.

I can't recommend enough the Balch Hotel in Dufur OR. I'm not sure Dufur would be at the top of anybodies destination list but it is "along the way" to many. The Balch was originally built in 1907. Jeff and Samantha Irwin have restored it and it is absolutely beautiful.

Not to be outdone, we stayed last night at The Oak Street Hotel in Hood River. Due to a mix up in reservations last year, the Oak Street Hotel offered me a free room. It wasn't completely their fault and they didn't have to do it, but it was awesome that they did. The Oak Street Hotel was originally built in 1909 and is also wonderfully restored. If you can't tell, I love stuff like this. Drives me crazy to see new building built while old ones sit vacant.

Back to Day 1 run, I got a late start. In retrospect, I planned to start too late and I started later than I planned. It was 6:30 before I left Sorosis Park in The Dalles and headed out through about 6 miles of rolling hills and Cherry Orchards. I remember thinking some of these early hills were pretty tough, that seems funny now. It was pretty disheartening to see some of the migrant farm workers living quarters. It made me think that if the results of the Mexican American war had been different, these people might have been working in a casino instead of a cherry orchard. I hit highway 197 around mile 7 and headed toward Dufur. Jeanne had met me at every road change getting out of The Dalles, but once we hit the highway and everything was ok, I had her go ahead to Dufur. This proved to be my second mistake of the day. By the time I hit Dufur at mile 16 my energy was pretty low. I usually drink coffee in the morning before a run, well before anything really, but didn't have any today. I also started out with just water in my bottle and hadn't eaten anything yet. I think the low energy was just a combination of no fuel and/or caffeine. I sat down for a little while in Dufur and had half a P n J, filled my bottle up with Infinit and headed out. The 9 mile hill out of Dufur is brutal. I know tomorrows hill is worse, but I'm trying not to think about that right now. I had several miles, trying to recalculate this trip so that I didn't have to complete today. I even for a while was thinking about making it a 5 day run instead of 4. I knew I had 5 miles of downhill at the end, at times it just didn't seem possible to get there. Using the old tricks, 'just run for another 2 miles then decide', I made it to the top of Tygh Ridge and was feeling much better, physically and emotionally.

So happy to see to see this sign

Taking a break at the top of Tygh Ridge, Mt Hood in the background.

Started at Elevation 450.

Yeah, this is the brown side of Oregon. The down hill felt good, the Tygh Valley Canyon is beautiful. I had a venue of vultures following me for a while, but thankfully they gave up, maybe I looked better than I thought. I made it to White River, where Tygh Creek empties into the river. I made it to my intended stopping point for the day, 33.5 miles. I had a secret plan to try and go further today and make it up and out of the valley, one less hill tomorrow, but I just couldn't today.

I really wanted to soak my legs in the river but didn't want to scramble down a steep river bank. Jeanne found a little path down to Tygh Creek that was very easy to get to.

This beats an ice bath any day.

From the minute I first started putting this trip together I knew Day 2 would be the hardest. I'm gonna go get some dinner and try not to think about hills for a while.

Prefontaine Classic

2010-07-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

I've watched a lot of Track and Field. I've been a Hayward Field season ticket holder for many years. I attended all 8 days of the Olympic Trials and every day of last years US National Championships. I think this was my 10th consecutive Prefontaine Classic. Today's Pre Classic was the single greatest day of Track and Field I've aver attended, it could probably be argued that it was the best in US history. I keep remembering moments that I've temporarily lost in the splendor of others, so I've decided to write it all down while it's fresh.

Jeanne and I got General Admission tickets and got there early hoping to get decent seats in the East Grandstand. It was already packed when we arrived so we sat in the sun, on the concrete steps, generally the student section. What a blast! Several U of O athletes not participating were just hanging out soaking it in and being fans.

Race after race had times so fast, at times, I couldn't figure the splits out. Last year Maggie Vessey won the Women's 800 here. this year she bettered her time from last year by more than a second....and finished 9th!
8 women ran under 2:00 in the 800, including Phoebe Wright of Tennessee finishing 4th breaking the Collegiate record 1:58.22.

Sometimes records get silly, like track records or meet records, but not at Hayward Field. On American soil records is a little odd, but when you think about how many great runners have run in the US it's amazing to think that no runner has ever gone sub 13:00 in a 5k on US soil. Tariku Bekele ran 12:58.93 and Dejen Gebremeskel 12:59.30. Chris Solinski got left for dead with 800 meters to go and finished in 13:08.11

Asbel Kiprop won the mile in 3:49.75. They actually ran 2 heats of the mile. 10 went under 3:58 in the first and another 10 went under 3:58 in the second. Andrew Wheating ran 3:51.74 shattering the University of Oregon School record previously held by Joaquim Cruz set in 1984. AJ Acosta ran 3:53 and Galen Rupp ran 3:57, and I almost forgot about them.

American records are a pretty big deal. David Oliver tied the American record in the 110 hurdles in 12.90.

I don't know much about the Shot Put. I know anything over 70 feet is really good. I know the landing area isn't much further than that. Christian Cantwell had already thrown over 70 feet and had won the competition. He threw 73.5 feet on his final throw.

I also don't know much about the Hammer throw but the top two women threw the five best throws ever on US soil between them.

Tirunesh Dibaba set the Hayward Field Track record in the women's 5k in 14:34.07 Shalane Flanagan ran a great race finishing second in 14:49.08

1000 meters isn't run very often but Abubaker Kaki just missed the US soil record in 2:13.62 Nick Symmonds was 3rd in 2:16.35.

Walter Dix won the 200 in 19.72 just ahead of an obviously healthy Tyson Gay 19.76.

Kara Patterson threw 216 feet to win the Javelin.

The meet certainly lacked the drama of the 800 in the Olympic trials, but the performances were absolutely amazing. I still think about what I saw and can't really believe that many runners ran that fast in one meet! The whole drive home, I wanted to be let out of the car to run home, it's not that far!

Bald Peak to Hagg Lake

2010-06-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

If fate had smiled favorably on me, I would have been running the Western States 100 today, where by the way, both Geoff Roes 15:07 and Anton Krupicka 15:13 broke the course record. Instead I have 62 days left until my 100, which is probably just as well. I noticed that last week I said I had 72 days til Sisters to Sisters, haha, nope, that's what I get for having my brain on too many events at one time. Today was my last big training run before Sisters to Sisters which will be here in a little over a week. I started in Laurel, OR, if you don't know where that is, don't worry, neither did I. I ran up and over Bald Peak, big long steep 3 mile hill up to a beautiful view.

Then down a very steep hill to Laurelwood. I felt really good early and probably was running too fast. But a major map snafu slowed me down. I had mapped the route on mapmyrun.com and Jeanne and I both had it on our phones but, we had limited phone coverage for internet access and some of the map road names were not the same as street signs so miles 6 through 12 included several stops and conferences to make sure we were going the right way. From now on, if I have no idea where I'm going and I have the luxury of a road crew, printed maps!!!

While figuring out where I was going I decide to take advantage of the slowed pace and eat something, then I realized that I had forgotten to put the food I had prepared in the car. I was about 10 miles into 30 and in a seriously bad mood, I was pissed at how many stops I had to make and then the prospect of no food for the entire run. Jeanne saved the day by finding a small store and getting me some crackers and peanut butter. She got one more day saver but that comes later.
Once I started seeing signs directing me to Hagg Lake and now knowing I had food waiting for me when I got there my mood improved quite a bit and I ran really well to the lake. I had intended to run the lake counter clockwise to get the big hills done earlier but I assumed that I could pick up the trail on the north side of the dam and directed Jeanne to drive ahead of me. There was no trail access so we ended up going over the dam to the South side. Realizing the mistake and not wanting to get all pissy again I just decided to run clockwise. I ate some peanut butter and crackers and refilled my bottle with Infinit and took to the trails. I'm really not crazy about trails. I know they're serene and beautiful, and you're suppose to have some spiritual awakening while running them, but you end up having to watch your feet so much it really doesn't matter how beautiful the scenery around you is. Here's an example, this is what the brochure would look like

And here is what most of the trails looked like.

Around mile 20 I started really struggling, looking back the majority of it was mental. I was frustrated with the trail, I had rolled my ankle a few times and was starting to think about how beat up I felt after Forest Park. About half way around the lake I took to the road and felt better, then I was quickly reminded that the big hills are on the North side of the lake. Now I was struggling a little with the hills. At mile 24 I found out that Jeanne had also bought a Coke for me. I learned in the Helen Klein 50 miler the magic properties of Coca Cola late in a long run or race. Maybe it's a placebo effect, but within minutes of adding Coke to my bottle I felt really good. I ran really well in from there and even enjoyed the scenery a bit.

I wasn't sure how much switching to the roads changed the mileage so I ran back toward Gaston to finished with a smile on my face.

Oh, one last thing I almost forgot, I found this glass like slipper on the side of the road, and I picked it up. Upon completion I found out, much to my chagrin, that I am NOT Cinderella.

Next stop, Day 1 from The Dalles.

To Walk or Not to Walk

2010-06-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

To walk or not to walk, no one piece of Ultra running has perplexed me more than this. Ultra running has required learning or relearning many things. I'd never tried to eat in the middle of a run before, but knew that I would need to, and I learned how. With food, it was math ish. Finite energy storage, calories expended over x period of time, required calories consumed before I was done. People can make this very complicated, but the bottom line was I needed to eat, and so, I do.

Walking though? Of course, the further the distance, the slower you go. And of course, you learn to try and run slower early and save something for late. It doesn't always work out that way, but that's a wise plan to follow. So at some point, distance really, going slower becomes walking. And, following this logic, if you know you're going to walk some of a given distance, it's wise to walk early, but it feels wrong. What feels right is to run until you just can't anymore and then survive. But I would never have a marathon plan that was, run 10k pace until you just can't anymore and then survive. I told you this has perplexed me.

So, I'm going to share my recent experiences and experiments, and reveal a plan that will have buried in it, a prediction of sorts for the Lean Horse Hundred, my first 100 miler in August. I can't reveal the plan without the prediction being obvious, but there is little to no boasting in the prediction. The appeal of Ultras to me is the flirting with failure, and I'm very well aware of the potential for failure.

Eh, walking. When I first started running, I learned the Galloway training method, which has you run a certain amount of time and then walk a certain amount, 5 minutes run, 1 minute walk. I always felt stupid doing it in races. Every body that I knew that ran, used this, and I was warned that if I didn't walk, bad things would happen to me, that might even involve my soul. Like may religious warnings, I decided to take my chances, and stopped walking. Nothing happened, except I got much faster. But, even since that apostasy I have walked in races. I've blown up in marathons and walked some of the last few miles in. I walked in the Crater Lake Half Marathon when the hill was so steep that I thought it would be faster to walk, it wasn't.

And I walked in my first Ultra, a 50 miler, last October. In that, I walked with a plan, sort of. The plan was 30 minutes run, 2 minutes walk, eat a little every hour. I didn't come close to following that plan. With the exception of slowing briefly at aid stations to get a full bottle, I didn't walk until I was 15 miles in, it just seemed silly to walk sooner than that, even though that was my plan. I walked quite a bit from mile 28 to 30, then recovered and ran/walked on a schedule until mile 36, then the schedule was driving me crazy, so I ran when I felt like it, even a pretty quick 42nd mile and walked when I needed to to the finish. I was pleased with my finish and my time, but did feel like a little saved early would have served me well late.

This brought me to the really perplexing part of walking, how slow is too slow? I do think there is speed, where to go any slower is not really saving any energy, you're just not as far down the trail as you would have been. Maybe some people derive more psychological benefit from resting early, but I'm little high strung, and get antsy waaaay too easy. I know that I can't trust myself and that I need a schedule. I also know that any schedule works well on long run workouts. So, I've decided to go with a run for an hour, walk 5 ish minutes ish. I know that early in the race the walks won't be 5 minutes and that towards the end the run won't be an hour but the better I manage that transition the better I'll do.

I can't think this far and not start doing some arithmetic, and I can't do that with having some expectations. Not really a prediction, but I have to believe in my training and need to have a goal. And so the thinking goes this way, running slow and easy and walking 5 minutes once an hour is around 9:30 a mile. I think my training will allow me to maintain that for the first 60 miles. That gets me to 60 miles in 10 hours, then, I know, things will get interesting. I'll be over the moon giddy to go under 20 hours, very happy with anything under 22 hours and completely satisfied with a sub 24. Walking and eating P n J sammiches.

Sisters to Sisters

2010-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is the first Sisters to Sisters post. I'm days away. All rooms and travel plans that are going to be made, have been made. My Map is complete ish. I haven't figured out my exact route from Madras to Sisters exactly. I may scout that out the day before and make a game time decision.

Last year I ran from the Burnside Bridge in Portland to Sorosis Park in The Dalles. The full account is here. At this time, I'm thinking I'll attempt Sisters back to Portland next Summer, but who knows.

Sorosis is Latin ish for Sisters, hence the name, admittedly taking some poetic license, Sisters to Sisters!

As it stands right now the 4 days looks like this:

Day 1, Sorosis Park to the Hwy 197 a little past the White River crossing south of Dufur. 35 miles
Day 2, White River to Antelope Hwy crossing, south of Maupin. 35 miles
Day 3, Antelope Hwy crossing to somewhere south of Madras. 30 ish miles
Day 4, Somewhere south of Madras to Sisters. for a total of 131 miles in 4 days.

And the Map looks like this.

I know it's gonna be hot, and the two big hills are big and long. Last years Portland to the Dalles was CRAZY hot, in the 100's each day. I can't imagine it will be much hotter. I may need to get some really early starts, especially since last year I was averaging 19 miles a day and this year will be 33 miles a day, that's over 2 hours more running each day. Food, drinks, water, extra clothing I think I've got down. Last year was a test of planning and logistics as much as running. This year, the running should be the hardest part, which is much better. Worrying can't help running!

A lot of this is out in the middle of nowhere so this sounds funny to say but, if you're in or around the area and want to run part with me, let me know!

Coach John Wooden

2010-06-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Just before falling asleep last night, I learned that Coach Wooden had died. I woke up thinking about nights at Wooden Camp, films in a small theater and then Coach would talk about life. I'm sure it was intentional that these were the last events of the day. You worked hard, really hard, all day and then when your body is exhausted your mind and soul are truly ready to receive. You are then left, to fall asleep, with those lessons bouncing around in your head.

I've never liked phrases like, "give 110%", "busting my ass" or "gave it everything I had". They're just rarely true. Even in our greatest accomplishments, there are flaws. Even our greatest efforts have weakness embedded in them. I've always been drawn to phrases like one attributed to Steve Prefontaine, "fatigue makes cowards of us all". I'm sure these feelings started with Coach Wooden's definition of success, “Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” I love sports, love watching an 8 year old celebrate a made basket, and love watching adults act like 8 year olds when they win. But I think true feelings of success are quiet moments, all alone, with yourself.

Coach Wooden had almost as much influence on my life as my father, and now they are both gone, leaving me only with their words. From my father, "It's not what you do today, it's what you do every day that counts". And from so many wonderful Coach Wooden quotes, my simple favorite, "Be quick, but don't hurry".

Forest Park 50k

2010-06-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

I ran my first Trail Ultra on Sunday at the PCTR Forest Park Trail 50k, in Portland Oregon. This was even closer to virgin territory than the word “first” might suggest as it was only my second trail race ever and only my second Ultra race ever. That being said, I felt like I was in very good shape going in and thought my biggest challenge would be holding myself back as I really wanted to continue my Eugene Marathon (slower and more consistent pacing) approach. I grossly underestimated many things. The mud, the hills, the mud, the terrain, the mud and the mud. It became obvious pretty quick, that I was in for a fight.

And, the winner, by unanimous decision......Forest Park.
It didn't knock me out!!! It did however, knock me down a few times though.

The whole experience was pretty humbling. I learned that I'm kind of priss.
I'm pretty tough about enduring pain etc. But the whole getting muddy and dirty and just tromping through not caring isn't exactly my cup of tea, yet! Early in the race,
if the trail was decent it seemed I was faster than those around me, even
though I was running pretty easy. Where it was really muddy and
nasty, they'd catch up to me. "They" were probably running
close to the same pace regardless of the terrain, I was a tiptoeing
little princess for quite a while. Then I turned my ankle around
mile ten, primarily because I was trying to prance from mud blob to
mud blob and not get my feet wet, and I mistook a rock for a mud
blob. I started deciding at that point to pull out at the 20k
aid station. I had all the "this isn't even running, this is
retarded, I'm just going to hurt myself, I have to get my first DNF eventually it might as well be here etc" talk going on in my
head. All the way up to the aid station I was gonna quit. Then, Jeanne asked me what I needed, I took a quarter of a P n J sandwich and a new bottle and took off.

I can't count how many little turns of the ankle I experienced. I do know the left one rolled all the way over 3 times and the right one once. I fell three times, the only positive being, I never was going that fast so they were more of a stumble than a fall. Never in my wildest nightmare could you have convinced me that a 50k could take me 6 and a half hours. I remember not too far past 20k, recalculating my original goal time and thinking 6 hours was possible. At 30k, I jokingly said, "maybe I'll break 6:30". Whew, 6:28, barely!

I survived, that's really what I take away. I really admire the people that are good at this kind of running. I know it's part training, part technique and part guts. At one point I thought of a line from the movie Rumble Fish, "Blind terror, in the face of a fight, can easily pass for courage".

May 2010 ended up at 240 miles, and somewhere through the middle of the month I went past 12,000 miles total. Now the big miles begin. As I type this on June 2nd, I have 87 days 'til the Lean Horse Hundred. Still, a few adventures to go between now and then.

Summer Schedule

2010-05-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year, mileage increases, races that seem like they mean something on the calendar, track meets at Hayward field and warm weather!!!!

I just went past 12,000 miles last Thursday. Ironically, that milestone came on an 18 mile run that I cut short at 11. I wasn't feeling well all last week, but I think that's behind me now. So now, I can set my sights on some big events! I added a list of upcoming events on the right side of the blog page, I think my running calendar for the Summer ish is complete.

May 30th is the Forest Park 50k in Portland, OR. I don't have a lot of trail running experience and this will easily be the furthest I've run on trails.

It seems strange not to have any events in the month of June. I originally left it wide open hoping to get into Western States. I will, hopefully, be getting some huge miles in this month though. I'll also be attending all 4 days of the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward!

July will be busy! July 7 through 10, I'll be continuing last years Run the Gorge adventure, with this years Sisters to Sisters. Last years journey ended at Sorosis park in The Dalles. Sorosis is loosely "sister" in Latin, don't trifle me with details that start with the word "actually" on this, so this Summer I'm running from Sorosis Park to Sisters, Oregon. Sisters to Sisters will be somewhere between 128 and 133 miles, I still have the details of the last day to work through, in 4 days. Eastern Oregon in July, yes it will be HOT!

July 24th I'll run the PCT 50 miler, on trails, at altitudes between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.

All of this should lead me to.......the Lean Horse 100 miler in South Dakota, August 28th.

Absolutely NOTHING on my schedule after that. Except maybe........

Things observed by slowing down.

2010-05-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

I ran Eugene Marathon on Sunday. While I have had several races that didn't turn out to be much of a race, this was the first time I've ever put on a number with no intention of running my fastest. I've heard 'other people' say, "relax, enjoy the process, enjoy the scenery" etc. So.....I decided to give it a whirl.

I spent the majority of the race a little under 4:00 marathon pace and there is a LOT of frantic neurosis around that pace, somewhere between the Toys R Us on Christmas week and Costco....well, any day. I thought I looked at my watch a lot. I've never heard more references to garmin pace, and I'm not talking about their average garmin pace, I'm talking about their current garmin pace!!!

I was really touched watching some older guys, 60's maybe even 70's, that were obviously damn good runners in their day, busting their ass to get under 4:00, I imagined they had
come to peace with the fact they once could break 3:00 and were now wondering how many more times they'll be able to break 4:00.....it was really touching and humbling to watch.

People get angry with themselves when they don't perform as well as they want to, I've done it, and I swear like a longshoreman but nothing I've ever said compares to what I heard at mile 21. I've screamed and swore at my legs before, demanding to know why they won't work, I've called myself a f*cking p*ssy. But Sunday, I'm runnin' along, minding every bodies business and I hear, from slightly behind me and to the right, a woman's voice say, "goddammit you f*cking c*nt, get going". My head snapped around and the only person anywhere nearby was 40 year old ish woman hitting the wall. Whew, maybe she had tourrets, maybe she's just waaaay more badass than I'll ever be. But I wasn't going to be within mental shrapnel range when she exploded.

The highlight of the day was finishing on Hayward Field. Coming right through the main gate and onto the track, coming out of Bowerman Curve and down the Main Stretch, just like I've heard announced hundreds of times. Looking up and to the left to see myself on the Jumbotron and catch my time. It wasn't anywhere close to my fastest time, but it was unbelievably cool to see it on the Hayward board.

San Francisco and Summer Plans

2010-03-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend in probably my favorite city in the US. I used to say New Orleans was my favorite, but I haven't been there since Katrina, and assume it is a whole new city now. That makes San Francisco my active favorite. It was a work trip, but a work trip visiting dear and very cool friends, which makes it feel like a pleasure trip. I always thought the question, "for business or pleasure" was funny. Actually, "pleasure" is a cool word, I'd much rather say "my pleasure" instead of "you're welcome". Oh and, this trip, I had a pretty cool run in mind!

Last year, on my friend Trish's recommendation, I stayed at the Hotel Boheme in North Beach. It's now my favorite San Francisco home. The hotel is wrapped in beat culture, pictures of North Beach in the 50's with Kerouac, Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti. They have after dinner sherry available in the lobby. Lobby is a stretch of definition, but it is a beautiful hallway. A small word of warning, while wonderfully quaint, Hotel Boheme is boutique ish....very small rooms, even smaller bathrooms and even smaller TV's. It is right on a
very noisy part of Columbus Ave. So, the upside is awesome
outdoor cafes that are open late nearby, or right underneath
you if you have a room with a street view.

Sunday morning's run, I left the hotel at 7:15 and grabbed a coffee, 2 shot 12 ounce americano with a tiny bit of cream, from Cafe Roma. Finished my coffee before I hit Fisherman's Wharf and I was off. I was headed for Tiburon in Marin County, then going to take the ferry back to the City.

There were so many runners, walkers and cyclists going through Crissy Fields and over the Golden Gate Bridge. That always makes me run faster than I intended and I got to Sausalito much quicker than I had planned. I left a safe amount of time to get there without having to worry about missing the ferry but I didn't want to get there too early. So, I took a leisurely stroll through Sausalito. I thought about stopping for a snack, but a little voice in my head said to get going.

I'm glad I listened to the voice. I had directions in my head, and they weren't very complicated. The only tricky part was having street names remembered, but actually running on multi purpose paths along side those roads. I came across a path sign pointing me toward Tiburon. I figured I should be close to where I was supposed to turn so I trusted it. I suppose it was taking me toward Tiburon but it was clearly not the way I should have been going. By the time I figured out where I'd gone, where I was and where I needed to go, I'd added about a three mile detour.

That made the last five miles a little suspenseful, but I made it to Tiburon in time to have eggs, bacon, provolone and tomatoes on a buttery croissant, while waiting for the ferry. The ride over the bay was beautiful. Clear and warm.

I had turned my 18 mile run into a 21 mile run,
but loved every mile of it, even the ones where I wasn't sure where I was going. The view coming back to the city was amazing. As a photographer, I hate to blame equipment, but this was one of the few times the camera in my iPhone was inadequate.

I think my next trip to San Francisco will include a ferry ride to Sausalito, then a long run through the Marin Headlands, then a ferry ride back.

I've got some big summer plans. A continuation of last summers run from Portland to The Dalles. This July I'll run from The Dalles to Sisters, Oregon in four days. Then in August, I'll run my first 100 mile race at the Lean Horse 100 in South Dakota. I'm sure the distance training I'll need to prepare for that will lead to a few more adventures.

It's like cooking a steak.

2010-03-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's been an educational few weeks, running wise, at least. I had a goal to lower my 10k PR of 44:20 during the first three months of 2010. I am aware of the fact that at 46 years old, PR's at any distance are going to be more and more difficult to come by as the years pass. I only scheduled 10k's for January, February and March. I had a few decent races, and passed up a race, and now, here I was, nearing the end of March and no PR.

My training the last few weeks has been really good. I felt good on both speed workouts and long runs. I ran in some really crappy weather, without complaining too much. Every
thing seemed set up for a good race on Saturday In Alton Baker Park in Eugene, one of my favorite places to run.

We got up early on Saturday, drove down to Eugene and as I was registering for the race, my phone rang with a call from my son, Nathaniel. I didn't answer, but he left a voice mail, he never leaves a voice mail. It was 40 minutes from race start and I had instructions to do a 4 mile warm up. I spent the next 20 minutes finding out that Nathaniel had just hit a patch of black ice, lost control of his car and ended up in somebody's garage, through the wall. He said he was unhurt,
and we talked through calling insurance, police, tow truck etc. I got off the phone, explained to Jeanne what had happened, then sat down in the car, paralyzed with indecision. Should I drive back, and hour and a half, right away? I called him back, he had made all necessary phone calls, assured me he was ok physically, and that the neighbors to the house he hit were being very helpful, I heard them in the background ask if he wanted some hot chocolate, and decided I was still going to race. The race official announced 10 minutes til start time as I was putting my racing flats on. I quick run to the bathroom with number and pins in hand, then ran to the start line, arriving just as they announced 2 minutes to go. My only option to was to line up on the first line, I finished pinning my number on with 30 seconds to go. Despite telling myself not to get caught up in the speed of the start, I still went out way too fast. A mile in and I'd done just about everything wrong that could be done. Emotional, no warm up and out too fast.

Then I did something that only good training allowed me to do. I calmed down, slowed down a little, let my training do the work for a few miles and regrouped for a strong finish and a new 10k PR of 43:48.

Nathaniel is fine, thankfully, his son Elliott was not in the car with him. His car, and the garage he drove through are not so fine. I hate feeling grateful for insurance.....but.

I have been saving a bottle of The Abyss to celebrate a distance PR and Nathaniel came over to enjoy it with me. And so, my cooking a steak analogy. I take a lot of pride in my cooking abilities, heaven knows I'm a better cook than runner. When someone praises a steak that I've cooked, I'm quick to give all the credit to the cow. "You can certainly screw up a good cut of meat, but it's hard to save a bad cut of meat". And I think it's also true, that you can be well trained and still mess up a race, but it's hard to be poorly trained and race well.

My own little piece of Desert Sky

2010-01-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday, I had the pleasure of getting a guided run through Red Rocks, just outside of Las Vegas. Ran with some very cool people, Jimmy Gabany and Molly Sheridan of Desert Sky Adventures and about a dozen other people whose names I can't all remember or wouldn't spell correctly. In the small world category....and the small world gets much smaller when it's the ultra runner small world......Jimmy and Molly are the new race directors for the Helen Klein Ultra Classic which was my first 50 miler last October....and Molly was introduced at the beginning of the race as the new race director.

Red Rocks had received a blanket of snow the week before and was absolutely beautiful Sunday. We had crystal clear skies and temperature in the high 20's when we started. I was tourist runner, running ahead, so I could stop, take off my gloves and take pictures along the way. Absolutely 16 of the most beautiful miles I've ran in a while, and I owe a big thank you to Jimmy for picking me up from the hotel and bringing me along.

Last Adventure Fail

2009-12-31T17:01:00.000-08:00

I didn't make it. I've had a lingering cold that has settled in my chest. I'm not sick enough to stop doing things but too sick to do anything well. It was 37 degrees and pouring rain this morning, and those conditions weren't supposed to improve. So, mother nature won out. I opted for 13 miles on a treadmill and finish 9 miles short of 2,500 for 2009. A pretty good year kind of went out with a whimper.

One Last Adventure

2009-12-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

I spent 7 miles this morning thinking about my 2009 in running. I was trying to relive the ups and downs and I got an idea. Sometimes, once I get an idea stuck in my head, I gotta do it. I'm 22 miles away from 2,500 miles for 2009. A 25 mile run from the 45th Parallel sign in Keizer back to home would complete a 100 mile loop combined with a 30 mile run from home to the Corvallis Riverfront Park fountain in the summer and the Dawn to Dusk route.

So, looks like I'll be doing an easy 25 on New Years Eve.

Dawn til Dusk I Complete

2009-12-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

That was quite an adventure:

I left Corvallis' Riverfront Park at exactly 7:42 AM on Sunday, December 20th, the shortest day of the year, headed for Keizer 45 pesky miles away. It was warmer than expected and I was able to start in shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I crossed over the Willamette for 3 miles on hwy 34. I turned North on Riverside drive with the knowledge that I stayed on Riverside until it tgurned into Queen Ave in Albany. About a mile up Riverside I came to a road with a sign that if I followed it, would have me turn right. That didn't seem right but I followed it. That's a weird way to run, thinking you're going the wrong way, not a lot of conviction in your legs. I had my iPhone in my waist belt for emergencies and it had my map on Mapmyrun. I finally resorted to pulling my phone out and sure enough, the sign had been turned around. On a side note, if you are an app developer and you build a mobile app for mapmyrun that allows someone to view a map while on their route and it doesn't display mileage, you're retarded.
Back on course, I spent the next several miles meeting one free range dog after another. Very socially progressive, are the trailer living free range dog farmers of Oregon. I was never so happy to see Albany, to get away from dogs and be able to go to the bathroom!!!

The 18 miles from Albany to Independence was loooooong. It was drizzling on and off for the first 15 miles, from mile 16 to 20 it poured pretty good. I changed shoes, socks and shirt at mile 20. I'll say it right now, I didn't eat enough. I went through 70 ounces of Infinit, half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 2 small boiled potatoes, 2 apple pieces and a handful of tortilla chips. If you're planning on running 45 miles I'd recommend eating more than that. That being said, I still threw up right after my clothes change at mile 20.

I made it to Independence and mile 30 very tired but slightly ahead of schedule. Looking back I don't know how much of my doldrums was fatigue and how much was being intimidated by the hills to come. A 4 mile hill is tough at any time but mile 31 to 35 hit me pretty hard. I was dead on my feet by the top of the hill.

It started raining again near the top of the hill and never let up til I finished. The last 10 miles were pretty slow, it was all
on concrete, with bad sidewalks and driveways, but I did finish, 8:13, much harder without other runners around.
Much harder with hills and rain.

Once again, Jeanne was amazing road crew. Just the right amount of encouragement. I really don't like a lot of rah rah, which I know leaves someone feeling like there is very little they can do. She was perfect. She told me I needed to eat more, and she was right, but didn't argue with me when I refused. When I couldn't remember where I was going, even though I was running right through downtown Salem, where I've lived for 16 years, she patiently told me where to go. I only cried once, when Jeanne told me I had exactly 1 mile to go and I thought I was closer than that.

I'm glad I did it, people always ask me, so, yes I lost 5 pounds during the run. Though I don't
recommend it as a weight loss plan :-)

oh.....and....yeah 45 miles with wet feet looks pretty ugly after.

Dawn til Dusk Prologue

2009-12-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

I'm officially antsy. I picked the week leading up to my birthday, in the summer, for my Run the Gorge, and was blessed with temperatures above 100 everyday. I picked the Winter Solstice for Dawn til Dusk 1 and will be running in a monsoon tomorrow. Weather predictions are calling for over an inch of rain and 15 to 20 mile an hour winds....ok, not quite a monsoon.

My plan is to try and not let myself run too much faster than 10:00 per mile pace early. The official sunrise is 7:47, so that will be the start at the fountain in Corvallis' Riverfront Park. My course goes over the Willamette and through Albany at about mile 10 at around 9:30. I'll then cross back over the Willamette and make my way up to Independence and go over the Independence Bridge (and the Willamette again) at mile 30 around 1:00 PM. Then things will get interesting, with a little more than 4 miles of uphill, hopefully I'll hit Skyline road and Vitae Springs in South Salem by 2:30. Then 5 miles of downhill in to Salem and another 5 to the 45th Parallel sign on River Road in Keizer at 4:29 PM.....if all goes according to plan.

Eating while running is still an ongoing experiment. I'll have 120 oz of my custom blended Infinit, which I can not endorse for free enough. Beyond that Jeanne will have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, boiled and salted red potatoes, apples and salty tortilla chips available for me. Oh yeah......and a can of coke for the last 5 miles or so. I've always heard that in Ultra Marathons, they have coke in the aid stations and thought that seemed funny. I had a coke at mile 42 of my 50 miler in Sacramento in October......greatest thing I've ever tasted in my life, ok maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was really good.

Other than some anticipated clothing changes, whose locations will remain secret to protect the innocent, I'm about ready. Next post will be a "hey look, I made it".

Dawn til Dusk I

2009-12-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

I have a new plan! I started thinking about this a few weeks ago, and maybe it took the disappointment of not getting into Western States to make me finish the details but here goes. December 20th is the shortest day of the year, 8:42:06 in Oregon. I'm gonna run 45 miles from Dawn til Dusk and finish exactly at the 45th parallel....half way between the Equator and the North Pole. The route will start in Corvallis, go through Albany and finish at the 45th Parallel sign on River Road in Keizer. So, that's the plan. You're welcome to join me for some....or all. I should hit 2500 miles this year. I may even hit it on that run. It's 20 degrees in Salem right now. Hopefully it will warm up a bit by then!

Virgin in the Dark

2009-12-05T19:29:00.001-08:00

So much to learn if I'm really gonna run on a trail, all night, soon.......so I bought a headlamp and I've been practicing with it.......but running with the headlamp on roads wasn't fooling me.....they are the same roads I run on in the dark all the time....that isn't "practice" running with a headlamp....so Monday night I ran 2 miles on train tracks in the dark.....I'm sorry to report my suicide attempt was unsuccessful, trains are so unreliable.

Last night I waited until it was completely dark then headed out to a trailhead that starts uphill to run hill repeats in the dark. I finished my second repeat and cool down and was just about to start number 3 when I glanced into the woods to my right....and no more than 20 meters away are 2 glowing eyes looking right back at me. I froze. Turned toward the eyes and started a somewhat trembling process of elimination....coyote?.....too small, I think.....mountain lion?.....god I hope not.....deer?.....I would have scared it away coming down the hill, right?? Fearing the worst, and thinking back I didn't rule out Sasquatch, I slowly glanced over my shoulder to gauge how far away my car was if the decision to run for it is the final decision.....as I realized the car was way too far away and turning my headlamp back to the woods, there were now 2 sets of glowing eyes......I'm pretty much scared shitless at this point and I don't think I rattle very easily.....as I gain control of myself I realize that 2 sets of eyes rules out mountain lion.....and calm down a little....I'm not really afraid of coyotes, I see them all the time while running.....as I started backing toward the car, my position relative to the wooded area changed and I could now see open space behind the "creatures" and therefore a silhouette.....Deer....4 of them actually. So it appears, that among the many things I need to learn about night time trail running....I need to add glowing eyes identification to my list.

....and yeah that third repeat was pretty fast......fun learning new things!

Run the Gorge 09

2009-12-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Until I officially take the time to move all of the content from Run the Gorge 09 to this blog a link is http://runthegorge09.blogspot.com/