At long last...some new ink!

Yes, it's true. The Scott Lommers Writing Factory, a limited liability corporation, which has yet to ask for a bailout from our already overextended government, has produced a new RaceCenter Magazine article. And there it is...on the top of the cover, baby! And yes, I did come up with that fantastic play on words title: Long Running Show. You see, the article is about the longest continuously run races in the NW...man, I'm impressive at times. No, really.

So if you're ever going to pick up a RaceCenter magazine, this is the issue: the 2009 event guide. This issue is really indispensable. Lots and lots and lots of race listings. This is the one to keep handy.

Oh, and for those of you who read this article, you know that I spaced on the Zena run, but hey, there it is in the article! That's my boy, Brook Gardner, otherwise known as the RaceCenter Editor, getting my back. Thanks Brook!

ARGGGGGHHHHH.......

So I'm running around and around and around the Dixon indoor track. Ten laps to a mile...that's a lot of corners, right? I like to go out and do the first mile as fast as I can and then let my overall horrible conditioning bring me right back to a slow jog for the other three miles or so (more than four miles and I'm missing the bus home, so that's it). So tonight I'm zooming around the track pretty good, feeling good...probably looking terrible, but feeling good. It usually takes me about two songs to finish the first mile. So the iPod gets through the second song and heads to the third and I'm thinking, "that's ok. The second song was Bloc Party - pretty short." But by the time I'm halfway through the third song, I'm a little worried. I know I'm not going that slow. I do one more lap without hearing the Nike+ chick call out "one mile" and I can't take it any more. I hit the button on the iPod to check my mileage and time. "You've run .24 miles. You've run 12 minutes and 34 seconds."

What?

Point two four what?

I can't count laps on that tiny track - I always lose count. But I know I had run between 15 and 20 laps. The track at Dixon is exactly .10 miles per lap.

Point two four, my ass cheeks!

I try to pause the iPod and re-start it. Nope.

I try to re-calibrate it. Doesn't work. It says I'm not running as far as I say I'm running. I say I am so running as far as I say I'm running. It doesn't respond. I tell it to check it again. People start to stare.

Very long story short, the sensor in my shoe was not in the little hole exactly right. It was sort of sticking up sideways. You'd think I'd feel that running around the track for 40 minutes. Nope. I sure didn't.

I know it's hard to believe, but I've been using the Nike+ for a couple of years now. Since it first came out. And yes, I've managed to mangle up two runs in less than a week.

It's just possible I'm not as smart as I think I am.


No, I don't know who the bird is...some BBC thing. Crazy Brits. Head over there and say thanks for the photo for me.

Oregon is crazy about their indoor triathlons...

I'm not sure why, but it was very difficult to find spring triathlons up in Washington, especially triathlons with an indoor swim. Not so in Oregon. In fact, you can barely go a week in Spring without hitting one! So find one, or two, now and sign up as soon as you can. It will give you a nice goal to work to, you'll have 8-10 weeks to get ready, and you'll be buffed and oiled when the longer triathlons come up in the summer. Hey, it's a plan! Triathlete Magazine charges you $3.95 for this kind of stuff.

April 4th - Beaver Freezer Sprint Tri in Corvallis
April 19th - Albany Sprint Tri
April 25th - WOU Sprint Tri in Monmouth
May 3rd - Hawthorne Farm Sprint Tri in Hillsboro
May 9th - Canby Gator Grinder Sprint Tri
May 16th - Lebanon Sprint Tri
May 25th - Heart of the Valley Sprint Tri in Corvallis

All seven of these are on different dates, so potentially you could do all of them. In fact, if anyone does at least five of them, let me know and I'll do an interview post of you, you and only you!

Thanks to the HOTV Tri and the Osbourne Aquatic Center for the photo of their sweet pool.

Beaver Freezer is coming!

That's right, the Beaver Freezer, OSU's own Tri on the beautiful, if chilly, Corvallis campus on April 4th. Why am I telling you now? Because you can sign up starting on February 2nd. Let's do it!

RACES FOR WEEK OF FEBRUARY 9th TO FEBRUARY 15th

February 14th / Sweetheart Run 4 mile / Lewiston, ID

February 14th / My Muddy Valentine and Single Mingle! 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

February 15th / Geoduck Gallup Half-Marathon and 10k / Olympia, WA

You know, I hate to be a slave to technology and all...but I had a great run yesterday, a little over four miles, nice pace, felt good...then my iPod went wonky and didn't save my run on the Nike+. I was depressed for hours.

Thanks to 96.7 FM, deep, deep, DEEEEP, in Kentucky for the Beaver cartoon. Just looking at their website makes me glad to live in the Northwest.

A cool sort of new site...

And that cool site is Athlinks.com. Is it new? I don't know - it's new to me. You enter in your name and it searches the web for race results and brings them all together for you. If you know of some results out there that it doesn't have, you can "lead" it to them. Pretty cool. Of course, if you've been running forever, like say if you're an old man like me, then it obviously has trouble finding the really old ones. Hey, we didn't have no stinkin' internets back then. We were happy with color TV! So Athlinks has found results for me back to 1996, which isn't too bad, and it's found 26 results total. It seems to be a little better finding tri results than running results for some reason...maybe the tri directors just get their results up more often and/or leave them there longer. I don't know. Anyhoo, try it out, I think you'll like it.

Oh, it also automatically finds "friends" and "enemies" for you...people that show up in a lot of the same results that you do. And it gives you a win-loss record against them - I'm 0-7 against Keefer Whan. Damn you, Keefer! Good thing I left him back up in the Skagit Valley.

Let's race.

RACES FOR WEEK OF FEBRUARY 2nd TO FEBRUARY 8th

February 7th / Friendship Run 5k / Olympia, WA

February 8th / Truffle Shuffle 4 Mile Run / Eugene, OR

February 8th / Valentine Fanconi Anemia 5k / Portland, OR

February 8th / Valentine Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 miler, and 5k plus a Duathlon / Olympia, WA

February 8th / Road Runner Sports Love 'Em or Leave 'Em Valentine's Day Dash 5k / Seattle, WA

Zena, Goddess of War and Road Runs...forgive me...

Yeah, the Zena thing? See below.

So, while there may be absolutely nothing worse than being injured and not being able to work out, there's not much better than finally being healthy and getting back on the train. The training train. The Crane Train to Mental Well Being. Sorry, just a "Frasier" flashback there. But I'm back running again, as you can see from my happy little Nike Mini-Me and man, it feels good. I'm like an afterschool special in the flesh. You know, not the first 45 minutes of self-doubt and heartache, but the last 15 minutes of redemption and glory. Yeah, that's me.

Let's race.

RACES FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 26th TO FEBRUARY 1st

February 1st / Fitness for Vitality 10k and 5k / Seattle, WA

February 1st / Zena Road Runs 15k, 6mi, 3mi / Salem, OR

February 1st / Super Sunday Survivor Indoor Triathlon / Vancouver, WA (Could it be? Yes, it is. The first tri of the year!)

OOOOF! Why didn't anyone mention the Zena Road Runs when I was writing the article that will appear in next month's RaceCenter Magazine? You know, the article about the longest running races in the NW? You know, the one that mentioned a number of races that have been around for 35, or 37 or even 40 years? Yeah, that one. Do you think I mentioned the 41st Annual Zena Road Runs in that article? Nope, I sure didn't. Doh!

Yes, the photo is from the Zena Road Run in 2004...some kind of penance for my sins. That's the 6-miler winner Haille Price.

Too crowded...can't...breathe...

So, I was hired on at OSU during the second week of the fall term, so this is the first time I've been on campus for the first week of a term, and they let everyone into the Dixon Rec Center for free during the first week, and OH...MY...GARSH! It's so crazy in there! The indoor track was PACKED with people today. I mean it's nice to see so many people taking advantage and actually trying to get in better shape, but...I NEED MY SPACE! Ah well, hopefully it will be more normal next week.

Speaking of Masters...no, we weren't, but I wanted to, so...Jen turns 40 on Friday! YES! She'll be a master at last. I was so lonely.

RACES FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 19th TO JANUARY 25th

January 24th / Winter Predictor 13k and 6k / Eugene, OR


Ummm, that's all I can find. It's a slow week. I hope you live close to Eugene.

Hey Hughes, thanks for the photo - It's a cool one.

From Favre to Clemens...

Yeah, Percocet sounds good, but the back didn't get any better until I finally found a doctor that prescribed me some 'roids. One day on Prednisone and my back was already starting to feel better. Hey, I'm all for physical therapy and staying away from drugs, but after four weeks of back pain, I wish the first two doctors I went to see had offered me the option of steroids. There's a reason all those middle-age pro athlete cheaters get caught with them...they work!

So I'm feeling better now - still not running, but biking and swimming. I think I'll try running in two weeks if I'm still feeling good at that point. So...let's look at some races!


RACES FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 12th TO JANUARY 18th

January 17th / Freeze Your Fanny 5k (cool headbands!) / Lewiston, ID

January 17th / Capitol Peak Mega Fat Ass 34 and 17 mile runs / Olympia, WA

January 17th / Nookachamps Winter Runs Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Mt. Vernon, WA