Delaware...what is your problem?

Actually, I'm not sure anyone really lives in Delaware, so maybe this is all a moot point, but...

Google, if you didn't already know this, let's Blogspot bloggers check out where everyone comes from that goes to their blog. The majority of my blog readers, obviously, come from Oregon (duh), Washington (again, duh), California (close enough to the Pac NW), Idaho (ditto), New York (ummm...). OK, here's where the stunning popularity of the Best Running Songs posts comes to the forefront. I've got a bunch of hits from states like Michigan, Florida, Texas and Illinois. In other words, states that wouldn't have a lot of good reasons to come to my blog...except they know I have exquisite musical taste!

Then there's Delaware. No one from Delaware has ever been to my blog. Dude. That's just wrong. And they're not the only ones. Forty-four states are well-represented at The Two R's. Six other states...not so much. So Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada (Nevada!? Come on!), West Virginia, and stinkin' Delaware...Bring it! I've had someone from the freakin' Canary Islands come to my blog, but you states can't send one runner over to see what kind of music to strap onto the iPod? Come on!

Don't make me tell you again.


Thanks to USC for the Delaware flag pic. You could have held up a million dollars and asked me what state that flag belonged to - I wouldn't have had the slightest clue.

Has the NW Weather Worm Turned?

Just went for a walk outside during the lunch hour and it's fantastic. No jacket required. The forecast for the next two weeks looks very good as well. So...

let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF MAY 4th TO MAY 10th

May 9th / Lake Run 12k and 5k / Lake Oswego, OR

May 9th / Canby Gator Grinder Sprint Tri / Canby, OR (I hope you're already signed up...'cause it's full!)

May 9th / McDonald Forest 50k / Corvallis, OR

May 9th / NARAL Run for your Rights 5k / Seattle, WA

May 9th / Haggen to Haggen 5k / Bellingham, WA (one of my all-time favorites - flat, fast, and free!)

May 9th / Newport Off-Road Sprint Triathlon / Newport, OR

May 9th / Mother's Day 5k / Colville, WA

May 9th / Gut Check Duathlon / Vancouver, WA

May 10th / Kirland Half-Marathon and 5k / Kirkland, WA

Thanks to NASA for the image of the sun.

Big Name Weekend!

The Vancouver Marathon, the Tacoma Marathon, the Eugene Marathon...

Bloomsday!

This is a big ticket weekend. If you can't find a good run here, you're not really trying.


RACES FOR WEEK OF APRIL 27th TO MAY 3rd

May 2nd / Hagg Lake 10.4 mile and 10k / Forest Grove, OR

May 2nd / Apple Blossom 10k and 5k / Wenatchee, WA

May 2nd / Climb to Conquer Cancer 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

May 2nd / Fiasco in Pasco Duathlon / Pasco, WA

May 2nd / Run for the Animals 5k / Vancouver, WA

May 2nd / Free Them 5k / Seattle, WA

May 2nd / Sunflower Relay and Iron 21.7 mile run / Winthrop, WA

May 3rd / Eugene Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k / Eugene, OR (Go Manny!)

May 3rd / The Farm Sprint Duathlon and Sprint Triathlon / Hillsboro, OR

May 3rd / Vancouver Marathon, Half-Marathon and 8k / Vancouver, B.C.

May 3rd / Cinco de Mao 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

May 3rd / Up the Crooked River Duathlon / Prineville, OR

May 3rd / Lilac Bloomsday Run 12k / Spokane, WA

May 3rd / Tacoma City Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k / Tacoma, WA

Best Running Song of the Month

Hey, who am I to argue with the people. You've spoken and you said you need some good music to get you out there and running. Brother, you came to the right place. I've got about 3000 songs on the old laptop and about 1000 on the new (ish) MacBook - and I've run to all of them.

Now let's get it straight right off the bat: I don't listen to slow, easy, 12:00 per mile pace music. I just don't. I need something that has some speed behind it. Something that's going to keep me going when I get tired.

Something with drums. Lots of drums.

With that in mind, I've got a great tune for you here: "Like Eating Glass" by Bloc Party. You know, sometimes you just have to run angry...and this is your song. At the end of that marathon, when your knees are grinding and you're ready to shove "goo" up the next smiling volunteer's nose...this song will get you through that mile.

If that one doesn't do it for you, don't worry, Bloc Party is the running band. These guys put out so much good, high-tempo, energy-driven music, you can't help but find a song to run to. Here are some of my other favorites:

-"So Here We Are" Just a perfect 10k-pace song...and it builds to a big finish. Set this one as your "power song" and hit it three minutes before the finish line.

-"Banquet" Jangly and bouncy. This one will get you out there when you don't even feel like running.

-"Helicopter" Got some speed work to do at the track? Here ya go - try to keep up with that.

-"The Prayer" Holy Cheese! Just heavy and fat and phat and pounding. Maybe this should have been the "don't run angry" pick.

Still not enough, try Halo, One Month Off, and Trojan Horse from their latest album.

Oh, and I just got a $25 iTunes gift card for my birthday (thanks bro!), so I'll be back with more good picks soon.

OK, get out there and run already.


thanks to Spirit-of-Rock.com for the cool photo.

Get your meter out of my yard...

...and stay off the lawn, you stinkin' kids!

Now what was I talking about? That's right - I swam my first "test" time trial for the Heart of the Valley Triathlon yesterday: 12:23 for 750 meters. Not bad, although I'm hoping to swim it around 11:30 in the actual tri.

Anyhoo...meters? As you may recall, or not depending on your drink of choice, I grew up swimming meters. But trying to think back, I can't recall swimming in a single 50-meter pool since I swam my last year on the Wapato Swim Team (gulp...24 years ago!). Let's see:

-Dixon? Yards.
-Osborne Aquatic Center? Well, apparently it can be meters, but they always have the barrier (they call it the "bulkhead") in the middle of the pool, so I think it's usually about 25 yards.
-Arne Hanna Aquatic Center (Bellingham)? Yards.
-Bellingham Athletic Center? This is a good one - feet! I think it was 50 feet...in a dark, little cave...five good strokes and you were done with the lap.

I don't know, I'm sure there's more, but the point is every pool I've been in since high school has been yards, not meters. So to prepare for the HOTV, which has a 750 meter swim, I figured I'd have to swim about 30 laps in the Dixon pool. I mean, yards...meters...what's the difference?

Quite a bit, actually. After heading to one of those fancy online conversion calculators, I realized I'd have to swim about 33 laps at Dixon to get to 750 meters! Yowza.

So don't skimp on the swim practice. If you're doing the HOTV, if the extra 250 yards don't get you, the meters will.

The map of countries that DON'T use the metric system is from Mr. Malley through wikimedia. Thanks.

Late...no talk...run!

Whew, after a long weekend of moving the 'rents Southward, I'm back in the saddle. I don't have a whole lot to say tonight except that I'm really getting behind on the races. So let's get up a new race schedule and I'll be back with more blathering tomorrow.

Lots of great benefit races coming up - spend your money wisely. Let's race...

RACES FOR WEEK OF APRIL 20th TO APRIL 26th

April 25th / Capitol Peak 50 mile and 55k / Olympia, WA

April 25th / Sean's Run from Autism 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

April 25th / Eagle Run 10k and 5k / Oak Harbor, WA

April 25th / Earth Advantage Earth Day Run 10k and 5k / Tigard, OR

April 25th / Miles for Memories 5k / Bellingham, WA

April 25th / Tom Wales Memorial 5k / Seattle, WA

April 26th / Olivia Medici Memorial 10k and 5k / Beaverton, OR

April 26th / Run for the Cheetah 8k and 5k / Portland, OR

April 26th / Bellevue 5k / Bellevue, WA

April 26th / Taste of the Landing 5k / Renton, WA

April 26th / Seattle Public Schools Boardwalk 5k / Seattle, WA

Thanks to answers.com for the clock. Or wikianswers...or wikipedia...or whoever is running that site, I can't tell for sure!

New Ink? Sure, why not?

Yep, yep - yours truly has got some new work out there. And hey look at that, I'm at the top of the mast again. "Northwest Multi-Sport Roundup". That's me. What is the article about? I'm gonna say "Multi-Sport racing". And apparently I'm rounding them right the heck up. And by the by, if you've never rounded a team together and done one of these, you really should. That's coming from a four-time veteran of the Ski to Sea in Bellingham: one of the greatest of all the Multi-Sport races. And the Ski to Sea Race Director has the last name Coy! It doesn't get any better than that.

Hmmm, what else have we got in the new RaceCenter? "Best Foods for Endurance Athletes". Without even reading the article, I'm going to go out on a limb and say "Kidd Valley." What else? "Is Group Training Good for You?" Again, haven't read it yet, but I'm guessing "yes". Better than sitting in front of the TV and eating Nutty Buddy's anyway. Also, an article about a guy that did the Boston Marathon, which I already know I won't like, but mainly because I'm just jealous. I wanna run Boston! Some day.

So get out there and support your local writer...me! And the best part is, it's free. So go buy something from the Rudy Project or some other advertiser so Brook will still send me checks.

Thanks.

Take-Away's from the Beaver Freezer...

Just a few things that I realized during the Beaver Freezer on Saturday that should help me in my next race:

1- I need to drop 10 pounds....there's probably nothing that would lower my times on the bike and the run more than dropping some weight. It's just a sad fact of life...those of us six foot or taller that enjoy eating every meal plus snacks are at a serious disadvantage when we're trying to chase down 150 pound racers. Believe me, I saw the overall winner of the Beaver Freezer - I've got 40 pounds on him.

2- I need to hit the hills more. This is partly just coming out of the winter and good weather will help, but I really need to work on my hill running. There was one tiny little hill in the Freezer run (we hit it three times) and I struggled up that thing every lap.

3- I need a longer swim. 17th fastest out of the water and 95 fastest overall. That tells you something.

4- I need to sign up for another race immediately, so I have something to work towards right now. HOTV...here I come! And like they knew what my #3 take-away was, the HOTV increases the swim length compared to the Beaver Freezer by 50%, while leaving the bike leg and the run leg the same distance. Nice.

RACES FOR WEEK OF APRIL 13th TO APRIL 19th

April 17th / Twilight 5k / Lewiston, ID

April 18th / Tilikum 10k and 5k / St. Paul, OR

April 18th / Wenatchee Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10k / Wenatchee, WA

April 18th / Stanfield Spring XC 5k / Stanfield, OR

April 18th / Trout Lake Run Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k / Trout Lake, WA

April 19th / Albany Sprint Triathlon / Albany, OR

April 19th / Bridge to Brews 10k and 8k / Portland, OR

April 19th / Komen Race for the Cure 5k / Spokane, WA

April 19th / Shoreline Earth Day 5k / Shoreline, OR

April 19th / Spokane River Run 50k, 25k, 10k, and 5k / Spokane, WA

April 19th / Vancouver Sun Run 10k / Vancouver, B.C.

Beaver Freezer Results!

No, they're not up yet at the OSU website, but they are up.

Check out the results right here.

Beaver Freezer Race Report!

Yes, Carson is in her jammies in these photos - what can I tell you? She'd never get out of them if we didn't force her to. Check out my race report after the photos!











At long last, the Beaver Freezer has come...and now it's gone.

The Freezer, like many indoor-swim triathlons, has multiple heats to try to get everyone in the pool. There were 10 heats, with 32 people in each heat. Eight lanes in the Dixon pool at OSU, with four swimmers in each lane. Everyone had preassigned lanes and starting positions - I was in lane 1 (closest to the exit door - nice) and started 2nd in our lane; five seconds after the first swimmer started. The swim was 500 yards and I had a good swim (6:56), but never caught the girl in front of me - she was fast. We both lapped the swimmer that started third on our last lap, so I felt we were moving pretty well.

I had a decent T1. Nothing special, but not too slow. I wondered for a moment about gloves and jacket, but decided to forego both and I'm glad I did. The weather, after raining all week, was absolutely gorgeous today, with sun and very little wind. I felt bad for the early heats, the first heat went in the water at 7:30, because there was frost on the ground at that time this morning. Their ride must have been chilly.

The bike went very well. As always, this was the leg I was dreading, but I finished about five minutes faster than I was shooting for, so I was very pleased there. I even passed a couple of fast bikers on a good downhill - I told them if they were fat like me, they could go faster downhill too! Of course, they passed me back up on the next uphill. The old Softride is still a treat to ride - I love that bike.

T2 was fast, although it actually looks sort of slow on the results because the run to the end of the bike racks, then back to my rack, was loooooong.

The run felt slow, and was pretty slow. After about halfway through, I just felt like the tank was on "E". I just told myself to keep plodding along and when I saw, on the third and last lap, that my time was going to be pretty good, I tried to turn it up just a bit. I don't think it worked - I plodded right to the finish.

Overall though, I was about as fast as I wanted to be for this first tri of the year, and much faster than I was afraid I was going to be for this first tri of the year. Fast enough to get a pretty, green, fourth-place ribbon for my age group. Yah!

Day off tomorrow, then back to work on Monday. I think I'll look for a run, maybe a 10k in a few weeks, then the Heart of the Valley Tri on Memorial Day for my next tri.

One in the books for 2009!