Friday, June 19, 2009

Fourth of July Races!


Apparently it's un-American to have a race on July 5th...about 99.9% of the races during this week are on the Saturday, not the Sunday.

So let's race!


RACES FOR WEEK OF JUNE 29th TO JULY 5th

July 4th / Liberty 5k / Rexburg, ID

July 4th / Butte to Butte 10k / Eugene, OR

July 4th / Lostine River Run 10k and 5k / Lostine, OR

July 4th / Foot Traffic Flat Marathon and Half-Marathon /Portland, OR

July 4th / Running with Friends 5k / Willamina, OR

July 4th / Yankee Doodle Dash 10k and 5k / Everett, WA

July 4th / A.L.S. Fourth of July Fun Run 10k and 5k / Kelso, WA

July 4th / Righteous Richland Sprint Triathlon / Richland, WA

July 4th/ Fourth of July Fun Run 10k and 5k / Ridgefield, WA

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Race T-Shirt Roundup!





Today, let's take a quick look at the Heart of the Valley Triathlon T.

Well, it's white. White is very good. White goes with everything. Every time I get a weird turquoise race shirt, I think "why didn't they just go with white?"

But, man, it's really white. White white. Super white. And the black lettering, with a tiny bit of red, doesn't help much. This is one boring shirt. No graphic or art whatsoever. And what's with the blotchy border around the word "heart"? I'm not sure what they were trying for, but it looks like my shirt was on the tail-end of the run and the silkscreen place was running out of ink.

The back: boring. I mean, holy crap, really boring.

Final tally - good workout shirt, but hardly something you're going to sport proudly around town.

Let's give it a C+.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Steppin' on the Beach!


Well, my desire to always run a race while on vacation is crashing head-on into my actual state of readiness for said run.

You see, the only run I could find during our vacation to Southern California was the Low Tide Stride in San Diego. It's an 8.2 mile run...on the beach.

Am I ready to run 8.2 miles? Not really.

Am I ready to run 8.2 miles on sand? Not even.

I've never been a big fan of running on the beach anyway - and you'll never find a bigger beach fan than me - but running on the beach...it just never seems flat. The beach always cants a little bit to the sea and it throws off your stride. Plus no matter how "hard-packed" and "low tide" it is, it's just plain and simple harder to run on sand than on pavement or a trail.

But I love running on vacation. I love being the guy that's far from home. I love seeing runners and races in different parts of the country and world.

So I'm running it...8.2 miles or not...sand or not.

Wish me luck.

RACES FOR WEEK OF JUNE 22nd TO JUNE 28th

June 26th / Main Street Mile / Boise, ID (a Friday Night Run!)

June 27th and 28th / Pacific Crest Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k, Long Course and Olympic Triathlon, and Endurance and "normal" Duathlon / Sunriver, OR

June 27th / Lake Padden Triathlons / Bellingham, WA

June 27th / Run It Forward Bridge 2 Bridge 5k / Bremerton, WA

June 27th / Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon and Half-Marathon / Seattle, WA

June 27th / Bridle Trails State Park 30k, 10k, and 5k Trail Runs / Kirkland, WA

June 27th / Summer Solstice Six Miles for SW / Vancouver, WA

June 27th / Hot Foot 5k / Port Orchard, WA

June 28th/ Siuslaw River Sprint Triathlon / Mapleton, OR

June 28th / Reach the Bridge 8k / Portland, OR

June 28th / Arlington Airport Run 10 and 5k / Arlington, WA

June 28th / Shore Run 6.7 mile and 5k / Seattle, WA

June 28th / Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon and 5k / Vancouver, BC

June 28th / Low Tide Stride 8.2 mile run / San Diego, CA

Thanks to Nick.com for SpongeBob.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Color of Ink...


The new article is titled "The Color of Running" and it's about, what else, the "green" wave that's taking over, if nothing else, the marketing of running.

You know, or maybe you don't, that when I write an article, it's usually at least two months, and sometimes more, before it actually hits the newsstands in print. During that time, I often forget just about everything to do with the article and definitely if I was happy with the article or not. So I always read it with an open mind when it comes out.

Sometimes I read my articles and think, "meh..."

And sometimes I read them and think, "that was actually pretty good."

And this was, I think, actually pretty good. The article flows well, it has good information, it has a very wide audience, and it's something I strongly believe in. I know, you're thinking, "so sometimes you write things and don't even have strong convictions about what you're writing?"

No comment.

But this article is good. Run a race, and help the environment at the same time. I like it.

I hope you do too.

Monday, June 8, 2009

I'm behind, waaaaay behind...


What can I say, I'm posting runs that are taking place like two hours from now...I've got to get serious here. They don't pay me the big bucks to sit around twideling, twidleing, twiddleing, twiddling (that's a really hard word to spell...)my fingers.

Unbelievable number of races and triathlons this week - Let's run!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JUNE 15th TO JUNE 21st

June 18th / Run Eugene Run 5k / Eugene, OR ( A Thursday Night Run!)

June 20th / Cascades Edge Sprint and Olympic Triathlon and Duathlon / Enumclaw, WA

June 20th / Redfish Lake Triathlon / Stanley, ID

June 20th / Running of the Trolls 5.75 and 3 mile run / Astoria, OR

June 20th / Datalogic 5k / Eugene, OR

June 20th / White River 5k / Buckley, WA

June 20th / Lost Lake 50k / Bellingham, WA

June 20th / Cape Mt. 10 Mile Trail Run / Florence, OR

June 20th / Berry Days Half-Marathon and 10k / Burlington, WA

June 20th / Run with Cops Not from Them 5k / Redmond, WA

June 20th / XTERRA Solstice Off-Road Triathlon / La Grande, OR

June 20th / Run for Literacy 5k / Bellingham, WA

June 20th / Five Mile Lake Women's Sprint Triathlon / Auburn, WA

June 20th / The Deputy Saul Gallegos Memorial Run 10k and 5k / Manson, WA

June 21st / Iron Mountain Triathlon / Maple Ridge, BC

June 21st / Treasure State Olympic Triathlon / Bozeman, MT

June 21st / Livestrong Challenge 5k / Seattle, WA

June 21st / Summer Sunset Solstice Triathlon and Duathlon / Vancouver, WA

June 21st / Army Strong Fitness Expo 5k / Lakewood, WA

June 21st / Prost8k / Springfield, OR


Does the picture from wiki look familiar? It should.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Girls on the Run 5k!


Wow, what a crowd for the Girls on the Run 5k yesterday at Willamette Park in Corvallis. Nice to see people getting out to support this great cause. Too bad I ran a 7k!

So to support this wonderful program, Jen and I signed up for the 5k and Carson and Payton signed up for the 1k. Weather on race morning wasn't perfect, there was a little drizzle, but not too bad. The 5k course was completely on the paths, both paved and hard-packed dirt, of Willamette Park, which is always a good thing. The 5k started at 9:00am and the 1k started at 10:00am, so with the Grandparents watching the kids, Jen and I hit the start line at nine sharp.

The first mile was completely on the paved path heading toward the in-progress baseball games at the other end of the part, which was fun, then we hit the first turn-around at about the 1.2 mile mark and moved onto the parallel dirt trail for the run back. The course is flat and shaded, which wasn't needed because of the cloud cover, and is a very nice course for a fast 5k. I felt pretty good and had opened up a little gap between myself and the wife, although she's a notorious bait-and-switch runner and will sometimes nip at your heels for an entire race like a rabid poodle, then try to pass you near the finish. We came back onto the paved trail just after the two-mile marker and ran through the crowds at the finish and past them to head to the second turn-around farther down the trail.

And here's where the tear-jerking part of our story begins...

I've run this trail before with my Nike+ system and I knew roughly how far it was from one end of the park to the other, so I was a bit surprised as I came over the first slight rise and saw runners still stretching out all the way to the fence that marks the very end of the trail. "That's too far," my winded brain said, then I quickly dismissed it. "Stupid brain," I thought. They'd turn us around at the right point, and besides, everybody in front of me was still running, so I clearly hadn't missed the turnaround. When my Nike+ told me "Congratulations, you've finished your 5k run!" and I was still running away from the finish line, I realized we might have a small problem.

I hit the dead end fence at the end of the trail and said to the woman running beside me, "I guess this it it," even though there was no marker or volunteer of any kind and clearly there was a serious problem with the course. Heading back now toward the finish line, I realized there were only two runners behind me going toward the end of the trail and then nobody...

After another minute of running, I was able to see why. A runner who was involved with Girls on the Run and knew the course realized that the turnaround was unmanned and basically unmarked had stopped on the actual turnaround spot so the rest of the runners would know where to turn...all of this shortly after I went by, of course.

So did Jen get the correct turnaround and beat me to the finish line? Of course.

Did my first place 40-49 age group ribbon go to someone else that hit the correct turnaround? Sure, why not? Actually, I haven't seen the results...and it might be impossible to tell.

So about the first 50 or so runners all went 4.3 miles instead of 3.1, according to my Nike+. Only the 3rd time in about 150 races in my life that I've missed a turn on a course. It's never a good feeling when you realize what happened.

Ah well, it's a all for a good cause, right? Right?

Oh, Payton and Carson both did the 1k and did very well. Payton, of course, went out way too fast and paid for it, although he soldiered on to the finish. Carson, smartly, took lots of walk breaks and hit the finish line strong. Great job, kids!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Best Running Song of the Month!


...for June! That's right, no waiting around this month. June 2nd...BAM! Running Song of the Month time.

I believe I promised we'd head back to the States for this month's song, and baby, you can't get any more American than Detroit. May I present you to the Raconteurs and Salute Your Solution.

This song is just so...fast! Fast guitars, fast drums, fast bass, fast lyrics. Very fast lyrics. In fact, check out a live performance of Salute Your Solution here, here, here and here. Notice that Jack White can't even get the lyrics right about half the time. That might just be Jack, but the unbelievable speed of the lyrics can't be easy.

But for running, man, this song just has a great feel. Even though it's played at about double-time from anything from the 70's, it's got a real retro vibe. Probably not a song you want as the first tune up on the iPod, but maybe as the fifth or sixth song, this one is hard to beat.

Move your feet.