No backing out now...

Yes, it's official - I'm on the Portland Triathlon Confirmed Entries page. Me and 130 others for the Olympic race, at this point. It looks like about 118 are signed up for the Sprint race. Still about a month away, so lot's of time for YOU to sign up.

This race has a ton of truly "green" features that other races should emulate. First, you can agree to buy Carbon Offsets for your travel to the race. I only have to drive about an hour, so my offset was all of 26 cents. The biggest "green" offset donor so far: Matt Worstell, WE SALUTE YOU! Matt is traveling from New York, NY (the city so nice, they named it twice) and he decided to pay $28.87 to cover his carbon output to get to the race and back. Nice job, Matt!

There's also the Bamboo Race Shirts! I've never had a bamboo shirt before...I'm a little bit excited.

Bike racks from surplus steel and bamboo.

And one of the absolute coolest features: body marking (race numbers on arms and legs) by the Portland Society of Calligraphy! Now that's High-Fallutin Body Marking!

Check out all of the Portland Triathlon's sustainable efforts here. They're really going all out. I think they should be commended and I think you should sign up immediately and race this baby!


Photos courtesy of the Portland Tri. Swimmin' in the mighty Willamette!

A month away...

The Portland Tri is only four weeks away now. Time to get out there and do those long six mile runs, those 25 mile bike rides, those brutal bike/run bricks...in the 102 degree weather! Holy cheese! Yes, we're supposed to hit triple digits over the next few days here in the Valley. Be careful out there.

Jeez, lots of races this week. Let's run!

RACES FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 3rd TO AUGUST 9th

August 7th / Good Ol' Days Friday Night Stampede 5k / Auburn, WA (Friday night run!)

August 8th / Homer's Classic 8k / Silverton, OR

August 8th / Emmett's Most Excellent Olympic and Sprint Triathlons / Emmett, ID

August 8th / Stanfield Summer XC 5k Run / Stanfield, OR

August 8th / Crawfish Crawl 5k / Tualatin, OR

August 8th / Run 4 the Light 5 mile Run / Westport, WA

August 8th / Frankie's 5k / Gig Harbor, WA

August 8th / Goldfish Gallop 5k / Tacoma, WA

August 8th / Moxee Hop Festival 5k Run / Moxee, WA

August 8th / Kirk Spencer 5k Run / West Linn, OR

August 8th / Riley Run 5k / Mt. Vernon, WA

August 8th / Loggers' Jubilee 10k / Morton, WA

August 8th / Walt's Family 5k Run / Woodburn, OR

August 8th / Stilly Fun Run 5k / Arlington, WA

August 8th / Lake Samish Sprint Triathlon / Bellingham, WA

August 8th / Ellensburg Sprint Triathlon / Ellensburg, WA

August 9th / Whisky Dick Triathlon / Ellensburg, WA

August 9th / Haulin' Aspen Trail Marathon and Half-Marathon / Bend, OR

August 9th / Port Gamble Half-Marathon / Port Gamble, WA

August 9th / Walnut Grove Sprint Triathlon / Langley, B.C.

Thanks to The Good Ol' Days in Auburn for the art - I hope it's on the t-shirt...it's cool!

A Tri Anyone?

I've never seen anything like this week - almost as many tris as runs! If you've never done a tri before, this is the week for you. There's a tri close by no matter where you live!

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 27th TO AUGUST 2nd

July 30th / Viking Vengeance 5k Twilight Run / Forest Grove, OR (Thursday Night Run!)

August 1st / All Women's Sprint Triathon and Duathlon / Fairview, OR

August 1st / Tacoma Narrows Half-Marathon / Gig Harbor, WA

August 1st / McCall Mountain Olympic and Sprint Triathlon / McCall, ID

August 1st / Arlington River and Rails 10k and 5k / Arlington, WA

August 1st / Anacortes Art Dash Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k / Anacortes, WA

August 1st / Aquathlon at the Pond / Frenchtown, MT

August 1st / Mt. Ashland Hill Climb 13.3 Mile Run / Ashland, OR

August 1st / Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer Empowerment 10k and 5k / Gladstone, OR

August 1st / Whidbey Island Sprint Triathlon / Langley, WA

August 1st / Race for the Homeless 5k / Vancouver, WA

August 2nd / Mid-Summer Olympic and Sprint Triathon and Duathlon / Fairview, OR

August 2nd / XTERRA Black Diamond Off Road Triathon / Black Diamond, WA

August 2nd / Satsop Olympic and Sprint Triathlon / Elma, WA

August 2nd / Troika Half-Iron Triathlon / Spokane, WA

Portland Triathlon six weeks away...

My first Olympic Tri of the year is a short six weeks away. I'm not ready to do it now...will I be ready in six weeks? One way to find out.

Let's run.

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 20th TO JULY 26th

July 25th / Lake Como Off Road Triathlon / Darby, MT

July 25th / REI Peak Challenge 5k / Eugene, OR

July 25th / Manzanita Beach 10k and 5k run / Manzanita, OR

July 25th / Padden Duathlon / Bellingham, WA

July 25th / Samish Bay Bivalve Bash Low Tide Mud Run / Bow, WA (the toughest 250 yards you'll ever run - kneedeep mud)

July 25th / Seafair Torchlight Run 8k and 5k run / Seattle, WA

July 25th / Enumclaw Street Fair 5k / Enumclaw, WA

July 26th / XTERRA Wild Horse Creek Offroad Triathlon / Bozeman, MT

July 26th / Headwaters Half Ironman Triathlon / Three Forks, MT

July 26th / Seaside Beach 10k and 5k runs / Seaside, OR

July 26th / Lacamas Lake Half-Marathon and 4 mile runs / Camas, WA

July 26th / Swedish SummeRun 10k and 5k runs / Seattle, WA

Best Running Song for July!

Well, I've already gone over the fact that I like to run angry - I just can't be one of those people that runs down the road with a smile on his face. Maybe for the first mile...but after that I need some fast music with a driving beat to keep me going when the legs and lungs start to hurt.

But that's me. Some people actually like to run happy. Man, have I got the song for you.

This is two minutes (no, seriously) of pure bliss. It even has enough energy to make it onto a few of my Nike+ running mixes. The band is called Deathray and the song is "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)".

By the way, I wasn't kidding about the time...this baby is two minutes and two seconds long, but I know from experience if you put it on "repeat" on the iPod you won't even be able to tell where the song ends and restarts! It sounds the same at both ends!

The guys from Deathray used to be in the band Cake (remember them?) and yes, I'm sure you recognize this song from a certain movie if you have kids.

Enjoy...and get out there and run.

Catching up...

Yes, I know I'm still behind...what can I say? I'm trying to catch up here after vacation and actually have the race calendar up more than a week before the races...I mean, really, that's embarrassing.

So the results have finally been posted for the infamous Girls on the Run 5k. Yes, this one right here. Note that there's not a single finishing time between 20:38 and 24:24. Those in the race timing business call that a "problem". Ah well, Jen will be happy with her faux-second place finish - frame it!

Let's race.

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 13th TO JULY 19th

July 18th and 19th / Deschutes Dash...(deep breath)...Sprint Triathlon, Olympic Triathlon, 10k run, 5k run, Olympic Duathlon, and Sprint Duathlon / Bend, OR

July 18th / Willamette Valley 10k run / Eugene, OR

July 18th / Raspberry 5k run / Lynden, WA

July 18th / Mt. Tabor Doggie Challenge 8k and 5k runs / Portland, OR

July 18th / Clear Lake Sprint Triathlon / Clear Lake, WA (right by Sedro Woolley!)

July 18th / Kla Ha Ya Days 5 mile run / Snohomish, WA (if they put the frog on the shirt, you've got to run - I love that frog!)

July 18th and 19th / ChelanMan Half-Iron Triathon, Olympic Triathlon, Sprint Triathlon, Half-Marathon and 10k run / Chelan, WA

July 18th / Tiger Tri, an almost-Olympic Triathlon / Colville, WA

July 18th / CHC 5k run / Covington, WA

July 18th/ Capital Lakefair 8k run / Olympia, WA

July 18th / Shoreline 10k run / Richland, WA

July 18th / Magnuson Run Series 10k and 5k runs / Seattle, WA

July 19th / Run in the Country Half-Marathon / Coburg, OR

July 19th / Battle Ground Summer Fun Half-Marathon / Battle Ground, WA

July 19th / Valley Girl Women's Only Sprint Triathlon / Liberty Lake, WA

July 19th / Benaroya Research Institute Sprint Triathlon / Seattle, WA

July 19th / The Girfriends and the Dudes Sprint Triathlon / Vancouver, WA

Low Tide Ride and Stride!

And the flags were flying!

To me, there's just about nothing more fun than running a race in a distant land while on vacation. New people, new places, new trails, roads and paths. It's just a great way to expand your running horizons.

So while on vacation last week in the not-so-distant lands of San Diego, I ran a little 8.2 mile race called the Low Tide Ride and Stride. Yes, Ride and Stride. The bikers, and there were a lot of them, took off 15 minutes before the runners. And why "Low Tide..."? Because we were right on the sand - about 10 feet from the breaking waves. It was absolutely beautiful. And the course, which hugged the Silver Strand State Park, with the mighty Pacific on one side and the San Diego Bay on the other, had very little housing or storefronts along the route - most of the way, it's state park or military land, so it was basically nothing but the sand, the ocean, and the beach. I can't recommend it enough.

So now that the wonderful part is out of the way, we can talk about the actual race. I was slow, but two full days of driving to get from Corvallis to San Diego and then a 12-hour day walking around Legoland does not exactly get your legs ready to run. Surprisingly, the sand wasn't bad at all for running. The footing was solid on the packed sand. It was hot, but really, what can you expect for Southern California in July?

And although I assumed I'd be the only Northwesterner down there, I've got to give out big props to Ryan Bauthues from my old home town of Bellingham, Washington...who took 7th place overall! Way to go, Ryan!

Two big thumbs up for the Low Tide Ride and Stride.

I'm back, baby!

Yikes, I'm just barely keeping out in front on the old race schedule, but I'm back from vacation, back from running the Low Tide Stride on the beautiful sand of San Diego and back to run in the wonderful Northwest.

Race Report, Running Song of the Month, T-Shirt Roundup and lots, lots, more coming soon! But first...

Let's run!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 6th TO JULY 12th

July 11th / Hagg Lake Olympic and Sprint Triathlon / Forest Grove, OR

July 11th / Underwear Affair 10k and 5k / Vancouver, BC (if you ever wanted to run a race in your underwear...and who hasn't, right?...then this is the race for you)

July 11th / YMCA Spudman Olympic Triathlon / Boise, ID

July 11th / Smith Rock Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k / Terrebonne, OR

July 11th / Battle Ground 10m and 5m Runs / Battle Ground, WA

July 11th / Chuckanut Foot Race 7 miler / Bellingham, WA

July 11th / Let's Climb a Mountain 34.3 Mile Run (Uphill!) / Spokane, WA

July 11th / Run of the Mill 5k / Mill Creek, WA

July 11th / Run the Sun 10 and 5 Mile Trail Runs / Winthrop, WA

July 12th / Steve Omi Memorial Open Water Swim 1 Miler / Coeur d'Alene, ID

July 12th / Everson Fun Run 10k and 5k / Everson, WA

July 12th / Spring Meadow Olympic and Sprint Triathlons / Helena, MT

July 12th / Missoula Marathon and Half-Marathon / Missoula, MT

July 12th / Langley Half-Marathon / Langley, WA