Friday, October 30, 2009

One Stinking Day Until Nanowrimo...


Yes, tomorrow would be Halloween. The last day of freedom before you need to literally chain yourself to your computer so you can pump out 1700 words a day for NaNoWriMo. I, on the other hand, have still not finished my article for RaceCenter magazine that's due in a couple days, or the multi-part Christmas story that needs to be ready to mail out on November 25th.

I'm in so much trouble...

RACES FOR WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2nd TO NOVEMBER 8th

November 7th / Zeitgeist Half-Marathon / Boise, ID

November 7th / Just Cuz Half-Marathon / Pocatello, ID


Aaaaaaand...that's all I got. No, really. Apparently, Idaho has been declared the running capital of the first weekend of November. Hang out in other states at your peril.

Go Idaho!

I have no idea who took the photo of the spuds - it's from the Crop and Soil Sciences Department at OSU though. Go Angry Beavers!

Man, now I've got a hankerin' for some tater tots...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

One week to Nanowrimo!


And only one week. Next Sunday, November 1st, is the day to have your pencil sharpened. Your plot, obviously, is already ready to roll. Your characters, clearly, are fully-fleshed and ready to step onto and then off of the page. Your finale, without a doubt, is nicely formed and ready to be put to page right around November 25th.

Or you'll just plagerize the latest lame-ass Vampire or Zombie book that's hit the best-seller list.

Hey, whatever works for you.

Head right here to see how I'm doing after November 1st!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Shutting it down...


Is there anything worse than a nagging injury that keeps nagging? After a few months of a strange quad/groin thing that just wouldn't get better - but never really got worse either - I've decided to completely stop running for a few weeks to see if I can heal it up. It's one of those injuries that didn't keep me from running, even running long, but it did stop me from running fast. Any time I tried to turn it up a little, it started to flare up. And hey, running long is good and all, but getting faster is what it's really all about.

So here I sit.

But you! You go run! Git!

RACES FOR WEEK OF OCTOBER 26th TO NOVEMBER 1st

October 31st / Doc Sears Fall Classic 4.5 Mile Run / Lewiston, ID

October 31st / Run Like Hell Bend Half-Marathon and 5k / Bend, OR

October 31st / A Step Ahead 10k and 5k / Eugene, OR

October 31st / Fall Classic 5k / Monroe, WA

October 31st / Run Scared 5k / Seattle, WA

October 31st / Pumpkin Pacer 5k / Deer Park, WA

Sunday, October 18, 2009

A New R in Print...


Seems like it's been a long time, but I'm finally on the newsstands again. The new issue of RaceCenter has my latest article, titled: "Strands That Connect." And it's about...Strands.com. Man, I'm so creative when it comes to titles, right?

So anyhoo, Strands.com is basically a site for athletes that like Facebook. If you can't stand the world not knowing what you're doing this very day about your running, or biking, or swimming, or whatever, then Strands is the site for you. I'm actually not much of a Facebook fan, and I'm not sure how much I'll use Strands either, but if you take the time to set it up right, you really don't need to do a lot. It will grab your workouts from Garmin or Nike+, it will grab your blogs from Blogger, it will grab your routes from MapMyRun and Garmin...so really, you don't have to do much once you're set up.

If you're one of those people though, Strands can really be a time-waster. You'll be on there posting about how you just walked 1/32 of a mile coming back from the fridge.

Let's see, what else? It's actually a pretty thin issue - Brook must have been working on the upcoming 2010 RaceCenter Event Guide. That one is always thick! We've got the usual training and nutrition columns and "Vive La Marathon" from TV Weather Dude Matt Zaffino plus "What Can XC Skiing Do For Me?" by J.D. Downing. I can tell you it won't do anything for me because I'm not doing it! I don't like the cold, and that's that.

There's the Cliff Notes for this issue. See you next time!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Human Race Redux...



Nike had grand plans for the Human Race in 2008: 25 cities, 25 big bands, and 1 million runners! Well, they tried. And I'm sure not going to knock them for trying.

But in 2009, Nike is toning the Human Race 10k back a bit. There are official races only in three locations in the US. Closest destination for NW runners...L.A. Hmmm...probably not going to make it.

So Nike is also promoting that you run a 10k on October 24th, anywhere in the world, and record it with your Nike+. And there you go - you've participated in your first highly organized one-person race!

Whatever works for you. If you're looking for something a little more traditional, keep on scrolling!

RACES FOR WEEK OF OCTOBER 19th TO OCTOBER 25th

October 24th / Columbia River Power Marathon and Half-Marathon / Umatilla, OR

October 24th / Prison Break! Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k / Boise, ID

October 24th / Strands 5k / Corvallis, OR

October 24th / Monster Mash 5k / Eugene, OR

October 24th / Pumpkin Push 5k / Seattle, WA

October 24th / Nike's The Human Race 10k / Somewhere Outside of Your Front Door, Anywhere

October 25th / Columbia Gorge Marathon and Half-Marathon / Hood River, OR

October 25th / Run Like Hell Portland Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

October 25th / McDonald Forest Cross Country 15k and 5k / Corvallis, OR

October 25th / Spooky Trail Run 12k / Port Gamble, WA

October 25th / James Cunningham Seawall 9.5k / Vancouver, B.C.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Maybe you can judge a book by the cover...


Verily, it has come to pass...two weeks until Nanowrimo.

Gulp.

I don't know what I've been doing these past two weeks, but I haven't been spending a whole lot of time thinking about my novel. I need to get serious. Oh, and I've got a Christmas story to write and a RaceCenter article due the first week of November.

I could be in trouble. It's not even November, and I could be in trouble.

But hey, at least, if I somehow finish my novel, I might not have to worry about whether to use 24 or 36 point font for the cover page and fret over what color yarn to use to tie the manuscript pages together.

Forget all that! Get a bitchin' professional cover for your novel right here!

Very nice.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Best Running Song for October!


Make it plural!

Now, as a wannabe writer, I must say that plagiarism is usually a bad thing. However, if you're just needing a good song to get your feet moving on your next run? Well, I'd have to say "copy away!"

So October is a Two for the Price of One Sale Month.

First up, the original in this duo, is "One Armed Scissor" by At the Drive-In. They've since broken up and a couple of the guys are doing some very trippy stuff as the Mars Volta, but it's a little too odd for running. "One Armed Scissor", on the other hand, is perfect. Fast, energetic, and tough - it's got everything you need to help you through a long run. Plus, just think of running your next marathon with a afro like the At the Drive-In guys! Those are the biggest white guy 'fros I've seen this side of Wolfmother. (Wolfmother for November...hmmmmmmm?)

The second half of the two for one, the cheater half, if you will, is Billy Talent with "Try Honesty." Same great energy, same great speed, same great hook...these Canadian boys might be taking NAFTA a bit too far. Still, it's all good when you're out on the trail.

Enjoy.

Past Best Running Songs:
September: Silversun Pickups / "Lazy Eye"
August: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros / "Johnny Appleseed"
July: Deathray / "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)"
June: Raconteurs / "Salute Your Solution"
May: Tea Party / "Save Me"
April: Bloc Party / "Like Eating Glass"
Ever: The English Beat / "I Confess"

Friday, October 9, 2009

I Need a Race!


Yikes, I'm without a race to look forward to for the first time in months - I've got to settle on something quickly here. My worst fear is not having something to look forward to and work toward. I've got to have a race with a set date so I can say, "THIS is what all my hard work is for".

This weekend, I'm going to nail down the next race. Let me know if you know of something good coming up.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF OCTOBER 12th TO OCTOBER 18th

October 17th / Pre's Trail X-C Challenge 7k, 5k and 3k / Eugene, OR

October 17th / Chelan Chase 5k / Chelan, WA

October 17th / Hood River Harvest Dash 10k and 5k / Hood River, OR

October 17th / Stanfield Fall XC 5k / Stanfield, OR

October 17th / Catalyst Challenge 10k and 5k / Tigard, OR

October 17th / Lewis-Clark Half-Marathon and 5k / Clarkston, WA

October 18th / Beaver Fever Sprint Duathlon / Philomath, OR

October 18th / Run of Hope 5k / Seattle, WA

October 18th / Dawg Dash 10k and 5k / Seattle, WA (Go Dawgs!)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Sacramento Cowtown Review








Ah, there's nothing like being done!

Yes, that was my first Half-Marathon in five years. Five. Years.

That's a nice feeling.

So here's the blow by blow:

I woke up in from a poor night of sleep in the downtown Sacramento Hotel at about 6:00. If I'm not at home, I just resign myself to the fact that I won't sleep well the night before a race. I just can't get a good night's sleep before a race if I'm away from home. Nerves, strange bed...I don't know what it is, but if I get four good hours, I'm happy.

So I stagger out of bed and peer through the curtains...well, at least that's good news. It's yet another gorgeous Sacramento morning. No clouds in that sky.

A quick shower, a quick Clif Bar and Diet Pepsi (it's a ritual - just go with it) and I wake up my phototographer so we can get going.

A short drive down to William Land Park (right by the zoo!) and we head to the starting corral...MOO!

We were a touch on the late side, so I didn't have a lot of time to warm up, but staring 13.1 in the face, I didn't feel the need to go on a long warm-up run anyway.

OK, where's the 2:00 pace group? Ah, there he is. Our pacer looked like a linebacker. I like that in a pacer. You know what you're getting. A guy looks like that, calves like tree trunks, big ol' shoulders - you know he's good to go for at least 13.1. No offense, but I don't want some 90 pound waif for my pacer.

So I mosey over and get in a few rows behind the 2:00 pace group, don't want to crowd anyone, and POW, we're off. Wow, no standing around today; it must have been later than I thought.

So we're off! It feels a little slow to me, but probably just because we're a bit crowded right at the start - around 5000 or so runners out here. We hit the first mile marker just a touch slow - about 9:30 - and we pick it up just a touch for mile 2.

There's a good core group of about 20 or 30 runners around Mr. 2:00 Linebacker, plus a few that come and go from in front or behind. I can't believe the pacer's have to hold that stinking sign up for 26.2 miles! I don't think I could do it.

I actually have a tough patch around mile four, when I get sort of tired for some reason. I was thinking, OK, this really is not good. I'm barely past a 5k here! But it passed pretty quickly and I felt really good through the 8 mile mark. In fact, I was ahead of the group for a while, but kept telling myself to calm down and ease back to Mr. Linebacker because I knew I wouldn't feel as good at 12 miles as I did at 8 miles.

And lo, it came to pass. Shortly after coming off the running path that skirted the River, we hit the 10 mile mark and the wheels started to come off. I walked for a bit at the water stop and my crew got about a minute out in front of me. No problem. At that point, I only had three miles left, and I quickly figured that we were a touch ahead of our 2:00 pace. So I recalculated and decided to bring it home on my own. I just wanted to get in under 2 hours!

Thank goodness we were in Sacramento and not Seattle. That course was flat. I couldn't have taken a hill right about then. Coming back into the park, I saw I was going to make it, no problem. Although, it actually turned out a little closer than I wanted...but I did it!

1:59:25!

And I got my cowbell medal!

Now the only problem is...I've got to find my next race.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Sacramento Cowtown Results!


Yes, the results are in! Check them out right...about...HERE!

What do you mean you don't see my name. Scroll! I'm not at the top, for gob's sake.

Let me help...go to the Half-Marathon results...there were 2863 of us out there for the Half...well, that finished anyway...keep scrolling...keep scrolling...THERE...yep, that's me...finisher 933...just under two hours, baby.

Back tomorrow with a Race Review!