Zena Road Runs - A Master's Race

No, not a race for Master's - the race itself is old enough to be a Master. This is the 43rd annual Zena Road Race and I'm sure I don't need to tell you how many races have made it to their 43rd year.

Head to Salem and participate in one of the oldest races in the Northwest!

All hail ZENA!

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1st TO FEBRUARY 7th

February 5th / Resolution Run 10k and 5k / St. Paul, OR

February 5th / Westside Cooperative Preschool's Friendship 5k / Olympia, WA

February 5th / Frosty Four Miler / Yakima, WA

February 6th / Zena Road Runs 15k, 6 mile and 3 mile runs / Salem, OR

Barefoot and Minimalist Running Here to Stay

Whether you want it or not.

If you're a regular reader of the R's, you already know my feelings about Barefoot Running. Cliff Notes version: it's fine for a very small subset of runners and an injury waiting to happen for most.

Unfortunately, now that the running shoe companies have figured out how to make money from barefoot running (yeah, they can't make money from barefoot running, so...hello minimalist running shoes!), you can be sure that the barefoot/minimalist trend won't be going away anytime soon.

But can't we be reasonable about this whole barefoot thing? I picked up the October 2010 issue of TrailRunner Magazine at the library and its got an article in it by someone named Michael Sandler, titled: Feel the Dirt Move Under Your Feet - How Barefoot Training Can Help You Fly.

Oh boy.

Hey, you want to run barefoot, knock yourself out. But I have to question how objective an article like this is, considering Mr. Sandler just happens to own a company called RunBare and has a book out titled: Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth.

Does TrailRunner really think we're going to get a fair, balanced view of barefoot running like this? Come on.

Trust me, the shoe companies will spend plenty lying to us about how great minimalist shoes are, we don't need our few major media outlets doing the same thing.

Photo: "If the Barefooters had the R's running their advertising campaign."

HURT 100 Results!

They're on the course right now! One of the toughest Ultras in the world. Check it out!

Now This Is Cross Country Running!

Nothing says cross country running like mud. And that's exactly what the runners got at the Nike Cross Country Team Championships in Portland last month.

Really, the pictures say it all. Just awesome.

Thanks to the American Running Association for the photos. You can see more shots at their website.

Beaver Freezer First Warning!

OK, first warning of the year: don't sleep in on February 1st! The registration for the Beaver Freezer will open at 8:00am, on February 1st. It sold out in less than two hours last year...and that was with them letting in an extra 200 racers compared to the year before!

I'll give you a few more reminders, but get it on your calendar now - it will sell out fast!

Slogging through the Winter!

And lo, when I entered that phrase into Google Images, that's the photo that came back. Looks pretty mucky. Which it is here in Corvallis as well. And likely in most areas across the country.

Winter + Rain + Snow + Dirt = Muck.

That's enough learning for today...

Stay dry out there.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 24th TO JANUARY 30th

January 29th / Willamette Mission Trail Challenge 10k and 5k / Salem, OR

January 29th / Mad Ass 50k and 25k / Madras, OR

January 30th / Fitness for Vitality 10k and 5k / Seattle, WA


Thanks to Brad Hammerstrom for the photo!

Jeff Galloway Method at the McDonald Forest 50K?

As my man Manny B has been telling me for years, the Galloway run/walk method is the way to go on a long race. Of course, it flies in the face of most runners' egos because it forces you to walk, and walk early.

But, as I'm staring the evil that is the McDonald Forest 50k in the face, I figured maybe I should give Galloway a chance.

So I headed over to Willamette Park today and did a very simple, and very easy, one hour run using the Galloway beginning method of one minute running and one minute walking.

The results?

Pretty amazing: about 5.5 miles in 60 minutes for just under a 11 minute pace. That's half run and half walk!

Now I'm not saying it's necessary for the many 5k's and 10k's and even the one half-marathon that I'll have to do to Run Every Race in Corvallis in 2011!

But for the McDonald Forest 50K? Yeah, we might be onto something here...

Stay tuned. More results to come...

Are you in the Vancouver Half?

Well, you're ahead of me.

Apparently, the race has been sold out for months. In fact, it seems to have sold out the day after it opened up for registration. Bam!

Which brings me to an issue I'm seeing more and more of...and I'm sure you are too: Races selling out WAY early. This is becoming a real problem. You not only have to plan your races out months in advance, but you also have to know exactly when they open for registration, because if you're there a week, or day, or sometimes an hour late (hello Beaver Freezer!), then you're shut out.

I've got no great solution for it, except to say if you've got a race that you really want to run, then make sure you have the REGISTRATION day on your calendar months in advance. You can worry about putting the actual race day on your calendar if you're lucky enough to get in!

Good luck and let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 17th TO JANUARY 23rd

January 22nd / Freeze Your Fanny 5k / Lewiston, ID

January 22nd / Winter Predictor 13k and 6k / Eugene, OR

January 22nd / No Sun Fun Run 5k / Puyallup, WA

January 23rd / Winter Off-Road Sprint Duathlon / Lakewood, WA

January 23rd / Vancouver Lake Half Marathon / Vancouver, WA

Can we get much faster?

Interesting article here about humans and their ability, or not, as the case may be, to run significantly faster than we already do.

I'm not sure Usain Bolt actually tells us much. I don't think the fact that he has crushed records means they will just continue to be crushed. If Bolt can indeed run a 9.4, as he says, that doesn't mean the next great sprinter will run a 9.3. Maybe Bolt is truly close to the end of the line. After all, there is a point where humans just can't go faster...and we'll get there sooner, rather that later, in races like the 100 meters.

We might have a little more breathing room on races like the marathon, especially for women, but they're running marathons unbelievably fast now as well, so...

What do you think?

Thanks to Richard Giles for the photo.

New Shoes!

Ahhhhhhhh...new running shoes. There's just nothing like it. So cozy. So shiny. So sweet.

As you remember, well you should, I have been wearing the Nike Air Max Moto 6 for a number of years now, and when Nike went to the Moto 7, I was less than impressed.

But somehow the Nike store in Woodburn still has the Moto 6's! I don't know how long they're going to keep it up, but I'm not complaining. And I got some SWEET black ones. Check 'em out up above.

$74.99 - that's a bargain at twice the price, as far as I'm concerned.

New shoes! Woot!