My First 5k Win!

Of course, I ran it by myself...

Check out the whole story here in the Corvallis Gazette Times.

So OK, I didn't officially win the Out to the Ballgame 5k, but I did set a new 2011 5k PR of 24:07. Let me tell you, it's sort of nice to have a pacer on a bike out in front of you for the entire course. Thanks Gerhard!

Oh and the photo. Note Carson in the background. The kids ran the warning track and 3rd baseline home with me after I got to Goss stadium. She was getting a bit tired at that point, but nice effort while holding a stuffed buffalo! Payton, of course, had no trouble keeping up with me even though he was in flip flops.

Thanks to Aaron Yost for the nice article and Ethan Erickson for the photo.

Summerfest Rock and Soul Crash Lands

Bad story out of Milwaukee from last weekend. The Summerfest Rock n' Soul Half Marathon and 10k started in high temps and ended with runners collapsing from the heat and reported lack of water on the course. Check the story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel right here.

Hey, it's summer time now. It's going to get hot. And to me, it sounds like there's plenty of blame to spread around in this one. First, the organizers just have to be prepared. No excuses. It's July - there's absolutely no reason to not have enough water on a Half Marathon course. Some runners are spending between two and three hours running in the heat. You've got to have enough water.

But the runners don't get a free ride here. If you're running on an extremely hot day, no shade and you hit a water stop or two that are out of water, do you just keep running? It's just a race. There's another one next week. You don't risk dying from heat stroke just so you can say you finished a Half.

Everybody has to be responsible in a situation like this. I have no doubt the race organizers will learn from this, but I hope some of the runners look at themselves and ask if they should have done something different as well.

Be smart out there.


Photo by Mike De Sisti

How Fast Can a Human Run?

Yeah, I know we've talked about this before, like right here, but this is an interesting article all the same.

Chuck Klosterman, over at ESPN.com, spends a little time thinking about the top-end limit on human speed. As I said, frankly, the sprinting stuff has been said before, and I don't find the 100m all that exciting anyway, but I like his point about sprinting vs. long distance running. That said, I'm not sure what Christopher McDougall is talking about with the hype around sprinting being "sexist." What? Because men are faster than women in sprinting? Well, they're faster at the marathon too - I don't see it.

Anyway, nice to read any kind of running article at ESPN. That's pretty rare.

Yeah, the photo: enter "fastest human" into Google images and the first 7 photos are of Usain Bolt. The eighth photo is this guy. Yeah, he looks fast.

Run Faster in One Easy Step!

If you're looking to run faster, I recommend the Pacific Gopher Snake (helpfully pictured above).

I was coming down the back side of Bald Hill on Sunday and started to jump over what I thought was a rubber water diverter, of which many are placed along the trails in Bald Hill to keep the rain from washing out the trail. Well, I thought it was a rubber diverter until it started to move across the trail. That was when my foot was about two inches above it and, almost against the laws of physics, it turns out you can actually jump straight up in the air even when running down a hill at a 7:00 pace. Who knew, right?

So if you're looking for something to move you right along on your next long weekend run, I'm going to say "four foot long Pacific Gopher Snake."

Yep, that'll do it.

Josh, quit not breaking world records...

Just an awesome new series of spots from K Swiss featuring Kenny Powers, and in the latest episode, superstar 50k record holder Josh Cox.

Check it out here.

"Josh, quit not breaking world records."

Awesome, just awesome.

Out to the Ballgame 5k - Hawaii Satellite Race

And for the 17th race on the EPIC 2011 schedule, we're going to be running the roads of Maui.

Well, I am anyway.

The unfortunate souls running the actual race, the Out to the Ballgame 5k to be exact, will indeed be running in Corvallis.

But I'll be on vacation. In Maui. Just wanted to mention that again.

But with luck, I'll have my race number and race shirt before the fact and I'll hit the Hawaiian roads exactly at 5:00pm on the 27th for a 5k. Satellite style.

I'm predicting a EPIC 2011 5k PR.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 25th TO JULY 31st

July 27th / Out to the Ballgame 5k / Corvallis, OR (Wednesday Night Race!)

July 30th / Bozeman Tritons Triathlon, Long Course and Sprint / Bozeman, MT

July 30th / Mt. Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultra 50m / Timothy Lake, OR

July 30th / Bowerman AC 5k / Beaverton, OR

July 30th / Hardesty Hard Core 14.4m and Forest Five 5.5m / Oakridge, OR

July 30th / Olalla Lake Off-Road Sprint Triathlon / Newport, OR

July 30th / Mt. Tabor Doggie Challenge 8k and 5k / Portland, OR

July 30th / Liberty House Family Fun Run 10k and 5k / Salem, OR

July 30th / Anacortes Art Dash 10k and 5k / Anacortes, WA

July 30th / Ellensburg Sprint Triathlon / Ellensburg, WA

July 30th / Wildwood Trail Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k / Portland, OR

July 30th / Federal Escape Triathlon Olympic and Sprint / Federal Way, WA

July 30th / Old Settlers 5k / Ferndale, WA

July 30th / Centennial of Naval Aviation Flightline 5k / Oak Harbor, WA

July 30th / Arc in Motion 10k and 5k / Vancouver, WA

July 30th / Seafair Torchlight Run 8k and 5k / Seattle, WA

July 30th / Run4Us 10k and 5k / Lakewood, WA

July 30th / Whale of a Run 4m / Silverdale, WA

July 30th / White River Trail Run 50m / Crystal Mountain, WA

July 31st / Dusty Toes Trail Half Marathon / Gig Harbor, WA

July 31st / Original Bare Buns Fun Run 5k / Loon Lake, WA

July 31st / Whisky Dick Olympic Triathlon and 10k Run / Ellensburg, WA

July 31st / Let'er Tri Let'er Du Olympic and Sprint Triathlon and Duathlon / Pendleton, OR

July 31st / Great NW Mountain Run Trail 12k / Mt. Hood, OR

July 31st / Mid-Summer Triathlon and Duathlon, Olympic and Sprint / Fairview, OR

Chris Horner Takes a Tumble!

Crap! Chris Horner, our own Tour de France homeboy from Bend, gets into one of the bad crashes today, and goes from 13th place to 119th!

That's not right...

Best Running Song for July!

Jumping into the Wayback Machine for this month's pick...and we're going way, way back.

Back to when I was in 8th grade! Now that's going back, back, back...and it's over the wall!

So the year is 1980 and a new band arrives on the scene that's a bizarre mix of England and Akron, Ohio. That's right, it's the Pretenders. In my opinion, you've got the best female vocalist of all time and, in this early line-up, an absolutely top drawer backing band coming together to make some of the best punk rock of all-time. And yes, although people these days would shove the Pretenders into "classic" rock, they were on the other side of the punk line back then, similar to the early albums from the Clash.

So the first two Pretenders albums had a lot to choose from, but how can you not want to run to "Tattooed Love Boys"? What a great, fast-burner of a song. Over 30 years old and it sounds fresher than 99% of the stuff you hear on the radio today.

This one is a 5k song for sure. You'll kill yourself if you try to keep pace to this on anything over 5k.

Try the album version first.

Then taste this awesome live track.

Also, "Precious" is a great running song. Check out the album version here.

And a nice live version here.

Rest in Peace James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon. They never did it better than you guys did it.

Past Best Running Songs:
June: The Wombats / "Moving to New York"
May: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros / "40 Day Dream"
April: Foxy Shazam / "Unstoppable"
March: Pharrell / "Fun Fun Fun"
February: Puff Daddy / "Come With Me"
January: We Are Scientists / "The Great Escape"
December: Cee Lo Green / "F**k You"
November: Tokyo Police Club / "Breakneck Speed"
October: Two Door Cinema Club / "Something Good Can Work"
September: Stone Temple Pilots / "Cinnamon"
August: Louis XIV / "Guilt by Association"
July: Devo / "Fresh"
June: Saliva / "Your Disease"
May: Metric / "Gold Guns Girls"
April: OK Go / "This Too Shall Pass"
March: The Hours / "Ali In The Jungle"
February: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs / "El Matador"
January: White Rabbits / "Percussion Gun"
December: Deftones / "Knife Prty"
November: The Kooks / "Always Where I Need To Be"
October: At the Drive In / "One Armed Scissor"
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"

Red, White and Blue Riverfront Festival 5k Race Review!

You know how some races just align with the stars? You line up at the start line and your legs feel fresh, your mind is totally focused and you're ready to push your body harder than you ever have before?

Yeah, this was not that race.

Hey, it wasn't the fault of the...man, I don't want to type that whole thing again...let's just say the Red 5k. It's not you, it's me! I mean, if you think I'm going to complain about a race that costs $4, think again.

But as I head farther into the abyss that is the EPIC 2011, and this was my 16th race of the year, I'm starting to realize it's very much a double-edged sword. While a bad race is easily forgotten, since the next race is never far off, I'm realizing it's pretty hard to get mentally prepared for every race. Sure, a 50k or a Half Marathon, heck, even a sprint tri, gives you enough to work with. You can see the challenge there and prepare yourself mentally and physically.

But another 5k, on a course that I've raced, honestly, three times already this year? Man, I was standing on the start line and I just wasn't there mentally. I had a bit of an upset stomach since the night before, my legs were a bit tired, it was hot, and frankly, I had absolutely no reason to believe I was even going to approach a EPIC PR.

Sheesh.

Really, the best thing I can say for my performance here is I managed to hang on to beat Payton. Let me tell you, when he gets his lungs in good enough shape to beat me in a race (and it will happen sooner rather than later), I want it to be memorable for both of us. I want him to earn it. So we both still have that to look forward to.

Ah well, maybe I just need a vacation...

Out to the Ballgame 5k - Hawaii Satellite Race coming up!

Natural Break?

Just watching the first day of the Tour de France and they showed a guy pulling off the side of the road for a "natural break." Umm, ok, nice euphemism, I guess. But the thing that surprised me is that they actually stopped. I'm used to seeing Ironman Triathletes just hang it off the side of the seat as they hit a straight spot in the road. I guess that's the advantage of having teammates in the Tour de France - they can help you catch back up.

And congrats to Chris Horner, our own Homeboy from Bend, OR, on finishing the first day in 9th place - just six seconds off the lead.

Let's race! (what's with all the Thursday races?)

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 18th TO JULY 24th

July 20th / Seward Park Aquathon / Seattle, WA (Wednesday Night Race!)

July 21st / Soaring Eagle Midsummernight's Trail Run 10m and 5m / Sammamish, WA (Thursday Night Run!)

July 21st / Valley of the Rogue 5k / Grants Pass, OR (Thursday Night Run!)

July 21st / Cherry Pickers' Trot 4m / Mead, WA (Thursday Night Run!)

July 21st / REI Peak Challenge 10k / Eugene, OR (Thursday Night Race!)

July 23rd / Bancroft Pioneer Days 5k / Bancroft, ID

July 23rd / Mountain Mania 10k and 5k / Castle Rock, WA

July 23rd / Run for Congo Women 5k / Portland, OR

July 23rd / Arlington Airport Run 10k and 5k / Arlington, WA

July 23rd / Kla Ha Ya Days River Run 5m / Snohomish, WA

July 23rd / SpoKenya 7k / Spokane, WA

July 23rd / Bluegrass 5k / Stevenson, WA

July 23rd / Spokane Indians Pennant Race 8k / Spokane, WA

July 23rd / Padden Sprint Duathlon / Bellingham, WA

July 23rd / Enumclaw Street Fair 5k / Enumclaw, WA

July 23rd / Shoreline Run 10k / Richland, WA

July 24th / Yakima Half Marathon and 5k / Yakima, WA

July 24th / Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove, Olympic and Sprint / Cottage Grove, OR

July 24th / Lacamas Lake Half Marathon and 4m / Camas, WA

July 24th / Benaroya Research Institute Triathlon at Seafair, Olympic and Sprint / Seattle, WA

July 24th / Swedish SummeRun 5k / Seattle, WA

July 24th / Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon / North Bend, WA