Donald Sobol, author of Encyclopedia Brown Books, Dead at 87

Story here.

Bugs Meany was asked for an alibi at the time of death. Bugs said he couldn't have done it because he was at the North Pole, studying penguins.

Hmmmm.....

Seriously, these books got a lot of love from me during my grade-school years. I wanted to be Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown so bad when I was younger. I mean, the guy was smarter than all the adults in his town, had a tough, and pretty, girlfriend, and ran a successful quarter-per-job business! What a guy!

You will be missed, Mr. Sobol. But your stories will live forever.

Northwest Running and Triathlon Race Calendar - 2012

You should be able to find something interesting here. We've got the Tacoma Narrows Half, the CMY5K, and Haulin' Aspen Trail Marathon...and a WHOLE lot of other races.

Good stuff. Pick one...or two.

Let's Race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 30th TO AUGUST 5th

August 2nd / Bush Park Cross Country Series 5k, 3k and 1m / Salem, OR

August 4th / Steen's Rim Run Race Trail Run 10k / French Glen, OR

August 4th / Wild Idaho Endurance Trail Runs 50m and 50k / Crouch, ID

August 4th / XC12K Foothills Race 12k / Boise, ID

August 4th / Grand Ridge Trail Run 50k, Marathon, Half Marathon and 5m / Issaquah, WA

August 4th / Mt. Ashland Hillclimb Run Trail 13.3m / Ashland, OR

August 4th / Beast of Big Creek Trail Run 12.5m and 10k / Hoodsport, WA

August 5th / Port Gamble Half Marathon Trail Run / Port Gamble, WA

August 5th / Haulin' Aspen Trail Run Marathon, Half Marathon and 7m / Bend, OR

August 5th / Timberline Mt Run 6-8m / Mt. Hood, OR

August 4th / Circle the Bay 30k / Coos Bay, OR

August 4th / Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon / Tacoma, WA

August 4th / Catherine Creek Classic Half Marathon and 5k / Union, OR

August 4th / Boys and Girls Club Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Moses Lake, WA

August 2nd / YMCA Y-Not Triathlon Sprint / Boise, ID (Thursday Night Race!)

August 4th / My First Tri Sprint / Fairview, OR

August 4th / Whidbey Island Triathlon Sprint / Langley, WA

August 4th / Power of Pasco Triathlon Sprint / Pasco, WA

August 4th / Medical Lake Kiwanis Mini Triathlon Sprint / Medical Lake, WA

August 5th / Troika Triathlon Half Iron / Spokane, WA

August 5th / XTERRA Black Diamond Triathlon Sprint+ and Sprint / Black Diamond, WA

August 5th / Race Montana Triathlon Sprint / Great Falls, MT

August 4th / WillaMutt Strut Fun Run 5k / Salem, OR

August 4th / Run to the Border 5k / Blaine, WA

August 4th / SHOC Empowerment Day 10k and 5k / Gladstone, OR

August 4th / Run for Congo Women 5k / Portland, OR

August 4th / Trout Lake Fair Run 10k and 5k / Trout Lake, WA

August 4th / River and Rails 10k and 5k / Arlington, WA

August 4th / Once Around Lake Cavanaugh 7.8m / Lake Cavanaugh, WA

August 4th / Dirty Dash 10k / McCleary, WA

August 4th / Race for the Homeless 10k and 5k / Vancouver, BC

August 4th / Oly Run 10k and 5k / Bremerton, WA

August 5th / Cedar Creek Challenge 10k and 5k / Pacific City, OR

August 5th / The Great Kilted Run 5k / Seattle, WA

August 5th / The MLK Dream Run 15k, 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

August 5th / Race Against Crime 5k / Lacey, WA

August 5th / St. Jude Fun Run 5k / Mt. Vernon, WA

August 5th / CMY5k Portland 5k / Portland, OR

August 5th / Mountaindale Sun Resort Bare Buns Fun Run 5k / North Plains, OR

August 5th / Homer's Classic 8k / Silverton, OR

Best Running Song for July - Gemini - Blue

 The R's picking a Dubstep track?!? What in the F'n F is going on here?!?

I hear you. I can barely believe it myself, but wow, this song is amazing. As the cool kids say, "Just listen to that drop!"

So the artist's name is Gemini. He's obviously not a superstar or anything - it's actually sort of hard to find much about him online. Here's his website. If you want to hear him perform live, you better head over to Europe. But this song, Blue, just rocks!

There's a bunch of Youtube vids, but none are actual vids per se, they're just the song with a different picture to stare at while you listen to it. But if you're into that kind of thing, here you go, and go, and go, and go.

And since we're in a bit of a electronica mood, here's another great song I've been running to lately. This one is called Midnight City from M83. It actually has a bit of an 80's feel to it at times...especially when they break out the sax at the end of the song!

 

 And here's a live version of Midnight City. Nice.

 

Rock that Run!

Past Best Running Songs: June: Joe Jackson / "Got the Time" May: Tiesto vs. Diplo / "C'mon!" April: Grouplove / "Tongue Tied" March: Foxy Shazam / "I Like It" February: Foster the People / "Don't Stop" January: Hot Hot Heat / "Bandages" December: Camp Lo / "Luchini aka This Is It" November: Wolfmother / "Joker and the Thief" October: Phoenix / "1901" September: Matt and Kim / "Daylight" August: Collie Buddz / "Holiday" July: Pretenders / "Tattooed Love Boys" 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"

Oregon's Jesse Thomas Comes Up 23 Seconds Short at Rev3 Portland - and Other Tri and Running Links

Richie Cunningham Edges Out Jesse Thomas at Rev3 Portland - Angela Naeth wins the women's race

How to put in proper speed work over the summer - and run your fastest races this Fall

Lance Armstrong fights back against USADA - I'm so tired of drugged athletes, yet I'm also tired of the fight against long-since retired athletes

Can a sip of Gatorade help you in a 10k...or even a 5k? - amazingly, it looks like the answer is "probably"

Wetsuit reviews to check out before your next tri - I'd recommend getting the cheap wetsuit and spending the rest on swim coaching

How to run on the beach, correctly - just in time for your Summer vacation

Some pro tips on how to swim faster - it's the tri leg that most people hate...so work on it

Where should the US Track and Field Olympic Trials be in 2016? - Not everyone loves Eugene

Profile on US Olympic Tri Team member Manny Huerta - only two guys on the US team this year

Is this the year the US comes back into its own in Olympic distance events? - there are some strong runners on the team this year

Another view of the US Track Team - I can't wait for the Olympics to get here!

And let's end it with triathletes in swimsuits - why not, right?

Photo from Competitor.com

Race Report: Red White and Blue 5k

And in the 2012 Race for PR's, the R's is three for three!

The first race of 2012 was the Corvallis Half. Got a nice PR there.

Then we had the Newport Marathon. Horrible, awful, just plain bad. Nevertheless, it was a PR...and I'm not proud. So that's two for two.

And Wednesday (who put the Fourth of July on a freaking Wednesday?!), we had the RWB 5k in Corvallis. And as I'll explain, I'm not too sure about the exact time...but I'm sure it was a Master's PR. Three for three, baby!

So we woke up Wednesday to a bright, sunshiny day. Which, frankly, has not been the norm in the Northwest so far this year. But it looks like our Summer is finally here. Jen, Payton and I all planned on running, and Carson made a late decision to join us about ten minutes before we left for the race, so the whole R's family piled into the Prius for the short drive downtown.

Considering it's the cheapest race of the year ($4 pre-registered and $6 day of race), there was a fairly good size crowd at the start - maybe 200, 250 runners and walkers.

I'm not going to complain too much about a four dollar race, but they put the walkers on the course 20 minutes before the runners...that's asking for trouble on a bike path that goes about three or four wide in most spots. Especially when, we found out later in the race, there was a drunk homeless guy sleeping in the middle of the path. Hurdle!

And the timing...I thought I had my Garmin 110 started up in plenty of time. It usually only takes a couple minutes to find satellites on sunny days. Unfortunately, we were lined up at the start line under a huge tree. The RD yelled "go" through the megaphone and my watch still said "Acquiring Satellites."

Damn.

So instead of using my plan of hitting around 7:15 pace and running through the 5k at a steady PR pace, I took off at what felt like waaaaay too fast, following some very speedy high school girls (see photo above, with me in my awesome new purple Oakley's and Payton peeking out behind me).

And of course, now that I was sprinting down the Corvallis River Walk, the Garmin could not find any satellites to latch on to. Hoo boy. Time to use the tried and true 5k strategy of...

GO OUT WAY TOO FAST AND HOPE LIKE HELL YOU CAN HANG ON AT THE END!

Here's Jen and Carson going out at a much more sedate and fun pace.

We came up on the back end of the walker crowd awfully quickly and started having to weave and pass many one-wide, two-wide and even three-wide packs. Which was OK at first, but then, even before we made the turn to head into Avery Park for the halfway turn-around, the leaders started coming back the other way. And now the bike path was really crowded.

By the halfway point, my Garmin had at least come to life, so I could see my pace and I slowed down just a touch to around 7:15 pace to make sure I wouldn't collapse with the finish line in sight.

Just after the turnaround, the path got really tight and I had a couple of spots where I had to swing into the weeds to pass and one spot where I just had to pull up and run slow behind a group of walkers for a few seconds until I could pass. What are you going to do, right?

So the last mile is a slight uphill and the high schoolers pulled away from me a bit. I came up alongside a guy about my age and asked him what his running time was on his watch. He told me and I compared it to what I had on my watch. Then I tried to subtract my time from his time to see what I'd have to add on to my time at the end...and I tried...and I tried...

Trying to do simple math when running full out in the last half-mile of a 5k is a bit like doing advanced trigonometry to figure out the angle of attack when a tiger is leaping at your throat. I gave up and just hoped they had a clock at the finish.

Here I am about 50 feet from the finish line. I swear I felt OK, but good god, I look unbelievably stiff and upright and tight.

I don't know what to tell you. Obviously, I wasn't as relaxed as I would have liked to have been.

Still, I rolled across the finish line and the race clock said 22:22. A nice amount off my previous Master's PR of 23:11. Strangely enough, the posted results here show that I ran a 22:03. Since my watch was worthless, I'm not sure which to believe, but I'm sticking with the 22:22 that was on the clock unless I hear better.

So that's one more PR down. Next try for a PR is later this month in Seattle at the Seafair Torchlight 8k.

Wish me luck...and a watch that can find the satellites!

Northwest Running and Triathlon Race Calendar

Fewer runs all-told compared to last week, but absolutely no shortage of triathlons. Wow! I count nine to choose from in two days!

Let's race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 23rd TO JULY 29th

July 28th / Mt. Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultra 50m / Timothy Lake, OR

July 28th / Wildwood Trail Run Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k / Portland, OR

July 29th / Hardesty Hardcore Trail Run 14m and 5.5m / Lowell, OR

July 28th / Anacortes Art Dash Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Anacortes, WA

July 28th / Frank Maier Marathon and Half Marathon / Juneau, AK

July 28th / Wahine All Women's Triathlon and Duathlon Sprint / Fairview, OR

July 28th / Lake Como Triathlon Sprint / Darby, MT

July 28th / Rolf Prima Triathlon at the Grove Olympic and Sprint / Cottage Grove, OR

July 28th / Ellensburg Triathlon Sprint / Ellensburg, WA

July 28th / Federal Escape Triathlon Olympic and Sprint / Federal Way, WA

July 28th / Islander Aquathon Sprint / Mercer Island, WA

July 29th / Mid-Summer Triathlon and Duathlon Olympic and Sprint / Fairview, OR

July 29th / Girlfriends and Dudes Triathlon Sprint / Vancouver, WA

July 29th / Whisky Dick Triathlon Olympic / Ellensburg, WA

July 28th / Foam Fest 5k / Sherwood, OR

July 28th / Barnyard Dash 5k / Caldwell, ID

July 28th / Liberty House Family Fun Run 10k and 5k / Salem, OR

July 28th / CATnip 5k / Tualatin, OR

July 28th / Run 4US 10k and 5k / Lakewood, WA

July 28th / Seafair Torchlight Run 8k and 5k / Seattle, WA

July 28th / Dallas Summerfest Fun Run 10k and 5k / Dallas, OR

July 28th / Huff and Ruff Dog Run 5k / Corvallis, OR

July 29th / The Original Bare Buns Fun Run 5k / Loon Lake, WA

July 29th / 5 Alarm 5k / Lowell, OR

July 29th / Whisky Dick Run 10k / Ellensburg, WA

Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher Movie Trailer - I Feel Sick to My Stomach

Yes, we've talked about this before...but now there's a movie trailer. And now...I want to see it even less than before. Holy smokes, just look at the scene where Cruise is surrounded by a bunch of thugs. He's the shortest guy there! That's not Reacher! Reacher's never been the shortest guy anywhere!

And then there's the car. I mean, what? Book after book, Reacher is shown as a drifter with no car. Even in "prequel" books taking place in Reacher's army days, he didn't like to drive, and was never shown driving anything but army vehicles.

I was actually contemplating giving Reacher the Movie a try, but not now. Not after seeing this trainwreck of a movie trailer.

Sigh...time to reread another Reacher novel and pretend I never saw this.

Lee Child!!! (((shakes fist)))

Butte to Butte 2012 Results and Photos!

If you just want results, here they are.

If you're looking for photos of your amazing self, try right here.

And some video from the race, right here.

And more video and more photos, from KVAL, right about here.

Hope you had a great race!

Running and Triathlon Links Monday!

Coffee before your big race? - Yep, but time it right

Ironman stud Craig Alexander says you need to run slowly - Not always, but definitely once in a while

Do knee braces actually help your sore knees? - I'd say the question is usually: physically or mentally?

Kilian Jornet breaks more records - If it's on a mountain, Jornet is the man

Linsey Corbin wins another Ironman - The girl from Montana is really showing her stuff lately

If you're a runner, here's what you should be eating - hint: it's not 7-Eleven corn dogs and Slurpees

Liz Blatchford narrowly misses making the British Olympic Tri Team once again - and thinks maybe it's time to try something new

Can Galen Rupp bring home some metal from London? - It's possible, but the competition will be at a whole different level from the Trials

Some French steeplechase dork takes out frustrations on mascot...after he won! - can you say "d-bag"?

Healthy habits of Triathletes - Again, corn dogs are a no-no

Let's Compare the Big Race Registration Companies - Active.com, GetMeRegistered.com, and SignMeUp.com

Since I had recently decided on all of my races for the rest of 2012, I had to pull the trigger on the difficult part...registering for all of them.

So $210 later, I was registered for five races: a 5k, 8k, 10k, Half and Full. Unfortunately, I also got to experience pretty much every option on registration that you can have - from the good to the oh so ugly.

Let's take a look!

Red White & Blue Riverfront Festival Fun Run - 5k
In Store Registration
-This is why you should be racing locally. Sleep the night before in your own bed. Drive a couple miles, tops, to the start line. And fill out a paper registration form at Five Star Sports in downtown Corvallis. Save your money, save the Earth. It's a win-win.
Registration Fees: $0 (0%)

Seafair Torchlight Run - 8k
Active.com Online Registration
-And the frustration begins! Now I will say upfront, the Torchlight Run has been around for a long time and always offers quite a few options for in person registration at various locations in the Seattle area...which does me absolutely no good. But it's there for people in the Puget Sound, so that's cool. But it's a fact of life in 2012 that the huge majority of runners sign up online. It's so convenient that they bite their tongues on the "registration fees." Ah yes, "fees." It irritates me that so few races acknowledge these fees in any way. Look at all the information on the Torchlight Run website and it's clear that the race costs $30. And so it does...until you get to the last page of the Active.com registration and they let you know that they're taking a cut of $3.20, making your registration $33.20 in total. In case you're wondering, that's 10.67% added on top. Why not just a flat 10 percent? Hell if I know.
Registration Fees: $3.20 (10.67%)

Corvallis Fall Festival Run - 10k
GetMeRegistered.com Online Registration
-Now there was a paper form I could have filled out here and mailed in. And I would have, but now I was getting curious about these "fees." So yes, I took one for the team! Just make the checks out to "cash" and send them to the R's as thanks...and thanks. So the Fall Festival 10k is a very inexpensive race - they let you add the shirt in separately - so the actual registration is only $15. Not bad. But wait! GetMeRegistered.com would like to have a word with you. They'd like to remind you they're adding on $2.48 in registration fees. Well, cheaper overall than the Torchlight Run, but percentage-wise to the race cost, that's 16.53%. That's not good.
Registration Fees: $2.48 (16.53%)

Runaway Pumpkin Half Marathon - Half Marathon
SignMeUp.com Online Registration
-I looked for a paper form here, but couldn't find one. It looked like online or nothing. So I registered online. The race registration was $55 and the "fees" were $4.58. That's 8.33% on the fees. The lowest so far, but let's face it, the race costs $60, not $55. Why does it say $55 all over the website if you can't get in for that price?
Registration Fees: $4.58 (8.33%)

California International Marathon - Marathon
Registration handled by race director on race site
-Here's how all races should handle their online registrations - CIM tells you a price, and you get out your credit card and pay it. End of story. No hidden fees anywhere. Now, I realize that some smaller races can't handle the online registration on their own and need to farm it out. That's fine. Just say right on your race website what the total cost will be...with all fees added in. That's all you need to do.
Registration Fees: $0 (0%)

Winner? It's not the runner. Race directors need to be a little more open and honest with what they're doing. If you run a good race, people will show up - be confident enough in your race that you can tell people how much it actually costs to register.

Thanks.