Intro:
Wrap:
When will we ever learn...
Oh, and sorry for the comment at the end of the wrap vid - delirium!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
50@50 Project - Event 48 - Portland Trail Series - Intro and Wrap
Note the difference in light. Someday we'll figure it out!
Intro:
Wrap:
When will we ever learn...
Oh, and sorry for the comment at the end of the wrap vid - delirium!
Intro:
Wrap:
When will we ever learn...
Oh, and sorry for the comment at the end of the wrap vid - delirium!
Running In the Dark - Take Two
Event 48 was the 3rd race (for us) in the Portland Trail Series in Forest Park. As you (of course) recall, these runs are held on Wednesdays in the evening. And this time of year, it's a'gettin' dark before the start of the race. But we learned our lesson from last time! Yessirree, we sure did. This time we brought our handy dandy headlamps! All prepared, just like Boy Scouts!
Yeah, except here was our conversation prior to leaving the house:
'Ya think the batteries are okay or should we change them out?'
'They should be fine, don't you think?"
'I guess so. We haven't used them that much, I guess.'
Yeah, they should be just fine.'
'Awesome! Let's go!'
Oy.
As stated above, it was pretty much dark before we even took off to start this thing. The course was just under five miles and we felt this would be plenty easy enough. Yes, it was Forest Park so there would be plenty of up and down, but 4.something miles - pffft! Piece of the proverbial cake. Or 'pie', for my wife.
The course started up Leif - okay, visible enough even in the waning light. No twisted ankles, feeling good. Then we veered off, up Wild Cherry and it was all over. In the trees, it was dark! Camera Crew was in the lead as we started the first climb up the hillside. We got about halfway up and she turned on her light. I held off, using the glow from her headlamp and the line she was picking up the trail to guide me. But soon enough, that wasn't really working for me. I turned my lamp on, stopped running for a moment, then held my hand up in front of my lamp.
Okay, it was on but not putting out a lot of light. Hmmmm. I thought at first that maybe it just wasn't all that dark and so it just was too early to do any good. But then I looked at Camera Crew's light and realized hers was a lot brighter than mine. Insert joke(s) here re: intelligence, brain, etc.
After a quick consultation and realizing that it was getting damn dark, we tried swapping one AAA battery of the three in each (Camera Crew's idea) and that really helped. But unfortunately it still wasn't enough. We came to the conclusion that we were pretty much done in. Camera Crew was doing okay; I couldn't see shit in front of me and kept finding the edge of the singletrack trail as I moved forward. Yep.
Fortunately, there was a battery salesman on the trail... just kidding. Fortunately, the route for this evenings run was a sort of figure eight. Started up Leif, a loop up and back down the hill to Leif and down toward the start, then another loop up and down, to Leif and the finish. Well, we were still on the first loop and couldn't see much of anything. We made the command decision to cut the route short, opting for safe rather than sorry. We got back to Leif and headed toward the finish, skipping the turn off for the second loop-de-loop. Even on Leif, which is a gravel road and not completely covered, we still had trouble seeing our path. A couple of times we wandered toward the edge of the road, one of us pulling the other back as we made our way down.
The race coordinator still counted our times, which was nice of her. Apparently, some others had issues with the dark. We still covered three+ miles and so also made the decision to still count the self-shortened run as an official event in the 50@50 Project. Don't judge. We didn't see YOU out there. Of course, we couldn't see anything, really. For all we could tell, everyone we knew was in Forest Park that night!
So, yeah, fresh batteries would have been awesome.
Yeah, except here was our conversation prior to leaving the house:
'Ya think the batteries are okay or should we change them out?'
'They should be fine, don't you think?"
'I guess so. We haven't used them that much, I guess.'
Yeah, they should be just fine.'
'Awesome! Let's go!'
Oy.
As stated above, it was pretty much dark before we even took off to start this thing. The course was just under five miles and we felt this would be plenty easy enough. Yes, it was Forest Park so there would be plenty of up and down, but 4.something miles - pffft! Piece of the proverbial cake. Or 'pie', for my wife.
The course started up Leif - okay, visible enough even in the waning light. No twisted ankles, feeling good. Then we veered off, up Wild Cherry and it was all over. In the trees, it was dark! Camera Crew was in the lead as we started the first climb up the hillside. We got about halfway up and she turned on her light. I held off, using the glow from her headlamp and the line she was picking up the trail to guide me. But soon enough, that wasn't really working for me. I turned my lamp on, stopped running for a moment, then held my hand up in front of my lamp.
Okay, it was on but not putting out a lot of light. Hmmmm. I thought at first that maybe it just wasn't all that dark and so it just was too early to do any good. But then I looked at Camera Crew's light and realized hers was a lot brighter than mine. Insert joke(s) here re: intelligence, brain, etc.
After a quick consultation and realizing that it was getting damn dark, we tried swapping one AAA battery of the three in each (Camera Crew's idea) and that really helped. But unfortunately it still wasn't enough. We came to the conclusion that we were pretty much done in. Camera Crew was doing okay; I couldn't see shit in front of me and kept finding the edge of the singletrack trail as I moved forward. Yep.
Fortunately, there was a battery salesman on the trail... just kidding. Fortunately, the route for this evenings run was a sort of figure eight. Started up Leif, a loop up and back down the hill to Leif and down toward the start, then another loop up and down, to Leif and the finish. Well, we were still on the first loop and couldn't see much of anything. We made the command decision to cut the route short, opting for safe rather than sorry. We got back to Leif and headed toward the finish, skipping the turn off for the second loop-de-loop. Even on Leif, which is a gravel road and not completely covered, we still had trouble seeing our path. A couple of times we wandered toward the edge of the road, one of us pulling the other back as we made our way down.
The race coordinator still counted our times, which was nice of her. Apparently, some others had issues with the dark. We still covered three+ miles and so also made the decision to still count the self-shortened run as an official event in the 50@50 Project. Don't judge. We didn't see YOU out there. Of course, we couldn't see anything, really. For all we could tell, everyone we knew was in Forest Park that night!
So, yeah, fresh batteries would have been awesome.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Yes, I Know - I Am Waaay Behind!
So here it is - finally - the post for Event 47. This race was The Great Columbia Crossing 10k in Astoria, OR. Heads up, though - I may have trouble posting the videos for this event, at least until I get the phone thing figured out down here in Central America. Cuz - yeah, that's where I'm sitting whilst writing this post. To be exact, I and Camera Crew are currently on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. Google it.
The Great Columbia Crossing is a very cool race. It's a unique opportunity to run over one of the coolest bridges in the PacNW - the Astoria-Megler Bridge, spanning from Astoria 4.2 miles across the Columbia River to... to... well, the closest thing on the Washington side is a rest stop called Dismal Nitch. Ummm... yeah. Nice work, Washington. For this one day a year, they close down one lane of the bridge so that 3500 crazy people can get dropped off at a rest stop and then run back over to Astoria. That's how we roll.
Camera Crew and I have done this run twice before, a few years back. It's such a neat and well run event so we were excited to do it again, and even more so because our good friends Kyle and Raynee Miller were joining us!! You loyal followers will remember Mr. Miller from the Inland Empire 50 Mile ride back in May, event something-or-other in the project. In fact, it was a few text messages exchanged between Kyle and I that got us signed up for this race. There was probably beer involved on one or both ends of the texting, I'm sure.
The race was Sunday morning but we had arranged to meet up in Astoria Friday evening because nothing says race preparation like walking around drinking with friends. Since Camera Crew and I had the luxury of an early getaway from Portland, we arrived in Astoria around 2 PM, stopped at the Chamber of Commerce office to pick up our race packets and then checked into our digs at the Hotel Elliot. This place is NICE. The beds are fantastic, the rooms are comfy and THE BATHROOM TILE FLOORS ARE HEATED!! Highly recommend staying here - rooms are a little spendy but affordable and it's a great location to explore the restaurant and bar scene in town. www.hotelelliot.com
Camera Crew and I had dinner at T Pauls Urban Cafe, a cute funky little place with great food and live music. www.tpaulsurbancafe.com The Millers showed up a little later and once they checked in, we checked out the Silver Salmon for drinks. We like this place because when you order a cocktail, they not only serve the glass filled with your drink of choice but they also serve even more cocktail in a shaker in a bowl with ice. It's like getting a full milkshake and then getting the blender pitcher with in it!!! Awesome. After a few drinks and some good-natured banter with the bartender, we hit the hay. When in Astoria, though, go to www.silversalmongrille.com
We thought about going out for breakfast the next morning but the hotel puts on a pretty damn good buffet, so we opted for that. Plus it's included in your room price, so why not? After some chill time, we walked around town a little, then stopped into the Wet Dog Cafe and Brewery for a beer. Cool place - huge space, gift shop, extensive menu, good beers (mostly). www.wetdogcafe.com After some more walkin' around, we hit the Fort George Brewery for lunch and more beer. See, I told you that were getting race ready, right? This brewery is quite a success. Started up with partial funding by the Oregon Lottery proceeds, it's been wildly successful and they've expanded once or twice since opening. They put in a canning line a year or so ago and make some really interesting and tasty brews. www.fortgeorgebrewery.com
After some down time at the hotel, we met up on the Hotel Elliot's beautiful roof top patio for wine and BSing around the fire pit.
(Note: I've been in Central America a week now, sweating profusely in the heat and humidity, so it's hard to think about sitting around a fire pit...)
The views of Astoria from the roof are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, a big part of that view is the damn bridge we were going to be running over the next morning. I've said it before - we rarely travel anywhere without working in an event somehow. Could we just come to Astoria to the great hotel with dear friends and just hang out? Nope.
We headed out for dinner and had drink sand appetizers at Baked Alaska, right on the water www.bakedak.com This place is huge, with a formal dining room overlooking the river, a wood-fired oven pizza place facing the street and a long skinny bar connecting the two. We opted for the bar - the restaurant was booked until late and pizza wasn't the majority choice for dinner. After drinks and snacks, we decided to walk around town a little before deciding on a dinner place.
Lo and behold, it was Second Saturday in Astoria, an evening where the numerous art galleries open up and people meander around looking at stuff. But wait! Lo-er and behold-er, we soon discovered that many of the galleries serving snacks, wine and beer!!!
Two words: Yum. Yum. (Trademark 'KyleMiller, Inc.')
After entertaining ourselves for quite some time, with art commentary, wine and people watching, it was time for some dinner. We went back to Baked Alaska and had dinner in the restaurant, although we ordered pizza, as it turned out. Back to the rooms for some rest before our big run the next day!! Woohoo!
We met in the lobby and loaded into the Miller's rig for the drive down to the staging area. The walk from where we ended up parking should have counted towards the actual race mileage! But soon enough, after a short wait in a quick moving line, we found ourselves on a school bus heading over the bridge to Dismal Nitch. We unloaded and enjoyed an hour wait with 3496 of our closest friends. Runners were supposed to start at 8:45, walkers at 9 but due to some delay in getting the bridge cleared and ready, we runners didn't get going til about 9:15 or so. Meh, it's all good.
The race was underway! It's about a mile from the start to the turn onto the bridge, then 4.2 miles across and another mile winding around under the bridge to the finish. After getting onto the bridge proper, I looked up and not only saw Camera Crew ahead of me and pulling away, but also the big tall part of the bridge enshrouded in fog. In fact, I couldn't even see the trusses until I got to about Mile 3+, almost 4. It was clear on the WA side, but the bridge was fogged in! Once I got to the top of the bridge, I looked around and couldn't see much below, either. Surreal.
I crossed the finish line and found CC waiting for me, smiling. She rocks. And after a short time, Raynee and Kyle finished up. Good times! I'm sure it was because of the race prep the night before. (ahem)
Back to the hotel, showers and check out. Goodbye hugs to the Millers. Back to PTown. Another event in the books.
Sorry about the late posts! I'll get Events 48 and 49 posted this week! Promise!!
The Great Columbia Crossing is a very cool race. It's a unique opportunity to run over one of the coolest bridges in the PacNW - the Astoria-Megler Bridge, spanning from Astoria 4.2 miles across the Columbia River to... to... well, the closest thing on the Washington side is a rest stop called Dismal Nitch. Ummm... yeah. Nice work, Washington. For this one day a year, they close down one lane of the bridge so that 3500 crazy people can get dropped off at a rest stop and then run back over to Astoria. That's how we roll.
Camera Crew and I have done this run twice before, a few years back. It's such a neat and well run event so we were excited to do it again, and even more so because our good friends Kyle and Raynee Miller were joining us!! You loyal followers will remember Mr. Miller from the Inland Empire 50 Mile ride back in May, event something-or-other in the project. In fact, it was a few text messages exchanged between Kyle and I that got us signed up for this race. There was probably beer involved on one or both ends of the texting, I'm sure.
The race was Sunday morning but we had arranged to meet up in Astoria Friday evening because nothing says race preparation like walking around drinking with friends. Since Camera Crew and I had the luxury of an early getaway from Portland, we arrived in Astoria around 2 PM, stopped at the Chamber of Commerce office to pick up our race packets and then checked into our digs at the Hotel Elliot. This place is NICE. The beds are fantastic, the rooms are comfy and THE BATHROOM TILE FLOORS ARE HEATED!! Highly recommend staying here - rooms are a little spendy but affordable and it's a great location to explore the restaurant and bar scene in town. www.hotelelliot.com
Camera Crew and I had dinner at T Pauls Urban Cafe, a cute funky little place with great food and live music. www.tpaulsurbancafe.com The Millers showed up a little later and once they checked in, we checked out the Silver Salmon for drinks. We like this place because when you order a cocktail, they not only serve the glass filled with your drink of choice but they also serve even more cocktail in a shaker in a bowl with ice. It's like getting a full milkshake and then getting the blender pitcher with in it!!! Awesome. After a few drinks and some good-natured banter with the bartender, we hit the hay. When in Astoria, though, go to www.silversalmongrille.com
We thought about going out for breakfast the next morning but the hotel puts on a pretty damn good buffet, so we opted for that. Plus it's included in your room price, so why not? After some chill time, we walked around town a little, then stopped into the Wet Dog Cafe and Brewery for a beer. Cool place - huge space, gift shop, extensive menu, good beers (mostly). www.wetdogcafe.com After some more walkin' around, we hit the Fort George Brewery for lunch and more beer. See, I told you that were getting race ready, right? This brewery is quite a success. Started up with partial funding by the Oregon Lottery proceeds, it's been wildly successful and they've expanded once or twice since opening. They put in a canning line a year or so ago and make some really interesting and tasty brews. www.fortgeorgebrewery.com
After some down time at the hotel, we met up on the Hotel Elliot's beautiful roof top patio for wine and BSing around the fire pit.
(Note: I've been in Central America a week now, sweating profusely in the heat and humidity, so it's hard to think about sitting around a fire pit...)
The views of Astoria from the roof are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, a big part of that view is the damn bridge we were going to be running over the next morning. I've said it before - we rarely travel anywhere without working in an event somehow. Could we just come to Astoria to the great hotel with dear friends and just hang out? Nope.
We headed out for dinner and had drink sand appetizers at Baked Alaska, right on the water www.bakedak.com This place is huge, with a formal dining room overlooking the river, a wood-fired oven pizza place facing the street and a long skinny bar connecting the two. We opted for the bar - the restaurant was booked until late and pizza wasn't the majority choice for dinner. After drinks and snacks, we decided to walk around town a little before deciding on a dinner place.
Lo and behold, it was Second Saturday in Astoria, an evening where the numerous art galleries open up and people meander around looking at stuff. But wait! Lo-er and behold-er, we soon discovered that many of the galleries serving snacks, wine and beer!!!
Two words: Yum. Yum. (Trademark 'KyleMiller, Inc.')
After entertaining ourselves for quite some time, with art commentary, wine and people watching, it was time for some dinner. We went back to Baked Alaska and had dinner in the restaurant, although we ordered pizza, as it turned out. Back to the rooms for some rest before our big run the next day!! Woohoo!
We met in the lobby and loaded into the Miller's rig for the drive down to the staging area. The walk from where we ended up parking should have counted towards the actual race mileage! But soon enough, after a short wait in a quick moving line, we found ourselves on a school bus heading over the bridge to Dismal Nitch. We unloaded and enjoyed an hour wait with 3496 of our closest friends. Runners were supposed to start at 8:45, walkers at 9 but due to some delay in getting the bridge cleared and ready, we runners didn't get going til about 9:15 or so. Meh, it's all good.
The race was underway! It's about a mile from the start to the turn onto the bridge, then 4.2 miles across and another mile winding around under the bridge to the finish. After getting onto the bridge proper, I looked up and not only saw Camera Crew ahead of me and pulling away, but also the big tall part of the bridge enshrouded in fog. In fact, I couldn't even see the trusses until I got to about Mile 3+, almost 4. It was clear on the WA side, but the bridge was fogged in! Once I got to the top of the bridge, I looked around and couldn't see much below, either. Surreal.
I crossed the finish line and found CC waiting for me, smiling. She rocks. And after a short time, Raynee and Kyle finished up. Good times! I'm sure it was because of the race prep the night before. (ahem)
Back to the hotel, showers and check out. Goodbye hugs to the Millers. Back to PTown. Another event in the books.
Sorry about the late posts! I'll get Events 48 and 49 posted this week! Promise!!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Happy Anniversary, Baby - Let's Do a Triathlon!!
That's what ever couple says, right? It was the day of our first wedding anniversary and we were about to ride 26 miles, paddle the Deschutes River for 3.5 miles, then run four miles to the finish line. Why, yes, of course this was an XDog event! It was Ride-Row-Run in Maupin, OR and it was quite a race! It was also a great way to spend the day with my lovely wife, Camera Crew.
Maupin is a small town east of Mt. Hood. It sits near the intersection of Highway 216 and Highway 197, on the lower Deschutes River, just a short distance from where the river dumps into the mighty Columbia. There is pretty much one main street where most businesses are located. Check out the town's website at www.maupinoregon.com The entire community comes out for this event. Most of the businesses support the race in one way or another.
The Imperial Hotel was HQ for the race. This is a beautiful place to stay! Highly recommended! There is a great restaurant onsite with really good food, serving a diverse seasonal menu. The bar is small but well stocked and the bartender was quite sassy, a plus in my book. The grounds of the hotel are huge - horse shoe pits, a sand volleyball court, a fire pit on a big patio adjacent to the bar. There are a variety of room sizes, from small to suites, plus a full house you can rent. No TV's or in room phones - also a plus in my book. There is a TV in the bar, though, if you have to check the score. Give the Imperial a look-see at www.deschutesriver.com
Since it was our anniversary, we booked Sherar's Room for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. This room is on the second floor, has a big deck with adirondack chairs and a spectacular view of the river. Beautiful! Of course, we once again screwed up a perfectly good weekend getaway with this event Sunday morning. Meh, that's how we're wired, I suppose.
We drove over Saturday and enjoyed the scenery of Mt. Hood and the forest. We cut off of Highway 26 to the less-traveled 216, eventually broke through the forested terrain and entered the high desert region of Oregon. Lots of ranches and farms. Very pretty country. When we hit the intersection of 197 and 216, we followed the sign to Maupin, and immediately noticed that the road started dropping down. Yep, we knew this was the road we would be riding UP for the bike portion of the race. The road snaked down the hills until we arrived in Maupin. We pulled off to figure out where the Imperial was located. Once we got on track, we rolled through town, dropped down even more, crossed the bridge over the Deschutes and turned off on Bakeoven Road. 'Bakeoven' - I'm guessing it gets toasty here in the summer.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We went for a walk around the grounds and immediately saw the setup for the race. The bike staging area, the transition chutes, piles of kayaks and PFD's, the finish line. Yikes. The pre-race info said there was a packet pickup happening at 'the city park'. We noticed that right next door to the hotel there was a city park, so assumed that was it. After wandering around there, we found it was not. So... to the bar!
Okay, actually the restaurant for a snack and a drink. We asked our server where the city park was located. She asked which one. Ahh, we aren't so dumb after all. Come to find out that there's another one on the main drag through town, up the hill. We finished eating, hopped in the SUV and drove into town. Yep, there it was - we had driven right past it on the way in. We checked in, picked up our race stuff, chatted with XDog mastermind/evil genius Kevin and some other XDog regulars. Thanks to Kevin giving us some props on the XDog page, more people are aware of our 50 event goal, so we get asked 'What number is this one?' a lot. It's really neat. People thought it was pretty cool that we were celebrating our anniversary in this manner, too. That's a good feeling, an affirmation of the crazy.
We went back to the hotel and got some of our race stuff set up. Then it was out to the deck for some chill time. It's very relaxing there, very quiet. We read a bit, talked about our wedding day a whole year ago (!) and recapped our year of insanity - that is, the 50@50 Project. This would be event 46! Still a little surreal to think we've accomplished so much in such a short time. So I will sum it all up with: Wow!
We had dinner downstairs in the restaurant, thought about hitting the bar for a nightcap but decided to retire early because, ya know, we were doing a TRIATHLON the next day. An XDog triathlon, no less.
We were up early Sunday morning, got dressed in our race clothes and hauled the bikes downstairs to get them racked in the transition area. Then we hit the kitchen area off the hotel lobby for the continental breakfast fixin's to fuel up for the big day. We figured we were as ready as we ever would be, so we hung out at the start area watching others get there gear ready. It ranged from the very serious athletes with the latest gadgets and fancy bikes to the weekend warriors who borrowed their brothers' friends' cousin's bike to do the event. Said it before, many times - XDog peoples is good peoples. The best, in fact.
It was finally time for Kevin's pre-race instructions, then a walk over to the kayak transition area for a river safety briefing - how to put on your PFD, how to get in and out of the inflatable kayaks, what to do if you have an 'out of boat experience' - "I want your toes and your nose to the sky". After receiving instructions, it was time to load in the bus. Because, oh yeah, this year the race was starting Grand Prix style, with a mile run to the bikes.
So we were transported up to the city park (the one in town) and dropped off. The bus was... interesting. Painted in a wild pink, Grateful Dead-y fashion. It took a couple of trips to get everyone to the start. For the businesses that were open, the employees were out on the sidewalk to see us off. After the usual last-minute banter, it was conch shell time and the race was afoot! Now, we had sent our running shoes ahead to the kayak-to-run transition area and hadn't really planned for the starting run. So we were in Keen sandals which, when cinched up snug, worked really well. The run was all down hill so went quickly. We heard shouts of 'Happy anniversary' as we switched to bike gear, hopped on and pedaled out.
Of course, the route started with the same steep hill we had just run down. Then it was through town (mostly flat) followed by the climb back up to the highway. I am happy to say that the climbing was mostly done, except for some rollers later on the route. After hitting the top we cruised through the first half without any trouble, although we realized it was a little chilly on the downhills. A vest would have been nice, but I of course forgot it. Meh.
I've written about XDog's unique mid-point torture, will-power tester 'Temptation Station' in the past. It's there way of saying 'I double dog dare you'. This being a triathlon, the diabolical lure of bad things to do during an athletic event was at about the mid-point of the 26 mile bike portion. A smart man would have ridden by, waved at the volunteers and congratulated himself at his resolve.
We stopped.
Of course.
After drinking a 4 ounce beer, linked arms and all to celebrate our anniversary, I took a couple of glugs of really bad rum from a plastic gallon jug. Oy. Then, at the urging of the volunteers staffing this station and of two women from Germany who we REALLY wanted to party with later, I accepted the next challenge: a ride through a slalom course on a 50cc minibike. This 'hawg' was small - so small that I had to hold my legs up behind me because I couldn't lift them high enough to get my feet on the foot pegs up front. I looked silly, but that is something I am not only good at but also willing to do to make memories.
After successfully completing the out and back slalom, it was time to talk Camera Crew into doing this. It took some cajoling and persuasion, but we succeeded! The 'we' being me and the German gals, mostly. She cautiously climbed on and received reassuring instructions, then she nudged the throttle and took off! She squealed with delight (and a little fear) the entire time, too! She arrived at the finish, smiling from ear to ear.
Maybe I'll be allowed to get that Harley some day after all...
We rode away from Temptation Station feeling accomplished and smiling, with shouts of 'Happy anniversary' from our new friends. The course went through this awesome slot canyon along a twisty road. It was lot of fun! The road brought us back down to the river and we headed north to Sherar's Bridge to cross over the Deschutes. It was here we saw some of the Native Americans fishing off platforms that jutted out over the rapids at Sherar's Falls. They stand on the edge holding a long pole with a net on the end and snag the salmon as they come through the rapids. We wanted to stop and watch for a bit but figured we should get rolling again.
The route ran south along the river and brought us all the way back into town, kinda from the opposite direction from which we left it. We did have quite a headwind, though, so even spots where coasting should have worked it didn't. So... head down and grind it out was the motto.
Before I go on, let's talk about this Sherar fella. The room we were staying in is named after him. And the bridge. And a waterfall. He ran a hotel in the area. And so...
Joseph Sherar was a wagon road builder who operated a hotel, saloon, stagecoach station and livery where the wagon trains crossed over on their way west. He and his wife ran the place from 1871 to 1907 or so - when they died. He improved the bridge that was there as well as the roads leading to and from the crossing. Anyhoo, read all about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sherar And remember - everything on Wiki is true.
Back to the race! We rode along the river and into town, and to the Imperial Hotel for the bike/kayak transition. This was perhaps the part we were both most nervous about. We've both kayaked before but never together. And neither of us had done any kayaking recently. Just as we assume a tandem bicycle would NEVER work for us, we had some doubts about how we'd do paddling the river together. I am (relieved) happy to say that it was a blast! Yeah, we kept whacking our oars together and had a few mis-cues keeping the nose pointed downriver, but we did pretty damn well considering it was our first time. And now we want to add this to our repertoire of sports we like. We imagine kayak purchases in our future, for sure.
We even had one stretch where we paddled in sync for, like, 10-12 strokes and it was great! But then we whacked paddles and that was the end of that! There were some ripples and Class II stuff, nothing major. It was super fun and was over way too soon. We made our way to the right side of the river to the pull out at the wayside, pulled our kayak up on the bank and got to our drop bags for the kayak/run transition. There was a case of Coors Light sitting on a picnic table and we were tempted but figured running four miles to wrap up this race was enough of a challenge.
Now, since it was our anniversary, I not only put on my running shoes but I also changed into my extra special tuxedo t-shirt! Oh yeah! We took off for the run back to the finish and, yes, the headwind was still a'blowing. I had to turn my hat around to keep it from blowing off my noggin. The miles went by pretty quick and we saw the hotel. We cruised into the parking lot, into the finish chute and crossed the line arm in arm. Triathlon triumphant!! There were a lot of high fives and congratulations as we settled in, got a beer and a fantastic burger hot off the grill. After eating and chatting with some fellow XDog-ers, it was time for awards. As it turned out, because we rode the minibike at Temptation Station, we were entered in a special prize drawing. And I won... a home brewing kit!! Woohoo! And later in the regular raffle I won a $25 gift card to Next Adventure. But the best award went to Camera Crew for WINNING HER DIVISION!!!
We not only celebrated our anniversary, we were celebrated and we won stuff! Kevin and XDog and the town of Maupin had put on a great event. We couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate our first anniversary. As the crowd went their separate ways, we hauled the bikes and our gear back up to the room and relaxed! After showers and some hanging out time, we had a great dinner downstairs and hung out in the bar watching Sunday Night Football. It was a wonderful weekend and we will always remember how we spent our first anniversary!
Now the question is - how to top it for a second!??
Maupin is a small town east of Mt. Hood. It sits near the intersection of Highway 216 and Highway 197, on the lower Deschutes River, just a short distance from where the river dumps into the mighty Columbia. There is pretty much one main street where most businesses are located. Check out the town's website at www.maupinoregon.com The entire community comes out for this event. Most of the businesses support the race in one way or another.
The Imperial Hotel was HQ for the race. This is a beautiful place to stay! Highly recommended! There is a great restaurant onsite with really good food, serving a diverse seasonal menu. The bar is small but well stocked and the bartender was quite sassy, a plus in my book. The grounds of the hotel are huge - horse shoe pits, a sand volleyball court, a fire pit on a big patio adjacent to the bar. There are a variety of room sizes, from small to suites, plus a full house you can rent. No TV's or in room phones - also a plus in my book. There is a TV in the bar, though, if you have to check the score. Give the Imperial a look-see at www.deschutesriver.com
Since it was our anniversary, we booked Sherar's Room for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. This room is on the second floor, has a big deck with adirondack chairs and a spectacular view of the river. Beautiful! Of course, we once again screwed up a perfectly good weekend getaway with this event Sunday morning. Meh, that's how we're wired, I suppose.
We drove over Saturday and enjoyed the scenery of Mt. Hood and the forest. We cut off of Highway 26 to the less-traveled 216, eventually broke through the forested terrain and entered the high desert region of Oregon. Lots of ranches and farms. Very pretty country. When we hit the intersection of 197 and 216, we followed the sign to Maupin, and immediately noticed that the road started dropping down. Yep, we knew this was the road we would be riding UP for the bike portion of the race. The road snaked down the hills until we arrived in Maupin. We pulled off to figure out where the Imperial was located. Once we got on track, we rolled through town, dropped down even more, crossed the bridge over the Deschutes and turned off on Bakeoven Road. 'Bakeoven' - I'm guessing it gets toasty here in the summer.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We went for a walk around the grounds and immediately saw the setup for the race. The bike staging area, the transition chutes, piles of kayaks and PFD's, the finish line. Yikes. The pre-race info said there was a packet pickup happening at 'the city park'. We noticed that right next door to the hotel there was a city park, so assumed that was it. After wandering around there, we found it was not. So... to the bar!
Okay, actually the restaurant for a snack and a drink. We asked our server where the city park was located. She asked which one. Ahh, we aren't so dumb after all. Come to find out that there's another one on the main drag through town, up the hill. We finished eating, hopped in the SUV and drove into town. Yep, there it was - we had driven right past it on the way in. We checked in, picked up our race stuff, chatted with XDog mastermind/evil genius Kevin and some other XDog regulars. Thanks to Kevin giving us some props on the XDog page, more people are aware of our 50 event goal, so we get asked 'What number is this one?' a lot. It's really neat. People thought it was pretty cool that we were celebrating our anniversary in this manner, too. That's a good feeling, an affirmation of the crazy.
We went back to the hotel and got some of our race stuff set up. Then it was out to the deck for some chill time. It's very relaxing there, very quiet. We read a bit, talked about our wedding day a whole year ago (!) and recapped our year of insanity - that is, the 50@50 Project. This would be event 46! Still a little surreal to think we've accomplished so much in such a short time. So I will sum it all up with: Wow!
We had dinner downstairs in the restaurant, thought about hitting the bar for a nightcap but decided to retire early because, ya know, we were doing a TRIATHLON the next day. An XDog triathlon, no less.
We were up early Sunday morning, got dressed in our race clothes and hauled the bikes downstairs to get them racked in the transition area. Then we hit the kitchen area off the hotel lobby for the continental breakfast fixin's to fuel up for the big day. We figured we were as ready as we ever would be, so we hung out at the start area watching others get there gear ready. It ranged from the very serious athletes with the latest gadgets and fancy bikes to the weekend warriors who borrowed their brothers' friends' cousin's bike to do the event. Said it before, many times - XDog peoples is good peoples. The best, in fact.
It was finally time for Kevin's pre-race instructions, then a walk over to the kayak transition area for a river safety briefing - how to put on your PFD, how to get in and out of the inflatable kayaks, what to do if you have an 'out of boat experience' - "I want your toes and your nose to the sky". After receiving instructions, it was time to load in the bus. Because, oh yeah, this year the race was starting Grand Prix style, with a mile run to the bikes.
So we were transported up to the city park (the one in town) and dropped off. The bus was... interesting. Painted in a wild pink, Grateful Dead-y fashion. It took a couple of trips to get everyone to the start. For the businesses that were open, the employees were out on the sidewalk to see us off. After the usual last-minute banter, it was conch shell time and the race was afoot! Now, we had sent our running shoes ahead to the kayak-to-run transition area and hadn't really planned for the starting run. So we were in Keen sandals which, when cinched up snug, worked really well. The run was all down hill so went quickly. We heard shouts of 'Happy anniversary' as we switched to bike gear, hopped on and pedaled out.
Of course, the route started with the same steep hill we had just run down. Then it was through town (mostly flat) followed by the climb back up to the highway. I am happy to say that the climbing was mostly done, except for some rollers later on the route. After hitting the top we cruised through the first half without any trouble, although we realized it was a little chilly on the downhills. A vest would have been nice, but I of course forgot it. Meh.
I've written about XDog's unique mid-point torture, will-power tester 'Temptation Station' in the past. It's there way of saying 'I double dog dare you'. This being a triathlon, the diabolical lure of bad things to do during an athletic event was at about the mid-point of the 26 mile bike portion. A smart man would have ridden by, waved at the volunteers and congratulated himself at his resolve.
We stopped.
Of course.
After drinking a 4 ounce beer, linked arms and all to celebrate our anniversary, I took a couple of glugs of really bad rum from a plastic gallon jug. Oy. Then, at the urging of the volunteers staffing this station and of two women from Germany who we REALLY wanted to party with later, I accepted the next challenge: a ride through a slalom course on a 50cc minibike. This 'hawg' was small - so small that I had to hold my legs up behind me because I couldn't lift them high enough to get my feet on the foot pegs up front. I looked silly, but that is something I am not only good at but also willing to do to make memories.
After successfully completing the out and back slalom, it was time to talk Camera Crew into doing this. It took some cajoling and persuasion, but we succeeded! The 'we' being me and the German gals, mostly. She cautiously climbed on and received reassuring instructions, then she nudged the throttle and took off! She squealed with delight (and a little fear) the entire time, too! She arrived at the finish, smiling from ear to ear.
Maybe I'll be allowed to get that Harley some day after all...
We rode away from Temptation Station feeling accomplished and smiling, with shouts of 'Happy anniversary' from our new friends. The course went through this awesome slot canyon along a twisty road. It was lot of fun! The road brought us back down to the river and we headed north to Sherar's Bridge to cross over the Deschutes. It was here we saw some of the Native Americans fishing off platforms that jutted out over the rapids at Sherar's Falls. They stand on the edge holding a long pole with a net on the end and snag the salmon as they come through the rapids. We wanted to stop and watch for a bit but figured we should get rolling again.
The route ran south along the river and brought us all the way back into town, kinda from the opposite direction from which we left it. We did have quite a headwind, though, so even spots where coasting should have worked it didn't. So... head down and grind it out was the motto.
Before I go on, let's talk about this Sherar fella. The room we were staying in is named after him. And the bridge. And a waterfall. He ran a hotel in the area. And so...
Joseph Sherar was a wagon road builder who operated a hotel, saloon, stagecoach station and livery where the wagon trains crossed over on their way west. He and his wife ran the place from 1871 to 1907 or so - when they died. He improved the bridge that was there as well as the roads leading to and from the crossing. Anyhoo, read all about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sherar And remember - everything on Wiki is true.
Back to the race! We rode along the river and into town, and to the Imperial Hotel for the bike/kayak transition. This was perhaps the part we were both most nervous about. We've both kayaked before but never together. And neither of us had done any kayaking recently. Just as we assume a tandem bicycle would NEVER work for us, we had some doubts about how we'd do paddling the river together. I am (relieved) happy to say that it was a blast! Yeah, we kept whacking our oars together and had a few mis-cues keeping the nose pointed downriver, but we did pretty damn well considering it was our first time. And now we want to add this to our repertoire of sports we like. We imagine kayak purchases in our future, for sure.
We even had one stretch where we paddled in sync for, like, 10-12 strokes and it was great! But then we whacked paddles and that was the end of that! There were some ripples and Class II stuff, nothing major. It was super fun and was over way too soon. We made our way to the right side of the river to the pull out at the wayside, pulled our kayak up on the bank and got to our drop bags for the kayak/run transition. There was a case of Coors Light sitting on a picnic table and we were tempted but figured running four miles to wrap up this race was enough of a challenge.
Now, since it was our anniversary, I not only put on my running shoes but I also changed into my extra special tuxedo t-shirt! Oh yeah! We took off for the run back to the finish and, yes, the headwind was still a'blowing. I had to turn my hat around to keep it from blowing off my noggin. The miles went by pretty quick and we saw the hotel. We cruised into the parking lot, into the finish chute and crossed the line arm in arm. Triathlon triumphant!! There were a lot of high fives and congratulations as we settled in, got a beer and a fantastic burger hot off the grill. After eating and chatting with some fellow XDog-ers, it was time for awards. As it turned out, because we rode the minibike at Temptation Station, we were entered in a special prize drawing. And I won... a home brewing kit!! Woohoo! And later in the regular raffle I won a $25 gift card to Next Adventure. But the best award went to Camera Crew for WINNING HER DIVISION!!!
We not only celebrated our anniversary, we were celebrated and we won stuff! Kevin and XDog and the town of Maupin had put on a great event. We couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate our first anniversary. As the crowd went their separate ways, we hauled the bikes and our gear back up to the room and relaxed! After showers and some hanging out time, we had a great dinner downstairs and hung out in the bar watching Sunday Night Football. It was a wonderful weekend and we will always remember how we spent our first anniversary!
Now the question is - how to top it for a second!??
Monday, October 7, 2013
50@50 Project - Event 45 - Wrap
This is only 5-10 minutes after we finished the run, so it gives you an idea how dark it was when we were on the trails.
Okay, Now... Where Were We?
Oh, yes! Event 45 in the 50@50 Project! Sorry about my absence. Things are getting crazy around HQ these days, what with our preparations for a HUGE fiftieth event! Have trail shoes, will travel.
To recap, Event 44 was the extreme Ole's Assault put on by our dear friends at XDog Events. Number 45 in the quest was held three days later, and was one of the Portland Trail Series runs in beautiful Forest Park. The course for this, the second race in the fall series, looked a little something like this:
Blogger Me: (Insert course map here)
Procrastinator Me: (I couldn't find it.)
Blogger Me: (Well, did you check the Portland Trail Series website?)
Procrastinator Me: (Um, YES. I'm not stupid.)
Blogger Me: (One could argue that.)
Procrastinator Me: (Watch it.)
Blogger Me: (Did you check the Facebook page?)
Procrastinator Me: (Yes. They didn't post it there, either. They put up a link to the website and it brings you to the course map for the third race.)
Blogger Me: (Hmmm...)
Procrastinator Me: (It appears they overwrite the old maps when they post the new route every other week.)
Blogger Me: (Well, that's what you get for waiting so long to write up the post!)
Procrastinator Me: (Yeah, yeah...)
So anyway, the course was a little over five miles and involved a similar start and the requisite hills, rocks, roots and such found in any Forest Park run. Since the first race two weeks ago was a little dark at the finish, we considered bringing the head lamps. Camera Crew and I discussed this while getting ready to head to the start, but decided that since the course was shorter and it was 'only two weeks later so how much darker could it possibly be', we made the call to leave the lights at home. Um, yeah. In hindsight, head lamps would have been a grand idea.
The crowd was about the same size as the first run two weeks prior. Like I've said before, we start to recognize the same folks from event to event. Especially at the extreme and trail races, since these types of events draw a certain type of person. Crazy - like us.
What can I say? I enjoy pushing my limits. I know I am not 20 or 30 or even 40, and not in prime shape ('round' is a shape, right?) and I know it takes longer to recover from beating myself up at these races. But I love it! It's weird. I think I enjoy the mental aspect more than the physical part. For me, I know my body can do most anything I ask of it and I also know that if my mind quits, I quit. So it's a mental battle during the tough times. I've completed four marathons and my running group coach always said "Mentally, you split a marathon into 'halves' - miles 1 through 20, and mile 21 to the finish." If you're going to crack it's in the second 'half' for sure.
My biggest mental challenge during this project was, by far, the Dirty Duathlon back in April. But at this point in the journey and doing events so close together, I find it in some ways more challenging. Face it - I was still pretty beat up from Ole's Assault and my back was killin' me. The thought of having to go out three days later for another event was depressing. But I love running in Forest Park and being able to hang another bib number in the Hall of Fame was incentive enough.
So... the race started! Up Leif, left on some trail, up to Wildwood, onto some other trail, big drop down, then climb back up along Wildwood, down another steep-ass hill to Leif to the finish. If only it had gone that smoothly.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I fell - again. Recall that during Ole's Assault, my feet went out from under me and I landed square flat on my back. And now, on the descent during this run, in the waning 'maybe we shoulda brought the head lamps after all' daylight, I tripped. I went ass over tea kettle, and did what I felt was a pretty good shoulder roll, James Bond-style. Graceful, I know. Sprawled out on my back, staring up at the darkening sky through the trees, back aching, I heard a voice ask "You alright, man?" I looked over and there was a dog staring down on me. I thought to myself 'Maybe I smacked my head a little harder than a think. The dog is talking to me.' It was a German short-haired pointer, an intelligent breed, so I figured if a dog WAS going to talk, it could very well be this one. Alas, no. The dog was right next to me, blocking from view the owner, who was standing behind him. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.
After letting the guy and his god, er, 'dog' know I was okay, Camera Crew waited while I got up, brushed off, retrieved my water bottle and my dignity from the trail. Then she took off downhill and was out of sight in no time. Me? I was sore and it was dark enough that I had trouble seeing the trail. Confidence thoroughly shaken, I slowly picked my way to the bottom, back down to Leif. Camera Crew was waiting for me, but only long enough to make sure I made it down the single track. Then she was off again! Seems she took seriously my threat to tug on her ponytail, so she just wasn't going to let me get close enough to attempt that. Smart girl.
I crossed the finish line a minute or two behind Camera Crew. She was smiling, which is encouragement enough for me. This was another good race, a beautiful route (of course) and another reminder of why we love Portland.
For me and my dirty clothes, it was also a reminder of why Portland Trail Series calls this the 'fall' races.
To recap, Event 44 was the extreme Ole's Assault put on by our dear friends at XDog Events. Number 45 in the quest was held three days later, and was one of the Portland Trail Series runs in beautiful Forest Park. The course for this, the second race in the fall series, looked a little something like this:
Blogger Me: (Insert course map here)
Procrastinator Me: (I couldn't find it.)
Blogger Me: (Well, did you check the Portland Trail Series website?)
Procrastinator Me: (Um, YES. I'm not stupid.)
Blogger Me: (One could argue that.)
Procrastinator Me: (Watch it.)
Blogger Me: (Did you check the Facebook page?)
Procrastinator Me: (Yes. They didn't post it there, either. They put up a link to the website and it brings you to the course map for the third race.)
Blogger Me: (Hmmm...)
Procrastinator Me: (It appears they overwrite the old maps when they post the new route every other week.)
Blogger Me: (Well, that's what you get for waiting so long to write up the post!)
Procrastinator Me: (Yeah, yeah...)
So anyway, the course was a little over five miles and involved a similar start and the requisite hills, rocks, roots and such found in any Forest Park run. Since the first race two weeks ago was a little dark at the finish, we considered bringing the head lamps. Camera Crew and I discussed this while getting ready to head to the start, but decided that since the course was shorter and it was 'only two weeks later so how much darker could it possibly be', we made the call to leave the lights at home. Um, yeah. In hindsight, head lamps would have been a grand idea.
The crowd was about the same size as the first run two weeks prior. Like I've said before, we start to recognize the same folks from event to event. Especially at the extreme and trail races, since these types of events draw a certain type of person. Crazy - like us.
What can I say? I enjoy pushing my limits. I know I am not 20 or 30 or even 40, and not in prime shape ('round' is a shape, right?) and I know it takes longer to recover from beating myself up at these races. But I love it! It's weird. I think I enjoy the mental aspect more than the physical part. For me, I know my body can do most anything I ask of it and I also know that if my mind quits, I quit. So it's a mental battle during the tough times. I've completed four marathons and my running group coach always said "Mentally, you split a marathon into 'halves' - miles 1 through 20, and mile 21 to the finish." If you're going to crack it's in the second 'half' for sure.
My biggest mental challenge during this project was, by far, the Dirty Duathlon back in April. But at this point in the journey and doing events so close together, I find it in some ways more challenging. Face it - I was still pretty beat up from Ole's Assault and my back was killin' me. The thought of having to go out three days later for another event was depressing. But I love running in Forest Park and being able to hang another bib number in the Hall of Fame was incentive enough.
So... the race started! Up Leif, left on some trail, up to Wildwood, onto some other trail, big drop down, then climb back up along Wildwood, down another steep-ass hill to Leif to the finish. If only it had gone that smoothly.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I fell - again. Recall that during Ole's Assault, my feet went out from under me and I landed square flat on my back. And now, on the descent during this run, in the waning 'maybe we shoulda brought the head lamps after all' daylight, I tripped. I went ass over tea kettle, and did what I felt was a pretty good shoulder roll, James Bond-style. Graceful, I know. Sprawled out on my back, staring up at the darkening sky through the trees, back aching, I heard a voice ask "You alright, man?" I looked over and there was a dog staring down on me. I thought to myself 'Maybe I smacked my head a little harder than a think. The dog is talking to me.' It was a German short-haired pointer, an intelligent breed, so I figured if a dog WAS going to talk, it could very well be this one. Alas, no. The dog was right next to me, blocking from view the owner, who was standing behind him. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.
After letting the guy and his god, er, 'dog' know I was okay, Camera Crew waited while I got up, brushed off, retrieved my water bottle and my dignity from the trail. Then she took off downhill and was out of sight in no time. Me? I was sore and it was dark enough that I had trouble seeing the trail. Confidence thoroughly shaken, I slowly picked my way to the bottom, back down to Leif. Camera Crew was waiting for me, but only long enough to make sure I made it down the single track. Then she was off again! Seems she took seriously my threat to tug on her ponytail, so she just wasn't going to let me get close enough to attempt that. Smart girl.
I crossed the finish line a minute or two behind Camera Crew. She was smiling, which is encouragement enough for me. This was another good race, a beautiful route (of course) and another reminder of why we love Portland.
For me and my dirty clothes, it was also a reminder of why Portland Trail Series calls this the 'fall' races.
Friday, September 20, 2013
50@50 Project - Event 44 - XDog's Ole's Assault - Intro
Notice how clean we are here, before the race...
Toughest Course Yet
It's getting harder to write about XDog's events because, while they are similar in a lot of ways, they are each unique animals. I could pretty much cut and paste from previous posts on this blog and get damn close to describing the latest and greatest race - Ole's Assault, Event 44 - but that would be cheating, right? This post may sound much like the ones for McCubbin's Gulch or the Mt. Hood Scramble or Whine on the Vine. But take any part of any one of those events and amp it up another 30-40-50% - and you have Ole's Assault.
Let's start with the distance. This is the longest scramble in the series, the course varying each year a little depending on Kevin's mood. This year's route came in at 7.2 miles, give or take.
Next let's analyze Kevin's pre-race comments on the course. He usually says something cheeky like 'It's 6 miles but it'll feel like 8!" Or it's five and a half but it'll feel like 7!" Always with a big grin on his face, too. For Ole's Assault?
"It's a little over 7 but it'll feel like 15!"
How right he was...
Throw in rain in the days leading up to the event (not to mention thunder, lightning and rain DURING), add in steeper hills and gullies and ravines, lower obstacles that are crazy hard for a guy 6'4" - and you have a much more epic-er XDog outing.
The race is held on property just outside of Astoria, OR. Ole was the original owner of much of the land in the area, and his granddaughter and her family still own and work the land today. They run a logging operation and do it in a sustainable way, which is pretty awesome.
We had driven over the night before and camped at Cape Disappointment out near Ilwaco, WA. We scored a nice little campsite at the end of the road and enjoyed a fairly quiet evening. Camera Crew even got in a little kite flying. I don't mean a short span of time kite flying; I mean a 'little kite'.
It started sprinkling a little just as the sun was going down so we were forced indoors (tent) earlier than we would have liked, given the mild temps. But we played cards (I crushed her at Crazy 8's, she killed me at Go Fish), then we hit the hay so we could be well rested for the big day of killing ourselves.
We got up the next morning after a wonderfully restful sleep, fired up the camp stove to heat water for coffee and tea. We made breakfast - fruit and PBJ's, then broke camp. The drive over to Klaskanine River Park took about 45 minutes. We were enjoying the windy roads of Highway 202 out of Astoria and blew right past the turn off to the race start. We joked that we did that intentionally because we were both feeling a little apprehension over this event.
Ole's Assault brought out the usual XDog crazies. Many people look familiar since we've seen them many times over the last several months. A few asked what event number we were on - we're famous that way. I've said it before - this crowd is awesome. A special breed of people who are always more interested in a good time than in their finish time. We hit the restrooms and waited for the pre-race announcements, which are always entertaining. The gist of the instructions are 'if you get lost or hurt yourself, it's your own damn fault'. To start us off, Kevin led us out in the truck for the first 1.25 miles on some paved and gravel roads, then released us upon the 'trails'. Or maybe it was 'released the trails upon us'.
There were many obstacles on the course, some man made and others placed by Mother Nature. It seems there were a lot of 'duck under and/or crawl' obstacles, which were brutal to my lower back. Standing back up straight got more difficult the further along we went. To rub a little lemon juice into the cut, we were standing on a very steep bank sizing up the best way to get to the bottom of a particularly nasty gully, when alluvasudden my feet went out from under me in the slimy mud and I landed square flat on my back. Ouch. Still hurts today - partly because of another fall a few days later!
That, kids, is what we call foreshadowing.
About two-thirds of the way through we came across a young man named Jake, about 15, who was visibly upset. We asked if he was okay and he replied that his mom had fallen, hit her head and was bleeding, so he was trying to find help. Camera Crew is a trained Wilderness First Responder and I have a fair share of training as well. So we asked a few questions - not enough, as it turned out - and decided to backtrack to find them, see what we could do to help. Jake was with some other runners so we sent them on the way out. The info we got made it sound like his mom was just back up the trail a little ways. Thankfully, we met up with the boys older brother, Aiden, and found out a couple of vital pieces of information: His mom hadn't fallen and hit her head, but rather had smacked it while ducking under a log. Big difference. The velocity of a fall would lend itself to a more serious injury, but bumping your pumpkin could only be so bad, since one would theoretically be moving a little slower while maneuvering under a deadfall. And we found out that she was actually back very near the start of the trail portion of the race, not any where near where we were. So we decided to re-retrace our route, and head back along the course with Aiden until we got to a point to hook up with the road. We found the younger brother and left them near the road to be picked up by volunteers. A gal named Liz came through saying she had arranged help to get to the mom via the road and that there were a couple of soldiers with her and her husband. So those guys would definitely be trained to help her out.
Well, we were pretty frazzled by all that excitement, confusion and extra effort. The finish was a little anti-climactic because we were just a little fried from the course and the backtracking. Needless to say, this race was exceptionally epically awesomely difficult - and fun, in it's own devilish way. It was as advertised - the toughest XDog event of the season. As usual, we felt a unique sense of accomplishment that comes from the extreme nature of a challenge such as this. It pushes your limits as well as your buttons, a test of physical and mental toughness. We did pretty well in both categories, for the most part. I will say that at least I wasn't speaking in tongues like after the Dirty Duathlon back in April.
I'm sure Ole was looking down at the spectacle, laughing his ass off.
We took Highway 30 back to Portland. I like this drive - it's interesting and traffic moves along. But, wow, my back was killing me. Sitting still while driving just made it tighten up, which made unloading the SUV fun. Oh well - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
Let's start with the distance. This is the longest scramble in the series, the course varying each year a little depending on Kevin's mood. This year's route came in at 7.2 miles, give or take.
Next let's analyze Kevin's pre-race comments on the course. He usually says something cheeky like 'It's 6 miles but it'll feel like 8!" Or it's five and a half but it'll feel like 7!" Always with a big grin on his face, too. For Ole's Assault?
"It's a little over 7 but it'll feel like 15!"
How right he was...
Throw in rain in the days leading up to the event (not to mention thunder, lightning and rain DURING), add in steeper hills and gullies and ravines, lower obstacles that are crazy hard for a guy 6'4" - and you have a much more epic-er XDog outing.
The race is held on property just outside of Astoria, OR. Ole was the original owner of much of the land in the area, and his granddaughter and her family still own and work the land today. They run a logging operation and do it in a sustainable way, which is pretty awesome.
We had driven over the night before and camped at Cape Disappointment out near Ilwaco, WA. We scored a nice little campsite at the end of the road and enjoyed a fairly quiet evening. Camera Crew even got in a little kite flying. I don't mean a short span of time kite flying; I mean a 'little kite'.
It started sprinkling a little just as the sun was going down so we were forced indoors (tent) earlier than we would have liked, given the mild temps. But we played cards (I crushed her at Crazy 8's, she killed me at Go Fish), then we hit the hay so we could be well rested for the big day of killing ourselves.
We got up the next morning after a wonderfully restful sleep, fired up the camp stove to heat water for coffee and tea. We made breakfast - fruit and PBJ's, then broke camp. The drive over to Klaskanine River Park took about 45 minutes. We were enjoying the windy roads of Highway 202 out of Astoria and blew right past the turn off to the race start. We joked that we did that intentionally because we were both feeling a little apprehension over this event.
Ole's Assault brought out the usual XDog crazies. Many people look familiar since we've seen them many times over the last several months. A few asked what event number we were on - we're famous that way. I've said it before - this crowd is awesome. A special breed of people who are always more interested in a good time than in their finish time. We hit the restrooms and waited for the pre-race announcements, which are always entertaining. The gist of the instructions are 'if you get lost or hurt yourself, it's your own damn fault'. To start us off, Kevin led us out in the truck for the first 1.25 miles on some paved and gravel roads, then released us upon the 'trails'. Or maybe it was 'released the trails upon us'.
There were many obstacles on the course, some man made and others placed by Mother Nature. It seems there were a lot of 'duck under and/or crawl' obstacles, which were brutal to my lower back. Standing back up straight got more difficult the further along we went. To rub a little lemon juice into the cut, we were standing on a very steep bank sizing up the best way to get to the bottom of a particularly nasty gully, when alluvasudden my feet went out from under me in the slimy mud and I landed square flat on my back. Ouch. Still hurts today - partly because of another fall a few days later!
That, kids, is what we call foreshadowing.
About two-thirds of the way through we came across a young man named Jake, about 15, who was visibly upset. We asked if he was okay and he replied that his mom had fallen, hit her head and was bleeding, so he was trying to find help. Camera Crew is a trained Wilderness First Responder and I have a fair share of training as well. So we asked a few questions - not enough, as it turned out - and decided to backtrack to find them, see what we could do to help. Jake was with some other runners so we sent them on the way out. The info we got made it sound like his mom was just back up the trail a little ways. Thankfully, we met up with the boys older brother, Aiden, and found out a couple of vital pieces of information: His mom hadn't fallen and hit her head, but rather had smacked it while ducking under a log. Big difference. The velocity of a fall would lend itself to a more serious injury, but bumping your pumpkin could only be so bad, since one would theoretically be moving a little slower while maneuvering under a deadfall. And we found out that she was actually back very near the start of the trail portion of the race, not any where near where we were. So we decided to re-retrace our route, and head back along the course with Aiden until we got to a point to hook up with the road. We found the younger brother and left them near the road to be picked up by volunteers. A gal named Liz came through saying she had arranged help to get to the mom via the road and that there were a couple of soldiers with her and her husband. So those guys would definitely be trained to help her out.
Well, we were pretty frazzled by all that excitement, confusion and extra effort. The finish was a little anti-climactic because we were just a little fried from the course and the backtracking. Needless to say, this race was exceptionally epically awesomely difficult - and fun, in it's own devilish way. It was as advertised - the toughest XDog event of the season. As usual, we felt a unique sense of accomplishment that comes from the extreme nature of a challenge such as this. It pushes your limits as well as your buttons, a test of physical and mental toughness. We did pretty well in both categories, for the most part. I will say that at least I wasn't speaking in tongues like after the Dirty Duathlon back in April.
I'm sure Ole was looking down at the spectacle, laughing his ass off.
We took Highway 30 back to Portland. I like this drive - it's interesting and traffic moves along. But, wow, my back was killing me. Sitting still while driving just made it tighten up, which made unloading the SUV fun. Oh well - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
Friday, September 13, 2013
Big Week Coming Up!!
We here at the 50@50 Project strive to keep you, the reader and follower and supporter, entertained. It's because of this crazy commitment that we will be attempting to hurt ourselves next week, not in one event but in three.
First up - Event 44: This Sunday is an XDog Event (I could stop right there and you'd get the point) - Ole's Assault. We've never done this race. It's rumored to be the toughest, most badass XDog event on the calendar. The website says the average racer will take 2 to 2.5 hours to complete the course. An as yet to be determined number of miles in the forested mountains of the Coast Range near Astoria, OR with 'no less than 10 challenging obstacles' on the course. Yippee.
This fat kid is in trouble.
(Note to Kevin at XDog: I love you and hate you.)
Next up will be Event 45: Race #2 in the Portland Trail Series. This one is an evening run on Wednesday. If the first course we ran a couple of weeks ago,for Event 43, was any indication, these guys like hills.
Camera Crew - don't forget to wear your hair up...
And then, the following Sunday - Event 46 AND (more importantly) our first wedding anniversary!!!! XDog's (there they are again) Ride-Row-Run, an extreme triathlon. Yep. This is how everyone celebrates their anniversary, right? Right? No? Hmmm...
So our one year celebration will be in Maupin, OR where we'll bike 26 miles, then kayak the river for three miles, then run four miles to the finish line. I'm going to say this now - ouch.
What's that? I could have just gotten Camera Crew some flowers and a card? Son of a...
So, yeah. Three potentially grueling and painful events in 8 days. I hope this makes you very happy.
First up - Event 44: This Sunday is an XDog Event (I could stop right there and you'd get the point) - Ole's Assault. We've never done this race. It's rumored to be the toughest, most badass XDog event on the calendar. The website says the average racer will take 2 to 2.5 hours to complete the course. An as yet to be determined number of miles in the forested mountains of the Coast Range near Astoria, OR with 'no less than 10 challenging obstacles' on the course. Yippee.
This fat kid is in trouble.
(Note to Kevin at XDog: I love you and hate you.)
Next up will be Event 45: Race #2 in the Portland Trail Series. This one is an evening run on Wednesday. If the first course we ran a couple of weeks ago,for Event 43, was any indication, these guys like hills.
Camera Crew - don't forget to wear your hair up...
And then, the following Sunday - Event 46 AND (more importantly) our first wedding anniversary!!!! XDog's (there they are again) Ride-Row-Run, an extreme triathlon. Yep. This is how everyone celebrates their anniversary, right? Right? No? Hmmm...
So our one year celebration will be in Maupin, OR where we'll bike 26 miles, then kayak the river for three miles, then run four miles to the finish line. I'm going to say this now - ouch.
What's that? I could have just gotten Camera Crew some flowers and a card? Son of a...
So, yeah. Three potentially grueling and painful events in 8 days. I hope this makes you very happy.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
50@50 Project - Event 43 - Portland Trail Series - Intro and Wrap
The first run in a five run series, 5.78 miles in length.
This was an evening run and two days after a 10k trail run. So neither of us was very excited to do this event, at least until we got going. Once it started, we had a blast, naturally.
As you will see in the first vid, Camera Crew was not a happy camper. I'm posting the Intro and Wrap together so you can see the difference a trail run makes! Haha!
Enjoy!
Intro:
Water bottle - check
Running hat - check
Watch - check
Grumpy wife and running partner - check
Wrap:
Look who's all rainbows and unicorns!!
This was an evening run and two days after a 10k trail run. So neither of us was very excited to do this event, at least until we got going. Once it started, we had a blast, naturally.
As you will see in the first vid, Camera Crew was not a happy camper. I'm posting the Intro and Wrap together so you can see the difference a trail run makes! Haha!
Enjoy!
Intro:
Water bottle - check
Running hat - check
Watch - check
Grumpy wife and running partner - check
Wrap:
Look who's all rainbows and unicorns!!
Back on the Trails - Two Days Later
As you saw in the previous post, we had returned to our beloved Forest Park! On Labor Day, we had completed the Wildwood Trail 10k. And here it was two days later on Wednesday for Event 43 in the 50@50 Project - the Portland Trail Series. As the name suggests, this is a series of runs put on as a fundraiser for the Forest Park Conservancy. This organization works to protect, foster, and preserve the ecological health of the park as well as inspire appreciation and future stewardship of this magnificent place. At 5,000 acres, it is the largest naturally forested urban park in the US. Take that, Seattle!! Read all about it at www.forestparkconservancy.org
The trail runs in this series are held every other Wednesday and consists of five races. The first four of these will be official 50@50 events - numbers 43, 45, 47 and 49. We'll be missing the last one because we will be, uh, er... 'out of town'. These events will be fun mostly because each course will be of a different distance on different trails, so we'll get to re-visit more of the park. Which is wonderful, truly.
I really had no idea what to expect as we drove up to the top of NW Thurman for the start of the race. Registration for the series is limited to 150 people but there are usually no shows. I wasn't sure how formal the event would be or how many people would show up. As it turns out, the races are chip timed and they had a big official timing clock, a check-in table, water, etc. - all the trappings of a real live event!! Sweet! Surveying the crowd, I noticed that most of the runners looked to be, well, runners. I'm a big guy at 6'4" and packing some extra weight, so I stand out as the most Clydesdale of Clydesdales at most events, especially the smaller ones like this. For those who don't know, 'Clydesdale' is a special category at runners - means we're all big fellas. Anyhoo, seeing all these wimpy-size people never bothers me. I feel good about getting out and participating. And, hell, this was Event 43, remember. I am confident that no one in this crowd, other than Camera Crew, had done 42 events since January prior to showing up at the trail head.
Now, you all know I love Camera Crew very much. But I have to say, she was a little grumpy as we milled around waiting for the start. This was another of those evening races, something we still haven't adjusted to yet. We're 'run in the morning' folks, so evening is all about cooking dinner and winding down. I was still sore from the 10k trail run two days earlier, so wasn't super excited about this one. But Camera Crew was downright pissy. She had to come home from a day of work, then get ready to go out and run. She really didn't want to be there. But we love running trails and so I finally told her 'You know that as soon as this is over, you'll be grinning from ear to ear!' She was.
In fact, I'll post the intro video and the wrap video together. You'll see the difference. And you will laugh. I promise.
Our course for the run looked like this:
For reference, as a general rule any part of the course that runs right to left is predominantly steeply uphill and (of course) left to right is out-of-control downhill. The trail rolls up and down for a lot of it but Wildwood, Alder, Dogwood, and Wild Cherry can be pretty steep in places. In summation, this was a damn tough course, coming in at 5.78 miles.
The race started and we took off up Leif Erikson for about a mile, which was a nice warm up. Once we turned off on Dogwood, it was fun time! The trail went up and up, met up with Wildwood. We took that to Alder then bombed back down to Leif. Now, I have to tell you that up to this point we had been trading off taking the lead. Shortly down Alder, Camera Crew took the front and she just kept going and going and going. She set quite a quick pace and didn't stop til we got all the way down to Leif! I was pushing to keep up, thinking to myself "Wow, she's either still pissed about having to run or feeling really REALLY good!". Fortunately, it was the latter. After the first mile, her endorphin's kicked in, she realized where we were and got all happy! So by the time we got to Alder, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. When I hit Leif, she was waiting for me, smiling.
We headed back down Leif until we hit Dogwood again, did the same climb as the first loop (see map) but instead of cutting off on Wildwood, we kept going to the tippy-top of Dogwood, as it brushes NW 53rd. We cut off Dogwood onto Wild Cherry for the wild drop back down to Leif. This stretch went on much longer than I remembered, but I tell ya, we were bombing down this trail. I'm writing this three days later and my feet, ankles, and knees are still quite sore and achy from the downhill pounding.
(Also, note to self: consider bringing headlamp next time; it's dark in the woods and trail vision was sketchy at times!)
Once we got to Leif, it was about half a mile to the finish at the park gate. At this point, we're both feeling good and excited to be almost done. We were cruising down the road, a gentle downhill. I'm picking up speed cuz, well, I'm fat and running downhill. Camera Crew speeds up and starts to pass me. I keep pace. She speeds up a little more.
Oh, I see now. It's going to be one of those finishes.
Miss Grumpypants is now in a full out sprint, as am I. I thought - briefly - of reaching over to grab her ponytail to get ahead of her but then wisely considered the repercussions. I usually take her in these sprints - longer legs, longer stride. I'm not sure what had gotten into her, but Camera Crew was matching me straight up. Thank god the finish line came when it did because I was running out of gas. And, as it turned out, I shoulda yanked her hair because the official results had her finishing one second ahead of me.
I call BS.
Like I said before, it was so awesome to be running in Forest Park again. It's gorgeous and this trail series is going to be a blast. I'm very excited to have this be a part of my little project.
But next time, Camera Crew - you better wear your hair up.
The trail runs in this series are held every other Wednesday and consists of five races. The first four of these will be official 50@50 events - numbers 43, 45, 47 and 49. We'll be missing the last one because we will be, uh, er... 'out of town'. These events will be fun mostly because each course will be of a different distance on different trails, so we'll get to re-visit more of the park. Which is wonderful, truly.
I really had no idea what to expect as we drove up to the top of NW Thurman for the start of the race. Registration for the series is limited to 150 people but there are usually no shows. I wasn't sure how formal the event would be or how many people would show up. As it turns out, the races are chip timed and they had a big official timing clock, a check-in table, water, etc. - all the trappings of a real live event!! Sweet! Surveying the crowd, I noticed that most of the runners looked to be, well, runners. I'm a big guy at 6'4" and packing some extra weight, so I stand out as the most Clydesdale of Clydesdales at most events, especially the smaller ones like this. For those who don't know, 'Clydesdale' is a special category at runners - means we're all big fellas. Anyhoo, seeing all these wimpy-size people never bothers me. I feel good about getting out and participating. And, hell, this was Event 43, remember. I am confident that no one in this crowd, other than Camera Crew, had done 42 events since January prior to showing up at the trail head.
Now, you all know I love Camera Crew very much. But I have to say, she was a little grumpy as we milled around waiting for the start. This was another of those evening races, something we still haven't adjusted to yet. We're 'run in the morning' folks, so evening is all about cooking dinner and winding down. I was still sore from the 10k trail run two days earlier, so wasn't super excited about this one. But Camera Crew was downright pissy. She had to come home from a day of work, then get ready to go out and run. She really didn't want to be there. But we love running trails and so I finally told her 'You know that as soon as this is over, you'll be grinning from ear to ear!' She was.
In fact, I'll post the intro video and the wrap video together. You'll see the difference. And you will laugh. I promise.
Our course for the run looked like this:
For reference, as a general rule any part of the course that runs right to left is predominantly steeply uphill and (of course) left to right is out-of-control downhill. The trail rolls up and down for a lot of it but Wildwood, Alder, Dogwood, and Wild Cherry can be pretty steep in places. In summation, this was a damn tough course, coming in at 5.78 miles.
The race started and we took off up Leif Erikson for about a mile, which was a nice warm up. Once we turned off on Dogwood, it was fun time! The trail went up and up, met up with Wildwood. We took that to Alder then bombed back down to Leif. Now, I have to tell you that up to this point we had been trading off taking the lead. Shortly down Alder, Camera Crew took the front and she just kept going and going and going. She set quite a quick pace and didn't stop til we got all the way down to Leif! I was pushing to keep up, thinking to myself "Wow, she's either still pissed about having to run or feeling really REALLY good!". Fortunately, it was the latter. After the first mile, her endorphin's kicked in, she realized where we were and got all happy! So by the time we got to Alder, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. When I hit Leif, she was waiting for me, smiling.
We headed back down Leif until we hit Dogwood again, did the same climb as the first loop (see map) but instead of cutting off on Wildwood, we kept going to the tippy-top of Dogwood, as it brushes NW 53rd. We cut off Dogwood onto Wild Cherry for the wild drop back down to Leif. This stretch went on much longer than I remembered, but I tell ya, we were bombing down this trail. I'm writing this three days later and my feet, ankles, and knees are still quite sore and achy from the downhill pounding.
(Also, note to self: consider bringing headlamp next time; it's dark in the woods and trail vision was sketchy at times!)
Once we got to Leif, it was about half a mile to the finish at the park gate. At this point, we're both feeling good and excited to be almost done. We were cruising down the road, a gentle downhill. I'm picking up speed cuz, well, I'm fat and running downhill. Camera Crew speeds up and starts to pass me. I keep pace. She speeds up a little more.
Oh, I see now. It's going to be one of those finishes.
Miss Grumpypants is now in a full out sprint, as am I. I thought - briefly - of reaching over to grab her ponytail to get ahead of her but then wisely considered the repercussions. I usually take her in these sprints - longer legs, longer stride. I'm not sure what had gotten into her, but Camera Crew was matching me straight up. Thank god the finish line came when it did because I was running out of gas. And, as it turned out, I shoulda yanked her hair because the official results had her finishing one second ahead of me.
I call BS.
Like I said before, it was so awesome to be running in Forest Park again. It's gorgeous and this trail series is going to be a blast. I'm very excited to have this be a part of my little project.
But next time, Camera Crew - you better wear your hair up.
Monday, September 2, 2013
50@50 Project - Event 42 - ORRC's Wildwood Trail 10k - Intro
Happy Labor Day, USA!!!
Anne - Thanks for the shirt! I wore it proudly!
Late Night Decision
So.
I had picked up a nice flank steak earlier in the day on Sunday, mixed up a spicy dry rub for it, rubbed down this underrated cut of beef and let 'er sit for a few hours. Yesterday evening, I grilled it beautifully. I cooked peppers and onions in a cast iron skillet on the grill, as well. I'm a live fire guy - can't stand propane BBQ's. I've tried them in the past but just don't like how they cook. Give me charcoal or hardwood any day and I'll do anything you can do on a propane grill or a smoker, and probably better.
Anyway, suffice it to say we had an excellent dinner. We enjoyed flank steak fajitas, black beans and scratch made margaritas. While it was a great meal, it's not exactly what I would call a good pre-race meal, if one were running the next morning. But, hey - no worries! We were thoroughly enjoying a little hiatus from the 50@50 Project, letting our aches and pains and scratches and bruises heal. Hell yeah! Bring on the spicy food and the booze, baby!
But, you see, there was this itch that needed to be scratched. We hadn't done a race in a couple of weeks and, well, it was starting to bug me. I felt like we should be doing a race. Camera Crew felt the same way. If you run or ride or partake regularly in any form of exercise, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, there was a run we had on the calendar that we had thought 'Nah, we have our schedule set. Let's keep resting and healing.' Ha! The run was this morning, Labor Day. And the Sunday of the great dinner and drinks was last night.
We're settling in for the evening last night, in bed - playing some cards and getting ready to watch a show on the laptop 'TV'. It's 10 PM and we both decided at almost the same time 'We should do the run tomorrow morning.' Wow and yikes. So, we looked up the details on the innerwebs, set the alarm and watched our show. Then it was sleepy time.
See? Just like that, Event 42 happened!
We felt like we should do this run for many reasons, mostly to scratch that itch. But it was also in our neighborhood - NW Portland. The event was the Wildwood Trail Run 10k. Over the last 7-ish years, Camera Crew and I have run all over Forest Park trails and countless times on Wildwood Trail. It's the main single track trail through the park, running about 30 miles north-south. A lot of the other trails intersect it at some point or another. It's a beautiful park and Wildwood is THE iconic trail. It was nice to be back.
The run was put on by the Oregon Road Runners Club. We've done several of their events for the 50@50 Project and are always impressed with how well-organized they are. This was to be a 'point to point' race, meaning the start and finish were not the same place, as is the case with most races. We drove up the where NW Cornell intersects with Skyline Blvd. and the volunteers helped us get parked. By the number of cars already there this was going to be a pretty good crowd. Of course, we hadn't pre-registered so we filled out the form and paid the fee. After a short wait, a school bus picked us up and took us to the start area. We were dropped on Forest Lane and walked in about a half mile to Firelane One. We gave our registrations to the start officials, they entered them in the race computer so they could track our time and that was it. We could start any time.
This was a unique race in that they allowed you to start whenever you wanted to start. The course was open from 7:30 to 12:30, with buses running continually, dropping off the next load of runners. This was smart and, for all I know, a requirement of the park that ORRC had to abide by. Makes sense. I can't imagine releasing several hundred runners all at once on a single wide trail. And since the trail is not closed for the race, there are other users on it at any given time. This type of 'open start' allowed runners to get spread out, which was really the only way it would work.
We stretched a little and took off. It was awesome being back on the trails of Forest Park. With all of our crazy events and full weekends, we had not been able to get on the trails. Years ago, when we were dating, we logged a lot of miles up here, training for marathons and other races. In fact, at our wedding last September, rather than label the tables by numbers or letters, we marked tables with the names of trails in Forest Park. "Mr. and Mrs. So and So, you'll be seated at Aspen." Or Wild Cherry. Or Dogwood. You get the idea. Yeah, it meant a lot to be running up here again. In fact, we are registered to do the fall slate of runs in 'our' park that are put on by Portland Trail Series, so we'll be back several more times as part of the 50@50 schedule.
Firelane One took us down to Wildwood and from there, we headed (generally) south. The trail has gentle ups and downs as it runs along the side of the west hills. It's pretty gorgeous, especially in the morning as the sun comes through the trees.
I took this picture several years ago during a run on Wildwood. It was a Sunday and this, folks, is my church. Glorious!
There were two rest stops along the 6.2 mile course - one at 2 miles, the other at the 4 mile mark. As we approached the second stop, one of the volunteers looked at me trundling down the trail and side "Nice Labor Day shirt!". I'll explain.
A couple of months back, at the 4th of July run, Camera Crew suggested I could 'try harder' at dressing up for the themed events we were doing. She said this because it was July 4th and I maybe had some blue or red on, but didn't make a big effort to dress up in the ol' red, white and blue. Other runners had on Uncle Sam hats, streamers, Statue of Liberty get ups, etc. I made the comment in the blog post for that event that I would try to come up with something for Labor Day.
Enter Anne, my mother-in-law.
She sent me a t-shirt to wear, should we happen to do a Labor Day event! Well, we did and I wore it, proudly. It was a shirt for the AFSCME Local 52 - AFL-CIO, with the eight stars of the Alaskan flag and the slogan 'Alaskans Working For Alaska'. Ha! It's safe to say that I was the only one wearing a Labor Day-themed shirt. Read up on the union I represented at www.afscmelocal52.org Thanks, Anne!
The course was mostly flat with some rollers here and there. We passed the Stone House, an old public restroom - nonetheless, an impressive structure that was built in the '30's by the Works Progress Administration. Portland's infamous Columbus Day storm in October 1962 damaged the water lines. Repairs were considered to be too costly, so the building was gutted and the outer stone walls remain. Kinda eerie looking in the fog, just so you know. The last little bit, less than a mile, was UP. Yoinks. It was quite the hill climb, starting gradually then getting steeper! It was tough. A speedy guy passed us as we were struggling and said 'Come on, you can do this!' - so we did. It wasn't pretty but we ran (most of) the rest of the way to the finish at Upper Macleay Park.
The finish was somewhat comical, in an anticlimactic sort of way. At most races, a few people (at least) clap and cheer for you as you cross the finish line. Because the finish for this race was steeply uphill right to the end, we crossed the line gasping and were met by everyone else breathing hard from their climb to the finish! Haha! It was strangely quiet, except for the panting.
After sitting for a bit, drinking some water and Gatorade, the bus came around and we loaded up for the drive back to the SUV. Even though this event was a very last minute decision, we were feeling pretty good about the results.
I may just fix up flank steak fajitas and margaritas before every event!
I had picked up a nice flank steak earlier in the day on Sunday, mixed up a spicy dry rub for it, rubbed down this underrated cut of beef and let 'er sit for a few hours. Yesterday evening, I grilled it beautifully. I cooked peppers and onions in a cast iron skillet on the grill, as well. I'm a live fire guy - can't stand propane BBQ's. I've tried them in the past but just don't like how they cook. Give me charcoal or hardwood any day and I'll do anything you can do on a propane grill or a smoker, and probably better.
Anyway, suffice it to say we had an excellent dinner. We enjoyed flank steak fajitas, black beans and scratch made margaritas. While it was a great meal, it's not exactly what I would call a good pre-race meal, if one were running the next morning. But, hey - no worries! We were thoroughly enjoying a little hiatus from the 50@50 Project, letting our aches and pains and scratches and bruises heal. Hell yeah! Bring on the spicy food and the booze, baby!
But, you see, there was this itch that needed to be scratched. We hadn't done a race in a couple of weeks and, well, it was starting to bug me. I felt like we should be doing a race. Camera Crew felt the same way. If you run or ride or partake regularly in any form of exercise, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, there was a run we had on the calendar that we had thought 'Nah, we have our schedule set. Let's keep resting and healing.' Ha! The run was this morning, Labor Day. And the Sunday of the great dinner and drinks was last night.
We're settling in for the evening last night, in bed - playing some cards and getting ready to watch a show on the laptop 'TV'. It's 10 PM and we both decided at almost the same time 'We should do the run tomorrow morning.' Wow and yikes. So, we looked up the details on the innerwebs, set the alarm and watched our show. Then it was sleepy time.
See? Just like that, Event 42 happened!
We felt like we should do this run for many reasons, mostly to scratch that itch. But it was also in our neighborhood - NW Portland. The event was the Wildwood Trail Run 10k. Over the last 7-ish years, Camera Crew and I have run all over Forest Park trails and countless times on Wildwood Trail. It's the main single track trail through the park, running about 30 miles north-south. A lot of the other trails intersect it at some point or another. It's a beautiful park and Wildwood is THE iconic trail. It was nice to be back.
The run was put on by the Oregon Road Runners Club. We've done several of their events for the 50@50 Project and are always impressed with how well-organized they are. This was to be a 'point to point' race, meaning the start and finish were not the same place, as is the case with most races. We drove up the where NW Cornell intersects with Skyline Blvd. and the volunteers helped us get parked. By the number of cars already there this was going to be a pretty good crowd. Of course, we hadn't pre-registered so we filled out the form and paid the fee. After a short wait, a school bus picked us up and took us to the start area. We were dropped on Forest Lane and walked in about a half mile to Firelane One. We gave our registrations to the start officials, they entered them in the race computer so they could track our time and that was it. We could start any time.
This was a unique race in that they allowed you to start whenever you wanted to start. The course was open from 7:30 to 12:30, with buses running continually, dropping off the next load of runners. This was smart and, for all I know, a requirement of the park that ORRC had to abide by. Makes sense. I can't imagine releasing several hundred runners all at once on a single wide trail. And since the trail is not closed for the race, there are other users on it at any given time. This type of 'open start' allowed runners to get spread out, which was really the only way it would work.
We stretched a little and took off. It was awesome being back on the trails of Forest Park. With all of our crazy events and full weekends, we had not been able to get on the trails. Years ago, when we were dating, we logged a lot of miles up here, training for marathons and other races. In fact, at our wedding last September, rather than label the tables by numbers or letters, we marked tables with the names of trails in Forest Park. "Mr. and Mrs. So and So, you'll be seated at Aspen." Or Wild Cherry. Or Dogwood. You get the idea. Yeah, it meant a lot to be running up here again. In fact, we are registered to do the fall slate of runs in 'our' park that are put on by Portland Trail Series, so we'll be back several more times as part of the 50@50 schedule.
Firelane One took us down to Wildwood and from there, we headed (generally) south. The trail has gentle ups and downs as it runs along the side of the west hills. It's pretty gorgeous, especially in the morning as the sun comes through the trees.
I took this picture several years ago during a run on Wildwood. It was a Sunday and this, folks, is my church. Glorious!
There were two rest stops along the 6.2 mile course - one at 2 miles, the other at the 4 mile mark. As we approached the second stop, one of the volunteers looked at me trundling down the trail and side "Nice Labor Day shirt!". I'll explain.
A couple of months back, at the 4th of July run, Camera Crew suggested I could 'try harder' at dressing up for the themed events we were doing. She said this because it was July 4th and I maybe had some blue or red on, but didn't make a big effort to dress up in the ol' red, white and blue. Other runners had on Uncle Sam hats, streamers, Statue of Liberty get ups, etc. I made the comment in the blog post for that event that I would try to come up with something for Labor Day.
Enter Anne, my mother-in-law.
She sent me a t-shirt to wear, should we happen to do a Labor Day event! Well, we did and I wore it, proudly. It was a shirt for the AFSCME Local 52 - AFL-CIO, with the eight stars of the Alaskan flag and the slogan 'Alaskans Working For Alaska'. Ha! It's safe to say that I was the only one wearing a Labor Day-themed shirt. Read up on the union I represented at www.afscmelocal52.org Thanks, Anne!
The course was mostly flat with some rollers here and there. We passed the Stone House, an old public restroom - nonetheless, an impressive structure that was built in the '30's by the Works Progress Administration. Portland's infamous Columbus Day storm in October 1962 damaged the water lines. Repairs were considered to be too costly, so the building was gutted and the outer stone walls remain. Kinda eerie looking in the fog, just so you know. The last little bit, less than a mile, was UP. Yoinks. It was quite the hill climb, starting gradually then getting steeper! It was tough. A speedy guy passed us as we were struggling and said 'Come on, you can do this!' - so we did. It wasn't pretty but we ran (most of) the rest of the way to the finish at Upper Macleay Park.
The finish was somewhat comical, in an anticlimactic sort of way. At most races, a few people (at least) clap and cheer for you as you cross the finish line. Because the finish for this race was steeply uphill right to the end, we crossed the line gasping and were met by everyone else breathing hard from their climb to the finish! Haha! It was strangely quiet, except for the panting.
After sitting for a bit, drinking some water and Gatorade, the bus came around and we loaded up for the drive back to the SUV. Even though this event was a very last minute decision, we were feeling pretty good about the results.
I may just fix up flank steak fajitas and margaritas before every event!
50@50 Project - Event 41 - West Linn Trail 5k - Intro
This was a series of runs put on over the summer. My second time running this course, Camera Crew's first.
Revisit for Me; New to Camera Crew
The 50@50 Project has been sailing along magnificently! This odyssey to complete 50 races between my 50th and 51st birthdays is waaaaay ahead of schedule.
Event 41 was the West Linn Trail 5k at Mary S. Young State Park. You avid blog followers - or 'blogollowers*' - will remember this particular run at this particular park from Event 31 back on July 17th. On that day, I did the run on my own. It was The Great Equalizer run! As you may recall, Camera Crew had been one event ahead of me for a while due to some unforeseen scheduling issues on my end. Doing the run solo back in July got us all evened out, which was nice for me because it meant Camera Crew lost her bragging rights. She was insufferable! Okay, and cute.
As this was a mid-week run, I picked up Camera Crew from her office in Tualatin, then we made the drive to West Linn and the lovely park where the run would take place. My partner in this craziness had never been there before so it was all new to her. We arrived, parked and got checked in. Then it was getting close to go time. As we waited to get started, I noticed the participant makeup was a little different this time. This is a small event, not a whole lot of people doing this series. Unfortunate, since the races are so well organized (except they ran out of safety pins for bib numbers - again). When I did the run back in July, there were a lot of high school runners and coaches as well as parents. This time, there weren't so many 15-18 year olds, but a lot of younger kids and families.
We would be running the same course as I did before, two laps around the soccer complex within the park, on trails of wood chips, dirt, gravel, pavement. It was pretty warm out but the course lies mostly in the trees which made things okay. Since I did this run before and already described the event in the blog post for Event 31, I think I'll see if Camera Crew has anything to add to this. Camera Crew!! Hey, Camera Crew! Yoohoo!
Uh, what, huh me?!? Hmmm, okay. Let's see... This would be a pretty neat park to live next to. A maze of bark chipped trails with mild elevation gain/loss. We crossed paths with plenty of locals out on their runs and walks. But did I mention the paths were bark chipped? Soft and good for the knees, I'm sure, but if I worked at Boise Cascade and took home as many bark chips as I had in my shoes, I'm sure I'd be charged with theft.
Good point. I suppose they could always just chop down the trees in the park and replace the wood chips on site. Er, that would be bad, actually.
We completed the run and I have to say that we just CRUSHED the little kids. Heh heh heh. Kidding - some of them beat us. But afterward we all had ICE CREAM CONES!!! It was fantastic. A good run and one more event down!
Event 41 was the West Linn Trail 5k at Mary S. Young State Park. You avid blog followers - or 'blogollowers*' - will remember this particular run at this particular park from Event 31 back on July 17th. On that day, I did the run on my own. It was The Great Equalizer run! As you may recall, Camera Crew had been one event ahead of me for a while due to some unforeseen scheduling issues on my end. Doing the run solo back in July got us all evened out, which was nice for me because it meant Camera Crew lost her bragging rights. She was insufferable! Okay, and cute.
As this was a mid-week run, I picked up Camera Crew from her office in Tualatin, then we made the drive to West Linn and the lovely park where the run would take place. My partner in this craziness had never been there before so it was all new to her. We arrived, parked and got checked in. Then it was getting close to go time. As we waited to get started, I noticed the participant makeup was a little different this time. This is a small event, not a whole lot of people doing this series. Unfortunate, since the races are so well organized (except they ran out of safety pins for bib numbers - again). When I did the run back in July, there were a lot of high school runners and coaches as well as parents. This time, there weren't so many 15-18 year olds, but a lot of younger kids and families.
We would be running the same course as I did before, two laps around the soccer complex within the park, on trails of wood chips, dirt, gravel, pavement. It was pretty warm out but the course lies mostly in the trees which made things okay. Since I did this run before and already described the event in the blog post for Event 31, I think I'll see if Camera Crew has anything to add to this. Camera Crew!! Hey, Camera Crew! Yoohoo!
Uh, what, huh me?!? Hmmm, okay. Let's see... This would be a pretty neat park to live next to. A maze of bark chipped trails with mild elevation gain/loss. We crossed paths with plenty of locals out on their runs and walks. But did I mention the paths were bark chipped? Soft and good for the knees, I'm sure, but if I worked at Boise Cascade and took home as many bark chips as I had in my shoes, I'm sure I'd be charged with theft.
Good point. I suppose they could always just chop down the trees in the park and replace the wood chips on site. Er, that would be bad, actually.
We completed the run and I have to say that we just CRUSHED the little kids. Heh heh heh. Kidding - some of them beat us. But afterward we all had ICE CREAM CONES!!! It was fantastic. A good run and one more event down!
Sunday, September 1, 2013
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