ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

I accepted Roger McKay's challenge and I challenge Sean Chalmers, Dave Rosling, and William Swint.

With Apologies to Shel Silverstein

Sick

"I cannot go to work today,"
Said ultra runner Roger McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that?  What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I've got to run a 50K!"

Yes, it's time to kick off the 2014 Oregon Trail Series!

Time to Start Over...Long Live Life

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

 

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

 

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

Is this in my future???

Welcome to 2013

2012 was another memorable year of running and learning from mistakes. I feel like I really pushed my limits...and in some cases, found the breaking point. I'm looking forward to using those learnings in 2013.

Things I learned in 2012...
January - Beer miles can be won with strictly running ability.
February - Volunteering at Hagg Lake might be more fun than running there.
March - If you have a choice, run with the wind on your back.
April - You know you're in trouble when the first mile of a marathon seems long.
May - When running without a watch, you tend to lose track of time.
June - Birthdays and holidays can be good excuses to run.
July - Mohawks make you run faster.
August - IVs after a race make you feel better.
September - You can get from Williams to Ashland much faster by driving in a car (even on those lousy roads).
October - The cure for a bad race is to race even more.
November - The Silver Creek Falls Marathon is a must-run race.
December - The Willamette River is pretty cold in the winter.

Poll Question

Has it been longer since I've...

1) Blogged
2) Had a Haircut

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

How often in life do you get to combine two of your favorite things? For example, a running race and watching a baseball game. Not very often, so I have to give a superbad shoutout to the HOTV Runners for providing this opportunity to the local community. And for the second year in a row I took advantage and ran the Out to the Ballgame 5K Fun Run...this time without a jogging stroller. Turns out I can run faster without it.

Going into the race I was cautiously optimistic...I had been running a lot lately and my legs were feeling dead, but it was only a 5K and I've had good races on what I thought were tired legs before. At the starting line I could see my competition would be Gonzalo Martinez and Tyler Childers...they both went out together and I just situated myself right in behind them.

Somewhere before we hit the first mile, Tyler dropped back. Now Gonzalo was leading and I was right on his shoulder. We hit mile 1 a little under 5:30...right in my wheelhouse, I thought...I run 5:30 miles all the time! But shortly thereafter, I could feel Gonzalo pulling away ever so slightly. I knew I had to keep contact...I surged on a slight downhill and caught back up. We ran out to 30th and took a left, headed south. At Washington we made a U-turn and headed back north. In this stretch, I was running alongside Gonzalo and then pulled ahead slightly. We hit mile 2 again just under 5:30 and I was in the lead. We headed back up Jefferson toward the Memorial Union and went around the quad toward the library. I could feel and hear Gonzalo right behind me. I tried to surge on the downhill past the library and felt like I created a little bit of a gap, but knew I couldn't let up. The good news was my legs felt fine...my gut was a little upset, but I felt like he would have to run near 5:00 minute pace to beat me now. As we headed around the outside of the baseball field I started to think that I had it won, but once we got onto the warning track he put in one more surge. As we headed down the third base line toward the finish at home plate, I finally looked back and he was right there! I gave it everything I had left and just barely held him off...by less than half a second (16:49.88 vs. 16:50.33)!

That was fun...thanks for the race Gonzalo and thanks again to the HOTV Runners for organizing such a fun event. For winning, I got a baseball autographed by all the Corvallis Knights...that was cool, but maybe next year the winner could throw out the first pitch?