Thursday, November 23, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
The Marathon - Part 2
Part 2
Marathon Day quickly approached. In hindsight the toughest part for me (besides miles 23-25) was the taper. 3 weeks of s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. It was really tough mentally and I was antsy and nervous. Plus in the final week or so I was eating like a Sumo wrestler so I was nervous that I was gaining too much weight.
Alas race day approached. My family was here – bless you Toni, Phil and Lorraine – we had made all our plans….kind of. I read and re-read all the material I could on race day prep. We knew what we were going to wear, we knew what we were going to eat (Clif Shot Blocks) and we knew this was not the time to try anything new.
I went over my check list:
Taper for 3 weeks – check; eat like a ton of food – check; get nervous – get really, really nervous – check; wash and iron race out fit – check; crack jokes about possibly not finishing just to prep everyone for possible failure – check; pick up packet with chip and bib – check; lose 1 safety pin so bib will be improperly pinned – check; go to bed early – check; wake up every 15 minutes and obsess about missing 4th pin – check.
I did manage to get some sleep but up and at ‘em at 4:30 am. Take a shower, have a sip of tea, eat a Clif Shot Block. My last good luck hugs from Mom and Lorraine and off I go to convene at Janice’s.
Mary had graciously offered to take us down and she planned to start and finish with us. It was so important and wonderful to have her there. I can’t say enough about her support and graciousness down the stretch in the face of her own injury. Mary’s greatest gift to Janice and I were autographed greetings from Brandi Chastain. Mine says “Dreams do come true! Good Luck in the Marathon!” Now how could we not finish when we had Brandi on our side?
Back to race day – we pinned on our bibs – tied on our chips - Janice packed up 6 or so Clif Shot Blocks in a baggie and managed to get them in her shorts pocket. And down to the race start we went. We were smart to not get there too early – we slipped in with about 10 minutes to start and waited for the start gun.
To be honest, the beginning of the race is a blur. I remember bits and pieces of the course. The start is so crowded – it really is about not wearing yourself out by dodging and weaving around the masses. Janice feared I would start too fast but we seemed ok going through mile 5 when we left our fans for a spell.
The long out and back on Front Avenue (miles 6 – 11) went quickly and was made entertaining when we met and chatted with a runner from Illinois who was in town visiting his son. Go Boilermakers! Peter, Mary and the boys gave us a fuel stop at mile 10 - more Clif Shot Blocks – yum!
Miles 11- 13 through NW Portland were uneventful and then onto Highway 30. We had heard nightmares about this long straight stretch – the highway noise, the unendingness of it all, the boredom, where is the St. John’s bridge? But Janice and I had a plan – we were to each pick someone to talk about for each mile during the tough times. And all I can say is we both have very interesting and wonderful grandparents because between all of them – the next thing I knew we were on the St. John’s Bridge!
Halfway across we stopped to stretch and what a view… absolutely great. There are a lot of things I am grateful to Janice for - many, many things, and one of them was she insisted we take the time to stretch along the course and I shutter to think of miles 23- 26 if we had not done that.
Just off the bridge was mile 18 and although I still felt good I knew it was a long 8 miles to the end. This stretch along Willamette Blvd. was where a lot of our fans were going to be so my recollection of this time is scanning the crowd for our wonderful supporters, among them Sr. Lynda; Brian & Terri; Maureen and Caroline; Colleen, John, Kate and Molly; Phil, Lorraine and Toni bearing signs – and of course Peter, Mary, Christian and Michael. All of Janice’s crew ran with us at some point along the bluff and that was a wonderful gift. Michael’s humor kept us light, Christian told Janice a family story she had never heard before, Peter kept us focused and offered wonderful words of encouragement.
Peter was there when I hit the wall. It was around mile 22 ½ and as we started down the long hill on Greeley. You would think going downhill would be helpful but I was so tired I actually asked Janice if we could stop and stretch half way down. But we made it down to the next water stop where Peter left off and Mary joined in for the final 2 miles. I was really low at this point – I just wanted it to end but I didn’t want to stop – but I really didn’t want to go either.
Right then – at the base of the Steel Bridge – we saw Colleen, John, Molly and Kate. Their timing could not have been more perfect. It was so great to see them – especially Kate – it gave me renewed energy. At this point I could convince myself to just get over the bridge. And before you know it we were over the bridge and we had just a mile to go. I should add that Janice was chipper and seemed completely fresh this whole time. Of course I wanted to throttle her!
Once we were on Front I knew we would finish and although I was very tired I wanted to enjoy this last mile and I did. You know I felt like my legs were barely moving (and our time splits confirm that they were in fact – barely moving!) – but that mile went by pretty darn fast and then we hit the turn – Janice called out – “hey there is your family” – sure enough Mom, Phil and Lorraine (again with signs) were yelling and screaming.
And then the fat lady sang, we turned the corner, we raised our arms and we crossed the finish line of our first marathon!
Marathon Day quickly approached. In hindsight the toughest part for me (besides miles 23-25) was the taper. 3 weeks of s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. It was really tough mentally and I was antsy and nervous. Plus in the final week or so I was eating like a Sumo wrestler so I was nervous that I was gaining too much weight.
Alas race day approached. My family was here – bless you Toni, Phil and Lorraine – we had made all our plans….kind of. I read and re-read all the material I could on race day prep. We knew what we were going to wear, we knew what we were going to eat (Clif Shot Blocks) and we knew this was not the time to try anything new.
I went over my check list:
Taper for 3 weeks – check; eat like a ton of food – check; get nervous – get really, really nervous – check; wash and iron race out fit – check; crack jokes about possibly not finishing just to prep everyone for possible failure – check; pick up packet with chip and bib – check; lose 1 safety pin so bib will be improperly pinned – check; go to bed early – check; wake up every 15 minutes and obsess about missing 4th pin – check.
I did manage to get some sleep but up and at ‘em at 4:30 am. Take a shower, have a sip of tea, eat a Clif Shot Block. My last good luck hugs from Mom and Lorraine and off I go to convene at Janice’s.
Mary had graciously offered to take us down and she planned to start and finish with us. It was so important and wonderful to have her there. I can’t say enough about her support and graciousness down the stretch in the face of her own injury. Mary’s greatest gift to Janice and I were autographed greetings from Brandi Chastain. Mine says “Dreams do come true! Good Luck in the Marathon!” Now how could we not finish when we had Brandi on our side?
Back to race day – we pinned on our bibs – tied on our chips - Janice packed up 6 or so Clif Shot Blocks in a baggie and managed to get them in her shorts pocket. And down to the race start we went. We were smart to not get there too early – we slipped in with about 10 minutes to start and waited for the start gun.
To be honest, the beginning of the race is a blur. I remember bits and pieces of the course. The start is so crowded – it really is about not wearing yourself out by dodging and weaving around the masses. Janice feared I would start too fast but we seemed ok going through mile 5 when we left our fans for a spell.
The long out and back on Front Avenue (miles 6 – 11) went quickly and was made entertaining when we met and chatted with a runner from Illinois who was in town visiting his son. Go Boilermakers! Peter, Mary and the boys gave us a fuel stop at mile 10 - more Clif Shot Blocks – yum!
Miles 11- 13 through NW Portland were uneventful and then onto Highway 30. We had heard nightmares about this long straight stretch – the highway noise, the unendingness of it all, the boredom, where is the St. John’s bridge? But Janice and I had a plan – we were to each pick someone to talk about for each mile during the tough times. And all I can say is we both have very interesting and wonderful grandparents because between all of them – the next thing I knew we were on the St. John’s Bridge!
Halfway across we stopped to stretch and what a view… absolutely great. There are a lot of things I am grateful to Janice for - many, many things, and one of them was she insisted we take the time to stretch along the course and I shutter to think of miles 23- 26 if we had not done that.
Just off the bridge was mile 18 and although I still felt good I knew it was a long 8 miles to the end. This stretch along Willamette Blvd. was where a lot of our fans were going to be so my recollection of this time is scanning the crowd for our wonderful supporters, among them Sr. Lynda; Brian & Terri; Maureen and Caroline; Colleen, John, Kate and Molly; Phil, Lorraine and Toni bearing signs – and of course Peter, Mary, Christian and Michael. All of Janice’s crew ran with us at some point along the bluff and that was a wonderful gift. Michael’s humor kept us light, Christian told Janice a family story she had never heard before, Peter kept us focused and offered wonderful words of encouragement.
Peter was there when I hit the wall. It was around mile 22 ½ and as we started down the long hill on Greeley. You would think going downhill would be helpful but I was so tired I actually asked Janice if we could stop and stretch half way down. But we made it down to the next water stop where Peter left off and Mary joined in for the final 2 miles. I was really low at this point – I just wanted it to end but I didn’t want to stop – but I really didn’t want to go either.
Right then – at the base of the Steel Bridge – we saw Colleen, John, Molly and Kate. Their timing could not have been more perfect. It was so great to see them – especially Kate – it gave me renewed energy. At this point I could convince myself to just get over the bridge. And before you know it we were over the bridge and we had just a mile to go. I should add that Janice was chipper and seemed completely fresh this whole time. Of course I wanted to throttle her!
Once we were on Front I knew we would finish and although I was very tired I wanted to enjoy this last mile and I did. You know I felt like my legs were barely moving (and our time splits confirm that they were in fact – barely moving!) – but that mile went by pretty darn fast and then we hit the turn – Janice called out – “hey there is your family” – sure enough Mom, Phil and Lorraine (again with signs) were yelling and screaming.
And then the fat lady sang, we turned the corner, we raised our arms and we crossed the finish line of our first marathon!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
The Saturday Run
Went for a 9 miler this morning with Janice. It was a drop dead gorgeous day and we ran the loop in downtown Portland (featured in Runners World as the Rave Run of the month with none other than Lance Armstrong as our guest runner). This loop takes you south of the city on a bike path that runs through a wetlands area so depending on the time of year you can see some really great stuff. An osprey couple return every year to nest right next to the path and it is wonderful to hear the baby Osprey cry for food in the spring. Really a unique and cool sound.
One day I was biking home from work on this same path and saw a bunch of folks with spotting scopes. Thanks to my mom I know this means one thing – rare bird sighting! So I stopped and asked what everyone was looking at. It was a shore bird that had gotten of course and had landed itself to eat and rest at Oaks Bottom. The birders were kind enough to let me have a look through the scope and he was a beauty of a bird.
Back to this morning’s run – there is still some color here and the trees along the shores of the Willamette were especially bright. I’m thinking they are alders but I would need a naturalists help with that identification. We had both had a busy week and had not run for most of the week so we went slow and it ended up being an enjoyable run.
The other lovely sighting this morning was the occasional crew team – cutting the glass-like waters of the Willamette with their sculls. No sound other than the creak of the oars, the slap of the water and the occasional shout from the captain of the boat. Lovely.
We continue to monitor the progress of the tram which for non-Portlanders is this very controversial idea to tram workers, doctors and patients (?) from the waterfront area (itself being developed) up to our research hospital at the crest of the west hills here.
The tram has been controversial, expensive and frankly an eye sore and most doubt it will be a success. Stay tuned to see how this turns out. Most OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) employees I talk to won’t ride it either out of inconvenience or simple fear of dangling hundreds of feet in the air (put me in that group). I’ll try and get a picture so you can get the idea.
So south on the east side and back north on the west side – we ran through another little development on the waterfront – a pleasant area where on a nice morning lots of people are wandering around sipping coffee, going for a row or just a nice stroll on a nice morning.
One woman yelled out at us “You have more motivation than I do!” at which I yelled back “Oh we are stopping for a latte any moment now!” Which was mostly true since we were about a mile from the finish.
A great morning, a great friend and the two of us on a great run.
One day I was biking home from work on this same path and saw a bunch of folks with spotting scopes. Thanks to my mom I know this means one thing – rare bird sighting! So I stopped and asked what everyone was looking at. It was a shore bird that had gotten of course and had landed itself to eat and rest at Oaks Bottom. The birders were kind enough to let me have a look through the scope and he was a beauty of a bird.
Back to this morning’s run – there is still some color here and the trees along the shores of the Willamette were especially bright. I’m thinking they are alders but I would need a naturalists help with that identification. We had both had a busy week and had not run for most of the week so we went slow and it ended up being an enjoyable run.
The other lovely sighting this morning was the occasional crew team – cutting the glass-like waters of the Willamette with their sculls. No sound other than the creak of the oars, the slap of the water and the occasional shout from the captain of the boat. Lovely.
We continue to monitor the progress of the tram which for non-Portlanders is this very controversial idea to tram workers, doctors and patients (?) from the waterfront area (itself being developed) up to our research hospital at the crest of the west hills here.
The tram has been controversial, expensive and frankly an eye sore and most doubt it will be a success. Stay tuned to see how this turns out. Most OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) employees I talk to won’t ride it either out of inconvenience or simple fear of dangling hundreds of feet in the air (put me in that group). I’ll try and get a picture so you can get the idea.
So south on the east side and back north on the west side – we ran through another little development on the waterfront – a pleasant area where on a nice morning lots of people are wandering around sipping coffee, going for a row or just a nice stroll on a nice morning.
One woman yelled out at us “You have more motivation than I do!” at which I yelled back “Oh we are stopping for a latte any moment now!” Which was mostly true since we were about a mile from the finish.
A great morning, a great friend and the two of us on a great run.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Game Report - Thistles vs. Gresham United
Game report – Thistles 6 Gresham United 1. Ok on the face of it this doesn’t sound like the most exciting of games. And as our four or five fans can attest – it probably was not. But Gresham United turned out not to be the feared Ona and Kimi diumvirate – but a team of some of the matriarchs of NUWS league and amateur women’s soccer in Portland.
Ginger was playing – along with Mary Ellen – Elsie (Tiffany’s mom) and a few other gems whose names I have forgotten. And yes we beat them handily and the game was not our most challenging. But I do consider it an honor to take the field with these ladies. I am not well versed in the history of the NUWS league – Andrea could provide a lot more knowledge there – but it remains that these players have contributed so much to what is our league today and have kept it strong by playing for many years.
I believe the Thistles have also contributed a lot to the league – our longevity, our consistency, and our competitiveness in the upper echelon of the league. And when we are still playing 10 – 15 – even 20 years from now (hey if Ginger can do it – why can’t we?) – hopefully the Thistle Juniors will be as honored to play us.
Many thanks to Michele and Susan for offering to play with Gresham United and allowing us to have a competitive match. It often took 2 or 3 Thistles to slow Michele down – she was a tiger out there. Michele was all fired up after a rough playoff loss on Saturday as Wilson fell victim to some bad refereeing down in Spragueville. Sorry Michele.
Other news in Thistle related High School sports – Alex Annand was named first team all PIL! As a junior! What great news – congrats to Laurie, John and of course Alex! It probably all stems from that Luca Juniors game we played along the Canal du Midi back in ’98!
He has a playoff game tomorrow (Nov. 7 – vote and then watch!) at 4:15 at Cleveland HS. Catch the All-Star in action!
Vote Yes on Bond Measure 26-80!
Here is a fun link that maps all the states you have been to or all the countries you have visited. It’s kind of fun. Hey Andrea – play this game with Jerry! Hah!
http://www.world66.com/myworld66
Ginger was playing – along with Mary Ellen – Elsie (Tiffany’s mom) and a few other gems whose names I have forgotten. And yes we beat them handily and the game was not our most challenging. But I do consider it an honor to take the field with these ladies. I am not well versed in the history of the NUWS league – Andrea could provide a lot more knowledge there – but it remains that these players have contributed so much to what is our league today and have kept it strong by playing for many years.
I believe the Thistles have also contributed a lot to the league – our longevity, our consistency, and our competitiveness in the upper echelon of the league. And when we are still playing 10 – 15 – even 20 years from now (hey if Ginger can do it – why can’t we?) – hopefully the Thistle Juniors will be as honored to play us.
Many thanks to Michele and Susan for offering to play with Gresham United and allowing us to have a competitive match. It often took 2 or 3 Thistles to slow Michele down – she was a tiger out there. Michele was all fired up after a rough playoff loss on Saturday as Wilson fell victim to some bad refereeing down in Spragueville. Sorry Michele.
Other news in Thistle related High School sports – Alex Annand was named first team all PIL! As a junior! What great news – congrats to Laurie, John and of course Alex! It probably all stems from that Luca Juniors game we played along the Canal du Midi back in ’98!
He has a playoff game tomorrow (Nov. 7 – vote and then watch!) at 4:15 at Cleveland HS. Catch the All-Star in action!
Vote Yes on Bond Measure 26-80!
Here is a fun link that maps all the states you have been to or all the countries you have visited. It’s kind of fun. Hey Andrea – play this game with Jerry! Hah!
http://www.world66.com/myworld66
Saturday, November 04, 2006
The Marathon - Part 1
Recently, my good friend and fellow Thistle, Janice and I just completed our first marathon.
The little seed of an idea of actually running a marathon planted itself in my brain when I read a really nice profile of Janice in the Portland Business Journal in the Fall of 2005 (way to go Janice – she is such a stud!). Under the “Goals” part of the profile Janice said something to the effect of “my professional goals are always changing as I think it is important to always be improving” (she of course put it much more eloquently than I have). “Oh and I sure would like to do a marathon someday.”
WHAT!?!!! A MARATHON?!!! Actually I already knew this because at one time, when I lived closer to Janice, we often ran together and I will admit she had mentioned the marathon thing one or two times before. But I had always resisted, absolutely sure in my mind that I would never want to do such a crazy thing.
But there I was many years later – more mature and maybe a little wiser or maybe not that wise at all - and that marathon idea brewed.
Brew, brew, brew it did - it brewed while I went on holiday with my mom to Ireland – it brewed when I returned and started a new job – and it especially brewed when that new job entailed seeing Janice every day. Every day I was reminded that the idea, the thought, was just……out…….there.
And then one fateful day I did it – the words just slipped out of my mouth…..
“So Janice are you serious about this marathon thing – cause I think we should do it.”
And not one week later we were registered for the 2006 Portland Marathon.
The training was awesome. I should add we were quickly joined in the marathon quest by Janice’s running partner Mary. (When I say quickly – I don’t think Janice had finished this sentence, “Say Mary have you ever thought about doing a …” and Mary had already registered!)
We did our own thing on the weekdays and then one long run together on Saturday morning. We started January 21 with a slow 7 miler. The idea was to add a mile to the long run every other week until we got up to 20 miles. We would do a 20 once maybe twice and then we hoped, we prayed, that we would be ready for 26.2 long agonizing miles.
Mary and I absolutely embraced it all – we bought books, we read magazines, we consulted web sites, we talked to other runners – we got intense all over this stuff. I won’t say Janice didn’t do a little of this – but I am not sure she embraced the anxiety of this marathon thing as fully as Mary and I did.
But the once a week long run ritual was really incredible. Between the three of us we always had something to talk about. Kids, work, life, vacations, anxiety, books, friends, old friends, new friends, family trouble and family good times….it was a great joy to find out more about these two incredible people. And along the way whether we ran along the waterfront or up in the woods, we watched the seasons slowly change. From freezing waterfalls to the first day that we saw the blooming trilliums. From the starkness of bare leafless trees to the sounds of the young Osprey calling for food.
Sadly in August, Mary developed a nagging pain in her knee after a tough Leif Erickson run. After rest, therapy and many attempts to get back on the road, it became apparent that Mary would not be able to do the marathon in the fall. A sad day for the three marathon amigas.
Janice and I carried forth and as the runs got longer the stories got better. It is hard for me to describe the camaraderie that developed during this training time. These were long runs – at least for me – at distances I had never gone before. Your body is – for lack of better words – freaked out!! But what was great – was that whenever one of us hit a particularly tough moment, there was someone there to tell a story, pass along a little encouragement, offer some water or even tell a joke – and when there was silence – it was an acknowledgement that we were both very tired, weak and sore and unsure if we could get to the run’s end. But it was also an acknowledgement that we were in this together. And when we did finish (and we always did) we could gleefully say “hey that is the longest we have ever run.” I can’t say it enough – this was a really great time for me.
Our worst day though was a 21 miler – which ended up being our longest training run. We had both not eaten well the night before and when we finished we hit the wall – well maybe not the wall – but a wall. It was painful and uncomfortable and in a way that sports had never been like for me before.
To be continued....
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Arsenal - Goal Frustration
I took this picture in Kew, England (that's my mum) the day after England lost to Northern Ireland in a friendly in the Fall of 2005. I feel like I'm getting as loony as these English fans - I'm watching Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League - thankfully ESPN is showing these games - if anyone wants a copy let me know - and the lads have had 16 yes 16 shots on goal and it is halftime and they have yet to score. What rubbish. They are playing CSK Moscow.
Arsenal in my mind is the most beautiful team to watch but they can also be maddening especially if you are a Gunner fan - as they just don't shoot enough - they always try to make one more pass right in front of goal. Although with 16 shots on goal at half I'd have to say at this stage they have been plain unlucky. Fabregas had an open goal and hit the side netting. C'mon lads put one in the net.
Chelsea tied Barcelona yesterday in Barcelona so that ensures Chelsea will go through and it looks like Barcelona may be in danger of not advancing past the first round. What a shocker for the returning champs. I wish ESPN had shown that one - from the replays it looks like quite a game.
Henry just missed an open goal and there is Lehman swearing in German - Scheisse!!
Directions to Kirk Park
This is from the NUWS League website which I now have linked to the right.
My one and only mission for this game - that Kimi, Sippy, Kiki Dee - whatever her name is - does not score!
"From I-84 East, take exit 13, which is the Gresham/Fairview 181st Street Exit. Take a right onto 181st. Go approximately .7 miles to Pacific Court. Take a left onto Pacific Court. This will be after Halsey Street but before Glisan Street. Go to the end of Pacific Court at stop sign take a left. Go to stop sign take a right. Field is on your right. There are no signs for the park, but you can't miss it. The park is on 185th."
My one and only mission for this game - that Kimi, Sippy, Kiki Dee - whatever her name is - does not score!
"From I-84 East, take exit 13, which is the Gresham/Fairview 181st Street Exit. Take a right onto 181st. Go approximately .7 miles to Pacific Court. Take a left onto Pacific Court. This will be after Halsey Street but before Glisan Street. Go to the end of Pacific Court at stop sign take a left. Go to stop sign take a right. Field is on your right. There are no signs for the park, but you can't miss it. The park is on 185th."
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