More of the Same

Clinton said Monday that if elected, ``I will not be penciling in the leaders of Iran or NorthKorea or Venezuela or Cuba on the presidential calendar without preconditions, until we have assessed through lower-level diplomacy the motivations and intentions of these dictators.
''Raul Castro, for example,'' she said, ``has a stark choice. He can continue to stifle human rights and economic freedom in Cuba or he can chart a new course toward democratic reform.''

My guess is, offering Castro II that choice will result in him continuing to stifle human rights and economic freedom. Which gets us—and, more importantly, the Cuban people—nowhere.

Hagg Lake 50K: The Report
Last fall I ran a 50-mile race, and that’s an ultra. But yesterday’s 50K at Hagg Lake, though shorter by 19 miles, felt more like the real thing. The difference: We ran on narrow dirt trails, not asphalt, and trails are the soul of ultra running.

Henry Hagg Lake is in Washington County, maybe 25 miles as the crows flies southwest of downtown Portland. The lake was formed by the damming of Scoggins Creek, a Bureau of Reclamation project completed in 1978. Traditionally, the Hagg Lake Ultra, which circumnavigates the lake twice, is a mudfest – last year the muck was legendary, as it rained leading up to and on the event. This year, we couldn’t have asked for better conditions. It was dry all week, pretty much, and while race day dawned around freezing, with patchy fog, by 9 a.m. skies were blue, sunshine was bright and temperatures were heading to 50 and beyond.



Originally, I had signed up for the concurrent 25K, thinking 50K would be too much with Boston less than two months away. But hanging around ultra people has changed (warped?) my perspective on how far and often I can run. Yeah, it took me six weeks to recover from the Autumn Leaves 50-miler, but I wasn’t prepared for that run. With a lot more miles under my belt now, I began to believe that going 31 not only wouldn’t hurt me, but would help build muscle endurance.

So there I was at the line at 8 a.m. I guess there were about 150 of us, including four or five guys in skirts, a tradition for the race. By the way, it seems that skirts are becoming the norm for ultra women, a trend to which I’ll raise no objections.

Looking back now, what strikes me most about the race is how quickly it seemed to go by. When I first started running long races – marathons – the greatest challenge was psychological. I would constantly be assessing and coming to terms with the distance that remained. That thinking never entered my mind at Hagg Lake. I just ran, and enjoyed the running, the entire time. I have three theories on why, and I’ll work my way up from least important to most important:

1. As with my thinking on training and racing volume, Autumn Leaves recalibrated my view as to what is a long race. Having run for nearly 10 hours, a race not much more than half that time doesn’t seem nearly so daunting.

2. I ran with music (see previous post), which was a revelation. My playlist wasn’t perfect – I threw it together the night before while fretting that I should already have been in bed sleeping – but it was more than good enough and I loved being able to leave the running and sink into the music.

3. It was a trail run. Though veterans agreed it was the driest Hagg ever, there were still some stretches with slick inclines and mud puddles to negotiate – and always there were twists and turns, short inclines and declines, ruts, rocks, tree limbs and branches to occupy the mind. There was no space for consideration of how far I’d gone and how much I had to do. My focus to an overwhelming degree was on the several yards in front of me. Should I step there or there; should I walk this pitch or jog it; woops, watch that switchback on the downhill!

I ran a pretty steady race. I went out thinking I’d try to hit a pace between 10 and 11 minutes per mile and maintain it throughout, if I could. But early on that pace settled right at 10, and there I stayed for the first two-thirds of the race. Over the final 10 miles, fatigue began to hold me back – not on climbs or flats, but on descents. My muscles and joints were tired and I lost my confidence that I could plunge down hill without risking a bad fall. So the pace slipped a bit, but not too much. My official time was 5:13:33, a 10:07 pace for the 31 miles. That put me 48th out of 123 finishers, 43rd out of 95 men.

All in, it was a great day. Running in shorts and just two layers of light technical shirts in February can’t be beat. The terrain was beautiful: we went through forests and meadows and almost always had the lake, surrounded by hills, in view. Fellow runners were totally cool; they stopped to let me by and gently alerted me that they were coming up, and they chatted amiably and delivered encouragement, but never in a cloying way. The aid stations were well-stocked with sweet things, salty things and various forms of liquid refreshment. The vibe was all good. As always, profound and heartfelt thanks to the volunteers and organizers!

Hagg Lake 50K: The Soundtrack
Five hours, 13 minutes and 33 seconds of tunes.

Thank You for Sending Me an Angel (Live) – Talking Heads
Here Comes the Sun – Peter Tosh
American Baby – Dave Matthews Band
American Idiot – Green Day
Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
Rain King – Counting Crows
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
And She Was – Talking Heads
Human Behaviour – Bjork
Crash Into Me – Dave Matthews Band
O Velancia! – The Decembrists
Here Comes My Girl – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Even the Losers – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Century City - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Bird on a Wire – Rogue Wave
Publish My Love – Rogue Wave
Block Rockin’ Beats – The Chemical Brothers
Basket Case – Green Day
Rosalita – Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Streets of Philadelphia– Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
It’s the Sun (Live) – Polyphonic Spree
Rip This Joint – Rolling Stones
Happy – Rolling Stones
Wake Up – Arcade Fire
Sugar Sugar – Bob Marley and the Wailers
California Uber Alles – Dead Kennedys
Is It Too Late – World Party
Way Down Now – World Party
When the Rainbow Comes – World Party
Put the Message in a Bottle – World Party
Take It Up – World Party
Show Me to the Top – World Party
Graceland – Paul Simon
American Girls – Counting Crows
Autumn Sweater – Yo La Tengo
What’s the Matter Here? – 10,000 Maniacs
Mr. Tambourine Man – Gregory Isaacs
Best of You – Foo Fighters
Fool in the Rain – Led Zeppelin
One Tree Hill – U2
All I Want Is You – Barry Louis Polisar
Dearest – Buddy Holly
Piazza, New York Catcher – Belle & Sebastian
Superstar – Sonic Youth
I’m Sticking with You – Velvet Underground
Cold Comfort – Michelle Shocked
Misty Mountain Hop – Led Zeppelin
Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Instant Karma – John Lennon
Nobody Told Me – John Lennon
You Get What You Give – New Radicals
Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
Come Running – Van Morrison
These Dreams of You – Van Morrison
The Good Thing – Talking Heads
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin
Red Shoes – Elvis Costello
Watching the Detectives – Elvis Costello
Flowers – Talking Heads
Black Mirror – Arcade Fire
Keep the Car Running – Arcade Fire
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
I Will Follow You into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie
Love Rescue Me – U2
Daylight Fading – Counting Crows
Recovering the Satellites – Counting Crows
The Obvious Child – Paul Simon
Can’t Run But – Paul Simon
No Such Thing – John Mayer
The Scientist – Cold Play

Consider
Sandy Koufax went 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA and 317 strikeouts in 1966. It was his final season.

Yes We Can (Win the Coin Flip)
A Washington caucus breaks a tie.

Saturday Run
The legs were a little sore after Thursday’s 12.5 miles of up-and-down in the Berkeley Hills, but the siren call of temperatures edging past 50—actually, we gave 60 a run for its money—could not be resisted. It was the usual shenanigans: through the east side neighborhoods (Center, Mt. Tabor, Laurelhurst, Hawthorne and Buckman) to the river, then three loops along the waterfront, crossing the Steel Bridge westbound and the Hawthorne eastbound. Gazillions of walkers, cyclists, joggers and dogs were out, crowding the esplanade, but everyone got along so far as I could see. Clearly, the weather had the populace in a friendly mood. Not that it was gloriously sunny, though the sun did shine now and again. Mostly, it was a day to be cherished for what it wasn’t: gray, drippy and chilly. The run: 2 hours, 24 minutes; 16.3 miles (just under 9 minute/mile pace).

Hey, Google, Notice This
One of the wineries I work with, Rochioli, has a website. Maybe a few links to it will get it onto the front page in a Rochioli search?

Ice and Snow in the Forecast for Portland
Get ready for some of this:

What's What, Falling Moisturewise
Is it "light rain" or "heavy drizzle"? Is there a difference? And what about sleet vs. snow pellets? Weather guys and gals throw around a lot of terms, and I realized today I haven't always been too clear on the distinctions. So I did a little search for a good glossary of precipitation. USA Today comes through:

Rain: Falling drops of water larger than 0.02 inch in diameter. In forecasts, "rain" usually implies that the rain will fall steadily over a period of time. (See "showers" below).
Light rain: Falls at the rate of 0.10 inch or less an hour.
Moderate rain: Falls at the rate of 0.11 to 0.30 inch an hour.
Heavy rain: Falls at the rate of 0.30 inch an hour or more.
Drizzle: Falling drops of water smaller than 0.02 inch in diameter. They appear to float in air currents, but unlike fog, do fall to the ground.
Light drizzle: Drizzle with visibility of more than 5/8 of a mile.
Moderate drizzle: Drizzle with visibility from 5/16 to 5/8 of a mile.
Heavy drizzle: Drizzle with visibility of less than 5/16 of a mile.
Showers: Rain that falls intermittently over a small area. The rain from an individual shower can be heavy or light, but doesn't cover a large area or last more than an hour or so.
Snow: Falling ice composed of crystals in complex hexagonal forms. Snow forms mainly when water vapor turns directly to ice without going through the liquid stage, a process called deposition.
Snowflakes: Aggregations of snow crystals.
Snow flurries: Light showers of snow that do not cover large areas and do not fall steadily for long periods of time.
Snow grains: Very small snow crystals. The ice equivalent of drizzle.
Snow pellets: White, opaque ice particles that form as ice crystals fall through cloud droplets that are below freezing but still liquid (supercooled). The cloud droplets freeze to the crystals forming a lumpy mass. Scientists call snow pellets "graupel." Such pellets falling from thunderstorms are often called "soft hail."
Sleet: Drops of rain or drizzle that freeze into ice as they fall. They are usually smaller than 0.30 inch in diameter. Official weather observations list sleet as "ice pellets." In some parts of the country "sleet" refers to a mixture of ice pellets and freezing rain.
Freezing rain or drizzle: Falling rain or drizzle that cools below 32°F, but does not turn to ice in the air. The water is "supercooled." When the drops hit anything they instantly turn into ice.
Ice storm: A storm with large amounts of freezing rain that coats trees, power lines and roadways with ice. Often the ice is heavy enough to pull down trees and power lines.
Hail: Falling ice in roughly round shapes at least 0.20 inch in diameter. Hail comes from thunderstorms and is larger than sleet. Hailstones form when upward moving air -- updrafts -- in a thunderstorm keep pieces of graupel from falling. Drops of supercooled water hit and freeze to the graupel, causing it to grow. When the balls of ice become too heavy for the updrafts to continue supporting them, they fall as hailstones. Sleet, in contrast, consists of raindrops that freeze on the way down.
Thunderstorm: A rain or snow shower in which there is lightning. Thunder is always caused by lightning. In general, the upward and downward winds, updrafts and downdrafts, in thunderstorms are more violent than those in ordinary showers.
Thundersnow: A thunderstorm with snow instead of rain falling on the ground.
Severe thunderstorm: A thunderstorm with winds of 57 mph or faster or hail more than 3/4 inch in diameter reaching the ground. Severe thunderstorms can also produce tornadoes.

Presidential Trivia
Courtesy Wikipedia: "Upon Harding's death, poet E. E. Cummings said 'The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.'"