Race Report: Cascade Half Marathon
I’d raced 13.1 miles many times — but all in half-iron distance triathlons, never a standalone half marathon. So a couple of days ago when I saw the Cascade Half Marathon upcoming, it caught my eye.
The race is held near the town of Turner, five or six miles southeast of Salem. That’s an easy freeway hour from my house. And God bless the organizers, the race was set for the sane hour of 9:30 a.m., so I wouldn’t have to get up real early. And the clincher? A forecast calling for dry, cool and calm weather — perfect for running.
Of course, having come up so suddenly, there was no specific preparation or taper for this race. And that’s as it should be. It’s January and January is all about building the base—not going for PRs—for Ironman CDA. To that end, I’d been cranky out lots of 8-12 mile runs the past month, and riding the bike trainer four or five times a week for an hour or two a spell.
Up at 6:30, out the door by 7:15, into the gloom. This is what happens here when the rains stop in the winter: big-time fog. I was struggling and worried the first few miles of the drive, but then things got just enough better to make driving only slightly challenging, vs. frightfully difficult.
Race HQ was at Cascade High School, on the flat farmlands of the eastern Willamette Valley. When I arrived, it looked like the sun was popping out, but by race time the fog was back. I started with a long-sleeve technical shirt (Napa Valley Marathon 2007), a windbreaker zip vest and gloves, but ditched the windbreaker after about half a mile. It was chilly, maybe high-30s, but completely and utterly calm — couldn't beat it.
How hard to run, though, that was the question. I didn’t want to kill myself in this race. I knew I could run a lot faster than my triathlon halves — best of which was a 1:50:07 at Vineman in 2003 — but didn’t want to redline it to the point that I’d be trashed for a week or so. Heck, I need to do two or three 10-milers and a 15 this week.
So I went out at about 7:15 pace, tucked behind a group of guys, one of whom, it became apparent, is a high school track coach, and another who coaches at a college. Their conversation about the upcoming season and who might have scholarship potential kept my mind occupied for nearly the first two miles. Then I slowly cruised past them, feeling pretty good about that 7:15 pace, which, over the course of the 13.1, would bring me home in an hour 35.
With the fog, there wasn’t much to see on the run. We were cruising on mostly straight, flat country roads, headed out and back. At around five miles I hooked up with a lanky dude who didn’t seem offended when I said it wasn’t fair that I had to take two strides for every one of his. My pace had fallen off a bit on miles 3 and 4, so it was good to have someone to help keep me moving along pretty steadily, and he did, and we chatted from time to time.
There was a clock at the halfway turnaround and if I remember correctly it was just ticking past 48 minutes when I rounded the pylon. I was a little disappointed at the time, and also didn’t like the way the slow down, sharp turn, and speed up of the turnaround got me out of a rhythm. (Pretty whiney, eh?)
The next couple of miles were uneventful, but I got back into my rhythm and felt pretty comfortable. Then around the 8-mile mark I noticed how great I felt. I didn’t feel like I was working that hard. So I picked it up a little bit. James, the guy who’d been with me, stayed for a while, then fell off. For about three or four miles I felt amazingly strong. It occurred to me that I might be able to make up the time I had lost to my 7:15 goal pace — without killing myself. Clearly, I’m fitter than I have been, certainly fitter than I have been at this point in a season. Plus, I think the conditions helped a lot. The calm and cool was great, but the fog also made it easy to tune things out and run with great focus. I don’t know Zen meditation, but when I sink deep into a run, the world falls away. The running is everything, but at the same time it’s not even there. It’s weird.
Anyway, that didn’t last. Things started to ache — left calf a bit, left hip. The last mile and a half or so was work. I kept pushing, but stayed under control. I wanted to bust 1:35, and when I passed the 13-mile marker, I knew I would. On my Garmin, I ran 1:34:51. Officially, it was 1:34:52.5, good for 62nd out of 397 runners, and 8th among the 35 45-49 men. Especially gratifying was that I pulled off a negative split for perhaps the first time in a long race, coming in under 47 minutes on the second half.
The Garmin was a hundredth or two ahead pretty much each mile, but it had great receptivity the whole way and without many sharp turns, it’s figures are trustworthy. I figure the discrepancy is a result of my not running the shortest route (crossing from one side of the street to another to avoid an approaching car, etc.).
1 7:13
2 7:11
3 7:20
4 7:29
5 7:21
6 7:15
7 7:11
8 7:18
9 7:01
10 6:56
11 7:01
12 7:08
13 6:55
Last .1 1:15 (.23 miles on the Garmin; 6:13/mile pace)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
There's Got To Be an Easier Way
From the Southeast Examiner, here in Portland:
She said that as a counselor at the Rosehaven Women's Shelter she once tried without success to find overnight shelter for a 60 year old woman. Failing, she spent hours helping the woman relocate the bridge she was sleeping under.
From the Southeast Examiner, here in Portland:
She said that as a counselor at the Rosehaven Women's Shelter she once tried without success to find overnight shelter for a 60 year old woman. Failing, she spent hours helping the woman relocate the bridge she was sleeping under.
Big Apple Daily Still Hearts Us
Along with the Yankees, City Government, the Banking Industry, the Presidential Primaries and maybe a couple of other things, I do believe The New York Times now has a beat called Portland (Ore.) Cycling Issues.
Along with the Yankees, City Government, the Banking Industry, the Presidential Primaries and maybe a couple of other things, I do believe The New York Times now has a beat called Portland (Ore.) Cycling Issues.
Friday, January 11, 2008
His Record? Here's His Record (Now Let's See Yours, Hillary)
Hillary Clinton, in her campaign's continuing effort to mischaracterize Barack Obama's record, is quoted as saying this week: "[Barack Obama] was a part-time state senator for a few years, and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president. And that's his prerogative. That's his right. But I think it is important to compare and contrast our records."
Hillary Clinton, in her campaign's continuing effort to mischaracterize Barack Obama's record, is quoted as saying this week: "[Barack Obama] was a part-time state senator for a few years, and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president. And that's his prerogative. That's his right. But I think it is important to compare and contrast our records."
Monday, January 07, 2008
A Bad Turn
I've not commented on the Democratic race because I've been feeling pretty good about most of the candidates. Each of the major contenders struck me as a vast improvement over the incumbent. True, I was rooting for Barack Obama, but I wasn't speaking ill of anyone. But now, now that her candidacy is at risk, we're seeing how desperately Hillary Clinton wants the presidency and the lengths she is willing to go to in order to get it.
First there was the New Hampshire mailer alleging Obama was soft on choice, based on his "present" votes (instead of no) on Illinois legislation while in the Illinois Senate. In fact, Planned Parenthood had endorsed the "present" vote -- which amounts to a "no" in Illinois -- as a tactic to protect vulnerable Democrats. People in Illinois familiar with the situation were stunned at the audacity of the Clinton campaign in trying to twist the truth on Obama's abortion record.
Then comes the Social Security mailer. Man, if Obama gets the nomination, the GOP will use this one in their slime campaign against Obama. Obama has suggested that while keeping the Social Security tax cap at its current $102,000, we may have to tax income OVER $200,000 or $250,000 in order to maintain the current benefit structure. Income between $102,000 and the new, higher limit would not be taxed. So IF you make over $200,000 (or $250,000 or whatever the number ends up being), your Social Security taxes might rise. Based on this, what does the Clinton campaign say to New Hampshire voters? "Barack Obama. A plan with a trillion dollar tax increase on America's hard-working families." Yeah, those hard-working families who pull in a quarter-million a year. Meanwhile, Clinton suggests no plan at all for shoring up Social Security. Her position, according to the mailer, is to "address Social Security without putting burdens on hard-working families or seniors." Hmm. Sounds like what Obama is proposing.
The really sickening thing about this is that one the bravest things Bill Clinton did as present was raise income taxes soon after his election. The early-90s tax increase was key to setting us on a road to budget surpluses later in the decade. Bill Clinton pulled this off despite the attacks of Republicans -- attacks that sounded precisely what we're hearing Hillary Clinton use on Barack Obama today.
I don't suppose it matters to her, but Hillary Clinton should know that this sort of thing will lead to her getting drubbed come November. There's a core of Republicans who will never vote for her, so she can't afford to lose any Democrats. In fact, she'll need to draw in new voters to the fold. Savaging Barack Obama is only going to drive people away -- potential new voters, and others (like me) -- who have always voted Democratic.
I've not commented on the Democratic race because I've been feeling pretty good about most of the candidates. Each of the major contenders struck me as a vast improvement over the incumbent. True, I was rooting for Barack Obama, but I wasn't speaking ill of anyone. But now, now that her candidacy is at risk, we're seeing how desperately Hillary Clinton wants the presidency and the lengths she is willing to go to in order to get it.
First there was the New Hampshire mailer alleging Obama was soft on choice, based on his "present" votes (instead of no) on Illinois legislation while in the Illinois Senate. In fact, Planned Parenthood had endorsed the "present" vote -- which amounts to a "no" in Illinois -- as a tactic to protect vulnerable Democrats. People in Illinois familiar with the situation were stunned at the audacity of the Clinton campaign in trying to twist the truth on Obama's abortion record.
Then comes the Social Security mailer. Man, if Obama gets the nomination, the GOP will use this one in their slime campaign against Obama. Obama has suggested that while keeping the Social Security tax cap at its current $102,000, we may have to tax income OVER $200,000 or $250,000 in order to maintain the current benefit structure. Income between $102,000 and the new, higher limit would not be taxed. So IF you make over $200,000 (or $250,000 or whatever the number ends up being), your Social Security taxes might rise. Based on this, what does the Clinton campaign say to New Hampshire voters? "Barack Obama. A plan with a trillion dollar tax increase on America's hard-working families." Yeah, those hard-working families who pull in a quarter-million a year. Meanwhile, Clinton suggests no plan at all for shoring up Social Security. Her position, according to the mailer, is to "address Social Security without putting burdens on hard-working families or seniors." Hmm. Sounds like what Obama is proposing.
The really sickening thing about this is that one the bravest things Bill Clinton did as present was raise income taxes soon after his election. The early-90s tax increase was key to setting us on a road to budget surpluses later in the decade. Bill Clinton pulled this off despite the attacks of Republicans -- attacks that sounded precisely what we're hearing Hillary Clinton use on Barack Obama today.
I don't suppose it matters to her, but Hillary Clinton should know that this sort of thing will lead to her getting drubbed come November. There's a core of Republicans who will never vote for her, so she can't afford to lose any Democrats. In fact, she'll need to draw in new voters to the fold. Savaging Barack Obama is only going to drive people away -- potential new voters, and others (like me) -- who have always voted Democratic.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Race Report: First Run
The year got off to a fast start. Not as fast as I had hoped, but that really wasn’t the point, was it. (The point? How about: Doing something I love as another year begins!)
As most of you were getting a good buzz on with glass of wine No. 3, I put on my tights and a few layers, hopped on the MAX – free from 8 p.m. until closing time – and headed downtown for The First Run & Walk. I was participating in the run part, a tidy 5K. Good crowd on hand at the World Trade Center plaza, many folks huddled around the gas heaters with temps in the mid-to-high 30s and some gusty east winds blowing from the gorge. A little warmup, a gathering of the forces – maybe 1,000 people? – and then the countdown. At zero, we yelled those three words that are traditionally yelled at midnight on December 31 and off we went. I had 20 minutes in mind, though I had no right to. I’d run 30 miles in the past four days and did a couple hours on the bike trainer and walked about four miles earlier in the day. At the turnaround I was right at 10 minutes but I couldn’t quite hold the pace, finishing on my clock in 20:18. Not bad. By spring, 10 pounds lighter, I’ll do 5K in 19 minutes. Yeah! What the hell, let’s add that to the list of goals for 2008, to go along with a good Boston showing, solid Ironman performance, and who knows what else comes down the pike.
UPDATE – Official results are in.
Time: 20:15 (6:31/mile pace)
Age group: 3/44
Men: 42/418
Overall: 47/933
The year got off to a fast start. Not as fast as I had hoped, but that really wasn’t the point, was it. (The point? How about: Doing something I love as another year begins!)
As most of you were getting a good buzz on with glass of wine No. 3, I put on my tights and a few layers, hopped on the MAX – free from 8 p.m. until closing time – and headed downtown for The First Run & Walk. I was participating in the run part, a tidy 5K. Good crowd on hand at the World Trade Center plaza, many folks huddled around the gas heaters with temps in the mid-to-high 30s and some gusty east winds blowing from the gorge. A little warmup, a gathering of the forces – maybe 1,000 people? – and then the countdown. At zero, we yelled those three words that are traditionally yelled at midnight on December 31 and off we went. I had 20 minutes in mind, though I had no right to. I’d run 30 miles in the past four days and did a couple hours on the bike trainer and walked about four miles earlier in the day. At the turnaround I was right at 10 minutes but I couldn’t quite hold the pace, finishing on my clock in 20:18. Not bad. By spring, 10 pounds lighter, I’ll do 5K in 19 minutes. Yeah! What the hell, let’s add that to the list of goals for 2008, to go along with a good Boston showing, solid Ironman performance, and who knows what else comes down the pike.
UPDATE – Official results are in.
Time: 20:15 (6:31/mile pace)
Age group: 3/44
Men: 42/418
Overall: 47/933
Monday, December 31, 2007
Rainfall Report: December 2007
It's not going to rain today. So we'll finish with 8.61 inches of rain in December. That breaks down as:
-24 days with measurable precipitation
-15 days over a tenth of an inch
-5 days over half an inch
-2 days over an inch.
These figures are from my preferred station, in the middle of the city. The number you'll most often see quoted comes from PDX, but that's on the northeast edge of the city. There, the December total was 7.57, a total lower than at all but one of the 40 or so City of Portland HYDRA Rainfall Network gauges. "Normal" December value for the airport is 5.54 inches, but I'm not sure how valuable this figure is – it's the average for the period 1971-2000.
It's not going to rain today. So we'll finish with 8.61 inches of rain in December. That breaks down as:
-24 days with measurable precipitation
-15 days over a tenth of an inch
-5 days over half an inch
-2 days over an inch.
These figures are from my preferred station, in the middle of the city. The number you'll most often see quoted comes from PDX, but that's on the northeast edge of the city. There, the December total was 7.57, a total lower than at all but one of the 40 or so City of Portland HYDRA Rainfall Network gauges. "Normal" December value for the airport is 5.54 inches, but I'm not sure how valuable this figure is – it's the average for the period 1971-2000.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Curse You, Northwest Weather Gods
Man, the weather is chancier up here. I set out at noon with skies clearing and sure, yeah, the forecast was for showers on and off into the evening – I took that into account. I wore my sturdy rain pullover, though I really didn’t want to. Even when it’s 36 degrees and breezy, that thing’ll get you sweating. Anyway, the sun was shining. How bad could it get in two hours of early-season plodding?
So 20 minutes in, it starts sleeting, or snowing or raining, a little of everything, and blowing, and then it’s all dark and thundering, just throwing the icy shit down for, like, 45 minutes. Portland, your weather bites! I told myself I’d stick it out for 10 miles, and I did, arriving home ... just as the sun came out.
BUT! Three 10+ mile runs in one week. Woo-hoo. Laying down a good base.
Man, the weather is chancier up here. I set out at noon with skies clearing and sure, yeah, the forecast was for showers on and off into the evening – I took that into account. I wore my sturdy rain pullover, though I really didn’t want to. Even when it’s 36 degrees and breezy, that thing’ll get you sweating. Anyway, the sun was shining. How bad could it get in two hours of early-season plodding?
So 20 minutes in, it starts sleeting, or snowing or raining, a little of everything, and blowing, and then it’s all dark and thundering, just throwing the icy shit down for, like, 45 minutes. Portland, your weather bites! I told myself I’d stick it out for 10 miles, and I did, arriving home ... just as the sun came out.
BUT! Three 10+ mile runs in one week. Woo-hoo. Laying down a good base.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
White Christmas
All over town between noon and 1:30 mommies and daddies were shoving bundled-up kids out of doors to be models in their Portland Christmas Snow of 2007 photographs. I saw this throughout my ten-miler today. I heard one optimistic little guy shout, “When it gets really deep, we’ll make a snowman.”
First little white pellets then big wet gobs fell from the sky – first sporadically then in a frenzy – that slow-motion sort of frenzy that characterizes snow falling and, I don’t know, crashing on a bike. It was, yes, magical, even if it barely stuck, barely added up to a quarter-inch, barely will be recorded in meteorological history.
I had laced 'em up and gotten out at noon precisely, about 45 seconds into this little weather event. I was going to run no matter what but this, this was cool. It isn’t every day you get to run in the snow on Christmas Day. Even if this were, say, Buffalo, the odds would be slightly less than 1-in-365, right? I read somewhere that in here in Portland, there hadn’t been a trace on Christmas Day since ’90 and ’90 is further back in history than you or I want to think, my friend.
Tons of people were out, the parents and the kids, people and dogs, a guy in a T-shirt smoking a cigarette, woman runner in shorts, a bunch of runners in tights and wool hats ... me, in tights and my customary running cap. The temperature was around 33 or 34 and who knew how long the snow would last before the predicted changeover to rain? My house is between 50 and 100 feet above sea level, so after a jaunt around Laurelhurst I headed back toward and up Mount Tabor, 500 or so feet up. There the wind was swirling, blowing the big flakes around. They hurt when they hit an eyelash just so, refresh when they land in your mouth, and when one hit me on the nose I actually giggled.
Everyone was digging it, this Christmas snow. Where the trees didn’t catch the snow, it actually accumulated on the trails. It never stopped falling as I went around, down, up and down the mountain. It only turned to rain just as I rounded the corner onto my block, then it was snow again, then rain, all in the matter of a hundred yards. All rain since. Maybe more snow tonight, maybe enough to stick around into the morning. Maybe some on Thursday. Kind of a big deal in these parts. Nice around Christmas.
All over town between noon and 1:30 mommies and daddies were shoving bundled-up kids out of doors to be models in their Portland Christmas Snow of 2007 photographs. I saw this throughout my ten-miler today. I heard one optimistic little guy shout, “When it gets really deep, we’ll make a snowman.”
First little white pellets then big wet gobs fell from the sky – first sporadically then in a frenzy – that slow-motion sort of frenzy that characterizes snow falling and, I don’t know, crashing on a bike. It was, yes, magical, even if it barely stuck, barely added up to a quarter-inch, barely will be recorded in meteorological history.
I had laced 'em up and gotten out at noon precisely, about 45 seconds into this little weather event. I was going to run no matter what but this, this was cool. It isn’t every day you get to run in the snow on Christmas Day. Even if this were, say, Buffalo, the odds would be slightly less than 1-in-365, right? I read somewhere that in here in Portland, there hadn’t been a trace on Christmas Day since ’90 and ’90 is further back in history than you or I want to think, my friend.
Tons of people were out, the parents and the kids, people and dogs, a guy in a T-shirt smoking a cigarette, woman runner in shorts, a bunch of runners in tights and wool hats ... me, in tights and my customary running cap. The temperature was around 33 or 34 and who knew how long the snow would last before the predicted changeover to rain? My house is between 50 and 100 feet above sea level, so after a jaunt around Laurelhurst I headed back toward and up Mount Tabor, 500 or so feet up. There the wind was swirling, blowing the big flakes around. They hurt when they hit an eyelash just so, refresh when they land in your mouth, and when one hit me on the nose I actually giggled.
Everyone was digging it, this Christmas snow. Where the trees didn’t catch the snow, it actually accumulated on the trails. It never stopped falling as I went around, down, up and down the mountain. It only turned to rain just as I rounded the corner onto my block, then it was snow again, then rain, all in the matter of a hundred yards. All rain since. Maybe more snow tonight, maybe enough to stick around into the morning. Maybe some on Thursday. Kind of a big deal in these parts. Nice around Christmas.
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