Results:
Well we all survived and even thrived. Here are the race results. Pictures are available thanks to Anna. |
| March 2008 Trip to Portland |
UPDATE:
Terry shared with me the flyer for the run and it states a 8am early start for the 30k as well as the 9am regular start time, very nice. Thanks Terry!According to J, there are 2 start times for the 30k at Champoeg Park on March 8. One is at 8:30am and another at 9:30am. The only info I can find online about this year's race is located here, http://www.orrc.net/races/champoeg/champoeg.htm. And all that website describes is 9am for everything. So either the website really sucks at letting us know what is really happening or J is trying to mess with my head. Either way we should all get there with plenty of time regardless. Since the website says to give yourelf 45 minutes travel time from Salem then we will have to be hitting the road real early. Google says the trip takes 1 hour 38 minutes so if we want to be there by 8:15am then we should be leaving at around 6:30am. Here are directions from the firestation: View Larger Map
2 comments:
I don’t need an alarm to wake up on Saturday mornings. Actually, I don’t need an alarm to wake up almost anytime. And I do wake up anytime. Sleep deprivation is my world. Up at five. Triple espresso latte, half milk, half vanilla soymilk. Then I’m onto the foam roller one more time, a gift from my PT David “Pain is Your Friend” McHenry with Therapeutic Associates. Then oatmeal with honey and more vanilla soymilk. I roust my nephew Gus out of bed, who at the tender age of 16 already thinks stuff like getting up at 5:30 to run a 30K is fun. The Titus Clan is a twisted lot.
We meet Terry, Richard, John, J and daughter Sidney, Cristin, Travis and wife Anna at the Fire Station on Agate, this time for a 2 hour drive rather than a two hour run. Terry is there with chocolate chip monster cookies, copies of a map to Champoeg Park, and his cell phone number. Unbelievable. Last year he was on the sidelines at mile 22 of the Eugene Marathon, where looked me square in the eye and said the only inspirational thing I heard out of anyone in the last six miles of that race: “Tom, it’s okay to walk.” Told me later that he learned years ago that the most effective leaders were the ones that tell their followers to do what they were going to anyway. Seems he’s also learned that the most effective leaders also feed their followers what they wanted to eat anyway. What a guy!
After a group stop at Albertson’s, Gus and I haul it to Champoeg Park in Old Paint, my totaled relic of a Toyota pickup, eating chocolate chip cookies and talking running. We get there in plenty of time, but two trips to the restroom were enough to blow a big hole in my warm-up plans, so to speak. Got my arnica gel on, downed three vitamin I, then piled into the starting crowd without any stretching or putting Vaseline on the important spots. I think somebody must have said “GO!” because we all take off.
After the first quarter mile Travis and I are joined at the elbow, hitting the first mile in 7:36, the picture of self-control. I start complaining almost immediately. It feels like 6:30. He says “it’s all good .” I wonder “good for what?” The course is basically three 10K out-and-backs on a forested bike path paralleling the Willamette River. It is slightly uphill going out on the first 5K, but other than that, just runnin’. Pretty. Unimaginative. Best of all, mostly flat. Jeff, another Eugenian , meets us coming out of his first 10K. He talks as hard as he runs. When he spots us, he yells “Kick!”
We hit 45:02 at 10K, even after those 7:30s for the first two miles. Gus hands me another 1/2 liter of Cytomax. I hate that stuff, but it doesn’t make me hurl. Pieces of Clif bar. A double espresso Clif Shot gel with 100mg of caffeine. We’re going faster, clicking off 7:15s, then 7:05s, then 7 minutes. My knee bothers me less if I go faster, but that’s about all that improves at this pace. We pass a couple of walkers a mile before the 20K turnaround and Travis yells “Runners!” and they sort of move over and Travis politely thanks them when we go by and the guy says “you better thank me” and Travis says “next time why don’t you just move your fat ass” and I’m thinking I’ve finally found someone to run with who’s even edgier than I. Just before the turnaround, Jeff goes by again and yells “Kick!” but he’s a lot closer than he was the first 10K. I’m thinking we might just kick something.”
20K is 44:10. Gus dutifully hands me another 500 mls of Cytomax, then jumps in for the final 10K. I choke down all I can and ditch the bottle at a stop sign a half mile later. Then the first serious self-doubt starts to set in. The legs go leaden, the pace starts to fall off—7:19 for this mile. I don’t have the energy to bitch about it, a bad sign. One more caffeinated gel pack, then a feeding frenzy, a personal record four sharkies jammed in my mouth at once. I chew them into little shark bits so that the small amount of saliva that I have left can finish the job. The caffeine and shark flesh start to kick in and we start reeling people in. They’re still running the same pace they were, but we are now under 7 minute miles. Just after the last 5K turnaround we pass Jeff and I want to say something really inappropriate like “Kick!” but decide to keep my mouth shut and run faster. Travis falls back and Gus won’t run next to me, always staying one step behind. I can smell the barn. At least I think that’s the barn. It’s not Gus ‘cuz he’s still one step behind. 13:13 for the two miles 5 plus 6 of the third loop finally drives me into terminal oxygen debt. The last 2/10 is uphill, and I’m coasting in. I don’t care if Travis puts one of those 800 meter runner whammies on me. Final time: 2 hours 11 minutes, 44 seconds. Gus ran his 10K in 42:34, a 16 minute PR. I think I was still grabbing my knees when Travis came in.
I walk/jog back up the course to get some water and yell for the others. Cristin looks like she always does, as though she’s just started, inscrutable. I tell Terry he looks like he just started too, but it’s a bald-faced lie and he knows it and starts laughing. John is completely sweated through and saying Holy Moly and looking like he might for once rather be writing grants.
More water. Chicken soup. Bagel. Banana. I think it’s all going to stay down.
What a party. I'm going to be so hung over.
Genes
Just received an email from John that jokingly called the Champoeg group second rate since Tom, Travis, John and Cristin all placed 2nd in their respective age groups. Terry was the only person that finished with a first place in the "Provider of warm shower water and monster cookies" category. Nice job all! Sounds like Tom's on pace to bust out that sub 3:06 marathon! ;-)
Post a Comment