Whats been going on with me!?

So.... My original plans for this year included running a 24hr race this weekend, and next month running the Sri Chinmoy 6 day race back in New York.

As I said, those WERE my plans, but after a couple injuries, battling being sick, and now a servere case of apathy, I just havent been running. Instead, I've been focusing on my "photography."

I went up to the 24hr race anyway, to take some pictures and to cheer on my friends, in hopes that I may be inpired by being around fellow Ultrarunners again, but still I feel a little Apathetic.... How do the rest of you stay inspired to run even though you may not feel like it?

I mentioned I took some pics at Pacific Rim 24hr this weekend..... I will be posting them soon, but here is a prieview of whats to come. If you want any of the pics, email me, and I will send you the full-size image.

Update… FINALLY!!!

Okay… now I take on the daunting task of trying to get caught up on everything since Labor Day ha-ha…

I’ll FLY through what happened:

I didn’t run enough,
Then I increased my mileage too fast,
Then I was disappointed at Ultracentric, but I don’t want to go into that,
Then I was too lethargic to run a lot,
Then the snow came and gave me an excuse not to run,
Then I decided to get off my butt and run,
Then I was going to run 100k at Purge & Splurge, but the ice and snow convinced me to cut back to a marathon,
Then I started running more regularly,
And now I’m increasing my mileage further, adding hill workouts, and speed-work, and
Soon I’ll me racing a 6hr, then a 24hr, and then a 6day race.

So, feeling caught up? Ha-ha

Oh… And finally, you can count on me to update my blog more regularly in ‘09

Sorry again for the massive delay, and I’ll leave you with a couple more images from my winter….

awesome running :-)

trying to look intimidating ha-ha

I promise I'll update more soon....

-Tim-

Laborday '08

I had a couple days off work, so naturally I took off running in the Columbia River Gorge....

It was a weekend of running, hiking, swimming, relaxing, playing, sweating, smiling, grimmacing, and enjoying the beautiful North West.

Words wont do it justice, so I'll leave you with a couple videos and some of my favorite pictures I took.

Leaves are already changing color!

Nutrition!.... (I did have some healthy stuff too)

Enjoying being up there

Sunset

Another view of the Sunset

Sunrise against Mt. Hood

Sunrise in the Columbia River Gorge

Watching the Sunrise

The cliffs I slept atop (1,000ft sheer drop and the rock fallout extends another 1,000ft) reflecting the sunrise

I love it out here

I slept at the precepice of that cliff!

These little guys were all over the place!

YAY!!!!

Whew... What A Week!

Wow..... that was quite a week! ( June 30th - July 6th )

-I attended the Olympic Trials on the 30th, and got to watch the Oregon Boys sweep the 800meter!!! Here's The Incredible Video

-I ran into my fast friend (Elijah Greer) at the Trials and got to chat with him for a while.

-I got inspired to put in the milage that I should be doing

-I put in 115mi for the week, and

-I ran 41mi (slow) on the 4th (scrambling up and down steep embankmets off the trail, finding the highest peaks around to summit, playing in the snow, and pausing to take a lot of pictures is not the most efficient way to cover a lot of milage.... thus, the 41mi took me from 6:30a to 9:45p)
on my 4th of July run... I ran into some guys who were up in the snow above 4,000ft who had never been up that high before, didn't know the trails, and stupidly did not have a map.... so I gave them mine.

The feeling of the run was wierd....

There was a dense fog covering much of the run causing an eerie feeling .... and that mixed with the twisted trees and branches littering the ground made the place have almost a haunting feel.



but eventually the fog lifted and I found myself running in the snow!

I took it easy.... and had lunch on the edge of a 200+ft cliff.... I was taking my time and just enjoying it all. I got going again and as I made it up toward Whatum Lake I decided to climb up Mt Chinidere.... at 4,673ft, I wouldnt really consider it a Mountain.... But thats it's name. I was beautiful atop the mountain. One day I will Camp out up there and enjoy sunrise from up there. Were it clear, it would be an awesome vantage point for Mt Hood, but it was foggy

for more pics.... check out this link

Mt Hood Scramble

Since I hurt my calf (see previous post), I've had to take some down time, and it has been difficult. I want to be out there, so I do smart things like sign up for races when I'm injured.

So the Monday after I injured myself at 20th Century 100k, I signed up for the Mt Hood Scramble, not just a race, but a brutal one at that. I couldn't run, but at least I had something to look forward to.

I tested out my legs a few days later, and something wasn't right; I wasn't feeling the kind of pain that I endured with the torn calf that weekend before, but my calf and the back of my knee just felt wierd. I dont know how to describe it.

I took it easier after that, but my calf continued in that manner for a while. Even when I went for a short three-mile jog the day before the Scramble, I wasn't feeling right only a mile into the jog. When I woke up the next day to get to the race, I still wasn't feeling right, and I was already favoring that foot.

So against my better judgement, I decided to run. I met up with a couple other runners at the Portland Running Company to carpool, and we were off to the Mountain. We arrived early, collected our bibs and I watched enviously ar others were warming up, I was afraid that if I were to try to warm up, I might injur myself (smart, huh).

I lined up in the back for the start of the race, and ran gingerly from the beginning. People were breaking through the snow, faceplanting, and falling into tree wells all over the place. My leg wasn't feeling horrible so I kept a conservative pace but passed several people with ease.

I had a great time, enjoyed the views, and kept a smile on my face, although I have to say, it wasn't all that hard to remain happy out there.

I was originally dreading the several ice-cold river crossings (I would guess probobly 10), but with every crossing, my leg felt better and better. Or maybe It was simply becoming more and more numb. (Photo Courtesy Brian Conaghan)... I need to get back into shape!

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I eventually felt good enough that I even started kicking after the last turnaround and caught at least a dozen runners in the final treacherous downhill stretch.

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The Red Lizards were well represented at the Scramble.

Beautiful Views! And as a testement to the difficulty of this 6.8 mile course, no one was able to break an hour. My time of 1:54:47 put me in the middle of the pack.

One of the guys who I carpooled with, Pat Fear, finished 4th overall with a time of 1:07:29, only 2:24 behind the winner.

Long Weekend: Oregon Track / Obama / (Almost) Clear Trails

After working the last 10 days in a row, I was in much need of a break, and it just so happened that I had been given tickets to Oregon Twilight, so as soon as work finished on Friday, I took off for Track Town USA.

I got to Eugene with about an hour to spare, just enough time to find a parking space in a university town, but I did eventually find a spot, and then my seat. I was seated right in the middle of the Old East Grandstands at Hayward Field (which also happens to be the logo for the ’08 Olympic Trials at the same venue) and I had a perfect view of the Track.


I was thoroughly enjoying the events (the Steeplechase is my favorite) and then something perplexing happened. It was the middle of the Women’s 5,000meter race, Tasmin Fanning of Virginia Tech was on her way to setting a school-record time of 15:47.90, and in this city of track lovers, all the camera men were rushing into the SE corner of Hayward field away from the action. I soon heard murmurs from those around me, “Barak Obama’s here!”…. “Barak Obama’s here!” Sure enough, upon the conclusion of the race, Obama entered the arena surrounded by a throng of cameramen, journalists, and secret service agents. Several of those around me rushed down to the track to get a closer look, and Obama continued onto Hayward field, first over to the East Grandstands, where I was, to shake hands, and then across the field over to the West Grandstands again shaking hands, meeting the athletes, and kissing babies. On his way out of the arena, he even “jumped” a hurdle. It was all quite a spectacle for the 5,000+ spectators present (Oregon loves its Track), and worth the 20min delay of all running events.

As exciting as it was to see Obama show up at the track, I don’t know that it equaled the excitement during the men’s 1,500meter. Oregon’s own Andrew Wheating, Sophomore, hung in the middle of the pack for the majority of the race, but with 200meters left, he took off in a seemingly effortless burst of speed and seemed to fly by his competition. The roar that rose from the crowd was deafening, and cheered him to a commanding victory. Wheating’s time, 3:38.60, is not only the sixth fastest on Oregon’s History, but also the fastest time, set by any American, so far this season. What a way to end a meet!

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday with family and not doing a whole lot of running, but come Monday, I was ready to hit the trails.

I got out into the Columbia River Gorge about 7:00am, and was running at about 15 after. I took off down the beautiful Gorge Trail headed out toward Cascade Locks and jumped onto the Pacific Crest Trail, heading south. I have no better way to describe the run than “fragrant.” Wildflowers were blooming, and I didn’t even have to stop to smell them. I also came across quite a few little creatures: snakes and salamanders, and evidences of larger creatures: elk tracks about 5 inches wide and about 7 inches long. Some animals where acting quite comical: a robin pecking at a worm who, every time I got within 10ft, would pick up the worm, run down the trail a little way, and resume pecking at the worm. I took it easy, I was out there more to enjoy the experience than to beat myself to a pulp, and when I got up to about 3,500 ft I got to play in the snow a little bit. I found out that above that elevation, the snow is still a good 4 ft deep, so it’ll be a little while before I can run my entire loop (climbing up to over 4,300ft in elevation) but I did get a good 30 miles in. After I had to turn back, I started to get an intense headache which made running excruciatingly painful, so I did the best thing I knew how: I got some fresh mountain-spring water, found a comfortable rock off the path a little ways, and took a 2hr long nap. I woke feeling refreshed and ready to run.

I spent about 10hrs up there taking pictures, playing in the snow, doing a little running, having lunch, taking a nap, chasing wildlife, and enjoying the sights and sounds of the wilderness. Only a couple weeks till 20th century 100k, and I promise to pick up the pace a little. Ha ha. My goal is to run a Spartathlon qualifier after all.


For all pictures I took during the weekend..... go here

Until next time,
Tim

Back to the Wilderness....

Well, I felt like going for a trail run.... I didn't have to go to work on Monday, so I got up early, grabbed my trail shoes, a couple water bottles, my Silva Ranger compass, some good maps, and headed out to Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge.

I had a route picked out to run which would have taken me 18 miles with approx. 7,500ft of climb and another 7,500ft of fall. But plans were to change, I just didn't know it yet. Part of the trail I like to run, and one of the wierdest streatches of land I've ever seen.

I pushed myself pretty hard up Ruckle Ridge Trail, on my hands and knees at a couple places, and within the first couple miles I was about 1,500 ft above where I had parked. Everything was going well for a while until I saw the first sigh of the impending doom; at about 2,500ft there was a pile of snow on the trail, and I still had another 2,000ft to climb at that point.

Once I got closer to 3,000 ft, about 4 miles in at this point, the snow became much more abundant, and I wasnt able to see a trail anymore. I kept my eye out for signs that might indicate where the trail was. At that point I also pulled out my Silva Ranger Compass and maps and was able to continue on for another mile or so. There were eventually too many fallen trees to discern any sort of trail, I kept breaking through the ice and snow and falling as deep as mid-thigh, and as far as creating my own path, I was approaching another streatch in which even the trail had 1,000ft of climb within about a mile, and I didnt want to have to crawl to the top. I finally decided that even if I were to continue up and over Benson Plateau, connecting to the Pacific Crest Trail on the other side would be simple, but dangerous with all the cliff explosure on the other side.

A little over 5 miles in, and at about 3,500 ft up, I decided it would be best to just follow my tracks back to the trail and run the brutal descent back to my car. The run back was absolutly brutal, but it's good training.

The rest of the trail back was beautiful... One thing I've noticed, Oregon has a lot of moss.

I got back to my car, and I had a little extra time, so I did a couple miles on the Eagle Creek Trail, but it's not nearly as crazy as Ruckle Ridge. I had to settle for a 12 mile run with about 4,500ft of climb and 4,500ft of fall

I got back home and rested up a little bit, after all, I had my running club to attend that evening. Some of my friends had run the Red Lizard 5 miler on Saturday, so I was hoping they would be running slow like me, but I wasn't so lucky. Although Jeff had run a 36:21, and Jon ran a 32:51, they didnt slow down much for me during the group run, normally I try to be right there with them, but my Quads were completly thrashed from the run earlier that day. I slowed down and ran with some of the other runners there for a 6 miler (plus another couple miles to meet up with the other group runners) to finish off the day with 20 miles of running/hiking/crawling. ha ha
Jeff Huber (36:21) & Jon Dotson (32:51:) respectivly. Congrats Dudes on your awesome times at the Red Lizard 5 miler!!!!

Another Ultra Double

-Part One- Preparation

There I was sitting in a parking lot, knowing what I needed to do, but not sure if I had the guts to do it. Finally, after mustering the courage, I got out of my car, walked into the Goodwill, and started looking for a skirt for the next week’s race. I knew there would be “men in skirts” at Hagg Lake 50k, and I wanted to be one among their number. I found the skirt I was looking for, and with some trepidation I went to go try it on. Now at this store, you have to be let into the dressing rooms by someone with a key. I attempted to explain myself to the man in charge of the dressing rooms, but if\t was of no avail; he obviously didn’t believe it was a one-time use kind of thing. When I finally got to try on the red-plaid-pleated skirt, it fit well. I was glad; I didn’t want to go back out there and look for another skirt. On my way towards the counter, a good half dozen women asked me if the skirt fit. With a smile, I was able to reply yes, and then I started to pass by the skirt rack where I had originally picked out the skirt. Now there had been this woman there giving me an odd look as I had been picking out the skirt, but now she spoke up and asked, “Did you go to Westside Christian High school?”

I was horrified at being recognized while picking out the skirt, but I still had to reply, “Yes.”

“Are you Melody Lawson’s little brother, Tim?” she inquired.

She even knew my name! I have never been so embarrassed in my life, but I tried to explain my way out of it, and by the end of our conversation, she decided it was “for a good cause” and went on to tell me that she wasn’t sure what to think of this guy she recognized from a Christian High school trying on a skirt. I got out of there quickly, paid 5 bucks for the skirt and made my escape. Next time I need to go buy a skirt, I’m going to bring a girl with me; it’ll be less embarrassing.

-Part Two- Hagg Lake 50k (in a skirt)

Steve “Marathon Freak” Walters and I got to Hagg Lake about 45min before the race start. I wasn’t yet brave enough to don the skirt until I saw others in them also. As soon as we got down to the pavilion where we were to pick up our race packets, I saw Mike “Bushwhacker” Burke wearing his skirt, a little hot pink skirt with matching gaiters. Ha Ha. After seeing him and a few others, I decided it was time for me to finally show off my skirt. I got changed in the car, and on my way back down to the pavilion, I received quite a few compliments on my skirt.

Now the funniest thing happened while I was there; Olga came up behind me before the race start, lifted up the back of the skirt, and looked underneath to make sure I was wearing something else also. I was caught completely off guard but it was absolutely hilarious. Most simply asked if I was wearing anything.


As the start of the race neared, all the runners gathered around and all the “men in skirts” were pulled to the front for judging who looked the best. I have to say, there was no contest; one of the guys showed up in a full out granny dress and fake teeth. He looked so bad that he was immediately everyone’s favorite.


The race started, and we could not have asked for better weather:
Sunny, 35degrees at the start, and about 55 at the finish.
Technical trail, muddy in parts, lots of little hills.


In spite of having “stupidly” injured myself the day before, I has pulled a tendon in the arch of my foot, I ran fairly hard during the start. After about 10 miles, my foot was bothering me pretty bad, so I slowed way down until I got to the second loop. I ran virtually the entirety of the second loop around the loop with Carrie White. I was in pain and didn’t want to slow down too much, so running with her forced me to push a little. My biggest concern at the race was to finish injury free, I guess it was a little late considering I didn’t even start injury free, but I got through the race in a time of 6:01:17 without severely aggravating the injury.

-Part Three- Yours Truly 50k (on a treadmill)

Still tired and sore from the previous day’s adventure, Steve and I went over to 24hour Fitness to run a treadmill 50k. I can see how treadmill races have the potential of being incredibly fast, as long as you didn’t run a 50k the day before. We were able to keep an eye on exactly how fast the other is running, and how much you lead or trail by.

For the majority of the race, I was between three-quarters and a full mile behind Steve, but I passed him up with about 10min left. My splits were:

5k ----- 34:02 ----- 10:59 min/mile pace
10k ----- 1:06:46 ----- 10:46 min/mile pace
Half Marathon ----- 2:21:06 ----- 10:46 min/mile pace
25k halfway! ----- 2:46:36 ----- 10:43 min/mile pace
Marathon ----- 4:41:15 ----- 10:44 min/mile pace
50k ----- 5:28:26 ----- 10:34 min/mile pace

I ran the second half 4:46 faster than the first half, most of which I made up in the last 3 miles averaging about an 8:30 min/mile.

I would have probably been able to run faster if I had real food with me, but we were trying to be discreet about hogging the treadmills for 5 ½ hours, so all I had was a couple bottles of diluted GU20 and a couple bottles of PowerAde and a single Hammer Gel, not exactly the best way to run a 50k, but at least I survived.

Thankfully, because of the way the internationally run Yours Truly 50k is held, this run will count as a run for me, I doubt I will ever do this again unless it counts as a race, but I’m sure I will be running some treadmill races in the future.

-Part Four- Post Races

Monday I went for a three-mile walk, and then later that afternoon, I went for an easy 7mile jog to get my legs moving and the blood circulating. I’m still nursing that foot, and during the Hagg Lake 50k I tweaked an ankle, which I aggravated on the treadmill at Yours Truly. Right now, I am wearing a ProTech Ankle Wrap to help speed up recovery. I’ve also been icing my foot to help further that cause. I am no longer sore, just slightly injured, and I need to recover fast; I’m now entering into my taper for the Pacific Rim 24hour Race, and I need to be healthy for the race.

Pigtails - Yours Truly

It was a good weekend. What could be better than running a 50k an Saturday? Running another one on Sunday of course!

Originally I was planning to go out to Madras, OR to run the Madass 50k with my cousin, but he got sick and wasn’t up to running 31 miles, so I called up my friend Steve “Marathon Freak” Walters and caught a ride with him up to Seattle.

Saturday Morning we got to Pigtail’s 50k and I was already cold and a little sick, but you got to run it off right? We started at a decent pace, for me at least, keeping in mind that we had another 50k to run the following day. I know I am an overly competitive person, so every time someone passed me I had to keep in mind the race the following day, and I made my mantra “Just let ‘em go.” The ground at Pigtails was frozen solid, and fortunately it remained dry for our first two laps around the 9.6mile loop. Unfortunately it began to rain for our last lap and the sadistically hilly 2.2mile out-and-back. The water just sat on the ice making it incredibly slick, and Steve bit the dust at one point. First thing I did when he went down was pull out my camera. Ha ha. (I knew he would cherish the lasting memories more than the immediate relief of me actually helping him up)

We finished up the run in 5:08:01. It was a PR by 1:07:02 for me. Not too shabby for me. We hung out for a little bit at the finish for a little while, but we were wet and cold so we took off for the hostel we were staying at, and were in bed by 7:30.

Sunday morning, already cold sick and now sore, we went over to Maple Valley, WA for the Yours Truly 50k race. We just wanted to finish the thing and weren’t too serious about our time, so we took a lot of pictures of everyone there. (You can see them here) The course was a 7.78-mile out-and-back twice, so we got to see everyone multiple times. On the first out, we went really slow taking a lot of pictures. (I even have some of us sleeping on benches on the side of the course) On the way back, we ran much of it with Monte Pascual and just took it easy.

When we arrived at the start/finish area for our second out-and-back, we met up with Fred Johnson who was pondering going home at that point. The day before he had run a 4:12 50k, and the people he had been running with in this race were only running one loop and he didn’t want to go back out at it alone. We talked him into running with us, and he pushed us quite a bit. It’s the first race I’ve ever run a negative split. The times weren’t even close! The first half we finished in 3:04, and the second half took us 2:51! We were still taking a lot of pictures, but we were pushing much harder, and we even ran the last stretch of about 1 ¼ miles at a sub 9 min mile pace, and finished off in a sprint.

The course that day was basically a sheet of ice on top of hard-packed pea-gravel. When we started, there was a little snow covering up the ice, but most of that, and the remaining ice, melted off. There were some areas that stayed slick all day, and this time I got a picture of Steve in the act of slipping, but by the end of the day, we couldn’t have asked for much better running weather