Congrats to Hal, Ian and the entire crew at Rogue Valley Runners for hosting another awesome trail marathon this year.  I love this race... the trails are spectacular and the organization is flawless.  Max King is a very worthy National Trail Marathon Champion coming back only six days after running nycM!  He kind of embodies the spirit of mountain running with his passion for putting in the miles. 

Hal Koerner is on the cover of UltraRunning magazine this month and it was great to see his specialty running store (www.roguevalleyrunners.com) in the heart of downtown Ashland last Saturday.  Hal and his staff of trail running fanatics put on a great race that was true to his mountain running ethos!  Hal, correct me if I'm wrong but it was about 7 miles straight uphill to the snowline where we ran for another ten miles before rocketing back down the mountain and through town to the finish.  I had a blast... my pace wavered between ten minutes and six minutes per mile depending on the trail conditions and I made it back in 3:22.  Just in time for the post race luncheon of burritos and beer!  An obligatory stop at Starbucks before leaving town, a drive through Wildlife Safari and Mexican food with friends in Roseburg rounded out a perfect weekend.  

It was great to see the Joe Henderson Marathon Team complete the 2008 Portland Marathon... I've witnessed their dedication and hard work every Sunday morning for the last several months.  There is certainly a great feeling of challenge, adventure and accomplishment that all marathoners share.  Doesn't matter if it's your first or one hundred and first marathon, doesn't really matter if it takes two and a half hours or four and a half hours.  All serious runners who have put in the work get to share the accomplishment.  As for my own race, it went like this:  I was pacing my buddy Jill at her requested 7:00 pace but early on it was obviously not a good day for her so she told me to go ahead.  I had the infamously fast but retired Lucinator bring me along at about 6:45 pace until 19 when she stopped for a few donuts at Wifey's aid station and a ride to the finish.  I slowed to 7:30 pace over the last five miles and lost my chance for a sub three hour time and cruised in at 3:04.  I jogged back to my hotel for a shower and a nap before heading out for what must have been the biggest lunch I've ate in years.  It was a fun day in Portland.

The King of the Mile, Morrocan Superstar Hicham El Guerrouj visited with me today at the Eugene Running Company.  It was quite a thrill to meet the person many consider to be the greatest middle distance runner that has ever lived.  Hicham is the World Record holder in the mile and 1500m, a four time World Champion and double Olympic Gold Medalist.  Hicham El Guerrouj has a serious interest in sports marketing and business and is furthering his personal education on the topic.  I was impressed with his humility, grasp of the English language and sincerity as we discussed the business of Running Specialty.  I have no doubt Hicham will conquer the business world with the same success that has characterized his athletic achievements. 

Well, it was great fun as usual.  I tell my running partners it's a life affirming experience, but somehow it just sounds corny.  I've never started a race like this at such a slow pace, and I've never finished a race like this at such a fast pace.  At least not within the past 25 years or so.  Being a little light on prep work, I took it out real easy, got stuck in a single track train with many other runners which forced me to go even slower than had planned for the first hour or so.  It ended up just fine though, and probably helped me becuase I felt great the whole way and ran my fastest miles from 40 to 50K.  I did a little biff at 29 miles which made me think I better not press my luck too much but I did hammer it home and that always feels good.  My time was 4h30m and change which is about 15 minutes faster than last time so I'm calling it a success.  After I soaked in the river for a bit I drove straight to Cafe Yumm for lunch, then home for a nap. 

Eugene is Tracktown, USA and center of the running universe.  As the birthplace and spiritual home of Nike, it was only fitting we had a fantastic turn out for our Human Race partnership fun run on 8-31-08.  At the Eugene Running Company we had runners and walkers covering distances between 3 and 19 miles, all to help support the three Human Race charities - World Wildlife Fund, The Lance Armstrong Foundation and Nine Million dot org. We had our Joe Henderson Marathon Team belting out a long run as training for the upcoming Portland Marathon, we had Baby Boot Camp moms running and walking with their babies, we had our familiar group of Sunday morning regulars and they were joined by nearly 100 new faces.  It was the day the whole world ran and we hope you did too!  By my count, we had at least three members of the canine race participating alongside the Human Race. 

For everyone that lives in Eugene, don't forget to come out Thurseday night and cheer on the Duck XC Teams in Alton Baker Park at 6pm.

wow, what a great week up at Nike world headquarters.  I spent time in the NSRL and had a review of the innovation kitchen and cushion lab.  Nike leads the industry in innovation and it's easy to see why... they put a lot of money and effort into product development.  But it's more than product, it's all about enhancing athletic performance, the shoes and equipment are almost a by-product of their research.  I particularly liked the new lunar foam midsole products and the flywire upper manufacturing process.  It was fun to see their anti-gravity treadmill, climate chamber and biomechanics lab. 

 

To finish up the week i ran on the Nike RSG West team in the H2C relay.  it was crazy fun and i drank plenty of Starbucks.  At the finish i had the pleasure of chatting with Geoff Hollister and he looks good, even better than he did in Eugene last month.  Of course the post race party in Seaside in unrivaled.

It was a fun day in Beaverton reviewing the latest footwear developments at nike. The lunar shoes continue to impress me and the next generation looks fantastic the zoom Start plush lightweight trainer scheduled for spring 2009 release will be a stable yet responsive shoe. I had the opportunity to meet Nelson Ferris, a nike senior executive in charge of running heritage. I also spent some time in the sauna at the lance armstrong building with a running dealer from Russia who explained to me there is basically no fitness or recreation running in his country, only serious competitors. Quite a different market than the USA. I'll be in the nike sports research lab on thursday and I'm really looking forward to it.

Well I'm in portland all week to attend the nike running global summit then run the hood to coast on a nike team of specialty retailers. I can't wait to get on campus in the morning and dive into everything that is nike running. I just finished and easy afternoon run along the willamette river with some east coast nike running fanatics. I'm in need of rest so I've decided to just lay on my back here in the marriot until dinner. I'll report again soon from the nike running global summit.

It's been a while, and I know you must be interested, so let me update you.  I'm amping up my training for the McKenzie River 50K on 9/6/08.  But since I haven't really trained in about 20 years, it's more what I call "lifestyle running".  Training is serious business and I leave that for the people still trying for PR's.  That's not where I'm at with my running habit.  Things got a little hectic during the Trials and my running definitely took a plunge.  But believe me, it was well worth it.  I'm back at it now and I got in my second 24 miler a couple days ago so my confidence on running 50K is solid.  We ( Wifey, daughter, dogs) spent the night at Belknap Hot Springs so I was able to soak in the magically healing waters, run and mountain bike on the McKenzie River Trail.  It was all good practice for Septmeber 6th, even eating smores by the campfire helped me reload my glycogen stores!  I've run some fun races since my last blog including the Petersen Ridge Rumble 60K, Eugene Marathon and Coburg Half Marathon.  I'm still doing my part to support Starbucks so naturally I'm pretty happy about their sponsorhip of the Human Race 10k.  Glad all my skinny vanilla lattes are being reinvested in the sport!