Cascade Lakes Relay 2011

This year for our Daddy-Daughter bonding time we decided to do a Relay race.Cascade Lakes Relay goes from Diamond Lake to Bend. Here is some of our experiences:

Bug spray is a desirable commodity before getting in line for the port-a-potty.

Each team consists of two vans with six people each. We were van 1 (for obvious reasons).

Dad was nearly DQ'd for almost fumbling the baton!

Vest? check.  Tunes? check.  Headlamp? check.  Smile? Not this early in the morning.

Esther suffering with a smile.  Dad suffering with a limp.

Female Hermes- you can almost see the wings!

Van 1, Argggh!

Minus 1 Star for every hour we had to wait at that restaurant. 

It's the people that make the meal.  Especially for cannibals.

Sleep gained: None
Views: Beautiful
Food: Not good the second time
People: Awesome!
Overall: Good experience. 

Doing it again next year? Maybe.. not. Mt Jefferson = most definitely.

Max King is my 14% faster twin

Max.  With shades.

Jackson Creek

How often do chemical engineers finish 1st and 2nd in a race?  I mused on whether this was just a coincidence during yesterday's McDonald Forest 50 k.

Running sometimes brings clarity to the mind.  By the final aide station I reached a state where "lemon-aide" was the closest I could come up with when asking for "7-up".  About this point, I realized that with all the ways our lives overlap that Max King and I must be twins.

• I sometimes try to keep up with high school kids for workouts on the Crater High School track.  He used to win races on that track. 
• I got a degree from a state school in Chemical Engineering then eventually moved to Central Point.  Max moved away from Central Point and got a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell.
• we both were at the Olympic trials in Eugene--I was able to watch a little of it on the video screen west of the stadium, he ran the steeple chase.
• I've won several local ultras.  He's set course records at most of the local ultras.
• I've got a pair of Rogue Racer shoes.  He helped design those shoes

 I anticipated Max King would go after the course record (which he achieved by about 50 seconds).  I'd like to think I did my part in helping him achieve this by pushing him along.  After all, I was breathing down his neck-- from only about 35 minutes back.

I'm at the back of this pack.

Providing a sample for the an OSU school of pharmacy study on hyponatremia distracted me, so I missed the start.  I caught up enough that I could see Max, but then realized I'd left my water bottle at the med tent.  I was unsuccessful in convincing a spectator on a bike to go get it for me, so at the 2 mile point I had my last glimpse of Max when I turned off the course for a 1/3 mile detour back to the start to get my bottle.

I'm the last guy on the right just crossing the start line.

in the maze

The weather was perfect.  I felt fine until the last hour, then was glad the guy in 2nd that I'd been chasing for the previous 4 miles let me by at the Chip Ross aid station.  I just tried to stay ahead of him and budget the suffering after that.  Perhaps I've been pushing too hard in training with my daughter Esther, or my pacing at the start was too irregular, but I thought going 15 minutes slower than last year should have hurt a lot less this year especially since I thought I was in better shape going in.  I was 14% slower than Max at the Pear Blossom 10 mile this year, and if you give me 3 minutes credit for the water bottle was only 13.6% slower this year, so I'm pretty happy with that.

wedding on Dimple at mile 18.

Next up is the Newport Marathon with Esther June 4th.  Max isn't signed up for that.  14% more than his PR would be about 5 minutes faster than my goal.


GT article:  http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/community/article_b89590c0-7eb4-11e0-b482-001cc4c03286.html

Hagg Mud

I had imagined worse weather for this past weekend.


If it was a few degrees cooler the mud might have stayed frozen.  As it was, it was just cold enough to cause black-ice--we had to take a deture to get to Hagg Lake because a tow truck was blocking the road pulling a truck from the ditch.  I drove much slower after that.

Rain earlier in the week made for very muddy sections over much of the course for the Hagg Lake 50k race.  I think the footing was as bad as it was in 2007, but at least we enjoyed sunshine rather than driving rain.  I made the regretable choice to go with shoes that were lighter but had less traction.  Perhaps spikes would have been better.  One runner appeared to have golf shoes on.



near the finish



3 good falls and some black-berry bushes

I had set goals based on what I was able to do in 2008 when the course was almost dry, which turned out to be overly optomistic.  I averaged 7 minutes per mile for the first 17 miles, but then could only manage 8:30 for the last 14, giving me a time just over 4:00.  That was just enough for 4th place.  I think the competition is getting better, because 4:09 was enough to win it in 2007.  I got some of the mud off in the lake, and the rest in the shower at the Lakes.

done with that

Emily took a break from helping my father-in-law and met me for the finish.  It is always fun to see her.  She declined to do a mud run- something about it not fitting her running plans for the day.  I had as good visit with Eldon before heading home.



Erik came with, but he slept the whole way in the car.  Fortunately my good friend and long-time competitor back to our high-school days,  David Jordan, came with.  Talking with him made the drive fly by, and gave me food for thought.  It was his first ultra, and he had a good experience in spite of the trail conditions.  We made the whole trip in 28 hours.  I'll be sore for the next few days.

did I mention it was muddy?

not quite fit to print

This was in the paper:

I found 2 errors in this.  Can you find them?

So I wrote this to the editor about smokin' PR's

Thanks for "running" a running-related item on the front of the January 2nd Your Life section of the paper.  This Norwegian isn't the first to publish predictions for a marathon time based on 5k times, and such predictions have limitations (well outlined in the book "The Lore of Running.")  But they are fun to think about.  Hopefully they will motivate people to set goals and improve their fitness level.  The charts and graphics are stylish but they have a horrible subliminal antithetical flaw.  The adult male scientist with the clip-board and white coat has vapor rising not from the perspiration of good work-out, but smoke from the TOBACCO PIPE in his mouth!  As a physician, I see daily the negative effects of smoking, and I ask the good editors to be vigilant for smoking messages sneaking into the media.  This same graphic appeared in the Mail Tribune last fall.  It has no place in a health related piece, except perhaps for satire.  Best wishes for good health and running smoke free in 2011.  Parenthetically, there is a math or typographic error for runner 1-- their half marathon time should be about 1:14:59. 

Neil M Olsen, MD

Bring on the Anesthesia

This last Tuesday I underwent my third surgery. Being only 20 I find this as a big accomplishment; and a sign that I probably need to find a better sport.



My story begins on the 24th of September. It was a Friday evening. My coach had flown the top nine girls to Minnesota to race in the Roy Griak Invitational on the 25th. We had just gone on a run at the race course and were back at our hotel to get ready for dinner. Feeling rushed to get ready I had been bending over my bag looking for clothes. I stood up quickly, kind of at an angle, with all my weight on my right leg. It gave way.



The rest of the evening I could not put weight on it. By morning it had swollen considerably. After going for a light jog and feeling no pain it was decided that I would race. That was the worst race of my life. With every step a sharp pain would shoot up my leg. I collapsed over the finish line and a teammate half carried me to the first aid tent.



The next week I took a few days off. The main goal was to get the swelling in my leg down. After a while I was in good enough shape to race again. On October 16th I raced at the Dillinger Invitational. I did not have any pain, but my time was not good either. The next weekend I raced at the Beaver Classic. The next day I could not walk.



My coach and trainer decided it was time I took two weeks off. So I did. During this time period I also started exercises that were designed to help strengthen my knee. By the end of the two weeks we had moved into November and my knee was still hurting. My trainer had me start cross-training with some light running and scheduled an appointment with the team doctor. Dr. Wobig, a knee specialist (just my luck), ordered an MRI and gave me some anti-inflammatories. By the 17th the results were back with what could be a possible intrasubstance tear on my right medial meniscus, it was advised that I undergo an arthroscopy. If there was no tear I would have to take two weeks off, if there was I would have 6-8 weeks in crutches.



Fortunately I don't mind using crutches. =)



Thanks Mom for chauffeuring me around and thanks G-ma and pa for watching Gideon

Pine 2 Palm

Pam dropped me off in the little town of Williams on a Saturday before sunlight.  22 1/2 hrs later she picked me up in Ashland long after dark.

In between, I traveled 103 miles on trails, dirt roads, and a little pavement while climbing and descending a total of 20,000'.  I felt great at the start, and didn't give up the lead until 10 miles.  That was on the first of 3 long, remote, beautiful trails over 7,000' mountains that I had never before traveled.  I made good time on a flat section of dirt road, averaging about 7:20 pace until I got back on trails and hills.  The light rain and cool temperature was fine at low elevations while I was moving well.  Later, when I wasn't moving so well and the wind was driving rain sideways it wasn't so fun.  I borrowed a jacket from a friend, fleece pants from a stranger, a garbage bag from an aid station, and a hat and gloves that I had sent ahead in a drop-bag.

About mile 60, I started having a deep ache in my legs with each step.  I had experienced this once before at my first Where's Waldo.  It was torturous, but self induced, so I asked myself why I was doing it.  I didn't have a good answer.  But I was at least going to get to the next aid station, at mile 66.  I spent 30 minutes there in a chair sipping chicken-noodle soup by the heater.  I decided I was going to at least go to the top of the peak since it was only another 1/2 mile.  I felt better once I left, so I kept going.  I knew my friend, David Jordan, was waiting for me at mile 83.  The leg pain didn't come back until mile 81.  I spent another 1/2 hour in a chair and again had relief.  We walked about 7 miles to the top of the last peak, then jogged the steep down-hill, ran the dirt road, and limped in to the finish.  I hadn't much cared earlier when they were passing me, but I worked hard to pass people back, and caught everyone that had passed me after mile 60 to finish 4th.

This was my 2nd 100 mile finish.  100 milers cause a high level of physical and mental stress.  If I ever do another, I need to train longer miles for it ahead of time.  Which is another challenge- they take a huge amount of preparation.

My legs were very sore for 3 days.  I was able to do 800m repeats with Esther on the 4th day, but then a couple of spots on my feet really hurt.  I went for a bike ride Saturday, but haven't run again.  Yet.

Next on the schedule is the Ashland loop trail marathon, but it's the same day as state xc.

Hood 2 Coast

Once a year 12,000 crazy people decorate their cars with double andantes, and run through the night from the parking lot at Timberline to the beach, largely on back roads.  For a fee of $100+ each, the deal includes smelly bodies and car sickness in dusty stop-and-go traffic after 2 1/2 hrs of sleep in a field to get to a long port-a-potty line before dashing down the road again.  It's a special kind of hurry-up and wait.

team 821, van 2, "before"

In my defense, I view it as a celebration of running, and is worthwhile if you have a fun team.

This year I got on a team with 3 cardiologist, several of their staff and family, and a couple of friends that I ran with last year.  One of the guys, Ken, was former Air Force, served a mission to Korea, and works with the young men's organization in the other stake, so I really enjoyed talking with him.

Mike was on a team named ROUS (Runners of Unusual Stamina).  They started before us, but I had hopes initially that our team would catch his and we would see each other.  24 legs into the race, in a field off a small country road miles from civilization, we pulled in to take our last long break.  2 vans down I noticed the ROUS rig, surrounded by sleeping people but I didn't recognize any of their faces as they were each covered to shade from the light.  I found an empty patch of grass, and caught a little sleep, until the guy orthogonal to me straightened his legs and kicked me in the head.  Sure enough, it was my favorite Andrus brother-in-law.  His team was doing well, and we never did catch them, but it was great to see him if only for a moment.  At that same transition, I was also greeted by friends Ammon and Ann Ebert from Medford. 

in a hurry.  At least, I was.

A nice part of being on a slow team is that the only pressure is what you put on yourself.

I had leg 8, which starts and ends with fairly flat 4+ mile legs, and has a middle leg that climbs almost 1000' total over 5+ miles.  I beat my time estimates, especially on the climb.  On my legs, I averaged 5:28/mile, 6:20/mile, and 5:41/mile. I still felt pretty good, so I joined a team mate for the 7 mile next-to-last leg.

our team leader

We enjoyed good weather this year, and made it back to Forest Grove before dark to rendezvous with my wife.  I jumped out of the team van at a stop light to hop into our Honda.  She did a little geocaching on our way back to my sister-in-law Tracy's birthday party then arrived at the posh motel-Lake in McMinnville.  It was after 10pm, and Esther hadn't run yet.  She was dragging Zachary out with her, and not wanting to miss out on the fun, I donned my shoes yet again for 1 more leg.  It's an admittedly strange way to have fun.