Where's Waldo 100K

Welcome to Oregon! This was the view from the flight into Portland - Mt. Hood with Mt. Jefferson in the background...

It was so nice of Carrie and Aaron to move to Portland last year. Giving Kami and I a good reason to run Where’s Waldo 100K in south east Oregon.

Bento Box

Lunch time in Tokyo...

Tokyo

(Where's Waldo / Oregon report to follow!)

It's great being back in Japan after so many years... I lived here for 3 years about ten years ago (1998-2001), in a city called Toyama on the west coast (Sea of Japan). During that time I made several trips to Tokyo so had gotten to know the place quite well. Then I was back here for two short visits in the summer of 2004. And now, after a few days here, it certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long... I had forgotten how much I love this town... So this is the kanji for Tokyo:

This is a new building that wasn't here in 04 and proved to be a good landmark on my run this morning...

Because even though the signs are in English and I can read some Japanese, I still didn't have a clue where I was going...

And it was early - though I'd been awake since 3:30AM...

I ended up at the Meiji Shrine - where, upon instruction from the guard, I had to walk not run...

That was cool - it's the kind of place where you want to be peaceful...

First stop is to wash your hands...

And then you can enter...

And read something about the shrine that was established in 1920 in honor of the Meiji Emperor...

The entrance to the main hall...

   You wouldn't want this door to close in your face...

   Beautiful woodwork...

Prayers...

Wine? Apparently so... Then it was off to Yoyogi-Koen where I used to hang out every visit to Tokyo - though I was not a runner at the time so I was seeing it from a different perspective this morning...

 

There were lots of runners about...

And a few dogs - the big ones get a break from the little ones...

   And everywhere, vending machines...

   But more importantly there were some trails...

   Which apparently one is not meant to run on...

   (the above kanji means "stop"!)

  Nobody does graffiti like the Japanese...

   And then, on my way back to the hotel I was running along and looked up to see the good old conical flask symbol which brought back memories - this is the HQ of my old company that I worked for in Toyama...

   

Beta V.5

Ahh, all weekends should be like this... Earlier in the summer I was chatting to Brian about running some of the earlier sections of the Sawtooth course as a training run ahead of his first 100 miler in September. So I was glad that it worked out for him to be able to join me on yet another trip north (I feel like I have neglected Afton this summer!)... Myself, Vale & Dee headed off from the cities around 3pm Friday and met up with Brian in Two Harbors. Chris and Cooper joined us later the campsite. The plan was for Brian to run from Gooseberry to Finland the next day with the rest of us joining him at Silver Bay. Vale would have run the whole thing as part of her training for Sawtooth also but was resting a sore foot. The day turned out to be much hotter than expected, and hotter even that the Twin Cities, but it did mean beautiful clear skies and awesome views of the lake. There was some reprieve with the breeze up on the high ridges but overall it was super hot and humid. We were dripping wet from the start and drinking way more than usual. Which unfortunately meant we ran out of water - a lesson learned there! Though I personally found the Baptism River water to be quite tasty... but I agree, not generally recommended. After a nice long day on the trail we relaxed by the campfire for the evening, entertained by Brian's stories including the lock-jaw one which had us all in stitches. Sunday morning myself and the girls helped out with a bridge building project at Fox Farm Road west trailhead - part of the new sections of trail south of Two Harbors. It was a lot of fun and standing in the cold river for an hour was probably good for the legs! Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Need a pacer? Don't hire me...

I was thinking I was 0 for 3 until Vale kindly reminded me that I did successfully pace her at Zumbro 100K last year. Though I did have help from John and also managed to lose her on one of the loops – that was quite amusing – to come into the AS without my runner! The less successful adventures include...

- Eric at Sawtooth 100M last year... things weren’t going so well in the unusually hot conditions so I ran with him from mile 42 rather than later on. But at 50M he decided to call it a day (but he will be back to complete the endeavor next month!)

- Karen at Kettle Moraine 100M this summer... I am not sure if it’s a reflection on me or not but Karen dropped before I even saw her that day :)

- And now Alicia at Headlands 100M this past weekend...

I knew Alicia went into the race with some shin issues and was also battling a head cold. She seemed to be in good form for the first loop though later I realized she was already suffering from the constant steep climbs and descents. By midway through the second loop I could tell she wasn’t having a lot of fun out there so I decided to run from mile 50 instead of 75 (it’s a 4 loop course – washing machine style). After a 10 minute warm-up in the car we started out with just under 11 hours on the clock. At the first AS 4 miles into the loop we took a few minutes so that Alicia might be able to get in food that would settle her stomach – but to no avail.

Soon after I realized she was in quite a bit of pain and as we talked about it over the next few miles I began to think continuing on probably wasn’t a smart idea. No one wants to drop from a 100 mile race, especially when you know you have the ability to finish, and when you have traveled across the country to run the race. I have no problem pushing people through mental issues and stomach issues (I’m a little gentler here). But the potential for serious injury outweighs the need to finish a 100 miler in my mind. I knew that covering another 42 miles was going to end up doing a lot more damage than good so when Alicia sat down at the Muir Beach AS at mile 58 and said she was done I didn’t argue.

On a positive note, we did still have a fun weekend in the Bay Area. Hanging out Friday night, finding a neat market by our hotel and then a coffee shop that would open at 5:30 Saturday morning - yay! And then when things didn't go to plan on Saturday night we had the chance to enjoy a few hours around the Embarcadero area on Sunday morning - polishing off a breakfast worthy of champions (forgetting about the minor detail of not finishing the race) and then spending a few dollars at the markets.

Before the race prep started in earnest, I had flown out Thursday afternoon to hang out with friends in Berkeley. That evening I had a nice run by Lake Anza in Tilden Park. Then Friday morning, I drove about 30 minutes east to Mt. Diablo State Park. With help from Tony K who put me in touch with a few runners from the area, I started out at the Macedo Ranch trail head, navigated past the cows, and had one of the most glorious runs ever to the summit at 3,849ft. It was just over 10K to the top, on a mix of fire roads followed by relatively smooth singletrack. To be honest, there was probably more hiking than running but I am pretty sure my average heart rate was above what it normally is for a speed workout! It’s been an incredible few weeks of running since getting back on my feet after the foot surgery.

And when I haven’t been running, the volunteering / crewing has been just as much fun. Without a doubt I enjoyed Afton and Voyageur this year every bit as much as previous years. I have said it before and will say it again, if you run races, you simply have to volunteer at one. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. And remember, you don’t have to wait until you are injured :)