Reason to Run Honduras

Our Spring Burst 5k and 10k was held on April 11th, 2009. One of our goals is to have all of our runs be beneficial to as many people as possible: the runners, the racers, even the organizers, as well as to those who are reached by the designated charity.

For our spring events, we were proud to provide financial support towards the establishment of an automotive technical school for the young men of the Micah Project in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

While we were running here in Tigard, Oregon, the young men and staff from the Micah House were staging their own event in Honduras: Reason to Run Honduras!! Too COOL: our first event goes international!!

Great job goes out to John, Wilmer, Marvin, Rebecca, Erick, Charly, Michael and Cristofer for pounding out a 10k. We just know you guys sweated more than us thanks to the Honduran heat!

Going forward, we are hard at work on our upcoming events...currently scheduled for August 15th and September 19th. We are excited to help provide you many more Reasons to Run!

Day around Mt Hood: Tubing at Summit Ski Area

Last Thursday I took a day off work and joined Cole, Brian Wiggs and his boys, Jon Knapp and Michael Miller from the Micah Project for a day of fun in the sun up on Mt Hood.

After spending a bit too much time driving around the mountain looking for the best tubing (most of the hills were unfortunately closed :-( ) we made it back to Summit Ski Area and some tubing.

The driving around was not a waste however. We got to spend time talking and experiencing some of the breath taking views around Mt Hood. The pictures hardly do it justice.

The tubing was fun and the temperature was unseasonably warm. Once the snow warmed up the tubing got pretty slow so we decided to hit the van again.

We took Michael up to see Timberline Lodge and more great views of the mountain. Reminded me of the PCT 50 run last July...there was almost more snow up on the mountain then.

Then we jumped back in the van and headed to Calamity Janes in Sandy for a early dinner. Now on my boot camp program pretty much nothing fit my fueling plan. And the item Cole picked, hot fudge and marshmallow hamburger, will likely never be part of my diet. Cole loved it, snarfed it all down with the only comment being the fudge and marshmallows did not go well with his fries!!

Family, friends, fun and food...good day!

Portland Marathon 5 miler and marathon pacing

Portland Marathon 5 mile Splits:

Mile one: 6:09
Mile two: 6:15
Mile three: 7:08
Mile four: 6:34
Mile five: 5:53

This post could also be titled: "The day I stopped trusting Joe Dudman" :-) More on that later.


After grabbing a ride down with my buddy Scott, who was running the marathon, I got to watch the marathon start and then wait for my race to start at 7:45 am.
I had a great run today in near perfect temperatures. My finish time is not what I had dreamt of but then the course was tougher than I thought it would be with much more climbing. If you look at the splits you can see the miles that were impacted. Funny how you can never quite make up for the uphill with the downhills :-)
Back to Joe Dudman...he is an amazing and fast local runner who blogs. He put a preview up about the 5 mile course.
Joe talks about a "...1/3 of a mile of climbing".
So when the hill started, I just thought, OK, I can dig deep for 1/3 of a mile and push through a little hill. Well, not sure how Joe measures his miles, but he needs some calibration :-) The hill went on for at least 1.25 miles and had some serious impact on my average pace.
I did shake Joe's hand at the end of the race so all is forgiven :-) Seriously, check out the blog, lots of great info on the Oregon running scene.

Anyways, enough excuses. I am really happy with my place, both overall and in my age group. Now if only I would have dropped 4 seconds to get in to the 31s. Silly not to look at my watch for that last bit.... at least I beat Sean's 10km (6.22 mile) time! Great fun race.

After finishing my race and picking up my clothes, I started running back on the marathon course to meet our friend Kris and pace her to the finish.
It was about 3 miles of running until I hit the first place runner. He was flying and looked to be in control of the race. I think he was at least half a mile in the lead at this point on the nice downhill. But then I look at the results and it shows he placed second. Good lesson: Never, ever give up. There is always more race when anything can happen.

As I continued to run back, it was inspiring to see all these great runners digging deep to pound out the last miles. I saw Kami Semick leading the women. She is an amazing ultra-runner as well as having the foot speed to win with 2:45 at a road marathon!

I met up with Kris around mile 19.5. She was running just behind the 3:35 pace group but needing to focus to continue to make it to the finish with a Boston time. We synced up and headed to the finish. At mile 21, Trisha and Ronda cheered, took pictures and provided gels.

Finally the flat miles through the college grounds ended and we could stretch it out on the nice downhill by the Adidas campus. Kris did amazing on all the downhills to keep herself on track. The uphills, as always in the last part of a marathon were tough, but I tried to help by encouraging Kris to change up her stride to a shorter faster cadence and put those arms to use. Soon we were up and over the Broadway Bridge and back to some sweet downhill, around the corner and spit out back on Naito Parkway for the last ~2 miles of fun.

The 3:40 pace group edged up to us and Kris pushed and stayed even with them till I ducked out at the mile 26 corner. She finished with a great Boston time and likely she will write up more details on her blog. Thanks for letting me be part of your day Kris.

So an amazing day of running with racing, a recovery run and a pacing run to total ~18 miles all before 11:00 am.

Then Trisha picked me up just in time to hit church and catch my friend Brian's first sermon...with the weighty topic of suffering. Brian did a great job of "preachin' it" and challenging everyone with God's words. He will be able to do great things once Natasha and Brian hit the ground running in Honduras with the Micah Project.
Finished with a lazy afternoon hanging with the kids.

Now I just want to sleep and think about the next race / adventure. Not too long of a wait...Trisha and I are bike riding a 75 miler next Sunday on a tandem...life is good!

PCT 50 Miler

On Saturday July 26, 2008, I ran the Pacific Crest Trail 50 mile run. The picture (credits to my son Cole) shows one of reasons why.

Short version:

Inspiring

50 miles in 9 hours and 43 minutes
Averaged 11:40 per mile
45 out of 114 runners.

Long version:
This run starts at the Clackamas Lake historic ranger station at 6:30 am (5:30 am for early starters who require a little more time). You head out on the Pacific Crest Trail and climb up to Timberline Lodge on the shoulder of Mt Hood. Then you run back down to the start as shown at left. Simple and very rewarding with some amazing trail for running and some breathtaking views of Mt Hood as you climb up to the lodge.

This was my first 50 mile race. Last year I ran a 100 km (62 mile Where's Waldo) run but I trained and ran that event strictly to finish. I had planned to race this one to get the best time and finish position possible. Unfortunately my body did not cooperate. I still do not know what really caused the injury but a week before the race, 10 miles into a 15 mile training run with my buddy Rick I started experiencing pretty good pain in my left shin. Erg. I ran for one more mile and then walked the remaining four. Not good. Started R.I.C.E immediately with the hope to heal for race day. No running for 6 days with lots of stretching, icing and massaging. One day before the race I tried a 3 miler with Trisha. I could run but with nagging discomfort. Bummer. Enough whinging...time to do the best I could.

So I was nervous going into race day. The morning came with perfect weather. I had had a pretty good night's sleep. I settled in to just take the day as it rolled out and give it what I had for that day.

Start to Little Crater Lake : 6.1 miles in 54:17 minutes
The first six miles are rolling and a great way to get out the early race anxiety but one must be careful not to go to fast and dip into the reserves that will be needed on the return trip. I really focused on trying to run with a correct stride and prayed for a reduction in the pain but pretty quickly knew it was going to be a longer than planned day on the trail. Met Trisha (awesome crewing Babe!) at the first station, grabbed my other water bottle and headed back out on the trail.

Little Crater Lake to FS58 3.2 miles in 33:39 minutes
Once out of first aid station at Little Crater lake, you have some more rolling and then the start of the first real climb. I loved it. Ronda had helped me plan and train to handle the hills with many hard hill repeats out in the Gorge. My leg felt better on the ups and I was more able to keep up with the other runners. Unfortunately as you can see from the profile above, the whole race is not up. I was frustrated on any downhill as I could not stride it out and "float" to enjoy the benefits of gravity. Oh well, focus on the positive and adjust to the weird reality of looking forward to the uphills :-)

FS 58 to Frog Lake (Hwy 26) 5.2 miles in 46:55 minutes
This is where you start to do more climbing and experience the first real views of Mt Hood. It is both awesome and scary at the same time. You see this amazing mountain off in the distance and realize you are going to run up and over to it :-). A group of us crested the hill and started heading down into the Frog Lake aid station and everyone and their dog started to pass me like the speed bump I was :-) Everyone was very encouraging and it was great to see so many people having a good day. I think all who passed offered me pain killers :-)

Frog Lake to Hwy 35 (Barlow Pass) 4.6 miles in 58:29 minutes
This section was tough for me. The drop bags for the aid station did not make it in time and I had been looking forward to my tunes to help me out...find a beat and try to stretch it out. Trisha was great providing me with backup stuff...except no tunes. The climbing parts were good but then you had to pass the turnaround for the old 50 km race. Boy, would I have liked to turn around. After a minor pity party, it was time to dig in and commit to finishing this thing. Running with Dave S helped us both regroup and head up to the mountain.

Hwy 35 to TimberLine 5.9 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes
The best part of the race for me was the push from the Barlow Pass (Hwy 35) aid station up to Timberline Lodge. Settled in with Todd and we pushed and talked and enjoyed the amazing views afforded on this section of trail. Running through snow in July was fun and blinding. The kids loved playing in it as well. When you clear the forest and get the first clear view of Mt Hood...simply amazing!! Worth 50 miles any day :-) It was also great fun to see the front runners heading back down to the bottom. Rod Bien looked like he was in total control (he would go on to win in 6:56!) with Ian Mcilvenna (from Quesnel B.C. Canada, near where I grew up) in second. The constant stream of runners heading back was inspiring. Onwards and upwards!

Timberline to Hwy 35 5.9 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes
Then we had to turn around and head back. Trisha and Kyly kicked me out of the aid station in good form. I had made the top in 4 hours 30 minutes. Really with the 4000 feet of climbing on the way up and only 1300 feet of climbing on the way back, you should be able to do a negative split or close to it (run as fast or faster back). Not to be on Saturday. Soon it seemed like everyone was passing me as they flew by letting the brakes off as they careened down the forest trails. I continued hobbling along at my governed pace trying to shout encouragement to each and every passing runner. Ultra-running rolls that way.

Hwy 35 to Frog Lake 4.6 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes
I tried to hitch my wagon to Caroline Klug as she motored in to take 4th women overall. I just could not quite keep up on the downhill but it did help me none the less.

Frog Lake to FS 58 5.2 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes
Uphills good, downhills bad. Scenary amazing.

FS 35 to Little Crater Lake 3.2 miles in 41:40 minutes
Running with Allan B (his stomach had shut down to say the least) I figured out how to do the downhills slightly better. Short choppy steps, almost like doing stairs. I think it made it easier, not sure if it was faster. We ran together chugging along until the last aid station.

Little Crater Lake to the Finish 6.1 miles in 1 hour 17 minutes
In the years that I have done the 50 km version of this race I have always died a horrible death in these last 6 miles. Dehydrated and underfueled I slog in like a zombie. Not this year. Likely the second best part of the race for me. I fueled and drank properly for the entire race Warning gory detail: for the first time ever I actually peed in a race!!. Gels about every 35 mins on the trail, turkey slices at the top, 2 Red Bulls along the way, PB & J and coke in the aid stations, and used Margarita Clif Bloks for added salt. Having Trisha at all the aid stations reminding my addled brain to drink and eat was great help! Once I remembered that I had my music, I settled in to some Kutless and was even pleasantly surprised when I saw the paved road up ahead that meant the turn to the finish. I had the added honor of Cole running in the last little section with me. Someday I hope we will run the whole thing together.

Hanging around the finish, eating (burgers!!) and talking to everyone about the race was only topped by the refreshing and required swim in Timothy Lake to finish out the race day.

Today, waking up in the campsite, my body felt far too strong and nimble after 50 miles. My left shin/ankle is no better, no worse. Need to figure out what is the deal. More RICE and back to training. I feel primed and ready to try again next time.

As part of this first 50 miler for me, I used my training and running to help raise awareness and funding for the Micah Project. The challenges these kids face go way beyond those of running 50 miles. For more details please see my previous post. Please consider adding your support to this cause and help me reach one of my other goals for this race.

The PCT 50 is a great race all around with amazing trails, great scenery and so many cool people to hang out with. I learned that you can fuel and hydrate for a long race and not end up needing an IV at the end. Trisha liked that part the best I think :-)
I also learned that all my training has payed off and (most) of my body was really ready to tackle the 50 miles.
Another benefit of not being able to all out race on Saturday was running with many more people than normal. It was quite enjoyable.
Thank you to all the volunteers and Olga and Monika for organizing the race. Jeff...the burgers...mmmmmhhhh!!!!

Make sure to add the PCT 50 to your list of TODOs and know that I will be back next year with a nice little mental edge knowing that I should have no problem setting a personal best :-)

See you at the next race: McKenzie River 50km. Strange...now a 31 miler almost seems short :-)

Micah Project Press: ‘It comes down to why not?’ Bull Mountain runner says of racing for a cause

My fund raising endeavor for the Micah Project was covered in the local Tigard Times and Beaverton Valley newspapers.

Thank you to Kristen Forbes for taking the interest and time to write and get the article into the paper.

The article can be found here.
Please read it, then think and pray about the Micah Project.
Donating money is good too :-)

My previous post on this blog about the Micah Project can be found here.

The Micah Project

We live where people can have a passion to train for running 30, 50, or 100 miles on the trails in the wilds of the country.

I am one of these fortunate people who has taken advantage of the great opportunities available to us in Canada and the United States.

There are other places in the world where the opportunities to excel in life are much more limited.
In the recent months I have become aware of a project done in Honduras that is working to enable boys, teenagers and young men to rise above their previous choices and environment to become active, productive members and leaders of their community: the Micah Project.

This is achieved by teaching the boys that they have self worth as creatures of God and they are on this earth for a reason. Continuing from this foundation, the boys and teens need education and skills to break out of poverty and drug addition to provide for themselves and their family. These kids have come from under the bridge and living on the streets and are now graduating from college and becoming leaders.

Through this program we can help to ensure that the next generation has even greater opportunity. There is a plan to start vocational training within the Micah project that will give the teens and young men the training to become business people in their local area. Create an automotive school to equip the project participants with more skills for the future.

All this sounds great. But the bottom line is that these programs need people and money.
Our friends Natasha and Brian Wiggs have felt called to be the "people". I would like to do my small part to help provide the program with some money.
Please consider reading up on the Micah project. Then think and pray about donating money to this cause. Donations are accepted online and via normal (snail) mail. Click here for more details.

To try to encourage donations, I would like to add challenges tied to my running of a 50 mile race on July 28 th, 2008: the PCT 50.

Get creative and challenge yourself through pledges tied to the race.
You can wager for or against me, or do both...the Micah project just cannot lose :-)
Some examples:
- For every minute I am under a certain time, say 9 hours, you donate 10 dollars.
- For every minute that I am over a certain time, say 8.5 hours, you donate 10 dollars.
- If I place in the top 10 you add an extra 50 dollars.
- If I place in the last 10 you add an extra 50 dollars :-)


If you do want to pledge or donate and you would like to let me know about it please add a comment to this post. Or send me an email. Or tell no one and just feel good about it.

My first pledge is from our family with plans to donate $10 for every mile I run.
It would be great if we could raise a total of $2000.

I get to run and help others...best of both worlds!