"Live Once, Juicy" & "Defiant Athlete"

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Thanks to a writing friend, Rooze, (who is also an amazing photographer, and a great person in general) I found this great website/blog called "Live Once, Juicy." This is a member of Rooze's writing cohort, and the author is also what she calls a "Defiant Athlete." You can click on the website to read more about her projects and goals - and I'm finding it very inspirational. It's helping me find my way back to my earlier fitness goals, I think.

Fitness for the sake of being fit. Not getting derailed by a series of things that I haven't written about here and have barely written about anywhere. I will, at some point. But for now, I'm working on overcoming being triggered, of feeling betrayed, of losing the fitness path I was on and where I felt good.

Thanks, Shaunta, for starting this. Thanks, Rooze, for posting this where I'd see it. Thanks, Tristy, for this amazing and inspiring video below.

Pause

I didn't intend to pause my blogging for the Cascade Lakes Relay - but I am. I planned to put together this coming Friday's Razors Edge and have it magically pop up while I was, again, away from technology (at least the big technology I use to pull the pieces together for my weekly prompt).

But the big event itself has taken so much time this past ten days that I didn't get it done and so, there will be a short intermission as I head over to central Oregon tomorrow.

I have printed reams of paper (and I'm really not exaggerating: five sets of race guides, five full maps, volunteer packets, directions from Portland to the car rental pick-up to the campground to the start line and so on - then tonight even more: phone lists and car rental reservations and campground reservations). I have bought a heaping cart-load at Winco: mini-bagels, many packages of meats and cheeses, many pounds of bananas and clementines, five pounds of Red Vines and black licorice, and suckers, and raw almonds and five cases of water. And more.

I've spent many hours on the phone with insurance compaines and the rental car company and AAA and another supplemental insurance company.

And checked red flashing lights for operability, tested the new pesticide sprayers (thanks to a couple of running teams - we learned that these handy inexpensive garden tools make great cooling equipment for runners/walkers in the desert in summer), sorted the supplies into storage boxes for each van.

And put out little emotional or excitement or "what if" fires among the team.

And the day is here. Tomorrow I will somehow stuff all of the equipment and food that is taking up a chunk of my living room into my compact sedan. My partner will drive me to the meet-up spot, where I will offload everything - including the five cases of water in my trunk - into the RV, in which several of us are making the drive over to the Bend area to pick up the cars and go to our campsite.

Oh - did I say that we are camping this year? We have a nice little group campsite right on the edge of a little lake. Should be gorgeous. The RV is small and is for the inactive van's walkers to chill out (literally) if it's hot - but otherwise, we're sleeping in tents.

I'm excited. A little anxious - I didn't train as hard as I did last year for this. But I'm also in better general fitness shape than I was. So while I know I will be a little sore and I know my pace will (I want to say "probably" but I know the reality is it *will*) be slower than last year - I will still do it. And I will be okay. I've done some walking, focusing on the downhills since I am again doing the six miles down down down leg (six miles, 1,400 elevation loss). My IT bands will notice my reduced training - but I started taking Arnica on Sunday, along with Ibuprofen, and I saw my chiropractor today who gave me some kinesio tape with instructions. My recovery time from working out aches is really great (on indicator of improved fitness) and I have promised several people I won't overdo it and push myself beyond what is reasonable. So - I know I will be sore and I know I will be slower - but I also know I can do it. How great to be able to say, "three miles? that's easy!"

It's been a little hectic and I'm a little low on sleep.

So this week's Razor's Edge will wait. Or be skipped.

Or you can hop over to YouTube and search for "Cascade Lakes Relay" and pick a video as your inspiration. Pick a character from those on screen (or pick a whole team!) - and tell a story about who they are and how they got to CLR.

Friday I'll be on the road with the MissFit WiseWalkers. Making our way from Silver Lake through the Cascade Lakes Highway and on up to Bend.

Ahhh.

photograph from OregonLive's RunOregon blog

AIDS LifeCycle

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I have a friend and co-worker who is participating in the AIDS LifeCycle event. She attended the orientation meeting just a couple hours ago. Tomorrow morning she will head out at 4:30 AM to begin the 545 miles in 7 days bicycle ride.

Tammy has trained hard and is an excellent fundraiser.

I wanted to give a cyber shout out to her and to invite everyone to check in to see how the 2500 bicyclists are doing on this incredible event.

What a cause and what amazing people to do this.

Here is a map of their route:

You can click here to follow the riders or get more information.
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Spring Burst: Listening to my Body

Some MissFits Plus
at the Reason to Run
Spring Burst 2010

There we are - the group that ran (1) and walked (everyone else) the Spring Burst this morning. It was cold and windy - but we warmed up soon enough. This event took place in Cook Park in Tigard, just a few miles south of downtown Portland. It was nice because it was off street, some of it even on trail, with a little mud here and there (well, one big muddy spot). With part of the trail along the river. Very nice. It was also generally sunny and not a raindrop fell.

I had hoped to walk the10k - that's what I signed up for. But my body had other plans, combined with the cold temperature and the wind. At one point I was going to push myself to do the 10k because, well, I thought I could and, therefore, should. I'm good at pushing myself.

Which is probably one major factor in my succumbing to the illness for the past nearly four weeks.

I worked out with the trainer on Thursday - the first time in a couple of weeks. She had me do cardio and advised me to see what the temperature was this morning before making my 5k/10k decision. "If it's too cold," she said, "do the 5k."

So, her advice, and my lungs getting sore and tired, my hips starting to hurt (I haven't done anything over half a mile in almost a month - until Thursday with the trainer) - the wind and the just below 40 degrees : I decided to be kind to myself and turned toward the finish at the place where the 10k participants kept going.

It was hard.

But the thought of potentially setting myself back - healthwise - for another month was enough to make me follow through.

And I rewarded myself with a trip to REI to pick up my s

Publish Post

uper deal rain pants for the Grand Canyon trip (with my 2009 dividend and my member 20% off, I got these awesome pants for only $11). Of course I purchased far more than I saved on the free shipping by having them sent to the store. But most of that was on three styles of socks for walking distances. One thing with getting more fit - I've lost weight in my feet. Go figure! So now, I have to change the types of socks I'm wearing. Which is fine - now I need to find a new favorite style that is anti-blistering and cushioned!

Especially since I have some ideas up my sleeves which involve walking and/or hiking and writing!

intentions

I had a massage today. Not the deep tissue it-will-feel-great-later type - but very effective. This LMT's approach addresses issues at many levels and sometimes I set an intention before we begin.

Today was one of those days.

Today I set my intention for the session to keep connection to my body during the next two weeks; to stay "in" my body.

You see, it's finals time. And I'm still scrambling to catch up with grading homework before I have those final assignments and videos and journals. I have 3 1/2 days off (all in a row, amazing for me, I know!) after I give my last final and I don't want to spend all those hours on grading.

I have more work to do than there are hours to do them and sleep and eat and shower. Let alone work out and go to dragon boat training and prep for the big job I have coming up next week.

So, my tendency is to dig my heels in and "get 'er done." Regardless of how I feel. No, that's not quite accurate, either. I slip in to not noticing and not feeling on some levels. I slip into being able to function on very little sleep and effectively "forget" that I haven't gone for a long fitness walk for a little while, and so on.

My intention is to not do that now. It doesn't make it any easier - but I'd like to keep "conscious" of the whole me through this process. Maybe next time I will remember what this feels like before I take on more than one human can sanely do. Keeping conscious may ease the transition into not being so busy and I will take better care of myself and not slide back into less than good for me ways.

I will get student work graded. I will keep my thoughts and body intact. I will sleep and walk when I can and forgive myself for not doing 4 or 5 miles. And after those final grades are turned in, I will rest. And I will try to rest a little before then - but I will definitely breathe easier when I'm teaching only 3 (or is it 4) credits instead of 10.

On the Fitness Side: an expo

Dragon Boat training has started up again (the first week of January). The Cascade Lakes Relay team is meeting monthly with clinics and talking about our plans - at least a few of us are going to do the Shamrock Run on March 14th. The Grand Canyon group keeps getting our snowshoe trips cancelled because it's too icy or now too warm (predicted 60 for this weekend) and not enough snow - so some of us will go hiking instead.

As we regroup during the winter months and stretch and begin again our trainings - the expos start coming up, with or without events. I saw this one on the OregonLive RunOregon blog. Looks like fun if you're going to be in the Portland, OR area and want to check out some product and go for a walk/run with a group.

Me? I'll be out in the Gorge, hiking!
The Racecenter Event Expo is coming this Saturday, Feb. 20th at the NE Foot Traffic! What can you expect at this great annual tradition?

• 
  Discounts to some of the area's top events
• 
  Raffle for sweet prizes, free shoes, free race discounts and more!
• 
  HUGE, free group run/walk starting at 9am
• 
  FREE Lompoc Beer while it lasts!
• 
  FREE hotdogs and snacks
• 
  Discounts on store products ranging from 10% off for some of our most popular models to 70% off for discontinued models.
• 
  Special offer on all regular priced shoes:
  .......Buy one get the second 25% off!!! (one per customer, same size).

NaNoWriMo: day 14

It has been an amazing day. Full of fitness and friends and team and fun; ending with some work. And I still managed to get in some writing!

I started with a 12 mile training walk with two of my Seattle half marathon friends. We were lucky to have a clear and sunny - although cold - morning; and no rain. Yay for no rain; after I felt like I was going to freeze last weekend with the rain, I have definitely decided that I am putting in my order for no rain on November 29th in Seattle. I'll take the cold (a friend and I did a 10k in early January and there was ice on the ground; I can layer and bundle for that). Please no rain. One friend took off at her faster pace at about 3 1/2 miles, which is fine; my fast is her stroll - and her fast is about 4 minutes per mile faster than mine. But the other friend and I kept up our pace and we made okay time. About mile 9 I started to hurt a little; about mile 10 I was knowing I could do the half marathon but "knew" I couldn't do a full marathon and why would I even try; at mile 11 I saw the end ahead and was driven toward that. We reached our cars, I stretched a little and rushed home to shower and change and drive to the shoe store, where...

The 2010 relay walking team I'm captain of was meeting for shoe fitting and trying on shoes. Seven of us made it there - it was fun and the staff was great. The last of us (which included me) left 3 hours after our arrival. With shoes. And inserts. And socks.

Then I stopped for sushi.

Then I went to a coffee shop with wifi where I proceeded to make more progress on my nanonovel. I saw myself nearing 30k, just as I'd seen us approaching 12 miles, and I thought, I *can* do this before I have to leave for work (which was just 10 minutes away). So I typed and I typed and what do you know!?!?! I did it!

My ending word count for today is 30,104. And the story is still progressing - yay. I hated to stop because I was getting on a roll (though not as good as last night's roll when I had to stop for sleep due to the walk this morning). Oh well, I get to meet with my nanowritingbuddies tomorrow! Yay.

(I may or may not stop by the all night write-in tonight. Will have to see how I'm feeling when I get done with work.)

p.s. - I probably am going to sign up for the marathon training, after all. The first meeting is in December, with biweekly training walks/runs. After I push through those final 3 or 4 miles, I feel good. Kind of like NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo: day 6

An extremely sleep deprived day. I did not get to sleep immediately upon arriving home from work in the week hours of the morning today. Right now I cannot even remember what it was that was so important to do when I got home - but it was, I swear! I did it quickly, but it still delayed getting to bed for an hour. Then I had a very early job so that my number of hours I had to sleep was absolutely horrible. I did squeeze in two 10 minute naps today - which helps.

I came up with a new metaphor. These last two days have felt like the "old days" when you scrounged through the sofa and the car seats, collecting whatever coins you could so you could drive to the gas station and buy 5o cents or 75 cents of gas to get you around for a couple of days.

I've been scrambling around in search of long enough blocks of time to take a nap: 10 here, 15 there, another 10, and even a 30 last night. Just long enough for me to catch a little down time, eyes shut, lessening the chatter in my brain, to make it do-able to get through the next stretch of work.

But tonight - I will go to bed and I will sleep. I can't sleep as long as I want, since I have to do a 10 mile pace walk tomorrow. But, if I can wrap this post up and get to bed right now, I should be able to get a full 8 hours before I walk.

My reward will be a massage in the early afternoon.

Woo.

Oh, and my current word count? Give it up for me, who has passed another major milestone: 15,608 ! Yay.

NaNoWriMo: day 3

Today is a lower word count - as I knew it would be. The day has been full of work with minimal time in between. Luckily there was a good 30 minutes of down time in one job and I managed to hand write about 500 words.

Then one assignment ended about 30 minutes early, which gave me enough time to run by my PO Box and - yes, there was a check. Thank you, universe! Deposit it, stop by a cafe with free wi-fi between post office, bank, final job of the day. Where I ate dinner while typing up those 500 words and adding a few more. Type a paragraph - take a bite - sip some coffee; repeat.

My ending word count for today is 7436 (or right about there; I know it's 7,40o plus a few).

And I just had another two characters show up. Sheesh, this novel is getting crowded. Wait. I did say a team of eight plus two drivers. Oh, right. I'll still have to pick up a few more along the way somewhere, because two of the characters so far have refused to do the relay.

Speaking of which: tomorrow night is the second meeting of the walking relay team. I am printing out a handy dandy checklist for team members tomorrow, which goes with the clinic we'll be having (thank you, Nikki!) and with our field trip to a giant shoe store weekend after next.

Life is good.

NaNoWriMo: the excitement mounts

In 24 hours I will be at the midnight write-in for NaNoWriMo. No, we won't be writing, yet - but I will be there in order to get a seat and a place at the electrical strip! We will be meeting and greeting, challenging and chatting, playing and - well, I don't really know. Last year I slid in at about 11:54 pm and did, luckily, get a place to sit and a place to plug in. But this is a new place.

Who knows, there may be singing and dancing! I know writers will be appearing in costumes and pajamas and work clothes and whatever is clean clothes. It's all okay. We will be there to begin another year of NaNo-noveling.

So, on the Twitter site, I just saw the stats of participants as of noon or so today:

2009 Tally: 100,335 authors signed up. WOW! $116,887 on the fundometer.

That is really awesome. And there will be more registering tomorrow and Sunday - and even a few beyond that.

Now to sleep, so that I can get up early and go walk 11 miles with two of my half-marathon friends. In the rain. Early. It's all good and will get us ready for the wind and rain and cold we'll be facing in Seattle at the end of November.

countdown: 5 days, 4 hours

...but who's counting? oh, me... right... and thousands of other hopefuls.

And so I've entered the final week before NaNoWriMo. Am I prepared? Maybe. Am I ready to jump into this novel? Yes, definitely.

Maybe I should be making lists. What I need and when and where. Or maybe not. Life has been hitting me from right and left these last two weeks and I feel like I've been in a battleground. I won't bore you with the details nor expose personal garbage by spilling it here *grin. So the one thing I have done is put out a request to the universe to stop with the messes and get those stars aligned because I am going to write another novel beginning at midnight:01 on November 1st. And I need a little help getting things straightened out before that time.

Despite all the drama and the too many things to do in too little time, I am excited. I am excited to see where this idea leads me. All you see in my last post is what I know. I don't have specific characters in mind nor specific incidents. I don't know if what I wrote as a synopsis will be a scene, the start, or the setting in general.

But it will happen. It will go somewhere. It will be completed. As I work, and teach (which is work, yes) , and finish out the last three weeks of the writing group I'm facilitating, and wrap up the final two weeks of the writing workshop I'm taking, and train for and walk my first half marathon. I can.

NaNoWriMo: 10 days to go and I have....

...a title and a synopsis. This is far more than I had last year at this time - and I will have no more until 12:01 AM on November 1st. No - no outline for me. No cast of characters other than the basic few mentioned below. I will wait to see who shows up on my page as I type and where they take us. But, for now, I have a spark of an idea for the setting and I do have a working title.

Welcome to my 2009 NaNoWriMo Novel:

"Cascade Lakes Footnotes"

Eight women walkers, their two drivers, in two vans, encounter more challenges than they expected in the Cascade Mountains in central Oregon.

The members of Mighty Maude's Marauders are new found friends who decide to take on the challenges of the 132.4 mile walking section of the Cascade Lakes Relay. They joined the event with fitness in mind and each with a personal goal. As the race continues, they discover that at least one of their members has some well-hidden secrets.

Join the Might Maudes as they traverse through the blaring sun and thunderstorms, walk up breath stealing inclines and down I.T. Band crunching declines, and climb higher and higher on the Cascade Lakes Highway. The excitement they stepped off with at Silver Lakes out past LaPine is replaced by fear as they cross over the base of Mount Bachelor and head toward the final miles into Bend. The quest for new personal bests is replaced by the quest for survival.

tomorrow I walk

This morning I picked up my bib and goodies bag, information for other events, some new socks (same kind of socks, just new ones! which I will not wear tomorrow but will get them broken in for Seattle in November), and other stuff.

I ate breakfast.

I ate lunch.

I wrote some feedback to a writer in the online class I'm doing with Ariel Gore.

I took a nap. Woke up and stretched.

I drank some electrolytes.

I'm going to eat dinner soon.

And the plan is to be in bed by 8:00 pm. Notice I didn't say *asleep* - just in bed. We'll see how that goes. My night is usually just getting started at 8 pm - but tomorrow I have the Mayor's Walk. Yesterday I said, "but it's only 10k" to a couple of people - who looked at me with that are-you-kidding-me face or in the tone of their voice. A year ago the 10k was a really big deal and walking 6.2 miles is not "nothing."

I am planning on walking it fast (for me). It'll be my pace day for the week. My Achilles is taped up by my chiropractor and all will be well. I realized about an hour ago the one thing I didn't plan for was cold hands. I'm heading off to look for gloves now - I have some somewhere in the house. It's time to dig them out, anyway - I just need them a little earlier this year and for a different reason.

Being downtown by 7:00 am to get a parking place and hop the shuttle to go to the start of the walk. It's predicted to be only 45 degrees at 8:00 AM when I plan to step off and head back downtown. Brrr. So - gloves needed. My attire is otherwise laid out and ready to go, my breakfast planned, electrolytes for during the walk ready to be put into water when I get up, and carbs in the Camelbak.

It's only 10k, I think, again. But I'm not going for a stroll, I remind myself. It IS 10k and that's good.

Then tomorrow afternoon and night it's back to work. And back to writing and feedback and making final preparations for my Write Around Portland group on Monday.

Which reminds me: thank you to everyone who has donated to this awesome organization. And you can still give a little if you want; I'll leave the link up for a while - the FirstGiving website will be active for a month after the event. Thank you!

inspiration is a two-way happening

originally posted at Run Around for Write Around Portland

Last week I took my distance training day off - on the advice of my doctor because of pain in my Achilles tendon; but still. I took it off. I did a one-mile stroll with a friend the next day. Then I missed my pace training 2 days later; same reason. I did the 4 miles of the pace training, but at regular speed - not speedy speed. That was this last Monday.

On Tuesday I did my strength training and regular walking (several short brisk-ish walks totalling an hour scattered in between my jobs).

Then it was Wednesday and time for my hill training (in preparation for the half marathon in Seattle; I don't need it for the Portland Mayor's Walk!). I was concerned about my heel and feeling a little frustrated about missing the distance day and not doing the pace training. And doubting myself. Not wanting to do it - up and down the hill to Mt Tabor several times.

I distracted myself by checking my email. Which turned out to be the perfect anecdote to my funk. There was the following email from my dragon boat / half-marathon walking / whitewater rafting friend :

Hi Dot... every now and then I check in on your writing [on your website, The Writing Vein] ... and I love reading what you write! I also just wanted to tell you that it inspired me because I'm getting to the point where I think about going out for a run/walk or walk and I don't want to... but you remind me that I will feel better if I go and do it. Thank you for that!

I was just going to go do the 1/2 Marathon without training but think I'd
better get out there and get my feet in condition!

Don't forget the Race for the Cure on the 20th!

...oh, and she's a MissFit Alliance Race for the Cure teammate, too.

I went out with a smile and walked up and down the hill. And without any pain in my foot but with a renewed sense of "I can do this."

Thank you, K, for your perfectly timed counter-insprational note. And I did feel better for having done it.
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copy: walking around for write around

I will be walking the 10k Mayor's Walk in the Portland Marathon. I am a walker, not a runner - and I'm fine with that. I am not a race walker, I am a walker who is increasing her pace little by little, with a current goal of doing under 17 minute miles in a half marathon in November. And I'm okay with that, too.

I read Loren's post [on the Run Around for Write Around Portland blog] with a knowing nod about what keeps you going when you don't feel like it. I am just coming out of one of those stretches where I've had to drag myself out the door to go for the 5-mile pace building training walk, or the 8-mile distance building walk, or to walk up and down the hill to Mt Tabor 5 - 7 times. And that's been okay, too.

So what does keep me going?

Sometimes it's noticing how I'm feeling - like the time two weeks ago when I took a day off due to fatigue, and it was the day after my training day off. I was feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. So on the third day I set out on my training walk and I'd gone only a fraction of the miles I had to go and that cloud of doom lifted and I thought, ahhhh. Recognizing that my body has become used to the daily routine. Easier and cheaper than another therapy appointment or anti-depression medication *grin*. Or it's my partner telling me I've become a little crabby and wouldn't a walk feel good? And I know she's right. And it does.

Sometimes I keep going because I've signed up for some events and rallied others to join me on events I haven't signed up for yet. An example is that Sunday I thought, there is no way I can do that 8 miles today and then I remembered that, after the Mayor's Walk, my next event is the half-marathon in Seattle in November. Which now feels not so far away; and I'm out the door with shoes laced and my Camelbak full with a package of Stingers in my pocket.

The same is true of writing. If I go too long without being actively engaged in the writing process, I get cranky. I start feeling bottled up. Stuck. And sometimes I have to completely close that internal critic's eye and just write. I keep myself enrolled in a "Lit Star Training" course with Ariel Gore so that writing is kept on my list of things to do, with weekly assignments and peer feedback. And I find submission deadlines to give me an end-point or a reason to keep revising.

I write because I have something to say.

I walk because I feel better when I do and because I don't want to lose the muscle I've gained or gain the weight I've lost.

I walk and I write because sometimes I find myself smiling for no apparent reason, except that it feels good to be alive and I have something to look forward to. Or maybe I have a kayak tucked in the back of my car. Or snowshoes in the closet waiting for the snow to fall.

Or I find myself halfway up the four flights of stairs to Write Around Portland to pick up my facilitator's bag and realize I didn't even consider taking the elevator.

Originally posted on
Run Around for Write Around Portland

stuck - why?

I don't understand why I am getting stuck when asked to write short personal essays about my walking. Or my walking and writing.

I write about it all the time. I write pieces to be published which are true and are about walking. And often writing. And I complete them.

But recently I've been faced with two separate pieces about my walking and my journey to fitness and. Gulp. Nada. Well, that's not entirely true. I wrote something - at least a beginning. And then, for one, I found myself rambling. Saying the same thing over and over and going nowhere; kind of like now.

The other one is a short "testimonial" type piece, which I'm happy to write and want to write. And. Gulp. What do I say? It's still just me; live; real. But, somehow, the words are elusive and everything I've started sound wooden and artificial.

Stuck. Think I need to sleep now and tackle them again after I've had enough sleep.

And a walk; five miles fast tomorrow - my pace training day.

more politics of health care

Recently I've read several anecdotal stories supporting the need for health care reform. And I've heard people get up in arms and misunderstand or misquote or believe propoganda from the fear mongers and there is an outcry that we don't need to change the system.

Do they really think the current health care system is working? Do they really believe the lies being spread about what has been proposed and the options? Do they really believe the current system is fair and healthy and better than what most other countries have?

Recently my partner overheard a couple of guys talking right outside our house. I don't remember all the details of the story - but it was the usual about not needing health care change, how national health care would be a disaster and people would abuse it, and so on. Then one guy said, "aw, it doesn't really matter anyway, cuz I've already got mine; I don't care."

That's what it comes down to: an attitude of "I've got mine so I don't care what you need or want." I don't know what the perfect system would be or if there is a "perfect" one; I do know that this one is not working.

Today I saw the following article - which was not intended as a commentary about health care in this country, but I think it's a good one to add to the archives on the subject. This article was triple this length, but I think I'll let this article speak for itself - and I know there will be some who will twist this to mean other than I intended. I'm glad he at least has a community to help him where our "health care" system fails.

Where's Waldo 100k winner Erik Skaggs needs your support

Erik Skaggs, 27, of Ashland, won the Where's Waldo 100k in a time of 9:11:05; but was hospitalized later that day and remains in need of medical care.

.... Erik ran and won the Where's Waldo 100 Kilometer Ultramarathon last Saturday in record time but began having medical difficulties later that day.
....
Many friends throughout the ultrarunning community have already asked how they can help. One of Erik's biggest concerns is the mounting medical bill. Erik does not have health insurance. He may be eligible for some assistance through his membership with USA Track and Field, but will no doubt require monies for the deductible and for the expected costs well above the coverage. An Ashland runner and friend of Erik's has opened a bank account at Umpqua Bank in Ashland, Oregon to receive donations that will be used to help defray these medical expenses.

If you are interested in reading the rest of the article, you can do it on the Run Oregon blog on the OregonLive website.

Picture of Erik Skagg from UltraRunning Online

relay: race results

Here are the results for the walking teams for the Cascade Lakes Relay this last weekend. I think we made a fine showing; we are mostly rookies in this activity. We did great!!

WALKING TEAM - START FROM SILVER LAKE

1 Rumpled Old Men Junction City 26:44:58 Mixed Open
2 Road Rivals Oregon City 27:38:28 Womens Open
3 Forever Young Pendleton 27:38:29 Mixed Masters
4 WeBe Walkabout.. Eugene 29:01:57 Womens Masters
5 WPI Rock-its Tigard 29:43:47 Womens Open
6 Sole Sisters* Aloha 29:52:48 Womens Open
7 huffin puffin Portland 30:05:44 Womens Open
8 Vintage Whine Walkers Portland 31:28:01 Womens Masters
9 MissFit WiseWalkers Portland 33:29:57 Womens Open

relay: photos

Photographs from various team members...not necessarily in the exact order in which they happened...from the MissFit WiseWalkers inaugural participation in the Cascade Lakes Relay event, from Silver Lakes, OR to Bend, Or - a total of 132.4 miles route.

along an early morning leg on 8/1/09

Gwen is "feeling the glory - finally"... we all had this moment at some point
7/31/09

exchange point #18, waiting for Cheri
there had been a communication mix-up just prior to this
van#2 rushed to the point, only to wait another two hours or so
(walkers from both vans in the photo)
...it happens!...
7/31/09


van #1: "runners on the road" sign by Dot,
new slogan inspired by a relay support staff
who caught up with them early in the morning on 8/1/09 and told them
"congratulations! you're doing great.
last year's last place team didn't get here until 2pm."
hence our slogan, written in window crayons above the sign:
"Faster than last year's last place team"
... we may be DAL, but we're not the slowest!...


the handoff at exchange #18
Cheri was 30 minutes or so ahead of the next
walker; they are members of a race walking club
and they passed us up a couple hours later despite
having started 1 1/2 hours after us
...and we were fine with that...
nice women and it was nice to have the company
on the late night routes, especially!
7/31/09


this is me coming in at 3:16 AM on 8/1/09
at exchange # 24
the end of a 6.6 mile walk on the
Cascade Lakes highway
in the dark
through the Deschutes National Forest
and I'd been up since 5:15 AM on 7/31/09
with only a 15 minute nap
...love the headlamp halo effect from being in motion...


G bringing it on home for the final leg for van #1
...still six legs to go for van #2, but this group
gets to go back to the house and shower
...oh wait, there was the clogged bathtub incident
8/1/09


a gorgeous sunset
complete with a phenomenal thunderstorm
a nice photo that barely shows
the beauty

post-relay

What a fantastic day, today!

I woke without a sore knee, thanks to the awesome and talented Betsy Mitchell, DC, despite my record time going 1372 feet in six miles downhill yesterday. I have been going to her for years; but she has been especially supportive and helpful as I increase my physical activity and through things like aching knees, twisted back muscles during dragon boats, strained tendons during whitewater rafting, DOMS (now that was a "great" one: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, tending to show up in people as they age.... great), and she has been phenomenal as I've been training for this relay. She put kinesio tape on my tend-to-ache-knee the day before I went to Bend and gave me a new set to apply before my feat yesterday. And, voila, I awoke with not only a non-aching knee, but a knee that felt great.

My training for the event, with specific focus two to three days a week on the big downhill part, really paid off and the preparation and prevention steps helped, too. A year ago I went on a round trip 6.5 or 7 mile hike with a friend and I halfway back I thought there was a chance I would not be able to make it down to the car, my knees both hurt and the more sensitive one was throbbing and aching. (You know, once you're up there on a hike in the forest, you have to get back down - you can't park your behind and tell your buddy to just swing the car around.)

My back was sore this morning; couldn't quite stand up straight when I got out of bed. Excuse me, couldn't quite stand up straight when I rolled out of my sleeping bag on a 1" self-inflating camping pad this morning. Oh, that might of been part of the problem - I was too tired to inflate my air mattress last night, which would have given my pushed-to-its-max body a little more cush to sleep on. A shower helped and I straightened right up and the back pain eventually went away.

But my hips- or my hip sockets? Something in that area needs attention. Which is why I am grateful I have an appointment with the chiropractor tomorrow morning. Yay for me.

In another side of things - we are going to do the Cascade Lakes Relay again next year. On the ride home in the RV, we did a little strategizing and planning - which I will continue with. I will be the team captain, again, next year (like the sound of that? me!?! team captain!) and I'm getting feedback from the participants on their "kudos" and "oops." Next year will be even better.

And I have already heard back from one of this year's participants that she wants to be on our team, again. Yay!

Then tonight I had a peer editing & potluck dinner with the editor, publisher, and a few of the other authors for Alltopia, the zine which is publishing one of my creative non-fiction pieces in their fall issue. That was really nice and helpful.

The zine release and reading will be on August 23rd at 6:00 pm, at Hipbone Studio. More details to come after I get the full information from the editor.

Now I'm really tired and need to go to bed. And I have a story due today. Sleep? Write? Sleepzzzzz.

And did I tell you that my team did great! As in Tony the Tiger, grrrreaaaaaat!