Sights from the trail . . .
It's a stand-off between the sheriff and the baaaad guy. The deputy looks on. The good guys 'wear' white.
An easy six on trails today. Perfect weather with temps in the high 40's and nary a soul in sight.
Couple of fun stories, non-running related, from the State meet this weekend.
The first happened Sunday while waiting for some awards, in this case, the top eight finishers in the 1B/2B Girls Division. A woman beside my wife and I commented that Asotin always has the cool shirts. (We do!) That sparked a conversation. I'm not sure what I said, but the woman looked at me and asked, "You're that guy that wrote the cross country blog last year?"
I admitted it and she mentioned that she went looking for it this year and was disappointed to find it missing. So were the other parents and the kids. I explained that my workload didn't let me get the articles written, so I suspended the blog until I could get some help. I might have to rethink this.
Nice to meet fans. Next year, I might be able to get a little help and InlandXC may come back to life. If so, it would be very cool.
That was Saturday. My wife and I stayed over to Sunday to celebrate her birthday. While we were having breakfast, the team from Holy Names out of Seattle (I think) was eating as well. Marketing opportunity, right?
I admit I was a little slow, but until I get fully tanked on coffee, the brain stays sluggish. Once I did think of handing out a bookmark or two, I had to find them. My sweetie gave me the keys to the car, and I went out. Oops. Not anywhere I looked, so I thought they were up in my bag.
My sweetie's brain works better than mine early in the day. "Did you look in the glove compartment?" she asked. "I showed you were I put them."
Oh, yeah. There.
By the time I fetched them, the team had left. Blown opportunity. Coaches came back in for coffee. I have a mouthful, can't talk as they top off and head out. Blown opportunity two. Sipped my coffee, lamented my lack of initiative.
A coach came back in for a lid for her coffee.
Gathered courage and introduced myself by holding out a bookmark for Finishing Kick and she took it, looking slightly confused. She mentioned that she was out for the meet and I nodded and mentioned we had been, too, to, cheer the Asotin kids.
"Do you know the Roach Family?" she asked, and mentioned the parents.
"I know the some of the kids."
"Megan Roach?"
Now, as it turns out, I do know Megan. I coached her in junior high. At big meets, I was the one that would get her to breathe and relax. Out on the course, she was a warrior. As it turns out, Megan is dating a relative of the lady, so I told her a story.
Megan and my daughter were the number five and six runners on the team in 2011. They paced each other around the the first two miles at the championship meet before my daughter eased ahead, leading by about forty yards on the final downhill to the line.. It wasn't enough. For her last race on the state course, Megan unleashed one of the most beautiful kicks I've had the privilege to witness, passing my daughter and about five other girls as she flew to the finish line, nearly collapsing when she got there.
She explained later. All the kids had written "One more time" on their hands She said she looked at that as the finish came into sight and realized it was just one more time, for real. And she gave everything she had to make it count.
And for those who have read Finishing Kick, now you know where the story came from.
Well, shoot. The Asotin men, having run well all season, had a down day. Telling them it happens doesn't help, I know. Telling them they'll be back might.
Probably the most disappointed Panther is team leader Thomas Weakland. A young man who always aims high, his fifteenth place finish was far removed from the fifth or better that he worked toward all season.
As expected, Northwest Christian-Lacey destroyed the field. This team rocked all season and is solid 1-5. Totalling 47 points, they defeated the runner-ups, Northwest Christain-Colbert, by a whopping 59 points. Led by junior Luke Schilter, the Navigators took three of the top ten overall placements.
NWC-Colbert answered with three of their own, led by Jack Ammon. The weakness I noted last week at the end of the squad for them hurt against Lacey but not against any of the other teams.
Kenneth Rooks of College Place won the overall race in 15:44, a goodly drop from last year's record breaking effort from former Asotin runner Chandler Teigen, though the course was much slower this year than last due to the recent rain. Also running their way into the top ten were Ben Klemmeck of Liberty Bell at fourth overall, Oren Cox of Bridgeport in seventh, and senior Nathan Vanos in tenth as he led his St. George's team to the podium for the first time quite a few years as the squad took third overall.
Outside the top ten but within the top twenty were a slew of athletes running as individual qualifiers. Andrew Gannon of Bickleford PR'd his way to eleventh place in 16:46. Tarell Manjarrez of White Swan did the same, two steps and one second behind at thirteenth place. Hunter Swanson of Tonakset split the difference between them for twelth. Nathan Hopkins of Davenport placed fourteenth, just in front of Thomas Weakland. Eli Neilson of Liberty Bell ran solidly to land on the individual award podium in sixteenth.
Spencer Reiss of Republic took seventh, with Phillip Geist opening the scoring for the Tri-Cities Prep team. The solid core of that team secured fourth place on the podium as each teammate did their job for Coach Scott Larsen.
Probably the best finish involved jumping and sprint specialist Nate Prior of Asotin, who launched from the top of the hill and chased down a half-dozen runners from various teams. Only one runner managed to hold the speedy senior off at the line; Thomas Martin, Asotin's promising freshman. I think they both were surprised at the result.
Eli Endgelow of Asotin placed second for the team while senior Spencer William finished strong to close his high school career.
I'm not sure if the tears from the freshmen were of joy - taking second at State your first year is pretty special - or disappointment, because these young ladies came in with a belief that they could win. Either way, they had help and guidance from the other runners on the team, the junior class.
The race started on time and in a fog. Madison Ward and Marika Morelan, the very dynamic duo from St. George's, pulled into an early lead, with Shania Graham of Republic, Emily Adams of Waitsburg-Prescott, and the Asotin pair of Dykstra and Eggleston, Ellie Summers of Northwest Christian-Lacey, and Athena Milani of Liberty Bell.
I did a fast check. I thought Asotin was the youngest squad. Turns out, I was wrong. Liberty Bell brought six freshman to the meet.
Makayla Miller, yet another splendid freshman, and a pair of Northwest Christian-Colbert women paced out the next group, and then the main pack ran by. Ocosta put on a pretty display of team running and did a beautiful job of maintaining a pack.
By the halfway mark, the field thinned and the women headed out to no-man's-land at the back of the course where no one cheers and the sound of runners breathing and the footsteps next to you are all you have to anchor yourself to. Madie Ward (19:11) and Marika Morelan (19:15) ran wire-to-wire in the lead positions and never conceded an inch of ground.
Right to Left, to the best of my ability. Marika Morelan, Shania Graham, Maia Dykstra, Carmen Eggleston, Ellie Summers, Megan McSheffery, Anna Ruthven, Emily Adams, Athena Milani, Rebekah Henry. Photo courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey
The order at the top of the pack stayed relatively stable until just after the big hairpin turn just past the second mile mark. Maia Dykstra and Carmen Eggleston were still pacing each other, but on the descent from the green, Eggleston found another gear and went hunting for runners to take down. The last mile of the course, with its roller-coaster ride of never ending small hills, played to Eggleston's strengths. She may be the only Asotin runner ever to declare she loved the state course. Most just cuss it.
The team race, though, was decided down ticket, in the three, four, and five spots. Ocosta seniors Sararosa Gallo (21:09) and Rachel Saul (21:15) probably won the race for their team by running so strong together in the middle of the pack, while junior MacKenzie Ballo iced it with a 21:39.
In a surprise to the Asotin squad, Adrienne Washington, running in her first campaign and finally without a cast on her wrist, took third for the team. Her placement made the team race much closer, as did Katerina Stephenson's terrific kick that edged out the aforementioned Ballo. Samantha Nicholas took the fifth spot for Asotin. All the Asotin juniors ran PR's for the state course. Fun thought for the Panther partisans - Asotin is the only team in the top five that does not lose a graduating senior.
Northwest Christian-Lacey finished third among the teams, a position that they aren't used to. The eight-time defending champs finally had a slight down year, but what a terrific run they had. They'll be back and soon.
Reardon was the fourth team on the podium. The team ran well, but in a field this fast, their pack running was not quite able to make difference in the standings. Still, the team graduates three seniors and it's nice to see these classy ladies get their shot on the stand.
Flags should not fly sideways on race day
The weather for the District 7/9 regional meet in Spokane yesterday was, shall we say, crappy. Temperatures were in the low fifties. That wasn’t the issue. Wind, the bane of every runner, made itself one and carried with it some slashing rain for good measure. Since the golf course wasn’t available until 3PM (heaven forbid we get a location that will cater to the kids,) the meet didn’t start until the wind gathered itself as it always does in the afternoon in Eastern Washington.
The course itself could have used more flagging as it wound around the tees and greens. With the recent rain, the footing could be charitably described as soggy, making for some slowish times from the runners.
Madie Ward, leading into the wind
Girls, as usual in Washington, ran first, which turned out to be to their advantage as the wind dipped for a few minutes right as the race started. Madie Ward of St. George’s led the pack out of the gates and onto the course. The leaders tried to stay packed up as long as they could to draft off the other runners. That pack included Madie, running mate Marika Morelan, Anna Ruthven of DeSales, the freshmen duo of Carmen Eggleston and Maia Dykstra of Asotin, freshman Makayla Miller of Pomeroy, Emily Adams of Waitsburg-Prescott, and Shania Graham of Reardon. No real surprises as all these girls have been running well.
Picture Courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey and Madeline Eggelson
By two miles, the packs thinned to a ragged line of women. As they turned the corner for the final loop, they had a welcome chance to run in front of the wind. Ward and Morelan pulled into a solid lead, though Ruthven was eyeing them and staying in striking distance. Emily Adams, who’s been running with a ton of power for the last month looked to keep Ruthven close and fend off Asotin’s Dykstra. Asotin’s other freshman standout was fighting her own battle.
The two have traded off the lead position on the team for the last four races, with Dykstra showing a definite affinity for relatively flat golf courses, and Eggleston loving the advantage that hills give her. It doesn’t affect the team scoring, but the weekly bragging rights matter, too.
The women rounded the last green with a three hundred meter descent to the finish line. For Madie Ward, this proved to almost be too far as she struggled to close out the race. For Madie, who always attacks the race aggressively, this qualified as a shock. According to the spectators at the line (I was up on the hill cheering the remaining competitors,) she began staggering and weaving a hundred meters from the finish and collapsing at the end, ultimately getting medical attention from the paramedics. I caught up with the St. George coaches and they relayed that they were worried but cautiously optimistic. All of us hope that this is a one-off event and that she’s back strong for the state meet next weekend.
In the meantime, Marika Morelan earned the regional title with Anna Ruthven pulling in second. Ward crossed in third with Emily Adams flying in behind her. Then came the Asotin freshmen with Eggleston out-legging Graham from Reardon by a second. Pomeroy’s Makayla Miller wasn’t ceding any ground either and was hot on their heels. A pair of ladies from Northwest Christian-Colbert, Rebekah Henry and Madison Janke, closed out the top ten.
Picture Courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey and Madeline Eggelson
The men’s race went a little more to the scripted form. Kenneth Rooks from College place took the overall title and heads to the state meet. Behind him, last year’s runner-up, NW-C’s Jack Ammon, repeated in second. There was a tough battle between Micah Henry (NW-C) and Thomas Weakland (Asotin). Nathan Vanos from St. George’s (and as hard a worker as you’ll see) took fifth. Tyler Shea helped cement the win for Northwest Christian-Colbert with his sixth place finish. DeSales Daniel Ness took seventh and will head to state as an individual qualifier, as with Rooks. Asotin’s Eli Engledow placed eighth, the only freshman to crack the top 30. Chris Oates of Wilbur-Creston and Nathan Hopkins of Davenport closed out the top ten.
Despite grabbing three of the top five team placements, the depth of the Asotin and St. George’s squads made themselves felt. The final scores, 73, 91, 99, should concern the NW-C team. To secure a spot on the podium, they need their last two runners to step up a bit.
For any of the men’s teams, they need everyone to step up if they’re going to beat Northwest Christian-Lacey, who hung a 16 in the District 4 meet.
I am offering a free Kindle copy of my second book, Trail of Second Chances, to anyone who promises to review it at Amazon or Goodreads. Just drop an email to thatguy@paulduffau.com
News broke this week that Marathon and Beyond will cease publication after it issues its December 2015 edition. The magazine occupied an interesting niche in the marketplace, opting for long-form articles that delved more deeply into the subject matter - whether it was a particular marathon or training story - than the quick blurbs that appear elsewhere. The reason editor Richard Benyo offered was the transition in the readership from a print-based clientele to the digital consumer. While they still maintained a core of people who loved the magazine, the total numbers eroded year-by-year to the point where the magazine was no longer a viable business concern.
They aren't alone in feeling the pinch. Last year, Running Times, my favorite magazine, announced that they were cutting their offering from ten issues per year to six. Even Runner's World is cutting, going from twelve to eleven this year.
To anyone watching the state of American newspapers, or the rise of indie publishing, this comes as no real surprise, though it is sad. The magazines, as with the newspapers, have yet to figure out how to fully monetize their content. Indeed, by publishing their content to the websites, often within days of the print version arriving at the subscriber's home, they actively devalue their business.
“We feel its [Marathon and Beyond] decline can be attributed to the move (especially among younger runners) to digital formats while at the same time the traditional long attention span of the running demographic has been undermined by new media,” Banyo wrote to Runner's World.
The digital formats share several things in common. First, and most importantly to the readers, it is free. Why should they wait for a print copy that they eventually will throw away, when they can have the same information, plus save ten bucks a year? Efforts at establishing firewalls work only when the content is so unique that readers willingly pay for it. In the case of the running mags, they don't have that quality. Much of the material that they publish is regurgitated from past issues. Want to know how to run a faster 5K? Google it (or Bing, which is what I use) and you get 18 million results. The best nutrition for a runner? 8 million, with two of the top ten linking to Runner's World articles. Which leads us to the second problem . . .
The internet is forever. All those articles will be there long after the magazines fail. In fact, it's fun to compare articles from five years ago to today's - the similarities are striking. When the magazines turned over subscriber bases, they did so on about a two year cycle, making it advantageous to rerun the same types of articles because the newest readers would not recognize the repetition. That's no longer the case.
Another part of the M&B statement interested me: that the attention span of the newest readers degraded to 140 characters. This leads to quick 250 words bits of fluff that do little more than announce a study or give a headline. At the websites, you can see the transition to this in the manner that they lay out the articles. A picture, a headline, one sentence of information. I would love to know the click-through rates.
None of this is good news for the running magazines (and they aren't alone.) For books, though, the dynamic is different. The disintermediation that is taking place makes it more advantageous to write books, especially those that approach the subject from a different angle.
Thus, we see more memoirs of runners appearing, from Nick Symmond's Life Outside the Oval Office to Rand Mitzner's Thirty-three Years of Running in Circles to Dave Clark's Out There. In Running: A Long-distance Love Affair, Shawn Hacking added the sound track to follow the story. JOCK: a memoir of the counter-culture, by Robert Coe, puts the history of the sixties into the context of his running career at Stanford.
Jack Welch put together a collection of his work from Running Magazine in When Running Was Young and So Were We, as we take a look back at the golden era of American running.
There's always been a wealth of how-to's in running, but I wonder how much longer they will continue without any real changes in the underlying science. Some will continue to proliferate, mostly on the basis of athlete celebrity, but with the same information available for free, the need for them diminishes by the day.
In the fiction category, we see a little movement, too. There are, of course, my two books and more on the way. Bill Kenley put out High School Runner: Freshman. John Parker put out the wonderful Racing the Rain to complete the Quenton Cassidy saga.
While it looks bleak for the magazines, the future seems bright for authors of longer works. I've queried a dozen magazine for articles from Kenya, with no replies. While it would be nice to have a paying gig while I'm there, the raw material for the articles (there were about four different takes on Kenya that I wanted to explore) can still be used for a book or two. Plus the fiction that I'll generate from the trip.
I'm sad to see M&B go, but the running world will still have its own literature. It might be tweet length and book length with little in-between, but as long as there are runners who are also creators, we'll find a way to communicate.
The junior high season at Asotin ended on the 13th, so I had some time to go watch the older kids racing. I was at Mead in Spokane on Wednesday and at Clarkston for the District 9 meet Saturday.
The Mead meet was right after school and the GSL women's championship was on the line, with the hosts in contention. Last year it rained, a slow cold drizzle. The sunshine and sixty degrees temps were a substantial improvement.
After the JV races, the women took to the line. The emotional leader of the team, Rayanna, kept the ladies focused on getting ready for the race. Once it started, a cold bug kept her from having the race she hoped for. She ran with a lot of guts
Teammate Hannah Tomeo went out with the Mt. Spokane ladies at Coach Dori Whitford's direction. As Dori said, she "wanted to give her more than one way to race." To often, the coaches aren't teaching racing strategy, turning a foot race into a horse race. Yet, as Rono and Lindgren proved, strategy has a place in cross country and forcing your opponent into mistakes can lead to satisfying victories.
In the end, the top three Mt. Spokane ran away from the Mead ladies. Mead took the next four spots. A pretty good dose of dominance by both programs. Something that should cheer the Mead ladies - Mt. Spokane graduates two of those top three. Mead has their top six back and several JV girls nearly ready to step up to help the squad.
The men's race was more balanced, but Ferris edged Mead. Mt. Spokane runner Hayden Dressel took the lead from the start, but his team was never in serious contention. The real battle occurred in the 2-5 positions with a pair of Ferris runners, Erik Holm and Amir Ado, running stride for stride with a pair of Mead men, Will Medellin and Cameron Dean. Will, who was also in the creative writing class I taught earlier in the day, pushed against the Ferris pair, holding onto them for the entire race, with Cameron a few steps back. Behind them, a trio of Mead men tried to close on a quartet from Ferris.
The race at the front came down to a hard chase and kick. Will Medellin managed to get past Ado and Dean did as well. Into the final stretch, Holm led those two, and then launched a kick. Dean unleashed a huge kick of his own, caught Holm and captured the number two spot. Medellin didn't have quite the same finishing speed but fought like heck anyway. I love watching athletes leave it on the course.
Back on home turf, I got to cheer for kids that I coached and some that ran with my daughters. I think this is the last year I can say that. Time moves quickly - the Asotin assistant coach, Jessie Johnson, was a teammate of my middle daughter.
Photo courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey
Girls raced first and Asotin was expected to win the team title. A pack of four ran away from the rest of the field, led by Anna Ruthven of DeSales. Emily Adams stayed hard on her heels, and Carmen Eggleston and Maia Dykstra maintained contact. Mykayla Miller from Pomeroy, Celeste Davis of TCP, and Kat Stephenson (Asotin) formed the next group. Lauren Ruthven (DeSales) and Adriana Bernal (TCP) held position, and then a wave of orange crested as the rest of the Asotin Panthers flew by on the outbound leg of the course.
On the return part of that leg, before the big hill, Ruthven held the lead on Adams by about 20 meters. The Asotin freshman pair had split apart (Maia Dykstra was running with a lingering cold) with Eggleston in front. Forty meters behind them were Davis and Miller. Another gap appeared before Stephenson, running strong, popped into view. It would be nearly a minute before the next runner showed up.
Photo courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey
By the bottom of the hill Adams had closed the gap on Ruthven to a few seconds. Midway up the hill, she through on a hard surge topass the DeSales lady. The change in Emily Adams over the course of the season has been impressive. She's learned to race, and when to take chances to bust open a lead. Ruthven took second with Eggleston locking in third place. Dykstra, despite the cold, battled her way up the hill on guts to hang onto fourth, holding off another freshman, Mykayla Miller. Freshman Celeste Davis trailed in Miller.
Samantha Nicholas stirred the local crowd with a terrific kick and Paiton Vargas, in a bit of a surprise, was the number five runner for Asotin as she seems to be figuring out the whole racing part of running. All eight Asotin ladies placed in the top fifteen.
In all, freshmen captured four of the top six placements. Something that should worry other teams is that Asotin does not have a senior in their top eight. Four are freshmen, four are juniors. The Panthers appear poised for an extended run at the podium. Pomeroy also has a very young team and a growing tradition.
The men's race didn't resolve itself so quickly. Asotin and TCP were in the mix for the team title. The strength of the TCP program under Scott Larsen has always been the quality of the runners, top to bottom. He does a really nice job of bringing them along, and in good numbers, so that the middle of his pack never has a hole that a competing team can take advantage of. TCP put seven runners in the top sixteen to win the race, but only by a point as Asotin did a nice job of scoring.
Kenneth Rooks was the overall winner, and Thomas Weakland led the Panther squad. Third went to DeSales Daniel Ness, fourth to TCP's Phillip Geist, and fifth to Asotin freshman Eli Engledow. Landon Callas of Waitsburg-Prescott finished in sixth. TCP began to flex the mid-pack muscle with Cesar Robles and Thomas Mercer leading the way, Spencer Williams of Asotin in pursuit. Senior Nate Prior would be the next Asotin finisher, in twelfth place. TCP put four consecutive harriers across the line to seal the race. Thomas Martin, another promising Asotin freshman, closed out the scoring for the Panthers.
Photo courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey
Next week, and presumably at State, these team will meet again. Podium spots and bragging rights will be on the line.
In what is becoming a personal tradition, I am in Spokane today to visit the creative writing class taught by Dori Whitford at Mead High School. Dori, who doubles as the women's cross country coach, became a fan when Finishing Kick first came out in Running Times. She sent an email to let me know what she thought of the novel, one thing led to the next, and now I come up on a regular basis to talk to the students.
As always, they, the kids, are interesting. They had some questions pre-written for me to work with and some were really interesting. One, what is my favorite thing to write about, actually put me on the spot, mostly because I told them the truth. I like writing about teenagers. I think they were expecting me to say 'about running.' Understandable. I think the age is fascinating - NOT that I want to go back and repeat it. I told them that, too.
About half of the class would like to write in the future and, to a person, would like to write fiction. My kind of kids. They did split on whether they prefer pen and paper or typing right into the computer. Advantages to both but it was interesting to see how they broke down. It seemed most of the pen and paper kids also liked plotting out the stories. Most are into fantasy with a smattering of thriller and mystery readers, too.
Afterwards, I went traipsing around Riverside State Park, taking off on a five mile run from the Carlson Road Trailhead. Absolutely gorgeous.
The day was a little crisper than I had prepped for - 42 degrees and I had geared out for about ten degrees warmer. Oops. Ran with what I had and figured it was good for triggering my brown fat. Not too bad once I got moving.
I had a choice of dropping down and running by the Spokane River or hill-running. Being a glutton for work, I ground my way up. There's a whole network of trails, mostly well marked. All the ones I hit had good footing though a couple of stretches had enough rock that I paid attention, lest I land in the emergency room. The pictures are from today's run.
Mother Nature's way of taking out over-tall, and inattentive, runners.
No running today. Instead, I got in a four mile hike with a son-in-law, traipsing through the Asotin Bird Sanctuary. Technically named the inelegant Asotin Slough, the locals call it the Bird Sanctuary and it's part of the runs we do with the junior high kids a couple of times a year.
Looking south to Riverpointe, one of the higher end communities in town. I don't live there. My abode is more modest, and leans a bit to one side.
From Chief Looking Glass Park, you can follow Corps of Engineer land east along the river to get to there. (If you are, please remember that you're traversing people's backyards.) When you get to the osprey nest (tall pole, big nest, can't miss it,) drop down to the river to pick up some single track.
Not being in a hurry, we chatted along the way. None of my son-in-laws are runners, though all three are outdoorsmen. The pace was conducive to a relaxing vent. I had a few (they were going to frame today's post, but life interfered, in the pleasant way.) Will, the son-in-law that was with me today, used to work for me long before me married my middle daughter, and he's used to some of my peculiarities, like adding running commentary to audiobooks.
Looking up the Snake River from the SE corner of Asotin. Hells Canyon lay that direction, the deepest step canyon in North America.
We spotted - Will spotted - a pair of deer, does, as we left the boat launch area and entered a lightly wooded section. A couple had already bounded past with their graceful and bouncy gait. These watched us and then slowly sauntered away, mostly unconcerned. This trail is the same one that I brought the kids on a couple of weeks ago. At the start of the season, only four could run that far and get back at the end of practice. At the end of the season, it was more than a dozen.
We broke out from under cover and stuck to the faded trails. Before the Corps had put in a bypass for the river to ensure that the flow, well, flowed correctly and that stagnate water was minimized, this used to be a favorite running route. With the channel, it's more challenging. summers aren't bad as the channel they built is dry, but winters see bank to bank water that necessitates fording in icy currents. I usually find other runs.
The single track follows along the river bank for another half-mile before it peters out in a mix of deer trails near a couple of white sandy beaches. The Corps tried planting (I'm assuming) native trees. The soils here lack nutrients and the annual rainfall matches that of a desert. The trees, shall we say, failed to thrive. Now, they look like random twigs stuck in the ground, marked by square red flags on wire sticks to mark their passing.
We looped over the far end of the new channel, working our way down the river rubble embankments and crossing to the side of the sanctuary that borders the highway. Once upon a time, the cross country team would head out to Snake River Road. A couple of close calls from speeding drivers who approach the road as though it were Le Mans, and that adventure got cut short. It's a shame we can't trust the drivers as the views up the river are spectacular.
Will and I came back along the trail I used the one -only!- time I swam the Snake River. Along with a few bruises from hitting unseen boulders, I got a first-hand appreciation of the power of the river that I used in my book, Trail of Second Chances. (an aside - I am offering free Kindle copies of Trail in return for honest reviews.) The path wound its way past the basalt formations, and ducked through a low smattering of trees.
In the shade of the trees, we came across a box bolted into the basalt rock. Narrow in depth, but wide, it took me a second to recognize it. Will, trained as a biologist, was much quicker. "For bats," he said. It made sense and was preferably to having the bats establish residence in the attics of local homes.
I come across bats on an infrequent basis, and almost always as a surprise. The town that I've found them in most, locally, would be Potlatch, Idaho, about 25 minutes north of Moscow. In one year, I found bats in four separate homes. They typically don't bother the inspectors, but homeowners are not fans of these particular types of freeloaders. Still, I find them preferable to termites, and in their own way, kind of cute. Definitely interesting. . .
The trail came back into open ground as we head back to my house. We had some warning, seeing the head of a doe rising, dropping in front of us. I slowed up to see if maybe I could get a clear picture (I was using the great-grandson of the Indestructible Camera.) Luck was with me, plus I think the deer, understanding Will and I were unarmed, posed.
In all, a pleasant walk. I think the ratio ran to three deer per mile, with assorted birdlife (jay, magpies, sparrows) sprinkled in for seasoning. No snakes, which was fine with me, and a sun that came out and made me sweat the last mile.
Deena Kastor, a favorite of mine, went out and broke the American Women’s marathon record, taking nearly a minute off of Colleen DeReuck’s ten-year-old standard with a sterling 2:27:47. More surprising, she was the first American female finisher. Makes you wonder what’s wrong with the ‘kids’.
I spent Saturday with the folks at the Spokane Marathon, hand-selling and signing books. Not a surprise, I sold a bunch. These are my people. The staff was fun to hang with and treat to talk to. I had a table next to Niki Sibley, who was handing out free coffee from Chamokane Creek Trading Company, a business that she owns with her husband.(Yes, I got some coffee. A Brazilian. Will sip and savor when I get a little down time, then report back.) Niki, an ultrarunner who’s run across the state of Washington, is an incredibly upbeat young lady. I learned a lot from chatting with her. She doubled as the RD of the 10K.
Pay attention! Here's some wonderful advice from Mel. The Spokane Marathon was his 453rd marathon!!!! He started competing in marathons in his 50's. #NoExcuses #AcceptTheChallenge
Posted by The Spokane Marathon on Sunday, October 11, 2015
A gentleman named Mel was the final finisher in Spokane. It was his 453rd marathon. His advice? “When the ol’ rocking chair’s got you, get up and go for a run.”
I met Lori Shauvin. She introduced herself as the "Grandmother of Spokane Cross Country." For more than two decades, she's been taking teams to the Footlocker Cross Country meet in San Diego. Lori's been so dedicated to the kids, and for so long, that she was inducted into the FootlockerXC Hall of Fame. If you don't think that's a big deal, go look at who else is in there. Very neat lady, very strong-willed. Behave or the 'Grandmother' will set you right.
Chicago ran without pacesetters. The reaction on the LetsRun board is mixed. Some love the racing, others think anything less than a world record (or at least the attempt) is worthless. Put me down in the "I love racing" category.
After spending so much time with the race staff and the competitors, I thinking that I should actually train for something. Just don't know what.
Run gently, friends, while I figure it out.
Once upon a time when running in the US was just starting to boom, they held races. By today's standards, they were odd little events. The participants numbered in the hundreds, not the thousands, and pacers were unheard-of.
That changed, first with Bannister's brilliant run to finally break the barrier of 4 minutes with the help of teammates Brashear and Caraway. From then, a steady evolution led to almost all major races having a pacer or a 'rabbit.'
In the opinion of many old-timers (who undoubtedly hate being called that), it's retarded the development of the sport, making it a boring affair of sit-and-kick. Gone from the racing world were the major breaks and tactical pace changes that forced the opposition to compensate.
This hit home last week as I watched the women's race at the Bulldog Invite, held at Big Cross in Pasco. For the second week in a row, I watched Emily Adams (Waitsburg-Prescott) hide for the first mile, before launching an attack and cracking open the front of the pack. The break she made at Pasco won the district race for her. Once she gained that lead, she never relinquished it. By the same token, she didn't increase it in the last mile.
Rather than sit-and-kick, Emily made a transition to a racer, broke the lead pack and dared them to match or catch her. Moves like that, reminiscent of the wild pace changes that Henry Reno used to utilized to break his competitors, make for exciting racing. The Asotin girls are going to need to learn to cover that break out to be close enough at the end to challenge Emily.
Now Chicago is breaking with modern tradition and telling the lead pack they're on their own. It's their race, to win, to lose, on the strength of their legs, lungs, and tactics.
We'll see who still remembers how to really race.
Shawn Hacking writes from the heart in his book, Running: A Long Distance Love Affair. The affair he describes is no longer the hot and urgent passion of the young, but mellower with the acquisition of age and, perhaps, a touch of wisdom.
Running: A Long Distance Love Affair is a quick read, humorous at times, questioning at others, with the strong voice of an author who can tell a story. Built as a series of short chapters, mostly in chronological order, Hacking takes time to anchor each piece in time, both as a runner and in the calendar. The latter he does with a nifty decision to provide a sound track for his book, building a music list a new addition for each chapter. As someone who grew up in nearly the same generation, the memories evoked brought more than one smile.
Funny enough, my daughters would recognize a lot of the tracks and own some of the music.
As with other runners, Hacking came to it from another sport. He first began to run to get into shape for football. He doesn’t mention if he ever played—I know several folks who did both in high school. He did, however, excel right from the start as a runner. By his junior season, he was breaking meet records, and aiming for state records, no mean feat.
Running: A Long Distance Love Affair alternates from the biographical to the reflective. Stories of Henry Rono get offset by a look at the late George Sheehan. As Hacking readily admits, Rono’s belief in the strength gained against the hill held more sway to him than Sheehan’s admonitions to find the play in running. I remember, imperfectly I’m sure, Sheehan commenting on beginning to run to get fit, and then to race. And when the races were over, he discovered that he was a runner again, before asking, in his final days, “Was it enough?”
Younger runners don’t have these questions, but Hacking’s book nudges up to some of these same thoughts. Yet, he manages to capture the beauty of running young and strong, when glory seems possible and the body is indestructible, at the same time. This juxtaposition, intentional or not, brings out the nature of the love affair and how apt the metaphor of running to a love affair truly is.
Research seems to lead me in funny directions. In the midst of tackling something totally different, I came across KenSAP, a project put together by Olympian and Professor at Kenyatta University, Mike Boit, and John Manners, formerly a journalist with Time magazine.
The organization, the Kenya Scholar-Athlete Program, started by finding a half-dozen students in the Rift Valley with promising academic credentials. Mike Boit identified them and John Manners gave them the preparation to deal with the SAT and the application process. Of that first six, five went on to attend top-notch American universities, including three to Harvard, the men realized they had found a means of making large and positive life-altering changes for their charges.
Since 2004 when they first started, they have put 117 students into the American university system. Unlike American athletes who often are given a soft glide into college (and sometimes, it extends in college, as recent revelations of massive fraud at UNC demonstrates), the Kenyan students must score in the top one percent on the tests that the country uses for students to successfully exit high school. Unsurprisingly, their success rate in the United States soars above that of the general populations of the various school. In fact, 114 of 117 students so far have earned a sheepskin, or are making timely progress to doing so.
As Caitlyn Hurley documents in her Boston Globe feature from 2013, the students were not primarily selected for running ability, though the region was. Boit and Manners headed to Western Kenya, home of the Kalenjin tribe. It is from here that Boit, and Rono, and so many of the great runners came. The presumption, born out as true, that the people of the area would be better than average directed them to search for the applicants there.
The early success of KenSAP caught the eye of Canadian Charles Field-Marsham. Field-Marsham has extensive business interests in Kenya, dating from a decade-long residence there with his Kenyan wife. His business instincts proved solid as he started what became Kenya's large stock brokerage, Kestrel Capital. He imported Komatsu equipment, helping to revolutionize the industrial sector, and then saw potential in mining. Purchasing a failed site from the government and implementing new processes, the mine is now a world-leader in the production of fluorspar. In short, Field-Marsham qualifies for the title of financial genius.
Less well known are his extensive philanthropic activities. In 2005, he began to provide assistance to the students, helping with the numerous fees involved. With the disparity of wealth between the US and Kenya, what seems annoyingly high in fees here can appear an insurmountable mountain from Eldoret. Field-Marsham extends the effort to funding two residential training sessions with the prospective scholars and a measure of support for them in the United States.
The Kenyans have a word, harambee, which means pull together. In a uniquely Kenyan way, the High Altitude Training Center and Lornah Kiplagat offered the use of the HATC for the a secure and safe environment for the program. It has since become the Kenyan home for KenSAP.
Lest I give the wrong impression, the Kenya Scholar-Athlete Program does not promote athletes. They do administer a 1500m test race as part of the qualifications. Of those tested, approximately 20 percent show the kind of promise that attract additional attention from a US university. Essentially, this is the opposite of the US system which admits less academically qualified athletes who have high athletic ability.
I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to meet and talk to both John Manners and Mike Boit when I get to Kenya to learn more about their program. I'll keep you posted.
I think the folks at MoneyGram, nice as they are, have too much experience with Nigerian bankers looking to give me $6,100,000 US as a favor. Certainly, when I tried to send money to Kenya, they were very nice when they said they didn't want the business.
The money was earmarked for Justin Lagat. He and I have become FB buddie over the last several months and has provided all sorts of help to me in getting ready for my trip. One dilemma that I hadn't fully resolved was transportation. The original plan was to make extensive use of matatus and taxis, depending on the length of the trip.
The drawback to that plan is the lack of flexibility. Justin contacted me about acting as my guide for about 30 days (it's 35 now) and providing the transportation. I had already made arrangements to stay at Justin's house in Kapkeringon Village for two weeks to get a feel for the region before I moved on to Iten. I took a couple of days to think it over and decided that I really like the idea of having Justin to assist me. For my family, it was a relief as they've been worrying. Actually, they still are, but a bit less understanding that I'll have someone close by to help.
So, Justin and I negotiated a fee that made sense for both of us and I went online to MoneyGram to send the funds. Set up the account at MoneyGram, hit the send button, and went about my day.
Thirty minutes later, MoneyGram declined the transaction. So I called. Apparently they are quite conscious of security issues and worried that I might be falling for a phishing scam. Fair enough. They told me that I could show up in person at one of their facilities.
No problem, as I quickly located three in Lewiston.
Turns out that you can't use a credit card, either - found that out when I arrived and filled out the paperwork. Tried a debit card and forgot that they have limits, so the poor young lady at the counter had to refund everything. It's amazing how comfortably I am using plastic in the place of paper money and how little I pay attention to the limitations.
I eventually went to the bank and withdrew the cash. The teller had the some look on her face that I imagined my mom had when I told her about my trip. A touch of humor with slightly stunned amazement conveys it nicely.
With cash in hand, I finally sent the funds to Justin. He confirmed that he had received them, so we are all set. This is one of those "I'm really glad it did it before I left" experiences since I planned on MoneyGram as my back up if I got low on cash. Now that I know what the process is, I can write up a cheat sheet for my sweetie.
With Justin as my guide, I'll have a tremendous amount of flexibility to travel and explore. From a book research standpoint, I have a knowledgeable man to direct my questions and who will know where to go to look for the answers. From a running standpoint, I can get away from the masses as Justin shows me some of the lesser known running routes.
If you are interested in visiting Kenya, give Justin a thought. You can find him online at Kenyan Athlete or Facebook.
And yes, I'll be posting from Kenya. Less than 100 days to wheel's up!
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