8/23/00
Wednesday:
Up at 6:00 AM – bleary eyed. To bed 12:30 last night after run with Petra and then group,
visit with Terry, dinner with Joy and packing. Got bags together and went for Bagels (6 for Suzy, 2 for us) and
coffee. Car service called on
time. Easy drive to JFK except some
traffic on VanWyck due to construction.
Smooth takeoff on Delta non-stop.
Trying to rest. … Had a brief
nap on board – feel a little better.
Suzy met us at airport.
Lunch at Lena’s in Suzy’s neighborhood – took forever to get
served. Food good. Suzy biked to work.
Went to Hotel.
Worked couple of hours with Lauren and Elissa on posters, etc. Saw Jerry and Suzanne.
Bobby and Virginia came by. We all went to Montage – a cool place by the River – for
dinner. Then I went to meet Flyers for
a drink. Got lost and went about 10
miles down I-5. Met them at the Riverside
for a beer. Dean had come in. Made a few plans. Running out of gas – finally found a gas station on 39th
4 blocks north of Hawthorn.
Back to Suzy’s and to bed.
8/24/00
Thursday.
Up at 7:00. Slept
so-so. Suzy’s couch not the best. Met Jerry, Suzanne, Lauren, Renee and
Ruth. Ran along Terwillinger. Great run, beautiful scenery, hills,
views. 7 miles.
Went to airport to get vans. Sarah S., Tom and Gina were there. Gina’s luggage was lost and she was trying to track it down. Get four vans on Dean’s name. Drive back to Hotel, get lost. Back to Suzy’s to rest.
Joy picked up some odds and ends at Fred Meyer at 39th
and Hawthorne (Bus both ways). Go to
Jake’s Grille at 10th and Alder.
Nice place – 23 of us (Ed O. and Joe late) including Joy, Suzy, Bobbie
and Virginia. Steak House with great
seafood. Had Columbia River Sturgeon Scaloppini. Suzy had some kind of pasta. Had 2 Black Butte Porters. Most had 2 drinks. Bill was $37.00 each. Very
full and sleepy. Slept reasonably well.
8/25/00
Friday:
Up about 7:20 AM.
Coffee and muffins. Gather stuff
together.
Suzy drove me to the Hotel and I arrived about
10:00. No one was around since they
were sleeping late or at breakfast or whatever but eventually we got the 4 vans
around to the side and started getting them put together. Suzanne had got all the stuff and I mostly
worked on the posters and the other things like flashlights, vests, driving
directions, etc. Tom P. had brought 4
walky-talkies and we got those set up.
We got off about 12:30 and soon lost one van at a turn
onto the Burnside Bridge. She got out
by herself. Then we got on to 84 and
headed east to interchange 16A. We went
down Hogan but Jerry’s van took the left at Burnside so for a while we were two
vans. At one point on 26 I stopped to
fix the poster, which was coming loose.
Sooner or later we got to Timberline at about 2:30. As we got closer to the mountain the people
were more and more impressed by the terrain.
At the top we split for food and agreed to meet at 3:00
to talk. I looked for Joy without success but finally found her just around
3:00. We talked about logistics and
then checked the team in and got some pictures taken. We were better organized than last year since I had Sarah
assigned as timer and Ed A. as driver.
I of course was the runner.
Legs
1-6
1: me
Sooner than you realized, it was time to go. We got the usual introductions and I got
with Lauren. We were off. We knew it was steep down hill but my
biggest impression was that it was never ending! There was just no relief.
The scenery was spectacular and the air was so clean. After About a mile, we got into some sort of
rhythm and managed to pass a few others.
Lauren and I stayed together the whole way and got in the picture
together.
When we finally got to US 26, it let up a little, but was
still down hill for another mile and a half. We went over an overpass and onto the left side of 26 via a short
path and eventually came into the Ski Bowl parking and the interchange. We handed off to David and Ed O. and wobbled
around sort of like when you get off a boat onto Terra Firma. I took some Advil and used the ice packs but
actually it did not hurt so much initially, but more later on.
2:
David
David stayed with Ed, or a few paces back, for this whole
leg. This was the fastest pace of the
race, both doing 6:05s.
3: Rose
Rose started a few yards behind Barry but eventually
passed him which made her (and us) very happy.
Rose was consistently better than predicted pace.
4: Ed
5: Joe
5:
Sarah
Layover
We were going to go back straight US 26 but got
sidetracked on Burnside. So we turned
on the GPS and it took us up to I-84 and straight to the Hotel through
Portland. We unloaded stuff we needed
and I checked into our room.
When we got in Sarah said, “O now I see this is just one
big sleepover”. After a shower I sacked
out and asked the rest to keep it down.
Sarah got in the other side of the king size bed and said, “Well this is
another kind of bonding. There’s room
for one more”. Joe got in the middle
and eventually we got a couple of hours of sleep. Got about 3 calls a little before midnight and we grabbed our
stuff and took off.
Jerry and Suzanne followed and we headed for the
Spaghetti Factory. I followed the directions
to a point but at the end Suzanne took the lead and we found the place.
We met the other folks and gave them the clipboard and
hotel room key and I got ready to run.
Amy came in and Tom was about 5 minutes behind and then I was off.
Legs
13-18
13: me
This leg was actually rather nice along the waterfront,
first in the park and then along the industrial area. I ran under lots of the bridges.
This would really be nice to do in the daytime. Unfortunately there were no marshals and
there were a couple of tricky turns where we went on and off of sidewalks etc.
so it could have been better. You
couldn’t really get lost since it was pretty straight but still there were
little confusing turns. I pushed this
and my leg 1 legs were hurting, especially my quads and calfs. I maintained a good pace and got 5 road
kills and was only passed by one woman.
They gave me water when the course left the park and
joined the road, but it was Gatorade and some splashed into my eyes. That was a bit of a hassle but not a
disaster. I came in and handed to David
and that was two down!
14:
David
15:
Rose
16: Ed
17: Joe
The best thing about this leg was seeing Dean stopped by
a cop for speeding just past #17 in Scappoose.
We went by but then turned around and stopped. Ed walked over to see if we could help. But he had no shirt or shoes on and had a towel draped over his
neck so he looked rather weird. Dean
waved him off before the cop saw him so we went on to Interchange 17. This is a long walk from the parking. On the way I saw Jerry walking back so I
told him Dean’s predicament.
18:
Sarah
We saw Sarah off and collected Joe and walked back to the
parking. Sarah said this leg was
totally dark and had no water. A bit
scary. She did fine and we got to #18
in time to find van 2 and turn over the clipboard.
Layover
We turned on the GPS in the van and that helped keep us
on the right roads for the long alternate van drive to the Natal Grange. Ed O. was following us but he stopped when
we got to Pittsburgh Road. Later we
found that Lauren had gotten sick and they had to stop so she could barf.
We got to the Natal Grange and had pancakes and coffee
and tried to rest in the car, but eventually we just chatted.
Eventually our Van 2 showed up and we took off for
interchange #24 in plenty of time. Ed
O. and Jerry had gone on and done their layover at #24 so we saw them when we
got there.
Legs
25-30
25: me
I push this hard and it hurt a lot. It’s short and flat, luckily. I got about 8 road kill and I think no one
passed me. This is actually my fastest
pace of the race. I pick up 4 or 5
minutes on Lauren who is not feeling well at all. She was sick in the van last night. Handoff to David and I am done!
26:
David
27:
Rose
28: Ed
29: Joe
I have to jog with Joe about a mile to get to the
interchange due to traffic congestion.
This hurt rather a lot. We are in time but Joe needs to use the
bathroom. There is someone in front of
him and he waffles about whether to go or not.
Finally with Ed in the distance he is finally first in line and he goes
in at my urging. As Ed approaches I
call him out and he steps out in perfect sync with Ed’s arrival.
Joe is a trooper on this toughest of hills. We are late,
so while waiting for Joe at the top of the hill, we send Sarah and David ahead
with team B who are about 10 minutes ahead.
We are going to set up a toilet paper finish line but happenstance has
it that he is running with someone else who breaks the “tape” and we can’t set
it up in time for Joe. A good idea that didn’t work. We give him water and he is at around 31 minutes. We see he is down for 44 minutes and assume
he’ll never make that. We make it to the interchange just before Joe and what
do you know? He comes in at 44:40! He just powered down that hill to the
finish.
30:
Sarah
At the water stop we send David with the clipboard ahead
with team B to give it to Van 2. Sarah
is the last for our van. She actually
gets in before the Van arrives but that is OK.
We are parked way down on the side of the road. We get ourselves together and are off for
Seaside.
Seaside
We drive along the course till interchange 31. We see Dean going up a tough hill and give
him a few humorous comments but he is oblivious – just grunts out
“thanks”. After 31 we take the
alternate route to 101. We see Jerry’s
van buying beer somewhere so we say so long and drive on to Seaside. We get a tank full of gas, which was a
mistake since we returned the van with a lot of gas.
We get into town and make contact via cell phone with
Suzanne. We meet at 340 11th
and divide up the houses and our van goes to 820 11th. We unpack and clean the van. Ed and Joe go out for beer and return by
5:00 but the teams are ahead of schedule so we are late. We drive over to 12th and
Franklin and very painfully jog along the Prom, pushing through the crowds and
finally get to the staging area. We are
the only ones there. Finally we see
everyone else pushing through the crowd, but Amy from team B gets there
first. We convince her to wait for her
compatriots, and they finally get there and so team B finishes in great
excitement. Tom is about 5 minutes
later and we jump in and finish.
I see Suzanne and Bobbie and Virginia as we wait in the
picture line. They had been there and
seen both finishes so that was good. We
never made contact with Makie who left numerous messages but my cell phone
wouldn’t connect up in Seaside so we never succeeded. I buy Bobbie and myself a beer at the beach where we hang out
with the Flyers and then go to 340 for Pizza.
Things go well and then we are off to 820. Ed and I are in the living room (Ed on floor, me on pullout), the
girls in the double bed and Joe and David in the two singles.
Sunday:
Up at 8:00. Take
off at 9:30 with Ed and David to return the van. Coffee and Muffin at The Coffee Cup, a little down 101. Two hours to Portland. Turn in van, rent a small car. Meet Joy and Suzy at her house.
Go to Smith’s for lunch.
Karen seems the same. Baird does
most of the talking, theological stuff.
Mentions Walsh and Borg. I
recommend Dan Simmons Hyperion series and Poisonwood Bible. Leave there about 4:15 PM. Drive to Seaside.
Meet the group and drive to Mo’s for dinner.
Dinner fine – 5 of us from Family.
Bonfire after. A little quieter
than usual. Joy and Suzy leave for
Seaside at 10:30. 10 go skinny-dipping:
Dean, Sarah S., Jerry, Elissa, Ken and Julie in the first wave, Eduardo, Sarah
D., Tom and Renee in the second.
Some quotes: Ed O: “It’s not about the race, it’s about
the people” (Ed was full of “it’s not about the …” quotes); Eduardo (told by Ed
O: “Will there be a cot or do we do the homo thing?”; Suzanne: story about the
call, Dean in jail, broken glasses, spilled drink; Joe: about the handoff for leg 29 at the Honey Bucket.
David drives back about 1:30. Others get back very late.
We are told later that Barry was up till 4:30 and then drove to Portland
for a 6:00 AM flight.
Monday
Up at 7:00. Say
goodbye to Sarah D and Joe who are off to go home. Run with Rose about 7 miles.
I feel rather stiff and sore, with temperature in the 40s or low
50s. Temperature and body warmed up by
end.
Joy, Suzy and I drive to Nahelem to meet Bobbie and
Virginia. They are about an hour
late. We give up but then we find them
in the town. Explore Oswald West State
Park – very nice walk under big Sitka Spruce trees. Guys surfing at a little beach.
Lunch in Cannon Beach at Lazy Susan’s. Suzy had remembered the place, which we had
been to another year. Quaint lovely
place. Have a mushroom omelet. See the Flowers – Suzanne says she has 500
N. Holiday and 640 S. Downing reserved for next year.
Back to Seaside – rest a bit. Meet David, Rose, George and Elissa and drive again to Cannon
Beach for dinner at Bill’s Brewery.
Ruth, Renee and Lauren stay in Seaside.
They are all exhausted from the long trip to the Columbia Gorge. The girls decide to move their flights up to
Tuesday since there won’t be enough space in the car. David is giving his to Rose to turn in Tuesday.
Tuesday:
Up about 7:00.
Fog/clouds. Very wet out. 1 mile walk to Broadway for coffee.
See Rose off, who then picks up the 3 girls at 340 and
then picks up George.
Spent most of the day cleaning up. Did many loads of laundry at our house
(mostly Joy). We went to each of the
other houses and had to do a little extra in each house. In the afternoon I turned in the 3 keys to the
realtor.
Got in a little nap time.
Went for a run around 4:00 PM. Light rain was falling.
Went 3 ½ miles into Gearhart (north on 101) and back. Legs were still quite stiff, especially the
quads and adductors. Felt better
towards the end but my muscles felt quite “hard”. Got back to the house and rested after a shower.
Went out to dinner with David to Bigfoot Pub and
Restaurant (US 101 on the left at south end of town). A sort of family oriented steakhouse. OK.
Wednesday:
Up at 7:00 AM. Cloudy but no rain. Got coffee and muffins
at Coffee Cup. Do laundry till bitter
end. Leave at 9:30. Turn in house key. Get to Portland at about 11:00 AM. Stop at Suzy’s and drop off the beer and other stuff. Then to airport. Turn in car about 11:45.
Curb check n line is slow. Get
to gate at 12:15.
Flight boarding and takeoff uneventful. See Rainier and Mount St. Helen’s out window. Smooth fight.