Why do the summer days go by so fast? All is good... great in fact here in Seattle. Just a little busy trying to stay up with all that is going on and all of the additional things I want to do. I’ve started posting photos to Picasa which makes it easy to share a bunch. All of the links below are probably TOO many photos to expect anyone to look at, but I have a feeling my Ma and a few would like to see. The links at the beginning of the paragraphs below should take you to my photos.
I flew directly from Bend to Salt Lake to spend the weekend with Roch and Catherine before the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. Catherine had an art show Friday night that we checked out. It was cool to see a bunch of local artists, their techniques and to see Catherine’s art on display and for sale. She even sold a couple of pieces!
Speedgoat 50k photos: Roch was in charge of an aid station at the Speedgoat 50k on Saturday, so I tagged along, helped mark a 9 mile section and played in the heat trying to keep the runners cool. From what I could tell hanging out in this aid station and checking out a bit of the course, I will definitely need to go back and run this one. Sunday Roch and I headed out for about 4 hours on the Wasatch Front 100 course. We started at Upper Big Water (Mill Creek Canyon) and did a lollipop loop where we went out towards Brighton on the Wasatch course, came back and took the Wasatch Crest trail back down to Mill Creek. Only one week after his 3 hour PR at Hardrock, Roch amazes me with his quick recovery time. For me, this was the first run since Western that I actually felt like a human being again. Running amongst the amazing wild flowers up on the ridge I felt like I was playing. Nice to have that feeling back.
Outdoor Retailer - my photos and Outdoor Retailer - (c) Lin Alder photos: The OR show is always such a busy time for The Conservation Alliance. It is our opportunity to see a majority of our dedicated member companies, we host a Breakfast that is open to the public that usually has about 500-600 attendees and we meet with our Board to discuss the upcoming grant cycle. There are also events and sales at our member companies booths that help raise funds for our operations. At Summer OR eleven member companies stepped up and helped raise a significant dollar figure for our funds. At this show we also celebrated the 20th Anniversary of The Conservation Alliance. With the help of 21 of our member companies we were able to pull together an amazing celebration in the form of a party at Caffe Molise. We closed down part of the city block, enjoyed live music by the Outdoor Industry All Star Band and Pictures And Sound and shared the night with friends from all walks of the outdoor industry. Definitely a night to be remembered. On a personal note, I am both amazed and humbled by the support The Conservation Alliance receives from the Outdoor Industry. These companies support this effort year after year and are so excited to be a part of this bigger vision. Having all of them together celebrating the collective effort to protect wild places is an energizing experience and motivates me to do more.
White River 50 mile photos: I arrived home from the OR Show weary and energized late on Thursday night. Unpacked, repacked, slept for a couple of hours before heading back to airport to pick up Ashland friends Chris and Darcy en route to the White River 50 miler. Just having felt like I got my legs back and after an exhausting show I was happy to not be racing and instead ran the first half of the course on Friday with Clark and enjoyed the rest of the weekend crewing for Ellen and Chris. Chris stayed to visit for a couple of days and I tried to show him some of the key spots in Seattle, I do enjoy playing tour guide. The weather was warm so we spent some time jumping in the various bodies of water to cool off as well.
That heat was only a warm up to what the rest of the week brought. I’m sure many of you have noticed our record highs this week. I have found my way back down to the lake a couple of times since the weekend and have employed such tactics as soaking my shirt while working from home and seeking out cool spots to hang out in the evenings.
This weekend Ellen and are planning to run the Wonderland Trail (profile) around Rainier! We met at Zoka yesterday morning to scope the map and make our plan. Matt is going to support us for a majority of it, making it so we only have one night of camping out. So it will be a combination of running and light & fast backpacking. Looking forward to this adventure!
Finally, the new Chuckanut 50k website is up! It is still a work in progress, but you can access it by going to http://chuckanut50k.com!
