smooth as fine wine, tuff as granite

Kattie and I made an unusual move and told the workweek "that's-it" a few hours early on Friday.  We packed up the wagon with a bunch of shit we didn't need and none of the stuff that would have been most handy (i.e. playing cards!) for a weekend in a yurt at the Valley of the Rogue way down in Gold Hill, OR.  That's right southern Oregon... folks, it's a-whole-nother country!

Simply because we could, we stopped in Cottage Grove for a snack and the ice tea Kattie craved.  It was cooler than I thought it was with it's old, somewhat lively downtown.  Just a few meth tweakers lurking about but not too bad.  We stopped off again at Canyonville which has the nicest rest stop on I-5.  It's appears to be owned and operated by Natives who run a giant casino there.  My advice: skip the casino but be sure to relieve yourself there!

Next it was into and through Grants Pass for groceries.  The hills along the freeway were a raging inferno of fire but gave us no trouble while on the scenic route in town.  We grabbed more necessities (food) and made our way down to the yurt that would be home for the weekend.  Chatty senior neighbors quickly made us feel very welcome to what we dubbed the "senior circuit" as the age of our neighbors averaged around 108.  Needless to say, around 7:30 p.m. it was very quiet which is nice because Kattie and I can't manage to stay up much past that hour anyway.  Especially when drinking.  Which is often.  Let's be honest and transparent.

The next day I got up for a run in the brisk morning weather.  I took Pete, the dog, as he usually keeps the pace very mellow but that morning he insisted on 7-7:20 min/miles which isn't too bad but a bit faster than I had planned.  I dropped him off back at the yurt after 4 miles and ran the rest of the River's Edge and Greenway Trail for a total of 8 or so I-pod measured miles which was consistent enough with my plan to run for about an hour of flat stuff.

We had a delicious breakfast and hit the road with only one plan: drink wine from Southern Oregon.  After some time lost in Deliverance-ville's gravel roads we finally got on track and arrived at Cowhorn where we had some very nice wines in a spectacular setting.  From there we went to eat in Jacksonville which may well be one of the best places on this part of Earth.  It's a very cool historical place with not too much kitchy-shit and lots of neat ol' stuff (homes and such).  There was a wait at C-St. Bistro so we went around the corner and passed the time drinking more at Quady North which serves up some great variety and really great wine.  Probably my favorite stop of the day.  After lunch we went to Krissel which is indeed in bum-f-Egypt (they call it White City) as we were told.  It's a modern place with a nice view and more good wine.

After all the tasting--which is code for drinking as I am no spitter, I enjoy every last sip of every "tasting" served--I was wine-zonked and couldn't wait to eat dinner (sausage we picked up in Methville... I mean Gold Hill).  It took everything we had to stay up for a smore while the senior circuit's lights went out but we did it before hitting the sack.  While dozing off I wondered how well this race prep routine would pay off...  Seriously?  At least of bottle of wine in me and I just topped it off with sausage and a smore?!  Oh well...  "it is was it is".  Whatever that stupid saying is all about.  Well, honestly this isn't the first time I've "prepped" like this... click off:  sleep.

Race day (finally, Jesus, I was beginning to convince myself that this was a travel-blog written by a lowly alcoholic senior citizen with a drinking and driving habit):  we were up early for the hour or so drive down to Applegate Lake.  We arrived to the beautiful Hart-Tish park 45 minutes or so before the start and did usual pre-start routine of: bathroom, changing shoes, registration, bathroom, walk Pete, bathroom, etc.  During each step of this routine I couldn't help but notice who all was there:  it seemed several of the legendary mountain running gazelles of Ashland had made it out for the showdown.  Fast women and a slew of fast dudes who run laps on Mt. Ashland until they are hardened off enough to waste competition in national level races.  Surprisingly, (but only because I had no idea he was going) Don G. was there too so the Mid-Willamette even had at least one fast horse in the race.  Honestly, I didn't get nervous about how it was going to go, my brain just sort of shifted gears: forget placing top 10 or whatever and run my race--PR mode I call it.

After a slight delay we were off and running on a rolling little jaunt in the woods that tilted mostly upwards.  I ran through some of the poison oak, which was everywhere, to pass a dude that looked like a classic case of dash and burn (if I could judge a book by the cover, which--as much as I hate to do it--I am getting better at with a few more races under my belt).  Mile 1 passed and I knew it was relentlessly up from here to mile 3ish.  I passed a fast looking shirtless local dude, then a very fast girl (who wasted me at the Mac 50k), and came up on Jenn Shelton who I knew was super fast.  I kind of parked it behind her thinking she knows a lot more about this sport than me.  But eventually she sounded labored and I was ready to move on.  Ran with Don G. next before he pulled over and insisted on me going by.  Eventually, within the last couple hundred feet of this big climb, I kept running and reciting the mantra "not gonna walk a step, you don't do that in 10 mile RUNs, that's an ultrarunning-thing, and besides it might feel too good anyway."  Moving right along I caught up with another LSFD (local shirtless fast dude).  He too was laboring hard and I eventually slipped by him before the course tilted down to a truly runnable angle of uphill.

I could end the report there at about mile 3 as nothing changed from a racing standpoint from then on.  I could not see anyone in front of me and fairly quickly I lost site of anyone behind me.  I might as well of been out there alone.  It was rolly and pretty damn techical with rocks, roots and sharp turns for miles before giving away to a nice descent back down to the lake.  It was thrilling single track that required a lot of attention to avoid falling off into what often was a very steep hillside (not the kind you could stop on without hitting a tree or rock).  The plant geek side of my brain did a nice job distracting the rest as it was dazzled by new and unique flora including groves of manzanitas, madrones and fragrant-blooming california lilcas among other smaller gems including several silvery colored perennials.  The Siskyous are a botanical wonderland because of their East-West orientation that bridges the wet and temperate Coast Range with the drier peaks of the Cascades.  Anyway, enough plant chatter, after completing the descent I pushed fairly hard in the last 3 miles along the lakeshore and frequently looked over my shoulder as I felt my pace was something that was decent at best.  As it turned out the next person was 2 minutes back so my worries were only motivational.  The guy in front of me was 2 minutes ahead so not a lot pull motivationally from that direction either.

The finish was on the beach and it was beautiful and fun.  I was done after 1:21 which was good enough for 8th OA and 3rd in my always competitive age group.  This really great day was made better by the fact that Kattie ran her own race (5 mile Poker Run) well enough to be 1st in her age group and 7th OA (correction 8th OA, Zielinski's sweep 8th!).  She was not so lucky with the hand she was dealt however.  We said we'd stop at the casino and quickly double our winnings if either of us came home with prize money but without any winnings we just stopped and relieved ourselves there again.

Whew, long write up for the weekend's events.  I just don't get out much anymore...

another running shot from early on in the race.  same clothes as last time so it looks the same except for the bib#.