Seattle Nose Following

This week, I have been in Seattle for another round of Web Design World, learning all about all the latest in web design, multimedia, digital video, podcasting, blogging technology and other geeky catch phrases. While I didn't manage to run into an acoustic Foo Fighters concert like I did last year, I did still manage a few adventures. Heck, it just wouldn't be a business trip without some, right?

It seems most of my adventures take place during my "wandering time". Trips like this really promote my wandering. What I mean is that in order to save money from my budget, instead of renting a car and driving all over creation, I take a cab from the airport to my hotel in downtown and call it good. The conference is in the hotel so I have a totally self-contained environment: My meetings.. my room.. my food, all in one convenient building. But staying in that building... well, that just gets boring. And so I go out and just explore.

It helps that I enjoy the art of "people watching". There are so many personalities out there.. Heck I could just walk and walk for hours just to see what I could find, and to see what kinds of people there are in the city. It gets so diverse, it becomes fun to just explore and watch. "Where does this street go? Not sure... Let's find out". "What's down this path?” It's amazing what you can find when you take the time to look. It is this habit of wandering, both during lunch breaks and after the conference is over each night that seems to provide adventures.

But here's the key... when leaving the room.. DON'T have a plan. Just go. (This is why I don't do this while at home with my wife.. it would drive her nuts). As I leave my hotel each night I have no clue where I am going... what kind of entertainment I'll find, or where to eat dinner. I just see what I can find and what plays out. So with that in mind, here are the Seattle adventures for my annual trip:

• Night one: Tonight's wandering was fairly short. After landing at the airport and enduring a meandering cab ride to my hotel, I had a nice (and warm!) 5 mile run through the waterfront parks of downtown Seattle. This is one of the reasons I just love visiting this city. I can be in a very crowded, typical city environment, and within a block I can get to the water, parks, recreation and beautiful Puget Sound scenery. It's just a great mix. By the time I was cooled down and showered, it was getting late. So I headed out and happened to bump into a restaurant that I loved from previous trips.. The Icon Grill, with its fried Mac and Cheese. Delicious! I wasn't planning on eating there, I just happened to walk by, not realizing I was in that neighborhood. The benefits of wandering. From there I headed a few blocks south only to bump into a downtown movie theater. Anything starting soon? Actually.. Ratatouille was about to start. Heck.. let's go. (Mini review: Awesome movie.. one of my favorite Pixar films. Amazing animation that had a unique, creative story with real heart put into the characters. I highly recommend it for all ages!)

• Night two: After finishing the conference for the day, I had an hour to kill before I had to be at the Seattle Aquarium for our conference reception. Rather than being smart and walking towards the aquarium, I headed the opposite direction as I hadn’t walked that way yet. After a few minutes.. I found a line... a long line.. wrapping all the way around a city block. I followed it to the end, at the Seattle Cinerama theater, that just happened to be showing a press screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. From the size of the line, I figured there was no way all these people could squeeze into one theater. I asked one of the people waiting about their tickets, which only people in the right place at the right time could get. It even said on the ticket that seats were on a first come first serve basis, having a pass didn't guarantee a seat. So, the sicko inside me decided to stick around. This could be fun: watching the people pour into the theater, then see the rejected look on the first person's face who had to stand in line, but didn't get a seat. So I hung out at the front of the line, just watching.

Soon, they began letting people in. With huge signs and people walking back into the line yelling announcements that there were NO CELL PHONES OR CAMERAS ALLOWED and that all bags would be searched prior to entrance (and it even stated this in big letters on the tickets) I found it fascinating how many people just ignored it, only to get booted out of line, them leaving in a big angry huff. See, watching this all unfold.. quality entertainment! Much to my surprise, every person in line (except those kicked out for phones) got into the screening. That must be one BIG theater. The big kicker for me.. had I taken a chance when I first discovered this was a Harry Potter screening, run back to my hotel to deposit my phone and camera (I had both), and returned, I could have gotten in. The manager was ready to let me in the door, even without a ticket as they had a couple of extra seats. Oh well. I'd see it soon enough.

Time to head back down to the aquarium. As I headed down the street from the theater, I passed a guy.. typical downtown stereotype.. scraggy, frayed and looking a little out of it. As I walked past, he said something to me under his breath. Ol' naive me, who tries to be nice to people, thought he asked me a legitimate question and didn't want to be rude, turned and said, "I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't understand". That's when I learned the valuable lesson, note to self... "DON'T DO THAT!.. just keep walking!!" The guy spun around spitting venom "Oh you heard what I said!!" A little confused, I continued to try my polite approach: "Oh sorry, I thought you were asking me a question. My mistake. Have a nice day." That's when he came after me. "OH YOU HEARD ME LOUD AND CLEAR YOU @$@#%%. GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE #$%#%." He began charging towards me, fists drawn.. and that's when I quickly abandoned the "polite approach" and just got the heck out of there. I don't know what it is about us big guys that riles up the small and obviously drugged, small folk... But it proved to be an interesting encounter none the less.

Interesting side note: fast forward a few hours. I was walking down on the waterfront, heading back to my hotel having just come from a nice dinner overlooking the water. Up ahead of me, and coming towards me was the same guy. Mentally I went "oh great..." and continued to walk in the hopes that he just didn't recognize me. He did almost immediately. Only this time, his greeting to me was different. "Hey, Man! How's it going? So good to see you!!" He bellowed as I passed. A little surprised at his sudden friendliness and change, I instinctively, and in the same tone, yelled back. "Great! Nice to see you to! Enjoying your evening? Nice! Take care, man, good to see ya!". I continued to head back to the hotel.. grateful that he hadn't gutted me like a fish, and shaking my head at the whole surreal thing. Again... people watching.. quality, and free entertainment!

• Night three: No real adventures here, just more wandering. The conference ended around 6 PM after which I immediately headed out for another waterfront run. It did seem a bit warm as I was running, but since I usually run at night, when the temperatures are lower, since I was running at 6:30, in the hottest part of the day, I assumed it was normal. Turns out it was the hottest day in Seattle in the last 10 years. Yikes. But since I had spent the day in a hotel conference room, I was oblivious to the weather.

After finally cooling down, I headed out for a late dinner. Again, just walking in a random direction I eventually ended up at the Cheesecake Factory. No, I didn't eat cheesecake (although it looked tasty), I had a fantastic pasta dish. Across the street, more people were lining up for something. Curiosity killed the cat again and I had to find out what was going on. This time, it was the midnight, first showing of Harry Potter. I inquired as to if there were tickets left, and there were a few. Needless to say, I suddenly had a very late night out! (Also an excellent film.. a wonderful addition to the Potter series!) And even walking back to my hotel in the quiet city streets at 2:30 in the morning, it was outrageously hot. The heat just wouldn't go away.

The next day, the conference ended, and I flew home.. back in time for Little Calvin's evening swimming lessons. No adventures. Just normal travel. Which, when dealing with travel and airplanes.. a boring, uneventful, no adventures day is a great thing!

But the next time you are out in some strange city that you may be unfamiliar with, don't be intimidated by it.. savor that unfamiliar territory. Follow your nose. Walk. And just see what you can find. I'm always surprised and pleased with that adventure of walking into the unknown. And amazed as to what kind of fun I can find.

Running MY Race

Today was the day... Independence Day.... A nice midweek break.. and my first official 10k road race in years. It was about 2 months ago that my friend Zak contacted me, issuing the challenge that we run Eugene's Butte to Butte run on the fourth of July. After being "running slacker" for the past several months after the let down of not being able to run my marathon (thanks to my funky knees,) I figured this would be a good motivating factor to get my butt out the door and back on the roads to train. So for the last two months, I have been back at it.. working to get back in shape while not over-straining my knees.

After putting quite a few miles on my shoes in an attempt to get ready and with a few nerves, today.. race day.. finally arrived. What I didn't know before hand is that this simple race day would become one of life's little surprise lessons in integrity, that I could never see coming. It's funny how life can work sometimes. That said.. here's the whole crazy story:

Zak and I had met yesterday for lunch to put our whole plan together for the race. Neither of us had run this race previously, so the particulars and course were new to us. The race was to start at 8 AM. As can be guessed from the name of the race, the course isn't a loop. It starts on the butte on the south end of town, and ends on the butte on the north end of town. This is also a big race for our little city with about 4,000 runners.. a Fourth of July tradition for many. Thanks to its one-way course, and the huge number of participants, most people must be bussed from the finish line to the starting line. As Zak and I prepared our race plan, we figured that by arriving at the bus at 7:15, we'd have ample amounts of time to get ready, stretch, warm-up etc. prior to the race start. That was probably our biggest mistake.

We arrived at the bus stop, right on time and saw what appeared to be a small line stretching back from where the buses pulled up to load passengers. To our horror, we actually followed that line however, as it rounded on block corner.. then another block.. then another block.. then winding through an empty downtown parking lot. It took one look at this massive line, and the buses arriving every 5 minutes to realize... there were way to many people that still needed to get to the starting line, and that we could be in trouble.

That trouble confirmed itself as we finally got on a bus... at 8:03 AM. The race was supposed to start at 8:00 and there were still lots of people waiting in line. As we rode up to the starting line, many people around us were making calls to friends at the starting line and we began to hear varying reports. Some said that they had started the race on time.. some said they were holding the race until a majority of the runners could get there. All we knew is that we had no clue what we'd face when coming off the bus.

Finally, we arrived and darted off the bus. The starting line was just over a small hill. We followed the flow to the top, heading quickly towards the line. Zak began to get a little anxious in fear that the race had in fact started since we couldn't see the expected starting crowd. He asked if I minded him running ahead to see what was going on. I agreed and off he went. Besides, I still had to throw on my iPod and knee braces. (So much for pre-race stretching..). Once I was ready, I headed down the hill, still following the mass crowd, heading around the corner to find... the giant mass of the starting line. I was shocked... They had actually held the race. I immediately began sorting through the large crowd, in an attempt to try to catch up with Zak prior to the race actually starting. But there were just too may people all piled in together. And within 60 seconds of my arrival, the race began anyway with a loud cheer from the runners. We were finally off.

Now, anyone that has run in a large scale road race knows.. you don't just sprint off the starting line. In fact, you don't actually run for a few minutes until everyone starts getting some space to move. The same held true here. Sure, a few brave souls darted for the sidewalks in an attempt to get around the masses, but otherwise, everyone stayed in the group. And since I was stuck in the middle, I just followed the crowd.

It wasn't long before I started to get the feeling, that something just wasn't right in the universe. For one, all we had heard about is a GIANT hill in the first mile of the race. So far, there were no signs of a hill. Second, the crowd finally started opening up, but even with the added space, few people were actually running. After a minute of my brain going "what the...?!" I asked the runner next to me "Isn't this the 10k race?!" To which he smiled, laughed and said "Nooooo, this is the 4 mile Mayor's fitness walk.. The 10k started about 10 minutes before this race and went the opposite direction." WHAAAT?! THERE WAS A FITNESS WALK?! I'd never even heard about that as part of the race (Note to self.. look at the race t-shirt better.. it's actually listed on there.. DOH!)

Just as the revelation hit me that I had started the wrong race.. we got the point where the Fitness Walk merged in with the 10k. The guy next me laid out my options. "At this point, there is no way you can go back.. it's just too far and we're about 3/4 mile into this, so you might as well just merge into the 10 k and start running. Besides.. you missed the hill and the first two miles.. lucky you!".

So there I was, faced with a choice... do I just continue on, merge in and cut my losses? After all.. I missed the hill that I was a bit concerned about.. and think about what my time would be.. WOW! Or I could turn around... go back to the start and begin again, thus creating a mile and a half warm up.. and a guaranteed last place.. in a race where everyone's time is printed in the local paper. After a split second of trying to sort this out.. I immediately knew what I had to do. I realized.. I didn't do all the training for a real 10k to skip the first 2 miles, even if it was by unfortunate accident. I don't run races for everyone else, I don't run for places.. I run races for me. And running a 10k was a very personal experience, one that I would not be able to look back at with fond memories if I knew inside that I had skipped 1/3 of the real race. And so.. I turned around, and finally began running.. to the starting line. Sure, I had to endure all the "YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!!" comments, but again, it wasn't about them.. it wasn't their race.

About 25 minutes after the gun went off, I finally arrived at the starting line.. the real one and then began my race. By the time I had gotten there, the officials were taking the starting line down and cleaning up, the clock long since shut off, so I really had no idea how far back I was starting. It was obvious I was in last place.. I was being followed by the motorcycle cop up the hill as he was heading up to reopen the road to traffic.

So.. how was the race? It was actually very... quiet. Not the mass of people that I was expecting, but just my own race... running for pride, and not time. The hill wasn't too bad. Yes, it is steep at the end, but once it is done, there is a lovely 2 miles of steady down hill as a reward. (You can see the elevation chart below)

As I finally passed the "merge", I had to smile and wonder how I would have felt if that is where my race had begun. I also had a few moments of surprise and elation in those quiet middle miles as I actually passed a few runners. Sure.. they were elderly.. but still on the 10k course, so I could confirm they were not fitness walkers.. and bet of all: I wasn't in last place!

There were a few "issues" that concerned me after realizing the reality of my situation... It was a very HOT day, and with my late start, the water stops had been packed up by the time I arrived, causing fears of dehydration as I ran. Also in my late state, things like... course markers had already been taken down making things a little confusing for me and the traffic as I worked to figure out where I was supposed to be.

Luckily, my mental plan, concocted as I frantically ran back to the start, worked. By mile 5, I had caught up with the back of the pack of fitness walkers, so I didn't have to finish the race by myself. I also caught up to the water stops and was able to get a nice drink. The lady handing out drinks could tell I desperately needed some water, so rather than handing me a drink, she threw one in my face and as I looked surprised, she dumped another on top of my head. It was a wonderful thing.. just a little paranoid due to the iPod strapped to my arm..

In the end... I finally finished. Sure my "official" time was over an hour and a half, but under the circumstances.. I was a proud runner. It wasn't anyone else's race, it was MY race. And I finished MY race without regret, and without remorse. Despite the wacky start, it was a great way to begin my Fourth of July holiday and I look forward to running the race again next year.. with other actual racers.. And believe me: I'll be the first person on that starting line bus this time!!!

Coasting Through

Just returning from a weekend of "Coasting Through" as I like to call it. This means that the family is taking advantage of the nearby Pacific Ocean and beautiful Oregon Coast. This weekend's trip was a rain-check trip so to speak. We had originally scheduled a coast trip with the family over spring break, but.. due to Dawn's broken arm a few days before leaving, we had to reschedule the trip. Thanks to our hectic and busy schedules, the soonest weekend we could squeeze in was this weekend.

We left after work on Thursday night, heading this time to the beach cottage we typically stay in near Waldport Oregon. This gave us all day Friday and Saturday and half the day on Sunday to just lounge around and enjoy the coast. It was a fairly normal coast weekend: Lots of digging in sand and building large sand objects (only to have them completely washed away hours later..), kite flying with the kids new kites, water fights with the family arsenal of Super Soaker water guns, (each person has their own, so the family wars can get fairly violent) and brutal Phase 10 card games going waaaay too late in the evening. Tyler is still gloating for beating us all... Lucky boy..

Now we are just working to recover... thank goodness it's a shortened week this week thanks to Wednesday's holiday! I'll need a vacation day to recover from my... vacation.