My Track Record

The University of Washington just held a "Song of Washington" lyrics contest. The winning entry will be set to music by Bill Conti, who is best known as the composer of the training montage song from Rocky ("Gonna Fly Now").

Having nothing better to do with my copious free time, I decided to enter. But it was hard to figure how where to begin. How exactly does one sum up a school of 43,000 students, 28,000 faculty and staff, and over 150,000 living alumni? I'm used to writing songs about much narrower topics, like my mother and my favorite metabolic pathway.

I eventually decided that, whatever the message of this song might be, it had to be delivered forcefully, confidently, and succinctly. In other words, the chorus of the song should be a call to arms -- a command of some sort directed at the school's personnel and supporters. Something like "Kill Wazzu!", except not specific to sports and not conveying hostility toward another school. Something bold, yet wholesome.

I sat down with a piece of paper and successfully generated a bunch of lame ideas. "Study hard"? "Bark if you're a Husky"? "Make new friends but keep the old; some are purple and the others gold"? Ick, ick, and ick.

Still, focusing on the school colors seemed like a step in the right direction. How about ... "Wear purple!"? It sounds kind of audacious without actually being offensive, and it might help the University sell more of its officially licensed apparel. Yes -- I had a winner! Maybe not an actual contest winner, but a hook around which I could build a set of lyrics, at least. I added a marvelous line about wearing one's heart on one's sleeve, sprinkled in some standard imagery (cheering crowds, raised glasses), and -- voila! -- I had an instant song.

Just add music.

Posted by crowther at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't get me wrong -- using sports as a vehicle to support any worthy cause is admirable. But I think these efforts are most effective when the sports event/product has a direct and logical connection to the cause, as opposed to the "I'm going to run backwards around a track while juggling for 24 hours to raise awareness of adenosine deaminase deficiency" sorts of situations. The Runner's Cookbook appeals to me in part because it is a product related to running, made by runners, to benefit two runner-related funds: the Ryan Shay Memorial Fund and the Jenny Crain "Make It Happen" Fund.

The rest of its appeal stems from its quality and variety. The diversity of recipes is perhaps unsurprising, but there is also an impressive range of elite athletes represented: half-milers and marathoners, Americans and foreigners, rising stars and legends of yesteryear. And you'll feel a bit closer to these champions after reading their contributions. The soups -- from the quiet purposefulness of Bob Kempainen's Corn Chowder to the relentless amiability of Amby Burfoot's Pumpkin Peanut Butter Soup -- are especially revealing.

If a second edition of the book is published someday, perhaps a token ultramarathoner or two could be included. I'm thinking specifically of the people who participate in events lasting 24 hours or longer. These athletes consume "real food" during competition in addition to gels and sports drinks, so it would be interesting to see some of the recipes that keep them well-fueled all night long.

Maybe they've even found some foods that facilitate juggling in the dark.

Posted by crowther at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Most of you aren't aware of this, but May is National Crowther Month. It's a period into which we Crowthers pack about half of our significant family holidays.

It all starts with my sister's birthday on Cinco de Mayo. Then come Mother's Day, my birthday, my mom's birthday, and my parents' anniversary. We make lots of phone calls during this time, most of which conclude with, "OK, talk to you again soon...."

Because these occasions arrive in such rapid succession, I don't always give each one the full attention it deserves. Last year, for example, I dutifully called my mom on Mother's Day but neglected to do anything for my wife.

I invoked the classic defense of insensitive husbands everywhere: "Well, you're not MY mother..." But I probably should have known that seven-month-old Phil would need some help in procuring a present.

This year I did somewhat better: I bought my wife The Runner's Cookbook. To my credit, I didn't follow the gift-giving with a declaration of my hunger and a request that she start using the book immediately; on the contrary, I let her pick out some recipes that I would make. First up in the queue: Sloppy Joes and Baked Sweet Potato Fries, as contributed by Carrie Messner Vickers.

As for my birthday, I celebrated with a victory at the Cougar Mountain 5-Mile Trail Race and, later, dinner at the Old Country Buffet. My wife was surprised that I didn't choose a fancier restaurant -- you know, one with waiters and cloth napkins and such. But, as a picky eater, I'm tired of trying to tweak standard entrees to suit my tastes, like Meg Ryan's character in When Harry Met Sally. I'd much rather walk up to a spread of food, find what I want, and grab it!

Posted by crowther at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As implied by my last entry, my perfect day of training might entail 12 to 15 laps around Green Lake, with the lap times never varying by more than a few seconds.

For many others, though, that situation would essentially be Hell on Earth. Based on my reading of a few fellow ultramarathoners' blogs, here's how they might spend their ideal day of training....

Matt Hart: a few hours of running followed by a few hours of mountain biking, a few hours of skiing, and then perhaps a few hours of kayaking. With a few dozen Clif Shots for sustenance.

Andy Jones-Wilkins: a long run on the Western States course, accompanied by chatty Oregonians. (Has anyone else noticed that 10 of his last 12 posts have mentioned Western States? The man is truly obsessed!)

Anton Krupicka: 30 miles in the morning, at altitude, with lots of climbing, accompanied by Kyle Skaggs (about the only guy who can keep up right now). A quart of ice cream for lunch. And then another mountainous 30-miler in the afternoon.

Brian Morrison: a long run on Chuckanut Mountain followed by several hours of isometric upright posture exercises -- i.e., standing around -- at a Pearl Jam concert.

If anyone else out there wants to describe his/her own unique formula for achieving a "runner's high," please go ahead!

Posted by crowther at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

How does that old saying go? Something like, "You can take the runner out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the runner"?

I'm primarily a road guy not just because of my "drunken sailor" biomechanics on the trails, but also because I'm one of those people who has to time everything. For a given workout or race, I like to know my mile splits, how they stack up against my (and my competitors') previous times, and on and on.

Getting this level of quantitative feedback is harder when running on trails of variable terrain and uncertain distance. But I'm here to say that, with enough research and planning, a trail run can be nearly as regimented and stressful as an equivalent road workout.

(Some would say that I should just loosen up. But if I weren't obsessed with split times I wouldn't be me.)

This week I decided to do the Seattle Running Company's standard 14-mile loop at Cougar Mountain. But how would I judge the quality of the workout? To what would I compare my time?

Fortunately for me, I'm not the only one who keeps careful training records. Uli Steidl's online training logs (2005-2008) list over 20 visits to the Cougar loop, with times ranging from 1:43:38 to 2:16. Even better, he recorded splits for a couple of his fastest runs: 0:12 to Clay Pit Road, 0:31-0:32 to Mine Shaft Trail, 0:42 to the start of the Wilderness loop, 1:04 to the end of the Wilderness loop, and 1:23-1:24 to DeLeo Wall Trail.

So I was off to test myself against Uli (or, to be completely fair, against Uli running at some unknown fraction of his capacity). I matched his splits to the start of Wilderness and then lost about a minute to him on each of the last three sections. I finished in 1:46:42, which seemed respectable.

Perhaps next week I'll see how close I can get to Uli's best two-loop time.

Posted by crowther at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)