Yes, "beer" is not a verb but if it were ever to become one then Portland will be the place where it first occurs.

My partner Keith and I spent a 3-day weekend recently in Portland. A year ago I wrote a post about Portland but this trip was different. It was an actual visit to Portland and not simply an overnight turnaround point on a larger trip.

The trip had been planned for a couple of months, but structure was added to it after we read the post of our friend Rich Milliron. In the summer of '08, Rich took a train trip to Oregon for the express purpose of discovering why it's called "Beervana". He found out that the title is well-earned. Find out for yourself by reading his post - you'll enjoy it. (If you don't start reading his post with a beer in hand, you probably will by the end of it.)

MENU OVER THE BAR AT ROGUE DISTILLERY & PUBLIC HOUSE

Two of my favorite things start with the letter "r" and if you're a regular reader of Planes, Trains & Automobiles then you know those are running and railroads.

The Bizz Johnson run over in Susanville manages to combine both.

The race consists of a full marathon, and two different versions of a half-marathon. One of the half-marathons is called the "express" because it is point-to-point. It took place this past Saturday (10 October). The full marathon, also point-to-point, and the other half-marathon, an out-and-back, took place yesterday (11 October), and that half is the event I ran.

Here's a quick post to celebrate a fun relay run around Whiskeytown Lake west of Redding this past Sunday, 20 September.

My team, Team IPA, consisting of me, Keith Slaughter, John Maretti and Bryan Bear ran the 19.9 miles around Whiskeytown Lake in 2 hr 35 min 47 sec to finish 21st out of 108 teams. Not bad for mostly old guys. (All of us are in our 50s except Bryan a youngster in his 40s.) Average pace per mile was 7:51.

TEAM IPA (l to r): GREG, JOHN, BRYAN, KEITH

Numerous other teams from Chico were there including the overall winning men's and women's teams of the Chico Track Club.

Tori Parks of the SWEAT running club always puts on a great event that people come back for year after year. Participation this year soared from 83 teams last year to 108 in 2009.

Complete race results can be found here. (If you use Firefox and you can't view this try it in Explorer.)

Here's a quick plug for the Chico Running Club's third annual trail half marathon: the Hot Half. It takes place this year on Sunday, 4 October.

It's a well-organized dirt run that offers a scenic and challenging way to "tour" upper Bidwell Park.

The "Hot" part of the name is in fact an acronym, standing for Hooker Oak Trail, because the entire run takes place on trails including Middle Trail and Yahi Trail.

Wade Desrosier has won the men's division in both of the first two years while Liz Gilman won last year in the women's division.

Will they run again to defend their titles?

Register by 20 September to guarantee you'll receive your t-shirt size.

Useful links:

- Entry form

- On-line registration

In my last post I gave a leg-by-leg account of my team's experience running the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO). This post takes a look at Eric Lerude, the fellow who conceived and brought to life the event.

But first a warning.

Be careful what new challenges you tackle as they may cause a major course-adjustment in your life.

Eric Lerude ran Oregon's Hood to Coast Relay for the first time in 2003, and since then you could say he's never stopped running.

ERIC LERUDE, RENO-TAHOE ODYSSEY EVENT DIRECTOR

For runners or non-runners who've never done a relay event like the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO) that I just wrote about, here's a an explanation followed by a chronology of my team's experience this past weekend. The chronology will turn the abstract into the real.

A course of up to about 200 miles is divided into 36 separate legs of varied distances and difficulty. No two segments are identical.

Teams of 12 runners compete, with each runner responsible for three separate legs. For instance, the first runner runs legs 1, 13, and 25. Runner 2 has legs 2, 14, and 26, and so on.

How long would it take you to run 178 miles?

Could you do it faster with some friends, each of whom ran one portion then tagged another runner to continue the challenge?

How about if you had a team of 12 runners in which each runner ran three separate segments?

In this past weekend's Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (29-30 May 2009), my 12-person team named DNR ("Do not Resuscitate") completed the course in 22 hours 52 minutes and 1 second for a per mile pace of 7 minutes 43 seconds.

Expressed in a different way, we left downtown Reno on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and returned 178 miles (286 km) later on Saturday at 12:22 p.m. In the meantime we ran through Truckee, along the entire west and south shores of Lake Tahoe, and through Carson City, and Virginia City.

We ran day, night, and day again to get from Reno back to Reno. New relay legends were created ("fish tacos' [don't ask], Roseann's mad dash to start Leg 34) and old ones were recycled (Van 1's victory Bloody Marys at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, "You look pretty"). Time expanded and contracted in the weird way it does when people do an awful lot in a relatively short period of time.

Congratulations to my team for a terrific finish! And a big "thank you" to Eric Lerude, event director, and his team of associates and volunteers for putting on another great relay run.

DNR AFTER FINISHING AT RENO'S IDLEWILD PARK
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 30 MAY '09
(l to r) Greg, Megan, Sean, Paul, Lisa, Chuck, Carla, Tom, Brian, John, Chris, Roseann

This is the first of four posts inspired by this past weekend's Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO). The second post will be about "big relays" like this. The third will be a look at the creation of the RTO. And the fourth will be about the continuing evolution of downtown Reno.

The Eugene Marathon is now history and I'm happy to say it went well.

My time was 3:24:38 for a pace of 7:49 per mile.

I felt good for the first 17 miles and outpaced the 3:20 pace group I started with. But then around Mile 19 they passed me and I slowed up slightly. At Mile 21 I slowed up more and then from Mile 23 it was just a blur in order to finish.

There were some last minute weather worries.

Last night I was woken up by driving rain and thought to myself, "Uh-oh". But by race start at 7:00 a.m. it had quieted to gentle Pacific Northwest sprinkles which ceased altogether within the hour.

The temperature was perfect for distance running: high 40s at the start topping out in the high 50s.

In the afternoon I crashed the party of Fleet Feet Chico's marathon training group that ran Eugene. We went to Steelhead Brewing Co. in downtown Eugene which was doing a land office business serving hungry and thirsty runners. Congratulations to everyone but especially to first time marathoners Rebecca, Aldo, Todd, and Vince! Rebecca qualified for the Boston Marathon in her first try at the distance.

HAPPY MARATHONERS AT STEELHEAD BREWING CO.
(from left) GREG, ALDO, JOE, ALAN, REBECCA, TODD, VINCE

So after almost 19 years I ran another marathon. I liked it. I want to run another one. I want to run it faster.

It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m watching the rain come down. And stop. And start again.

But the weather forecast for tomorrow only calls for “showers” (today it was “rain”) and I’m hoping they’re later rather than earlier. Please, Mother Nature, get (most) of it out of your system today.

I did a slow, half-hour run this morning just to stay limber and saw many other runners out and about. This is clearly a runner's town as it most certainly should be considering its storied history.

I drove the portion of the course (the first 9 miles) that is drivable. The remainder is mostly on trails and bikepaths along the Willamette River that ought to be pretty flat. What I learned is that there are a few hills along the way, including an incline right at the start along East 15th Avenue.

The race starts at Agate and East 15th on the University of Oregon campus, next to historic Hayward Field.

   RACE START - QUIET TODAY BUT NOT TOMORROW
Tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. this is where the marathon and half-marathon get underway. The finish line is in almost the same location.

My speedy Reno-Tahoe Odyssey teammates did superbly in Boston this past Monday.

Take a look at their great performances.

Out of nearly 23,000 finishers Paul Smith came in 97th overall and 91st among males!

Congratulations to the other Chico area finishers. If you want to check the results click here or on the logo above. You can search for a specific runner or simply by city/state, etc.

Explanatory note for non-runners:

Sometimes when the subject of a marathon comes up a non-runner will ask how long a particular marathon is. It’s a good question because the term is thrown around often in a non-running context (example: “That test was a real marathon”). With running it can be perceived by non-runners as a generic term for any running race.

But so there’s no confusion, a marathon is exactly 26.2 miles (42.164 km) in length. All of the Boston Marathon finishers (or finishers of any other marathon) run 26.2 miles. A half-marathon is 13.1 miles and if you hear the term “ultramarathon” it means any running race in excess of 26.2 miles.