What Lance Armstrong Made Me Do

With the recent investigation into whether Lance did or didn’t take performance enhancing drugs from 1998-2006 while competing in the Tour de France, and winning it seven straight times, it’s appropriate to look at what Lance made me do. We can discuss his guilt or innocence later.

Because of Lance I:
1. Bought a Trek bicycle (Trek was one of Lance's sponsors)

2. Became a Tour de France groupie on television and the internet. When he was racing I would follow the stages at work on the computer and watch the television coverage at home, even if I knew the outcome.

3. Realized I could train outside on my bike in the rain.

4. Read his book, “It’s not all about the bike”.

5. Read other books on the history of the Tour.

6. Honestly I did follow the Tour a little bit before Lance, back when Hinault and Greg Lemond battled (late 80’s-1991). But nothing like when Lance took hold. He captivated myself and much of the United States.

7. Ride indoors, even on good weather days, while watching the Tour and pretending to ride with the pros.

8. Enjoyed the French not liking an American winning "their" race.

Oregon Factoids

1. Chris Solinsky won the Ho Ho 5k Jan and I ran in. He is a world class runner sponsored by Nike. Chris finished in 14:58, which was probably little more than a tempo run for him, as he used to have the 10k American record, 26:58!
2. I finished 2nd and Jan 3rd in our age groups, unfortunately there were no awards.
3. Nike is looking for tax breaks and if received will add a minimum of 500 jobs at their Beaverton Headquarters in 2013 and up to 1,500 by 2015. This is in addition to the 8,000 people now employed by Nike in Beaverton! How many shoes do they sell? They already purchased 3 additional buildings and many acres of land near the headquarters to build on.
4. Our favorite running place in Beaverton seems to be Tualitin Nature Park. (Two-owl-eh-tin). It is about an 8 minute run from our daughter's home. The park isn't huge, but we have the choice of a bike path or trails throughout the park that can add 1-3 miles to our run.
5. Our new grandaughter, Ellowyn, is beautiful. I'm thinking within a year we will be running together. At least we will be pushing her in a running stroller.
6. Beaverton is like the busiest section of Ridge Road in Greece with stores and strip malls everywhere. Name a store, it is here. We went in a Sports Authority today, which is like a larger, nicer Dick's Sporting Goods.
7. Beaverton has about 90,000 people, like Greece, but many, many more bike paths, parks small and large, and most roads have bike lanes. We are 10 miles from Portland.
8. Jan and I are too old to sleep on an 8 inch air mattress for long. The toughest part is getting up from the bed. What will we do if we ever try and bike across country? Sleeping in a tent on the hard ground doesn't sound that appealing right now.
9. The amount of coffee people drink here is amazing. I used to think it was exaggerated, but no longer. Jan and I can stop at a local shop 5 minutes from Stacy's house and there are always people there. Coffee shops are on every corner and seem to be thriving.
10. I see "Free Wi-Fi" on almost every store and motel advertisement. How long will it be before these places charge for access? Hotels, especially, will use this as a customer draw.

Ho Ho 5k

No, this is not a race with prostitutes! The Ho Ho 5k began years ago in Tigard, Oregon, starting and finishing at Cook Nature Park. Besides being a reference to Christmas time, the race organizers used to supply Hostess Ho Hos and Snowballs to finishers. Unfortunately Hostess is bankrupt and the treats were changed to Little Debbie dessert cakes and brownies.

We are spoiled in the Greater Rochester NY area with race costs and what runners receive. It is unusual not to receive a t-shirt and still pay $20 or less for the race. NY races have mile markers, are normally electronically timed, results are immediate, awards give to age group winners, second and third places.

The Ho Ho 5k cost $20, $25 day of and had a record crowd of more than 400 people. No shirt, no road marshals, cones marking the course, no mile markers, awards only to the top three overall men and women, an open air shelter and some random prizes based on your race number, though none were substantial. The course was nice, about 1.3 miles on road, 1.2 on a bike path and the remainder on a trail. Hopefully we will see results on the organizer's web site in a few days. This was an old school type Rochester race with no frills. It just cost a surprising amount and would have been neat to have a shirt from a race in Oregon.

However this seems fairly typical in the Portland area, as all of the 5k-10k races I have seen cost at least $20 and up to $40, with a shirt, if offered, being an additional expense.

Skyfall & Daniel Craig

Last week Jan and I had the opportunity to watch the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. We went to a mantinee, on a Monday, and were the youngest people in the theatre. I'm not sure 56 and 53 is really young anymore, especially now that we are grandparents. It was nice to ponder about how this could be life in our retirement years.

The movie was excellent, lots of action and usual Bond intrigue. Without giving away too much, a lot of references were made to Bond movies of the 1960's, when Sean Connery was the star. I remembered being eight years old (yes eight, it was a different era) and my Mom dropping me off at the Strand theatre in Brockport so I could go watch Goldfinger. The theatre was packed but I found a seat down near the front and was enthralled with the Bond series from then on.

Now Daniel Craig plays James Bond and I love his portrayal. Actually, Craig as Bond reminds me of ...me! Why? I can think of ten reasons!

1. Craig's close cropped hairdo.
2. Bond runs a lot in this film. I run a lot.
3. Bond swims for exercise in Skyfall. I swim for exercise.
4. Craig's Bond is a bit morose. I have been known to be morose.
5. Craig chooses his words carefully before speaking and really doesn't talk much. I have been told I don't talk much either, though admittedly when I do my choice of words isn't always good.
6. Craig's upper body, biceps, chest, abs, are well developed. Some day I hope mine are, but I realize time may be running out for that dream.
7. The Bond series has been going on in the movies for fifty years. I have been alive for around fifty plus years.
8. James Bond is based on books by Ian Fleming. I like to read books.
9. Bond enjoys a good drink, such as Martinis or Scotch. I recently developed a taste for good Scotch.
10. Bond has a magic touch with women, I have a magic touch with one woman, which is enough for me.

Debate Topics

Choose a topic based on the length of your run and begin to debate while passing the miles away!

1. If a young man in his twenties, seemingly of good health, is smoking a cigarette near the exit of a Walgreens in Lincoln City, Oregon (any Walgreens would actually do) and at the same time begging for money should I donate?
     My belief is that if you can afford the $7.00 or so it costs to buy the cigarettes than maybe you aren't that hard up for money? Second, would it have been rude of me to point out to the young man that the McDonald's and several other places within a few blocks were currently hiring?
      Jan wouldn't let me roll down the window to discuss this with him.
      Feel free to offer your opinions.

2. If a yip-yap dog is constantly barking in the hotel room next to you and the owners aren't there, should you; a) ignore it and go about your business? b) tell the hotel manager? c) beat on the door and scream at the dog to be quiet?

3. If the local casino has a non-smoking section that is about the size of a small house and only offers slot machines, and not the variety or amount in the smoking section, plus is not separated by any kind of wall but only two steps, do you still gamble in that section or give up and join the smokers? Do you complain to  management either in-person or via email? Do you understand many Native American tribes make boodles of money from selling tobacco products and actually want people to smoke? Should I not care since for once I walked away with $50 more than I came in with?

I'll be happy to debate these topics and more during a long run on the canal path once back in New York.