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.

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.