A fairy and Noah Kahan showed up on Saturday. Fun was had by all.
Here they are! At one house, apparently, when they arrived and the door was opened, Noah was playing on their stereo. Trick or TREAT, indeed.
@seansharp
On Saturdays I meet up with the UO Noon Running Group, which really does not meet at noon anymore as most of the runners are retired now. However, we do meet up on Saturday and have a route that takes us over the Autzen Footbridge across the Willamette River. On this run yesterday, the fog atop the water was beautiful as the rising sun captured it. I also walked, instead of run, as my knees have been giving me some challenges lately. I walked with Paul Slovic, the founder of the group (from back in 1969!) and our elder runner (he’s 88). Plus walking with Paul is great as I get to talk with him and listen as we try to solve the world’s problems. Paul is a psychologist whose work involves the concept of “psychic numbing,” which is basically the human inability to grasp suffering at a large scale. On a small scale we easily get emotional about it, but when the numbers get too large, we become numb to the suffering of others. I always learn a lot from Paul about his research or we talk basketball and running.
The Willamette River from the bridge.
Looking east as the sun rises. The river will turn north and head up to Portland where it dumps into the Columbia River on its journey to the Pacific Ocean.
Paul and I tried a selfie and we laughed about it because we couldn’t see with the sun in our faces. It was cold yesterday, too – about 30 degrees at the start of our run. After running we all go for coffee and pastries at a local bakery next to our parking spot. Paul, by the way, runs and/or walks every day of the week. He has “graduated” to a three-wheeled jogging stroller now and has some aches and pains, but is still out there every day. Life goals for sure.
Spent most of yesterday in the mountains just east of Eugene, on a trail run along the McKenzie River Trail and around Clear Lake. I’ve been going to Clear Lake for years now and find it a beautiful place, nestled among the lava flows, a few giant sequoias and many vine maple trees. Yesterday was simply beautiful. Photos below.
The trail itself is a trail along a “National Wild and Scenic River,” the McKenzie River and the trail parallels the river for most of it. It starts just north of Clear Lake and my goal was to run from the parking lot, around Clear Lake, and back. This is the bridge at the start of the run that goes across a dry creek bed.
The light and colors were fantastic yesterday. I started my run at 8:30 am and this view looks west across the tip of Clear Lake.
Clear Lake itself is a volcanic lake, that is fed by an underground spring in which the temperatures stay about 36 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. It is very clear (hence the name), has a lodge and cabins that one can stay in that is run by the Linn County Parks.
Fall vine maple and a giant sequoia along the trail.
More vine maple.
When I got around to the lodge this fella was sitting there. Perhaps the personal floatation device did not work? I also had a piece of peach cobbler and a cup of coffee out on the porch of the lodge before ambling on.
At this point in the run, I am heading back towards the car. This is looking south down the lake with the lodge in distance.
Clear Lake is the headwaters of the McKenzie River and this falls, Sahalie Falls, is along the river. I pulled over to take a look on my drive home. It is always worth the stop.
Yesterday I volunteered at the Rainbow Ridge 20k & 50k Trail Run which took place up the McKenzie River about a two hour drive from home. The runners endured the beautiful trails and worked so hard at this . . . it was impressive. Photos below:
I stopped at a boat launch to use a forest service restroom and took this photo. In the distance is remnants of the wildfire from 2020 known as the Holiday Farm Fire. It was huge and caused a lot of damage. Six years on, though, and nature is returning. The air was cool this morning, with some sunlight coming from behind me as I looked West.
There are many covered bridges in rural parts of Oregon, including this one – the Belknap Bridge. The runners ran over the bridge on their way to the trail.
Some historical data about the bridge that I found interesting.
Appropriate warnings to those in a car.
The sign outside of the Upper McKenzie Community Center where the race started and finished.
Here they come! The runners will turn to their right, just after that orange cone and start on the trails taking them up 2500 feet to Kings Castle mountain. This was the 20k race and upon return there were many positive reports of this course. I did run it last year and would agree to this assessment.
I went to the Bill Dellinger Cross Country Meet today – the 20th year of this one. I’ve been the past two years as well as it is held on a golf course in Springfield, the next town over. Side note: Springfield, Oregon is *that* Springfield from the The Simpsons, according to the creator, Matt Groening. I took some photos today and these are a few of my favorites:
The Chico State Women doing a motivational dance before they ran their 6k race.
Connor Thompson, brother of former UO runner Anika Thompson floating along, running hard.
Near the finish, a runner from Weber State with all of the grit on her face. What an effort at the end!
Connor Burns in first, and Simeon Birnbaum in second during an earlier part of their 8k race. Cross Country scoring is interesting and something I am only just now understanding. I found this explanation that was helpful.
This image captures it all, I think: joy, effort, teammates. rhythm, calm & floating along. There are so many reasons to love running.