Sunday, September 16, 2012

Portland

Cool town indeed....very Boulder/Austin like- as in liberal, eco friendly - recycling, composting all over, no plastic bags etc, lots of facial, neck, arm tattoos, many living on the street, very young and a cool town....but sadly I feel old and out of it.   Especially when you get me near the Kickstarter crowd-  I am just not hip, open to all new ideas and okay a bit lost when the really techies are chatting it up. 

John is motivated, moved and excited and I am annoyed.... what is wrong with me?  So I have been exposed to the XOXO crowd for about an hour now.  I am not allowed into the real conference but I am hanging out in the "fringe"  Everyone is "so excited" in a way that creeps me out a bit...animated and "don't you just love this" ... funky clothes and a totally different world than mine.  So I am wanting to embrace what is different and open my mind which is a main criticism of my by my husband, he thinks I am closed minded,  which I think I am generally pretty open minded. 

What is really sad....I felt more at home hanging around the Chehalem Mountain Therapy Riding Center after the run yesterday.  I guess not so sad but interesting.  I was out of my element with horses and the country and families with physically and mentally challenged kids...but I loved the environment and the feel,  My point, I can be out of MY element and still be happy. 

So onto my element...the Chehalem Challenge was a brutal kick ass race,  14 miles and over 1600 feet of elevation- but it was stunning- sweeping views of vineyards and valleys all the way to Portland.  Really small race- 11 to be exact and amazingly nice people.  This is a 1st annual and a fundraiser for the Riding Center.  There was also a 5K and other activities throughout the day.  The course was marked with paper plates on posts, the aid station was a car that drove amongst us offering water and bananas and it was quite and scenic.   There was a guy who was competitive with me and we had some fun...I passed him on the uphills and he was killing me on the downhills - seems he tired a tad to hard as his quads seized up badly around mile 11 at the bottom of a 9% grade hill and I "took the lead" Really fun...the first and only time I will ever win a running race.  They even had a prize and wholly cow...4 passes to Disneyland- how nice is that!   My kids are psyched - for those who don't know me - I don't do Disney of any kind. So my kids are deprived of that "happiest place on earth"  Although JD went on grad night and Riley recently volunteered at a race there.... I will take them to Australia, NZ, France, Spain,, Monaco, Mexico, China, Ecuador and soon Cambodia but so "Magic Kingdom" for me...so now even better- free tickets.   


It was fun....and post race food was veggie chili and cornbread and delicious.  After seeing some demos and saying goodbye I headed back and manged to book a massage.  Now what a day!!!  Rounded out the day with a wonderful dinner at Ox...wonderful Argentinian food in a cool atmosphere.   John went back to see a film  Indie Game - the Movie which he said was so worth it and I went to bed...which was worth it too :)

And today...more of my element- awesome 24 hour fitness in town with a nice pool for a solid recovery swim and light workout-  followed by good food and settled down at Peets for an afternoon of work.  All good.... and we fly home tonight!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Julie.
    I ran the Chehalm Challenge in Portland too and came in third (also the best I will every do in a race, as you said in your blog post). I read a bunch of running blogs and there are many based in SD so when you said you were from there and had done a bunch of Ironman races, I had a feeling you might have a blog. The results from Portland came out today and I saw your name so I thought I'd google you and here you are. It was fun to meet you and fun to run that inaugural race together in Portland. It was beautiful, wasn't it? Take care!
    Beth

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  2. Hey Julie.
    I ran the Chehalm Challenge in Portland too and came in third (also the best I will every do in a race, as you said in your blog post). I read a bunch of running blogs and there are many based in SD so when you said you were from there and had done a bunch of Ironman races, I had a feeling you might have a blog. The results from Portland came out today and I saw your name so I thought I'd google you and here you are. It was fun to meet you and fun to run that inaugural race together in Portland. It was beautiful, wasn't it? Take care!
    Beth

    ReplyDelete