There are lots a great places to run in Eugene.  Friday I ran along the river near the Pre Trail.  On Saturday morning at 8am I met up with The Hackers.  It is a group race director Ken put together.  Not sure where the name came from because they all seem to be very talented runners. 

Talking with Ken and Trisha Saturday morning.  Trisha recently joined the Ujena Fit Club and told me she would be running the Ten on Sunday.  Her goal was to break 70 and she offered to help me get under that mark too.  She quickly found out that I do like to surge from time to time.  "We are at 6:20 she yelled out."   Then we hit a short little hill at 2.5 miles she pulled ahead.  But I kept her in sight the rest of the way which helped.  Trisha finished 14 seconds ahead of me in 69:05.  At a couple of points I thought I could catch her but she just kept going...good job Trisha!

We were off on our 5k easy training run.  At some points we were running 6:45 pace and we had to slow it down.  There is so much energy in the air it is hard to not speed up.   However, most of us were running The Ten Miler the next day and I know I didn't want to over do it.  It might have been more than what I should have done but I still hit my goal the next day.  Plus I just really enjoyed getting to know the Hackers.

Trisha and I are all set to race the Ten in the morning and Ken is ready to make sure everything goes smooth for his race.

Trisha is a massage therapist.  Just before leaving I told her my back and hamstrings were tight.  She showed me a couple of good exercise.

Then we headed over to Hayward field.  On Friday we couldn't get on the track because the team was working out but we would able to get in on Saturday for a few minutes.

The track felt so fast.  This was the same track where Mo and Gallen qualified for the Olympics.  It was exciting to run a lap.

In front of the steeplechase pit.  Later we would meet Bridget Franek who made the Olympic team and made it to the finals in Olympics for the Women's Steeplechase.  She works at the Eugene Running Company.

After getting what we wanted, we headed over to the Eugene Running Company.  Joe Henderson's running group run from there several days a week.

The Eugene Running Company has lots of things on display.  When we were in Kauai, Gerry Lindgren had mentioned the early issue of Runner's World cover he was featured.  And there it was.  Very worn along with photos of Pre and his coach Bill Dellinger. 

How could we not go over to the Nike store near by.  Barry, Michael and I picked up a Pre shirt.  All that we had left to do was rent a bicycle for Mike so he could get footage of the Ten.  Then I picked up my number at the hotel and got off my feet.   After writing all of this, I now know why my legs were not totally fresh.  But there was not a thing I would have changed.  Loved it all and I ran 69:19 the next day.    Photos by Catherine Cross

Bob Keefer from The Register-Guard and I sat down and talked before the race.   His article came out the next day.

Racing for a goal

The founder of Runner’s World adds Eugene to his project

by Bob Keefer

Half a century ago, when he was a high school cross country runner in Kansas, Bob Anderson couldn’t find out, even from his coach, how best to train for a marathon.

So the 14-year-old boy sat down and wrote letters to people around the country. In a short time, he had accumulated so much information he had an idea.

“I’m going to start a magazine,” he told a friend.

Within two years, Runner’s World magazine was born.

On Sunday morning at Alton Baker Park, Anderson lined up in running shorts and shoes, wearing bib No. 1 on his bright red shirt, at the start of the Oregon Track Club’s annual race called The 10-Miler. He was here in town — his first visit to Eugene in more than three decades — to promote his latest project.

Anderson is celebrating 50 years of running by running in 50 road races, going for a cumulative distance of more than 350 miles — and trying to do it all at better than a 7-minute-per-mile pace.

“For a 64-year-old guy that’s like a 28-year-old running 10 miles in 54:25,” he said Sunday morning as he prepped for the race.

Continued on their website

Last minutes thoughts from Barry before I started my warmup.

I started out easy for me.  I normally like to bank the first mile of any race.  I hit the first mile at 6:39.  Normally I would have liked to have been 6:25 or so.  Mixing it up...and my legs really did not feel fresh.   I finished in 69:19 which is 82.35% age-graded.  According to the age-graded tables this would be like a 28-year-old male finishing in 53:54.  Or a 28-year-old female running 60:20.  Photos by Catherine Cross   (The article appeared in the Register-Guard but not the actual edition pictured.)