COVERING THE USA OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS (And Enjoying the Texas Gulf Coast)

Clay and I worked together on this post, so you'll see it is written in his voice.

Our Trip

Our trip to Texas started the weekend prior to the Trials; we took a vacation to the Gulf Coast.  We traveled the entire length of the Gulf Coast, from near the Louisiana border in Port Arthur to Brownsville on the border with Mexico.  We had both good and bad weather and stayed on islands for each of those five days.  

Our first stop was Galveston for two nights.  Galveston is an interesting little city reminiscent of New Orleans.  We ran along the seawall each morning.  (This wall was built after the 1900 hurricane which killed 6000 residents.)   We also enjoyed the historical district with its beautiful Victorian homes and an interesting shopping area.  Although Hurricane Ike devastated the area in 2008, the residents have done a good job with restoration.  Ten feet of seawater covered some areas for a short while, long enough to do much damage and kill many trees.  In one area, a local woman organized an effort to make something of these trees by hiring tree sculptors.  There are now tree stumps in the shape of herons, dogs, turtles, and even a geisha. 

New Orleans-type home with sculpted tree stump

Tin man and Toto (formerly trees)

While staying in Galveston, we did a day trip to see the Gulf Coast Museum in Port Arthur, a great regional museum (hometown of Janis Joplin and NFL’s Jimmy Johnson).  In Port Arthur’s downtown, waves of economic recession and Hurricane Ike have created a nearly vacant, boarded up ghost town, possibly the worst we have ever seen anywhere in the world.   

Our next stop was Port Aransas for two nights, with runs on the beach.  From here on we stopped at National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and other places for some incredible birding opportunities.  We spent a day at the Aransas NWF checking out birds and other wildlife.  Although Aransas NWR is a wonderful place, we did not have much luck there.  There has been drought in the area for a year, and the day we chose to visit the refuge was the exact day that the park officials conducted a “controlled burn” and disallowed visitors from most of the park.  Karen found better birding elsewhere at Goose Island, Port Aransas, and Corpus Christi.

Green jays in Laguna NWR near South Padre Island

Texan armadillo in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The Texas highway system has free ferries in many places.  We took one to Port Aransas and one from Galveston to Bolivar.  Corpus Christi to South Padre Island was a long drive through scrublands to the Rio Grande Valley, while listening to Tejano radio stations along the way. 

Our final night before Houston was on South Padre Island, with a moonlit 5AM run on the beach done wisely while it was still warm (two hours later it was 20 degrees colder and windy).  We visited Laguna Atascosa NWF and headed back to Houston, a six-hour drive.

We stayed in downtown Houston, just a block off the marathon course and two blocks from the start/finish.  From our 16^th floor room we could see the marathon course.  On the day of the marathon trials Karen shot her photos from the ground and I was on the official photo bridge at the start and finish.  Since the marathoners covered the 26.2 miles in loops and the men and women were 15 minutes apart, there was great photography on the ground and on the bridge. 

We had dinner with journalist friends on Thursday night and went to the Sacramento Kings vs Houston Rockets NBA game on Friday night (1 block walk, nice).  Friday during the day we walked the downtown part of the course with Brandon Parks and his mom to check out photo spots for Karen.   (Karen had mentioned that the trials were in Houston, and Brandon, a pilot, managed to arrange his schedule to be there.  Both Brandon and his mom enjoyed the experience.) 

Following the trials we met with Jeff Hill from Katy, TX who started the “50 State Sub 4” group, which I am proud to be a part of.  In fact, Jeff determined that I was the first person to run a marathon in each of the 50 states, all under 4 hours.   Of the thousands that have now done the states, only 22 have done all of them under four hours. 

On Sunday, the regular Houston Marathon took place with lots of participants and fast times posted by the Ethiopian winners.  We shot a few pictures and headed to the airport.

The Trials

First of all, Aimee Taylor and Dave Berdan deserved to be in the marathon trials.   Both runners ran several worthy near-misses and have my respect for their marathoning talents and professionalism.  Sometimes luck plays a part too, like the nice tailwind at the 2011 Boston Marathon.   Well, maybe that luck was too good, as the winners ran so fast in the 2011 Boston Marathon that the IAAF won’t recognize the world records set there. 

The USA Olympic Trials were in Houston, Texas on January 14, 2012.  For the first time in history the men and women ran at nearly the same time, in the same city, and on the same course.  The spectator-friendly course started in downtown Houston with a 2.2 mile loop, and then continued with three 8-mile loops to the finish.  The men started at 8AM; the women started at 8:15AM.   The system is pretty simple and fair; the top three men and women are the marathoners going to the London 2012 Olympics.

Meb Keflezighi now 36, who won silver in the 2004 Olympic Marathon in Athens, won the trials in 2:09:08.   Ryan Hall was second in 2:09:30 and Abdi Abdirahman held on for third in 2:09:47.  Dathan Ritzenhein, who was on the 2008 Beijing team, was a close fourth in 2:09:55. 

Shalane Flanagan was the women’s champ in just her second marathon in 2:25:38.  Desiree Davila from the Hanson’s team in Michigan was second in 2:25:55.  Kara Goucher was third in 2:26:06.  Amy Hastings ran a courageous race but ended up in the dreaded fourth spot in 2:27:17.   Deena Kastor who won bronze in Athens and broke her foot 5 kilometers into the Beijing Olympic Marathon, was 6^th in 2:30:40. 

2012 USA Olympic Marathon Team will go to London 

Women's Start from the Photo Bridge

Top women Shalane Flanagan, Desi Davila, and Kara Goucher (background)

Some interesting facts:  152 women and only 85 men finished.  Quite a few runners qualified by running a fast half marathon and there were several nice debut marathons.  A select few track runners qualified with a fast 10,000 meter time.  Rebecca Donaghue from State College qualified that way and ran her first marathon in 2:35:57, good for 17^th and first PA resident.  James Carney, a PA native and now a resident of CO, finished 9^th in 2:12:23, a personal best.  Carney went into Millersville University’s Hall of Fame last Fall, obviously the school’s best professional runner ever (apologies to Greg Cauller).  Jed Christiansen finished 61^st.  He won the White Rose 5 miler in 2010, and you may remember the fast Christiansen family from Greenville, PA who came to the White Rose Run for many years.  Max King from Bend, OR, was in my elite field at the Baltimore Marathon in 2010 where he posted his 2:15 qualifier; he bettered his PR with a 2:14:36, good for 19^th at the Trials.   Max is the best versatile runner around; he has made several USA XC teams, won the World’s Mountain Running Race, and commonly wins ultras and trail runs.   Another versatile runner is Michael Wardian from VA, who finished in 62^nd  place and ran the Houston Marathon the next day - a 2:21 on Saturday and a 2:31 on Sunday, quite a double. 

On the women’s side 21 masters’ runners competed.  Seven- time Olympic Trials runner and 1996 Olympian Linda Somers-Smith, now 50, and placed 28^th in 2:37:36.  Four- time Olympian Colleen DeReuck, now 47, placed 35^th in 2:38:52.  Colleen won the 2004 St.Louis trials in 2:28:25 and held the trials record until this year, when the first four women bettered that mark. 

Post Script

I picked Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, and Jason Hartmann in that order for the men.  I guessed Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila, and Amy Hastings for the women.  I got two right for each and was really close on the women.  Many USA Marathon trials have produced upsets in the past, but not in Houston.  USA marathoning is strong and marathon trial records were set by both men and women.  Both races were controlled swiftness; no one charged out in front in either race, as the main contenders all ran near the front. 

Clay Shaw is a long-time marathon runner and sports photographer.  You can reach him at sports35_photography@yahoo.com.

Christmas Gifts: Some Made Out of Wool Sweaters

I'm still working on Christmas gifts a week before the big day.  I'm gifting two wraps:  foliage wrap and the cabled capelet.  I taught classes for both and I hope my class members finished their projects.  Most seemed to enjoy learning to knit cables without a cable needle.  I'm also giving my Italian Moped Cap to a very special person, my 16 year old granddaughter.  BTW, I have sold quite a few copies of my moped cap pattern and am eager to see some finished projects on Ravelry.


I'm also making some scarves, hats and cowls, of course.


I decided to begin making use of the wool sweaters that I purchased at the Salvation Army last month.  I've been asking people what color their kitchens are and have been trying to find wool sweaters in the right colors.  My plan is to make felted oven mitts and potholders first, and then move on to other projects, such as felted slippers or handbags.  


Here is what you do to make the potholders.

1. For felting, 100% wool is best.  Look at the label closely and ensure the garment is not washable.
2. I looked in several Salvation Army and Goodwill stores and found that the more upscale the neighborhood, the more likely you can find wool.  99% of the sweaters are acrylic or cotton and neither will felt.  Sweaters with 3 - 7 stitches per inch will work better than those with a fine gauge.
3. Once you buy some sweaters, be cautious where you store them, as you don't want moths in your knitted goods or stash.  If it's winter, you may be able to store them in a garage or shed.  If not, consider putting them in a large, airtight plastic bag until ready to use them.
4. Make a paper "pattern" using your own oven mitts or potholders to judge the size.  Be sure to make your pattern a LOT larger to allow for shrinkage in the felting process.  Your fabric can shrink 25 - 30% or more.  It's better to make your pieces too large rather than too small.
5. Lay your sweater flat, pin your pattern to a single thickness and cut.  For the oven mitt you will need four thicknesses.  For potholders you will need two.
6. For potholders, pin the two pieces together with right sides facing.  Using your sewing machine, sew the pieces together on three sides with a 1/4 " seam.  Turn the potholders right-side out, turn in the raw edges on the 4th side and pin.  Machine stitch.
7. For an oven mitt, pin the pieces together so that your finished product will have right sides on the inside and outside of the mitt.  Machine stitch around all edges except the bottom.  Turn right-side out.  Stitch all around the bottom (two thicknesses).
8. Felting:  Use a top-loading washing machine.  Fill the machine with hot water, a drop of detergent, and an old pair of jeans (to help the felting process).
   Run the machine without using the rinse cycle.  Turn it back to the start of the cycle as needed.  Now is the important part.  Keep checking your pieces to see how they are felting.  This is a bit uncomfortable since you have used very hot water, but important.  Felting will likely take from 15 to 45 minutes, but fabrics will felt at different speeds, so this is not an exact science.
   When your pieces have felted as much as you like, take them from the machine and hand rinse in cold water.  Blot with towels to make them as dry as possible.  Stretch the pieces as needed and leave them to air dry.
9. When dry, sew an unfelted bottom (cuff) to the oven mitt.  The ribbing from the same sweater works well.  BTW, I find that the fabric is so thick that I need to hand sew this part, first the inside and then the outside.  

This is one kitchen set and I will post more later.

A Lot of Running!

Today I ran the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Marathon.  I really love this marathon and have run it ten times now.  Why do I love it?  Well, Harrisburg feels like my home town since I worked there for 27 years.  In the early years I ran along the river at lunch time.  19th and 20th century officials preserved the land along the river to ensure it would never be an ugly industrial area.  Instead it's a beautiful park.  During later years, when my job began to interfere with a lunchtime run,  I ran at 6 am.  Most of the year it is dark at the hour and as I ran I would watch the day emerge.


Since I have now run 97 marathons, including one in each of our 50 states, people often ask me what my favorite marathon is.  I've never answered, "Harrisburg," preferring to mention Big Sur or other marathons with equally beautiful scenery.  But today I realized that my favorite is indeed Harrisburg.


BTW, I ran pretty well, although it was a struggle.  I ran 4:42, which is an hour and 15 minutes off my PR, but after all, I'm older now and I don't expect to see a PR again.  Today's time was good enough for a 2nd place age group award.


When we got home I planned to work on Liam's sweater vest, but took a nice nap instead.  On tap for tonight and tomorrow - finish the sweater vest and head to IKEA to buy furniture for Clay's new (following the flood) office.  I was dumb enough :-) to re-carpet the rooms and now I will buy furniture.

Here I am during the last mile.

Finished Objects (FOs) and Unfinished Objects (UFOs)

I previously posted the designer's photo of the Noni Clematis Bag.  I'm happy to say that mine is now an FO.


I used colors quite similar to those of the original, although I customized other things about the bag.  (I say this only because Kathy (Colonial Yarn Shop) looks askance at the practice of copying the pattern colors.  She prefers to find different yarns and color schemes.)  I lined the bag in fabric that I love.  It is a floral print with colors that coordinate with the bag.  I think it looks great.


The knitting and felting part of this project was a piece of cake.  The rest, however, was a pain.  Here is a shot of the bag prior to felting.  Note the dollar bill to show how huge it was.  I think it was 3' X 3'.

And - all of the following needed to be done to actually finish the project.

• I bought some plastic mesh to make the bag more solid and proceeded to sew it into the bag.  Now this was really hard, because the mesh is non-flexible and the thread couldn't show on the outside.  I made good use of needle-nosed pliers and a thimble.
• I knitted and felted the vine and the clematis flowers.  Nothing hard about this and the clematis pattern is clever and fun to knit.
• I followed the on-line directions to make the lining, adding two good-sized pockets.  The lining was a pain!!  I don't really like the method (one piece of material) and for a future bag, I might piece it together instead.  It is very difficult to size it with the Noni-prescribed method, and I constructed it twice to get it close to correct.
• When I looked at the vine and flowers I realized that they all had to be sewn on.  I tried to convince myself I could use glue, but knew better.   But - before I began sewing, I realized that I needed to remove (unsew) the plastic mesh.
• With the flowers and vine sewn on and the plastic mesh back where it belonged, I needed to sew in the lining.  But first, I had to figure out the magnetic snap.  Since the lining is thin and you cannot have the snap showing on the outside of the bag, I consulted YouTube.  I still had to go back to Joann's for advice where a helpful associate told me to use iron-on interfacing.

It's finally done and I'm very happy with the results.

If you click on the picture, you can see a larger view of the lining.

I also finished my hat for Debbie in Anchorage.  She is my new friend who treated Clay and me to a wonderful dinner and great conversation at her home.  I sent her the hat and she called me immediately to say how much she loves it.  I asked her if the weather has been cold enough to wear it.  She said, "Are you kidding?  It was 18° when I went to work this morning!"  I hope to have a good picture of Debbie in her hat, but this will need to suffice.  The colors in the hat are beautiful (Cascade Jazz), but you cannot tell in the picture because of the orange shirt and the Ukrainian flag in the background.

I am currently working on a green sweater vest for Liam, using Sirdar #1784 pattern and Cascade 220 Superwash Sport color #1950.  I have yarn to begin making projects for late winter classes at Colonial.  Two of the projects are Ysolda's cabled beret and Knitty.com's Commuter Gloves.  More on these in a later post.

Wedding Plans

Some people plan their wedding for more than a year and some don't.


A couple months ago Clay was approached about photographing a wedding the day after the Baltimore Marathon - a Sunday.  It was one of Clay's elite runners who happens to live in Oregon, but he and his fiance grew up in southern Pennsylvania and had lately begun planning their wedding.


Shooting a wedding the day after the marathon meant adding another hectic day onto a week of hectic days.  Sunday would start in Baltimore long before the sun was up; Clay would take athletes to the airport - two trips - before 7 am.  After that we would head to the Sunday market, drive home to York, quickly get gussied up, and then drive to Lancaster where we would spend six hours shooting, arriving back home around 10 pm.


I think we decided to do it because the bride and groom were marathon runners.


I spoke to the groom on the telephone and a few weeks later spoke to the bride.  She said she would think about things and get back to me.  I actually heard from her seven days before the wedding date, and I'm not sure what the back-up plan was . . .


Anyway, it all worked out and the wedding was very nice.  The bridesmaids were dressed in an unusual color set, but definitely appropriate for autumn.  The groomsmen were in sport jackets and casual pants.


The wedding was outdoors at a beautiful venue - the Landis Valley Museum.  The outdoor setting and wonderful weather allowed for interesting pre-ceremony photos.  The reception was in a barn-like building.


They pulled off a nice event in approximately two months, maybe a bit more.

Baltimore Marathon Was Today

The marathon was great and resulted in a new women's course record by Ukranian Olena Shurkhno and a reasonably good men's time.  A few pictures below.

Russian women and Ukranian Shurkhno (F26) before the race.

Dave "Frodo" Berdan on his way to PR of 2:21:19.

Shurkhno wins 2011 Baltimore Marathon with course record time.

Beginning of the 2011 marathon.

Stephen Muange wins 2011 Baltimore Marathon.

More interesting to me were observations of the people I interacted with this week/weekend.


In no particular order:

• The Russian/Ukranian women were quite pleased with the beer after their superb running.  Note that Shurkhno has three 32 oz beers at 11 am in the morning!!  Runners may want to take note of this apparently successful training regime.

• Carolyn and Steve were a tremendous help to Clay as always and are  competent at managing the athletes.
• The program of home-hosting athletes is a success.  The athletes love the special attention and comfortable surroundings and the families truly enjoy it.  The adults and the kids bond with the athletes and learn a bit about countries very different from the USA.  Paula Harmon, who coordinates the program for Clay, says that this is a highlight of the year.
• Corrigan Sports Enterprises focuses on customer satisfaction.  Participation in the various events has increased every year - 25,000 participants this year in spite of hefty race fees.  An example:  there was a problem with the number of shirts printed for one event.  All participants immediately received an email acknowledging the problem and stating how and when the race would resolve it.
• Clay is the elite athlete coordinator and is well loved by the athletes, their managers, and the families that host the athletes.  He is good at this.
• I had a nice conversation with Steve Nearman (journalist, race director, financial advisor, et al.)
• I meet interesting people every year at races.  This time:
• Derege:  A interesting Ethiopian who has lived in the US for many years.  He wrote and published a book about his father, who was killed in their homeland.  I am eager to read the English translation, and since it is not ready to be published, Derege asked me to give him full feedback on the readability.  His story sounded interesting enough that I suggested he contact Bob Edwards of Sirius/XM about appearing on his show.
• Mary:  A USA athlete from California who had a pretty serious conflict with another athlete; fortunately, they managed to stay away from each other.  Tonight Mary put some braids/dreadlocks in my hair.  Carolyn and I asked her to come to the marathon trials in Houston a day early to do the whole [braiding] job on both of us.  Imagine me with dreadlocks!!
• Hicham - a NYC guy who drove some athletes to Baltimore and then helped Clay a lot.  A truly nice person and I hope that we will keep in touch.
• Jim Adams, owner of the Falls Road Running Store, hosted Bill Rodgers - a very nice treat.  However, I was amazed that lots of regular runner types don't even know who he is.

That's it!

I'm Wired!

From now on, I'm wired.  I can email, text, Google, check the weather, Skype, or use a GPS - whenever I want to.  


I admit it; I love gadgets and technology.  I needed a Kindle even though I had a boatload of actual books queued up for me at home.  I transferred my running logs from paper to electronic, because the electronic version could give me charts, graphs, compilations, shoe mileage, mapped and measured routes, and all forms of analysis - none of which I need.  I got an iPod because they were cool, even though I never used it much.  I love reading about cameras and lenses and eventually buying new ones.  I love my Adobe Lightroom.  For knitting, the coolest thing ever was the invention of Ravelry, and the only thing ever wrong with it was, and is, that I can spend so much time on Ravelry that I use up valuable knitting time.  I love to learn new software, and I love when my software is upgraded.  


The only thing that competes with all of this is that I also love good value for my money - and all new technology becomes cheaper after awhile.


So, this week I finally broke down and got two new things:  a laptop and an iPhone.  I'm using my new laptop to write this post and I've preordered my iPhone 4S.


I'm in technology heaven.