Good Read

Came across a blog post by Shannon Rowbury, a 1500m runner who won a bronze medal at the world championships this last summer, much of it on keeping sport (even elite sport) in perspective. My favorite quote:

"In this way, I have come to realize that it's not about the medal at all. Instead, what matters most is the sense of pride in accomplishing a goal I had worked so long towards and the joy of sharing that success with the people that helped me to achieve it."

Regardless of the races you participate in the results mater very little if you don't work for them. A loss can be as rich as a win if it's accomplished through great hardship and you know you gave your all. Similarly, a win earned without struggle is hollow and quickly forgotten.

Check out the full article here.

PacNW Weekend

Sometimes I feel like I gush about the place I live. So be it. I love it here in Portland, and this weekend was yet another opportunity to talk about why. I started out with a Friday night home swim meet; I'm writing press releases for the swim team this winter and there was great energy in the pool as the Pioneers took home a men's and women's win against Pacific. It was great to watch and to write about, and it was great to see several rowers in the stands to cheer on the swimmers.

Saturday I was up early to join with my cycling team for a great ride; out to Oregon City along River Road (next to the Willamette), up the Clackamas river, and back through the Portland suburbs along some awesome back roads. Cool, crisp air and good company-- much the same as what we do for our Saturday practices in the fall. Back home by 11, yard work and errands, then off to dinner in the Pearl District of Portland with some good friends. The only thing I missed Saturday was seeing Pioneer Football closing their season with a win-- their first conference win since 2003.



Sunday dawned cool & gray, but my wife and I loaded up our car and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. We did a great hike finishing at Multomah Falls (pictured above). While the falls are always a tourist zoo the hike was quiet and scenic with great views of the gorge through the mist. Forty minutes from our house in the middle of the city there are moments of absolute solitude to be found in the forest.



After the hike we jumped back into the car and drove another ten miles up the gorge to Eagle Creek where we got to watch one of the most amazing things in nature; salmon making their last desperate push to their spawning grounds. Hundreds of fish are in the creek, most in some state of decay, struggling up against the current.



The smell is awful but the sight is amazing. The fish struggle upstream then turn off into side eddies to rest. On the banks those that have already spawned-- or didn't quite make it-- are dead, half eaten. The life cycle of the salmon is at the very center of Pacific Northwest culture and some studies say it is the bodies of salmon that fertilize the dense lush forest that line the rivers and streams of the northwest.



Why write about all this? Because this could have just as easily been a day in the life of a Lewis & Clark student. All of these activities are accessible easily from Lewis & Clark; obviously the sporting events are on campus, the ride I did is one you could easily do from school (or you could substitute practice!), the Pearl can be reached on the Pioneer Express. Even the gorge is only a short drive if you have a friend with a car, or you could go along on one of many college outdoors trips that happen every weekend. I love Portland because all this is right out my door, and every weekend is an opportunity for a new adventure.

Gorgeous Fall Day

There's nothing like the Pacific Northwest sunbreak after a week or so of rain; it's wonderful outside right now with all the roads drying out and everyone walking around with their heads turned up towards the light. I spent the morning moving launches into their winter storage; very happy to be doing so in the daylight rather then in the rain!

Been having good conversations with recruits the last week or so. One of the main points I'm trying to get across to folks right now is the opportunities available at Lewis & Clark; athletic, academic, and exploration wise. When compared to other rowing programs I hope we offer a more complete educational environment that encourages excellence and experience in all facets of life. To me the point is not to participate in rowing so that it takes over your life, but rather to have it enrich and expand your world.

The goal is to graduate folks after four years with a great education, excellent experiences from around the world, and hopefully their most meaningful challenges and triumphs having taken place on the river in the presence of their best friends.

The Best Part. . .

. . . about regular training is clearly the ability to consume more then the average amount of cheese. Having gone for a nice long ride, I rewarded myself with one of my favorites.

Regardless. It's been good for me to start to get back into a good training rhythm, and I'm hearing that echoed from both the men's and women's teams. Sounds like we've got some solid groups forming right now and folks are taking their fitness into their own hands. I have lots of good memories of winters in the erg room during my college rowing career, and I think our athletes are building some of those memories as well.

Wet roads, good company

Solid fall weather up on Palatine Hill today; wet fog, misting rain, wet roads all the way up on the ride to work today. I debuted my new, longer ride-- my old route was 40-44 minutes, depending on traffic lights. I've been wanting a slightly longer workout, so I plotted a new route and tested it today- sixty minutes on the nose, with less time spent sitting at lights, and a nice stretch along the river to keep me in touch with the water as we close up shop for winter.

Before the ride I met with most of the women's team for a winter training breakfast and distributed our recommendations for a solid winter program. This is Division III-- we cannot require anyone to train outside of our playing & practice season. There are downsides to this, most notably the lack of contact between coaches and the team (sad!). But the upside is the great educational opportunity for our athletes to develop their own work ethic and knowledge of training over the course of the next three months. I've done my best to provide the team with all the tools they need; now it's up to them to run with it. I was very encouraged today by how many small training groups were forming within the team; we also had a report that the whole men's team was at it in the weight room this morning. Good company makes consistent training easy.

Next task: clean up and prepare the erg room for the winter season!

Portland Fall Classic

I had a great time at the Fall Classic on Sunday; Station L Rowing Club and Rose City Rowing Club ran a fantastic event. We provided three launches and ran the start marshal area; the best part was being able to stay on shore with the athletes for the duration of the event and ride my bike down the Springwater Corridor, following the races from the start to about halfway down. I took plenty of photos but they didn't really turn out, so I'll direct you instead to Row2k's excellent gallery.

Our crews rowed well, which was the primary goal for the event. The men's team choose to boat up a fast four as their priority boat and raced to within eleven seconds of Oregon State's top four freshman- a solid performance. Our women's team took on the open eight and faced up to some very quick competition, but we succeeded in our goal to stay composed, stay long (rate ~26 throughout), and maintain our technique. Maybe not the absolute fastest piece we could have rowed but we 100% succeeded in capitalizing on the learning we've done this fall and set ourselves up for a great start to spring season.

The athletic department write up is here.

And now fall's done, and I woke up this morning with a huge rainstorm to announce the start of winter. Time to spend some days in the office, clean up the erg room and fix up all our ergs, and meet with folks Thursday at breakfast to talk about winter training.

I'll be posting less frequently for the next month or two, but will try to keep the updates coming 1-2 days per week.

Pioneep Novice Women

Photos from novice practice today; one of our novice women's mothers was out and proved rather talented with the camera. We did some nice racing pieces vs the novice men's four, but somehow she only got pictures of the women's eight.