Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. As I sit here flying 20,000 or however many feet we are up I am beginning to feel reality set in once again. I have been lucky enough to come out to Portland and visit a part of my family who I rarely get to see. The trip kind of popped up out of nowhere. I always knew I wanted to come spend time with my brother and his family but its always so hard to actually put the trip together...figuring out schedules, taking time off, managing training, etc etc. Anyways, back in early October I made up my mind that I wanted to come out and Thanksgiving was going to be the ideal time as it afforded me time off from work without using my vacation hours and it was during the offseason from triathlon training, although I did get some pretty serious runs in out here, but more on that later. So anyways, with the help of my mom we pieced together a flight out here and that was that. It's a fair amount of travel to get to Portland but it's worth every second. So with that introduction let me get started on describing what it is I've been doing out here this weekend.
Well as I wrote about in my last blog; for the Thanksgiving holiday I came out west to Portland, Oregon to be with my brother Jon, sister in law Meredith ("Mere"), nephew Winslow ("wins" or the "deeder" or something along those lines, niece Elle (aka "mudgy snigler" or the "mudge", and the wonder-dog Sugarfoot. On Friday as I wrote about in my last post I got to go running with Mere, ate donuts at the Voodoo donut shop (definitely the creepiest, dirtiest donut shop in the country...and they are making money like gangbusters!!..and they are cash only, someone from the IRS should stop by, I'm just sayin..),
...then after that my brothers friend Erin took me to the Nike Employee store where everything was 50% off! Two pairs of shoes were quickly purchased, pretty much solely because they were so freaking cheap, and the were the latest versions, it wasn't like they were the defective outlet store ones...they even had the latest Air Jordan XIII release for just $85, if your a sneaker head like me you now that deals like that just don't happen...ever! So that was basically like taking a kid into a candy store or an alcoholic to the Budweiser brewing facility. My head was spinning..awesome stuff!!
After we got back from the Nike store we gathered back at my bros house and had dinner with Erin and Chris who are my brothers friends who live just up the street. They have a couple little guys just about the same age as Wins and Mudgy so it works out real well for them in terms of babysitting and all that. And I believe if I am correct, my brother used to Nanny for Wins and there son Leo for a brief time when they were little guys before he started Med school.
So they came over, Wins and Leo had some epic Clone Wars reenactment battles and I was able to pick the brain of Chris (Erin's husband) who has THE DREAM JOB, as he is a Product Designer in the running footwear department for Nike (he helped design the Nike Free's that are currently on my feet as I type), he's also the President of the Bowerman Athletic Club too (check the website out!)..and oh by the way he is a former 4:08 mile who ran at Oxford university...you know that really old historic place over in Engalnd..yep that one! So he is a legit Oxford Blue. It was great to talk everything running with him, we even you tubed some classic running races and he gave me the scoop on all of them. Since I had just finished Sir Roger Bannisters book on the flight out here I was able to talk about the 4 minute mile and actually know more than it was really fast and an amazing accomplishment. All in all it was super cool to chat with someone who shares the same passion for running and athletics in general...and I mean he has the sweetest job ever getting to deal with elite athletes on a personal level by developing sneakers for them and ensuring that they can do what they do at the highest level possible. maybe he will be able to pull some strings for me over at Nike...can you imagine!!! Portland, Oregon with my brother and fam, with Nike, among the beautiful pacific northwest...ahh it would be a dream come true.
So that was Friday in a nut shell. A fantastically amazing day that had to come to an end.
Saturday began with a pleasant walk down into the little village where my brother lives. They have a starbucks, some shops, and some restaurants..a very cute and cozy downtown all in all. Instead of going to the giant coffee store that is Starbucks we opted to pay a visit to the Grand Central cafe where we got caffeinated and chatted for a while as we ate out muffins and pastries, a very pleasant time was had for all.
After the morning walk and coffee I got ready to go for a run with Erin..and let me tell you Erin is legit. She might play it off that she's just a casual runner blah blah but the woman can hammer. I was going into the run with no agenda, my official 2011 training season starts tomorrow so this still just for pure pleasure with no data watching. Well let me tell you, Erin had me gasping for air. We went out to big beautiful park called "Forest Park" where it looked like I was in some remote rain forest...the first thought that came to my mind was FERN GULLY. It was BEAUTIFUL! Gorgeous trail paths with wooden hand rails, lots of happy hikers, jobbers, families walking together and some serious elevation! Going up the muddy trails, along switchbacks, climbing and climbing had my legs absolutely shelled by the time we made it to the top of the hill...all while Erin was happily bounding up ahead of me. But it was totally worth it, such a cool place that had an awesome view of Portland at the top. I could really get used to running these trails and running with Erin and her husband who could whip me into shape. Its always good to train with people who can absolutely take you to the pain cave post haste. After our epic trail adventure Erin was kind enough to take me over to the Nike Campus for a little self guided tour. What a place! Soccer field, tracks, volleyball courts, tennis courts, basketball, courts, indoor pools, etc etc..it is basically the epitome of what I crave, love, desire, want, live, breathe, etc..the list could go on and on. All the building there are named after Nike athletes, there is the mia hamm building, Tiger Woods building, Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Bo Jackson, and many more like the Lance Armstrong building which as one that I got to go inside and see. What an amazing facility! A full gym, spin room, locker room, huge pool...and I've got to tell you about the pool because it is truly unique, even my swim snob buddy Mary Eggers would drool over this thing. It's an ozone pool that uses absolute no chlorine, there are no chemicals in this thing. Its pure and I hear it is absolutely amazing, maybe next time I am here I will get a swim workout in it. So after the LA building tour we strolled around rest of the campus, taking in the sights like the man made lake thing they have going on, among other things. Then on the way out I saw what was probably the coolest thing on the complex...a full size track that is located smack dab in a wooded forest area. The infield is all trees so your basically running on a world class surface in and out of the forest...it just looks so awesome, I've got to imagine running mile repeats on that thing wouldn't be so bad at all.
PS: Erin, my legs are still sore :)
After the Nike visit Erin dropped me off back at my bros house. Once there I was able to see my brothers friend Skippy and his family who were down spending the weekend. You see Skippy and I go way back, to a time when he and my brother made a cross country trip to Penn Yan in a van that had a Hawk painted on the side of it...don't ask...if you want more details on it I can give you Mere's email and she can tell you all about it! So anyways they came back east one summer a long long time ago...maybe 12 years ago and the most memorable part of the whole trip was that Skippy ended up buying an old Mazda truck that belonged to my brother in laws mom. So we have some history.
Plug for Skippy...go to his facebook page and "Like" it!! and visit his website Aaron Barna Photography
I know none of my friends and people that read this live on the West Coast..but hey, you never know!
Later in the afternoon we made our way to the neighborhood community center for some fun in the pool with the kiddos. What a neat neat place! Tons of water toys and fountains and geysers for the little dudes and me, and a huge water slide that is fun fun fun. Wins and I went down...uber fast, it was cool. Which at the center I even had the chance to get some laps in...all was right in the world. After the pool we went back to the house for a big feast of steak and all kinds of vegetables. It was delicious. Then we hung out for the rest of the night. Another great day of vacation. Couldn't have asked for a better one.
And so here I am. Flying high in the sky trying to get in grips with the fact that I am returning back to Rochester, back to work...I've got a lot of stuff to do over the next few weeks in terms of work. Nothing major like tax busy season deadlines but just a lot of random projects that I don't really know to much about. I feel very overwhelmed by them so I am trying not to think about them as their is nothing i can do about it until 8:30 tomorrow morning. There is no reason to let it disrupt my personal time...my vacation time...my family time. So there it is folks. I had an awesome awesome time out here. Although I was here for but a few short hours I totally dug the vibe I got. Being able to be a part of my brothers family who I do not get to see often is special for me. They have two absolutely amazing children and I treasure the time I get to spend with them. Seriously, just look at the pictures of these two coconuts. They are adorable. Mudgy could literally get away with anything just by saying "I sorry...Me no mean to"..how can you get mad at that! Along with the little peanuts being able to spend time with my older brother and his wife is priceless. Growing up across the country from them and being 12 years younger has not allowed me to really interact with them much. Before this trip the last time I had spent time with them was 2006 when I went out to the Snake River and helped my brother finishing building a house...yes I helped actually build something of substance, to this day it amazes me. Well anyway i feel like I really got to know my sister in law Mere this trip, i had a blast hanging out and getting to know more about her. I'm really blessed to have such a cool family that is spread out all over the world...it just stokes the fire in my belly. The fire to do big things.
So thank you Jon, Mere, Wins, Mudge, and Sugarfoot...along with Everyone else I met out here in Portland. I had a blast hanging out with you all, and I hope to see you all again sometime soon. Hopefully it won't be another 4 years until i come back out west!!
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