Wednesday, June 25, 2008

WS 2008: RIP...

Added June 26, 8:00 p.m. If you're out there reading this, are within a short drive of Sisters or Central Oregon in general, and you want to join the fun, please join us! Call me tonight and I can give you all the info. We'll probably leave around 8 a.m. on Friday morning.
(541) 549-1298

Yep, as ya'll know, it's cancelled. That's the way it goes. When Tom e-mailed me a link last weekend about the new fires near Foresthill, I knew this was a possibility. Then all hell broke loose the last few days, and due to safety reasons, WS 2008 is not going to happen.

Yep, I'm bummed. I feel sooooooo ready...I'm about to pop! I would hate to be the r.d. or on the board right now. I know there will be a few people who won't be so understanding about the decision. And really, there wasn't even a decision to be made. The lightning and fires made the decision for us. I mean really, when the Forest Service says that there is a very high probability of Dusty Corners being engulfed in flames by the weekend, the choice has already been made.

So, now, what to do???? We're all fit, rested, packed, and ready to rip. Hmmm... Drive to Tahoe and run on the TRT with Thomas? No, air quality sucks. Drive to the Tetons for a weekend of sweet running in my favorite mountains? No, too much snow. Drive to the Sawtooths for a weekend of sweet running in those awesome, and little used, mountains? Tempting. Stick around Oregon and put together an impromptu training camp? Ding, ding - we have a winner!

Prudence, Darla, Chris, and I had a powwow at Fleet Feet tonight and came up with a plan.
-Thursday, Prudence, Kami, and I are running 38 miles upto, around, and down from Newberry Crater / Paulina Lake. Bronco and I ran this in 2004 and it is awesome!
-Friday, Prudence, Kami, Chris, Darla, and I will run the sweetest loop in Central Oregon - the 27 mile Ochoco Marathon. Similar to what Sascha and I ran 7 weeks ago, but we will get to do the whole loop this time. This would be a sweet 100 miler: 4 loops, each with about 8,000' of up and down. It would cripple you.
-Saturday and Sunday, Prudence, Darla, Chris, and I will be playing in the Strawberry Mountains Wilderness Area for the weekend. The high point, Strawberry Mountain, is about 9,000', but it looks like it already clear of snow. This will be a sweet place to play for two days!

Sounds like a pretty fun weekend to me.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, sounds like the beginning of a beautiful 4-day weekend. Are you accepting all forlorn WSers as company? If so, I'll be over for Friday-Sunday! Bags are already packed, needless to say.

Gretchen said...

Way to make the best of it Sean! Sounds like you will actually be having MORE fun. ;)
Any chance of y'all finagling your way into TRT?? That'd be sweet...
Enjoy the running adventures, and my condolences to you, Prudence and Kami.

Brad Mitchell said...

Way to move forward Sean - probably a better idea than coming over here to the Sawtooths. HAve fun - enjoy!

Ms Eva said...

I'm sorry that WS has been cancelled - but you've definitely got the right attitude. Have a great time this weekend - doing what you love - running & hanging with friends. :D

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, Sean. What a major bummer. You have the best attitude ever. If you want to plan an impromptu 100 miler in Central Oregon in the next month for everyone who wants to run - call it "the Western that wasn't"?? I'd be on board to help put it on...
Katie B.

Matt Hart said...

there is snow here in the tetons.. yes. but too much snow. not if you know where to go!

enjoy the impromptu training camp man.. i'm in the middle of one myself!

Olga said...

Love your attitude. That's why you are who you are. Stay it!

Jessica DeLine said...

way to make the best of it!

Ronda said...

Love the camp idea and it sounds tougher than WS! Very cool attitude.....what's next for racing?

Have fun.

Gretchen said...

Hey Sean-- I'm writing a short piece on the race cancellation for the paper here in Truckee, and I was wondering if I could get some of your thoughts. If you have a minute, could you email me tonight or early tomorrow? (If not, no worries!) gbrugman at hotmail dot com

kendra ralstin said...

Have fun on your 'alternative route' - I think the shared commiserating will make it a weekend to remember beyond the usual weekends to remember. Thanks for commenting so soon about the cancellation. I was wondering how people were taking it. What Olga said, dude. I don't think that fire smoke would have been good for the puke meister, anyway. (Not to make light of a sad situation!).

WynnMan said...

Yo Sean! Met up with your buddy Biener up here in the Northwoods, however we were down in the "southwoods", kinda too bad as I could have taken him on some gnarly trail up here. Mark, Anne and I were doing the inov-8 vendor. Sorry to hear about States, but glad to see you had a good attitude about it. It is what it is. Important thing is you got creative and found other trails to romp on.

later gator
Wynn

Anonymous said...

Sean, I am sure you'll find another race to excel at -- I was looking foward to see you finally break through at the 100 and run one representitive of your ability. I know I would have added motivation for you at WS knowing that I was going to be in the back running my "sagwagon" taking no risk pace, I was the last person you wanted to see after the start, "gotta beat the CB cut-off".... As for me, I am doing your spring training routine, I am running a marathon in 5 weeks, I gotta get in shape quick! I am going to do a late fall 50 mile to make good use of the nice fall weather out here. -CB

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