Tetons, Dufur, Seattle, and Tahoe...busy September!

I had started a post a couple weeks ago about my sweet week of running and playing in the Tetons early this month. Well, ever since I learned of Dave's passing, I haven't been too motivated to finish that post. So I'll just summarize it:

I suffered through the Grand Teton 50 miler, was supposed to crew Ashley her last 25 of the 100 but was too pooped after my race so I found another pacer and then was able to crew for Ashley, Ellen, Ty, and others in the 100. Plus I got to enjoy some really good bacon from Jason at the aid station at the top of the paved road! I had a great time hanging out with some of my very best friends. Sunday night's bonfire with Ashley, Bryon, Ellen, Jamie, David, Morrison, and Lane was a perfect way to end the weekend. Thanks.

After the Grand Teton Races, I got to play for a few more days in the Tetons. Bryon and I ran up Signal Mountain, then my brother and his friend joined us and we all enjoyed Signal Mountain Lodge nachos and blackberry margaritas while watching the beautiful sunset across Jackson Lake and over the Tetons. That is one of my all-time favorite ways to end a day in the Tetons! The next day Bryon joined me for most of the way on an adventure run up the Middle and South Tetons...spectacular Teton day! And finally on my last day, I planned on my all-time favorite 25 mile loop - up Static Peak, across the Death Shelf, and down Death Canyon. But when I got up to Static Peak, I was uncharacteristically satisfied with just hanging out on the summit to enjoy the warmth and beauty of my surroundings. After a 30 minute hang out, I ran back out the way I came, and I was very happy.

A great weekend in the big town of Dufur, OR, for the wedding of my good friends Jon and Alicia followed shortly after the Tetons. The festivities took place at the coolest little historic hotel, The Balch Hotel, right in the middle of downtown Dufur. I really enjoyed haning out with lots of great college friends - Jon, Ryan, Scott, Troy, and professors Nick and Ed.

The next weekend was a fun one in Seattle. The highlight was going to a Seattle Sounders soccer game that my friend Ellen generously donated tickets for. I think I vaguely remember watching the old school Sounders play a game in Spokane in the late 70s or early 80s. That night we went to one of the coolest restaurants I've ever gone to, Yanni's Greek Restaurant. If you've never been to an authentic Greek restaurant, put it on your to-do list. The menu was a bit overwhelming, but our waiter helped us pick out some great food to share that went well with our wine. Sometime during dinner the belly dancing began. It was so cool! The woman did her cool dancing, then went around and gave each group a silly hat to wear, then got most of the customers up to teach us a few belly dancing moves. My belly did good! It was just a great, entertaining evening at the Greek place. Again, highly recommended! The next day I played tourist for a while at Pike's Place Market and along the Pier, then Ellen took the dogs and me for a run through Discovery Park. It's a beautiful little park that's super busy on nice weekends. Sascha ended a bit gimped up after her 4.5 miles, so she's on a bit of no running for a while. Then the most exciting part of the weekend was when I got to break up a dog fight between Beno (Ellen's dog) and Sascha. I'll just say that Ellen is a great nurse and even convinced me to go to the ER. Although the bite (on my hand) was deep enough for stitches, the doctor said they don't like to stitch dog bites because of possilbe infections. Like most ER stories, we were there quite a while into the wee hours of the night.

The next morning is when I heard of Dave's passing. It caught me waaaay off guard. It was a really hard one for me to take and I have definitely been sad about the whole situation this past week. While running up Black Crater on Wednesday, I thought a lot about Dave...mainly just how great of a guy he was. And I'm sad I'll never get to share a run, or conversation, or meal with him again. He was a great one.

Still thinking about Dave, driving home from Black Crater down McKenzie Pass, I came upon a cyclist crashed in the road. I was the second on scene, probably 2 minutes after it happened. It happened to be Dave Clark from Bend, Summit High School cross country coach and math teacher, and all around great athlete. He was messed up pretty bad and didn't have a clue as to what happened. The guys in the other vehicle saw a deer broad-side Dave...craziest thing they had ever scene! After trying to keep Dave as comfortable as possible, medics finally showed up and he was whisked away first in an ambulance to the Sisters airport, then via Life Flight helicopter to the hospital in Bend. He ended up with a shattered clavicle, broken ribs, a punctured lung, lots of painful road rash, and one heck of a story to tell his cross country team.

Now I sit at a library at Zephyr Cove at Lake Tahoe. This is my 9th year in a row being here for one of the Lake Tahoe Marathon events. 2001-05 I ran the Tahoe Triple, 2006-07 I ran the Tahoe 72, and last year I dnf'd at mile 45 of the 72. This year I decided to run just the one-day regular marathon. Yeah, after so many years of the Triple and 72, it kinda feels like the j.v. race to me, but I'm really excited to see what kind of time I can throw down on this tough course. My fastest for it on day 3 of the Triple was 3:11. Last year I ran 2:55 at the Crater Lake Marathon, which is a much tougher course than Tahoe. So I'm hoping to thrown down sub-2:50, hopefully closer to 2:45. Yeah, it will be tough, as that's not much slower than my p.r. marathon (2:39) on a much easier course at sea level. But as a friend just told me yesterday, "...you should run your heart out for Dave Terry." So that, Dave, is what I plan to do on Sunday.