Bigger event isn't always the best

On Thanksgiving Day, runLawrence hosted its 2nd annual 5K Run. Why another run when Kansas City attracts thousands at the Sprint 5K & Family Stroll, or the Parkville Turkey Trot also on the same day? Well, a few people came to Lawrence from KC, Bonner Springs, etc., to get away from the crowds. The Parkville event is well attended by most of the KC running crowd, is fun and is convenient. But it has grown. So, runLawrence is happy to host a crowd of about 200. If we continue the trend, we will again offer homemade cookies, hand-crafted awards, the 5K distance, and the smalltown feel. All events are great; we're just the small town version. All the volunteers seemed really happy to help - and probably happier to be able to get home about 10:30 to spend the rest of the day giving thanks.

Good Day to be a Jayhawk!

Lawrence is happy with the first victory over Nebraska football team in 36 years. KU volleyball won in Manhattan, also another long-time losing streak ending. Saw a falling star on the way home last night from the PTOC meet at Blue Springs earlier in the day and the ngiht O'.
Good weekend to be a Jayhawk!
Rock Chalk!

Shrouded Phog

Just in time for Halloween - Phog Allen's outfit. Renovation on AllenFieldhouse is just weeks away from completion. Phog decided to dress up for tomorrow night. "Beware ye all who enter. . ."

My grandfather, King Mar, was an avid amateur photographer. During the day he was the cashier/manager of the Pan American Cafe in Wichita. He took lots of pictures and lots of pictures of the waitresses that worked at the Cafe. The cafe thrived because of its downtown location (150 N. Market) and businessmen appreciated the quick lunches for about 60 - 90 cents a plate. Don't know who these two ladies are, perhaps waitresses. They're dressed up pretty nicely. The photo was taken in King's apartment (above Pan American) in the 1950s. Looks like he used his floodlights (from the right). Behind the light in back are photos of King's parents.

The apartments above Pan American (I wonder how they decided on that name for a Chinese-American cafe?) looked a lot like the tenement photos you would see in 1900s back East. There was an open space in the middle that went up three(?) floors. Each floor had a balcony all the way around. Clothes lines were strung across all the time. The floors were dark, probably unpainted. I lived there the first year of my life. After we moved to 350 N. Topeka, I would often visit King in this apartment. It was just like any set out of a film noir movie. King and my Dad were pretty dapper when dressed in suits and looking very much the man of the 40s and 50s (Tyrone Power, Humphrey Bogart, etc.).

Any way, a nice photo of the period.

O'run videos

Mike Eglinski recommended Thierry Gueorgiou's latest "Follow Me" video. He shows a leg of the world cup sprint race in Italy. Don't think running on the KU campus will be that intricate.
Mike did his own video running at Knob Noster SP as well.

Then Patrick Nuss ran a white course in Seattle last weekend. Check his video.
(My apologies for the bad link that played every time.)

All of these would be great to show at a club meeting (if we ever do meetings again...)

We're not in Kansas...

Aspens were in full fall colors. Dee & I went to Beaver Creek, Colo, Sept 25-28, for the Dean Evans & Associates conference for users of the Event Management System. This was just up the hill from the Park Hyatt where we stayed for three nights. Further up we got within ten feet of a mule deer.

An intelligently designed sign?

Gene on the way to the stables. The family name , Mar, means horse in Chinese. Since Kansas questions the theory of evolution, I may not have been visiting distant "relatives."

River Trail Run

Headed out from the house through Lawrence and on to the river trails (bike trails to Mud Creek and back). Just a nice morning for a run. The leaves are still green, but yellow leaves were falling here and there. The sun streamed through the trees and a cool breeze picked up on the return leg back. Noticed the lack of spider webs across the trails - different from a week ago.

About a mile into the trails, heard the rumble of machinery harvesting the corn crop - you could see the equipment over the other side of the levee. Saw two deer about 15 meters to my left about a mile from Mud Creek.

On the way back, started to take one minute walked to ease up - that helped and I finished tired but without stress.

Noticed a marker just before the Mass Street bridge indicating the top level of the 1993 flood.

"Till Eulenspiegel" - thought came to mind I'll sign a quote for the Late Night with Mook Trail Run with Till's name. The fun run without sun; you do LNWM to vary your routine and enjoy a chat with friends on the trail; the headlamps some people will wear will impress you; etc.

Total run time: 2 hrs 28 min - marathon training run

web authoring is hard work

Labor Day Weekend was a holiday weekend. It was also time to update the running club's web pages. Info was needed for the Sun, Sept 4 meeting. Finished the draft for the Thanksgiving Day entry. Worked with Photoshop Elements to create the turkey chasing a group of runners. Also put together the first draft of the Late Night with Mook flyer. After the club meeting, created the club store page so members could order running gear. Then, Mon (Sept 5) went to Leawood to photograph Dee and Karen Hyde at the 5K. Added results and photos to website.
Fun work, lose sleep, get addicted to the creative process, lose energy to train. But accepting the fact that I don't have the talent to be a pro at this stuff, but there's enough talent to be a good amateur and still enjoy the creative activity. It's like my running - good enough to enjoy and train, but not among the best in the world.

Damon biking in Topeka

Damon was one of the judges at a skateboard/biker event in Topeka, Aug 6, 2005. Afterwards, the judges had a chance to ride.

Shop Class Desk

Here's the desk I made in 1962-63 in 9th grade woodworking class. The desktop was supposed to be made of glued together solid birch wood. This project took most of the 9th grade year. After the Christmas break, the whole desk had warped due to the desktop curling. Had to redo the top (2x4s, and 1/4" birch plywood on top and sides). Anyway, it still stands today in spite of some hard use by my brothers using it over during my college days.
Legs never broke on this project.

Sam Mar's Family (1950s in Wichita). Standing in the beige jacket is Junior Mar and his wife ("mumu" to my brothers and me). For Ken and me, Junior and Mumu's house was a second home. Our parents were close to them. One of the cousins made a coffee table in junior high (I think it might have been Robert, the one on the far right). He brought it over to our house for storage until he had a chance to get it home. The design had all four legs angled out (about 45 degrees). The legs broke as soon as the table was set in the entryway room. Mom, who was always quick to offer an opinion, commented, "don't ever make a table like that when you take shop." My first project was one of those pine foot stools. Straight legs, but it still cracked within a few weeks.. Eventually, in 9th grade, I made the desk I still have today.

Lance for President

CBS reported Lance Armstrong's ride into Paris - winning his seventh and final Tour de France. CBS asked, "what's in the future?" Lance didn't rule out politics (never say never). If he attacks working in politics like he did the Tour - why not? Lance in '12?

Movie theme songs for Lance

Don't want to jinks Lance, but if he gets seven this year, OLN or CBS ought to use the music from the "Magnificent Seven" on the last day coming into Paris. It's the Texan riding off into the sunset (Go Yul! Go Lance!). Olympic coverage over the years (ABC and NBC) has used Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as the background music for the closing segment of the broadcast. For the Tour when an American wins it all, it should be Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue from an American in Paris."
1999 theme: Gene Autry's "Back in the Saddle Again".
I'll stop here. Someone else can come up with the other years.

Losing balance

Went to Red Dog's Dog Days 6 AM workout at the stadium. While doing stretching at the start, noticed I can't keep my balance when doing any kind of lunge - need to use a hand to keep from tipping over. The aging process continues. . .
Just a blah feeling working out. The Saturday run (Heather's Run 5K) will be tough if I don't have more energy.

Steady rain the entire 3 hours (thundering in the distance). 

Dee Boeck finishing under 3 hours. Team TJ (in background) with their getaway car. Two families piled into the van and found all the controls. Two groups did the auto O' version. 

MOP Run Instructions

June 11, 2005 MOP Run, Too Instructions

Essentials of the Game
1. Find as many control points in 3 hours or less.
2. Bring a pen and a watch with you.
3. Check in before 7:30. Maps will be issued at 7:40 am. Start is 8 am.
4. Points awarded: controls 10-19 = 1 point; 20-29 = 2; 30-34 = 3.
5. The exact center of the circle is the location of the control.
6. Water fountains are marked on the map - it's best to bring your own water.
7. Run on public streets, trails, park land & parking lots, but respect private properties. Exception to standard map colors: white is out of bounds.
8. The honor system: Don’t guess the answers for locations you did not visit. Groups: do not split up. Everyone has a chance for awards. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
9. Finish time is when you put your scorecard in the drop box. No bonus for coming back early.
10. The suspense of being late, even one second over 3 hours, has been kept. Lose a point a minute for the 1st 10 min; after 10 minutes, all points lost are 2 per min.
11. Newcomers: read the map like any street map (except no street names) and use whatever symbols make sense and ignore the rest.


Awards
12 awards: top male & female 25 & under, top male & female 44 & under, male & female 45 & older, 1st two groups, 4 random drawings.


Stop, if you don't want to read any more. . .
1. Hint - thumbing. Without street names, use your thumb to keep track of where you are on the map. Move the thumb on the map as you move along.
2. Shades of yellow or light brown (park areas or parking lots) are OK to run through. The solid yellow is mowed grass. Lighter shades of yellow may be slower - cutting through a short stretch may be manageable, but scratchy. Use the green for navigating reference - the woods are thick.
3. Most of the control points will have a street address. Others are identified the traditional orienteering way - e.g. "depression" - read the map to see the depression symbol.
4. The purple crossing symbol suggests possible passage ways.
5. A few control points will have a sports logo painted on stone slabs, about 0.3m high (= 1 ft). like this KSU Wildcat.
6. With the recent rains, your shoes may get wet in some off-road areas.


Disclaimer
. . .the questions have been painstakingly researched, though the answers have not. Persons searching for the truth should sit on their hands or host their own orienteering event… Anyone thinking otherwise is itching for a fight.


Gene Wee
Questions (before June 11): 785-841-3587 or gmw@ku.edu


Here's a Yahoo map showing where Dad Perry Park is located.

Amy Thompson 8K

Dee and three other runLawrence members ran the Amy Thompson 8K yesterday (Mon, May 30). A lot of pizzazz (parachutists landing; nice crowd, cool weather, radio DJ announcing). Too bad the results for the 8K were messed up. Stayed for the awards and had to leave because they couldn't figure it out - like last year. Fortunately, the results were eventually done the next day - and with times. The link above will get you to some photos I took of the event.

Do you want to run Lawrence like Mike?

Lawrencians know that Mike Wildgen, city manager, runs Lawrence. He also runs Lawrence. Perhaps you don't control the city budget, but you can run around Lawrence like Mike. Come out June 11 to see a whole lot of Lawrence. This 3rd annual urban orienteering event is a continuation of the "scavenger hunt with a map" done two years ago with the Jayhawks on Parade statues. Here are some photos from 2004.

Runners training for a marathon can get in a long workout but making a game of it really makes the time fly by.

Orienteers, who usually run in the woods (and in the winter around here), will find a few more route choice decisions and can take advantage of their mapreading skills with increased IOF symbols added to the map.

Groups wanting to play a walking game don't have to stay out the whole time limit. There will be plenty of control points close to the start area.

Awards will be given not only to the top finishers but also by random draw. Winners can be anyone, not just the random luck of having "fast runner" genes. Come run, enjoy the workout, and earn a prize.

If interested, please submit entries before June 9 to insure your copy of the color map. Questions? Email me at gmw@ku.edu.