Dwight Schuh, Irondad and how I failed to become a runner

Harvest Classic, c. 1992

I've participated in a quite a few fun runs and race walks in my time. As a sophomore in high school, I even joined my sister on the cross country team for part of a season. It was, however, an ill-fated stint, and I was compelled to rid myself of that evil before it caused permanent damage. Suffice it to say that I was not an asset to the team.

Christmas run, 2009

Beijing Marathon, 2009

My most recent events have been the 2009 Beijing Marathon 4.2k 'mini marathon', and a 2009 Boise Christmas fun run in which I walked with my nephew and pushed my niece in a stroller. It was just a whole ball of fun.

Since then, I have been very content to leave the running to my husband and family and put my efforts into the part of sport I enjoy: spectating.

This summer, I had the opportunity to ultra-spectate at Bighorn, and then for the first time I got to Iron-spectate for my dad at Coeur d'Alene Ironman.

It was not dad's first Ironman, but I had previously only spectated at one of his sprint triathlons, and this was a completely different animal. Honestly, the sprint tri seemed almost pathetic when compared with the vast scale and difficulty of Ironman (I say this knowing that I myself could not complete a sprint tri). It was overwhelming just to be there, let alone compete.

As it turns out, we almost weren't there. Dad had been in 'let's wait and see' mode for more than six months and had only just made the decision. On Tuesday he was ready to scrap the whole thing and take the loss. On Wednesday he went to chemo and came away feeling great. On Friday morning we were driving to Coeur d'Alene.

There are so many stories at an Ironman--stories of extreme weight loss, triumph, perseverance--my dad himself has a story. It's impossible not to feel inspired by these everyday people who show up to take on the infamous swim, bike, run. But it comes down to this: Are you tough enough? Can you dig deep enough? Are you an Ironman? My dad is a grumpy, stubborn old dude who didn't want to waste his money and who wanted a finisher shirt, but evidently he was also tough enough, and he finished that race like the Ironman that he is. With twenty minutes to spare.

GO!!!!! 

Panic attack 

One lap down, one to go

Nose to the grindstone

Around mile 70 

Only 13 more miles!

'From Nampa, Idaho, 67 years old, Dwight Schuh, you are an Ironman!'

Shortly after Ironman, dad's middle brother and family came to visit. I hadn't seen them in years, so it was great that I happened to be around. We celebrated several birthdays and the 4th of July. 

Dad and his brother. 'Why didn't you tell
me to smooth out my shirt?' Dad said.

My Aunt's awesome apple pie

Cousins!

It's not summer in the US without the Corvair

I finished my time in the US with a camping trip in McCall with my sister and the kiddos. Of course it wasn't just camping. Things with my family aren't ever just one thing. It was camping 'and by the way, we're manning an aid station for the McCall Trail Running Classic'. But never mind, I picked up a cowbell and did my part for ultra running. We also sneaked in a hike and a canoe ride on the reservoir.

Next: Borneo, possibly? I think it's about time.

Corvair road trip: Les Schwab continues to fix my flats and I get up early for golf

Washing Walter c. 1999

Did you know that Les Schwab offers free flat-repair for users of their tires? I did. In high school, I experienced their free flat-repair service first hand following the decision to take my 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 called Walter mud bogging on the flooded dirt road between our llama pasture and the onion field. 

What I did not know is that our Corvair has Les Schwab tires. 

Okay, so I lied ever so slightly in my last post when I said we had no car trouble. We had the most minor of troubles keeping air in one of the rear tires, but admitting as much would have ruined my title. Never mind though, it was just a matter of topping up the air now and then and ultimately getting a nail puncture repaired at the Crescent City Les Schwab--for free. Who knows where we picked up the nail, but I can assure you there were no flooded roads involved.

Having completed our redwoods checklist, fixed the flat, and given the car a bath, the M & M road trip turned back to Oregon, this time continuing up the 101 along the coast. The Corvair was running like a champ on full tires, and the weather couldn't have been better.

Port Orford

If you are ever driving through Port Orford around lunchtime and aren't sure where to eat, just take my advice and go to The Crazy Norwegian's Fish & Chips. We went on advice of the man in the information center are were not disappointed. We got seats even though the small dining room was packed, and the lone waitress busted out order after order of tasty fish in an amazing display of fast and friendly service.

Now I love the Oregon coast, but I would be hard-pressed to say that I love golf. Combine the two, however, and you get something that is not altogether unpleasant. Add a cozy room at the Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast in Bandon where the quirky and vivacious owner makes a mean breakfast, and you have something downright splendid.

MHH painstakingly researched courses and chose the highly ranked Bandon Dunes, one of its big draws being the incredible location on the windy bluffs just outside charming Bandon. He had to book his tee time several months in advance to ensure himself a slot.

Of course he had booked an early tee time, but aversion to morning activities aside, I chose to walk the front nine with him.  The sky was an amazing shade of blue, but the coastal winds were frigid, so even with the windbreaker MHH's tee-mate loaned me, I was numb by the ninth hole. I did see some deer and a few pelicans, however, and the clubhouse made great hot chocolate.

A post-golf stroll around the Bandon downtown followed by dinner at Edgewaters was a great way to end our time on the coast.

If you overlook the incident in which I very confidently reversed into a parking space at the golf course and ran the tailpipe into a grass bank causing the muffler to droop threateningly, this stretch of trip was also car trouble-free.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse and Hughes House just north of Port
Orford turned out to be closed, but it was a scenic little detour

Hughes House

The sign says it all--how could we resist?

Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast

Coquille River Lighthouse

Bandon Dunes

Downtown Bandon

Next: M & M go to Crater Lake and learn more life lessons. 

Bighorn Mountain Wild and Scenic Trail Run, June 15-19

Man, it’s good to be in an Idaho summer!  I had almost forgotten what it feels like to be warm without being sticky. It’s just past nine in the evening right now.  The sun is low in the wide blue sky, the air is warm and still and sweet with the scent of farmland, and I have the house to myself for the night as my parents have gone away to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.

A dear friend of my from Singers (you know who you are!) suggested I make blog updates about my summer in the US, and since she is wise and full of good ideas and advice, I’m going to do just that.  Here is my first story:

I arrived in the US on the evening of June 13th.  Early the morning of the 15th, my sister Emily, her husband John, and I tucked ourselves into their Xterra along with a mountain of camping and running gear and zipped across Idaho (highway 20 across Idaho is fantastic!), cut through Montana, and touched down 13 hours later in Dayton, Wyoming.

She Beat the Bear

The secret satisfied smile of one who has completed something more monumental than most of us dare dream.

The Bear 100
36:49

Wanlong Ski Trip, 1.2010, Hebei Province, China

Overall a successful weekend, overlooking the fender bender and Klaus's broken collarbone--two unrelated incidents. Bitterly cold, but beautifully sunny, decent snow and good intermediate slopes.

-Wanlong Ski Trip Album Link

International Ski Festival, Yongpyeong Resort Korea, February 15-17

For the second year in a row, we attended Korea's International Ski Festival. Since my school graduation last year prevented me from actually doing any snowboarding, I was excited to be involved in the full weekend of activities this year.

We arrived Friday night to prepare for a day on the slopes Saturday. When we were picking up our lift passes and banquet tickets, I met the Korean girlfriend of another Danish guy, and she told me she had signed up for the women's snowboard race. I thought that was pretty cool and asked her how many women had signed up. To protect my own image, I will not disclose exactly how many participants there actually were, but there were few enough to get me to consider entering the race myself in spite of a two year snowboaring hiatus. She finally convinced me to sign up, and I was issued a bib and race instructions.

Morten and I managed one gondola run before I had to go to the race start point. Though I had issues (to put it mildly) with the second gate due to extreme ice, I completed the rest of the course in good form.

The award ceremony took place at the Saturday night banquet. The Korean girl came in second, and I finished third. We had both decided to race for Denmark to boost their representation, and even though their only placers were American and Korean, they were very excited to have been recognized in the Alpine events. I did not realize, however, that I would be given a certificate on which I was declared as being from Denmark, and I apologize to any of my American family or friends who are offended by this lack of home-country patriotism--it was not a deliberate snub.

Biking: Han River & Gangnam, October 27th

After a fairly miserable summer and early fall, the last couple of weeks have finally cleared up, offering lots of sun and mild temperatures. Saturday the 27th was just one of those days, and we took advantage of it by taking the bikes out for a spin. We rode down the hill to Itaewon for lunch at the pita place, kept riding down to the river, rode to and crossed over Banpo Bridge into Gangnam where we locked up the bikes and took a long walk around the popular shopping district of Gangnam. The sun set as we rode home, and we stopped for some pictures on Hannam Bridge.

Doosan Bears vs. Samsung Lions, September 22nd

A couple weekends ago, the interns at the Embassy invited us out to a baseball game at the Seoul Sports Complex. It rained lightly throughout the game, but we had fun. And, as it's a rare occasion that I know more than anyone about anything, I explained the rules with gusto to anyone who would listen. I don't know who won, because after five hours and ten innings, the game still wasn't over and the non-Americans grew restless. But it was a good game.

Indonesia Peace Run, May 27th

This was so long ago that I almost forgot about it. Oh well if it's out of order. An invitation was extended to the Danish Embassy to participate in the Indonesia Peace Run, and Morten signed up to run the 10km along with Steffen, the Embassy intern. Two other Korean employees of the Embassy also signed up, but they didn't show up, later saying that the day had been too hot for running. And certainly it was a warm day, but it was beautiful and there was a good turn out. The race started and finished in the park just outside the World Cup Stadium. Morten and Steffen both ran well.

GO, SCHUHS!!!

In eight hours, my 63 year old dad will be running the Los Angeles Marathon. He will be running with his older brother, my uncle, who is a veteran marathoner. As I am an avid non-runner, the thought of two men more than twice my age running many, many miles both horrifies and fascinates me. To them both, I wish strong legs, lungs, minds and spirits. GO SCHUHS!!!

Rafting, May 28th

Bryce got a wild hair to go rafting, thinking it would be good to go before the weather turned too nice. So on a cloudy, rainy Sunday morning, Marc, Bryce and I hopped on a bus with a vague idea of what we needed to do find a place to go rafting (raeputing). First we took a bus north to Yang Yang, and from there we got bus east to Inje, a smaller city in the mountains (but then, what isn't in the mountains?).

We sort of stood around at the Inje bus station wondering what we should do next. We asked about a bus up the river valley and were told there was one soon, and in the meantime, Marc exercised his obnoxiousness on the locals. I walked around the corner to wait in peace, and Bryce went to find some water.

When we both returned to Marc, we found that he had cornered a young couple, and what do you know, the girl's father was the senior managing director of one of the adventure companies in the area. They offered to take us by taxi to meet him at his bungee jump, but we politely refused, saying we'd rather wait for the bus. Just joking! We jumped at the chance to meet Mr. Chu who ended up offering to drive us personally up the river at 2:00. That gave us an hour to kill during which we grabbed some food at a great little place overlooking the river.

At 2:00 we found Mr. Chu at the bungee jump, and he drove us up to his rafting location. We got outfitted with life-jackets and helmets (they had to rip the padding out of the biggest helmet so it would fit on Bryce's head) and then paired up with a group of Koreans in order to fill a raft. Our guide led some paddling practice on dry land so we could get our rhythm down, and then we hit the water. The Koreans got a kick out of counting the 'one-two' paddle rhythm in English, just for us. I quickly learned the words for 'forward' and 'reverse' and every once in awhile, the guide would yell 'Rolling!' and we'd rock the raft back and forth as hard as we could. There wasn't alot of really 'white-water', but the guide made things fun, and the people we were with were great. Everyone got thrown in several times which was frigidly shocking. Unfortunately I was not able to take my camera on the river, but thanks to the adventure company, I have a nice shot of us on the river. More pictures are available here for the date 5/28.

At the final destination, we showered and met Mr. Chu and the other Koreans for snacks. Mr. Chu said he had a friend from Gangneung who would take us home for a fee about equal to the buses, and we agreed. It was also alot faster than the buses, as the guy drove insanely fast down the windy mountain roads. I couldn't sleep for the sharp cornering, but neither could I keep my eyes open for exhaustion which made for an interesting ride home. I ended the day with a pot of tea with Liz at a rooftop cafe.

Ice Skating

On Wednesday morning, we packed all of our morning kinder kids into vans and schlepped them over to Gangneung Indoor Ice Rink. We got them skated and helmeted suprisingly quickly, and then some rink employees took over to help the kids have some organized chaos on ice. We (the teachers), were going to skate together, but Marc couldn't find skates that were big enough or sharp enough for his liking ('That's it, fate is telling me not to skate!'), and Liz cut her ankle (what?!) putting her skates on (that reminds me of the skiing story which I'll have to tell later). So I skated around by myself and laughed at the kids. But, hey, I got to try speed skates. We got them re-shoed, de-helmeted, in the vans, and back to school all in time for lunch. There's nothing like Korean efficiency.