HOTCuyahoga

So I mentioned this via e-mail to some, but figured I should get it out the rest of the world as well.

This Saturday, September 18 I'll be doing some rowing in Cleveland's fall regatta -- The Head of the Cuyahoga.  This is the 15th Annual so you know it's legit.  Or something like that.

The Mighty Cuyahoga
Photo Courtesy of the National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/research/american-cities/

Fellow Mile Challenger Gavin will be participating as well.  We're in a 4+ race at 10:30am but in separate boats and then we'll be together in an 8+, in the last race of the day at 2:40pm.

I just wanted to throw out an invite to come on down and watch some boats go by. There will be over 1,000 rowers and over 250 boats, ranging from high school kids to old veterans.

In other cities like Boston and Philadelphia people actually go watch races and hang out along the river and party it up. Cleveland?  Not so much.  That said, I figured I would send out the invite and try to build up Cleveland's drunken, boat watching population. Support Cleveland and support the riverfront and support the great outdoors.  Bring some food and some drinks and hang out in the fresh, fall air.  Or don't bring food if you don't want ... Dim and Den Sum will be there providing food as needed!

Admittedly rowing isn't always the most exciting thing in the world, but look at this random blog post I found from someone who was at the Head of the Charles:  http://inquestoftherobot.blogspot.com/2007/10/sort-of-like-catalina-magnet-high.html  See? You don't need to like or even understand rowing to hang out and have fun.  Look at all of those idiots on the banks in Boston.  That goes on for like three miles.  People everywhere just rockin' out.

Oh, and if you get a good vantage point, and you get lucky, sometimes rowing on the Cuyahoga gets full contact enough to bring some thrill to your day:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0v9vGy9TQ

The course begins at the West 3rd Street Bridge and finishes down by the red swing bridge at Center Street.  The first race starts at 8:00am and the last race starts at 3:10pm. 

So there you go.  That's your invite.  If you'd like to roll on by that would be cool.  If not, no harm done. 

Here's a little promo video too: http://www.clevelandrows.org/HOTCVideo.wmv  If you look carefully you might just spot someone you know (psssst, it's me! And Gavin!  Fancy!!).

Nature Of A Different Status

Since my bird post is still appearing as the last thing posted, I thought I'd add a bit of an opposite view of nature that I experienced. Not as cheery as the birds but sometimes the whole yin/yang thing takes over I guess.

This tale begins this past Sunday when I went out for a row with some of my rowing chums. We had some heavy rain in Cleveland Saturday night into Sunday and when this happens the debris in the Cuyahoga gets pretty bad. Everything from every storm drain, creek, roadway, etc. winds up in the river. So it's tree branches, bottles, basketballs, chip bags, hats, logs and plenty of other goodies. Most are just gross, but the big stuff is also rather unpleasant for the rowing shells if you don't see one and there is an impact.

So this particular day there was a lot of stuff out there. At one point we were coming up on a section of river that was like a minefield of debris so we had slowed so we could ease through without destroying the equipment. Up ahead we see something floating that doesn't look like the usual log or garbage. As we pull up alongside we discover this mystery object is an enormous, fat, bloated, and very dead raccoon. It smelled pretty bad and looked even worse.

We carried on and about 10 minutes later we come up to something else big and out of the ordinary in the water. This one? A dead deer floating along.

I can sort of see how a raccoon might get trapped in a swirl of water in some pipe or something and wind up in the river, but the deer has me stumped.

So there you go, two different tales of nature along the Cuyahoga ... the living and the dead.

The Birds

Not really related to miles, and especially not to running (since I am way behind in that category), but while rowing this spring I've seen a lot of birds.  I don't know if there are more than prior years or if I'm just noticing more, but I had a mental list going then decided to actually put it all down for whatever reason.

And for those of you who may row or formerly rowed, I am well aware that I technically shouldn't be looking out of the boat, but sometimes there are breaks and I check out my surroundings.  And I've also been a coxswain a couple of times which makes for good viewings.

Anyway, here's my list of feathered friends I've seen this year while rowing:

• Blue Jay
• Wood Duck
• Rock Pigeon
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Ring-billed Gulls (one impolitely pooped on me)
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Turkey Vulture
• Grackle
• Mallard Duck
• Sparrow
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Robin
• Starling
• Tree Swallow
• Great Northern Loon aka Common Loon (this one was in Craftsbury, VT, not Cleveland, OH)

And that's your nature report for today. Keep on milein'.

A Dose of Spotz

I suppose I should have mentioned this earlier as it was pretty cool (at least to me), but you know how things sometimes often always come up and distract me from blogging. Well anyway, here I am. Late but better than not at all I suppose.

So last Thursday the club I'm in had an information session for anybody interested in rowing in Cleveland. I was actually out rowing when it started but figured I would stop in after to see who was there and hopefully get some free, post-workout snacks and adult beverages. Mission accomplished there.

In addition to that, someone managed to get local gal and ocean rowing record holder Katie Spotz to come speak. I missed the speaking by the time I had arrived, but she was still there hanging out. I think maybe less hanging out and more trying to survive the onslaught of questions, praise and photo/autograph requests. I played it cool and didn't join the masses, but as the place emptied out, it was just me, Katie and maybe four other people so we wound up talking.

I didn't ask her too many questions (even though I wanted to) because I figured she's had more than enough of that crap since getting back to solid ground but we did chat for awhile about the row, traveling, her blog and other random stuff. She was really nice, smart, funny and humble. I'm not sure I've ever called anyone "humble" before, but she was legitimately humble despite being so motivated, organized, disciplined and record holding.

I wanted her to be my friend.

Despite that I kept the leaching and stalking suppressed and we went our separate ways. Me off to chisel away a couple of miles here and there, and her to plot her next triple digit mileage endurance feat (it's going to be bike-related).

Beyond the rowing across the Atlantic in 70 days, check out the other challenges she's accomplished (keep in mind she's only 22) [from her web site]:

Swim for Water: Became first person to swim the entire length of 325 mile Allegheny River, averaging 12-15 miles a day, with my longest distance swimming +22 miles in a day

Big Ride Across America: Cycled 3,300 miles across the United States from Seattle to D.C., averaging 85 miles a day for forty days

Desert Run: Ran 150 miles across the Mojave and Colorado Desert, solo and self-supported

Half Ironman Triathlon: First in age group (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run)

Cycled over 1,000 miles of solo bike tours within the United States, with my longest distance cycling +230 miles in a day

Oxfam Trail Run: Completed 62-mile ultra marathon in Melbourne, Australia

Crazy.

And through all that she raised money for American Lung Association, Oxfam, and the Blue Planet Run Foundation.

Crazy and Humble. It was really cool to meet her. And motivating (although not for my running numbers -- yet).

Spring Has Sprung

With legitimately nice weather hitting Cleveland (temporarily I'm sure) I was able to get myself caught up in one of the categories I was behind in. I'm now on pace with a mile a day in both biking and rowing.

With riding to work and a couple of other destinations as well, I added 37.75 two-wheeled miles between Tuesday and Friday. My butt hurts. I also need a tune-up. My front derailleur isn't performing properly. Just in case you were wondering.

I also got some rowing in. On the water rather than on an erg. The first time since October. I felt a little rusty, but it was still pretty sweet to be out in the fresh air rather than in a cement block room. Speaking of, if anybody is interested learning to row, registration has opened. See the WRRA site for more info: WRRA Summer Rowing League.  Or you could contact me directly I suppose.

While on pace in biking and rowing, running seems to be my nemesis since January. Sunday I'm going to get back on the running bandwagon. I've gotta get back on pace and get geared up for some Warrior Dash action. Hey! An additional day has been added to the Midwest Dash.

Water, Water Everywhere ...

I (and apparently everyone else) have nothing as of late. In an effort to not make for a totally lame blog, here's another blog of a gal from Ohio at the halfway point of a challenge she's on: http://rowforwater.com/

She's working on almost 7 times the miles we are aiming for in about a quarter of the time (if my math is somewhat accurate).

Row, Katie! Row!!