Store Survey Summary - Results! Click here to read about how you helped us with the 2006 store survey. Stories from Road & Trail Here's where you can join in! Send in your story of the race that never ended or the incredible victory over all odds. Share your experiences on the trail and in the store. Send along a photo if you have one. Please mail your stories to Steve Roguski, 1209 11 Street, Bellingham, WA 98225 or email them by Portland Marathon 2006, Race Report by Tony Cava He trained with us in the spring and summer, ran the Fairhaven Runners Waterfront 15K race, then went on to do his first marathon.  For the lowdown on Portland, Jeff Galloway's run-walk method, and a great training year, click here to read Tony's entertaining and informative report.  Go, Mario! click for PDF Harris Win, Chuckanut 50K   by Krissy Moehl Will it rain? How cold will it be up on the ridge? Tights or shorts? How will the competition be? Some of the questions that have run through my mind in past years preparing for the Chuckanut 50 km, but this year the same questions ran through my head as a race director. Similar concerns, but this time I was thinking about 200 runners instead of just one... continued Tales from Tjalling Middle-Aged Man Meets the Mile The 50th anniversary of the first four-minute-mile drew worldwide attention. Even the Bellingham Herald took notice, printing an article which included the information that Diane Palmeson had organized an invitational mile at the Civic Stadium to commemorate the great event. Having quite rightly not been invited to run, I only half-registered this news. The only reason why I was actually at the stadium that fateful afternoon was to watch my son run for Sehome in the local track meet... continued Chuckanut Mountain 50k, 2003   by Tjalling Ypma The wind had howled and the rain had poured all week. Such weather is a traditional part of this race, and I half relished the prospect of running for hours in those conditions. After all, if it is going to be a long day anyway you might as well push the limits, and the gnarled old hands I consulted assured me that the full race experience demands putting up with some of Mother Nature's fouler moods. It was nevertheless a relief that Saturday dawned with clear skies, gentle winds and mild temperatures, making my pile of waterproof clothing redundant... continued Ironman Wisconsin   by Tjalling Ypma This was my first ever Ironman race. The epic tales of endurance and suffering that swirl around races of this length are sufficiently intimidating that I decided that for a first encounter with the beast I would take it easy, aiming only to finish without excessive pain; approaching it as a learning experience. As a secondary objective I hoped to finish early enough to watch the last finishers come in, pushing themselves to the limit to become an Ironman... continued Baker Lake 50K   by Tjalling Ypma This ultra-marathon took place on Saturday 26 October 2002. It was a simple out and back run along the East Baker Lake Trail, starting at the Kulshan campground and going northwards along the lakeshore until the turnaround at the Baker River trailhead. The only aid station was at the turnaround, since the trail is inaccessible by road elsewhere along its length... continued   Birch Bay Marathon   by Tjalling Ypma Dawn is breaking. More accurately, it probably would be breaking if the sky were not a swirling mass of black clouds, and the rain lashing horizontally onto the windscreen did not make it impossible to see more than the tail-lights on the car ahead swerving from side to side in the wind gusts. I am on my way to the start of the Birch Bay Marathon, the weather is as foul as it always is for this race, and I am late... continued Honeywagon Half   by Tjalling Ypma The temperature is just above freezing and the frost is thick on the lawn as I set off on my bike. Just a few ducks ripple the still waters of Lake Padden, their outlines vague in the vapor rising gently from the water surface. I turn up Yew Street, enjoying the climb as it warms my blood. Despite my windproof jacket and fleece cap I get chilled coasting down the other side to Lakeway, where John is waiting patiently beside his bicycle, stamping his feet and swinging his arms as he tries to stay warm. This is a good training day for us as triathletes, since riding our bikes to and from Everson and running the Honeywagon half-marathon there amounts to covering the bulk of a half-ironman race distance... continued Missives from Mike The Win   by Mike McQuaide In October, 2001, Mike McQuaide won the inaugural Daughters and Dads 5K race at Cornwall Park. He still hasn’t gotten over the shock. (Or of annoying complete strangers with the tale of this one time when he won a race.) Here’s his story. It began as just your typical autumn Saturday morning 5K. A nip in the air, a line for the porta-potty, a bunch of pre-race instructions that nobody could hear. But 30 seconds after the starter’s gun,... continued Round Mount St. Helens in a Day   by Mike McQuaide On the south side of Mount St. Helens, Craig Bartlett waves his arms over his head and yells something that sounds like “Thaacraakraajaastaa!” Fifty yards ahead of me, he points down into one of the countless gullies and canyons that radiate from the fractured summit of Mount St. Helens like so many spokes on a wheel... continued Day-at-a-Glance   by Mike McQuaide I’ve been running for 21 years now and for each of those years I have a Day-at-a-Glance book in which I’ve recorded how far, how long, and sometimes, how high, I’ve run on most days since January 1, 1982. It’s my running diary but it’s not really a diary. There are no deep, tortured entries rife with questions about our existence or secrets of frustrated longings and unrequited loves. Mostly, it’s “3 miles/25 minutes” and the like... continued