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Oregon





 
 
 
I made a trip to Oregon this week and stayed in Eugene a couple of nights--that only means one thing to me--Hayward Field.    I did not get to run on the track this trip, it was only open in the morning the day I had a chance to work out.  I checked the track out in the morning and it was open and busy with runners, but in the afternoon when I returned to do my work out--it was locked up.   U of O has a lot of very nice field right behind the track for intramural soccer (4) and also a warm up track that is square and 3 lanes wide. I think it is used for events at Hayward Field when they hold the meets. 
 
Running conditions were about as good as you can imagine.  No clouds anywhere, 85 degrees, breezy and humidity under 30% !!!!  The lack of humidity was very noticeable the entire trip.   As soon as the door opened in Nashville, that blast of wet air reminded rather quickly about living in the South.  
 
 I wandered around the back  of Hayward and ran some parachutes on the soccer field with some law students who were back in school already.  The duckling are not in school yet, so the fields were relatively empty.   It is very apparent that Mr. Knight--aka Nike, has spend a lot of money on the campus.  All the fields are very modern and well kept.  Since the NW is know for great growing conditions, I was surprised that all the fields were artificial surfaces.  But, if you look at the bigger picture, you do not need to line the fields or water them.  It was the dry season in Oregon and any grass not getting watered was brown and dead.  There was also a lot of dust in the air from the farming activity and wind from the West.   In this season, keeping these fields ready would be very time consuming and expensive in terms of labor and water. Interestingly,  I was traveling to a mill located in Linn County.  Linn County is known as the 'Grass Seed Capital of the World'.  Somehow there is a misalignment somewhere in this situation.   The grass seed fields were basically brown and dead unless they were getting irrigated. 
 
I also visited one of the kids who just moved to Portland and got to hang with he and his girlfriend who was in town on a little vacation.  That is one of great perks of the traveling, seeing the babies when I get into their neck of the woods.   Portland is treating him well and it appears the change from Milwaukee to Portland is for the better.  The Left Coast as it is aptly named,  is a different pace than Milwaukee, with a lot less emphasis on keeping warm and dug out in the winter.  This area seems to embrace Mother  Nature and go a little more with what she in mind and not fighting for survival 6 months of the year.
 
I still have one more meet in a few weeks and I will continue to train thru the Greater Nashville qualifier.  After that race, I probably start to prep for the USATF indoor Master meet in 2017. 

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