Some, Some, Summertime

With the school year winding down and a soggy spring on the wane, it was time to think about fun, frolic, fruit and fireworks. And so it was on Saturday, June 30, Paul Turcott (aka “Raoul”) and I departed for Owl Farm on the Wenatchee River (above) near Plain, Washington.

After celebrating with the Enders family in their new home in Brownsville, we proceeded to Portland to spend the night with our old friends, the Donnerbergs, in an effort to break up the 400-mile trip.

Little more than a week after celebrating the summer solstice, the weather remained miserable –- warm, but grey and wet. La Nina still held the Willamette Valley in her clutches, so the next day, we struck out due east up the Columbia Gorge on Interstate 84 in search of the elusive solar orb. As expected, we were rewarded just east of Hood River as the sun joined us for the remainder of our trip.

Continuing on, we stopped once again at a fruit stand north of Yakima for a bag of fresh cherries. Most who have traveled north on U.S. 97 in Washington will recognize the place; you can’t miss the gigantic “FRUIT/WINE” sign with 20-foot-tall lettering.

We stopped at several makeshift fireworks stands staffed by members of the Yakama Nation, who are always delighted to chat. We asked why a few stands were located just outside the reservation boundary. We were informed that these were known as “vancouvers,” or little islands of Yakama territory separated from the main plot after some Native Americans had sold their land.

In addition to organizing the place for the summer, Raoul and I drove up the Chiwawa River to the old mining community of Trinity for a bit of reconnaissance on trails into the backcountry. Thanks to a wet spring, conditions remained difficult in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, with high water creating treacherous creek crossings (above).

The upside to a wet spring, however, is a flower festival extraordinaire, as witnessed by the "lupine-palooza" (below) on display near Owl Farm at the entry to Shugart Flats.

2012 Olympic Trials

The long-anticipated 2012 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials began on Friday, June 22 at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. As luck would have it, Rebecca and I scored quality tickets (above, featuring Olympic icons Joan Benoit Samuelson and Gail Devers) for several days during the week-long event.

Eugene, Oregon has been known as Track Town, USA since hosting the Trials in 1972, 1976 and 1980. After a 28-year drought, the Trials returned in 2008 and 2012. Make no mistake: the Trials are a big deal in the Eugene-Springfield area and throughout Lane County.

As such, the expected flurry of hoopla ranged from the sublime (local Duck hero Ashton Eaton setting a new world record in the decathlon) to the ridiculous (the ongoing “celebrity watch” on former U.S. decathlete Bruce Jenner from “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and Paris Hilton’s “date” with 800-meter runner Nick Symmonds).

Then, of course, there were the usual sideshows associated with such an event: the adjacent Fan Festival for those without tickets and Occupy Eugene protesters hoping to enlighten track fans about police treatment of homeless people. But apocryphal activities aside, the primary action was inside Hayward Field.

Unlike in 2008, when temperatures soared in the 90s, the weather for the 2012 Olympic Trials was more typical: rain, rain and more rain. But the good news for us was that our seats were under cover in the west grandstands, and the inclement weather would not deter competitors from setting world, American and Olympic Trials records during the event’s eight-day run at Hayward Field.

UO decathlete and Bend native Ashton Eaton (above) wowed the more than 20,000 fans and former Olympic decathletes in attendance with a new world record, scoring 9,039 points. Needing a personal best in the final event –- the 1,500 meters –- Eaton was literally willed to the finish line by a highly-energized crowd that seemed to roar ever louder. “The Hayward magic does exist,” he said afterward.

Eaton’s performance was enough to make these Trials special, but there was more. Galen Rupp, left, another former UO runner and Portland native, set an Olympic Trials record in the 10,000 meter race. A few days later, Rupp pulled off a more impressive feat by outpacing Bernard Legat in the 5,000 meter race, breaking a Olympic Trials record set 40 years earlier by Olympic and UO legend Steve Prefontaine in the process.

The Trials would not end without a hitch, however. In the 100-meter women’s sprint, training partners Alyson Felix and Jeneba Tarbow (below) finished in a dead heat for the final spot on the Olympic team, leaving USA Track and Field officials flummoxed without a tie-breaker protocol and scrambling for a solution.

The result was a preposterously ponderous policy: either runner could decline her claim to third place, they could race in a runoff, or they could flip a coin. Flip a coin? Really? In the end, Tarbow relinquished her spot, though she still will compete for the USA in the Olympics as the fourth leg in the 4 X 100-meter relay team.

Yet, despite that one misstep and the unpredictable weather, the 2012 Olympic Track and Field Trials were an unqualified hit. As one track fan from New Jersey noted in the letters-to-the-editor in the local newspaper, The Register-Guard: “Eugene has the vision, the drive, the fans and the atmosphere that track nuts wish existed everywhere. Take a bow, Eugene. You did it.”

Remaining Relevant

If you work in today's version of American business and industry, how do you remain relevant with customers, clients and constituents?

Well, that is the trick, isn't it? The business landscape is littered with failed (and failing) companies that were consumed by the relentless advance of technology, and in some cases, those that neglected to address the task at hand -- adapting to the new environment. Netflix is but one example of this technological roadkill.

So how does one maintain relevancy in a changing environment? That question was addressed at the 17th annual Portland Communicator's Conference sponsored by the Portland Metro Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and the Oregon-Columbia Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators on Wednesday, May 9 at the Governor Hotel in my hometown -- the City of Roses.

Keynoters included Gerry Corbett, Chair and CEO of PRSA (above), James Lynch of Intel and David Armano of Edelman Digital, along with nationally renowned writing coach Ann Wylie.

Corbett discussed the state of public relations today, including its strengths and weaknesses, and how to manage a communications career in today's environment. He reminded attendees that networking is a two-way street. "Part of it is what your network can do for you, but it's also about what you can give back to your network," he said, paraphrasing John F. Kennedy.

Ann Wylie, always the enetertaining and engaging speaker, discussed how to "catch your reader" by grabbing attention. "Lead with the benefits" when writing copy that sells, she advised attendees.

The conference kicked off the evening of May 8 with a reception and dinner at the Heathman Hotel, where we had the rare and privileged opportunity to have in-depth conversation with national thought leaders in the fields of communications, public relations and social media. In addition to the keynoters, the conference the next day featured break out sessions focusing on internal audiences, branding and integrated communications.

Always nice to return to Portlandia, where the art compliments the architecture (below) on Southwest Park Avenue and (appropriately) Salmon Street in the downtown Park Blocks.

Pre Functions

This weekend marks the beginning of a solid eight weeks of world-class track and field at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field (above) with the Oregon Twilight Meet.

Over the next two months, the denizens of Eugene-Springfield and anyone else willing to travel to Track Town, USA can witness the "best of the best" in American track and field. Still to come: the Pac-12 Championships, the Prefontaine Classic and the piece de resistance, the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Hayward Field (named after Bill Hayward, the first of several legendary UO track and field coaches -- including Bill Bowerman, Bill Dellinger and Vin Lananna) has recently spruced up its image and now stakes its claim as the capital of American track and field. Despite their recent success in the realm of college football, the Ducks have traditionally been known for their track and field prowess.

Chief among those icons of the UO track is Steve Prefontaine (below), the long distance phenom from Coos Bay who held every American record from 2,000 meters to 10,000 meters at the time of his death in a car accident at age 24. Pre was a ferocious competitor on the track and he helped inspire the “running boom” of the 1970s along with his coach, Bill Bowerman, who founded the Nike enterprise along with another Oregon runner, Phil Knight.

Starting now and continuing through the end of June, Hayward Field will feature a veritable smorgasbord of track and field competitions that will be sure to delight fans from near and far.