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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
Appeal Tribune ܂ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018܂ 1B Sports Silverton grandmother of 19 is prolific runner and triathlete Christena Brooks Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Deep into retirement, Silverton sen- ior Gerrie Faessler-Gray traveled to the desert town of St. George, Utah this month. That’s where her snowbird-like story stops sounding predictable. The 76-year-old former dairy farmer and grandmother of 19 drove south in mid-October to compete in a sprint triathlon at the annual Huntsman Sen- ior Games. There, in 2 hours and 18 minutes, she consecutively swam 450 meters, biked 12.4 miles and ran a 5K. That breaks down to an 18-minute swim, a 63-min- ute bike, and a 49-minute run. Generally pleased with her perfor- mance, especially considering the 1- mile hill she climbed twice on the bike and once on the run, she’s still puzzling over a swim time that was a few minutes slower than her usual. “Every race, I’m racing myself,” she said. “I’m trying to improve, to get fast- er.” She’s made it her goal to compete in 40 races per year, many of them with her sister, children and grandchildren. Racing is a passion she didn’t discov- er until she was in her mid-60s, so now she’s checking off her bucket list as fast as she can. No one seems more sur- prised over her unstoppable drive to compete than Faessler-Gray herself. “I used to go to races to watch, and I’d wonder, ‘Why would you pay money to do that?’” she said. Faessler-Gray modestly describes herself as an unremarkable “city girl” who, as a child, never won school con- tests, athletic events or 4H shows. She grew up helping her father sell his own invention – milk bottled by the gallon instead of the quart – to Salem resi- dents. Later she married second-generation Swiss dairy farmer Charles Faessler, and assumed a lifestyle that “fit like a glove.” The couple raised eight children on their farm located between Silverton and Mt. Angel. Carrying buckets twice a day from the milking parlor to the calf shed was “the beginning of my strength training,” she said. As the couple’s kids grew up, Faess- ler-Gray took them to sports practices and events, but never thought seriously about exercising herself. Farm chores, church life and family commitments kept her busy. “My whole life, I thought belonging to Gerrie Faessler-Gray discovered a passion for running and triathlons in her mid-60s. SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE a gym sounded wonderful, but you nev- er wanted to spend time or money on that when you were raising a family,” she said. Tragically, less than two years after the Faesslers sold their Silverton-area farm and downsized to a 50-acre “gen- tleman’s farm” in Scio, Charles unex- pectedly died. The year was 1999, and his wife was left to support the last children at home, run the farm and continue working part-time as the laundry supervisor at Mount Angel Abbey. She was also diagnosed with fibro- myalgia, a pain disorder. Normally healthy, she hurt every day. “In the morning, in bed, I was in such pain it would take an hour just to roll over,” she said. A doctor’s prescription for the steroid prednisone alleviated her pain; its long- term effects on her body would only come to light later. Meanwhile, in 2003, she remarried a widower, Allan Gray, who’d served as the couple’s insurance agent for years. Gray had played football for Oregon State University, coached high school football and wrestling in Portland, and still went to the gym every day. He bought Faessler-Gray her first gym membership and encouraged her to start swimming. And now, rather suddenly, exercise had her full attention. A new doctor in- sisted that she wean herself off predni- sone, and after an excruciating process, she did. By then, though, scans showed she’d developed osteoporosis, a weak- ening of the bones. “ I couldn’t even get up from the floor without grabbing onto a piece of furni- ture,” she said. “And now I was worried about my bones breaking.” She started meeting with a trainer at the gym with a single goal: to get up from the floor more easily. The book “Younger Next Year,” co-written by Dr. Henry Lodge inspired her to exercise for 45 minutes per day, six days a week. After she gained strength, she began training for – and completed – a 40-mile bike ride with her oldest daughter. After that, I asked my trainer, ‘What am I going to do to be motivated now?’” Her daughter suggested a triathlon, and she decided to try one at Western Oregon University. She teamed up with a friend who did the biking, and she did the swimming and running. She fin- ished, earned a prize, and, after that, was hooked. Even better, her doctor said her train- ing regimen had reversed prednisone’s damage to her bones. Faessler-Gray was just getting start- ed, though. She’d lost weight, was feel- ing great and had found a whole new way to socialize and travel. She and Al- lan loved to take trips – “I like to say our marriage was like one long vacation,” – and she soon began looking for destina- tion events. She completed races at Disneyland and Disneyworld and racked up miles at events around the state. “We look for events that have a fun theme and a participation medal or rib- bon,” she said, adding with a wry grin, “It’s all about the medal.” In 2017, her husband died at age 88, leaving his wife with cherished memo- ries and a determination to continue racing. Now her younger sister, from Mount Vernon, Oregon, is often her race-day companion. Last weekend, they ran two more races, back-to-back, in the Portland area. The races motivate Faessler-Gray to work with her trainer three days a week, and to swim, bike or run on the other days. When a race is imminent, she sometimes works out twice a day. Other than an on-again-off-again knee injury, she’s stayed healthy. She uses a foam roller to loosen her muscles before taking off on a jog through her neighborhood or getting on her bike. Sometimes she gets massages, and she sleeps eight hours most nights. There’s more she wants to accom- plish yet. Until recently, she limited her- self to triathlons with pool swims be- cause she was afraid of swimming in a lake. This summer, though, she com- pleted the Best in the West sprint triath- lon at Foster Lake near Sweet Home. Next on her bucket list is the triathlon – with its lake swim – at the National Senior Games, or “Senior Olympics,” and 2019’s Paris Disneyland half-mara- thon. “I just love every one of these races … I love doing this,” she said. Rustic Eola Bend is a hidden gem of a park Recreation Henry Miller Guest columnist When it comes to Salem-area parks, this one is a real dump. Or at least it used to be, but no more. Eola Bend, about 60 wooded acres, is the most remote venue in the Marion County parks system. It’s tucked next to Minto Brown Is- land city park and sandwiched between the Willamette River and – no kidding – the Brown’s Island Demolition Landfill, which is surrounded by a towering chain-link fence. Kay, Harry the hound and I walk at Minto Brown a lot, and I even had writ- ten a one-off story about the park when it was undergoing a massive makeover. Here’s a little of the back story. In 2000, the Eola Bend site was en- rolled in the federal/state Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, and in April of that year “hundreds of volun- teers planted 45,000 native trees and shrubs” to act as an erosion-control and beautification. And voila, from a former city landfill, then a severely eroded working farm, the park was born. And it’s a beaut, especially with the fall foliage and river views. I’m no local historian. All of the above background informa- tion was lifted from a batch of interpre- tive signs at the “entrance” to Eola Bend. Access is via either the packed dirt river trail or the hiking/biking paved Eola Bend Park offers excellent Willamette River views, especially during fall. HENRY MILLER/ SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL trail from Parking Lot No. 3 next to the group picnic gazebo at Minto Brown. A trail map of Minto Brown that also shows the location of Eola Bend is at https://www.cityofsalem.net/City Documents/minto-brown-island-park- trail-map-2017-09-28.pdf Harry the mostly Jack Russell terrier and I took a shortcut and sneaked in the back way. Russ Dilley, the parks program coor- dinator for Marion County, described Eola Bend as “more of a natural park” than a developed recreation site. The county handles trail maintenance and trash pickup, while the city of Salem helped with the signage. “It’s got great views of the river … and an osprey nest, and in the summertime you can see the babies poking their heads up,” he said. “It’s very peaceful and beautiful.” Except when Harry saw a couple of black-tailed deer trot across the trail in front of us and all hell broke loose as he keened and screamed and pulled at the leash and harness to pursue them. Another canine incentive to visit the park is the wealth of ground squirrel holes to shove their muzzles down and snort with abandon. Along the way, we also saw geese, ducks and a huge blue heron along the banks. I’m frankly embarrassed to admit that as long as I’ve been here and all of the times I’ve seen the signs in Minto Brown with arrows pointing to Eola Bend, Monday was the first time I vis- ited the park. The outing was, to put it bluntly, as much mercenary as it was for the aes- thetics. Being boatless, I’m always looking for walk-in access points to the Willamette River for fishing. And the park has a couple of those, albeit with pretty steep banks. But the underwater structure makes it look like a really bassy section of wa- ter. If you want to check out the park for yourself, here’s how to get there. Henry and Harry’s shortcut: From Salem, take River Road S toward Inde- pendence, and turn right on Homestead Road. Just before the bend, watch for the parking lot on the right. Out of the parking lot, take the trail that goes to the left, and after going past the slough, use the pedestrian entrance to the right of the metal gate. Walk down the road all the way to the massive fence at the debris landfill, then keep the fence on your left as you circle the landfill. The Minto park-map signs will tell you when you’re there. Look for the ar- rows with the turtle symbol on them. Other than the “entrance” with the interpretive signs, a couple of trash cans, two picnic tables and a doggie- doo bag dispenser, Eola Bend has no amenities other than well-kept trails suitable for both hikers and mountain bikers. Although those can and do flood or become muddy when the Willamette comes up during the winter. Dilley said the county would like to add a closer parking lot in the future, but Eola Bend probably will remain a “na- ture park” rather than a developed site. And for solitude, gorgeous fall colors and fabulous river views, Harry and I think that’s just fine, although he prob- ably would vote for more deer. Adding up the segments on the Minto Brown Park signs, I figured it was about a mile and a half, maybe two, from the Homestead Road parking lot, give or take a half-mile. But when your dog is stopping every five feet to shove his head into a rodent burrow, what’s the rush? Henry Miller is a retired Statesman Journal columnist and outdoor writer. You can contact him via email at Henry- MillerSJ@gmail.com
