8 TNF 50 Race Report…

The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler
Bellingham, Washington

The 50 mile course was sweet! Technical…10,500 feet of climbing. It was burly. Lots of roots and rocks, especially in the 2nd half of the course (which serves as the 50k course, boasting 6,600 feet of climbing).

Sidenote on the 50k race: Krissy won the 50k overall! I think that’s her 2nd Overall win (Waldo 100k two years ago). She told me afterward that on the uphills she kept saying to herself “Browning would make me run this!”—yep. Dawn patrol 3 hour run at Smith Rock on Tuesdays with Meissner and I is paying off. She said 3 guys went out fast, she waited, and took them on the “Hurt 100” climb (800 feet in 1 mile up a gully riddled with roots and rocks). One dude tried to hang, but she held him off for the win. Good work.

Course markings…something I think everyone at the start was nervous about, given the Endurance Challenge previous reputation for poorly marked courses. Well, the good news is that it was marked crazily well. Overly marked. I swear there was a flag every 50 yards—even on sections with no intersecting trails or just plain straightaways with no need for flags. Crazy. I never once questioned the course. I was so flagged, I felt sorry for the person who had to pull all those flags after the race. They’re probably still out there with a headlamp.

All joking aside, I’m assuming most of this has to do with the Bellingham ultra community and whatever local(s) designed and marked the course. Obviously they knew what they were doing. Whoever designed this course did a killer job. It was tough, fun, a great mix…right when you were about sick of a logging road, you were back on single track again. I can’t say enough about the design of the course. I loved it.

And, as for the ankle, it was pretty good. Definitely not at 100% yet…especially on the downhills. I couldn’t let it loose and found myself having to check my downhill speed, which was tough for me mentally, as I wanted to let ‘er rip, but just couldn’t. I need to bounce back to training hard by Memorial Day in two weeks and it’s just not quite there yet.

I also had to really pick my way through technical sections to ensure good foot placement, which slowed me down a bit. But, overall good sign that it’s getting there. My legs were feeling the mileage the last 10 miles since my longest runs have hovered around 3 hours since Cool 50k back in mid-March.

As for the race action, there’s not much to tell, except it was a cool course. The race was pretty uneventful from a racing standpoint. Brian Morrison went out in the lead from the start and maintained it the rest of the race and won in about an 8 hour finishing time. Myself and two others went out behind Brian and jockeyed for 2nd-4th for about the first 10 miles. I was about a minute behind the two guys in 2nd and 3rd coming out of aid station 3 at 11.3, who were about a minute behind Brian. I didn’t see anyone again until mile 21.

I caught the guy in 3rd by mile 21 aid station. He left right on my tail and there was a long single track uphill that went into a road section then back into single track, and I ran pretty much the whole thing. My climbing legs were feeling pretty good with all of Smith Rock’s hard 1500 feet per hour training under my belt. All the climbing grades seemed pretty easy, so I ran alot on the ups (until maybe the last 10-12 miles, as the lack of long run mileage was weighing on my hip flexors a bit).

Once I gapped the guy on the climb, I was completely alone in 3rd the remainder of the race and finished right around 8:40 for 3rd overall. The guy in 2nd (an Ironman triathlete running his first 50 miler) was about 20 minutes in front of me. I guess he caught Brian at the “Hurt 100” climb (approx. mile 43)—he said Brian put the hammer down and left him going up the gully and put 20 minutes on him in the last 7 miles. Giddyup! Nice work, Brian.

I would have liked to at least tried to run with those boys up there if it wasn’t for my nemesis—Michael Jordon. Well, not EXACTLY Mike…more like….my imitation of Mike…you know, that dang competitive urge that makes you do an Air Jordon in a church pick-up game of ultimate frisbee against a bunch of teenage boys? Unlike Mike, I have nothing to show for it but a fat ankle and a feeling that I ain’t no spring chicken anymore. Life lessons…

7 Rattlesnakes and Runnin’

Well, it’s been a while since I posted. My ankle is finally almost back to normal. Training full volume on it and taking a minimalist approach to taping it to prevent a re-roll. Skipped out on Miwok last weekend to give it another week to heal before racing on it. Plus, I inadvertently entered it back in January without looking at the EXACT date. My 11th Anniversary. Whoops! Needless to say, my wife likes me a little better for choosing her over a 100k.

Well, it’s snake season with our late spring finally showing up. I hopped over one at a training run yesterday at Smith Rock, climbing up Burma Road. And I soon found out it was a sign. After that hard hill run yesterday evening, I came home to my son running up to the car yelling, “DAD! I STEPPED ON A RATTLESNAKE!” What?!

My first thought was that he didn’t know what he saw. However, 5 year olds are much sharper than most folks give them credit for and I had showed him photos of rattlesnakes over the winter and informed him we have them around Central Oregon and if he ever saw one get away. Now that we were on a farm and not in a nice little privacy yard in town anymore, I wanted him to know what to look for.

I asked him “really?” He insisted it was a rattler. Sure enough, my wife confirmed it by catching it with a stick and putting it in a box. She actually didn’t think it was a rattlesnake until after she got it in the box and it started rattling at her. City girl is becoming country. Giddyup!

Sure enough, it was a yearling (one rattle). Young one’s can be the most dangerous to small animals and children, as they don’t have control of their venom yet and will release ALL of it upon one bite.

Bad news for my young kids if they were bitten. Most will not bite unless startled or provoked, but I guess he stepped on it while playing on the edge of the yard in the taller grass. A little too close for comfort. The irrigation channels and ditches are now running and there’s quite a bit of water around the property now. So, it’s bringing some varmits in.

The whole incident brought me back to my farm days growing up and I did what any farmer would do, disposed of it. With two younger kids running around, I decided better safe than sorry to prevent another accidental encounter that might not end so nicely. And, if one thing I learned growing up in the country, snakes have a territory and if you see one once, you’re going to see them again. Non-poisonous snake I welcome. Rattlesnake…nope. Sorry little guy. Snake heaven for you. Oh, the drama.

Well, I’m off to Seattle this weekend. Jennifer’s sister is due any day with my new nephew and we’re hoping the baby shows up this week. It would be perfect timing. I’m also going to sneak away to Bellingham on Saturday to test out the ankle on some muddy, technical terrain and run The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler.

Should be fun, as I’m looking forward to hanging out with Dagan and Krissy. Will be fun to get back up to run around Chuckanut Mountain. Hope TNF has been working on course markings. Their races last season were notoriously poorly marked. You can bet I’ll be ranting if it’s not marked well, as the Chuckanut area is riddled with old logging roads, criss-crossing trails and tons of intersections. It could get ugly for participants if the markings are weak. Here’s hoping.

6 The Cabin

After much hounding by my folks…here is a pic of the cabin. It’s a log house build by the guy up the road in 1971. It’s rustic and cozy with a killer morning sunrise out across Lone Pine Flats to the basalt rim about a mile to the east. Well, doesn’t get much better.

0 Ultimate stupidity

Well, I pulled a huge bonehead move on Sunday afternoon and joined in a pick-up game of ultimate frisbee with some kids from my church at the Easter Pot Luck at a park. After an AMAZING airborne frisbee grab, I landed in a decent sized hole and rolled my ankle horribly. Couldn’t walk on it for over 24 hours, heard a pop, thought I broke it, had it x-rayed on Monday…not fractured—thank the Lord. But, it’s severely sprained, super swollen and bruised. I currently have it in a splint boot to keep it immobilized, which allows me to walk without crutches. I can’t believe it! I was feeling really fit too! Jennifer told me not to play. Note to self: ALWAYS listen to your wife’s “sixth sense.”

Off to dunk my foot in ice…

2 Smith Rock BBQ

Well, we had our official first Smith Rock BBQ with beautiful spring weather. Now that I’m living right by Smith Rock State Park, I decided to host a post-training run Pot Luck BBQ at the new digs. Dan Harshburger put together a run leaving the main parking lot and another group of us started at Skull Hollow about mid-morning. Pictures courtesy of Olga…thanks, O!

We had a huge turn out for the training day and the Pot Luck BBQ was a success! Thanks to all that came out…we had representatives from all over…Portland, Ashland…sweet. A good buddy, Mark DeJohn from Active Therapeutics, who provides Active Release Technique and massage in Bend came out and worked on folks at the BBQ. Nice post long run treat.

Rod, Sean, Kami, Prudence, Olga, Gail, Stan, Mo and I started out from Skull Hollow water troughs at about 9am with all of us having different routes in mind, but wanting to run 3-5 hours. Rod, Kami, Sean, Prudence and I stuck together over Gray Butte and over to Cole’s Trail. Then, Kami, Sean and Prudence continued on Cole’s and Rod and I went down into Cougar Canyon and the loop over to Burma, Ridge line and Misery Ridge by Monkey Face to meet up with Billy Barnett and Eric Skaggs at the parking lot.

We met Billy and Eric coming down off Misery Ridge and we all ran back to the parking lot so Rod and I could refill water, as we’d been out a little over 2 1/2 hours. Next, we headed up Burma Road and as we ran up the goat trail that starts the Burma climb, Rod told Eric about the “Scar Challenge”…this is a challenge for anyone to run ALL of the scar trail (above Burma Saddle) that is over 500 feet in less than 1/2 mile, probably a 35% grade of loose rocks and pure crap, before mellowing out to climb the last 70-100 feet to summit Eagle’s Roost (above the Marsupials ). Hard and NO ONE has done it. Attempted, but to our knowledge no one had done it. All are humble to hike. Oh, prize…Rod buys lunch.

Well, Eric said he’d “try it”…lunch was on the line. We ran all of Burma and Eric proceeds to yes, RUN ALL OF THE SCAR. He left Rod, Billy and I in his wake with our jaws open. Nice work bro!!!! It was the sweetest thing I’ve seen is a long while. He busted a move after running Misery Ridge, Burma AND hard hill repeats the day before at Pilot Butte with Billy. Eric, you da man! Nice work bro. Glad I got to witness the climbing prowess.

And, of course, Eric was completely humble about the whole thing and said of the experience “it was a maximum effort” …ya think?! Dang homie. Well, needless to say we were FREAKING out, givin’ knuckles, kudos…sweet. Rod and I thought it was one of those little challenges that’s pretty much impossible. Thanks for proving us wrong, Eric. Now I’m wondering if I can run it? Hmm. Just like the 4 minute mile barrier…one does it, proves it can be done…lots more step up and do it too…could this be one of those? No pain, no gain.

Afterward the BBQ was good, beer was good. My kids loved the Honey Bunny (bread shaped like a rabbit) that Billy brought (he’s one of the bakers at Great Harvest Bakery)…it was delicious! Thanks Big B on the Harmony Tip!

Thanks to everyone who came out and hung out at the farm. Giddyup.

4 Bronco Billy goes Bio-Diesel

Green Farm Truck
I did research this evening and it’s what I hoped for—bio-diesel in an older Ford diesel motor works fine. I’m going to start running bio-diesel in the rig in the next tank. Start out with B20 and work up to stronger as the engine cleans itself and the weather gets warmer. I just need to monitor fuel lines and change out fuel filters several times when I first make the switch.

The truck is an extended cab, long bed with construction bars on it. Not only will be awesome for hauling stuff…firewood, hay, chicken compost, building materials and anything else I can dream up. I can also cruise it to the trailhead with the dogs and with the bench seat in the extended cab, fit the kid’s car seats, many adult runners, or small farm animals.

My Missourah farm days came back to me when I drove the truck into Redmond today to go to the Feed Barn to get a couple of bales of wood shavings for the chicken coop and Big R for some chicken fence and bailin’ wire—well, they call it “utility wire” in Redmond, but back in Missourah, we call it bailin’ wire.

Organic Chickens
I spent Saturday night until 10pm and Sunday afternoon after the 3 1/2 hour Smith Run getting the coop ready—patching, cleaning, hanging/building roost bars and nesting boxes. And, Sunday night we picked up 9 laying chickens (about 1-2 laying years left in ’em) from my buddy Karl in Alfalfa. They’ve been raised free-range organic and will continue to be under our watch.

The girls are enjoying their new coop, tasty organic feed, and don’t seem to be too stressed from the move. They do have twice the chicken coop and 28 less chickens to fight for food and roosting spots with. They gave us 4 eggs their first day—thanks, ladies. I’m hoping to let them out to free-range in a day or two, after they’re used to their new digs.

To be continued…

0 Lost on Cole’s Trail

Instead of heading back up, we cross country’d it and ran in the dry canal and finally to the access road that climbs back over to the Crooked River. It was a nice adventure and we finally made it back to the mouth of Sherwood Canyon. I was late getting home (over an hour later than I told my family). But, it was a fun, social running day. Legs felt pretty good considering a 50k last weekend.

Side Note: I did find a horse trail near the opening of the canyon that Cole’s Trail empties out of on the west end that appears to climb and gain the high ridge above Cole’s, which is the ridge that separates Cole’s Trail from Sherwood Canyon to the south. I’m going to go explore it this week on a mid-week run and see if I can’t link up the that part of Cole’s with Sherwood Canyon via the climb over. That would add at least 1200-1400 feet of climbing to our normal hard loop. Giddyup.

8 Not Too Cool

Race Postscript:

My first DQ! Albeit unintentional and I didn’t know until yesterday. I’m super bummed.

What happened? It appears that somewhere between ALT1 and ALT2 aid stations at Cool when you’re coming down hill on American Canyon Trail, you take a sharp right hand turn back onto Western States Trail. In year’s past, according to Craig Thornley, this other trail I continued on was completely blocked with ribbons and very apparent, but this year WAS NOT. Which explains how I missed the turn…I was hammering that downhill section and was feeling good in that section. I don’t know whether I was sipping my bottle, picking my nose…whatever it was…I missed it.

By missing that turn I cut off about 5-6 minutes (according the the RD), as it rejoins the course down lower. Which explains why I never knew I was off course. Not even a question.

I’m super bummed and can’t believe I have to swallow this DNF pill, as I had a perfect record in over 30 ultras. It sucks to say the least, as my time was a PR for 50k and still would have been with the added time. Nothing like taking time off work, away from my kids and family, spending hundreds of dollars all to come home and someone inform you that your name is coming off the official finisher list for a mix-up you had NO IDEA about. Freakin’ sucks so much I can’t believe it. I’m still kind of in shock.

I guess this is a lesson for all of us to ALWAYS, ALWAYS not only look for flags, but study the course description (which I think is weak…it’s a handwritten map for godsakes). I guess that should be noted on the description more clearly…just my opinion. And I hope the race management, which is great at organizing the race and putting on a great event, will take this debacle and mark the crap out of that intersection in the coming years so no one else had to deal with this.

I guess the one good thing that came out of this is Ian Torrence can rest assured that he still has the upper hand, ’cause I had about a mile less on my legs at the finish when I passed him…that’s were it came from, Ian…short cuts, man…

3 Way Too Cool 50k

Two words…deep field! Dang. 28 under 4 hours. I’m going to go out on a limb and say probably one of the deepest fields of any ultra to date. I heard a couple of others say it too. It was hard and fast. To put it in perspective the year before, my time of 3:52.12 would have been good for 7th and in past years as high as 2nd, this year…18th.

Deep field aside, I had a great day, especially considering my winter training. I wasn’t sure what my foot (or legs) would do with the PF issue (which is better), but with only one 3 hour run under my belt, definitely wasn’t sure.

I knew the early pace would be fast with everyone shooting for the States entry slots…and it was. I planned to run the first half laid back and went out slow for the first half and came through ALT 1 in 1:44 and ALT 2 in 2:33. I picked it up for the last 1/3 and started picking off some of the carnage from the early fast pace.

I felt pretty good most of the day and ran pretty smoothly with no major bumps, except some minor cramping that extra S caps took care off. The only real drama was the final few miles. I had been running solo approaching Hwy 49 when Ian Torrence and another guy passed me. I tucked in behind them, downed my last gel, took an S cap, chugged the remainder of my water just as we arrived at Hwy 49.

We came into Hwy 49 in a tight pack and I handed Julie Fingar (Patagonia teammate working the aid station) my empty gel flasks and bottle and didn’t have to break stride, as Ian ran right on through. We ran the hill up off 49 and soon caught Hal. He and Ian and another guy gapped me about 30-40 yards. Soon Hal started hiking again and I passed him in the meadow where the trail “Ys” as you climb up out of the trees and the grade mellows.

As we climbed that last 40 yard grunt to gain the fence row I reeled in the other dude on the short downhill and got back within 10-15 yards of Ian as we approached the 90 degree turn into the long straightaway down the fence.

I started thinking I had a little left in the legs and thought of my Thursday hard tempo days with Steve Larsen. No different. I decided to go hard. As I passed Torrence, he says “WHERE’D THAT COME FROM, BITCH!?!” (I laughed hard in my head, but was suckin’ too much wind to retort.)

I just kept pushing so he couldn’t pass me back. We both ran 3:52 (about 3 sec. apart). It was a killer day. Great weather, fast course, deep field and a great night of chillin’ at Georgetown Hotel with Thornley and the Oregon crew. AJW singin’ Springsteen, Jurek bustin’ out The Stones’ Painted Black, Lewis throwin’ down a great Talking Heads. Wolfeman singin’ George Michael, and Bronco singin’ Skynyrd—giddyup.

4 Farmer Jeff

Well, I’m stoked to finally have sold our house in Pleasantville (what I call NW Crossing in Bend)! Actually a killer neighborhood, just a little too polished and neat for Bronco Billy! The family and I are renting a farm near Smith Rock State Park. Chickens, garden, fresh air…giddyup! Finally moving forward with our vision of back to the land and a more green existence. Now we just have to find some land to buy in the next year or two. But, for now, it will be great to get back on some rural land with a barn, chicken coop, huge yard and privacy.

Farm Bonus: I’m right by Smith. Hard ultra training at it’s best…1200 to 1400 feet of climbing an hour…technical, burly running. This will be my daily training ground for the upcoming season. I’m so pumped. This is where all ultra runners in Central Oregon come for hard days. So, I’m hoping to host some post-training run brunches on some farm fresh eggs and organic coffee. Yum.

Running front…my Plantar Fasciitis is finally pretty much healed up. The foot is feeling good. I’m still getting some tightness after hard road tempo run or hard downhill running, but I hope I’m over the hump for healing. I’m definitely going in under-trained for Cool 50k in 2 weeks, but it’s early season and gotta roll with it. Funny how every early season the past few years has begun with some issue to overcome…just like life. Yes, Deep Thoughts by Bronco Billy.