Category Archives for "Running"
Where’s Waldo 100k Race Report
This was the fourth time I’ve run and finished this race. It never gets any easier either. This year’s race was the USATF 100k Trail Championship Race for Open and Masters Division. It brought out a good field. We were having high temps that week and race day morning was no different. Usually this race starts with gloves and arm warmers at 5am. This year was sleeveless jersey, no gloves and sweating within 5 minutes of starting. The day was good and hot.
I went out with faster splits than last year and went up Fuji smooth and under control in the top 10. Nate McDowell and Hal Koerner went out together in the lead and quickly had a good gap by the summit of Fuji. I was about 11 minutes back on Nate and Hal going up Fuji and 7 minutes behind 3rd. I just settled in…it’s a long race. I don’t think anyone has ever (save John Pearch the first year) summited Fuji first and gone on to win overall. With the hardest climb at mile 52 going up Maiden Peak, this course is deceptive, as Fuji’s climb, as well as the other climbs, are mostly runnable, but long at a decent elevation.
I had a rough patch (which seems to be the usual on this course for me) from Mt. Ray to Charleton (approx. 20-30+ mile markers), then another hard spot going up the twins. Most of this low was due to not enough salt intake. Once I went to 3 succeed an hour in the heat, my stomach and my mood straightened out. I was running with Ian Torrence going up The Twins and we were both complaining quite a bit, probably not the best to be together at hat point. He had just run Tahoe 100 and Mt. Ashland Hill Climb, and we were both bonking and feeding each other’s bad moods. I soon pulled ahead and filled up at the spring about half way up the Twins and Ian caught back up. We didn’t take much after that. Brad Mitchell soon caught us and we all came into The Twin aid station together, running in 7-9th. I was first out and didn’t see Brad again until the next aid. I was just on survival mode, but starting to smell the barn.
Dagan, Krissy Moehl’s boyfriend, had hiked up to Maiden aid and said Prudence was in the lead and Krissy not too far behind, maybe 5-10 minutes back (which turned out to be not true, as Prudence finished over 35 mintues behind). But, at the time, I didn’t know that…Crap! I told everyone there I had to get going so I wouldn’t get “chicked”. I had jokingly made a comment at the Friday night pre-race meeting that was serving it’s purpose then and there. Here’s the background story:
Last year with the course marking tampering, Meghan Arbogast won overall, as everyone if front of her went the wrong way on the PCT. The year before, Krissy Moehl, 10-days fresh off through hiking the Colorado Trail, won overall. Two women had won two years in a row. I was sitting with what would be the top 3 women finishers this year (Prudence, Krissy and Meghan…Krissy and Prudence both of whom are from Bend and I train with on occassion). So, Craig Thornley (the Co-RD) says, is a woman going to win again overall? I yelled “NO!”…in front of everyone. Now, that was because I know the ladies very well, and I wanted some pressure. I told them I would puke before I would let them beat me this year! It got some laughs, but also, pressure was on…
Fast forward to Maiden Peak aid station…
The girls are not far behind (so I thought). That got me moving. As I was going up Maiden, Brad Mitchell caught up to me and we were working together to get up Maiden. He mentioned that one of the guys in front of us (Joe Grant) didn’t have his USATF membership. Hm, that meant that one of us (either Brad or I), had to catch 6th place, as USATF was giving cash for top 5 USATF finishers.
Brad was having some stomach issues in the heat and soon pulled off for a pit stop. I just kept plugging away up Maiden and as I approached the top, I ran into Sean Andrish…6th place! He was walking downhill and was filthy. He looked like he had taken a spill. I caught him just before Maiden Lake aid station, where he later dropped. I guess he was pretty out of it…confusion and was very, very bonky in the heat.
From there, I just kept plugging away to the finish in 10:36 for 6th overall, 5th USATF and $100 cash. Nice to get something for a hard, hot day. Thanks to Joe Grant (3rd overall) for not buying a USATF membership. Bummer for him, but a nice surprise for me. Thanks, Joe, I owe you a beer.
8 Newberry Crater Rim Run – 38 miles
This run is a classic Central Oregon long run. It’s starts at Ogden Trailhead and climbs up 9 miles to Paulina Lake, then you run the 20 mile rim loop around the caldera with good views of East Lake, Paulina Lake and the Cascades. There’s been some forest fire smoke in the area the past few days, so we ended up not getting the Cascade views due to the haze, but it’s still a great loop. Lewis Taylor from Eugene came over and met Krissy and I at Ogden Trailhead. He came early, as he’s peaking for Leadville 100 and he had already run 18 miles at 8am.
The 3 of us headed up to Paulina Lake where we’d pick up Chris and Darla, as they wanted to run the 20 mile rim loop only with White River 50 coming up next weekend. After a quick water fill up at the store we headed out on the loop. To gain the rim, you have to go from Paulina Lake at 6,300 feet to the summit of Paulina Peak at 7,985 feet in about 3ish miles. Good climb with great views. From that vantage point, you can see the entire rim at average elevation of 7,000 feet below you and can see the route your are about to embark on. This is a classic and I try to run it at least once per summer.
It proved to be really hot and I underestimated water and most of us ran out with about 6 miles to go (from Paulina Lake’s store). I pushed ahead of the group and got there about 10 minutes earlier. I immediately went to the bar, filled my bottles with ice and ice water from the bartender, chugged a Corona with a lime…can’t forget the lime…I’m sure I looked like hell. No shirt, sweaty, salt crust all over me, two fisting a corona and water bottle, downing a gel, salt tab, paid the barkeep and went to the store and drank a soda, ate some chips and cashews to try and recover from the bonk.
It worked okay, but once you go to bonkland for 45-60 minutes in a run, you never fully recover. Soon Lewis and Krissy showed up after dropping off Darla and Chris at their car, and we hung out and recovered for about 15 minutes. After that its the final 9 miles down to the trailhead from the lake.
Lewis, Krissy and I: Mile 29 for Krissy and I, Mile 47 for Lewis, after the store aid station, post-Corona and coming back from the bonk.
Lewis tacked on another 5 at the lake to get in 60 miles for the day (strong work, Lewis!), while Krissy and I headed for the car and the creek soak at the trailhead. It was a slog to get back. We both had run out of water on the rim loop and were groaning a bit on the death march to the car.
However, the creek soak was good, a little ultragen for recovery. A good day of hard training. One more hard weekend and taper for Waldo 100k.
8 Bighorn 100: Coasting In On Fumes
Bighorn win #3 and a snow course record—18:56:28!Pre Race
Well, I was worried going into this race, as the week before I left, I averaged 3-5 hours of sleep per night finishing up 3 website designs, lost 14 chicks we were raising in 3 nights (from a predator entering our chicken coop), and rescued a newborn fawn from the jaws of our neighbor’s huge dog. Craziness.
The day I was leaving for Bighorn (Monday), I was driving my truck up to town to grab a couple of last-minute things and was about 1/2 mile from my driveway, when I slammed on my brakes to the neighbor dog bounding out into the road with a mule deer fawn in its jaws (still alive and yelping). He dropped it at the sight of me and I jumped out, rescued the little guy, who couldn’t even walk yet, and took him out to a field and placed him under a juniper near his VERY upset mother, ran the dog off with some well placed rocks and went home to finish packing the tent trailer! Thus, my 3rd trip to Bighorn 100 began…
This year the whole family was making the 1,100 mile trek to the Bighorns: Jennifer, our two kids (5 and 2), and Mabel the dog. We hit a campground in Idaho on Monday night, then two nights south of Livingston, MT on Tuesday and Wednesday night (where we got in a nice family hike up to a waterfall, and I enjoyed my final training run up to snow line as well).
Our arrival in Wyoming on Thursday around 1pm started with another slight hitch. We were coming through southern Montana on I-90 and I was running low on fuel. I kept thinking the next exit would have a gas station, but unbeknownst to me, there is a 50-60 mile gap with no services from southern Montana to northern Wyoming. Ranchester, WY (our exit to Dayton) had the first services. About 15 miles from Ranchester my “low fuel” warning light came on and I asked Jennifer to grab the owners manual and look up how much actual fuel we had left—2.7 gallons, perfect, we’ll be fine. But, to be safe, we said a little family prayer to get us to the gas station.
Well, the guage wasn’t working right, ’cause we hit the Ranchester exit to turn onto Hwy 14 and my car sputtered and died…out of gas. DANG! I quickly jammed the car in neutral, turned off the radio and the air conditioner and hit the flashers, rolled through the stop sign and started coasting. The exit is about a 1/2 mile from town and I was hoping there was a gas station on this end….I couldn’t remember though.
We coasted down the hill, hit a flat bridge and we slowed down to 15, 14, 13, 12 mph…luckily I was towing the tent trailer and the weight behind us got us over the flat bridge and the final little hill into the edge of town and sure enough…a gas station…but on the other side of the street….shoot…quick look, no cars coming, no cars at the gas station on my tank side. Bam, we coasted right into the slot with the car out of gas and filled ‘er up. I raised my hands to heaven and gave thanks. I later told Jenn that’s what my race plan was. Come into Dayton on fumes, nothing left.
We dropped the tent trailer in Dayton, and drove to Sheridan to check-in, drop off drop bags and meet up with my folks (who were crewing for me). I got to the pre-race weigh in, weighed 148, got the final alternative snow course mileage info, grabbed my laptop, finished up my splits and the RDs (Karen and Michelle) let me use their office at the the Sport’s Stop to print out my splits so I could tape them on my bottles. I have to say, I was a little bummed when I heard the course would be different due to 3 feet of snow and 7 foot drifts at Porcupine Ranger station. I really wanted to go after the course record this year. I felt really fit and ready. But, mother nature said no and that’s the way it is, just got to roll with it…much like the previous week’s craziness.
Thursday night, after hunkering down with a rain/hail storm at the campsite, I did some jammin’ with Roch (we shared a campsite) on my guitar and Roch on his banjo and dobro. I hit the sack about 10:30pm.
I woke up, had my standard pre-race meal of a banana and 3 raw eggs Rocky-style in raw milk, cup of black tea and preceded to try to keep distracted by helping Jenn get ready for her next day while I would be running (but she wouldn’t let me help…she told me to get ready for the race). At 9, I walked over for the pre-race meeting at the park and at 10:30, we jumped in the car to drive the 3 1/2 miles up Tongue River Canyon Road to the start.
The weather was mostly cloudy and in the 70s, with an afternoon chance of thunderstorms. On my walk up to the start line with both kids in tow, I ran into Mike Adams and Scott Jurek from Seattle, had a little chat with them, told Scott I’d see him later (as he was pacing my Patagonia teammate Justin Angle).
The Race
After the traditional prayer and national anthem, a good luck kiss from my wife and kids, we were off up the Tongue River Canyon. Ty, Justin and I settled in together with a couple of guys ahead of us as we hit the singletrack before the first major climb. We soon reeled in one guy and let the other guy go, as he was hammering right out of the blocks. We all settled into a nice train of about 6-7 guys with the one out in front about 100-150 yards or more.
Right before the first climb starts, there is a water stop. Justin and I stopped and topped off one of our bottles, while Ty took the lead of the small group. Justin and I rejoined the group, bringing up the rear. We all settled into hiking the first big hill with a few short jogs on flatter sections.
About halfway up, I found myself feeling like I was waiting on the line, and decided to get in front of the group at the next flatter, runnable section, which I did and Justin followed. I picked up the pace a bit and soon, just below the fence row, it was me, Justin and Ty with a small gap on the other guys, with the one guy (Jesse from Bozeman, MT) out in front still. We topped out the first 8,000 ft ridge and ran down The Haul, across Sheep Creek and into Upper Sheep Creek Aid Station at 12:45pm, right on my splits.
Justin, Ty, and I left together and we proceeded to make the climb up to Freezeout Point (new section this year). We caught Jesse on the upper section of Freezeout and soon another guy from Bozeman, Erich, caught up to us. The group of 5 (me, Ty, Justin, Erich, and Jesse) ran together down into our first crew/drop bag station at Dry Fork at 1:45pm.
I told the guys we were going pretty fast, as we were coming into Dry Fork at the same split that Ty and I ran in ’06 when I got the record. However, due to the course change we were 1.5 miles further (old course is 13.8, this year was mile 15.3, with the addition of a 1,000 foot climb). Everybody just nodded, said nothing, and continued to run the same speed. Again, gotta roll with it.
As planned, my dad was waiting with a Nathan waist pack and filled bottles to swap. I grabbed the goods, and started to leave, when I noticed he’d given me the wrong pack! (Since we were coming through Dry Fork 3 times during the race, I had a specific pack for each time.) I ran back up hill frantically yelling “WRONG PACK!” and my mom and dad met me, swapped packs and I was off down the hill to Cow Camp to catch back up to the other 4 guys. I caught back up and we all proceeded to jam along together at a good pace.
We came into Cow Camp at 2:45pm and started to new, steep climb up to Riley Point (part of the 50k course, only the opposite direction). This section has some trail and some cross-country sections and we were all taking turns propping flags back up to mark the course as we hiked up, as most of them were flattened. The long, hard climb up to Riley Point was steep and tough, with lots of slimy, slick mud sections, or snow piles to post hole through. We all were grumbling that this section would SUCK on the return route at mile 70-something. We were soon across the ridge line and on our way down to Dry Fork the second time.
We came into Dry Fork 2 at 4:20pm. We came in to weigh, Justin first, and the digital scale kept reading “error”…he would have to step off, they’d tap it to reset, wait, and step back on, wait…error…repeat. After about the 5th time, Justin was loosing his patience, as was I. All 4 of us were waiting in line (Ty had dropped back on the ridge for a pit stop). I finally said, we can’t wait here all day, we’re on course record pace (even if is was “snow course record”)…as I wanted to stress that they either needed to let us go, or figure it out.
Luckily, they readjusted the scale placement on the ground and it worked. I was on and off 2nd, grabbed some orange wedges and took off, as Justin had taken off down the hill and gapped me by a good 60 yards. I thought he might be making a move, so I chased…but we got down to the bottom of the first steep pitch coming out of Dry Fork and he lost his footing on the super muddy, rutted ATV trail we were on and took a side-digger in the mud. It was quite graceful and we were soon, all 4 (Justin, me, Erich and Jesse) back together in a tight group.
We were in and out of Cow Camp 2 and on our way to Bear Camp when we got hit with the edge of a rain storm. It was fairly mellow and I soon took the lead on the rolling sections after Cow Camp Aid. I noticed that the Jesse and Justin were no longer right on me (before this, we’d all been swapping and yo-yo-ing leads). They seemed to be okay with me leading most of the time.
So, we arrived at the water spring (a pipe shooting out water) somewhere near the middle of Cow and Bear Camp Aid. I refilled quickly and got hiking up the short climb. As I looked back, I noticed the two Bozeman boys were in line filling, and Justin was behind them “watering the bushes” and would have to wait to fill his bottle. So, I decided to gamble and make a small move.
Up to this point, I was trying to figure out where I would go for it, as I wanted to make a move earlier than normal BEFORE Justin picked up Scott as his pacer. I knew Scott would be a great motivator and didn’t want to try to drop Justin AFTER he picked up a pacer, but before. Tricky, considering pacers were available at mile 48 (just after Footbridge 1). I started toying with the idea of making a move and pushing the pace down the steep section from Bear Camp to the Footbridge before dark when the situation presented itself at the spring. So, I took it.
I picked up the pace a bit, ran a little more aggressively on the downhills, and a little more on the ups. I soon noticed that Jesse was the only one I could still see back behind me 60+ yards back. I got into Bear Camp at 6:33pm and was just leaving when Jesse was hiking up into it…but no Justin and no Erich.
I kept pushing down to the Footbridge at 7:05pm and was in and out and running the 1.4 miles down to Pacer Bridge. I got there and saw Jurek ready to go, waiting on Justin. I glanced at my watch and started heading back up to Footbridge. I quickly met Jesse, 2 minutes back. Justin 4 minutes back. Ty 10 minutes. Crap. Not much.
I had a blister on my right heel and was going to do a sock/shoe swap at Footbridge, plus I had to weigh. I got in, quickly swapped my shoes, packs, filled bottles, ate some orange wedges, weighed in at 149 and was out of there, hiking up the Little Bighorn Canyon. I had picked up my ipod shuffle, as this would pose as my company and digital pacer, since I was soloing it.
Once I got some fast bluegrass kickin’, I got a second wind. I started running a lot on the steep climb up to Cathedral Rock Aid Station. I got in and out and was about half way to Leaky Mountain, when I had to take a pit stop. I burned about 2-3 minutes. Not ideal, but a must. I got to Leaky Mountain turnaround at 9:14pm. Still had 30 minutes of daylight left. I looked at my watch, downed some broth and noodles, filled my bottles and got jammin’.
I ran into Justin and Scott within a couple of minutes…only 4 minutes back. Dang. I had to push and utilize my downhill-extra daylight advantage. So, I let it loose on the downhill and kept pushing for the footbridge. I soon ran into Erich and Jesse in 3rd and 4th and then Ty in 5th (looking strong) right before dark. Ty and I gave a high five and I kept pushing. At this point I was running a little scared, of course, and didn’t want to blow my lead and kept hoping I hadn’t made a move to soon.
Once dark hit, I kept going fast, as this section is somewhat familiar and I’ve run it two other times in past races, always at night. I got to Footbridge super pumped, weighed in at 149, got my drop bag, swapped packs and asked the weather forecast. They said upper 40s, low 50s, no rain. Sweet. No shell, only need my arm warmers. I saw Darin Swanson (waiting to pace the eventual women’s winner Ronda Sundermeier, another one of the Oregon peeps). Krissy and I had run with Darin when he came up with Ronda and Michael to train at Smith Rock during Memorial Day weekend. He helped me untie my arm warmers from my old pack and get them on my new one. Thanks buddy.
I started the hard grind (The Wall) up to Bear Camp and started running into other 100-mile runners coming down into Footbridge. That’s what I love about the out-and-back course—You get to see the other runners. It was cool. Got to see Bob (from Texas)…I camped next to in ’06, and Frank from Bozeman, who I also had met in previous years and briefly chatted with him at our night-time trail passing. He later said he felt bad that he had slowed me down. No worries, Frank…when I get so high-fallutin’ that I can’t slow down long enough to say hi to someone I know, ya ought to shoot me.
I got up to Bear Camp and pushed on for Cow Camp. The section from Bear to Cow Camp is rolling with a few grunt, steep climbs. I ran 90% of this section trying to add a margin to my lead over Justin. I figured the more I ran, the more he’d have to run to catch me. When I got into Cow Camp, I downed some orange wedges and melon and started up Rileys. I was looking forward to this section, because it’s a huge open meadow/basin you traverse and climb a ridge line above and I knew I’d be able to see how far back Justin was if he was within 30 minutes.
So, I kept climbing up, listening to a pack of coyotes carrying on in the timber across a drainage, directly west of my position. It was cool, very social and a lot of “talking.”
I topped out the first major section and was hiking along the fence row above, when I flipped off my lights to check. Yep, two lights down there. Justin, about 20 minutes back. Good news. I had put some time on him…bad news…not enough time to relax.
This got a fire under me again and I kept on it. Soon I was up and over Rileys and down into Dry Fork around 2:50am. My dad was waiting up and knew by my lights it was me. He was hootin’ and hollerin’ and I yeehawed back as I came in, weighed 152, downed some soup and got running up the road out of Dry Fork to bust out the final 18 miles.
I knew at this point, that if I just kept running everything runnable, I’d pull it out. So, I just kept plugging away, in and out of Upper Sheep Creek Aid. At Sheep Creek crossing before The Haul, I was taking the last few steps before the log bridge and stepped in the saturated, muddy grass and it was like ice…I slid down on my rear and dug both water bottles into the oozing mud. Nice. I had to clean them in the creek and proceed.
Soon, I was over the last ridge and running down the final descent into Tongue River Canyon in the dark. I flipped my lights off once I got down to the rolling river trail section, woke up the guy manning the water only stop, filled, and finally got to the Trailhead with 5.2 miles to go. I really had to make a pit stop and hit the pit toilet near the starting line area on the road.
I came out, walked a minute and started looking at my watch and doing some quick math. I was REALLY close to breaking 19 hours. So, I decided, I would be mad at myself and regret it if I didn’t at least try to go sub-19. So, I backtracked my iPod to Freedom by Rage Against The Machine and just listened to it over and over (5-6 times) while I concentrated on leg turnover, posture, forward lean and cadence. I hit the paved street in town and was soon at the Bridge, I yeehawed, entered the park hootin’ and hollerin’ to see Jennifer standing there. As I rounded the path around the park, she cut across the lawn to the finish line and my kids and folks were there to celebrate with me as I crossed the finish line in 18:56:28! I’m super pumped to go 3 for 3 on this course!
Thanks to Patagonia, Black Diamond, Rudy Project, FootZone of Bend, Clif and Nuun. Thanks Justin and Ty for pushing me so hard all day and Scott and Justin for pushing me hard all night. Good race, good competition. And thanks to my dad for crewing all night, my wife and kids for being there, and especially to God for helping me coast in on fumes.
Also, thanks to Justin for the compression socks recommendation, post-race. Those things work wonders on swelling! My ankles are back to normal.
Giddyup.
Just after the finish—walkin’ off the adrenaline.
6 Bighorn 100 Brief…
The walk to the start line in Tongue River Canyon with my two biggest fans.I’ll post a more detailed report when I’m back. I’m sitting in Sheridan, WY, with my family and parents at the coffee shop with my swollen, beat-up, ugly-looking kankles enjoying a dark roast coffee. Mmm. I just wanted to give props to the Patagonia Team for busting a move and representin’ strong at Bighorn and sweeping the podium. I’m super pumped to run 18:56, it was tough and fun. Thanks Justin and Ty for pushing me so dang hard. I would not have slipped in under 19 without those dudes breathing down my neck. The alternative snow course was equally hard, but a bit faster than the normal course with all the climbing more compact and steeper. More to come later…
1 Scar Challenge Correction
It has been recently brought to my attention that Ian Golden, former resident fast dude in Bend, who now owns Finger Lakes Running Company in Ithaca, NY, has indeed run ALL of the scar at Smith Rock. My former Smith Rock post credited Eric Skaggs as the only one to have been known to accomplished such a feat.
So, Ian, sorry for the oversight. And sorry, Mr. Skaggs, not a first. Strong work boys.
14 Frances, Rest in Peace
She didn’t suffer much. She woke up Monday morning and played with my younger dog, Mabel, rolling on the ground and wrestling…took a nap in the afternoon. When I woke her up to put her in their kennel/dog run in the afternoon before we went somewhere, she was acting out of it. Within 3 hours, she was gone.
We all got to say goodbye, pet her and hang out for about 3 hours with her panting and not being able to get up on her own. We left and she died shortly after. I’m going to sprinkle some of her ashes on the summit of Gray Butte where she has summited many times on hard training runs with me. The rest will go with us to the farm we eventually find.
She was a great ultra training partner, consistent with her pace and never complained (even if she ripped a pad). She’s run thousands of miles over the years, teamed up with me on countless backpacking trips all over the west (all the while carrying her own supplies).
She trained almost every step I trained for Western States 100 in the ’02 season and continued to run up to 20 mile outings with me until she was 12. Our 8 year old dog, Mabel is taking it pretty hard and has been depressed, as she’s been tied at the hip with Frances since she was a puppy. We’re keeping her close with the family in everything we’re doing. Goodbye, Frances, rest in peace ‘ole girl.
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.