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January 22, 2007
34 Smoothing Sailing Miles
It seems that good times were had by all at this race on Saturday.
We began Saturday at the god-awful hour of 3 am in Portland, OR (after getting off a plane around 9:30 pm). My sweetie, his dad, and I all went to the race. We were expecting the worst in terms of weather and trail conditions, but I was pleasantly surprised to find clear skies, just-under freezing temperatures, and just a bit of snow at the race start. I heard people talking about lots of new snow at the race's high point, Capitol Peak, and I wondered what we would find up there.
The route climbed for 6-ish miles from the start at Falls Camp to the top of Capitol Peak. First there was some climbing, then some contouring, then some more climbing. The top of Capitol Peak was pretty surreal with ice and fog, but beautiful in a mysterious kind of way. There was a fair bit of snow on Capitol Peak but it seems it had already been compacted by snowmobiles or something, so it was easy to navigate.
Next it was 5-ish rolling then descending miles from the top of Capitol Peak to Wedekind Camp. I saw someone take a big old wipeout here, but they got up and ran on just fine. In the upper portion of this section, the trees were gorgeous. They were coated with thick layers of frosty stuff. When the sun peaked out, everything glittered shiny.
The last section of the loop was 7-ish miles from Wedekind Camp back to Falls Camp. I loved this portion of the trail. It rolled along with the most perfect grade for running at a good clip. It was low-elevation so there was just a bit of snow. It was all I could do to hold myself back and not run hard, as I was going to do another loop. I also saw someone take a fall here (they were also fine), so I began to mind my own feet a little more.
I finished Loop 1, refilled my Camelbak, ditched a layer of clothing, made a brief pit stop at the outhouse, and headed up the trail again. There were some people milling about there, and they shouted encouraging words as I headed out again. I find it really cool that people are so inherently friendly out there, despite the fact that they don't know you.
I will be honest in saying that I enjoyed Loop 2 much more than Loop 1. The trails were all quiet, and I was alone for much of the run. The trail conditions had degraded since Loop 1 with more people trodding on the trail and the snow melting into mud. I think it made Loop 2 much more fun! Near the top of Capitol Peak, the sheriff that was manning the safety checkpoint/water station asked me if I was the last person coming up the trail. I nearly swallowed my tongue trying to figure out how to answer him. I sure hoped I wasn't the last one! I think I told him, "I'm not sure." The second time around, I found Capitol Peak to be rather sketchy. The peak had a number of huge antennas. In the wind and now above-freezing temperatures, big pieces of ice were hurling off of the towers towards the ground. I envisioned one of them stabbing me in the head. Nothing happened, but I was happy to get off the peak.
From Capitol Peak to Wedekind Camp, I never saw another person. It was a joyous and peaceful several miles. The once-frosty trees were all melting, the sun was shining, and the trail was full of mud puddles. I was splashing through it all like a little kid, smiling the whole way. I arrived at Wedekind Camp and hardly realized that 5 or so miles had passed.
From here, the only thing that remained were the lovely rolling miles back to Falls Camp. Here, the trail was much more muddy than it had been on Loop 1. During this portion of the run, I saw only one person. That is, until I met up with my sweetie about 2 miles from the finish. Even though he'd already run 34 miles, he came back out to run with me. He looked like he was running on fresh legs, I was most impressed! I finished in 6:52 (According to my watch, they didn't write down my time until a few minutes later, kind of weird.), the second girl.
It was a great day out there. The director did a fabulous job, for it being a race with virtually no entrance fee. People were miraculously friendly. The weather was perfect. The course was awesome. The only issue I had was a personal one. Nutrition-wise, I struggled somewhat, and wasn't able ingest enough calories. I've switched to drinking Nuun when I run. Nuun is a most excellent electrolyte replacer, but it has no calories. Previous to this, I would have obtained about 500 or so calories from my sports drink during the course of this run. This time around, I needed to consume more gels/food to make up for the defecit. I ate all my gels just fine, but I couldn't get the solid bars to go down. I would just chew and chew and it would take miles to get 200 solid calories into my body. I learned 2 things: 1) I need more practice at eating solids on the run; and 2) I need softer solids during cold weather because those bars were cold, hard, and, thus, more challenging to chew. I had a fun time, though, and I feel great after-the-fact.
The car ride back to Portalnd, OR seemed to last forever, despite the fact that was unconscious for much of it! We stopped to eat along the way, and I'm sure I consumed close to my own body weight in food. It was a very fast trip to the Pacific Northwest and back, but I had a great time.
Posted by Meghan at January 22, 2007 10:25 AM
Comments
Mehgan,
I did see you out on the trail! Nice job running the 34 miles under 7 hours. You were flying!
I slowed considerably on the second climb. I'd blame my running buddy Steve because I was hanging with him before he decided to drop 4 miles into the second loop but it was all I could do to keep up with him.
Hope to see you at the races! Are you going to be running any more Washington ultras this year? The Orcas Island Ultra is a doozy! It's the same day as Hagg Lake which would be much more convienient for you.
If you have a problem with the official time that they send you just contact the RD and I'm sure they will correct the time to what you recorded when you came in.
The ice falling had me worried as well. I took a wide loop around the tower "postholeing" in the deeper snow to avoid an icy death. In hindsight I should have let a big slab of ice hit me so I could avoid the ice bath I took when I got home.
Hope your recovery goes well. Who did you travel up with from Oregon?
I'll put you on my bloglines and stay in touch!
Eric Barnes
Posted by: Eric Barnes at January 22, 2007 12:43 PM
Loved how you said you enjoyed second loop with all its "more difficulty" better than first! What a great run, and fast one too, I know these trails! Awesome!
Posted by: olga at January 22, 2007 2:16 PM
Meghan,
Wow, Wyoming! That's a ways to come for a 34-mile jaunt in the forest. Sorry you didn't get real dirt under your feet for the whole run. At least you are acclimated to running on snow and ice.
That's a blurry picture of me on my posting standing near the finish line. Please don't confuse this picture with the one of the skunks on my previous posting. Gentleman? I was the rude guy who burped and flatulated his way up and down the Mt. talking smack to the other runners in the Conga line :-). I meant to mention that while the second loop was much more challenging for me it was also nice to run alone in the solitude of the forest.
My wife's blog is www.backofpack.blogspot.com. She ran the 17 mile loop which is her longest trail run and first in the snow and mud. Her only other trail run was the half marathon at Hauling Aspen in Bend Oregon last summer. She has a picture of me on her blog which is a little clearer than the one on my current post.
Now I'm curious about whom the first female was to finish the 34-mile run. Did Van Phan come in behind you? As I mentioned in my posting she crashed and burned about 2 miles from the finish.
Posted by: Eric Barnes at January 22, 2007 3:14 PM
Meghan,
I don't eat many solids on runs anymore except at aid stations where I have a crew or like last Saturday when I get back to my truck, baked beans for me thank you.
But really, not many people do that. My brother and two top ten Western States 100 finishers eat it in longer races also. I figure if it works for them I'm going to give it a try. (carbs, a little protein, and some salt, not a bad combo)
Anyway, Organic brand Vegan bars are great in the cold. Easy to eat and go down easy. About 300 calories each. I would stay away from the chocolate chip version in the summer though.
I've done this, quite humorous with chocolate all over my face coming into an aid station.
Races out west, Hmmmmm... Tons of great ones! White River 50 miler, all the big guns show up for this one!
CCC, a great 100 when they get a new race director.
Where's Waldo 100k, this years 100k masters championship! And it will be 62.2 miles this year instead of the old 66.36. (My favorite race!) (about 2 hours slower than Miwok 100k)
I just mentioned a few of the longer ones in the PNW, there are more of course. But it would be hard to justify spending a lot of $$$ for a short race.
tom riley
picures of other races that I have done are at
http://www.pbase.com/mtnrunr
Posted by: tom riley at January 22, 2007 4:27 PM
Meghan,
Congratulations on your finish! As Eric said, that was my first winter and longest trail run and I loved it! I'm a little slower than you are - we did one loop in 5:23. It was a great day and I am anxious to give Orcas a try. We have a runner in our group who moved here from Wyoming about 15 years ago and she talks about it all the time. She really misses it. I'm glad you enjoyed your quick run (hah!) to our neck of the woods. Hope to see you out this way again sometime.
Michelle
Posted by: backofpack at January 22, 2007 4:30 PM
Meghan,
If you have not discovered www.marathonmaniacs.com you can go to the site and have a look at the race calendar to see upcoming races of marathon distance or greater all over the US and some out of country. You will find links to the races there.
Eric
Posted by: Eric Barnes at January 22, 2007 5:57 PM
Great race Meghan! I was interested to read about your nutrition issues. Runners have it hardest I think - it's so much easier to take stuff on the bike. I'm sure you learned a lot though and of course awesome finish! :) Recover well!
Posted by: Beth at January 22, 2007 7:02 PM
Hey Meghan- I watched you (and your sweetie) come in from your second loop! Well Done! I only ran one loop. Capitol peak was my second trail run. I loved it. I agree that the falling ice from the towers was scary. I also loved the rolling 5 miles or so where you could really run and I, too, felt like a little kids puddle jumping and not caring one bit about how muddy I got. I didn't really like the clear cut "V" trench of mud section as I found it difficult to plant my foot evenly. Overall it was fantastic and plan to run two loops next year. Look forward to reading more about your adventures!
Jenny
Posted by: Jenny at January 22, 2007 9:17 PM
It sounds like a really cool, friendly ultra community out there. I figure that I'll give those longer races a chance eventually, but I don't think I'm quite ready just yet to stop hammering away at my marathon time. I'm so glad you had a good time out there...now you can really start daydreaming about Costa Rica in earnest!
Posted by: chelle at January 23, 2007 10:58 AM
Meghan,
Are you doing the Costa Rica Coastal Challenge? The six day stage race?
tom riley
Posted by: tom riley at January 23, 2007 12:32 PM
Meghan, sounds like you had a great time out there! Glad you enjoyed yourself and ran well. Good luck preparing for Costa Rica!
Posted by: mary at January 23, 2007 1:10 PM