Capital Peak 50 miler

my first long run since last september was last saturday. well, longer than 34 miles anyway. this was the third time Capital Peak 50 miler has been ran. none of them on the same course of previous years. we had a little bit of snow up on the ridge trail and from capital peak all the way to wedikind aid station, about 4.5 miles. then some snow for about 1.5-2 miles climbing out of wedikind and running the ridge trail out and back for 18 of the last 24 miles.















this snow on the ridge trail climbing out of wedikind aid station. (mile 26)

the weather was awesome. not often, only the second time in 6 times that i have been on this course, either running the 55k or 50 miler, that we have had good weather.















more snow on ridge trail. got a little deeper in places but not too many times did you have to post hole.















winner brian morrison heading back to wedikind (mile 43 coming back). finishing 7:37. my guess is the CR of 7:31, would have dropped today if no snow.















pond















darla brader and chris askew not is a hurry in this 50. getting ready for kettle 100.















bushwacker taking an extra 20 minute scenic route before getting back on track. getting ready for bighorn and HARDROCK!















michael mcarthy getting ready for bighorn

yes, i am BEHIND all the above folks!!!
















.laughing moments:

1. looking at race belt that i didn't refill after peterson ridge rumble, 3 S-caps. nice. like that is going to do for 50 miles


2. forgot camera in first drop bag. what, am i supposed to draw pictures for my blog? scary.

.3. picking up second race belt in last drop bag only to find 4 S-caps. wonderful, sweaty boy. this is going to be interesting trying to figure out how to not to have muscle cramps for 24 miles.

4. wait, i remembered my camera in this bag. good. "mr. aid station person, can you throw away these drawings for me?" "thanks"

5. leaving same aid station... nice, forgot the beans that were in there. oh, goody, 2 gels for two hours of running. i do need to go on a diet anyway.

well, not a bad day. not as fast as i had hoped. i'm a little worried about my fitness level but at this point i will keep plugging away. the run went better than peterson ridge 55k twi weekends ago. did have a low patch for 15 miles. nothing wrong. i was just tired. but i just concentrated on eating and drinking. WHEN I HAD SOMETHING TO EAT THAT IS!!! ARGGGHHHH!


the last 15 miles were better. got a little redemption i guess. i knew the last 6.5 miles was a sweeeetttt finish. almost Waldo sweet. i knew my splits from years past: 60,54,55 minutes. (in ether a 50k finish or 50 miler) today 54 minutes. and that is missing the newly built bridge and me opting to run over the bridge that was OUT!!! "DUMB RUNNER" and this wan't even a 100. #6, last laughing moment.

on the fifth aniversary of Scott McQuenny's passing i crossed the finish line running backwards. just as scott ran the portland marathon backwards on a bet his daughter did not have cancer. i believe she is in college and doing very well now.


finished in 9:08, 10th. a good training run for sure. not too much climbing, 6660 ft of gain for the day.

now onto miwok next weekend, ouch.


i think the eugene gang will be over at michigan bluff next week too. hammering out some freakish splits with AJW one or two days. doing monster miles, 160+ i'm sure. two of the runs will probably be 50 miles or so. don't know who is all going but i know brother is planning on going along with a few regulars. but they also get a few more friends to show up on a day or two to add to the fun. it will be interesting to hear how it went when they get back.

i'd like to try their ice cream sandwich run some day. start at cal 2 run to the swinging bridge then run back to cal 2. take a break at foresthill for an ice cream sandwich and a soda. then try to run to cal 2 under 1:15 without puking. now i know i can't run that in 1:15. but maybe at my own break neck speed i do it without hurling. maybe someday.



capital peak up top in middle

gorge run

i was fortunate to be invited to run in the columbia river gorge with olga and gail on sunday. they both have done tons of miles in the gorge. i have only done a handful, mostly one the washington side.


today they brought me to the multnomah falls on the oregon side. i had never been there. the day was good. we ended up doing 20 miles with 5725 ft of gain. i of course can't hike as well as olga and gail but they were kind enough to wait for me so i didn't miss a turn. it was a good day.




lower falls






































looking over to washington side

washington side














these are stong women

showing off their good side?

gail and me

some pictures from peterson ridge rumble 60k

rod getting ready for miwok














karen gnass, oh, she's slammin'














jon gnass, yea, he's slammin' too














sean wants to run "sub bien" this year at states















stacy bunton always smilin'. she'll be doing spartathalon soon






























sander nelson, 2nd at san diego last year. mike burke getting ready for hardrock































it was a beautiful day in central oregon for a great race.


more pictures here

around and around we go

speedracers here it is...
this past weekend i did my first timed run at Pacific Rim One Day Run. this race is hard to even know about if you don't live in oregon or washington. heck i didn't hear about it until i joined the nw listserv. then at best you get one notice from the rd fred willet. low and behold it is one of the longest ultra events around oregon. maybe autumn leaves 50 miler has been around longer. i don't know how long that has been but, mckenzie river 50 miler / 50k has been around 2o years so those two races have been around close to or more than 25 years. it also used to be one of the largest timed races said by a local ultra runner.

i called fred the tuesday before the run to see if i could get in. i didn't care if i got a t-shirt, i didn't care if anybody even recorded my laps. i didn't care if i had my miles recorded in the results, which are hard to find also. i just wanted to run.

the plan was to run 50 or so miles. run easy, but just run. i didn't know if i would enjoy this one mile loop frenzie. my brother has done it. he logged 116 miles (?) in '05, running 3 minutes and walking 1 minute from the get go. he did it to build confidence to be able to complete 100 miles and run for 24 hrs. you see he was getting ready to run states that year for his first 100. mmm, let me see at states, he finished 19th in 20:08, yea i think he did o.k.

there were many of us new to ultra's that were there and then others that have been doing this race for over a dozen years. it was fun to see Rob, and Steve. Michelle and Jenny were doing their first 50 mile run, very cool. Steve completed his first 24hr event by knocking off 105 miles. T.C. did 101. Tim England (former winner of Plain 100) took honors with 121 miles. Lisa Bliss, last years winner of badwater, was there getting ready for umstead.

the plan was to run easy. walk the hills. run the flats and downs. so loop after loop i ran the flats, hammered the technical downhills, and did a solid hike up the monster climbs. i practiced eating on the climbs. i drank 20ozs an hour. i ate about 300 calories an hour. it went well. my quads got worked on the downs. my hiking still has some work but that was good practice.

so all went well. got a few hours of running and a few miles in for the day. a total of 247 ft of gain was had. boy that was a monster day. i hope that was good training for the rumble in a few weeks.

here are some pictures taken by bob, "the beast", lynes here

i will consider this next year. it was fun. i never thought i would do this kind of thing but it went pretty darn well. now i am ready for some single track.

fast times at cool

well the pacific northwest did pretty well at cool this year. dan olmstead doing what is probably his second ultra had a good day taking third. erik skaggs ran another fast 50k coming in second. then todd braje came in a first. man he was off my radar. i knew he was fast but i just didn't see his name. i've seen some pretty fast marathon times from him and he won McDonald Forest 50k last year.

the womens field was equally impressive... Susannah Beck taking honors. Bev came in second. and Joelle Vaught came flying in at third.

rumor is not all the top three men are going to be doing states. one may sit out. we will have to see about that.

lewis will just have to bring it at american river 50 april 5th. but that field is stacked too.

me, just training. on a last minute thing i decided to do Pacific Rim One Day Run. i'm not going to do the whole 24hrs. just run 50 or so miles. why not the whole thing? worried about recovery. oh, i know many use this to build confidence for doing a 100 or staying up 24 hours. they all did fine when they showed up to the big dance in june. but for me, at least this year, i'll just use it as a long training run. just take it easy, practice the eating drinking thing.

kinda glad i'm doing pac rim now. kinda nice to join others for a day. sure will make time go by faster i'm sure. plus, i didn't have anything going for this month. breaks up the usual weekend training i figure. it should be fun. too bad we are going to get rained on, bummer.

way too cool guesses

well speedracers, Way Too Cool 50k is Saturday. Boy, the field is deep for both men and women.

i don't know all the names but here is my guess in order of finish

men:

matt carpenter--he might have some company for a while but he should prevail

erik skaggs-- i think he rocks at this distance

galen burrell-- fast. don't know much about this speedy devil

dan olmstead-- ok, he's running with the big boys now. a little inexperienced but maybe

craig has helped him since winning McKenzie last year. TAKE YOUR S-CAPS DAN!!!

lewis taylor-- won it last year. he better bring his "A" game saturday if he wants top three.

bring "it" chickenhawk

lewis.

AJW, Skaden, Hal, they all could be near the front but i don't think any of them are gearing up for this particular race. yes, rich hanna should be up there someplace, just don't know where. Scott Wolfe will run fast but my guess he is in the same boat as AJW, skaden, and Hal. and there are about 10 other fast dudes that will jump at the chance if somebody faulters. it will be fun to watch.

ajw

hal

also, i hope bili has a better race than last year. i think the last little bit of the race kinda fell apart if i remember right. there is a certain female that "chicked" him last year for the first time. my guess is he doesn't want that to happen again.

sean will be there, but boston is the priority. go get 2:40 colonal.

jeff browning will bring his best.

craig will see old friends

now the ladies

newer to ultra's, Susannah Beck is my pick hands down. she has run something like a 1:15 half and a 2:35-36 marathon. yikes. and a win at moab 50k isn't too bad. not sure why she didn't do the mcKenzie invitational last year but did run what looks like to be a easy 4:33 in saturday's race (injury?). just don't think anybody else has this kind of leg speed. wicked leg speed that is...

nikki--what, something like only two losses in 8 years, nuff said

nikki

bev-- she'll give it a go no matter what. way to go french kiss

craig, bev, and alan

annette bednosky-- could finish in front of bev if she has a good day and bev faulters

meghan--running really well at multiple distances but she has the trials coming up. this is not a focus right now. have fun G.M.

there are others both men and women that i am forgeting. since i am a mid packer at best, i just don't know all these folks. sorry if i missed someone.

but i will be calling bili after my saturday slog.

on a side note, Waldo has 49 entrants after just thursday, less than a week since the mail in application came on line. already i see a few fast folks for the USTAF OPEN AND MASTERS 100K TRAIL CHAMPIONSHIP already registered. almost half full, cool. at least i can toe the line with the fast boys in august.

i'm a big girl, a perfect size 12

i'm a perfect size 12, yes i'm a "BIG GIRL"

i get to the race and the first thing is to see who has their game face on...

sean brought it last year with his cutzie little floral skirt made by kathy harshburger. i knew bushwacker would, but i can't compete with those long lushious shaved legs. (nah, he doesn't shave them but maybe he will have to next year to get top honors)

i walk up to the pavilion and i see dan has raised the race to a knew level... his little red, white and blue number was elegant but that red polk-dot bow on his visor was the topper. then i see one of the lizards with a hot little number, a pleated plaid school girls skirt and knee highs. man i had to "bring it" if i wanted to stand up to these guys.

game on boys...

right before the start i unveiled the works... a size 12 floral number. a dress that is not a lame little girly skirt.

so there it is, i think my little get up went over pretty well. funny, all the people with taste, women that is, said it was pretty hidious. hey, i had a little bow on the back, isn't that cute?

so, i think i raised the bar for next year. maybe bushwacker will shave his legs??? sean, your gunna have to come up with something new... maybe you and rod could have matching outfits??? rod???

mike "bushwacker" burke and

liz kellog

oh, there was a race too...

so, going into the race it was just about completing two laps around the lake and finishing upright.

i didn't want to do the out and back 3 mile section in 24 minutes like in past. i finished it in 28 minutes and that was good. but it seemed way to hard to even do that. i was wondering what the day would be like after that.

so now it was just run at a comfortable pace and just finsh after the out and back. i just concentrated on running easy and keeping the pace even.

the course was fast, 34 finished under 5hrs, last year only 14. new course record by neil olsen. me, i ran the exact same time i have for the past two years. i should have been 14 minutes faster given the smooth carpet ride for a trail this day.

the legs were tired even within the first five miles. but then i reminded myself that this was just a good training run. nothing more, nothing less.

i had fun. it was nice to not have too much mud. should i have run faster? yes. but on the second loop it was just all about controlling the damage. just run with even pace and check this one off.

it was fun to see rod, sean, mike burke, olga, darla and chris tear up the tarmac saturday. it is going to be fun watching them this year. run well at boston sean, i will be watching you every 2.5 miles on the web there. oh, i will be rooting for meghan the day before in the trials. and all of them have some hundreds in the future. of course burke has a little one coming up, HARDROCK!

olga

darla brader and chris askew

oh, i missed seeing john and amy coffey. i had met them just a few weeks back. john was running his first ultra in 9 years!!! he holds the record for running around Mt. Hood in 6:24, that's 41 miles with over 10,000 feet of gain!!! and has ran states three times. once placing M4 in 17:48 in 1982!!! what has john been doing, just some little ironmans, that's all. amy is no slouch either, running fast at American River 50 and finished in style at a Old Pueblo 50, and a couple of Mt. Hood PCT 50's, and States in '05. and many more great races under her belt.

so for now i will just keep running. i will continue to run slowly. but i will continue to run.

no more wearing dresses though. my fat little stubby legs just can't pull it off.

see many of you at the rumble in april.

tanner creek aid station volunteer, kyly mcmurray and bob "the beast" lynes