Last weekend, two of us Trail Nerds decided to do a decently-hilly 50-miler in the Pacific NW: Patrick P. and yours truly.
Photo Album Link Slide Show
We both flew out separately and showed up on race day to run in the Douglas Fir and Hemlock forests of Oregon. Namely, we decided to run in the PCT 50/50 "Scott McQueeney Memorial" Trail Race near Mount Hood, Oregon. Wow, there were mountains out there! (And we got to run over more than a few). I had a good 50-mile race with a finish time of 10-hours, 30-minutes and change, and Patrick cruised-in with a 10:39, after taking a wrong turn. We dun goood!
The race had some dusty parts to it, and the dust affected my asthma somewhat. The views on the trail were spectacular; I'll have to take a camera on the run, next time. I reached the 25-mile turnaround point (at Timberline Lodge) in 5:10:00. During the race, I had one rough 1-hour segment of time, but other than that I felt okay. I really love technical trail, and this race was part groomed trail and part single-track technical trail, with NO ROAD running!
One fun adventure during the run:
Just 4 miles from the finish, I was held up by a herd of cows and a large bull. They had swam across a small body of water to get onto the trail. The cows moved off-trail by me yelling at them, but the bull stood his ground. A runner caught up to me and asked me, "what if the bull charges?" I said, "I'm not worried, because I know I can outrun you!" He didn't find it amusing. I picked up a large stick and started thwacking it on the ground. It broke with a loud snap and the bull snorted, then took off up the mountain (and off of the trail) with his herd of cows and calves in tow. I wasn't too upset for the delay. It only took about 3 minutes off of my finish time and it was comic relief, so what the heck?
My son and wife flew out with me. We also got to visit with my Nephew who lives in Portland, and is my son's age. The three of us Boyz went to the Oregon Brewer's Festival and had a good time. The hard part was going to the festival on Thursday and Sunday, with a 50-mile race on Saturday. I let my liver recover on Friday, at least. It didn't seem to affect me and my race at all, but my Sunday "sampling" was negligible. I guess that after a 50-miler, I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.
I go to Portland often, so I know the area very well. I won't go into more detail; just let it be known that we had a real blast out there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Sounds like you had a great race! I'm glad I missed the bull! (Since I did the 50K I finished about 1-1/2 hrs before you.) That sure is a great trail. Maybe I'll try the 50 miler next year. : ) Glad you had fun!
You are hilarious - your comment to that other runner cracked me up! Nice job! My legs hurt for you!
sweet!!! i love the bull anecdote. that race is on my dream to-do list.
Nice job on the 50 miler. One of these years I will break away from White River 50 and go and do this one, but I have a little unfinished business with that course now that it has kicked my ass 2 years in a row.
Lol - now that's something you don't find in the road races. Your story cracks me up! Reminds me of a saying we have in my SCUBA club: "the reason you have a dive knife is so that if you encounter a shark... you can stab your buddy and swim away" :P
Great pics! NOW I know why you do speed work! ;-)
I didn't realize you were wearing the Injinjis now. How long have you been running in those?
I've been running in toe socks for 5 years. I always put a super-thin Ultimax triathlon sock over them. I've been blister-free for at least 3 years now, even with wet feet on 100-milers.
It's a beauty of a race. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Post a Comment