Slow: It's the new Fast!

Oct. 18 2009--Somewhere on Tiger Mtn.

2009-10-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fall! Colors. No crowds. Slick rocks and leaves---well, that's any time, around here.

Short jaunt (despite Garmin's claim of 5ish a better GPS called it 6.6) uphill and back down with Jeff and Robin--through the stiles and up. Trees seemed bigger and closer together than I remember from, say, Cougar.

No blueberries here, and having failed to pick up any Shot Blox I was reduced to carbing up with--Dots.

Thank goodness for Robin's awesome apple crumb cake in the parking lot!

Sept. 13 2009 Mt. Pratt Lake plus

2009-09-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Great day! Clear skies, soft trail (well, in between rocky stretches); fresh fat blueberries! Tracy, Ali, Becky, Suzanne; Finn and Jenna from dogworld...

Yummy.

Aug 28 2009 Orcas Island--Mt. Constitution

2009-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Fun up-n-down trail day during a great family week up on the beach. 8+ miles beginning at Cascade Lake at ~300 ft and climbing to 2400ft+ and GREAT VIEWS!

See the deer?

Lotsa folks up top thanks to the road. Trail was beautiful.

Sorta makes you want to do the Orcas Island 25/50K in February, eh??

WR 50 Preview 2 7-12-2009

2009-07-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Fun for all--moreso for myself and Ali who missed the first 6 miles along Skookum Flats and so did 17ish v. 23--
Grey skies and threats of thundershowers cleared to hot sun late in run; beautiful day to be out. I heard, then saw (but got no pix of) a good-sized owl; looking up/listening online, seems probably to have been a female barred or spotted owl. Can;t help you beyond that. Beautiful sight!

Can't lie--I hate the 6+ miles of gravel downhill. Picked up enough speed there last year to beat the cutoff (with early start) but otherwise nothing good to say.

Finished and had a delightful tailgate session with Ali cupcakes to toast Tracy's birthday, Robin's muffins, and Tracy's cookies. Good life!

So with a 20 min/mile pace vs last year's 17 min/mile and a couple of missed cutoffs in 50Ks this year, along with the knowledge that I have not successfully made time midweek to train, I'm out for White River and will happily volunteer instead. Good ol' Scott McCoubrey rolled over my entry fee to 2010.

So now I'm ramping up weekday training and aiming for the Cle Elum 50 K 9/19/09! Gotta keep moving!

White River preview part 1 (short version), 7/5/2009

2009-07-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Three weeks to WR50; two weeks since Lost Lake 50K; SOME crazies (Jane!) did that one AND the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon AND came out for this one as well.

Ali too had marathoned and graciously volunteered to babysit me on the short loop up to Ranger Creek and back. Jeff and Robin joined in, first sighting for me since their mega-hundreds-of-miles Appalachian Trail trip. Tracy frisky as has recently been true set off after a bit after Eric Barnes & pal, leaving only a trail of cookie crumbs...wait, it was actually a baggie-full and they were back in the car.

Beautiful sunny day, nice Rainier views, pretty little purple flowers, orange ones too; uphill walking pretty slow going for me. Nice to see fast young guns Uli & Brian, then Michael H, then a passel of others spring by 3-ish hours into it having started an hour or so behind.

Every uphill has a downhill! Ali came back to collect me and we fairly zoomed down beautiful soft trail with cool cover overhead and in very short order were crossing the bridge over a rushing White River and so to hom....but first, some of Ali's blueberry
pomegranate juice! Thanks ma'am.

Beauty day! Next week Suntop. There or square.

Good times!

Lost Lake 50 K June 20 2009

2009-06-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hard, man. Beautiful though, terrain and weather both.

Didn't bother to shoot pix until around mile 15 on Hush Hush Trail when came across a good-sized raptor carcass, owl probably--

18.9 mile stop at Pine & Cedar Trailhead the guy said Hey! Drink more--there's almost none gone here to refill! Huh.

Some hills. Up, down, repeat. I got beat by everyone including a doggy. Fun though.

Tracy B zoomed!

Then burger, Tracy cookie, Fairhaven latte--home!

White River? Let's see how the course preview runs go...right now feel sorta like that owl.

Sunday 4-26-09: Squak, 12 miles

2009-04-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Cool early, and in spots up top, but shorts worked today. Tracy had 18 under her belt from Saturday (!) but up for more. SRC running 17 at Squak/Cougar so the group went by early. Pretty day! Great to be out. Ali helped us finish with fresh-brewed coffee in the parking lot! Oorah.

13 wks to WR50; 8 to Lost Lake 50 K. Work it!

Cougar Mtn. Sat 3-28-09

2009-03-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Nice and cool and gray and...snowy?? Huh.

Eight miles easy, a week after Chuckanut; Tracy and Ali and a good time had by all. Very pretty out there! I look forward to these outings all week. We are so fortunate to live so close to such wildness.

Snowy/sleety coffee in the parking lot--strong!, Ali-style; then rounded out nicely with a latte from a warm, cozy, and crowded Starbuck's, and home to take Emily to ballet.

Good stuff!

-Chris

Chuckanut 50K, 3-21-2009: Better last than never

2009-03-22T15:52:00.001-07:00

Actually Laura H claims one or two people straggled in even after me, but that seems impossible, Anyway, even the slowest finish is a did-not-quit and I'm good with that. (Next day--I see it's posted as a DNF: it's an F, but a DNF on time:)) Still, this is my first time getting back so late that even the race clock has gone home ahead of me.

Beautiful day!--despite dire weather predictions. Big crowd in the cool AM crowding in to get bibs and chip timers; saw Ana S at the dropoff, saw Tracy B and Laura H manning (personing?) the station, saw Laura S at the opposite table. Friendly faces, yeeha!

Start was chilly and exciting.

Next twenty miles--plenty of time alone with myself to think:)--didn't take pix, just kept plugging away--

then halfway up Chinscraper--who is that denizen of the primeval forest, dropped out of a clear sky into the craziest terrain of the day, packing a camera bigger than my leg? The Glenn-onator! My iPhone camera fought him to a draw. Some very welcome encouraging words from him and off to the last third of the trot.

Aid Station Four: angels of mercy!!!!! Tracy B and Laura S. I owe them. Ai yi yi. They dragged me the rest of the way in--9 miles? It sure was excellent to have company. Looked around a bit and enjoyed the truly beautiful scenery and day, and the pleasure of being able to be out in it and move--yeah, slowly--through so much dang pretty territory.

Even got a living finish-line arch to run under!

As noted above, no timing equipment remained, so here's a pic of the Garmin to document completion of the course. 31.06 miles, 8:59; 17:22 pace.

Emily Anne's sign: Go Dad Go!

Lessons learned: one day a week is not enough training for a mountain trail ultra. Who knew? :) Work to do ahead.

All's well that ends well: the morning-after breakfast in Fairhaven (after a great two nights in the event's official hotel, the Hampton Inn)--that smiley fruit plate guy? When all is said and done, I know just how he feels.

Thanks run buddies for encouragement, thanks Krissy M for a great event to aim for. I wonder if this would be as much fun if I were actually prepared for it...? (Gwen S: yeah you tried to tell me!)

Oh, all right then; back to the training!

-Chris

Cougar Trail Run, Sat 3/7/2009

2009-03-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

Laura is back in (carefully monitored) action!--and Tracy's minor knee tweak couldn't keep her down, so we all headed out for a 7.5-miler at Cougar. Weather folks prepped us for a cold and snowy Sunday so we got out early Saturday AM to beat the freeze.

Nice try.

Trails started clean but the more we ran (just over 2 hrs) the wetter and whiter it got. Saw Tim H and a pal in shorts!! and were glad not to be them, at least in that regard. Also encountered a big group looking ready to camp out for the weekend--hmmm.

Icy crystals on coat--crazy, man. Unusual winter this year.

The clay pit road got full-on whited out.

We had a great time; got back to the car, thawed fingers, watched ice melt in Tracy's hair and Laura got her toes up to the ceiling where the hot air rises. Home for lattes and bring on the weekend.

Tracy maybe Fishline 50K next weekend, me Chuckanut in 2 weeks. Yeeha!

Chuckanut preview 18 miler Feb 28 2009

2009-03-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Tracy and Ana and I did the middle, interesting (mostly) 18 miles of the Chuckanut 50K course in prep for the race in 3 weeks. Surprisingly snowy all over the place, and a bizarro mix of snow/ice/slush/mud along the flat three miles after coming off the ridge across Dan's Traverse and before climbing back up Chinscraper. Cleator Road: some big chunks, ahh, missing. Up on the ridge: maybe my favorite three miles of trail on planet earth for running. And amazing views of Baker and Cascades off to the east.

Frozen little lake up top got my attention--wasn't like that last year.

THANKS whoever drew the big directional arrows in the ground so we didn't go past the Chinscraper turn.

Saw lots of others out there; plenty of pre-event training going on!

Beauty day, great run buds, post-trot Tracy cookies...

Warm dry clothes in the parking lot, fresh coffee in Fairhaven, and home!

Life, she good.

Sat. Feb. 21 at Cougar

2009-02-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

Some would say two and half hours and eleven hilly miles with three or four good running buddies makes for a nice day. Tracy B would say it's a nice short warmup. We all finished up happy to be done (none more than me) but Tracy headed back for fourteen more. Sheesh. Musta been Ali's coffee.
Beautiful day!

Cougar Mtn., Feb. 07, 2009

2009-02-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

Two loops--11 then 7+. Tracy and Laura S were zooming and could have done the planned 20 but I was sore and tired and threw a flag at 18ish. Started 6:45 AM; headlights! Sunrise shortly thereafter; intermittent mist, some beautful sunbreaks; dang it was a nice day. FInished with some cookies in the parking lot and my new best friend the portable ice massage. Next weekend off for me; legs happy about it. Good friends, great day. Chuckanut in 6 weeks!

Tiger Mountain, Jan. 19, 2009

2009-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

Short and sweet: Tracy, Jeff and Robin, and me--11.54 miles. Couple or three summits. Lots of altitude gain/loss. Inversion weather: 30s at base, 60s up top! Warm and beautiful. What is that shiny orb up in the sky? Mountain top: sorta crowded! Downhills: ahhh; young again...Super good peppermint chocolate endurance training cake in parking lot thanks to Robin; then home to a latte! Let's do it again next weekend!

Haleakala Jan. 11 2009

2009-01-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

Many pix and few words. Me and my braddah Doug up on Haleakala, 10,000 ft, from full moon to sunrise, early AM Sunday Jan. 11. Turns out there is a 19 mile trail (NOT road, as used in Run to the Sun) from top to bottom (10000 ft to sea level). Some of these pix show the start of this trail, a thin pale line on the reddish-brown surface of the eroded volcano top.

Short story: I will run this trail. Details--let's talk my friends.

Chris

Cougar Mtn., Dec. 27, 2008

2008-12-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Snowy! Weatherfolks wrong again--no rain after all. Hardest part of drive: getting off N Cap Hill.

Lost Danika to common sense and Shadow to the bench (car) but Tracy, Ali, and self ambled through slush at low elevation and nicer snow higher up--windier there too. Can't go slower than we went unless you were buried there but it would be hard to have a better time. Great to get out and scrape some of the indoors off. Burned up one or two of the Christmas beer calories as well.

When all was said and done, back to the cars for cranberry cookies (Tracy) and excellent coffee and bags of caramels (Ali).

So, that's my long run of the week--fivish miles in twoish hours. Tracy is doing six or eight marathons later in the week, seems like, but to each his/her own.

Great to have good running buddies to spread the craziness around.

Livin' the dream!

-Chris