Squak Mt 50k Race Report…sure, why not?

I train a lot at Squak Mt.  It’s one of my favorites because of it’s surprising solitude, rugged relief, old growth groves, and easy accessibility.  So when I found myself at the end of a solid three-week building phase of training, the notion of a long run at Squak - with lots of up and down - fit the program well.

It just so happened that Roger and Yumay and the Evergreen Trail Run crew were putting on the Squak Mt 50k.  As I tweeted on Thursday: “A 50k at the proving grounds?  Why not!”

Roger let me in, I pinned on the bib, and headed to the start line.  The course starts with a steep road climb that soon gives way to a mix of fantastic single track and challenging segments of fire road grinding to the top of Squak Mt.  Roger announced the he had prizes - FREE SOCKS! - for the “First to the Top.”  He said GO, I took off, and after a few seconds I heard a voice exclaim, “Well I guess that dood really wants those socks.”

And from then on it was pretty much a solo time trial.  Great course.  Rugged terrain and about 8,700 feet of climbing and descending.  I had a good run, stayed honest with my effort and diligent with my nutrition and hydration.  The weather was perfect - about 60 and sunny. 

I felt quite solid throughout and finished in 4:41, good for 1st, knocking about 37 minutes off the old course record.  Let’s be clear, this is a small, local race…but it is a race and a race must have a winner and I was happy to oblige. More importantly, the body felt sound and it was a great finishing run to cap a 3-week, 300 mile block.

Thanks to Roger and Co. for putting on a quality event.  Evergreen Trail Runs is really carving out a nice niche with their series of events.  Their formula works well: half-marathon, marathon and 50k distances all on the same core course.  Markings were abundant and easy to follow, aid was prevalent and enthusiastic - all in all a perfect day on the trail.  Nice to see some familiar faces as well.

Gear: Patagonia Gamut Short Sleeve shirt (this piece is FANTASTIC!), Patagonia Strider shorts with 5-inch inseam, Patagonia Lightweight Merino Socks, UltrAspire Isomeric Pocket and a super secret eyes only i’d tell you but i’d have to kill you something you’ll see in 2013 that carried my gels, etc to perfection.

And speaking of gels…PowerBar Gel, Perform Drink and Nuun did the job nicely.

Family Weekend at Hood Canal

Lots of fun stuff to shoot…here are some of my better efforts.

Chuckanut 50k: Best of times, worst of places

What a fantastic event!  After Chuckanut last year, Krissy told me she was cooking up something special for this, the 20th Anniversary year and her 10th as RD.  She wasn’t kidding.  A huge number of runners, including the deepest field I’ve ever seen as well as an inspiring number of first-time 50kers, toed the line on Saturday. I think the official count was 696 starters or thereabouts.  Logistics were flawless and the vibe was really special.  Conditions were prototypical Pacific Northwest: rain, sleet, snow, mud, with “sun-breaks” later in the day. 

Before the race I offered the Goal Matrix…let’s review and see how I did:

1: PR (Yes! 4:09.45…about a 4.5 minute PR on what I would argue was a slightly longer course and relatively slow conditions)

2:  Don’t get chicked (Fail! After reeling in Ellie just before Chinscraper, I gapped her just a bit on the climb.  She then BLEW by me on the downhill and I futility tried to catch back up on the Interurban trail.  In the end, she got my by 18-seconds.  Geez Louise she is fast!  I guess she’s not the Western States and World 100k Champion for nothin’)

3:  Outperform my UltraSignup rank (Yes!  I think I was ranked 41st on the list of entrants and I finished 23rd.  That’s my worst placing ever at Chuckanut and perhaps in any ultra, but it has to rank as one of my better runs.  Sure, winning a smaller race is fun, but getting to toe the line with the top guns and be a part of that racing is much more fulfilling.)

4:  NOT pass Paps in the last 1/2 mile.  (Yes! After a bit of scrambling, I spotted Paps at the start line and made sure to line up in front of him.  Apparently that’s all it took!)

It’s not at all surprising that Goal #2 turned out to be the most challenging.  I had a feeling it would take more than a PR to beat Ellie. 

I’ll spare you all the blow by blow minutia. Overall the race was a pretty steady effort.  I had some weak moments in the first 10 or so miles, but found a good rhythm on Cleator Rd and kept the throttle down all day.  Pretty happy with my 1:05 closing split for the last 10 miles.

Patagonia was the title sponsor of the event and it was great to catch up with so many teammates and folks from Ventura.  Congrats to Tucker, Josh, George and Tom for solid performances and great thanks to Mark for manning the finish line booth.  The post-race Patagonia presence was impressive!

Gear:

Shirt:  Patagonia ForeRunner shirt - an excellent choice for the conditions.  I was comfortable all day in this single-layer short-sleeve, coupled with a pair of armwarmers.

Shorts: Patagonia Ridge Runners (circa 2003) - I keep saying “That’s my last race in those shorts,” but I can’t quite quit them.  Working on some custom pockets for the new (and quite fantastic) Strider shorts.  Those will be the race piece moving forward.

Hat:  Patagonia merino skull cap sample.  This is a fantastic hat that I very much hope makes its way to production.

Socks:  Patagonia Ultralight merino 1/4 socks.  Perfect for the sloppy conditions.  Not one problem with my feet on a day when many came away with severe trench foot.

Shoes:  Brooks Racer ST5:  Solid shoe for this course, particularly with the Interurban trail and Cleator Rd.  Felt a road shoe was the better choice and it seemed to work well.

Bottle: UltrAspire Isomeric pocket.  Holds 5 gels and fits great!

Grub:  PowerBar gel, PowerBar Endurance Drink, Nuun.

As a final note, I must give a big thank you to my most important and beloved sponsor, Maggie. It’s been a wild few months on the home-front.  Between the two of us we are chasing around 2 young girls, working full time (Maggie), trying to complete and publish a dissertation (me), sell our house, and prepare for our move to Missoula, all while healing as best we can from the recent loss of Maggie’s father.  It’s his birthday today and as I write this I am reminded of how his spirit and character shaped the incredible woman, mother, wife, and friend Maggie is every day.  Great thanks for letting me persist in this relatively silly pursuit.  I think it makes me a better man, father, husband, and friend…though it might not always feel that way…

Another shot from today…I couldn’t resist!

Ainslie walks Piper…or Piper walks Ainslie?

Chuckanut Goal Matrix

Some goals for this Saturday’s Chuckanut 50k:

1.  PR

2.  Don’t get chicked

3.  Outperform my UltraSignUp pre-race ranking

4.  Not pass Paps in the last 1/2 mile

It will likely require 1 to accomplish 2, but 1 might be tough with sloppy course conditions.  How the difficulty of 2 is affected by those conditions is unclear.  3 might take both 1 and 2 or neither.  4 might take 1, 2 and 3 or none or any subset thereof.  

Strategy:  Simple, stay ahead of Paps!

Ainslie Turns 2…and Hones Her Negotiating Skills

We officially celebrated two years of Ainslie on February 16th…with two nasty ear infections and a long night at Children’s Hospital Urgent Care.  Such fun.

This past Sunday, however, we celebrated proper with a super-fun party at Moon Paper Tent.  The players from this children’s theater did a fantastic job of guiding Ainslie and her friends through a bunch of really fun stuff.  Here are some pics from the party:

The next morning at breakfast Ainslie caught me eating a banana.  In the last few weeks bananas have been on the banned-substance list as she was regularly overdosing and and making herself not so regular.  On this occasion, however, she really wanted the banana and broke me down with some shrewd negotiation:

A: Nana peas dada. Nana peas!
J: No. No nana
A: Nana PEAS!
J: OK. One piece.
A: (chew chew)
J: Ainslie, did you like the banana?
A: Yesh…One more one piece peas!

The Chuckanut 50k: 10 Reasons Why You Need To Be There

10.  Stacked: Chuckanut has become the most competitive 50k in the country and the start list this year is a who’s who of trail and ultra running.  If you want to race against the best or see them in action, you can’t miss this one.

9.  Flawless organization:  Krissy is one of the best RDs around.  She puts on a great event and does her best to make sure EVERY runner has a positive experience.

8.  Great course:  This course has a little bit of everything - some flat and fast dirt path, some rough and tumble singletrack on the ridge, plenty of climbing and descending.  It’s very fair in that it requires a well-rounded set of running skills. Some sections you’ll love and some sections you’ll suffer through - just as it should be in an ultra.

7.  Patagonia: This year Patagonia is the title sponsor and this corresponds nicely with the launch of the all-new Spring 2012 Trail Running line.  The Patagonia crew will be out in force promoting this event, showing off and demoing some of the new goods and sponsoring a lounge-themed after-party.

6. Celebrate DT:  This was one of the late Dr. Dave Terry’s favorite races.  Krissy has honored his passion for the race by preserving the course in it’s original form and doing many things to honor Dave on race day.  If you knew Dave, you will sense this and appreciate it.  If you did not know him, you will learn something about the special person he was.

5. Swag:  With sponsors like Patagonia, Udo’s, UltrAspire, Clif, First Endurance, Black Diamond, and La Sportiva there is bound to be some quality free treasure.

4.  Fairhaven/Bellingham:  Chuckanut is nestled just south of a really cool community.  Make a weekend of it and visit historic Fairhaven and check out Bellingham.  Very cool area with a neat mix of folks…and if the sun poked out (which it seems to always to during this race) the views of Puget Sound and the islands are spectacular.

3. This is Krissy’s 10th Anniversary as RD of the event.  She’s done great things with it and this year she is going the extra mile to make sure the event is 10-times as special.

2.  It’s also the 20th Anniversary of the race’s inception.  Come join in the celebration of this once quaint Pacific Northwest classic that’s quickly become a world class trail running event.

1. You can actually get in!:  In preparation for this year’s big event, Krissy upped the sign ups to 500.  Those were snatched up quickly when sign up went live.  To take the celebration to the next level, she recently secured permits for and additional runners (1000 total)!  This is huge and quite unique in ultra running.  Securing this permit means that additional sign up space is available now.  Jump on it while you still can!

The stars are aligned for a great day.  Anyone thinking of jumping in, whether to complete you first 50k or win the thing, do it now.  You won’t be sorry.