Since my surgery, I've been running capitol city marathon for the last 5 years with finish times from 3:36 to 3:46. Before surgery, I usually ran 3:20's. So again this year the plan was to run a sub 3:30. Previously, I've either had an injury or ran Mac Forest the weekend before so I couldn't go full speed. This year I planned to skip Mac Forest so I would be rested for the marathon, but ended up injuring myself anyway. When I got laid off from work, I decided to take that opportunity to lift some weights. So of course, I started out 3 times a week and promptly strained my hamstring! So I started the marathon with a nagging injury but I thought I would give it a try anyway. At the start I got together with Rachael and Terry(in pink-he lost a bet!). Kris was there for moral support and she would check on us out on the course. Also running was Ulrike-paced by Dave, Heidi, Ted, and Israel. After the first mile, Rachael decided to drop back while Terry and I pushed on at a 8+- minute/mile pace. The first 16 miles has some rolling hills so I wrote my goal time for mile 16 on my hand to check my pace then. After about 10 miles, I surged ahead of Terry (to get away from his pinkness)and when I reached mile 16, I was right on the mark! But, same as last year, in the next two miles, the hammy tightened up and my 3:30 finish was out the door. Terry went by me like a shot as I settled down to a slower pace to get home without hurting anything. I ended up finishing at 3:40 which actually gave me a second place age group award! It was a great day and everyone finished, Ulrike with second overall, Dave had alot of fun pacing and providing strategy, Heidi won an age group award, and Terry finished under 3:30!

Continue Reading →

I've done alot of running and hiking, but never have learned to use an ice axe until today. With a possible climb of Rainier in the future, my wife's father's very experienced climbing buddy Fred Griesman invited me to tag along on a climb up the snow chutes of Mt Eleanore. 

We arrived at the lower trailhead at 8:30 in the morning, the road to the main trailhead was impassible due to snow. I was surprised that there was only one other car there, must be because of mother's day, but the weather was sunny and warm. It took us about a half hour to hike up to the main trailhead and after another 20 minutes, we were in snow for the rest of the way. Fred loaned me some really good plastic climbing boots,snow gaitors, and an ice axe. So I was ready for anything! we soon took the turn to the chutes and started plodding up the steep snowy slope. I felt like I was climbing Mt Everest, planting my ice axe, taking two steps, plant the ice axe, take two steps. We worked our way, to the left, taking the most direct route up. It was alittle steeper and at the top, the chute narrowed to a short techincal rock move that took a little time to figure out. The climbers below us thought better of it and took a different route. Another short climbing session and we were on the top! After a good look around and lunch, we put on our rain pants for the glissade descent. What a hoot, sliding on your ass down a steep slope. I had some control problems in the beginning but once I got the hang of it, it was way fun. I'm now more comfortable with an ice axe and looking forward to some more mountain climbing!

Continue Reading →

I was excited for this year's Chuckanut since I missed last year's at the last minute due to my dog having a seizure. Now the dog is fine and Kris and I are cruizing up the freeway to Fairhaven runners to pick up our race stuff. We met Anna and Dugan Bates there (Anna tried to poison me at Cascade Crest)and went out to the Boundry Bay tavern for some great pre-race food. There we were joined with our hotel room mates, James and Warren from Winthrop. The Bates kept up their poisoning tradition with Dugan sending over a bedtime beer for me. I slept well and woke to sunny skies. I started the first flat 6 miles too fast as usual, but after 15 min, slowed down and recovered then sped back up and started passing people. On the first climb, all the people I passed went by me,I'm so slow on the ups! After the second aid station there is a long road uphill where even more passed me and Glen caught up to me. I managed to stay with him to the ridge and actually was spot on the time I was shooting for. But mother ultra raised her ugly head and my stomach started going south. I was real disappointed since the ridge trail is the funnest part of the race. I stayed with Glen till chin scraper but Kris went charging past, drats, chicked again! I hurried down the downhill as best I could, not knowing which end was going to cut loose first and hoping I would make it to the last aid station bathroom in time. After a satisfying 10 min. break at the last aid station, the last flat 6 miles were slow with more stomach pains so when I finally crossed the line, I headed straight for the bathroom. Sounds worse then it was, I actually had a good time and the weather was great.

Continue Reading →

What another great event! It started friday morning with a shopping trip to Costco to pick up supplies for the pre-race continetal breakfast, then pick up Kris for a ride up. We drove in the rain until Mt.Vernon when the clouds parted and cleared by the time we got to the ferry. On the ferry we ran into Clem and Ken Ward from Corvalis. It was great catching up with Clem and Ken showed me how to work my new camera. Glen was there also, hadn't seen him since Cascade Crest. It was still daylight when we reached Moran State Park. Several runners had already signed up and when I brought in the race shirts, pandimonium! James scrounged up recycled shirts, zip tops, sweatshirts, and hoodies and printed them up. They were fantastic and it was first come, first serve to choose the one you wanted. It was just like a 50% off sale at Walmart. Everyone just dove in and shirts went flying. I of course got the best one. We spent a relaxing evening waiting for the late ferry with the rest of the oly folks, on it. By the time they showed up, it was about 10:00 and time to go to bed.
In the morning, Kris and I chopped bagels, muffins, bananas, and melons for the breakfast. It all went well,there was plenty of food and enough time to get ready for the start. For some reason, Dave decided to run the 50K instead of the 25K, so after the start, he ran with me for a couple of miles to keep from going out too fast, then as we approached the first climb, he took off. I felt good on the first climb, and after reaching the summit, I blasted the downhill passing alot of runners. Just before reaching the 10 mile aid station, I caught up with Wendy. I knew I was going too fast, I shouldn't be anywhere near her. Just before the aid station, Dave passed me on the out'n back. I think we were both surprised to see each other. Wendy and Dave would end up beating me by more than 45 minutes. I had a hard time getting back up to speed before hitting the infamous powerline trail. As usual on a hard climb, I got passed by all the runners I blitzed on the downhill on the first loop. I ended up running with Randy, an Orcas local, and Glen till we got to the aid station at the top of Mt Constitution at mile 22. It was great to see John, Clem, and James up there. I grabbed a cup of coke, and left just as Kris reached the summit. I started down the steep switch backs with Glen and Randy, but
started to fade and lost touch with them as I slowed to eat a gel. I wish I would have eaten that peanut butter sandwich at the top. I started to feel better as the trail flattened out and was about 2 miles out with less than 20min to go. For a moment, I thought I could finish under 7 hours, but decided to walk the little ups and cruise into the Lodge.
James pulled off a great post race party with tons of black bean chili, 2 kegs of beer and great live music. We all had a great time and after cleaning up in the morning, even caught our ferry on time. It was another great event, but I sure felt it with sore quads for 3 days after.

Continue Reading →

Last Saturday I had one of those days where everything just fell into place. It started with our morning run at Capitol Forest. Dave and I went up to Falls Creek for an easy 2hr run. Shortly after starting up the hill, we entered a temperature inversion and suddenly it was sunny and 60 degrees! The trail was in great shape, and we ran at an easy pace for a most enjoyable run. To top it off, when we got back to Top Foods, they were having a free breakfast in the parking lot with eggs, sausage, pancakes, juice, and starbucks coffee. We were in heaven! After cleaning up and doing some yard work, it was off to my next adventure, razor clam digging! I haven't gone clamming for 20 years so I was really excited that Kathy and Dan invited me along. Low tide was at 8pm, so we arrived at Aberdeen around 5:30. Not really knowing where to go, we decided on Grayland. It was dark when we turned down the main access to the beach. We didn't want to park on the sand, so we parked in the lot and hoofed out to the beach. There was a steady stream of cars, but we were shocked when we looked up and down the beach in the darkness, there were hundreds of lantern lights as far as the eye could see in both directions. Though it seemed really crowded, we just walked straight down to the water and started digging. We got our limits of 15 clams apiece within an hour, then took pause and noticed that it was just an incredible night. Warm, no wind, clear with almost a full moon, and that surreal scene of glittering lanterns. We were so amazed, we didn't want to leave. I'm now hooked on clamming, but I don't know if it can get any better then that.

Continue Reading →

Today, Kris and I ran up to Capitol Peak and back. It felt great! It was the first time either one of us had been up there since August which is pretty bad since it's in our backyard!
After Cascade Crest, I decided to take a couple of months off. I did get a couple of long runs in, and a couple of great hikes, one to High Rock(see photo) and also up to Tolmie Peak. Both hikes were in beautiful weather with outstanding views of Mt Rainier. I also finally went Tuna fishing and brought home 8 Albacore! But now comes November and it's time to start training for next year and a Christmas ski trip at Whistler. Of course, last Sunday I managed to strain something in my right foot as I was trail blazing a new trail from the Waddell Creek loop to the Capitol Forest wilderness. This is a new trail area that James introduced to us a few weeks ago. The only access was through private property so we needed to bushwack a new route. Anyway, now my foot is hurt so I won't start November up with a bang, more of a limp. My goals for next year are a sub 3:30 Capitol City Marathon, run some awesome 100 miler that I haven't picked yet, and run Waldo again.

Continue Reading →

First, one can't ever do an event like this without alot of help. I would like to thank my crew extrodinaire Harvey Hall who kept me fueled and on track, John Pearch for his help and enthusiasm on the course, James and Alison for your support and aid station,Kris for training with me, and Glen for running with me through the night section.

Cascade Crest is ranked as one of the harder 100 milers with 20,000 ft of climb and every type of running surface you can imagine including a 2 mile tunnel. As it was my first 100 miler, the goal was to finish under the 32 hour time limit and to have fun.

Kris and I showed up at 7:30 for the breakfast before the 10:00 start. It was hard to hold back on all the great food, but I had a blueberry pancake and a spot of scrambled eggs. After getting organized with Harvey, the pre-race meeting and the traditional singing of the national athem, it was time for the start. John led us out on a mountain bike and I settled in to a comfortable pace. My plan was to start slow, take the first long climb easy and drink a lot. The Goat Peak climb was long but the view was worth it. By the time I reached Tacoma Pass at mile 23, I was running with Glen and Kris had just caught us.

It was here I made my first mistake, Anna Bates suggested I split a bologna and avocado sandwich with Kris. I probably haven't eaten bologna for 30 years and it hit my stomach like a rock. Shortly after the aid station I wasn't feeling too good and Kris took off. I now just stuck to gels and no solid food except for an occasional fruit. Stampede Pass at mile 33 and now an hour behind Kris, I grabbed my pack and light and Glen and I slogged through a tough section of the PCT trail and the dark until we finally reached Olallie Meadows at mile47. We left the aid station ready to take on the ropes section but after running for about 10 minutes, Glen discovered that he had left without his water bottles! He was going to go back when I offered him one of mine since this was a short section and we could get by with one bottle and we would sort this all out at the next aid station. Then we ran into John, he was heading back after checking the marking at the rope section and he offered to grab Glen's water bottles and meet us at the next aid station at Hyak. The rope section was fun except that I wear my light on my waist so if I rappelled, my light went out, so I did most of it facing down. Then we entered the two mile tunnel. I was still wearing a short sleeve shirt and the tunnel was cold so I picked up the pace to stay warm and then it got a little scary so I picked up the pace more and hauled out of there, passing everyone in the tunnel! I was feeling great so I continued the pace for the next mile to the Hyak aid station at mile 53, met Harvey and John and sat down and had pizza and chicken soup.

Glen and I had a good 7 mile hike up to Kachess ridge on the road and a comfortable 7 mile back down to Kachess Lake aid station at mile 68. I was excited for the grilled cheese sandwich and to start the infamous "Trail from Hell" section which is only five miles along the lake but with lots of little ups and downs and logs to crawl over. What I didn't expect was the horrible bushwack trail that we had to crawl through brush and over downed trees just to get to the trail head. Glen lead the way as we agreed to take it slow and worked our way methodically towards Mineral Creek and daylight.

I was planning on changing my shoes after fording the calf deep creek, but when we got there, there was a log bridge and we entered the aid station at mile 73 with dry feet. My feet felt great but I decided to change my shoes anyway, I checked and no blisters or hot spots and it felt good to have new socks on. I was feeling strong and needed to meet Harvey up the gravel climb 2 miles to change back into short sleeves and ditch my light so I started powering up the road while Glen who was feeling low on energy lagged behind. After meeting Harvey for the last time till mile 95, I was ready to race. Glen was still lagging behind so I decided it was time for me to go and finish this thing. I was also super excited to see James and Alison at the next aid station so I powered up the gravel road for the next 5 miles passing everyone I saw. James grilled up a most excellent ham and cheese sandwich for me at No Name Ridge mile 80 and I left the aid station ready to attack the Cardiac Needles with 4 hard climbs in the next 9 miles. I had thought I would be walking this whole section, but here I was, full of energy, running this section like our training run. It was great fun, still passing runners, had a great up and back on Thorp Mt at mile 84, saw Glen who took this great picture.

I suddenly realized that I could have a great finish time, possibly in the 28 hr range if I kept the gas on. Right after the French Cabin aid station at mile 88 is the last steep climb and right at the top were two mountain bikers getting ready to head down. The first couple of miles are technical downhill so we kept passing each other to their amazement until the trail flattened out and they were gone. The next couple of miles were flat and runable but I was starting to slow and feel like the party was over. I was hoping to get to the Silver Creek aid station before 2:00 to give me time to finish before 3, but it wasn't looking good. I struggled through the trail reroute around the big avalanche as my legs started to stiffen up so I knew I needed more electrolytes, so after popping a couple of e-caps, I started to loosen up just as a runner and her pacer were catching up to me. It was game on again as I charged down the steep downhill to Silver Creek aid station at mile 95. I bombed into the aid station an hour before I told Harvey I would be there. I was afraid he wouldn't be there, but there he was, ready to get me going. I dropped my pack, grabbed a water bottle and took off at 2:10. Five miles in less than 50 minutes was a definite possibility. I followed a kid down the dirt road, running as hard as I could. After about a mile, the kid pointed to a red flag on a dirt road to the left and I followed him down the road for a couple tenths of a mile when I noticed there were no shoe tracks in the dirt and I hadn't seen anymore flagging. I yelled at the kid and we turned around and ran back to the turn and sure nough, there were more flags straight ahead. I was so pissed and disappointed, I stopped and drank some water knowing I had blown my chance for a sub 29 hr finish. I started up again and Harvey drove by encouraging me and I slowly got back up to speed once I hit the pavement with about 3 miles to go. It felt like the end of a successful marathon, I was chugging along the pavement at a good clip but after crossing the freeway overpass, it looked like I had 14 minutes to cover 2 miles, not good. But as I popped up to the final section along the tracks, I could see the finish and I had 8 minutes to go. I put my head down and started to sprint because you never know how far your watch is off the official clock. As I rounded the last turn, I saw the clock at 28.55 and blasted across the finish line in pure joy!

This was by far my hardest and best ultra yet. I had no idea I would feel so good the second half. Next year I'm doing Waldo, but I'll be doing another hundred for sure!

Continue Reading →