Well as life goes things happen and my original race schedule that I put out is now been changed because of circumstances out of my control but below is an updated schedule of my races for 2013.
Race 1: Lost Dutchman Marathon, Apache Junction, AZ, February 17th, 2013 First race since stress fracture last October.
Race 2: Lord Hill 50K, Snohomish, WA, February 24th, 2013
Race 3: Chuckanut 50K, Bellingham, WA, March 16th, 2013
Race 4: Squak Mountain 50K, Issaquah, WA, April 13th, 2013
Race 5: Vancouver Marathon, Vancouver, BC, May 5th, 2013
Race 6: Redmond Watershed 12 hour, Redmond, WA, May 18th, 2013
Race 7: Rainier to Ruston 50 mile, Tacoma, WA, June 1st, 2013
*Race 8: Vashon Island 50K, Vashon Island, WA June8th, 2013
Race 9: Taylor Mountain 50K, Issaquah, WA, June 29th, 2013
Race 10: White River 50 mile, Greenwater, WA, July 27th, 2013
Race 11: Hamster endurance 12 hour run, Bellingham, WA, August 10-11, 2013 ?? I have to run this one to defend my only ultra race win ever!
Race 12: Pine to Palm 100, Ashland, OR, September 14-15, 2013
Race 13: Carkeek 12 hour, Seattle, WA, October 26th, 2013
Race 14: Grand Ridge 50K, Issaquah, WA, November 16th, 2013
Race 15: Deception Pass 50K, Anacortes, WA, December 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Back to Life, Back to Training
Back to Life, Back to Training
I can not express how happy I am feeling right now. Why do you ask? Well last week I got the opportunity to start running again. You see this is a big deal because I was not able to run at all for 8 weeks because I sustained a stress fracture at my last race on October 13th. I have done approximately 6 runs so far. My first was just to test it out see how it was feeling, only did 30 minutes and not at a fast rate, my wife and I ran together so that was good because I did not push it. The second run was about 15 minutes because I needed to get home from church and did not have a ride so I ran. The third run was 38 minutes, with no pain. So the fourth run I decided to step it up a little and completed 41 minutes and still no pain so that was awesome. The fifth run was a little more intense because I was feeling pretty good so I did 55 minutes in the rain and cold on the trails around Seward Park. The sixth workout was at the gym because it was to cold and dark out to run. I completed an one hour workout. I did my standard workout that I call the 10-20-30. 10 minutes of working out my core with weights. 20 minutes on the spin bike. 30 minutes on the treadmill, this 30 minutes was pretty intense, 3.66 miles in 30 minutes.
I am super happy with my progress and I am very excited for the race season to start. My first race is February 17th in Arizona. I will be running the Lost Dutchman Mine Marathon. This is an annual trip for me because it is like second Christmas for me because I go visit my sister and her family and my mom. They all live together and the race is within walking distance from their house. I am very happy to be running again and my passion for running has been renewed.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Western States 100 Lottery Viewing Party
Western States 100 Lottery Viewing Party
This Saturday, December 8th, is the lottery drawing for the Western States 100. The drawing starts at 9AM and goes to 11AM. I am entered into it this year for my first time ever. Currently I have a 7.4 percent chance of being selected.
I am having a viewing party at my house in Seattle (5116 S Willow Street, Seattle WA 98118) on this day. If you are reading this, you are invited. My wife and I will be serving breakfast to anyone who shows up at about 8:30 AM and then we will have my computer hooked up to our TV so we can watch for results and see if my name gets drawn. I believe they have a live video feed that we will be able to watch.
Hopefully I will be selected for this race but if not my back up plan is to run the Pine to Palm 100 mile race in Ashland, OR at the end of the September. I will try to take some pictures of the party and give post race summary of what happened.
Currently I am not running for about another week because of my injury but I plan on starting running again on December 10th. My first race for 2013 is February 17th, 2013 with the Lost Dutchman Marathon in Apache Junction, AZ. I already have my tickets for that race. And a new update to my 2013 race calendar is that I am going to try to enter the Chuckanut 50K in March which was just announced this week, it will also be a lottery drawing so hopefully I will be able to get in for that one.
Thanks for reading
Chris
Friday, November 30, 2012
2013 Race Schedule
2013 Race Schedule
Race 1: Lost Dutchman Marathon, Apache Junction, AZ, February 17th, 2013
Race 2: Lord Hill 50K, Snohomish, WA, February 24th 2013
Race 3: Chuckanut 50K by lottery Bellingham, WA March 16th, 2013
Race 3: Chuckanut 50K by lottery Bellingham, WA March 16th, 2013
Alt Race 3: Dizzy Daze 50K, Greenlake, WA, March 23rd, 2013
Race 4: Squak Mountain 50K, Issaquah, WA April 13th, 2013
Race 5: Vancouver Marathon, Vancouver, BC, May 5th, 2013
Race 5: Vancouver Marathon, Vancouver, BC, May 5th, 2013
Race 6: Redmond Watershed 12hr, Redmond, WA, May 18th, 2013
Race 7: North Olympic Marathon, Port Angeles, WA, June 2nd, 2013
Race 8: Taylor Mountain 50K, Issaquah,WA, June 29th, 2013
Race 9: White River 50 Mile, Greenwater, WA, July 27th, 2013
Race 10: Hamster endurance Race 12 hr, Bellingham, WA, August 10-11 2013
Race 11: Bellingham Bay Marathon, Bellingham, WA, September 29th, 2013
Race 12: Pine to Palm 100, Ashland, OR, September 14-15, 2013
Race 13: Defiance 50K, Tacoma, WA October 12, 2013
Race 14: Carkeek 12hr Seattle, WA, October 26th, 2013
Race 15: Grand Ridge 50K, Issaquah, WA, November 16th, 2013
Race 16: Deception Pass 50K, Anacortes,WA December, 2013
Race 16: Deception Pass 50K, Anacortes,WA December, 2013
Prognosis and Downtime
Your foot is broken
This is one of the worst things you want to hear if you are an ultrarunner. It was a funny story because I went to the doctor a few weeks before my race for a physical and he told me I was doing great. I looked to be in great shape and I was telling him about all my races and how I had never been injured in 43 races. He was impressed.
It was very humbling to go back to the doctor two weeks later with my broken foot and tell him that I injured myself during the race. The prognosis was 6 to 8 weeks in a walking boot. Ah man that sucks because I had another race in two weeks, well looks like I am volunteering for that race that I was going to run.
I am writing this 7 weeks after the initial prognosis and my foot is almost totally better. I did my first workout this week of 45 minutes. I did core work, spin bike riding and a short run on the treadmill of 5 minutes and my foot felt sore but now two days after the workout my foot feels stronger so that is good.
Carkeek 12 Hour Race
This was a race I was really looking forward to running, but because my foot was broken that was out of the question. I decided I needed to go volunteer anyway since I wasn't able to run. I arrived at 5:30 am and started checking people in. I came totally unprepared because I wasn't running I did not think of logistics like hey you might need a headlamp at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately they had an extra one that I borrowed.
The weather was pretty horrible but I was looking forward to having a chance to talk to some of the people around the race and in the race. Some of the great people I got a chance to talk to were Sam and Brock the race directors who put on a great fun race. I enjoyed hanging out with them at the start finish line. I also met Betsey Rogers who I found out is married to Matt Hagen. Matt is a guy who is a fun guy to hang around with with a great attitude and someone I want to hang out with more hopefully at other races. His wife is just as awesome it was fun talking to her and helping count laps.
I also got to meet all the runners because for most of the 5 hours I was there I ran the aid station. So I got to talk to all the runners and see how they were doing and having fun with them. This is a great race!! If you have never run a 12 hour this is the one you should run it is awesome.
I get to run this race next year since I wasn't able to this year because of my foot. Brock has already assured me that he will be giving me crap the whole day so that should be fun.
#43 Defiance 50K
Defiance 50K
Well here is a recap of race number 43 out of 100 that I am trying to do. This race was run on October 13th, 2012. I had just got done with a one week vacation with my wife in Orlando, Florida going to every possible Disney place possible and I was ready to just get out and run.
My wife was still in Florida staying the weekend visiting a friend that lives there so I decided this would be a good race to go to since I wouldn't really have anything else to do. The morning started early at like 6:30ish because I had to drive down to Tacoma. This was a new race for me so I tried to leave a little earlier than normal because it is always hard when you don't really know what is going on. I read the website and it was saying to park in the overflow park which was about 1 mile from the start line. I didn't have a problem with this because I was healthy and ready to go. I carried my bag of ultra goodies with me on a short jog. When I arrived at the start area I found out I could have parked at the starting line because I was there early enough to have gotten a spot. I was a little frustrated by this because it was a less than desirable day because of a substantial amount of rain.
I got my race number and stuff and then hung out at the picnic shelter by the start line. While I was there I met some great people from Tacoma. They were both running their first 50K, this was a common thread with me also because it was also my first official 50K. This couple was really great to talk with and it helped to pass the time for me before the race starts. Like I said the weather was pretty horrible and it was pouring down rain. The race started and I went out at a good pace and was a little worried that I may have been starting out to fast. Another side note here this was my first race running with a pair of minimalist shoes, the Merrell Trail Glove. They really felt good on my feet. The race starts out with a flat section and then it starts to climb into the Point Defiance State Park. After about 5 miles into the race I was starting to settle in and get comfortable. At this point I was running with a few people and was really happy with the way things were going. I was positioned somewhere in the top 10 for my race. We almost went off course because some old guy was mad at the race and took down a bunch of markings but fortunately at this point I was with some people who had run this course before and had said no the race goes this direction not that way so I followed him and it turns out he was right. I think my race started to go South right about this time because I was beginning to have a small pain in my foot at about mile 6 of the 10 mile loop which was right after the aid station. I thought nothing of it.
At the end of the first lap I had run 1 hour and 30 minutes which was a really great time and like I said I was in the top 10 but then the problems really started for me. I tried to run as much as possible but my knee and my foot were both giving me problems so I couldn't run the whole time like I wanted. I was seriously doubting myself but I pushed on because I did not want a dnf. My second lap was 2 hours 1 minute so I was losing a significant amount of time on this second lap because I couldn't run the whole time. The next time I run this race I want to redeem myself on this race because if I would have stayed on pace I would have finished in the top10.
On the third lap I was really struggling but I decided I needed to go on. Also here I changed out the shoes because my foot was really hurting me. The more cushioned shoes really helped me get through the last lap. It still took me a really long time for the lap but considering I was running on a broken foot I guess I did pretty well. Yep that's right I found out after the race I had a stress fracture on my second metatarsial. So the third lap took 2 hours and 16 minutes and I finished my first 50k in 5 hours and 48 minutes and 34th place out of 100. I was actually pretty impressed with myself after I found out my foot was broken. I finished.
After the race my foot was really bothering me. They had a pretty great post race party so to speak . I had a great caesar salad with salmon. After eating and gathering my things I remembered that I had to walk to the car which was approx 1 mile away. Why did I part so far away????? Normally this would have been fine if I was sore or hurt because my amazing wife would have went and got the car for me but she was still in Florida and I have a hard time asking for help so I just walked to the car. On my way out of the parking lot I ran into Matt Hagen (an ultrarunner that I have really been wanting to befriend) and he said something to the effect of "That's a nice gait you have there" commenting on my silly looking way of walking on my broken foot. Later on when I met Matt again I brought this up and he remembered me. That's in a later blog post because I am quite behind on my posts.
All in all considering all the things that went wrong with this race, not having my crew (wife) with me, almost going off course, running on a broken foot, surviving the horrible weather, I was happy with this race it really taught me to persevere. I love ultrarunning and plan to do more of it.
Peace out
Chris
My wife was still in Florida staying the weekend visiting a friend that lives there so I decided this would be a good race to go to since I wouldn't really have anything else to do. The morning started early at like 6:30ish because I had to drive down to Tacoma. This was a new race for me so I tried to leave a little earlier than normal because it is always hard when you don't really know what is going on. I read the website and it was saying to park in the overflow park which was about 1 mile from the start line. I didn't have a problem with this because I was healthy and ready to go. I carried my bag of ultra goodies with me on a short jog. When I arrived at the start area I found out I could have parked at the starting line because I was there early enough to have gotten a spot. I was a little frustrated by this because it was a less than desirable day because of a substantial amount of rain.
I got my race number and stuff and then hung out at the picnic shelter by the start line. While I was there I met some great people from Tacoma. They were both running their first 50K, this was a common thread with me also because it was also my first official 50K. This couple was really great to talk with and it helped to pass the time for me before the race starts. Like I said the weather was pretty horrible and it was pouring down rain. The race started and I went out at a good pace and was a little worried that I may have been starting out to fast. Another side note here this was my first race running with a pair of minimalist shoes, the Merrell Trail Glove. They really felt good on my feet. The race starts out with a flat section and then it starts to climb into the Point Defiance State Park. After about 5 miles into the race I was starting to settle in and get comfortable. At this point I was running with a few people and was really happy with the way things were going. I was positioned somewhere in the top 10 for my race. We almost went off course because some old guy was mad at the race and took down a bunch of markings but fortunately at this point I was with some people who had run this course before and had said no the race goes this direction not that way so I followed him and it turns out he was right. I think my race started to go South right about this time because I was beginning to have a small pain in my foot at about mile 6 of the 10 mile loop which was right after the aid station. I thought nothing of it.
At the end of the first lap I had run 1 hour and 30 minutes which was a really great time and like I said I was in the top 10 but then the problems really started for me. I tried to run as much as possible but my knee and my foot were both giving me problems so I couldn't run the whole time like I wanted. I was seriously doubting myself but I pushed on because I did not want a dnf. My second lap was 2 hours 1 minute so I was losing a significant amount of time on this second lap because I couldn't run the whole time. The next time I run this race I want to redeem myself on this race because if I would have stayed on pace I would have finished in the top10.
On the third lap I was really struggling but I decided I needed to go on. Also here I changed out the shoes because my foot was really hurting me. The more cushioned shoes really helped me get through the last lap. It still took me a really long time for the lap but considering I was running on a broken foot I guess I did pretty well. Yep that's right I found out after the race I had a stress fracture on my second metatarsial. So the third lap took 2 hours and 16 minutes and I finished my first 50k in 5 hours and 48 minutes and 34th place out of 100. I was actually pretty impressed with myself after I found out my foot was broken. I finished.
After the race my foot was really bothering me. They had a pretty great post race party so to speak . I had a great caesar salad with salmon. After eating and gathering my things I remembered that I had to walk to the car which was approx 1 mile away. Why did I part so far away????? Normally this would have been fine if I was sore or hurt because my amazing wife would have went and got the car for me but she was still in Florida and I have a hard time asking for help so I just walked to the car. On my way out of the parking lot I ran into Matt Hagen (an ultrarunner that I have really been wanting to befriend) and he said something to the effect of "That's a nice gait you have there" commenting on my silly looking way of walking on my broken foot. Later on when I met Matt again I brought this up and he remembered me. That's in a later blog post because I am quite behind on my posts.
All in all considering all the things that went wrong with this race, not having my crew (wife) with me, almost going off course, running on a broken foot, surviving the horrible weather, I was happy with this race it really taught me to persevere. I love ultrarunning and plan to do more of it.
Peace out
Chris
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Bellingham Bay Marathon Race Report
October 2nd, 2012
Over the past weekend I ran in the Bellingham Bay Marathon. The weekend started on Saturday where my wife and I got up around 9 am and had a great breakfast of eggs and fresh vegetables from our garden. I love this time of year because we always get to enjoy fresh vegetables from the garden. We left for Bellingham around 11 am. The drive is only about 1 hour and 30 minutes so it is not really that much of a chore to arrive there. We actually like going to marathons because it gives us an excuse to get away for the weekend and we were expecting to take full advantage of a little down time before the race. We drove about 45 minutes to Mount Vernon and decided to stop and get a sandwich from Subway to take with us on a hike that we were planning to do a little later. We got a turkey sandwich and started to leave but we were both very hungry so we decided to go back inside and eat our sandwich there. At the store I noticed that there was a guy there who looked like he was a trail runner. I decided to introduce myself because you never know who you might be meeting and ultra runners are fun people. I think this guys name was Nick and he was from Chicago and had just moved to Seattle 3 weeks ago. He was up north running a trail somewhere on Chuckanut drive, I think the Oyster dome trail. It was cool to meet him, he told me that he had just run an Ironman triathlon. I noticed that he had Brooks Cascadia shoes and I asked him how he liked them. He said they were great and they should be because I believe these are the shoes that are designed by Scott Jurek.
After lunch we headed to our hike on the Fragrance Lake trail up by the Bellingham area. We got to Larrabee state park and parked there and then headed to the trail. This was a great trail and we ran into some people on the way up and the way down but not really tons. The trail basically was a 2 mile out and back trail, mostly on single track trail with about 1000 feet of elevation gain. I think we hiked the whole trail in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The lake was a pretty hidden oasis up in the mountains. We originally thought the trail was 5.5 miles but it was only 4 so we added a .2 out and back with an amazing view. We were overlooking the Puget sound and across the sound you could see Orcas island and all the other San Juans it was just awesome. After the hike we got back in the car and headed toward Bellingham. I wanted to show Kara the Lake Padden trail that I had run about a month and a half ago for a race called the Hamster Endurance Race. In that race I ended up winning for the first time ever and completed 59.8 miles in 12 hours. We ran one loop around the lake it took us 26 minutes and 11 seconds which was actually pretty good pace for Kara because the loop was 2.6 miles. It was good to have a little run to loosen up the legs a little.
Next, we went to go pick up my race bib so that I would be ready for the race the next day. The host hotel was the Best Western Lakeway Inn. We went to the "expo" which was actually kinda lame in terms of an expo but this is when I really realized that this was not going to be a very big race. They had one booth that was for another marathon that is called the North Olympic Discovery Marathon, which is a nice little race. Then they had a women's skirt booth, a running store booth, some t-shirts booth, a medal display booth, and then the numbers pickup. The layout of the room was not very good, because you came in one way and you had to go back out the exact same way so logistically it was really clogged up in there. I just really wanted to get out of there but of course my wife really wanted to look at everything, which is usually fine to me but I was getting hungry from our day of activity and a little irritable. She ended up buying a headband at the expo which is good because she needed a headband.
After the expo, we went to go get our hotel room which was already booked at the Rodeway Inn by Bellis Fair. It was great that we had already reserved our hotel room because there was a guy who was trying to get a room by walking up and they told him they were completely booked. After checking into the basic room a bed, a bathroom, a TV, a couple of tables, a microwave, and a mini fridge, we went to go get dinner because I was starving. We chose to go to the Boundary Bay Brewery for dinner, it was in downtown Bellingham. We got down there and it looked pretty busy but we got in pretty quick because it was faster to sit outside, so we did. I got a lamb burger with roasted potatoes and also a side salad. It was actually a big dinner and I ended up eating the whole thing. After dinner we went to get some ice cream at Mallard's ice cream which is a Bellingham institution, kinda like Full Tilt in Seattle. I had peach and sweet corn ice cream together on a waffle cone, it was really a great way to end the day.
We went back to the hotel room and just relaxed the rest of the evening. We went to the hotel jacuzzi to just spend about 15 minutes in the jacuzzi. After that we went to the room and just relaxed the rest of the evening. Kara basically fell asleep as I was getting the race map set up for her to follow the next day. I usually try to plan out a route of different places for her to see me at. This is usually a lengthy process, and it took me until about 11:30 pm. After this I got my race outfit set out which I usually wear to bed the night before just to get me into the mental state of the race. My race plan was to try to get 8 minute miles for the whole race.
The next morning we got up at 6 am so that we could get some breakfast before the 7:30 am race start time. It took us about 45 minutes to get ready and we packed up all our stuff in the car and then took advantage of the free breakfast. I had a half a bagel, a banana, and a peach yogurt. I had almost forgotten to do the most important thing for the whole race which was apply anti chafing cream, so I did this just before we left for the start. It took awhile to get to the start because it was out on the Lummi Indian Reserve to the north of where we were and I didn't know how long it would take. I was glad we left when we did because we arrived at the start at about 7:15am which gave me basically just enough time to go to the port a pottie and get over to the starting line.
The race is on!! We started with a nice smooth downhill followed almost immediately by a nice little hill. I could really feel my 100 mile training coming into effect here as I was passing quite a few people on the the hills for the whole day. I ran the first mile in about 8 minutes and 38 seconds, but I heard two guys next to me talking to each other and they said we had run about a 7:15 mile so I was thinking they must be crazy but then I realized the had a GPS watch so I knew they were probably right. This whole section was along the water and it was a really beautiful start to the day. The road was a little bit rolling here so that kinda benefited me because I was pretty strong on the hills and like I said earlier it really helped to be ready for these small hills. The second mile was 7:39. The third mile was 7:08, the fourth in 7:19, the fifth in 7:29. At mile sixth we encountered Sasquatch which was actually kinda scary to me. It was someone who was dressed up in a suit and had a half marathon number on so I wonder if he ran that race too huh. Mile 6 was 7:10, at mile 7 I would see Kara for the first time, I ran this mile in 7:22, I waved to her and gave her a thumbs up as I ran by.
Miles 7-14 were basically through the countryside. Mile 8 was 7:17, I couldn't believe how I was consistently pulling these miles at under 7:30 when my goal was 8 minute miles, "I was wondering did I go out to fast?" Mile 9 was 7:20, just before mile 9 I saw Kara a second time and asked her to get me an S-Cap but she had forgot to bring my race bag. I wasn't mad at here for this because this was the first time I had ever given her a bag to take with her at marathons ( the bag consisted of barefoot shoes, short sleeve shirt, s caps, gels and other stuff I might need along the way). At Mile 10 I think I psyched myself out because I was going so fast I thought I should so down so I was slower at 7:31. Mile 11 was 7:29, Mile 12 was 7:20. At mile 12 it was a short out and back on the road so I could see who was behind me. I had looked back a couple of times before and didn't see anybody. At mile13 I did a 7:35 and coming into the half marathon distance I was at 1:38:14 which I believe is my fastest half marathon time in a marathon race. This was where I was beginning to slow down too and I was really getting worried that I had gone out too fast. Mile 14 slowed to a 7:53 this is where I saw Kara again for the third time and she gave me the S cap that I had requested earlier. I totally spaced at taking one of these before the race and by this time I was expecting to take my second one.
Miles 15-19 were basically on the outskirts of Bellingham. It was kinda boring section and I knew that 16 and 17 were going to be harder because they had some uphills to them and at this point in the race hills can be tough. I did mile 15 in 7:50 which is great because to be 15 miles in and still be under my goal per mile was a great feeling. Mile 16 the beginning of the hilly area I did 8:02 and the first mile over my goal per minute. On the way to mile 17 I started to go through a section where I was kinda getting a second wind and pick me up it must have been the S-cap and I ran 7:41. But then I came crashing back to reality and ran an 8:16 for mile 18. Mile 19 was 8:03.
Miles 20-24 were going through the town of Bellingham which was a great feeling because I knew at this point I was getting closer. At about 19 and a half miles I saw Kara in the park. I stopped and talked to her for a brief second and told her how great I was doing and that I was on pace to do a 3:21 but she thought I said 3:31 so later in the race she almost missed me crossing the finish line. It didn't register to me until after the fact but she said this would be the last time she would see me until the end and I was expecting her at 22, in hindsight I would have changed my shoes for the end and went to my barefoot shoes. It was OK though my feet hurt a little but not horribly. Mile 20 was 8:14. Mile 21 was about the point where the first half marathoner passed me, I kinda expected this to actually happen earlier so I knew at this point I knew I was in a good spot. I did mile 21 in 8:03. Mile 22 had a slight uphill from the waterfront area into the downtown area so it was a little harder also right about 22 you see the final turn where you have like .1 left so it was a little disappointing to know your so close but still have 4 miles to go. I finished this mile in 8:24. Mile 23 and 24 were nice because they were either on a dirt bike trail and through Boulevard park and on the boardwalk that was over Bellingham Bay, it was really beautiful. Mile 23 was 8:44 and mile 24 was 8:16. At the end of the boardwalk we had to go up a severe uphill to get to the road that took us to the finish, I was really proud of myself because I charged up this hill as fast as I could and made it all the way to the top.
The End. In mile 25 I went right up to the edge of the wall and entertained the thought of jumping over the edge but pulled myself back. At mile 25 I walked for the first time but only for about 10 feet because I rallied in my mind and said "no you are so close to the end get it together run it till the end!" I got mile 25 in 8:52. Now I knew I was going to be really close to my best time ever so I tried to push myself a bit. Mile 26 I came in at 8:33 which was a little faster than the last mile. I came around the corner I mentioned earlier and saw the finish line and so I did my best and kicked it into gear. I finished strong like I always do but I didn't catch anyone which is strange for me because I usually pass people at the end. I found out later this was because there were not very many people in front of me. In the end I came in with a time of 3 hours 25 minutes and 56 seconds, which was my best time by about 30 seconds. I finished in 43rd place out of 425 people and was in 7th place for my age group which was not bad.
After the race I celebrated with a nice cold drink and a bunch of food. Had a slice of pizza and I was still hungry. We ran into some people from Seattle we know who were running their first half marathon. It was cool to see them because we had not seen them in awhile and it turns out it was at the finish line. Kara had to park really far away and we had to walk back to the car but usually it is hard but today it wasn't as bad. After we got back to the car we headed over to the YMCA so that I could take a shower. After freshening up we went to Boulevard Park and sat in the amazing sun and looked out at the bay and read our books for about an hour it was almost a surreal thing because hours earlier I had ran through here on my way to the finish and now I was sitting along the path reading enjoying the sun while other people in the race struggled by. After this we went to Fairhaven for food because I was starving, I ate a chicken sandwich until I was stuffed it tasted so amazing. Then after this we went to a place where Kara used to be a counselor during summers and I got to see a piece of her past it was neat but I protested because all I wanted to do was get home to relax on the couch and watch football. After this we drove home.
All in all it was a great race! It was beautiful, it was painful, it was my PR, and I am so thankful to my 100 mile race because it has given me so much back. I am in the best shape of my life and I have a renewed passion for running so look out running world I am coming! I am writing this two days after the race and yesterday I was able to do a 1 hour run on trails in my barefoot shoes and felt pretty great during the run and afterward so that was awesome too. My next race is the Defiance 50K in Tacoma on October 13th, I am looking forward to it, this will be my first official 50K and I am planning on running the whole thing in my Merrell Trail Gloves (barefoot shoe) so that will be a fun new experience. Until next time everyone, go out and run because it is awesome!!
Over the past weekend I ran in the Bellingham Bay Marathon. The weekend started on Saturday where my wife and I got up around 9 am and had a great breakfast of eggs and fresh vegetables from our garden. I love this time of year because we always get to enjoy fresh vegetables from the garden. We left for Bellingham around 11 am. The drive is only about 1 hour and 30 minutes so it is not really that much of a chore to arrive there. We actually like going to marathons because it gives us an excuse to get away for the weekend and we were expecting to take full advantage of a little down time before the race. We drove about 45 minutes to Mount Vernon and decided to stop and get a sandwich from Subway to take with us on a hike that we were planning to do a little later. We got a turkey sandwich and started to leave but we were both very hungry so we decided to go back inside and eat our sandwich there. At the store I noticed that there was a guy there who looked like he was a trail runner. I decided to introduce myself because you never know who you might be meeting and ultra runners are fun people. I think this guys name was Nick and he was from Chicago and had just moved to Seattle 3 weeks ago. He was up north running a trail somewhere on Chuckanut drive, I think the Oyster dome trail. It was cool to meet him, he told me that he had just run an Ironman triathlon. I noticed that he had Brooks Cascadia shoes and I asked him how he liked them. He said they were great and they should be because I believe these are the shoes that are designed by Scott Jurek.
After lunch we headed to our hike on the Fragrance Lake trail up by the Bellingham area. We got to Larrabee state park and parked there and then headed to the trail. This was a great trail and we ran into some people on the way up and the way down but not really tons. The trail basically was a 2 mile out and back trail, mostly on single track trail with about 1000 feet of elevation gain. I think we hiked the whole trail in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The lake was a pretty hidden oasis up in the mountains. We originally thought the trail was 5.5 miles but it was only 4 so we added a .2 out and back with an amazing view. We were overlooking the Puget sound and across the sound you could see Orcas island and all the other San Juans it was just awesome. After the hike we got back in the car and headed toward Bellingham. I wanted to show Kara the Lake Padden trail that I had run about a month and a half ago for a race called the Hamster Endurance Race. In that race I ended up winning for the first time ever and completed 59.8 miles in 12 hours. We ran one loop around the lake it took us 26 minutes and 11 seconds which was actually pretty good pace for Kara because the loop was 2.6 miles. It was good to have a little run to loosen up the legs a little.
Next, we went to go pick up my race bib so that I would be ready for the race the next day. The host hotel was the Best Western Lakeway Inn. We went to the "expo" which was actually kinda lame in terms of an expo but this is when I really realized that this was not going to be a very big race. They had one booth that was for another marathon that is called the North Olympic Discovery Marathon, which is a nice little race. Then they had a women's skirt booth, a running store booth, some t-shirts booth, a medal display booth, and then the numbers pickup. The layout of the room was not very good, because you came in one way and you had to go back out the exact same way so logistically it was really clogged up in there. I just really wanted to get out of there but of course my wife really wanted to look at everything, which is usually fine to me but I was getting hungry from our day of activity and a little irritable. She ended up buying a headband at the expo which is good because she needed a headband.
After the expo, we went to go get our hotel room which was already booked at the Rodeway Inn by Bellis Fair. It was great that we had already reserved our hotel room because there was a guy who was trying to get a room by walking up and they told him they were completely booked. After checking into the basic room a bed, a bathroom, a TV, a couple of tables, a microwave, and a mini fridge, we went to go get dinner because I was starving. We chose to go to the Boundary Bay Brewery for dinner, it was in downtown Bellingham. We got down there and it looked pretty busy but we got in pretty quick because it was faster to sit outside, so we did. I got a lamb burger with roasted potatoes and also a side salad. It was actually a big dinner and I ended up eating the whole thing. After dinner we went to get some ice cream at Mallard's ice cream which is a Bellingham institution, kinda like Full Tilt in Seattle. I had peach and sweet corn ice cream together on a waffle cone, it was really a great way to end the day.
We went back to the hotel room and just relaxed the rest of the evening. We went to the hotel jacuzzi to just spend about 15 minutes in the jacuzzi. After that we went to the room and just relaxed the rest of the evening. Kara basically fell asleep as I was getting the race map set up for her to follow the next day. I usually try to plan out a route of different places for her to see me at. This is usually a lengthy process, and it took me until about 11:30 pm. After this I got my race outfit set out which I usually wear to bed the night before just to get me into the mental state of the race. My race plan was to try to get 8 minute miles for the whole race.
The next morning we got up at 6 am so that we could get some breakfast before the 7:30 am race start time. It took us about 45 minutes to get ready and we packed up all our stuff in the car and then took advantage of the free breakfast. I had a half a bagel, a banana, and a peach yogurt. I had almost forgotten to do the most important thing for the whole race which was apply anti chafing cream, so I did this just before we left for the start. It took awhile to get to the start because it was out on the Lummi Indian Reserve to the north of where we were and I didn't know how long it would take. I was glad we left when we did because we arrived at the start at about 7:15am which gave me basically just enough time to go to the port a pottie and get over to the starting line.
The race is on!! We started with a nice smooth downhill followed almost immediately by a nice little hill. I could really feel my 100 mile training coming into effect here as I was passing quite a few people on the the hills for the whole day. I ran the first mile in about 8 minutes and 38 seconds, but I heard two guys next to me talking to each other and they said we had run about a 7:15 mile so I was thinking they must be crazy but then I realized the had a GPS watch so I knew they were probably right. This whole section was along the water and it was a really beautiful start to the day. The road was a little bit rolling here so that kinda benefited me because I was pretty strong on the hills and like I said earlier it really helped to be ready for these small hills. The second mile was 7:39. The third mile was 7:08, the fourth in 7:19, the fifth in 7:29. At mile sixth we encountered Sasquatch which was actually kinda scary to me. It was someone who was dressed up in a suit and had a half marathon number on so I wonder if he ran that race too huh. Mile 6 was 7:10, at mile 7 I would see Kara for the first time, I ran this mile in 7:22, I waved to her and gave her a thumbs up as I ran by.
Miles 7-14 were basically through the countryside. Mile 8 was 7:17, I couldn't believe how I was consistently pulling these miles at under 7:30 when my goal was 8 minute miles, "I was wondering did I go out to fast?" Mile 9 was 7:20, just before mile 9 I saw Kara a second time and asked her to get me an S-Cap but she had forgot to bring my race bag. I wasn't mad at here for this because this was the first time I had ever given her a bag to take with her at marathons ( the bag consisted of barefoot shoes, short sleeve shirt, s caps, gels and other stuff I might need along the way). At Mile 10 I think I psyched myself out because I was going so fast I thought I should so down so I was slower at 7:31. Mile 11 was 7:29, Mile 12 was 7:20. At mile 12 it was a short out and back on the road so I could see who was behind me. I had looked back a couple of times before and didn't see anybody. At mile13 I did a 7:35 and coming into the half marathon distance I was at 1:38:14 which I believe is my fastest half marathon time in a marathon race. This was where I was beginning to slow down too and I was really getting worried that I had gone out too fast. Mile 14 slowed to a 7:53 this is where I saw Kara again for the third time and she gave me the S cap that I had requested earlier. I totally spaced at taking one of these before the race and by this time I was expecting to take my second one.
Miles 15-19 were basically on the outskirts of Bellingham. It was kinda boring section and I knew that 16 and 17 were going to be harder because they had some uphills to them and at this point in the race hills can be tough. I did mile 15 in 7:50 which is great because to be 15 miles in and still be under my goal per mile was a great feeling. Mile 16 the beginning of the hilly area I did 8:02 and the first mile over my goal per minute. On the way to mile 17 I started to go through a section where I was kinda getting a second wind and pick me up it must have been the S-cap and I ran 7:41. But then I came crashing back to reality and ran an 8:16 for mile 18. Mile 19 was 8:03.
Miles 20-24 were going through the town of Bellingham which was a great feeling because I knew at this point I was getting closer. At about 19 and a half miles I saw Kara in the park. I stopped and talked to her for a brief second and told her how great I was doing and that I was on pace to do a 3:21 but she thought I said 3:31 so later in the race she almost missed me crossing the finish line. It didn't register to me until after the fact but she said this would be the last time she would see me until the end and I was expecting her at 22, in hindsight I would have changed my shoes for the end and went to my barefoot shoes. It was OK though my feet hurt a little but not horribly. Mile 20 was 8:14. Mile 21 was about the point where the first half marathoner passed me, I kinda expected this to actually happen earlier so I knew at this point I knew I was in a good spot. I did mile 21 in 8:03. Mile 22 had a slight uphill from the waterfront area into the downtown area so it was a little harder also right about 22 you see the final turn where you have like .1 left so it was a little disappointing to know your so close but still have 4 miles to go. I finished this mile in 8:24. Mile 23 and 24 were nice because they were either on a dirt bike trail and through Boulevard park and on the boardwalk that was over Bellingham Bay, it was really beautiful. Mile 23 was 8:44 and mile 24 was 8:16. At the end of the boardwalk we had to go up a severe uphill to get to the road that took us to the finish, I was really proud of myself because I charged up this hill as fast as I could and made it all the way to the top.
The End. In mile 25 I went right up to the edge of the wall and entertained the thought of jumping over the edge but pulled myself back. At mile 25 I walked for the first time but only for about 10 feet because I rallied in my mind and said "no you are so close to the end get it together run it till the end!" I got mile 25 in 8:52. Now I knew I was going to be really close to my best time ever so I tried to push myself a bit. Mile 26 I came in at 8:33 which was a little faster than the last mile. I came around the corner I mentioned earlier and saw the finish line and so I did my best and kicked it into gear. I finished strong like I always do but I didn't catch anyone which is strange for me because I usually pass people at the end. I found out later this was because there were not very many people in front of me. In the end I came in with a time of 3 hours 25 minutes and 56 seconds, which was my best time by about 30 seconds. I finished in 43rd place out of 425 people and was in 7th place for my age group which was not bad.
After the race I celebrated with a nice cold drink and a bunch of food. Had a slice of pizza and I was still hungry. We ran into some people from Seattle we know who were running their first half marathon. It was cool to see them because we had not seen them in awhile and it turns out it was at the finish line. Kara had to park really far away and we had to walk back to the car but usually it is hard but today it wasn't as bad. After we got back to the car we headed over to the YMCA so that I could take a shower. After freshening up we went to Boulevard Park and sat in the amazing sun and looked out at the bay and read our books for about an hour it was almost a surreal thing because hours earlier I had ran through here on my way to the finish and now I was sitting along the path reading enjoying the sun while other people in the race struggled by. After this we went to Fairhaven for food because I was starving, I ate a chicken sandwich until I was stuffed it tasted so amazing. Then after this we went to a place where Kara used to be a counselor during summers and I got to see a piece of her past it was neat but I protested because all I wanted to do was get home to relax on the couch and watch football. After this we drove home.
All in all it was a great race! It was beautiful, it was painful, it was my PR, and I am so thankful to my 100 mile race because it has given me so much back. I am in the best shape of my life and I have a renewed passion for running so look out running world I am coming! I am writing this two days after the race and yesterday I was able to do a 1 hour run on trails in my barefoot shoes and felt pretty great during the run and afterward so that was awesome too. My next race is the Defiance 50K in Tacoma on October 13th, I am looking forward to it, this will be my first official 50K and I am planning on running the whole thing in my Merrell Trail Gloves (barefoot shoe) so that will be a fun new experience. Until next time everyone, go out and run because it is awesome!!
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