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| Spruce Railroad Trail |
Continuing on with the theme of 2016, Apryle and I ventured to a new and different destination each weekend in the month of March.
Additionally, my training hit its peak and also its valley in the form of a
taper for Gorge Waterfalls 100 kilometer race. We traveled to the islands of
the north, the beginning of the Cascades to the east and to the Olympic
Peninsula to the west.
March 6th to March 12th
Mileage
93.67
|
Time
12:50:14
|
Pace
8:13
|
Long
25.03
|
Vertical
8060
|
 |
| Japanese Gulch |
This was a relatively mild week of running until the latter
portion, which consisted of 13, 25, and 18 mile days. Because my left knee was
still acting up, I decided to take the early week very easy in order to rest up
for my planned back-to-back long runs on Friday/Saturday. On Thursday night,
Adam and I decided to run an out and back on the road from Mukilteo to Everett,
and finish up the run with a hard push up the mile long hill on Mukilteo
Speedway. The run went quite well and I put in a fair amount of effort on final
hill push.
 |
| Japanese Gulch Trail Run |
For my 25 miler on Friday, I decided to run over to Warren
G. Magnuson Park from University of Washington. My plan was to do half the run
solo and half the run with Apryle to break up the monotony. This road run was more
scenic than I anticipated, despite consisting almost exclusively of residential
neighborhoods. This was due in large part to the rolling hills and the unique landscaping
of the homes in both Laurelhurst and Windermere. I ran thirteen solo and met up
with Apryle and we finished up the last twelve around the Arboretum. Apryle
kept up an impressive pace, especially considering it was her longest run of
the year thus far.
 |
| Camano Island State Park |
For the 18 miler, we made a trip over to Camano Island to
continue our quest to visit all of the Washington State Parks. Although rain
was in the forecast, it ended up being a beautiful day and the trails offered a
chance to explore the island. We started at Cama Beach State Park and took the
connector trail to Camano Island State Park. Between the two locations I was
able to scrape together a long run, although the two parks were not nearly as
stunning as Deception Pass or Fort Ebey, they were still worthwhile to explore.
March 13th to March 19th
Mileage
69.42
|
Time
10:19:24
|
Pace
8:55
|
Long
15.41
|
Vertical
9529
|
 |
| Apryle at Camano Island State Park |
This week was a bit of a downslope in mileage volume with an
upslope in vertical feet. Early on in the week, I met a coworker and fitness
enthusiast, Brandon Dean who grew up in the Shoreline area. I learned he had an
impressive high school running career and is now training for Spartan races.
After some coordinating we worked out an early morning running schedule. Though
I enjoy the solitude of my weekly runs, I also find it helpful to run with
someone that shares the same passion for running and life. Additionally,
Brandon hammers out an impressively fast pace, especially for an early morning
run.
 |
| Rattlesnake Recreation Area |
Also for the first time since my knee pain started up, I
took to undulating trail once again with a hilly run through Carkeek early on
in the week and an even hillier run through Japanese Gulch with Adam later in
the week. Despite my initial apprehension, I felt like my body stood up to the
challenge of the uneven terrain.
 |
| Post Long Run Fiesta |
However, concern over my lack of preparedness
for Gorge Waterfalls began to creep in just two weeks before the race. The
month of January was quite ideal, with high mileage, fast pace, plenty of time
on the trail and consistent weekly vertical training. However, I feel that I
pushed a little too hard, and thus my training quality decreased after the Fort
Ebey Trail Marathon.
 |
| Apryle & I with our sloth Ebey |
At any rate, I was on the downswing of the training block
anyway, so I continued to press on. During my one day weekend, Apryle and I
headed to Rattlesnake Mountain outside of North Bend. When Apryle and I run it
is typically understood that we will jog the flats and down-hills together, but
when there is any form of up-slope, we tackle it at our own pace, and this run
was no exception. I went all out to the ridge, dodging hundreds of hikers (I
will never return to this location on a weekend), waited for Apryle then we
continued on to the summit.
 |
| Gray Whale Fin |
Not only did the numbers of people on trail plummet
to near zero but the ground was covered in eight to twelve inches of snow. I
reminisced back to my days of alpine running at Rocky Mountain National Park and
then Apryle and I headed back to the trailhead. After a quick picnic lunch we
hit the John Wayne Trail into Iron Horse State Park for a quick out and back,
putting our mileage at just over fifteen for the day.
March 20th to March 26th
Mileage
66.22
|
Time
8:47:32
|
Pace
7:57
|
Long
13.8
|
Vertical
5173
|
 |
| Apryle running on Shi Shi Beach |
Two weeks out from the big race, I held on to a decrease in
mileage, and also decreased my vertical training. The early week was low key
and uneventful, some Shoreline/Woodway road miles and some Boeing Creek trail
miles, both solo and with the company of Apryle or Brandon. Then on Thursday
evening Apryle and I were excited to finally coordinate a Japanese Gulch trail
run double date with Adam and Josie. The conditions were perfect for the
quintessential Pacific Northwest trail run, with a light mist and mud-filled
trail.
 |
| Point of Arches |
The week was capped off with an unforgettable adventure to
the Olympic Peninsula. Apryle and I caught the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry around
ten in the morning on Friday and made our way over to the Spruce Railroad
Trail. The trail was eight miles around the northeast side of Crescent Lake.
The run was easy and the focus was on soaking in the scenery not setting a
blistering pace. The water was an impressive shade of blue highlighted with a
picturesque backdrop of tree-covered mountains. It was not the best of Olympic
National Park, but still a beautiful and worthwhile run none the less.
 |
| Lyre River Campground |
After the hike we headed back to Port Angeles to get a
pizza, and while waiting I noticed an interesting zigzag boardwalk that seemed
oddly positioned in the middle of town. Of course I decided that I needed to do
a few laps on this before we headed over to the beach for dinner. As the sun
began its decent into the Pacific we decided to look for a place to camp. We
were lucky enough to choose the Lyre River Campground to spend the evening.
This was a perfect spot, flat, soft, tree-covered and we fell asleep to the
sound of the river rushing toward the Strait. It was quite cold in the morning
and dew lined the tent, so we quickly packed and made our way west toward the Shi
Shi Beach Trailhead.
 |
| Point of Arches |
We stopped at some pullouts along the way and observed some
harbor seals and gray whales spouting in the distance. We hit the trail about
the same time we boarded the ferry a day earlier and anticipated the high point
of the trip. The trail started similar to the Cape Alava Loop, with boardwalk
planks but it quickly turned to shin deep mud. The understory and forest was not
nearly as impressive as that found surrounding the Ozette Triangle in my
opinion, but it was well worth the trip once we got to the beach. The final
stretch of the wooded trail was a steep descent with ropes attached to the tree
roots dropping down to the water.
 |
| Gray Whale Peaking Out of the Water |
Once we hit the beach it was sunny and quite balmy with an
almost palpable haze in the air. We immediately noticed Gray Whales spouting in
the distance and once we got closer realized they were breeching just off
shore. We were captivated by the spectacle for hours and almost forgot about
the main point of the hike, which was to explore Point of Arches at low tide. We
took a bit more time to wander around the arches and then finished out the
run/hike of 9 miles and hopped back on the ferry. The surprise Gray Whale slighting
makes this hike one of my all time favorites.
March 27th to April 2nd
Mileage
90.50
|
Time
14:11:00
|
Pace
7:57
|
Long
13.8
|
Vertical
14361
|
 |
| Apryle at Point of Arches |
The final week before Gorge Waterfalls was tough one, I felt
tired, ill-prepared, sore and generally negative about my chances of performing
well. For a Physical Therapist, I made an embarrassing ergonomic mistake at
work leading to somewhat debilitating back pain. The back pain in addition to
the left knee pain was making me question whether my body could hold up over
the course of 62.5 miles.
 |
| Gray Whales off the Coast of Washington |
Then I began thinking of negative consequences that
stemmed from my training efforts for the race in addition to all of the
sacrifices Apryle had to make in order to help me train for the race. I felt an
overwhelming cloud of negativity for most of the week and began to assess the
situation in a less dreamlike perspective. Instead of fantasizing of crossing
the line in the top two, gaining a Western States 100 golden ticket, I was
having nightmares of dropping out at mile 41 due to overwhelming knee pain. But
ultimately with some inspiring words from my amazing fiancé and some confidence
boost from my good friend and Texas training partner Anthony Jacobs, my prerace
attitude improved.
 |
| Crescent Lake |
If you are somehow still reading this post, you might be
wondering how Gorge Waterfalls 100K race actually panned out. Unfortunately, I
am out of energy to include that in this post, but stay tuned for the next
Harriers to Chadron installment, aptly name “Gorge Waterfalls 100K Race
Report”.
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