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| Coal Creek Falls of Cougar Mountain |
Apryle and I made our way back from Republic on New Years
Eve, I considered this to be our official move to Seattle, since we would be
there to stay for the foreseeable future. After about ten days of gloominess
and cold we were greeted by a sunny mild day on the other side of Snoqualmie
Pass. I put in a solid 10 mile run around Cougar Mountain. It was refreshing to
run without yaktrax for a change, and although the higher reaches of the park
held some snow and ice, it was certainly runnable with trail shoes.
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| Boeing Creek in Shoreline |
We did a poor job at ringing in the New Year and fell asleep
early, after a long day of traversing the state in Apryle’s Chrysler Town &
Country. The next three days I was fortunate enough to run with my good friend
Seth West, who was coincidently visiting from Austin, Texas. The first run of
the New Year was a 13.3 miler at Bridle Trails State Park, then an 8 mile out
and back up the snow/ice covered Mount Si, and finally capped off with a 25
miler around Union Bay and the Arboretum.
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| Running Boeing Creek Trails |
I continued alternating running at Union Bay/Arboretum and
the Interurban Trail in Shoreline for the remainder of the first week of 2016. Then
finally, to top off a 116.76 mile week (my furthest distance since the lead up
to the 2012 Leadville 100), I ran an impromptu 50K at Bridle Trails State Park!
The race went quite well, it consisted of 6 laps around the 5.2 mile trail
surrounding the park. I wanted to keep the pace quick so I used the 5 and 10
mile racers to my advantage and raced with them until they finished their
respective distances. Once they dropped off it was all up to me to keep up the tempo.
I made it until the middle of the fourth lap before I had to pull out the
headlamp which far surpassed my goal.
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| Awkward Pre-race Photo |
Furthermore, at the midway point I was on course record pace
and was confident I could even split. Apryle and I had a great system worked
out, she would hand me a gel and my water bottle, I would take a couple of
swigs, toss the bottle, and then choke down a gel while transitioning to the
next lap, this helped avoid the confusion of the aid station. However, as
darkness descended on the thickly forested park, and the headlamp failed to
brightly illuminate my path, my pace suffered and I ended up finishing in
3:25:00, which was about 7 minutes off course record pace.
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| Finishing up the 50K |
I was elated with the time, but still somewhat disappointed
at missing the chance to own a course record. I staggered off the course and
was questioned by the race director if I had completed all six laps. My first
reaction was to take this as an insult, because I would rather crawl across the
finish line in last before I would unfairly take a win in a race. But I suppose
it was somewhat of a compliment in disguise. Apryle and I headed back to
Shoreline, but not before stocking up at our favorite store, the Grocery Outlet
in Bothell. It was here that I realized I was in quite bad shape, I was having
chills, my legs were cramping and my intestines were in knots. I had not
realized how much of a toll the effort of that race took on my body until
walking around that store.
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| My day-to-day morning run view |
At any rate, I recovered from the race and put in some easy
runs with Apryle in typical alternating fashion (Interurban one day and Union
Bay/Arboretum one day). It was also on these days that I discovered Richmond
Beach and Boeing Park. They were both small parks, but Boeing offered a few
densely canopied single track trails, which I found to be quite refreshing in
the highly residential town of Shoreline.
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| Running behind Ponytail Falls |
At the end of the week, Apryle and I made our way to the
Washington/ Oregon boarder along the banks of the Columbia River. Our intention
was to preview the Gorge Waterfalls 100K course. Apryle had done all of the
research and had mapped out where I would be running each day in order to
optimize our time on course. We camped out of the back of her van and it served
as our shelter from the constant barrage of rainfall that weekend.
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| Gorge Waterfall Course Preview |
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| Waterfall on Multnomah Loop |
On the third and final day of the preview I ran from Wyath
(midway point) back to Cascade Locks. As expected I got off course at a certain
point and stumbled upon another beautiful waterfall and was fortunate enough to
meet a Cascade Locks trail runner (Casey) and we ran several miles together. I
found the stretch of trail from Wyath to Cascade Locks to be the easiest of the
course. After finishing up that stretch, Apryle and I ran the first part of the
course around Multnomah Falls. This was only a five mile loop but it featured
the steepest climb of the entire course and was an excellent way to wrap up the
trip.
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| Coastal View from a trail in Shoreline |
It is hard to believe that as of January 17th, we
had only been living in Washington for one month. Between the long drive from
Austin, the winter GUD season, the Bridle Trails 50K, and the Gorge Waterfalls
preview, the time flew by. As life becomes busier once again, my time to crank
out posts becomes much more limited, but after a short hiatus, the four part
series finally come to a close. The next post will begin a new chapter in my
life in the northwest and feature the conclusion of January, the new adventures
of February and the Fort Ebey Kettles Trail Marathon.
Training Block Between Franklin Mountain 50K & Bridle Trails 50K
Training Block Between Franklin Mountain 50K & Bridle Trails 50K
Month November |
Days 15 to 21 |
Distance 45.36 |
Time 5:44:01 |
Pace 7:35 |
Longest Run 11.06 |
| November | 22 to 28 | 65.97 | 7:43:30 | 7:01 | 10.4 |
| December | 29 to 5 | 59.9 | 8:07:24 | 8:08 | 13 |
| December | 6 to 12 | 90.84 | 13:30:50 | 8:55 | 26 |
| December | 13 to 19 | 65.4 | 10:59:46 | 10:05 | 15 |
| December | 20 to 26 | 53.6 | 8:11:05 | 9:09 | 22.11 |
| December | 27 to 2 | 75.08 | 11:15:19 | 8:59 | 14.01 |
| January | 3 to 9 | 116.75 | 15:14:45 | 7:50 | 31.2 |
