2011 has been an awesome year of running for me, a few PRs, several goals accomplished and new distances obtained. I wish I had been better about blogging about things along the way and recapping races. I know that several weeks before a race I am always searching the Internet for race reports and I savoring every word I read. In 2012 I will be better about recapping my races.
2011 Running Milestones
Disney Princess Half Marathon
February 27 - 2:08:52
This was my annual half marathon with my dad. My step sister, step mom and sister-in-law also joined us. We had to get up at 3am for this race and I swore I would never do this again, I think the rest of the family did as well. It was difficult running in the Florida heat coming from the cold rain and snow in Oregon, but it was a lot of run running through Disney with all the other "Princesses".
For the Love of Dove 5k
June 12 - 0:24:27 PR
This race benefited Dove Lewis a local non-profit animal hospital, which I got to run with my favorite 4 legged running partner, Oscar. I normally don't want to pay to run a 5k, but I couldn't resist a chance to run a race with Oscar. Oscar is an ex-sled dog, I am sure that helped with the PR and accomplishing my goal of running a 5k in less than 25 minutes.
Reeds Lake 5k and 10k
June 25 - 0:26:09 and 0:56:11
A local race in Grand Rapids, MI I ran this summer with my dad and Gretchen while visiting. It was nice that the 5k and 10k were back to back, so I was able to run both of them. The 5k was first and I ran it a little bit slower than I normally would of since the 10k was after.
Hood to Coast Team "Honey Buckets and Buckettes"
August 26 - 27 - 32:10:41
Hood to Coast has to be one of the most insane and fun things you can do as a runner. I had a lot of fun doing this with Susan, my dad and Chris W.
Hood to Coast explained
Columbia Gorge Half Marathon
October 23 - 1:55:04 PR
Susan and I have run this race for the last 3 years. This year they changed the route, which avoided the huge hill at the beginning, we were actually a little disappointed by this since we were training for the insanely hilly Lithia Loop Marathon. Moving the start meant they had to bus everyone to the beginning, which ended up causing the race to start 30 minutes late. Luckily the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. Eliminating the hill at the start added a new hill in the middle of the race which we did not anticipate. I could of sworn this slowed us down a lot, but somehow we ended up PRing - 1:55:04.
Lithia Loop Trail Marathon November 5
5:10:08 - Goal Obtained: first trail marathon
Not my fastest race, but it is a close tie with Hood to Coast as the craziest and most fun. In the first 8 miles we gained almost 5000 feet of elevation. It snowed on us for 22 miles and there was already several inches of snow on the ground, which made for an interesting running experience. There were times when I could barely feel my lips or nose. The volunteers at the aid stations were awesome, every time we approached they asked what we wanted and made sure we refilled out water bottles. This was the first race where I had Sprite at an aid station, I could not get enough of it, and I never drink soda. The course itself was amazingly beautiful, once again it reiterated my love of trail running. I will probably do this race again in the future.
Birthday Run "Girls Gone Wildwood"
Ran all of the Wildwood trail 30.25 miles - November 27 - New distance
A few months ago during one of our long runs, Susan and I had the brilliant idea of running the whole Wildwood trail for our birthdays. I am blaming this insane idea on our "runner's high". We accomplished our goal. The Wildwood trail is 30.25 miles long we added on a little extra getting to one of our DIY aid stations, we probably ended up doing ~31miles/50km. It was difficult, cold, wet, muddy but effing awesome! Susan is the best running partner.
A month from our first attempt at running the bucket list run of most MUT runners, the Grand Canyon R2R2R, we wanted to get in one big run outside of Forest Park to help clam our anxiety, despite having an amazing summer of adventure runs. We decided to take a Friday off of work 2 weeks before running R2R2R to run around Mt. Hood, which is similar distance and elevation gain as R2R2R2, though very different trails and environment.
A week before our planned circumnavigation of Mt. Hood, we got ~18 inches of snow above 5500 feet on Mt. Hood, which covered a lot of the Timberline trail. So, as with most of our adventure runs this summer I had to come up with a Plan B.
Earlier in the summer when I planned ourSalmon River – Devil’s Lookout – Hunchback Mountain route, I noticed on the map you could run from Salmon River to the Timberline Lodge. I pulled out the map and calculated the distance and it was ~36 miles, I wasn’t sure how much elevation gain we would have, but knowing we were start…
Normally John and I spend the end of August and beginning of September hiking in Europe, but because I spent part of June in Italy and we are planning to spend Christmas in Europe, we stayed home and decided to explore our own "Oregon Alps". The Wallowa Mountains are in northeastern Oregon, about a 6 hour drive from Portland and even though I have lived in Oregon for 17 years, I had never been.
We decided to combine 2 of the hikes from William Sullivan's 100 Hikes in Eastern Oregon book, Ice Lake and Horseshoe and Glacier Lake; a very similar route is also described in Douglas Lorain'sOne Night Wilderness: Portland. After researching the route a little more, it is the classic route to do in the Eagle Cap Wilderness section of the Wallowas and can get crowded, and considering we were going on Labor Day weekend it would probably be even more crowded. Knowing that information we decided to leave after work on Thursday and camp outside of Pendleton at Emigrant Springs Sta…
Yassine of Animal Athletics decided to do one last long training run in preparation for his 3rd HURT 100 and invited a lot of the Portland trail running community to join him. His route was 4 loops of the "North Nasty", which is ~11 miles and 3000 feet of elevation gain.
Last year Animal Athletics did several group runs they called the "Nasty Series", for one reason or another Susan and I weren't able to make any of the runs, well technically we tried to make one, but we were late. This time since Yassine was doing loops, we knew we could start any time and he would eventuallycatch up to (pass) us.
We decided to do 1 loop of the North Nasty and add on an extra "easier" 9 miles to give us a good 20 miler.
We really enjoyed seeing so many people running the route and chatting with everyone, even if was just passing and saying, "are you doing the Nasty?". Yassine and several other fast runners eventually did catch up and pass us, but not before…
We completed the Loowit trail, 34 miles circumnavigating the volcanic lands and forests surrounding the squat, smoldering Mt St. Helens. It was amazing, but I cannot rightly recommend this route to others.
Not because it's not beautiful, mostly fun, diverse in ecosystems, and full of fascinating wildlife. It is all of those things. But it is also full of washouts and utterly terrifying descents, ascents, and traverses on huge dunes of kitty-litter-esque scree.
Granted, I have a particular fear of scree washouts after our Mt Hood circ attempt. But some of these washouts were incredibly precarious. Each foot placement had to be strategized and the few rocks to hold on to often came away in the sandy scree, sending an avalanche of gravel and dust down the side of the slope, the sound of which reminds one what will happen if you should misstep.
We started at June Lake trailhead, from which you run about 2 miles up to join Loowit trail. From there we had heard there would be lots of walk…
John and I had planned our last backpacking adventure for the summer in The Enchantments in Washington after getting a spot in the lottery earlier in the summer, but like many of our plans this summer we had to come up with a plan b because the trails were closed due to forest fires. We decided on Goat Rocks in Washington as our plan b, since neither of us had been there in years. Our plan was to head up to Goat Rocks after I was done running and hike in and camp. Well, it snowed at Goat Rocks a few days before we had planned to leave. Instead of snow camping or coming up with plan c, we decided to camp in the Sprinter at the trailhead and hike the 13 mile loop in one day, snow permitting.
The lows at the trailhead were suppose to be in the high 30s, I was concerned about how cold it would be in van, since our new heater was in but not attached to the diesel line yet. I put fleece sheets on the bed, along with a Rumpl Puffy and a Pendleton blanket and packed all my puffy jackets. Luc…
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