Orcas Recap and What's Next

A couple of follow-ups on Orcas. First, the elevation profile. I have it around 7600' which is "close" to the course description of 8000' of gain. I generally don't trust my Polar much but the start / finish altitude seem to be similar so this all seems reasonable. Overall the profile is just sick looking at it. I would not have thought the Mt. Pickett climbs were as high as they were but it seems so. This just confirms to me that I took it a notch too hard up Powerline and didn't save enough for Constitution. I was fine at a pedestrian clip up Pickett.

Second is a funny story I didn't relay in the race report. I had joked with Glenn T (photographer extraordinaire) that I needed a new profile pic. You know how race photos are out on course - especially in trail running. One minute you're minding your own business making sure you don't trip over the trail and the next there is your photographer. Sure enough I was plodding up Constitution, head down, in trail thought and next I hear "Hey. HEY. HEY!!!" and it's Glenn pointing his camera at me. He did his best - it's not a great shot solely due to me looking surprised and trying to fake a run. But it was pretty damned funny.

OK, so enough about Orcas. Next up is Badger Mountain Challenge (March 30-31), which will be my first 100. I'm running with friends Des & Jeremy while my friend Karlee and my brother Jason will be crewing. Really looking forward to it, and trying to keep my wits about me as I try to figure out how to run 100 miles. This is the second year of the race and there were issues with course markings last year which we all hope have been figured out (poor RD has been pestered endlessly about this). I was fortunate to carpool to Orcas with a guy that's done ~25 100's (I guess you lose count after awhile?) and I picked his brain as much as I could. Long story short: the next 5-6 weeks will be about packing on miles, training some downhills, and continuing to wrap my head around this.

I've also got the following on my schedule, registered or tentative:

• Yakima Skyline Rim 50k - April 21 (because I need a seriously challenging 50k three weeks after my first 100)
• Redmond Watershed Preserve 12 Hour - May 19 (who's who of Seattle runners - should be fun & need to pack on the miles!)
• Taylor Mountain 50k - June 23 (I have some retribution here)
• Grey Rock 50k - July 7? (my first ultra, some retribution, the Eastern WA Triple?)
• White River 50 - July 28 (classic 50 in WA)
• Cascade Crest 100 - August 25-26
• Cle Elum Ridge 50k - Sept 15 (let's assume I can still walk)
• Carkeek 12 Hour - Oct 27 (glutton for punishment)
• Seattle Marathon - Nov 25 (a road race!)

That'll keep me busy, right? I might have to find 1-2 more races to fill in some gaps.

Oh, wait, did you see what I did there? Yup, I put in for the Cascade Crest 100 lottery and (gulp) got in. Pretty excited about this although I'm not sure what I'm doing signing up for two 100's before I even run a 50 miler (bass ackward). I'm actually more nervous about CCC than BMC and not sure why - maybe because it's quite a bit more profile, it's a qualifier for races like Western States / Hard Rock, and because there are other runners who didn't get in which makes me want to run hard to show I deserve my place.

I hope by the time I'm done with BMC that I've learned a lot and can apply that learning. I'm hoping to get up to logging 200-300 miles a month (in the 150-160 range right now) and really want to improve my mountain trail running fitness.

For now I'm going to focus on Badger and let the chips fall where they may after that. There's a lot of running to do this year but there's a lot of running to do the next month or so. It's kind of like being on the trail - it's ok to think 3-4 miles ahead but you'd better be paying attention to the next 10 feet or you're going to do some damage.