Hagg Lake and "Where'd he go?"

No I didn't die. No I didn't quit running. I just quit blogging. I got sucked into the world of Facebook. You know, the soundbite life. Just a small comment here and there. I just couldn't get my Blog Mo-Jo back. Well I am going to try and fix that. This blog has been an amazing race journal for me. Sometimes I would go back and read it before I ran the race again the next year. It has also been a great place to store memories. Well lets get to it then.

Last weekend I ran Hagg Lake 50k for the 6th time. I don't really like this course as its pretty rutted and when muddy is not much fun to run. But it's put on by the ORRC and other friends and it's kind of starts of the Trail running season.

It had rained hard all week but come Saturday it was cold with blue skies. The roads were very slick but drivable. Gail came out to volunteer as she is not a fan of the course too. Was fun to talk with friends before the race and to try and stay warm. My goal was just to go steady and get the miles in. I have been running the normal amount this winter but just shorter more frequent runs. I hadn't done over 16 miles since December 26th's 50k. I actually was a tad nervous about how I would feel over 25 miles or so.

Kelly B. told us to go and off we went. The port-a-john line was too long so I waited for everyone to start the run then I had some business to take care of! That put me almost 5 minutes behind everyone, but I was totally fine with that. The first 1.5 miles is up the hill, my least favorite part of the course but you have to do it as the loop around the lake is only 14 miles. I chatted with some folks and just did a run-walk. As we got back to the start line I dropped off my vest, with the sun out I would be warm enough. On the trail I soon too a wrong turn and followed someone. I figured it out and only cost me a 1/4 mile. The course on the south side of the lake wasn't too bad. Big mud but mostly runnable. On the pavement by the damn I kicked it up to make some time. Back on the trail on the north side is where you really ran into the mud. Some sections were insane but that's what Hagg is famous for.

I finished the first 17 mile lap in 3:25. With my late start I was doing OK. Around mile 19 I started to get tired. The low point of the race for sure. I ate some more Chomps and soon felt good. Past the Damn I got a trailer. I offered to let him by but he wanted to follow he said. It was nice as it actually pushed me a bit. I started feeling better and never had a bad point the rest of the day. I was passing early starters and a few others. I did fall twice on lap one but nothing more than a bloody knee on the worst one.

At mile 27 or so I caught up to David. He let me by but kept right up with me. We had a nice chat then hit another downhill paved section. He picked up the pace and today I only had one speed so I let him go. He was in sight most of those last 4 miles but I could only pick up distance in the muddy sections and I just plowed right on through the bad stuff. We I hit the Sain Creek parking lot I was pretty tired. I could have done more miles but probably not more than 6 or so. So I plodded on with mud caked shoes towards the finish. I crossed in 6:30 which is one of my slowest Hagg times but considering the course conditions I was totally fine with it.

Gail and I stuck around and chatted and had some bites. I won a nice winter hat in the raffle. My gut felt pretty good. I was only a tad light headed. I really think Nuun is my savior. Thanks to Kelly and Todd for another fun race.

So what's next on the running agenda. Well Pac Rim 24 hour run is March 19-20th. I can't do all 24 hours as I have to work on Sunday, so I will do 50 to 60 miles only. After that I am not sure. My airline is slowly being dismantled by our parent company. My aircraft I fly is being removed from service so I will be trained in a new on for part of April through May and early June. I want to run either White River 50 miler or back to the PCT 50 in July. My only real goal is probably to run Waldo 100k again. I would like to finish a bit better time this year. After that who knows. Portland marathon, then we RD at Autumn Leaves. After that Gail and I are considering our first 100 miler at Javalina in Phoenix in mid November. If not that we might do the NY Marathon.

Since the last blog post I ran the Portland Marathon in October. I had my second fastest time and felt great in the rain all day. We then RD our first race and that was a crazy, stressful time. After that we went to Fresno and ran the Two Cities Marathon. Very boring course but they made up for it with the bling, free breakfast, free beer, free music, free shirt, free sweatshirt and nice medal. In December we ran Steve Walter's 6 hour race in which I got like 34 miles in. That's all you missed!

Well thanks for continuing to read my blog. I hope to be a better writer in the future.