Peterson Ridge Rumble 2016

By -
A pre-race view of the mountains
This is the second year that Susan and I ran the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 miler and the first time we ran a trail race more than once. Last year when we ran Peterson, we had a great day and finished the race in ~7 hours, I expected that we would finish the race in the same amount of time this year. Sadly I was wrong and we finished the race 50 minutes slower than the previous year. I beat myself up over this for several weeks after the race. 

The trail opens up to mountain views
There were several reasons that we were slower this year. Last year we were training for Miwok 100k and Peterson Ridge was our last long run before Miwok, so we were more trained up than we were last year. This year was also one of the hottest years on record for Peterson Ridge, which definitely had an affect on me. I also had been dealing with an injury and had to take it easier than I would of liked for a few weeks. Oh, and the week before Peterson Ridge, Susan and I ran 30 miles, despite Ann Trason telling me not to run more than 15 miles. Regardless of all these facts, I still was down that we weren't faster.

Despite beating myself up about being slower and walking some of the hills, I had a great time. Peterson is a well organized race and has a nice community vibe to it. 

Not to long after we started running we met a guy named Michael who is a South African transplant who lives outside of Portland now. We had a great time running most of the race with him and talking about all our racing and travel adventures. 
Thank you, fellow runner, for taking this photo

Our friend David caught up with around the 20 mile mark, despite starting an hour after us. He ran the rest of the race with us too. Having Susan, Michael and David to run the race with definitely helped pull me out of my mental funk.

Black Butte
My sister Gretchen flew in from Texas to run the Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 miler. She finished not long before we did, it was awesome to see her, John and Susan's family as we crossed the finish line. 

The last few miles of the race I finally started to chill out mentally and just enjoy all the people we got to hangout with while we got to do what we love to do, run! 




Some interesting spectators


Mid-race selfie









Location: Sisters, OR 97759, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

24 for 2024

By -
Image
Top of Saltzman 2024   Susan and I decided to run 24 miles to kick off 2024. As I was looking through our previous routes, I found one called ' 24 mile taper run ', which seemed perfect - how hard can a taper run be? I didn't scrutinize the route closely. Nine miles in, I realized we had to run from the bottom to the very top of Saltzman. Who does that as part of a taper? Apparently, we did, ten years ago. Upon reaching the summit, I had Susan take a photo in the same spot as before. It felt great to push ourselves, which we plan to continue in 2024. Same route, different year -- 2014 Honesty, I love that we are still running routes we created 10 years ago, may be a bit slower though but who cares. I love that for us! 
Read more

Deception Pass 25k: Race Review

By -
Image
Welcome back to our blog and our only race review of 2023! This time, we're sharing our experience at the Deception Pass 25k – a true PNW trail runner's dream in the heart of Deception Pass State Park.  A Weather Miracle! We feel incredibly fortunate about the weather during the race. Having known the 50k runners battled through some pretty tough conditions the day before, we geared up for the worst. But, as luck would have it, we were greeted with near-perfect weather on race day. Clear skies, gentle breezes, and just the right amount of sunshine made our run more enjoyable than we could have hoped for. Lollipop Loops: A Sweet Surprise One of the most exciting aspects of the Deception Pass 25k is its infamous 'lollipop loops'. These trails, winding and unpredictable, add an element of surprise and fun that you don't often find in other races. Every twist and turn brought a new landscape into view; we ran through rocky trails, dense forest and a seaweed laden beach...
Read more

2023 - The Year of Type 2 Fun

By -
Image
Before we dive in let's level-set on the fun scale. Many outdoor enthusiasts use it to measure the type of fun they have or have had. Here are the different levels of fun ( borrowed from REI ): Type 1 Fun: Enjoyable while it's happening. It's straightforwardly fun and pleasurable. Type 2 Fun: Not necessarily enjoyable in the moment but becomes fun in retrospect or when sharing the story with others. Type 3 Fun: Not fun at the time and not fun in retrospect, but often leads to personal growth or a sense of achievement. 2023 started as type 3 fun for me. I was dealing with the loss of my mom, working for a toxic, gaslighting boss, and then losing my job at the end of January. I wasn’t upset about losing my job– it was an awful situation– but that is a story for another time. I was not excited about looking for a job when almost every tech company laid off folks. But this is a running blog, not my life story blog (though sometimes these things are very intertwined). Some peopl...
Read more