Peterson Ridge Rumble 2016

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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

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