Mary's Peak 50k - 2021

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Top of Mary's Peak

Susan and I are training for a 50 mile race in early July, which is great because it doesn't occupy our whole summer with training, but it doesn't leave us with a lot of training options outside of Forest Park because the snow is still melting at higher elevations. While I was researching some route options a few weeks ago I noticed that Mary's Peak 50k was happening in 2 weeks and wasn't full. We ran Mary's Peak in 2019 was a training run for Waldo and loved it. So, I texted Susan about it and a few days later we were signed up. 


Cedar and I posing with the 3 foot gnome at the RV park

The race approached quickly and just a few days before the race the CDC said that Covid vaccinated people did not need to wear masks outside. I was really curious if this would have an impact on the race or not. In previous years the race shuttled you to the start, this there was no shuttle which mean we had to run the extra 2+ miles to the original start, which is all uphill. I was not that excited about an extra 2+ miles, but had to keep telling myself it is good mental toughness training. 


John and Cedar came with me in the van and we camped at a quirky RV park close to the start; Susan stayed in Corvallis. Since we were starting early I asked Susan to pick me up on the way and it typically Susan style she was running late. But it didn't really matter since there was a 30 minute start window to keep people spread out. 

It did feel like a slog to the top of Mary's peak especially with the added distance at the start, but we had a great time. We were loving seeing everyone's faces and everyone was so happy that we passed our passed us. It almost felt like racing pre-pandemic. 

We ran into John and Cedar

Right after we summited Mary's Peak we ran into our friends Robin & Jay, we had no idea they were out there hiking. Since we were all vaccinate we were about to give them hugs. Shortly after that we ran into John & Cedar hiking up the Peak. These encounters were the highlight of the day.

Jay & Robin




After that it was mostly but not quite downhill to the end, we laughed and talked about how things felt like they were returning to normal. It was a tough race but an overall amazing day.



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