There are Trail Runs and then there are Trail Runs

Event Stats:
Name Capitol Peak 50
Date 04/28/2007
Location Capitol Forest, WA, USA
Event Ultra Marathon (50 mi)
Finish Time 11:55:18

Spokane River Run

Event Stats:
Name Spokane River Run
Date 04/22/2007
Location Spokane, WA, USA
Event Ultramarathon (50 km)
Finish Time 05:50:45

Great weather (dry &cool), an absolutely fantastic course (wide, scenic, flat), run in 2 different loops (which gives you the opportunity to quit after 25km should things go wrong).

For an entry-level trail run, this one is a hit!

Peterson Ridge Rumble

Event Stats:
Name Peterson Ridge Rumble
Date 04/15/2007
Location Sisters, OR, USA
Event Ultramarathon (60 km)
Finish Time 08:41:26

Petersons Ridge Rumble is a very low-key ultra marathon, officially 60km, although I think I ran a good 5k on top of that, simply because I got lost twice. Running on a trail and looking out for markings to show you the way is quite different from running on the road.

Weather was great, sunny, but not too warm, the scenery around Sisters, a small town near Bend, Oregon, fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed a long and slow run. I didn’t even attempt to get a good finished time, I was way too happy just to be out there. Wide forest roads gave way to some steep trails, and breathtaking sights.

Aid-stations were not only very friendly, but offered something I haven’t seen on road-races. Real treats – Oreos, M&Ms, pretzels and the like – and not just the power-bars and -gels that seem to be the new monoculture in athlete nutrition. Yummy!

Great food at the finish, which I reached after almost nine hours.

Road Race with a Trail Ending

Event Stats:
Name Vernonia Half Marathon
Date 04/07/2007
Location Vernonia, OR, USA
Event Half Marathon
Finish Time 01:53:54

A week aftter the California Halfironman, the Vernionia Half Marahon was certainly to be booked under ‘active recovery’.

Vernonia is a small village about an hour or so northwest of Portland, OR. Aside from 13 (!) churches, the villages greatest feature (for me, who got up at 5:00 to drive there) was an absolutely fantastic coffee shop.

The race course took was basically a loop on a paved bike path, very falt and smooth. Thing were going smooth, my legs didin’t hurt at all, when suddenly, at about mile 10 two things happened.

It started to rain seriously, and the paved bikepath gave way to a – now rather muddy – gravel and dirt road. But it was way too late in the race to seriously annoy me, so I just picked up the pace a little and finished in 1:54 (so much for recovery ,-)

Awesome raffle at the finish!