Sun Mountain 50k Ultramarathon, Winthrop, WA: Photo highlights

This was Dave’s and my first race together! And it was my first single-day ultramarathon, and Dave’s first ultra at all. So we were both really excited, about the race itself as well as racing it together. We’ll write a blog post about the whole experience – what we did, and what we learned – but for now, here are some photo highlights from this very beautiful course: Sun Mountain, in Winthrop, Washington.

Here we are at the start line, with Fiona (who has appeared in this blog before!) and her guy, Doug. Fiona is the one who told us about this race in the first place.

The start was pretty crowded, with both the 25k and 50k starting together. There was also a 50 miler, but they started earlier.

Some long and gentle climbs at the start, all with really pretty views.

Dave was very excited about his hat. I don’t really get it, but he can’t stop talking about it. He is going to wear it for his Ironman in France next month.

I was very excited about my running skirt. The turquoise matches my hat, and the purple matches my shoes!

Here’s Dave yakking with one of the other racers. That’s a good thing about running ultramarathon distances – you go slow enough that you can actually talk. And it’s a very nice crowd…

There were SO many wildlflowers along the first part of the course that we stopped a lot for pix. But then we realized it was just solid wildflowers everywhere!

Is that not just absolutely beautiful? (The hat, I mean…)

I don’t even know what kind of flowers they were – but they were spectacular, and everywhere.

The aid stations were AMAZING. They had a really good selection of food – and that is really important when you are going that far.

The whole course was up and down – but there were two really BIG climbs to do. This was the second one, at about 42 km (i.e. just after completing the marathon).

There were some really cool wildflowers up high, too – like these big pink ones seeming to grow right out of the rock.

Great sign-posting along the whole course – navigation was never an issue.

There was very little route repetition on this course – and that is really important to me, makes the course interesting – other than at the top of this last hill, which was a short out-and-back with a turnaround at the summit.

Dave was so excited up at the top there that he had to stop to take a picture of his amazing hat. That’s me on the trail behind.

From the top, it was just another 5 or so km along forested trails to the finish.

We REALLY enjoyed this race – as you can see, the course was just spectacular, with stunning views to surprise us around every corner (and that really helps with motivation). It was well organized, with everything well signposted. And we worked really well together – finishing in 7:04. Which, considering we were barely able to train for this (both of us being sick for a month or more in March-April, as well as major work obligations, as well as me battling Achilles tendinitis) – we are both very pleased with. Our first ultramarathon together!

Our next post will have a few more pix, but also lots of info about the race and how we did (and didn’t) prepare for it.

Pre Sun Mountain Washington 50 km Ultra Prep

Today Dave and Jackie are getting ready for our first 50km ultra together.  We drove to Winthrop, Washington and are ready to race!

Cascades Mountain range.

 

The drive to Windthrop was spectacular; through the Cascade Range.  This is Hiway 20 which only opened 10 days ago.

Jackie waxing her legs while driving!

 

Jackie multi-tasked by waxing her legs in the truck while we drove.  Just another day for an Ultra-Runner…

 

Carb-loading the night before!

 

We found a great Mexican restaurant to hang with our friends Fiona and Doug.  We made sure we were well hydrated…

Running south from HEADQUARTERS, Alberni Inlet

WOW!  It’s been an unreal busy spring with me (Dave) working tons and ending up in cool locations like Nicaugua and Yellowknife, but training has sucked.  Jackie has been busy with her educating and writing screenplays and we have both been sick so now we are back!

Today’s run we started at the Headquarters road (about halfway between Port Alberni and Bamfield) where the Vancouver Island Spine trail crosses and we headed South and East for a few hours and turned around to check out new scenery.  We will definitely be back to continue this trail adventure in the future.

Start of Headquarters Run

We first drove South on the Banfield Road about 20 minutes and had a quick snack before we started.

The sign says “TRAIL”, that’s how we knew where to start!

The day was very hot for May, perfect!  Everything was growing, flowering, and fragrant.

Chair stump?

You just never know what you will see out here!

Jackie helping Tankie down a ladder.

Dave is in love with his new running hat!

Jackie found herself a new car!

In one spot we ran by ten or so old cars.

Xhosa and tank get a well deserved cool-off.

Lunch break.

A very nicely built bridge over Coleman Creek.

A very nice bridge was built over Coleman creek, its nice to see some of my tax money spent on something productive and healthy.

Out with my three best running buddies.

Get out in the sunshine when you can!

OK, these pix are from two weeks ago – we’ve got a few posts backed up now, because we’re both so busy with work that we haven’t had time to go through the pix and post them.

Heading out - starting on the logging roads (sunnier route).

So Dave was in Hawai’i – again. (Doing a medical repatriation). The weather had sucked for weeks, and it was finally sunny – so I decided to take the dogs out and go for a longish one. So the route is nothing spectacular – it’s Dave’s and my standard “backyard” route, up Copper Mountain and up to the top of the lookout, then down to the Boy Scout Camp on the water, and then back out. We’ve already posted lots of pix of this route. But it was just such a beautiful day (and I wanted to make Dave jealous, because it was raining in Hawai’i!) that I took lots of pix – so I’ll share them here.

We’ve measured this route before. It’s about 10 km – but it usually takes us close to 2 hours to do it all, because of all the steep terrain. We walk much of the uphills, and the section going down to the Boy Scout Camp is so rough that you pretty much have to walk the downhill too.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day. I realized when I wasn’t out there that I hadn’t done that whole route for over two months… in fact, Dave was in Hawai’i last time I did it! That was on winter solstice – the short daylight hours mean I came out by headlamp that day.

Anyway, here are the pix:

The dogs love this. (The dogs love ME!)

Then up into the forest.

Great views of the inlet as we got higher up.

Then all the way up to the lookout. Good thing I trained these guys to pose!

Town of Port ALberni, viewed from the lookout.

Then back down to the water again.

And then back up the hill again. Tankie's always ahead, has to wait for the rest of us.

Nearly sunset as we came out. What a view of Mt. Arrowsmith from the top!

Thank you Salomon! Trail-running shoes that are actually meant for… well… trails!

The Copper Mountain downhill.

I have been telling Dave for over a year that I wish I could have input on the design of trail-running shoes. Especially in their treads. I want trail runners that have treads like snow tires.

I confess that I do own a lot of different trail runners – but it’s not because I am trying to be the Imelda Marcos of the running shoe world. It’s just that pretty much every running shoe that I have is good for one thing but not for something else. So I pick whichever shoe is appropriate to the route we are doing and the weather conditions that day.

(Besides, it all works out the same in the end: You have one pair of running shoes that you wear out and replace after six months. Or you have six pairs of running shoes and you alternate which ones you wear, and they last you three or four years).

Anyway, the one thing that I have found lacking in ALL of my running shoes – up until now – is the treads. When I am flying down a trail (and I have really been working at building both confidence and speed on my downhills) I want to have treads that I know will not skid out on me. Whether in the mud, or on gravel, or over rock.

Check out the treads on these babies!

Well, on our city trip last week, we took the time to browse at Mountain Equipment Co-op (the small-town runner’s city paradise!) – and, guess what! Salomon has noticed that gap in the gear. They have designed a running shoe with treads like snow tires! I’ve been running in Salomons for years – I used to actually use them very seldom, because I couldn’t handle their fairly stiff soles. But lately, as I veer more towards the barefoot-running style (hitting the ground with my forefoot rather than the heel) I am finding that the Salomons work great for me.

So here was a shoe that I already knew and liked – but with the aggressive tread that I had been waiting for! (The actual model name is the Salomon Speedcross 3 W). Salomon calls them a “racing shoe” – this basically means that they are lighter than the average trail runner. I don’t actually notice a few grams here or there, but Dave was impressed by how light they are, and he is pretty convinced that that will make me faster on the uphills. And, they were pretty affordable at $119CA.

So I tested them out -  three times so far this week – with Dave on our “backyard” Copper Mountain trail: two runs and a hike. They are everything they appear to be: on this steep (and wet) trail, I totally notice the extra grip these treads offer, and they give me huge added confidence with every footfall – both on the uphills and the downhills.

My next wish… (oh Salomon, are you listening?)… is that they make this exact same shoe with a Goretex upper. That would truly be an all-terrain, all-weather shoe.

Dave and Jackie are in the big city of Vancouver so a great time to run the Stanley Park Seawall

We were in Vancouver visiting family so an awesome opportunity to run around Stanley Park.  We even had nice weather.

Lost lagoon

Run Vancouver!

Dave and I are in the big city for the weekend. So we decided to do a big city run. Dave was pleasantly surprised when I found us a route that took us up the Capilano Canyon, on the border between West Van and North Van. Didn’t even have to put on our road-runners – it was almost like home!

Well, it's not every day that Dave and I run under a highway overpass on the way to our trail run.

We took a side trail down from the main one - amazing, the feel of being in totally wild country, right in the middle of the city!...and then we look up to the left, and there is someone's mansion up at the top of the wilderness!!

We’ll take the sunshine when we can!

Taking logging roads rather than trails, for max sun exposure.

Yup, this time of year it’s a matter of being flexible, spontaneous, and opportunistic It might be grey and rainy for a week or two before we see the sun. And, as I am finding out (my first winter in Port Alberni), even when the whole rest of Vancouver Island is in sun, the Alberni Valley may be shrouded in fog!

We were very lucky with the sunshine and warmth for our snowshoeing trip last weekend. Then, on Tuesday we were doubly lucky! It was gorgeous and sunny here in Port… and that was the morning that Dave had scheduled the cement to be delivered to lay the pad for our new hot tub! Yes, as

Dave and Jackie snowshoe!

Setting out, from the highway (below the main resort area).

Dave’s work hosted a weekend up at Mt. Washington… a great chance for me to try out my brand new snowshoes (I ordered them before Christmas, but haven’t had a chance to use them yet). Snowshoeing is great cross-training for running – and it also just adds a bit variety to the winter régime of runs-in-the-rain. We were really lucky with the weather… so, for this post, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:

Setting out... looks like the sun may come out (ocean in the distance).

Happy days! Dave and Jackie back together, up Copper Mountain…

Us and "the kids" at the lookout above the inlet.

Copper Mountain is our standard run – we’re so lucky to have it at our back door. But Dave and I have been running it alone far too much lately – with one or the other of us always being away.

We’ve been best friends and running partners for over two years now. And we’ve decided that we make a pretty good combination… so Dave and I have decided