Trail Running in Texas & beyond

The mountain goats and the longhorns.

After coming off a reasonably good effort at Reveille Ranch I was trying to figure out what to do next.  Thinking that it would be nice to get up to the northwest in the summer, I floated the idea of a race to some of my friends up there and Angel’s Staircase came up as the best weekend for a trip up.  I then spent the next few months coming to terms with having to climb up 5,000 ft over the first half of a 25k.

Pre-Race.

Initially I was planning on flying Thursday evening but the giant ball of death has been unrelenting this summer and I was getting tetchy so I flew out Tuesday and spent a nice two days Seattle with friends before making the 4.5 hour drive east and north.  A 10k in Woodland Park and around Greenlake in 60 degree temps was refreshing.  Woodland Park used to be the main training ground and race course for a high school cross country team I coached about 8 years ago.  It was considered one of the hardest courses in the district but now feels pretty tame overall.

I rolled into the Foggy Dew campsite Thursday afternoon and grabbed a stunning spot right where 2 creeks come together.  Quickly met my camping neighbors which turned out to be a group down from Canada down for the race.  Amazing group of folks and a joy to be around all weekend.

I wanted a peek at the course so I headed up the road a bit and did a 10k out and back.  Oh my, what did I get myself into?  Headed back to the campsite, washed off in the ice cold creek and spent the next day and half before the race enjoying the outdoors, reading, hanging out with my new friends, while waiting for the rest of group to show up.

Race Day.

Up at 4:30 which wasn’t too bad since my internal clock was still on Austin time more or less.  Not a great night of sleep (nor the night before).  I am not a skilled veteran of camping and not well adjusted to sleeping on the hard ground or amongst the rushing waters.  Definitely have gone soft.  Gathered up my gear and my fellow runners and headed up for check-in.

James Varner (race director) gives us the pre-race briefing; difficult and minimal would be the summary.  Minimal course markings.  Minimal aid stations (the 50k and 50m is pretty much self supported with no drop bags).  Watch for horses and motorbikes.  Downgrade if you have any question at all.  He is billing this as the most difficult trail race in Washington.  And then we are on our way.

The course immediately heads onto a single track climb.  It pretty much looks like this:

Photo via Yitka Winn

The group settles in and after the first mile and half the rhythm of hike / run starts to set in.  Having run this first part a few days before, I have a good idea what to expect and know that it is best to be conservative through here since it gets only harder as we go along.  I am striving to run the Tejas Trails way:  steady on the climb, bomb the downhills.

We make our way to the first aid station at the 4.5 mile point.  I am carrying a pack and am well stocked with supplies so I cruise by to find a nice relatively flat section which leads us to first, holy $#@! climb up a set of switch backs that take us above the tree line.  Up to this point we had been bouncing along at about a 10-12% average grade with a few stretches up to 20%.  The switchbacks were 30% grade average.  It didn’t take that long to get through them, only about 15 minutes, but it moment of truth.  The only thing that was reassuring was that everyone was hitting the wall with me.  At this time I was in a pack of about 10 runners and I let a few go by.  These were locals who trained in these mountains with much stronger climbing legs.  Had a nice chat with a 50k runner from Kolowna until I let him continue on ahead.

The switchbacks also introduce us to the technical portion of the course.  Up to this point, the trail has been mostly soft dirt and few rocks or roots.  A patch of mud here and creek there but very easy going footing wise.  Above the tree line was a different story.  The switchbacks are loose rock over hard rock.  Sharp turns with serious fall off would warrant attention on the way back down.

Photo via Thomas Frizelle

The switchbacks dumped us into Merchants Basin.  After the proceeding climb, you have a moment of hope of a flat section but it is a cruel lie.  The basin is mile or so section of 15% average grade single track where you have the option either running in a ankle to hip deep narrow rut lined with rocks or running up next to the track where you find ankle breaking mini-moguls of dirt.  I did a bit of both.  I felt like I made fairly ok progress through here but looking back at my splits, it was slow going.  I had gone from averaging around 15 minute pace for the first 4.5 miles to 20 minute pace average the next 3.  Through this area I made up a bit of ground on the few people ahead of me.  I couldn’t see the lead pack but figured that they were nearing the peak soon.

The basin is where the scale of the whole race really hits you.  Up to that point you are among the trees.  It is lovely with the creek and waterfalls to one side but your view is pretty limited to those area immediately around you.  In the basin everything opens up.

Photo via Thomas Frizelle

The basin trail does a long switch back that leads into another section of evil.  A mile or so of 20% grade climbs over a rocky trail.   One section peaked out at 39% grade and there was good sections of 25% plus.   But were were nearing the top so time to get a move on.  It was in this section, about a mile from the top I saw Erik Stanley bouncing down the trail.  Gave him a “Longhorns represent” as he cruised by.  Erik had brought up a group from Rogue that had trained for this race.  It was great to have contingent of Austin folks in the race and all acquitted themselves very well.  A few minutes later second came through and from there to the top it was a balance between staying focused on the climb and dodging runners coming down the hill.  I saw one of my new Canadian friends in about 8th but not too far back from the top 5.

I had caught back up to the 50k runner from Kolowna and he asked me about how I was finding the elevation.  I hadn’t given it any thought to that point.  We were 8,000 feet up so not too bad but certainly a change for us flat landers.  It was easier than breathing on our 100 degree runs;  the air was cool and felt great to me.

There is a short flat section from the peak to the turnaround spot.  After an hour of hard climbing it was nice to stretch the legs out.   The view that opens up at the turn around spot is stunning.  You can see all the way to Mount Rainer.

Photo via Thomas Frizelle

I didn’t stop to admire the view.  Others were smarter in that they took a few moments to have a snack and enjoy the view, but I wanted to get down.  It was time to start running fast.  I felt surprising good at this point and knew that I could step on gas and attack the second half.  I caught 2 runners within the first half mile or so on the hard scrabble descent into Merchants Basin.  Per the Texas way, I said ‘great job’ or the like to everyone on the way down.  Not sure if that is as much of thing up here as I didn’t really see it amongst others.  Barreling through the basin was tricky as this is where I ran into the bulk of the pack.  Some were in the trench and some where up next to it and that made it tricky when you are coming down so fast at them.  Games of chicken ensued and I had to jump in and out of the trench more than a few times.   I glanced behind me and saw that I had put some pretty good distance on the runners behind me.

By the time I got to the aid station, I figured that I was pretty much locked into whatever position I was in barring some drastic happening.  I wasn’t going to be caught and I knew there was a pretty good gap to the group ahead.  I was at least 20-25 minutes back of Rob (the Canadian) at the turnaround.  I figured I was just outside the top 10 but at the aid station they told me I was in 6th which sounded completely wrong.  I figured I needed about 20 oz of water for the rest of the journey and was surprised to find I still that much left.  So a glass of water, some M&Ms (they just struck me as a brilliant idea at that moment) and I headed on my way.

The rest of the way you could really fly with the good footing and some sections of longer straight aways.  I cranked away at sub 7:30 pace until it would start to catch up with me or I’d get a bit out of control and then I’d slow or stop for a second, get my balance back and spin it up again.  Also stopped to cool my hands in a creek which was lovely.  It was through here when I actually felt the elevation more as the pressure built back up.  Not sure if was made worse by the sinus cold I had been battling the past week but it was similar to the change you feel as you drop in for landing on a plane.

Before long I was at the finish.  My thighs were really starting to complain that last mile but I knew I was close so I didn’t pay them much head.  I came across at 3:04:55.  11th place which was much closer to what I expected (out of 70 finishers).  Looking at the results later, I realize I made up a good amount of time on the way down and was about 10 minutes out 6th where Rob came in after passing a couple people himself on the descent.  It took me just over 2 hours to get to the top and just over an hour to get back down.

Race in review.

Overall, I am very happy with the run.  Joe Prusaitis, John Kuss, and the rest of the Tejas Trails group did a great job preparing me.  The competitive part of me wishes I would have pushed harder up on the way up.  I felt pretty great at the finish, though that could have just been the elations of a finishing a great run through an amazing course.  I had done very well on my nutrition and hydration.  I probably could have cut out 15 minutes on the climb but hard to know what the cost would have been.  Would I have been able to bomb the downhill like I did with completely trashed legs?

However, it wasn’t all roses.  My lower back started killing me about 2.5 miles in and it would be a recurring feature of the climb up.  I think the cause is a weak core which leads to poor form on climbs where I lean too far forward.  That is something to work on and would have made a huge difference on the ascent.

Now time to pick the next race.  I tentatively had the last Capt’n Karl’s race in the plan, mostly as a training run but I have other plans that weekend.  Perhaps a Cactus Rose Relay leg?  Maybe the Warda 50k?  The next run I know I want to do and be specifically prepped for is the Bandara 50k.

Me (in orange) giving chase at the top of Angels Staircase.  Photo by Glenn Tachiyama.  Another picture of me by Glenn:

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