![]() It was my birthday, I was there to party. I was putting down fluids and food well and cheering for folks out enjoying the sunny weekend. In the back of my mind I was worried what might happen once we got past the 31 mile mark. The sun was coming up over the hill and we were to treated to the most incredible views of the Columbia River Gorge.Īside from having to pee from about mile 4 to mile 18 (best pee break ever!) and the dreaded 2 mile road section the miles clipped by comfortably. My calves complained up most of the climb but I settled into a comfortable grinding pace. ![]() A line sorted itself out as we continued up the switchbacks, I conservatively tucked in behind Jodee, Ashley, and Amanda. The field comfortably found it’s rhythm as we headed up the first climb of the day. Rainshadow Running’s James Varner led us out for the first 800 meters as we tripped over ourselves, rocks, and sticks. Photos from my wonderful BDP team mate and crew for the day Scarlett Graham I spent the little time I was asleep dreaming I kept running off course (maybe I’ll refrain from reading other folk’s race reports moving forward). Gorge morning came and although I didn’t feel nervous I hardly slept the night before and sprung out of bed when my alarm went off at 3:45am. What I lack in running history I make up for with a misguided sense of my own limitations and years of training intensely for nordic skiing and biathlon. Neither one of us questioned the fact that it would be twice as far as I’ve ever run before or that the race mileage is pretty close to my average weekly mileage… we just jumped in. While shopping for a spring ultra I noticed that Gorge was on my birthday… after talking to my coach it seemed that running 62 miles for my 26th was too perfect. My Bellingham Distance Project singlet gave me extra go-go juice and squeaked in under the 4:30 mark good for 5th, hungry and excited to move on to the next challenge (namely eating my body weight in french fries that evening). I toed the line of my first official ultra on March 19th at the Chuckanut 50km in front of my new home town crowd. Even though my mileage is still lower than most of the women I toe the line with I’ve started to feel more like a runner and less like an imposter.īetween going cross eyed reading scientific journal article after journal article, and settling into my new communities the winter months passed by. Who thought a spring race was a good idea?!?!
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