East of Portland, Oregon
11,000+ ft. of vertical gain
Written by Angela Greynolds
It started out fun and easy…and early. We had a long way to go but had high hopes. Then there were setbacks…frustration…tears. The day wore on, longer than expected. We did a lot of walking. Eventually I went up ahead and wondered what would happen to Stephen. By the end of the day, late at night, I was exhausted.
That was just our travel experience on non-rev passes. Stephen ended up spending Thursday night in the Sacramento airport. Now for the race report…
The Course
This 100k is an out-and-back along the Columbia River Gorge. It passes quite a few amazing waterfalls, and you get some scenic views of the river. The start/finish and each of the aid stations are located close to sea level, down on the road that runs along the river. It’s extremely accessible for crew. Between aid stations, the course climbs up into the tree-covered hills resulting in quite a few climbs, the biggest of which is right at the beginning and end of the race, about 1500 ft. in two miles. I was surprised at how much highway noise there was during the race. You could hear traffic about 1/3 of the time because of how the trail kept returning to the road.
There were numerous stretches on paved road including the lower switchbacks on both sides of that big 1500 ft. climb at the
beginning/end by Multnomah Falls. We also ran almost two miles on the frontage road leading into the second aid station, which was a welcomed mental reprieve after some of the technical downhill earlier in the day (just about the only technical section). Another long stretch of road passed a fish hatchery, and of course we did all of this again on the return trip of the out-and-back.
A big storm just days before resulted in numerous downed trees, especially on the first half of the course, so a lot of time was spent climbing over and crawling under them. There were also a few snow drifts on slopes that we had to carefully walk through, including one early on manned by an EMT because of the danger of someone slipping into the creek. Mud was also prevalent in earlier sections and of course was more difficult to trudge through on the way back after the entire field had gone through it at least once.
My Race
The race has a 17 hour cut-off which isn’t very generous, but it’s a Western States Qualifier, so be it. I wasn’t very confident about finishing within that timeframe going into it because I had not been able to ramp up my weekly mileage very high due to nagging shin pain. I had done numerous tough long runs with some serious climbing though, but my average pace for those runs was not good enough to finish the 100k under 17 hours. I was hoping for a boost from the taper, the close to sea level elevation, and race day grit.
The plan was for Stephen and I to run the entire thing together…unless it looked like I wasn’t going to make the cut-off, in which case he would continue on without me. About halfway to the turnaround, we estimated that we’d probably hit it around 7 hours and 15-30 minutes. When we pulled into that aid station at 50k under 7 hours, I was thrilled. Since I had been hungry for the last half hour and I “had seven minutes to spare,” I went to town on the aid station food, completely unlike me. I had a PB&J roll, grapes, a cutie, a little cup of coke, and probably 15 little Famous Amos cookies. I even filled up a plastic sandwich bag with fruit to take with me. We left the aid station at 7 hours, walking after gorging myself in the Gorge.
At this point, we had banked a lot of time, now with 10 hours to do the return trip. Totally got this! Finishing under the cut-off seemed like a given, and Stephen put it out there that we could probably do it under 15 hours. That was a pretty reasonable goal, but it continued to slip away as the day went on, and eventually I emotionally told him, “I don’t want to try for 15 hours! I just want to finish. That goal is really stressing me out right now!” We ended up finishing in 16:04, hand in hand, after a very tough last 10 miles.
I attribute my downward spiral to the following:
- The outside of my left knee became the ultimate limiting factor. It was pretty painful, especially when going downhill. Eventually the back inside of my right knee joined in, and I was a hobbling mess. We had to walk almost all of the last 10 miles which included that giant climb and then descent that I mentioned earlier.
- After eating like a champ at the turnaround aid station, my will to eat faded. Perhaps shot blocs just couldn’t compare to those Famous Amos cookies, but I definitely did not eat enough late in the race. I subsisted on my soft flask filled with flat Coke for the last 6 miles.
- I was undertrained. 50k shape, yes. 100k shape, not so much.
Regardless, I gritted it out determined to finish, and thanks to the solid first half of the race, I had plenty of time to do so.
Weather and Clothing
Being from Arizona, I was concerned about the rainy forecast. To me, rain means a serious downpour. The rain ended up not being an issue though because it actually only rained a few times during the day, and it was pretty light each time. Stephen and I had each recently purchased Patagonia Houdini jackets, and they were perfect. They kept us dry, and they packed down into their own pocket, weighing only 3.3 ounces, so they were extremely easy to carry all day long.
It was cold at the start, but because of the humidity, it didn’t really feel that cold. I ended up stripping down by the drop bag drop-off area so that I could take off my long-sleeved turtle neck compression top because as soon as we got out of the car, I knew I was going to be hot with it on. I stashed it in the drop bag that we would hit 12 miles from the end and ran the majority of the race with just a short-sleeved tech shirt. At that aid station though, I was extremely grateful to have that warm shirt waiting for me because it was starting to get cold, especially with all the walking. I had a hell of a time getting it on though because of the humidity. I struggled even to get my gloves off! So sticky!
I decided to wear long pants for the race, which ultimately I think was the right choice, but I also wanted to wear one of my skirts because of the abundance of pockets that they provide. When we did the Grand Canyon, I wore the skirt over the pants, which I regretted because I got warm and wanted to take the pants off but would have had to also remove my skirt to do so. So at the race, I wore the pants over the skirt’s undershorts so that I could take them off if needed. Turns out I never wanted to take them off, but instead I made it pretty challenging to get things back into my skirt pockets because there was so much tight fabric to deal with. At one point I ended up with a shot bloc package down by my knee because I had missed the skirt pocket entirely and basically just put it in my pant leg. Eventually I will figure this pants/skirt thing out…or better yet someone needs to sell pants with a built in skirt and pockets!
I changed my shoes at about 40 miles because part of the tread was hanging off of my Hoka Challengers. That pair has had a rough go with loose tread from the start, so I wasn’t surprised.
We started with headlamps and stashed them in the drop bag at the second aid station, then picked the headlamps back up on the return trip.
Gloves were essential at the end when it got cold, but I wish I had a waterproof pair because they don’t do much warming when they’re wet.
We did not use hiking poles, but the race allows them, and we saw two or three people with them.
I wore my old Garmin Forerunner 220 but had it turned off the entire race. We used Stephen’s new Garmin Fenix 3 and planned to turn mine on only if his died and we needed to capture the last part. It was a little weird running without a watch, and looking back, I think I should have at least just had it on for the time so that I could have stayed on top of my nutrition better.
Lodging
We stayed at the Best Western Plus Columbia River Inn which is about 40 minutes east of the Portland Airport. It’s a nice, clean 3-story hotel found immediately after exiting I-84 into Cascade Locks. It has an indoor pool and spa which we took advantage of the day before, and it overlooks the Columbia River. A big perk of this hotel is that the complimentary breakfast isn’t just your standard hotel lobby fare. You get to order off the menu of the diner next door. The food was great, and the views from the dining room were even better!
Morning of the Race Logistics
The race starts at the Benson State Recreation Area which doesn’t have enough parking for everyone AND only has an exit when headed east. Since our hotel was east of the start, we had to pass it going west, get off at the next exit, turn around, and come back to it. This added at least another 10 minutes on. The parking lot also only has one machine to buy a parking pass, but luckily it’s the same parking pass for the entire state, so we stopped at that other exit (Rooster Rock State Park) and bought our ticket before turning around to get back to Benson State Recreation Area.
Unfortunately when we arrived it looked like we were the very first car to be turned away because the lot was full, so we had to get back on the highway, go a mile east, and park at the Multnomah Falls lot. There were volunteers directing us on how to walk back which included a tunnel under the highway and then a grassy mile along the lake which was the first mile of the race in reverse. We showed up at the start 15 minutes before the race began. That was just the right amount of time to pick up our bibs, pin them on, pick up our race shirts (because they will sell them to someone else if you don’t pick them up before the race), put them in our drop bags, change out of the compression shirt and put it in my drop bag, put the drop bags in the appropriate piles, and use the restroom. Fwew!
After the Race
We finished just after 10pm, and it was so cold once our bodies cooled down. I ate a cup of noodles under a ramada while I shivered, and Stephen got a slice of pizza. We both really wanted to hang out and enjoy the free beer and food, but it was just too cold, so we didn’t stick around for long at all. Rather than walk another mile back to our car, we picked up our drop bags by the parking lot and waited for someone who looked like they were leaving to ask them for a ride. Coincidentally, the dark shadow with a headlamp on that I ended up asking turned out to be the same guy I sat next to while we both changed our shoes at mile 40. He was happy to drive us to our car, and we were happy to get warmed up and out of there faster.
Recovery
I had the hardest time sleeping that night because of my knee pain even though I was completely exhausted. In the morning, I filled the recycle bin (yes, the hotel room had a blue recycle bin) with water and ice and dipped each knee into it for 8 minutes while I awkwardly laid on the couch with one leg hanging off the side. That immediately knocked out the pain on the front of my right knee (something I never felt during the race), but only somewhat helped the outside left and back of right knee pain.
I continued this ice bath ritual for a few days and did one 15 minute bike ride two days after the race, but in hindsight, I should have done more active recovery. It’s been 6 weeks, and I’m still dealing with pain in the outside of my left knee (ITBS). Usually I don’t notice it, but if I sit for too long, especially cross-legged, or I run downhill, it starts to bother me again. Hopefully I can stretch and foam roll myself out of another long-term injury!
Now we’re going to take a break from ultra training for a bit and prepare to return to the Pacific Northwest for the Jack & Jill Downhill Marathon at the end of July, our first marathon!
