Old Cascadia 100 | Ultra #041
Pre Race
At the end of February, I had just finished my first 200
mile race (https://trevormeding.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-franklins-200.html)
followed up with Jackalope Jam 24 hr, where I obtained my goal of 100 miles (https://trevormeding.blogspot.com/2019/06/100-miles-is-not-that-far.html).
I then realized how much I loved these longer distances. I just knew I wanted
to run more 100 milers. And with that the UltraSignUp search was on and I came
across this epic race out in Oregon, Old Cascadia, that
had only been on for one year but with tons of vert and some epic scenery to
its credit. Early in March I pulled the trigger and convinced the family to
come with me to Oregon for a race adventure in the Cascade mountains.
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| Travelling with my crew as we arrive in Oregon | Photo: Katie Meding |
Mid-June was finally upon us and I had been counting down
for weeks now. At this point, my last race was back at the end of May which
seems like an eternity to me, since I enjoy racing a lot with my Trail RacingOver Texas (TROT) schedule and the extra races I find to fill in the
gaps. I had booked off work Wednesday morning as our flight was that afternoon.
Oregon was lush and green beyond depths as expected once we got to my wife’s
brother’s place in Wilsonville. I got in a short shakeout on Thursday to enjoy
some of the lushness in a local park there. Friday we travelled southeast down
to our Airbnb in Sisters which was only 35 minutes from the start line in Willamette
National Forest. The pre-race anxiety was there as usual and I tried to sleep
with the rest of my crew in our cozy loft style house. I slept good once the
kids settled in.
Race Day
03:30 wake up to be on the road by 04:00 for the 40-ish
minute drive to the start line. My wife and I packed the kids and gear into the
van and headed to the start line/bib pickup. We arrived with plenty of time
ahead of the 06:00 start time. I walked over to the start area in the brisk 38f
morning mountain air. It sure felt cold to what I was used to in Texas, but at
the same time the crispness was refreshing, reminding me of back home in AB,
Canada. 10 minutes to go and the race directors, Trevor Hostetler & Janessa
Taylor, gave the briefing. Here we go! The 47 starters lined up (along with an
additional ~65ish 50 milers) and off we went.
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| Race morning bright and early | Photo: Katie Meding |
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| Standing with 3 oldest daughters as they stayed warm by the propane fire just before the start of the race | Photo: Katie Meding |
The Course
This course is a 50 mile giant lollipop. There is a 10 mi
“stick” to the first aid station where it proceeds to be a large 50 km (30 mi)
clockwise circle (“the lollipop”) where you return to this original aid station
and then return the 10 miles back down the “stick” to the start finish. There are
4 major climbs within this course that are all at least 2 miles long with
significant gain which comes out to ~12,500 ft per 50 miles (25,000 ft+
overall). At least the amazing Cascade scenery distracts you during all of
these. The only road section was a 1 mi pavement road (2.0%) + 0.6 mi gravel
access road (1.2%) at the very start of the race. The other 48.4 mi (96.8%) of
the loop was all awesome singletrack trail.
The race provided excellent detailed maps and elevation
profiles on their website prior to the race which was useful in preparing.
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| Source: Alpine Running website |
Loop 1
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| Bridge at about 3.5 mi from start | Taken from Old Cascadia Facebook page | Photo: unknown |
Since the start was all intermixed of the 100 & 50
milers it was very confusing as to who was in what distance. This was good and
bad. The plus was it forced me to run my own pace and not judge based off the
others around since I did not know exactly what distance they were doing. I
settled in and followed a group of 5 or so where we were all cruising at the
same pace once we got to the singletrack after the 1.6 mi road sections. The
next portion of the 10 mi “stick” part of the course consists of a nice long
2,700 ft climb which ensured you wouldn’t go out too fast. Once you got to the
summit of this first peak and tagged it, we then cruised down a long flowing
section nearly losing all the elevation we had just gained.
After finally getting to the first aid, we veered off to
the left and headed back deep into the Willamette National Forest. I was so
excited and looking forward to what lies ahead as it was all new trails and
terrain to me. I knew the approximate splits between aid but I did not have it
super memorized. There were a couple longer gaps around 10 miles so I made sure
I always filled up water & fuel when I could.
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| Greeting my 2 oldest daughters 50 km in | Photo: Katie Meding |
At the Quarry, which was mile 31 (50 km into the run), I
got the opportunity to see my crew (a.k.a. my family) for the first time. This
was a huge boost. My watch was reading slightly under mileage at this point and
so it was a bonus surprise when the aid station was within ears reach. I also
knew this was close to 1/3 of the race complete, which was also a good positive
mental point. I told my wife I’d be here at approximately 6 hrs and I came in
right around 5 hrs 55 mins --- as close as one can get in time estimation
during an ultra. I felt good and was energized by seeing my family. I refueled
and turned back out, mentioned I was aiming for 11 hrs total elapsed time (to
the next aid station they’d have access to).
There was a nice little 3 mile section here down around
to the next aid, but then it was the longest climb of the race – the pyramid
trails. This was a 2,700 ft+ climb up the mountain all the way to the peak. It
was steep and steady climb all the way. Once at the top I noted it was
essentially 20 km (12.5 mi) back to the start/finish. Little did I know this is
where the quad crushin’ descents would take its toll. I don’t know the exact
tally, but about 75% of those last 20 km were downhill! It was all downhill
back to the first aid station, where there was a small ~2,000 ft climb up then
all downhill again back to the start/finish which included that road section
there. Since I was “only” half way through the race I felt ok still I was doing
a decent pace down these last 13 mi. I was holding onto a runner in front of me
(which I think was a 50 miler) to hold my pace.
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| Running on the lush PNW singletrack with a bunch of runners loop 1 | Photo: Kyle Meck |
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| Taken from Old Cascadia Facebook page | Photo: unknown |
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| Taken from Old Cascadia Facebook page | Photo: unknown |
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| Taken from Old Cascadia Facebook page | Photo: unknown |
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| Epic Cascade scenery, awesome photography here | Photo Kyle Meck |
Interloop
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| Coming in to start/finish half for 50 mi seeing my family | Photo: Kyle Meck |
Coming into the road section at the very end I glanced at
my watch and sure enough I was nearing my 11 hr estimate. I was hoping my
family was there and ready for me, and sure enough once I turned that corner at
10 hr 58 min I saw the arch and crossed the line for lap 1 in nearly exactly
what I had told my wife. I sat down here in a chair for the first time and got
some calories in and conversed with my wife and kids. I only managed to stay
just over 12 minutes as I got my food in and refilled my pack. I re-applied my Trail Toes to prevent any issues. Soon I was off
again headed back out for another trip around the lollipop. I told my wife I
would be back for 24 hrs (best case), but more likely 26 hrs (which would be
08:00).
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| Family crewing at halfway point | Photo: Katie Meding |
Loop 2
Knowing exactly what to expect for this loop I knew the
downhill sections would be the part that may or may not be my undoing of the
race. I headed out trying to keep my pace best I could on the uphill sections
hiking steady. There was no sign if muscle cramps or fatigue yet. But once I
got to that first peak and had to run 2,500 ft back down to the aid station my
quads could feel every single step. From this early part of loop 2, I knew that
downhill running would be my nemesis. Once I got that first 10 mile “stick”
portion done I had to switch on my headlamp as the darkness was creeping in.
Normally I enjoy the night running but today the night hit hard and made me
feel a little sleepy very early on. I was doing a little sleep running, not
fully concentrating on the steps and it took a bit for me to snap out of that.
But by the time I came around to the Quarry again mile 31 into the loop (mile
81 overall), I was fully lucid again. I sat down here and got in some great
calories thanks to the aid station volunteers: bacon, quesadillas, and soup
broth. This definity revived me and my spirits at the time. The only thought in
my mind at this point was the fact that there was so much downhill left, but
first I had the largest climb ahead me.
The pyramid trail was again a long grind as anticipated
but I got it done in the darkness and took a moment there at the summit to take
it in. I sat there for a few moments and breathed deeply knowing it was mostly
downhill ahead of me (and this was the quad crusher). I pushed through best I
could and ran the downhill as much as I could. The pain was setting in every step,
but I continued to focus on the finish line. On the long way down to the
original aid station I was no longer in need of my headlamp as the sun was
peeking back through the tall trees. I was about 2 miles to the aid station on
that decent and looked down to check the time – shit – my watch was off, it had just run out of batteries. Earlier
at the Quarry aid station, I took out my used battery charger and placed it in
the drop bag, I just never replaced it with the fully charged one I had sitting
there waiting – rookie mistake.
I got to that aid station and knew I was now 90% done…just
10 miles to go and just one last climb. My goal of 24hrs was now out the window
at is was essentially 06:00 now. I filled up on calories one last time and hit
the trails with that end in sight. Day light was slowing creeping higher as the
morning temperature was just about perfect to run in, not too cold now, but not
yet too warm. The last miles were not the fastest nor the easiest, but they
went by as I just anticipated seeing my family at the finish.
Popping out of that last singletrack and knowing I only
had 1.6 miles to the finish was a great feeling. Since my watch was off I didn’t
know exactly what time of morning it was but I figured I would be over my 26:00
estimation (which is turned out was fairly accurate). I got to the final
pavement section and the last 0.5 mi I started passing cars and some of the
spectators and crew vehicles of people. I got a few cheers and words of encouragement
here and turned the final corner where I could see the finishing parking lot. I
saw my wife in the distance standing in the road peering down looking for me. I
saw her gather up the kids and inform them I was coming. My 3 oldest daughters
ran down the road to me, this is the best feeling. I gave them all a big hug
and then gathered them all up and even got the youngest from my wife too. After
26 hours and 43 minutes I crossed the finish with all 4 of my daughters beside
me as we passed under the arch!
Done.
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| Crossing the finish line 26:43:49 | Photo: Katie Meding |
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| Presented with my buckle. With Race Directors Trevor Hostetler & Janessa Taylor | Photo: Katie Meding |
Gear Used
Gear Bags:
VictorySportdesign
Drop Bag:
VictorySportdesign (Coyote II)
Shorts:
rabbit
FKT 5” (gecko green)
Shoes:
AltraRunning TIMP 1.5
Socks:
Drymax Socks
(2 pairs)
Jackets:
rabbit
elements jacket
Headwear:
rabbit
(BOCO gear), multiple buffs
Sunglasses:
Goodr
Watch:
Garmin Fenix 3 HR
Hydration:
NathanSports Inc Grit 7L Race Hydration Vest (electric blue), Nathan Sports Inc
VaporKrar WaistPak (black)
Headlamp:
NathanSports Inc Halo Fire
Calf Sleeves: Zensah compression leg sleeves (Lego print)
Nutrition:
Tailwind Nutrition, fruit, coca-cola, and a
bunch Hammer Nutrition gels and Muir Energy gels. Really enjoyed the aid stations
with bacon, quesadillas, and got in quite of bit of soup broth during the night
hours.
Results
7th overall (M6) | 102.69 mi | 24,785 ft+ | 26:43:49
My 41st ultramarathon.
As mentioned my stupid watch froze due to my error in
battery management and so the activity is split up over 2 entries:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2475405519
(the first 90.10 mi recorded)
https://www.strava.com/activities/2475529313
(the finishing 12.59 mi manual entry)
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| 100 Mile Finisher buckle |
Thank you
A big shout out to my 2019 supporters:
Victory Sportdesign
| Team Victory
Nathan Sports Inc | Team Nathan
Alpine Running for
being awesome hosts and putting on a stellar event out here in the middle of
the Cascades. The Race directors: Trevor Hostetler & Janessa Taylor. They
have found a gem of a course I know they will grow this event.
My wife, Katie, whom is always my biggest supporter and
allows me to do these crazy adventures (Lucky for me we were able to make this
a family vacation and visit her brother out on Oregon around this race). I am
so thankful when Katie is able to attend and be there to support me. Her crewing
with 4 little ones is no small feat in itself. My 4 daughters who inspire me as
well, again it is amazing to see their smiles after long efforts.
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