Chuckanut Training Run 2018

This weekend was the annual Chuckanut Training Run (thanks for hosting Balanced Athlete and Aspire Adventure Running!) I’ve run the Chuckanut 50K twice now (2016 race report and 2017 race report), so I knew what to expect on the course. However, I was grateful to have this opportunity to get reacquainted with it’s challenges and charms, and have a great excuse to get some solid time away from work and commune with our beautiful PNW forests and ridges. I was lucky enough to meet up with a few fellow High Heel Running Group women at the start of the run, and we had a great day together!

The Chuckanut Training Run consists of the middle 30K of the race. It’s easily the toughest part of the course, and has something like 4,600 ft of gain in 18.6ish miles. For reference on the map below, we did the pink, green, purple and blue sections. We started from the Lost Lake parking lot, off of Chuckanut Drive.

The first part of this run is two miles of switchbacks up from the Lost Lake Parking Lot to Fragrance Lake. Everyone was raring to go and was powering up this section. I was left wondering if I had really done all of the hill repeats in the past month or if they were all a dream because I was really sucking down some air. It’s pretty, but definitely up, up, up.

After we got to Fragrance Lake, everyone had started to spread out, and us four (Sarah, Christy, Heather, and myself) had to stop to take a picture because the lake was like glass. It was then that we all agreed that we were happy to stop and take photos. We were here for training, yes, but enjoyment too. No pressure for time!

Next up was the Two Dollar Trail – my favorite two miles of the course! It’s a runnable and beautiful section that always reminds me of what trailrunning is to me. There are enough roots and rocks to wake up you now and then, but you can just run, and enjoy the trees, ferns, and views of the bay in the distance.

After a wonderful few miles, we hit Cleator Road. The favorite of no one. It’s a three mile slog up a forest road. This was made slightly more interesting due to snow about halfway up, and sadly, pieces of a plane involved in a fatal crash a few weeks ago. We were told not to take photos, so we respected the request. I will be interested to see if the plane is still there come race day in two weeks.

Once we (finally!) reached the top of Cleator Road, we were rewarded with a lovely view of the Cascades! Every other time I’ve been here, it’s been cloudy (or actively precipitating), so I was thrilled to actually get some mountain views.

Then…the Ridge Trail. It’s a few miles of the more technical sort, and definitely forces you to pay attention. I will admit it’s not my favorite part of the course, but it also wasn’t as bad as I remembered. It could also be because we were all having a lovely chat – part of which was around whisky and the whisky-making process! My heart be still. That’s always the way to distract me on a tricky route. (Take note, any future pacers, lol.) We were lucky in getting lots of views from the ridgeline and that made this tricky trail worth it. At one point, we even saw a bald eagle soaring over the valley. Very cool.

The typically runnable Lost Lake section was much longer than I remembered, and far hillier. However, there was some interesting ice on the cliffsides (and a bit on the trail.) Very eye-catching, and we speculated on how loud (and/or dangerous) it was when some of these huge icicles crashed down.

Next up was the often dreaded “Chinscraper” part of the route. It wasn’t too bad, but you know, does have steep parts as the name suggests! Also, because it is a mountain biking trail, we were going against some established etiquette by being on it (especially as cyclists were bombing down it.)

We just kept on trucking and chatting, and before too long, we were officially done with all of the ascent of the day. At the very top, we got this absolute amazing view – so beautiful on this bluebird day! There also was some helpful signage that indicated the different islands in the distance, and I learned that you can even see Canada (on the right, in the back.) Very cool.

Now we just had to go down…and down…and down. This part is runnable, which is great if you’re looking to make up some time. There was a road washout here, though, but it’s passable due to a small strip of intact road. Then, finally, we were done!

The lovely folks at Aspire Adventure Running had warm soup and snacks waiting. (The lentil soup was divine.) Sitting in the warming sun with snacks in hand is definitely the best way to end a chilly run.

I really loved sharing the trail with my fellow High Heelers! It was so fun to get to know these awesome ladies better, and crazy to think I likely wouldn’t have met them if it weren’t for trailrunning because we all have such different careers. We had a great time talking about races, families, our work, and yes, whisky (yay!) All in all, it was a beautiful day out there on the Chuckanut course with three wonderful women. <3