Chuckanut 50K Race Report – 2018

This was my first race of the year, and wow, I couldn’t have hoped for a better day and race experience! It’s a classic race here in the Pacific Northwest, and takes place near Bellingham (about 1.5 hours north of Seattle), and mostly in Larrabee State Park. I’ve run the Chuckanut 50K twice before (2016 report and 2017 report), so I’ve seen the course in both great and dreadful conditions. We got lucky on this day (apologies for the lame St. Patrick’s Day pun), and had a sunny, brisk, and most importantly, a dry day.

This race is always such a great way to start off the racing season. It features 5,500 feet of elevation (mostly concentrated in the middle 18 miles), and it has a great variety of terrain: runnable flats, medium and steep ascents on forest roads and trails, a medium descent, and technical trails to top it off. With terrain like that, it can act like a litmus test on what skills you still need to work on for upcoming races. I’m already aware of my weaknesses, but it was also good to see where I’ve improved somewhat (climbing) and have a reminder of where I still need some work (technical trails.)

So, to race day. We were instructed to park at a lot about 10 minutes away and use the provided shuttles to get to the start/finish. It worked well, and kept the parking lot at the start/finish from being a nightmare. In the start/finish area, there was check-in, sponsor tents, food trucks (for post-race), a truck for drop bags, a line of portas, and very welcome on that cold morning – a warming building. I knew the day would warm up eventually, but we started off in the mid-30s or so. I don’t think it ever got much above 50 over the course of the day, but again, at least it was dry.

Something new this year: instead of safety pins, they gave out Buddy “Bib” Clips to attach bibs to your person. It’s a less damaging alternative for clothing, and has two pieces for each clip that snap together with clothing in between. I, like many ultrarunners, generally wear bibs on our legs to allow for jacket/top changes. With skintight capris, it presented an… interesting challenge to attach the bib without accidentally flashing people. 😉 The bib clips held up well during the race, but afterward unsnapped with non-running movement. I’m not sure I’d want to use them for a longer race that would provide rougher treatment, but they were fun to try for this race.

Now, for the actual race report! The course has very distinct sections, so I’ll reference the colors on the map below to indicate with section I’m talking about.

Interurban Trail (orange on the map):

They told us there were 525 starters this year, so that’s a fair number of bodies out there. However, the course lends itself well to spreading everyone out in the first few miles, so it never feels too crowded. It’s always a challenge to not go out too fast because it’s so runnable. The morning light was showing off Chuckanut Bay quite beautifully, but I didn’t want to stop for photos right away. Sorry!

To pass the time in this first six miles, I struck up a conversation with another runner, Kevin. I always enjoy meeting new people during races, trading running antecedents and future goals. Our conversation made this section pass fairly quickly, and before we knew it, we were at the aid station. I grabbed an orange and Snickers and kept on going. Then the elevation gain began.

Fragrance Lake Trail (pink):

After getting my butt kicked on a training run two weeks ago during this section, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. However, the dry conditions of the day made this part less traumatic than it’s been in the past. I just focused on powering hiking up the switchbacks.

One runner in front of me, Marcos, was wearing shorts with Simpson-style donuts on them, and I had to ask, “Are those your motivation?” He said yes! It was his first ultra, and evidently he had some donuts at the end to celebrate the achievement. Hey, whatever works! Again, chatting with my fellow runners (as much as possible on uphill terrain) made this section go quickly. Before I knew it, we were done with the switchbacks and at Fragrance Lake! It was reflecting beautifully in the morning light, and was a nice reward for our hard work.

Two Dollar Trail (pink, part II):

I’ve said it before, but this short trail is my favorite part of the course. It’s beautiful, runnable, and has peekaboo views of Chuckanut Bay before you drop back down to Cleator Road. It’s only a few miles long, but it is fun. On this part Marcos and I swapped race and runcation stories – always a favorite topic out on the trails. Nothing like dreaming of other races and routes while you’re doing one, ha! Shortly, we were heading down the switchbacks and could hear the welcome racket of the aid station below.

Cleator Road (green):

The more times I’ve run this course, the less I dread Cleator Road. Don’t get me wrong, slogging up an annoyingly pitched forest road isn’t my idea of a party, but it’s better than a sharp stick in the eye, right? Hike when you need to, run when you can. If possible, chat with the other runners to distract yourself and listen for the music from the aid station at the top! We also saw a few of the race leaders coming back down to finish out the remaining 9 or so miles. Wow.

The aid station at the top was appropriately St. Patrick’s Day themed, and while I was oh-so-tempted by a shot of whiskey for liquid courage… I (wisely?) declined. (No worries, I celebrated with a dram at home post-race!)

Ridge Trail (purple):

The Ridge Trail is the most technical part of this course, and not my strongest section. I constantly stepped aside to let others pass by because they were on my heels, and I felt a dip in confidence and touch of frustration that even with my years of experience, I’m still not great at moving quickly through technical sections. I just value my limbs intact and unbroken, okay?? At least there are lots of fun signs along this part of the course to keep your spirits up.

At one point, while scrambling up some gnarly rocks, a runner ahead of me said, “This is Chinscraper, right?” I laughed and responded, “Definitely not. You’ll know. There will be signs!”

I connected with one group of runners about 2/3 of the way through, and while we were cruising along, we suddenly heard whooping and howling. What the hell? We weren’t close enough to the end for the water station…? A few hikers were at a lookout and making quite the racket that carried through the forest. We all smiled and their energy gave us a boost to finish off this section.

Near the end of this section, I stopped to take a picture of a giant, mossy boulder (yes, I realize they’re not in short supply in the PNW), and while putting my phone away, I saw a flash go off. There was a photographer hiding in the bushes! Nice that ultrarunning is getting popular enough for some paparazzi. 😉

North Lost Lake Trail (purple, part II):

At this point, I was roughly halfway through the race, and this was really my only low point. I’d gone decently far, but still had ways to go, and this section isn’t exactly inspiring. Really, though, I generally kept in good spirits the whole race. That was a wonderfully pleasant alternative to the downward mental spiral I’ve sometimes found myself battling mid-race.

Much of this section is runnable, but many racers walk parts of it because it’s a 5 mile bit that can feel like it won’t ever end. It was remarkably dry on race day (last year it was a river of mud), and all of the ice and snow from two weeks ago had since melted. I dug in, and just focused on moving forward since we really only had one more big climb to go. As always – relentless forward progress.

Chinscraper (blue):

Lost Lake was finally done, and I reached the aid station! I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the volunteers was my friend, Sean (we ran parts of Javelina Jundred together last year)! We had a nice chat while I refueled.

The aid station had a fun Hawaiian theme, which included some non-standard food choices like onigiri (rice in nori seaweed – a running snack I’ve used before), some crunchy, salty snacks with seaweed, and fried sausage that was delicious. After a brief catch-up with Sean, it was on to the most famous challenge of the course – Chinscraper.

The last climb. Without the slippery mud and sideways hail of last year, it was definitely easier! Glenn Tachiyama, a local favorite photographer, is always at the same spot about halfway up.

Going into the climb, I just reminded myself that it’s not that long, and it’s a hiking break before the final push of solid running to the end. Before too long, I was at the top!

Fragrance Lake Road (blue, part II):

A quick stop at a pit toilet felt luxurious, and then the running began. Down, down, down all of that elevation we worked so hard to gain (three times up the same mountain.) At first it’s nice to just let gravity take over, but it’s a long road, so it was a relief to get a flatter part in the middle. Downhill is killer to my recovering hamstring, and it was protesting at this point. Nothing to do for it but beg forgiveness of my body and go down, though!

Interurban Trail (red):

At the bottom of the downhill was the aid station I was most looking forward to. Not because of food, but because my dear friend Tara was there! She was volunteering, and getting to see and talk to her was a wonderful boost. Her positivity and enthusiasm is infectious (which I learned from her pacing me at Javelina last year.) <3 After chatting a bit, pounding back orange slices and Snickers (sooooo delicious), I was ready to push to the finish.

I had been doing the math and knew that I could PR…but if I actually pushed hard, I could possibly break 7 hours. I originally had no goals coming into this race beyond finishing, due to rebuilding from my hamstring injury. Now that I was having such a good day and it was actually a possibility, it became my main focus.

The first two miles of this last stretch felt easy. I was riding high on Snickers and Tara’s positivity! When I felt my energy dip, I ate my last Hammer gel and reminded myself that if I just wanted a casual run, I didn’t have to pay a race fee for it. Let’s go.

I wasn’t flying by any means, but I’ll admit to being proud of managing just under a 10 minute mile pace during the last part of a 50K. I passed over a dozen people on this last stretch.

Finally, I rounded the last corner and saw the finishing chute. As I crossed the line I heard my name and there was Tara! I was so happy a friend was there to celebrate my sub-7 hour accomplishment with me!

Some quick numbers:

Finishing time: 6:58:12

Elevation gain: ~5,500 feet

Calories consumed: ~1,000 (5 Glutino Oreos, 2 Hammer gels, 1 pouch sweet potato/apple baby food, 1/3 roasted sweet potato, 1 orange, 4 mini Snickers, 1 small onigiri, bite of sausage)

Overall, this race really went so much better than I had (honestly) expected. Prior to the race I was (and still am) pretty stressed and busy at work. While certainly not fun, at least I didn’t have the time/energy to stress about the race. This helped me immensely as my race anxiety can be intense sometimes, but not this time! Instead, I just went out for a run in the woods with some like-minded yahoos and came away with a fantastic day and a personal best. What more could I ask for? 🙂