McDonald Forest Trail 15k and 5k - Results and Race Review

Yes, I hauled my injured ribs over to McDonald Forest and ran the thing.

If you just need results, here they are.

As to the results, let me just say, I don't know how anyone could run this very hilly and tough course in a 5:54 pace, so nice job, Chris Reed. Mr. Reed also won this race the last time I ran it, in 2011, so he appears to know how to run hills.

And on to the review!

I had run the McDonald Forest Trail 15k once before, so I knew what to expect. Although a big change for this year's race was that Corvallis has just been completely dry pretty much right through October. So it would be a trail run, but it wouldn't be a muddy trail run. Which was probably good because of the sore ribs and all. So what happens about five minutes before the race starts? Yep, a light rain began to fall. Just enough to wet down all the fallen leaves and make it nice and slippery!

So at a reasonable hour of 10:00am, about 250 of us took off into the rain, and while the Mac 15 starts out first thing going uphill, it's only for a few hundred yards, then the course flattens out and is either flat or downhill for pretty much the first three miles. Which is strange because it allows you to go out pretty fast. And that's nice, but you have to be wary of leaving it all right there in the first three miles. Once the hills start in mile four, you need to have something in the tank.

So I went out very slowly and deliberately to test the ribs, but they felt pretty good. After about a half mile, I tried to turn it up a notch and finished the first mile in 8:30. The second mile has some of the best downhill running of the race. Downhill, but not so steep that you've got to brake yourself. I covered the second mile in 8:01.

Then the fun ends. The third mile isn't too bad, with 141 feet of climbing and 83 feet of descent, but it slowed me down to 9:16. And the fourth mile is a teaser. It's bad - 209 feet of climbing, but it's just trying to get you ready for mile five. Mile five goes up 541 feet! Yeah. So those two miles were 10:05 and 12:45 respectively. That fifth mile just eats up your legs. It hard to get back into a decent rhythm after that.



Mile six has quite a bit of climbing - 255 feet - but also quite a bit of downhill - 287 feet. I hit that one at 11:28, proving what I mentioned about mile five taking the starch out of you.

Finally, the downhills start. Mile seven heads down quite a bit and mile eight falls off a cliff, with 492 feet of downhill. It's hard on your feet, knees and ribs! If it were just a touch flatter, you could actually run this mile faster, but you've got to put on the brakes a bit so you don't face-plant. I hit mile seven in 9:20 and mile eight in 7:35.

Finally, mile nine and you think you're there...but no. They throw in a short uphill section in the last half mile just for fun. I was pretty much done at that point and did not exactly attack the hill. Mile nine was in 10:04. And that was it. My Garmin was way off, so I don't have anything for the last three tenths of a mile. My Garmin showed 8.95 miles when I hit the finish line.

And the shirt? Well, you had a choice between bright yellow and lime green. Hmmmmm..... That's not much of a choice. I went for the lime green. Yowza.



It's actually even brighter in real life. It should be good for night visibility...from space. I think the 5k had a white shirt.

And the emblem on the back of the shirt.



This is one of my favorite trail runs in the area. Tough, but not crazy hard. Long, but not stupid long. Late enough in the year for the chance of mud, but not usually freezing cold. It's a good one. I'll be back.

Corvallis Half Marathon Race Review and Results 2013

The leaders at 2.5 miles in...all by themselves already.


All righty, then!

If you're just looking for the results for the Corvallis Half, here they are.

And if you need a race review, well hey, I've got one of those too.

So waking up this morning, and seeing that it was 38 stinking degrees! did not make me that happy, especially since it was raining as well. It had all the makings of a cold, wet day. Eek.

So I headed to OSU for the start and wandered over to my office to prepare in the indoor warmth. Advantage: me. I thought about wearing my new Mizuno running shoes for the race, but my longest run in them so far was about 4 miles and I just couldn't pull the trigger. So I ended up wearing my old Nike Pegasus Trail shoes - a shoe that I've never been super happy with, but one that I've used on 13+ mile runs.

I stayed in the warmth of my office and just ran up and down the hall a few times to warm up. At about 15 minutes before the start, I headed out and jogged over to the start line - about a 100 yards from my office. Nice.

With very little preamble, we had a 3-2-1 countdown and were off. The weather actually wasn't too bad at that point; no rain and cold, but not horrible. I wore a long sleeve tech shirt and gloves (the gloves as much to wipe my nose as anything else...hayfever).

I hit the first two miles at:
-7:59 / mile one
-7:52 / mile two



That's me in the backwards OSU hat, keeping the non-existent sunshine off my easily-burned head.

When I ran the Corvallis Half last year, and set my PR, I was running about a 7:50 pace. This year, however, I'm about 10 pounds heavier (I'm working on it) and knew I didn't have much of a chance of a PR. Which is probably OK, since I didn't go out too fast like I usually do...and didn't suffer at the end of the race like I usually do.

At the water stop at 2.5 miles in, I said "hi" to Carson and her Girls on the Run buds.



The next three miles were a touch up and down as we ran through the Bald Hill area and my splits looked like this:
-8:00 / mile three
-8:15 / mile four
-8:21 / mile five

I was actually feeling pretty good. I wasn't trying to push it at all - I didn't think I had the fitness for that - just keeping within myself and trying to stay steady.

We hit a nice downhill on the next couple miles as we came out of the park and onto Oak Creek:
-8:04 / mile six
-8:02 / mile seven

Then the uphill as we turned onto 53rd to head to Walnut. Definitely the toughest section of the course. Not too steep, but a fairly long, steady climb. Takes some concentration here to keep pace. My slowest mile:
-8:35 / mile eight



Then the nice downhill right afterward:
-7:58 / mile nine
-8:04 / mile ten

I was starting to wear down a little bit here, but still felt pretty good. Of course, then a woman that had to be five or six months pregnant went by me pretty easily. That's not good for the old ego.
-8:18 / mile eleven
-8:26 / mile twelve

You can always tell the first timers on the course right about here. Reser Stadium is right there in front of you and you can see a few people speed up, thinking they're coming in for a landing. Sorry, but then they turn you back away from Reser for a mile+ trip around the campus for a bit. I saw at least two guys stop and walk as soon as we turned away from the Stadium.

Strangely, I was starting to get cold here again, after warming up during the middle miles of the race. I guess I should have been running faster.

I speeded up just a touch as I started to smell the barn:
-8:17 / mile thirteen
-7:30 / last tenth

The finish in Reser is always fun, although I'm not sure how those football players run so fast on that turf. It's not that easy to run on.

So I came with a 1:46:54, about four minutes slower than my PR. Considering the shape I'm in, or not in, at the moment, I'm happy enough with that. That got me 272nd place out of 1487 overall, and 17th out of 67th in my age group. And 2nd, apparently, in the grouping of me and pregnant women. Well, I hope 2nd...it could be worse than that, I guess.

The shirt is actually better looking than the first two years and the finisher's medal was nicer-looking as well. Way to go, Tyler!



Now I need to figure out what races I'm doing for the rest of the year!

Corvallis Half Marathon - Done!

1:46:54

Results and race review in a bit.

Hagg Lake 50k / 25k Results and Recap

So over the weekend, the wildly popular Hagg Lake Mud Runs were run. And run well. Course records were set in the 50k for both men and women. Here's a short recap from Runner's World. And an article from the Oregonian here, with video!

Just need results? Here they are.

The weather was pretty good but there was definitely mud, as you can see from the photos here and more linked on the Hagg Lake Facebook page here.

Butte to Butte 2012 Results and Photos!

If you just want results, here they are.

If you're looking for photos of your amazing self, try right here.

And some video from the race, right here.

And more video and more photos, from KVAL, right about here.

Hope you had a great race!

Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Results and Photos!

If you just need results for the Full or Half, here they are.

Here's a nice rundown of the race from the Seattle Times.

And a nice photo gallery from the Seattle Times.

And video!

Hope you had a good race!

Dipsea 2012 Results and Recap...with Video!

The ultimate bucket list race, the Dipsea Race, is done for another year.

This year's winner: 72 year-old Hans Schmid. Yes, 72 years old. If you didn't know already, Dipsea uses a handicap start where the very old and very young get varied head starts.

Here's the recap of the 2012 Dipsea.

Here's a great video of the entire start - every single wave. It's a good primer video if you want to run the Dipsea in the future. You can see everyone you'll have to pass...unless you're six...or past retirement age.



Here's a fun time-lapse vidwo of the infamous stairs. Man, those stairs - 688 of them, I do believe.



It's tough to get in - you have to send it on the right day, get lucky in the lottery, etc, but this is one every serious runner should enter.

Let's race!

Wildflower Results and Bloomsday Results!

Yes, it was the big weekend down at the Wildflower Triathlon. OSU's Blair Bronson was fourth overall in the collegiate division. Nice job.

Wildflower Results Here.

And Here.

Plus, we've got the biggest race in the Northwest, literally. Bloomsday was run today and won by Allan Kiprono from Kenya in a time of 34.29. Yeah, that's a 4:37 pace. Holy moly.

Also, congrats to Carlos Trujillo from Idaho as the first US finisher and Mike Sayenko as the first Washington finisher and Ryan Bak from Bend as the first Oregon finisher. Plus Uli Steidl in 25th place overall just a few weeks after his amazing performance at the Boston Marathon.

Bloomsday Results Here.

Top Finishers Here.

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Eugene Marathon Results

Try here.

Or here.

Maybe here.

Live finish video here.

The whole thing was a bit glitchy Sunday morning, but maybe it will get better as more people finish.

Running and Triathlon Links Monday!

I love this OSU promo, showing the incredible Laura Carlyle running...and selling shoes at Five Star Sports in Corvallis. Hey, that's where I buy my shoes!

Here's what happened last week:

Oregon's Shalane Flanagan wins Lisbon Half Marathon - and against a very strong field

Good photo gallery of the Lisbon Half - at Let's Run

Meb Keflezighi talking about training in Mammoth Lakes, CA - it's the new hot spot

Craig Alexander wins Ironman Asia-Pacific World Championships - Caroline Steffen takes women's title

Australia's Erin Densham wins the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup Triathlon - I just wanted to say "Mooloolaba!"

Emma Snowsill gets sick before Mooloolaba - now has only one shot to get on Aussie Olympic Triathlon team

Great article and video on OSU miler and cross country star Laura Carlyle - only been running for a couple years and is already the best OSU has ever had

How long does it take to recover from a marathon? - Good article from the New York Times; the commonly held theories may be wrong

We all get old, even Olympic swimming hero Ian Thorp and running legend Haile Gebrselassie - but not everyone handles aging, and retirement, in the same way

Fantastic article on Eugene's Lauren Fleshman and the trials of distance running and injuries - she's so open and honest; I love her

Another great Running Times article on another great Oregon runner - this one is about Ashland's Timothy Olson, a rising star in the Ultra world

Maybe barefoot running isn't the way to go - if you know my views on barefoot running, you know I've got to link to this

McKenzie River Half Marathon Results - direct from Eugene, OR

Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon Results - up yet?


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Running and Triathlon Links Monday!

Here's the latest and greatest on running from the last week:

Shamrock Run Portland Results! - Did you run?

Fatuma Sado wins LA Marathon, Gender Challenge, New Car, $155,000 - not a bad day's work

Peter Kirui and Firehiwot Dada take NYC Half Marathon - Oregon's Kara Goucher takes 3rd in pre-Olympic tuneup

Canadians take the win at Chuckanut 50k in Bellingham - Oregonian Max King was in the lead but took a wrong turn late

Another take on the Chuckanut 50k, from the Bellingham Herald

And a very nice article on Bellingham's Chuckanut 50k from Running Times

Kenyan 10,000m Olympic Trials to take place at Prefontaine Classic in Eugene...probably - the Kenyan Governing body, Athletics Kenya, seems to put out new, confusing information on this daily

London Olympic Organizers will supply 150,000 condoms to the athletes in the Olympic village - for 16,000 beds - let's see, the Games last for about two weeks, so that's about one and a half condoms per night for every "pair" of athletes in the village...wow - busy, busy, busy

Interesting new Reebok ad - what's your call? Degrading to women? Degrading to men? Sexist? Funny?

A review of Tyr's new $1200 wetsuit - sometimes I hate triathlon

Hot, sexy pictures of tricked-out tri bikes - if you're into that kind of thing

Ironman Champ Chrissie Wellington is going on a book tour - she doesn't even come close to the NW, so if you want her to sign your book, you'll have to travel a bit

Photo by Andy Bronson of the Bellingham Herald

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Where's Waldo 100k 2011 Results!

And Dave Mackey brings it home in 9:06:51. Wow. That's an 8:48 pace over 60 miles...going over three different peaks above 7000 feet. That's impressive.

Aliza Lapierre, all the way from Vermont, takes the women's crown, in 10:33:24.

Check all the results here and/or here.

Badwater...Really?

There are races, and then there are races.

Badwater would be in the second category.

While I have absolutely no doubt that Oswaldo Lopez is one of the most badass athletes on the planet (with his Badwater 2011 winning time of 23:41:40), I just have a hard time relating to a race like this. At all.

I don't really understand it. I mean, is this really a race at all? Or is it just a test of who can stand the most pain?

I mean, I'm impressed by the folks that finish these kinds of races...or even start them for that matter, but...

I can't even picture myself running Badwater. Not only that, I can't even picture myself wanting to run Badwater. And there aren't many races I could say that about. I mean, an Ironman would be brutal, painful, horrible, and long, but I could see myself trying it. And I can see myself actually having fun during certain sections of the course.

But these 100+ milers, in the heat, in the desert, through the mountains...I just don't know.

Again, I'm impressed, but it's not for me.

Fremont 5k Results!

I love this race. Haven't run it in a number of years, unfortunately, but I've got fond memories. There's nothing like a Friday night race to cap off a work week!

Check your results here.

Bloomsday 2011 Results!

No, I didn't forget about the biggest race in the Northwest! I'm just a little late on getting to it.

So, over 56,000 runners took part in the Bloomsday race on Sunday. Yes, over 56,000. Check out the first photo of the slide show here - that's a lot of runners right there.

Of course, the fact that Bloomsday offers big prize money for the winners also means they always have world-class talent and this year was no exception: Simon Ndirangu of Kenya won the 12k race with a speedy 33:58, a 4:33 per mile pace!

Find all the results right here!

Eugene Marathon and Half Marathon Results!

Busy weekend. If you ran the Marathon or Half in Eugene this weekend - congrats.

Check your results here.

2011 Wildflower Triathlon Results!

They're racing down in Cali.

Check out the results right here.

And for anyone who survived that Long Course Bike Leg - job well done.

Corvallis Half Marathon Results!

They're up! Check them out right here!

I finished in 1:56:05. That's 28th out of 62 in my division and 364 out of 1498 overall.

I'll take it!

Much more about the race coming soon in the exclusive R's Race Review.

Corvallis 5k Race Resuts and Review!

Need your results for the Corvallis 5k? Head right over here.

Man, what a unbelievably gorgeous day for a race! October 31st and we were out there running in short sleeves and sunglasses. Just awesome.

So the Corvallis 5k,...not exactly the most original name for a race, but there you go. I believe they called the race something else last year, and actually changed the name to the Corvallis 5k for this year. This one is put on by Strands, and as you might expect on Halloween, there were plenty of runners decked out in full costume. The race itself was pretty small, a little over 200 runners. Both Jen and Payton ran with me for this one. At 5000 meters, this race was a full 2000 meters over Payton's usual cross country distance of 3k, so he was feeling it a bit in the second half. We stopped a few times and walked until he finally got tired of me hanging around and told me to take off. It was fun seeing him come around the corner and sprint the last block to the finish line. And why the big sprint? There were two girls in front of him - he didn't want to be "skirted!"

The course for the Corvallis 5k is very forgiving for beginners though. Starting at Central Park just outside of Strands Headquarters, the course quickly turns toward campus and runs through the OSU grounds until 35th, then right up 35th for a bit, and right again back onto campus. After breezing back to 15th, the course takes a right and then a quick left to end back where we started. It's just about as flat as can be and doesn't have a whole lot of turns to speak of, so fast times are definitely possible. And indeed, the winning time was a speedy 14:14 by Michael Kilburg of Corvallis.

Well, I definitely wouldn't expect too many more races in 2010 to have weather like that, but I sure enjoyed our, perhaps, last fling with Summer today!

Race T-Shirt Review coming soon!

Black Diamond Results Are Up!

Well, for Saturday anyway.

Find them right here.

The Sunday races will have results at the same spot...but it's usually hard to get them on Saturday night.

Good luck out there on Sunday!