A friend, Aaron, sent me a message that he and Don G. were carpooling to a local trail half and 10k, Hell of the NW Trail Runs, a couple of weeks ago. I told him I couldn't as I was working and honestly I didn't even have the urge to race at that point in time. Then a nasty ice storm moved into the area and wreaked all sort of havoc on the course and all the roads approaching this hamlet in Coast Range delaying it a week. When I heard the news my legs and brain had kind of switched gears--easing back into training after a short break is boring and it can be tough to get motivated to push things again--so the a little trail 10k suddenly sounded like a fun idea.
Don G. was still game for the half and unfortunately Aaron had to work. So the two of us shared a ride down to Alsea, which is pretty close to the middle of no where. We arrived to classic Coast Range fare (hills, huge trees, moss and MUD) amidst thunder showers and light rains. We both knew very little about the event but there were lots of familiar faces in the crowd.
The half took off and with it slightly more than half of the crowd. 10 minutes later the 10k-ers took off. There was not a lot of room before the course entered single track so I darted off along the river to secure a spot that was not directly behind someone on the first climb. The climb was incredibly steep (as promised by the RD) and was quite slick, especially after being torn up by the halfers. The top of the ridge came and the lead was pretty secure so I focused on gathering myself and not losing it while descending back down the ridge. The trail flattened out at the base and then took a long gradual ascent up an ancient logging road made of very chunky quarry rock (awkward but at least in wasn't slippery!) At an Aid Station 3.7 miles in the 10k racers turned around. I stopped and took a cup of water and chatted with the volunteers. Nice friendly people who no doubt got soaked!
It was a familiar route back towards the ridge but the course cut left instead of heading back up to the ridge top. It chased the river through the woods in a meandering way. One thing about flat trail is water doesn't run off so it was quite slick as were the wooden bridges. Surefootedness was as much work as building speed but I love that stuff. Keeps things fun!
I finished in 43:34. I jogged around a bit and hiked down around the famous Alsea Falls.
Don G. came blazing in with a nice half time and 2nd place overall. We ate brats from the nice post race spread they had. It began to really open up and pour again so we packed up and got out of there.
Just the workout I needed and a cool new spot checked out. Not a bad Saturday!
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