Here's Some Humble Pie...

“Fourteen miles? Piece of cake.”

I didn’t have any particular goal for the Post Canyon Half Marathon other than to go run on some new trails and enjoy the views. It’s probably a good thing, because as it turns out, I wasn’t very prepared for this race.

Due to a bit of Achilles Tendinitis, I had been laying off the running. I did a short race the week before (less than 10K) but hadn’t run since then. I’ve never had a problem just going out and running a half marathon without much training before. That’s one of the reasons I like the distance. It’s work, but I don’t usually need to train up to it.

The race started at 7 AM, and the start out near Hood River was about 90 minutes from Portland. The skies were pretty overcast when I left Portland, but when I got out around Hood River, it was partly cloudy with some episodes of sunshine. Temperatures were in the 50s. Fantastic weather for running!

I got to the start with my handheld full of Viso. This was the inaugural running of this race, and one of my requests for next time would be that they arrange for more port-a-potties. Two didn’t really cut it.

The race director gave her spiel, emphasized the points of the course where the half marathon and the 50K split, and assured us that the course was well marked. We started promptly at 7 AM.

The first mile or so of the trail was obviously new. The dirt was very loose and I was skidding a bit on it. I hoped the whole course wasn’t going to be like this. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

Soon we got onto the more established trails. These trails were mostly used for moto cross and mountain biking. They were very rutted and rocky with plenty of tree roots to boot. I rolled my ankle three times in the first 5K. Not bad rolls, but still, this didn’t bode well. I’m not a total stranger to running technical trails, but the ruts in these trails from the motor bikes proved challenging. I could feel my ankles twisting every which way!

The trails were almost all up and downhill. Flat sections were rare and brief. I nailed most of the uphills, but the downs were tricky and very technical. I managed a decent pace on them by using small, fast steps, but my quads and adductors were starting to feel the impact from all the downhill and lateral movements.

The course was well marked and easy to follow until mile 7. There was a junction of several trails here and more than one had flags and arrows on it. Several of us milled around here and scratched our heads. This would have been a great place for a volunteer! A couple of us went up to the left and ran for about ¾ of a mile before determining that we weren’t going the right way. We ran back to the junction and took the right instead.

The first aid station was supposed to be at mile 9 but ended up being closer to mile 10. It seemed to take forever to get there – I think the experience of getting lost back at mile 7 made me worry that I still wasn’t going the right way. When I did finally get there, I had already run over 11 miles (including the mileage from the wrong turn). I refilled my water bottle and was on my way.

The next mile was a pretty nasty uphill, but there were fantastic views of the Columbia River Gorge to the left and Mount Hood to the right. I had to break down and walk a couple sections on this one. Coming to the top of the hill, the race photographer was there snapping photos. “Oh no,“ I said, “You’re not going to get a picture of me walking!”

Just after cresting that hill, another runner caught up to me and we started chatting. Unfortunately, we both got so wrapped up in our conversation that we missed a turn off. We ran for a good mile and a half before realizing that the trail we were on wasn’t marked and we could hear no one ahead of or behind us.

We doubled back and found the very clearly marked turn off and both face palmed. After a mile of fairly pleasant single track trail, we came to another aid station. We stopped for a water refill, grabbed a few bites  and were on our way for the last couple of miles to the finish. At this point, it was 10:30. We had been out on the trails for three and a half hours!

My chat buddy and I came to the finish line together. “Oh, look,” someone shouted, “They’re racing!” We weren’t and we didn’t. We crossed the finish at the same time. We grabbed snacks and drinks - we hadn’t planned to be out there that long for a half marathon – and realized we had run almost 18 miles.

This was one of the toughest races I’ve ever done. The hills were steep. The trails were the most technical and difficult I’ve ever run. I ended up running four extra miles. I can run a nice flat road half marathon in about 1:30, but this almost 18 mile trail run took me 3:44.

Still, I couldn't be upset about the extra miles. It was such a perfect morning to be out running and the trails, while difficult, were very picturesque. And, of course, the views of the Gorge and the mountain made up for a lot.

The director and volunteers did a really good job with this race, considering it was the first. There were only a couple of things that I would change – more port-a-potties at the start and someone directing runners at mile 7.

This was a fun race on some difficult but really great trails. It challenged me a lot more than I had expected. It ended up being a nice little adventure, and hey – bonus miles means extra value for your money!