Rumble 60k Race Report

The Peterson Ridge Rumble took place this past Sunday April 11, 2010 in the quaint central Oregon town of Sisters. There were two distances offered- a 30k trail run which runners had the option of running with their dog (which is so cool!), or a 60k run-the distance which I chose to race.

This 60k race is also the second race of The Oregon Trail Ultramarathon Series and has proven to be one of the more popular trail races in the state of Oregon. Montrail runner Sean Meissner, who just came off of a win at the Yakima Marathon, is the race director and has built a strong following to this race that also benefits the Sisters High School Cross Country Team. As it says on the home page, "Many of the volunteers will be cross country team members (witnessing what they will be competing in within 10 years)." Thanks for helping out guys and good luck to you...we'll see you on the trails in a few years!

Erica and I rolled into town Saturday and were greeted by some llamas (I think?) or alpacas maybe? Anyway, it was fun to feed them with some of the kids around and snap some pictures.

(are you ready to Rumble Yassine?)

Erica just got a new Canon digital camera and was anxious to test it out as the weather forecast called for another mild, dry weekend. I keep luckin' out in terms of race day weather! Also, the fact that she's never been down to central Oregon we decided to make a weekend out of it and spend some good time together.

Sunday morning was brisk! We finally made our way to the starting line and I recognized a bunch of familiar faces around. I gave some nods and smiles implying, "let's do this...have a great run"...and Linda and Dan gave me some words of encouragement. As I made my way to the front I joined Jeff Browning, Matt Hart, Trevor Hostetler all of which I knew would be the main competition and a few others who I didn't recognize.

(Gettin' ready to rumble)

I knew that this year's course was going to be relatively flat compared to what I've been used to training on so I felt confident that I could take advantage from early on. The first couple miles I slowly just pulled away from the rest of the pack and as I started hitting some single-track I started kicking it up a notch. I was feeling really strong and fast on Sunday which was surprising because I did not taper a whole lot. By mile ten I was looking at my Garmin in disbelief but just decided to keep pushing the pace.

The trails were extremely soft with pine needles and fine dirt. The course is runnable with nice rolling trails that snaked all around the ridge...up and down with some clear open views of the snow capped peaks. I wore my Inov-8 x talon 212's again...I love this shoe! (obviously) and they were definitely a perfect choice for the conditions. I could've used some gaiters though because I felt lots of little debris in my shoes throughout the race. Central Oregon terrain is different than the trails I am used to running on. The rocks and red clay-type sand is refreshing and it's nice to mix it up a little. It really was perfect running weather too and I took off my hat and arm warmers after the first few miles. I was very satisfied with the way I monitored my nutrition and hydration and blew through aid stations because of the fact that I had everything on me. I kinda felt bad because the aid station workers were so ready to service me but I assured them that there were a bunch more not far behind!

As the race unfolded I seemed to get stronger and faster. I, without a doubt, felt in "the zone" on Sunday. Part of my excitement and energy was because we just found out on Friday evening that we will be having a daughter and the due date is on my birthday this year (Aug. 28th)!

I wasn't quite sure how far back Browning and the rest of the crew were but I knew I came through 26 miles right around three hours. I felt reassured by that piece of info that I was indeed flyin'! One thing about leading is that you don't really know where people are unless it's an out and back course. So...I guess I was running kinda scared for a bit and the fact that the last part was downhill I just opened it up and it felt good to stride out back down toward the school. When I finally made it down to the school area we had to do a lap on the brick red track to cross the finish line similar to The Western States 100 finish.

I came through for the win in like 4:17 and was greeted by Josh Nordell (who took 2nd in the 30k and whose wife Ashley won the 60k!), and I was happy as could be to have Erica there too. We were able to hang out for the post race party and enjoy some of the good food and company.

Ok one last time...Thanks Sean! It was obvious that you guys put so much into this event and that people genuinely had fun out there this past weekend. Feels good to have Rumbled my way through the ridge. I'll be back someday...maybe with my dog! Definitely recommend this event :o)

Full Results HERE...and...Enjoy some photos that my wife Erica took by clicking HERE. More excellent photos taken by Jim Williams can be seen by clicking HERE

She's no Glenn Tachiyama ('yet'!...heal up buddy!) Time to rest up a bit and then prepare for Capitol Peaks 50-miler on April 25th.

Nice to see everyone out there and great work to you runners! Good times!....