Mount Olympus Marathon (Greece) Pre-Race Info

General Race Info
Olympus Marathon Website
Sunday, June 29th
6am local time (8pm pacific on Saturday; 11pm eastern on Saturday)


Results
I'm bib #625. I'm not sure if they'll be posting live updates on this page or not, but it kinda looks like they might. They have a place to post my time for Checkpoint (CP) 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and the finish. So if you check there on race day then you might be able to track my progress. Even if they aren't posting live updates, I'm pretty sure that's the page to go to for my official results.  Overall results should be posted here.


Course
It's a simple idea: start near the ocean, run to the top of the ancient Greek mountain, then run back down. The start point is only 10 feet above sea level, and the high point is over 9,000 feet up. All of that in only 27 miles...so there will be a bit of climbing in that ~13-mile ascent.

Here's a map of what the course looks like and where the twelve checkpoints are and their altitude.

Here's a short video teaser for this year's race.

Race Goals

1. Enjoy the experience and finish. I have a DNF and DNS at my last two international races, so finishing (injury-free) is my top priority. I'll be carrying a camera with me, so hopefully I can get some good shots to document the course.
2. Run a smart race. I'm going to 'take it easy' for the climb, then hope that my legs aren't too trashed to be able to bomb a bunch of the descent.
3. Finish under 6 hours. I feel like I'm just grabbing this number out of the dark since I haven't seen the terrain yet, but based on the finishing times of previous winners (4:30-5:00 hrs), I think 6 hours is realistic. I did Pikes Peak Marathon in 5:51, and this course profile is very similar (less altitude, but more climbing). The course terrain is the big wildcard since I haven't seen any of the course yet. Hopefully I'll have a day or two to explore it before Sunday (we're getting to Greece on Thursday).

Should be a blast. We'll be in Greece for another 10 days or so after the race, so it probably won't be until I get back that I'll get a race report posted.

-Scott

Sun Mountain 50k - photo report

There will be few words about this race, but loads of photos.

After Boston (and a little rest), my focus quickly turned to the big climb coming up at the end of the month. So the last month has been spent playing around in the mountains. 

I signed up for a couple mountain races in May to help get back into the swing of things. The Sun Mountain 50k has been on my to-do list for a couple years, so it was nice to finally get out and see those trails.

I won't go into too much detail about my race. My legs felt good, and the trails and views were beautiful. The Rainshadow Running folks put on my kind of event: low-key; high beauty; fun and often tough courses; and great post-race food, music, and company. 

I ran conservatively early on and was probably somewhere in 15th-20th place around the halfway mark. I was able to hold my pace, which meant I started picking off others who were starting to crash as the day went on. I felt strong the last 10 miles and surged ahead for a 4th place finish. (results here)

I hope to make it back next year.

With Brendan, a former Pullman Beer Chasers

Race briefing:
 "Try not to get too distracted by all the beautiful wildflowers."

Start
(photo by Glenn Tachiyama)

Start. A burst of color.

Losing ground on the leaders already.

Lots of views like this all day.

Plenty of views like this.

Dozens of meadows like this.

Early on.
(photo by Glenn Tachiyama)

Trail. Rock. Dirt. Flowers. Mountains.

Worth stopping to take a quick photo.

Running happy around mile 20.

Seriously, there were a ton of views like this.

I caught up with Brendan around mile 25.

Pano near the midpoint of the final climb.

Final descent. Only a few miles to go.
(photo by Glenn Tachiyama)

Feeling great on the final descent.
(photo by Glenn Tachiyama)

Finishing.

Crossing the finish line.

Done, and done.

Bloomsday 2014 - race report

If you're a runner, then you've heard of the Bloomsday 12k (7.46 miles). It's one of the biggest races in the world. 40-60,000 Olympians, runners, joggers, and walkers show up each year in Spokane, WA. It's a blast, and it's definitely the running event in the Inland NW. Bands along the course. Great spectator support. And a challenging, hilly course with a particularly (in)famous hill called Doomsday.

Bloomsday was my first race when I first started running/training for a marathon in 2007. I was turned off by the idea of running in such a big crowd, but a couple friends convinced me that it was fun despite (and because of) the mass of humanity. They were right. I make a point to have this on my calendar each year.

This year the race fell 13 days after Boston. On one hand, my legs are still recovering from my big effort in Boston, and my recovery time has become noticeably slower these last two years (I didn't think I was that old!), so I thought that I shouldn't expect anything fast at Bloomsday. On the other hand, I trained hard for Boston this year and most of my short-distance road PRs have been lowered, so I was thinking that my overall fitness level compared to previous Bloomsdays might cancel-out the Boston fatigue factor enough that I'd have a good shot at lowering my Bloomsday PR.

Previous Bloomsday times:
2007 - 59:08
2010 - 48:41
2011 - 47:25
2012 - 45:32
2014 - ?

I wanted to go under 45:00, which is right at a 6:00min/mile pace. I ran the first mile with four or five other Beer Chasers. We hit the first mile right at 6 minutes, but when we plunged down the first big descent on the second mile the group spread out. I tried to stay back and conserve, but my legs were already tired! Not too tired, I hoped. I felt I could hold the effort for another 5 miles or so.

I was still on pace when I hit the bottom of Doomsday hill around mile 4.5, but by that point it already seemed like I was just holding on. I scrambled up the hill, and then spent the next mile trying to catch my breath.

At mile 6, I was about 16 seconds slower than where I needed to be to get under 45:00. This is about where you hope there is something left in the tank to make a push to the finish line. Not only was there nothing left in my tank, but it felt like the tank was dragging on the ground behind me. So of course, that's when I started reminding myself that 45:00 is no big deal and my mom would still love me if I just walked the rest of the way in. But my buddy, Buzz, just re-passed me, so I swallowed my whine and tried to keep pace with him.

My effort increased x 10, but it felt like my pace only increased x 0.0001. Buzz stayed about 25 yards in front of me for that last mile. I tried to make a push, but I wasn't getting any closer. When I turned the corner for the short downhill to the finish-line, I still wasn't sure if I'd sneak in under 45:00. With 10 yards to go, things looked good. Not me -- I looked miserable. But race-time goal things looked good. I popped under the finish line in 44:54. My last mile split turned out, surprisingly, to be my fastest of the day at 5:38. (Official results)

Another Bloomsday came and went. Another day I'm grateful to be alive and healthy enough to run. Oh, and this year the race photos were free -- another reason to love Bloomsday.

Squeezed into the starting corral.
(Photo: Inlander)

Running with a pack near mile 3.
(Buzz in orange singlet in background)

Somewhere with less than a couple miles to go.
Hanging on for dear life!

On the final straightaway.
The end is in sight!

Chugging along toward the end.

Wondering if badminton would ever hurt this much.

Trying to find a kick at the very end.

Beer Chasers post-race party at No-Li Brewery.

Now that Boston and Bloomsday are done, it's time to hit the trails. And Moscow Mountain trails are snow-free already. This is much earlier than usual. Surely that's a sign that it's going to be a great year in the mountains.

Keep running!

-Scott

Boston Marathon 2014 - Race Report

I ran Boston for the first time in 2011, and I didn't have a strong desire to ever run it again. I had wanted to do it once in my life, and I was very grateful and satisfied to have had that experience. I just didn't feel that I needed to come back and do it again. But after watching the events unfold last year while I was glued to my work computer, my emotions ran from horror, to anger, and then - like the majority of runners across the country - to defiance.  "I will run Boston in 2014."

In 2011, I ran Boston like a tourist. I carried my camera and took a ton of photos, I high-fived a thousand people, and I tried let the entire experience soak through me. This time, I wanted to give the famous course my best shot. And I had a 2:55 PR from 2010 that needed lowering.

Training was as good as I've had for a road race. I trained faster than usual and saw a few short-distance PRs fall along the way. I set my sights on not just lowering my PR but also giving it a good whipping.

• A Goal -- sub-2:50
• B Goal -- lower my PR (2:55:23)

Going into the race, I was fairly confident in the A Goal. I thought that as long as the weather wasn't horrible, then I had a good chance at it. I felt the B goal was pretty soft. I am much fitter now than I was in 2010, so a PR was almost an afterthought.

My qualifying time was 2:57, so I was placed in a corral that was very packed and a bit slower than my goal pace. This was good and bad: good because it was so packed that it was impossible to go out too fast on the big downhill out of Hopkinton; bad because it was so packed that it took four or five miles of bobbing and weaving through slightly slower runners before the crowd thinned enough to run my own race.

Course Profile

I planned to be through the halfway mark at around 1:24. I knew I'd probably be a little slower on the second half of the race. The first half has a bunch of downhills, and the second half has the infamous Newton (up)Hills. I hit the halfway mark at 1:23:40, which was right where I wanted to be. I was still feeling very good at this point, and I was confident as the Newton Hills approached.

Temps were rising to 60 degrees (much warmer than anything I've been training in), and I was starting to douse myself with full cups of cold water. But I was still on target as I cautiously approached the hills.

Heartbreak Hill is the last and most infamous of the Newton Hills. It crests near mile 21, but after that, it's a fast downhill course for nearly three miles before two pancake flat miles to the finish line. I lost a few seconds per mile overall as I climbed the hill, but I was still on target at the top of Heartbreak -- just as I planned.

The elite men's write-up said that the race is won on the hills, "if not on the hills themselves, then by virtue of the damage they inflict." As I was descending the backside of Heartbreak Hill, I see now that I had fallen into the category of "I lost the race because of the damage the hills inflicted on me." I wasn't toast, but I was not-so-slowly going in that direction.

By mile 24, my pace had slowed almost a minute per mile and it was clear right then that 2:50 was out of reach. I was overheating by now, and the wobble in my legs had become a wobble in my head. I wanted to walk (for fear of passing out, and because I was now officially toast), but the roar of the unbelievable crowd kept me running. You really do feel like a rock star the entire 26.2 miles along the Boston Marathon course.

So I kept running, and now I was starting to get a little worried about my B goal. But my meltdown wasn't so bad that I couldn't soak in the unrivaled feeling of turning left onto Boylston Street with the finish line in site. It truly is one of the greatest scenes in all of sport.

I shuffled through the finish line, beaten yet victorious. It's quite the feeling to cross that finish line; it was my second Boston finish, and it felt no less amazing than my first time there.

And I'm the owner of a new PR: 2:54:33.

I made the trip with three fellow Beer Chasers
(l-r: me, Doug Jacobson, Dan Froelich, Graham VanderSchelden)

Reflections
The "Boston Strong" spirit was amazing all weekend. I don't have a strong emotional connection to the city of Boston itself, but if felt good to be a very small part of helping that city heal.

I do have a very strong emotional connection to runners all around the world, so nearly all of the goosebumps I got throughout the race and race weekend were reserved for other runners I saw on the course. I believe in running, and it filled my heart with so much joy to see the smiles and struggles and tears and whoops-of-joy from runners of varying shapes and colors.

The Boston Marathon is special. It's a lofty goal for many runners, but it's a worthy goal. The idea of the Boston Marathon is almost as powerful as the race itself. I feel truly blessed to be lucky enough to have run it twice now. I hope I'll never take moments like these for granted.


Keep running!

-Scott

Hells Canyon Adventure Run 2014

Hells Canyon and the Snake River

The Hells Canyon Adventure Run is not a race. It's an annual for-fun run that's been put on by Alan Douglas for many years. There's a 30-mile stretch of trail between the Pittsburg Landing campground and the Hells Canyon Dam. I've been down to this trail a few times before, but this was my first time coming down for this organized run.

The run has three options:

1. Long Version - Take the jet boat from the campground as far as it can go upriver and then run back to the campground. The distance seems to vary each year depending on how far upriver the boat can get due to the rapids. This year we were dropped off just shy of 25 miles from the campground. I've been told other years the boat has been able to get much closer to the dam to make for a near 30-mile run.
2. Short Version - Take the jet boat upriver for 15 miles and then run back to the campground.
3. Out and Back - Skip the jet boat (and save $65) and just run an out-n-back from the campground. 

We were told there were no 'drop bags' allowed on the jet boat, so the dilemma for all the long version folks was how much to wear on the hour-long jet boat ride starting at 6:15 am when temperatures were below 30 degrees Fahrenheit but would be up around 50 degrees by the end of the run. I dressed for the run (shorts) so I didn't have to carry all those extra clothes when I was on the trail and then spent every second of that very long boat ride regretting my decision not to wear full winter gear. 

Sadie wasn't too thrilled with her first jet boat ride either. She was as nervous as I was cold, and I spent the entire ride trying to calm her down and keep her from freaking out. But it was all worth it when we hit the trail.

With Sadie happy to be on solid ground and me excited to get moving, a group of four of us started down the trail. After five miles or so, our group was down to three: me, Dan H., and Riley.

We spent a good majority of our run in the morning shadow of the west-facing canyon walls. The Snake River was rarely out of our site as the trail weaved in and out of smooth, grassy meadows and then up and down rocky cliffs that boasted wobbly-leg inducing drop-offs up to four hundred feet high.

This is one of the trails worth bragging about. This is one of those trails worthy of a road trip. I tell trail runners new to Pullman that they must run in the Wallowas, and they must run this section of the Snake River.

I took a bunch of gopro video on the run. A lot of it didn't turn out so great because of the poor lighting from running in the shadow most of the day. But I put a few of the clips together in this short video.

And enjoy some photos.

Freezing with Sadie on the jet boat.
But enjoy the views and herds of elk.
(photo by Dan Hollingshead)

Early in the morning.

Dan H during the first couple miles of the day.

When the sun was out, the views were spectacular.

Riley and Dan enjoying trail.

Dan.

View from Suicide Point.

Dan.

Dan.

Dan and Riley as we leave Kirkwood Ranch.

Campsite trailhead, and the end of our day.

Boston is less than a month away, and I'm excited. But I can't help being even more excited to see winter melting away from my favorite mountain trails. I think this is going to be a great year for trail running.

Keep running!

-Scott