Race Report: Chuckanut 50K
For my first experience on the Pacific Northwest, I could think of no other race I’d want to do than Chuckanut. The race director, Krissy Moehl, has been putting on this classic event for 20 years and it seemed perfect to open up my season with something that has a bit of everything, flat, climbing and beautiful views.
The course has 5,000 feet of elevation change and all of it occurs in the middle 30k of the race. The first and last six miles are on a flat rail trail. I knew these sections would be my strong point. My training this winter has been a lot of winter roads and mostly zero elevation gain. I keep up with strength and mobility drills including mountain legs and uphill strides. There is that, and then there is a three mile sustained climb, which are just different stimuli.
I arrived to the PNW on Thursday night and spent Friday exploring Seattle mostly on foot. I didn’t overdo anything and my legs felt really good before and during the race. The only thing I’d change about my week leading into the race would be my diet of oatmeal, but I will get into that.
The morning of I drove to Bellingham in the rain. The day before was gorgeous with spots of sun. I spent the afternoon reading outside in the park wondering how I got such a lucky day. The rain began early morning and got the trails nice and soft for us. It slowed down by the start, but I still opted for a rain shell and gloves which was a good idea. On some of the ridges it was windy and I got chilled as my sweat dried to me. I have no regrets about my clothing choice.
Gear:
I used a handheld with Gnarly nutrition and ate about 6 gels over the course of the race. After I finished my bottle I drank Hammer from the aid stations.
The first six miles were wonderful. I saw Ladia Albertsan-Junkans and Rachel Drake at the start line, familiar faces are always welcome for me in a new place. I also was able to warm up a bit with Drew Holman, Tyler Green and Preston Cates running into them on an out and back section of trail. They had on these rad matching yellow jackets which I thought must be to prevent hunters from mistaking them for the deer they could outrun. At the start line Krissy grabbed a bunch of us women to lead the race which was kind of fun.
The gun went off and we settled into a nice pack chatting about different things. The first few miles went by so quickly and I was feeling really strong. To be honest my body feels great. I knew what effort I wanted and tried to keep it there. The objective for the race was to run hard but not leave my future races here. It was during this stretch that these two blond women (who were also tall which is why I took notice) who looked so comfortable blew by our pack. They honestly looked like they were doing this as a warm up and then we’re going to soccer practice. Beautiful strong calves and dressed to throw down. I would leap frog these two many times during the race because we discovered all of us needed to practice running slick technical downhills more often. Turns out these women are OLYMPIAN TRIATHLETES! Who’d have thought they’d grace me with their presence at my first PNW race!
The the mile six aid station Ladia and Kimber Mattox took the lead up the climbs. I was able to keep them in sight for a bit, but around mile 10 my race started to have some issues. I have not practiced any kind of technical terrain in the NY winter except slick roads. I knew this and was prepared to slow down and learn during these sections of the course. At around this point I also had my first necessary bathroom break. An aside from the race is that I am in the process of moving apartments and so the majority of my diet this past week has been oatmeal, fruit and peanut butter. I love that stuff but it’s great for 2H running…not exactly prime fuel for longer events. Once we popped out of the forest for a sustained three mile road climb, I furiously began to look for a spot to relieve myself. Of course the pickings were slim on the road but I found a spot while a few women passed me. I was able to run them back down on the climb but after this section came the most slick and technical rolling downhill of the race.
This I was coming in unprepared for, so I took it very slow. It felt like everyone passed me. I think I dropped to 11th or 12th female here and I had a low moment. I tried to tell myself that I was running the effort I wanted, but then I started to spiral a bit and tell myself that maybe my effort just doesn’t cut it in the PNW. Maybe I am in over my head? After this section where I had one close call but ran it safely the course runs into a muddy section. This was a bit easier to run, yet I also had my second bathroom stop here and more people passed me.
Yet, after this point my mood actually turned around. I was able to pick up my pace a lot and realized my legs felt great and now my stomach did too. I started to pick people off and actually stay ahead of them. The last climb was beautiful and my body seemed to keep getting stronger with the hiking. Finally I saw the sign that said I was at the top, this was where the fun began. I opened up on a shorter road downhill which led into a great flowing switchback section. I felt like my body was waiting for this and it was ready to fly. There was some slick sections but I’ve learned to take them confidently, not recklessly. My thoughts here were to make it to the road section and if I did that with no falls and smiling then the last six miles were the victory lap.
I made it to the road, took another gel and knew it was my time to shine. I powered down the rail trail and picked off one final female, putting me in 5th place. I didn’t feel content to smooth sail it in, so I keep my effort up and focused on passing the next guy and the next. I took sips from my bottle as I ran at this effort which though not seemingly important will be huge for getting my gut to accept calories when it is jostled.
I ran through the finish arches in a time of 4:21, 3 minutes behind the 4th place female and 10 minutes behind Ladia who took the win.
As I write this the next morning, I ran five miles this morning and through the first one was pretty touchy, I feel pretty good. I have never run the day after a race of this distance before and do not believe one has to even if it is a “training race”. However I told myself I’d get up and try. If nothing else I’d go for a nice walk. My shuffle was nothing to write home about, but my body did loosen up and the movement will hopefully stimulate healing and adaptions.
Thanks to Ian and the Trails Collective for all their support (support us on Patreon!). Thank you to On Running for deciding that my story and running efforts are something to invest in. Thanks to all the volunteers and people cheering out there. Finally thank you to Krissy Moehl, a lady I want to be like someday.