The Pursuit of Singletrack: Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M

My mom, Rylee Dog and I arrived in Black Butte around 3:30p last Saturday and unloaded the car. Butte Ranch/Resort is about 10 miles from Sisters, OR where the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M begins so it was nice to be able to stay so close. After the car was unloaded, we all jumped back in the car to scout out some of the aid stations along the route as neither of us were very familiar with the area. Turns out that most of the aid stations were very accessible via car so my crew would be able to easily follow me during the race. We took Ry on a little hike just off of Aid 2 in order to stretch his legs and for me to see a little of the course. I was immediately impressed with the trail and the views of Mt. Washington and Black Butte. It was definitely going to be a gorgeous run if the weather held off. A theme of the trip soon became me constantly wishing that I had brought my mountain bike as well. The singletrack begged for mountain bike. I would soon learn that the Peterson Ridge area is teeming with miles of mountain bike friendly trails. None of which I have ever ridden before. I am definitely thinking of coming back for my birthday for the 2nd Annual SistersMountain Biking Festival Sept 24^th & 25^th.

Ry Dog

After this we headed back into town to find some place to eat dinner, after many back and forths, we eventually settled on Three CreeksBrewery just outside town. My mom and I got the reservation and waited for my Dad, Adam and Megan to arrive. It was the first time since I’ve turned 21 that I went into a brewery and didn’t have a beer. I decided that we would have to come back tomorrow for my victory beer. That night I got my kit ready and provided my crew with the necessary instructions and directions and ended the night with a quick game of chutes and ladders.

The morning came quickly as I am never able to sleep well before a race, always wishing I had more time to sleep. We (Adam, Mom and I) packed up the supplies and then headed towards Sister’s Middle School where the race began. Megan and my dad opted to sleep in. We arrived at the trailhead, and I proceeded to check-in along with many others. I saw some familiar faces and chatted with a few people. After this, I headed back to the car to gear up and do a little warm up run followed by some light stretching. Before long everyone was heading towards the starting line. Adam rushed to set up his tripod and camera, (He was acting as my personal photographer, as well as, the unofficial race photographer) while I settled in midpack. My goal was to start out very conservative and try to get to mile 20 without feeling too shitty. Looking back at my training, I had, for me, a solid base mileage around 350 miles, however, most of that consisted of many shorter runs. Looking back, I foolishly only ran 1 run longer that 20 miles, and that was the Gorge Waterfall 50k. It’s become apparent that doing fewer longer runs will be more advantageous than lots of shorter runs. Stupid rookie mistake. So as you can guess, I was a little nervous/unprepared going into my first race at this distance. I had no intention of “racing.” I just focused on surviving. I planned for 7 hours on the course, but was hoping it would be less.

That's me in the middle - blue shirt

Anyway, the countdown ended and the race began, as I settled in with a group of runners from the Portland area (unintentionally). I chatted with a guy named Larry, who I ran with at the end of the Gorge Waterfall 50k. After a couple of miles, I decided his pace was a little fast for me so I settled back in another group. This group had a conga line of about 10 individuals. We all swapped places many times, as some of us pulled off to pee. At roughly 7.5 miles in and just past Aid 2, I came up on Adam (in a hunter’s blind in a tree) snapping some shots, as well as my mom. We chatted briefly and then I was off. We repeated this process many times over the next 3 hours as I would come in and out of Aid Stations.

AS2

AS4

Eventually, I made it to Aid Station 5 at about mile 24. I was feeling really good at this point so I barely stopped running as I came in. I headed down the long dirt road towards the 2^nd half of the race. I decided that I needed a few things mid run so my crew was able to drive up alongside me as I was running and handed me my iPod shuffle, a fresh bottle of perpetuem, some advil and took off my sunglasses. I felt like I was in the Tour de France with my moving support car.

My support car along side of me. Feeling good at mile 26

Eventually, they peeled off, and I headed up the loooong dirt road to Aid Station 6. This was the longest interval between aid stations at just under 7 miles. I felt really strong for the first half, but my second wind was short lived. I passed a few people on this long uphill grinder, but couldn’t seem to make any progress on this one older gentleman. I had the urge just to sprint up past him but that would have been very unwise to blow my reserve just to pass one guy. We both alternated running and walking and eventually made it to Aid 6. I restocked my nuun bottle, took a gel, some gummy bears, an orange slice and an endurolyte pill. Just after leaving Aid 6, I got my third wind and just felt awesome. I was cruising downhill on some sweet single track and passed a bunch of people. Coming down into Aid 7 was one of the most beautiful parts of the whole race. From the ridge you could see Mt. Washington, Black Butte, all Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson. It was amazing. And yes, I was singing to myself.

Coming into Aid Station 7. Mile 35

Leaving AS7 with Megan in tow

Coming into Aid 7, I wanted to make a very fast transition so I quickly refilled my nuun and headed off. Megan wanted to tag along and provide some extra motivation so she jumped in behind me as we headed off. I was still feeling pretty good at this point and wanted to make a strong push, but I knew that I still had a little over 5 miles to go so I decided to conserve energy for a late kick. I told Megan that I wanted to have a strong surge at the end and to watch for my break. Shortly after this, roughly 2 miles from the finish, I hit the low point of the race. I was running out of energy and my third wind had completely faded. The other gentleman that we were running with began pulling away. Megan tried her best to get me to pick up my pace, but I knew I only had energy left for a short kick so I held back. A few minutes later, the highway came into view, and I knew that it was only half a mile or so till the finish. My adrenaline surged, and I shot off like a rocket towards the finish. I completely dropped Megan as this surge completely surprised her. I came onto the track after passing two individuals and was able to run down one more runner just before the finish line.

I finished with a time of 6 hours and 20 minutes, which was a lot faster than I had predicted. Unfortunately, I didn’t place that well. I got 40^th out of 114 finishers and got 6^th in my age group (Results). However, this was the first run that I had completed where high caliber/sponsored runners have shown up. This course was also very flat, compared to most ultras, and was therefore, much faster. I tend to race better with routes containing lots of vertical. The first place finisher came in at round 4 hours and 45 mins, not exactly sure but ill have to look it up later. In the end, I was happy with how I felt during and after the race, as compared with my last 50k, however, I would have been happier with a placement in the high 20s. After the race, I chatted briefly with Jason Leman, a friend from Gonzaga. He ran the 20 mile race and placed 4^th! Big congrats to him. He is also lined up to run the legendary Boston marathon so best of luck! Jason is more plugged into the ultra scene in Portland than I am so hopefully I’ll get to know him and the other runners better over the summer. We concluded the event with some beers at Three Creeks Brewery. And I indulged or should I say, choked down a Hoodoo Voodoo IPA (not bc the beer was bad, but I just wasn’t feeling the beer yet). So what’s next? Hmmm… probably some good mountain biking adventures, some good long trail runs in the Gorge and Mt. Hood and maybe, just maybe, a 50 miler at the end of the summer….. we’ll see….