On the last weekend of winter, I was able to get at least one more shot at snow at the Chuckanut 50k. Concerns were high in advance, as the Chuckanuts were holding snow and ice for the last few weeks. RD extraodinaire Krissy opened things up with an early start and moved the cutoffs back by an hour, and I needed all of that time to get the course done. So, rough day out there, but a beautiful day and lots of friends sighted.
I ran my first Chuckanut in 2004. I remember signing up the year or two before that, and backing out. The distance seemed overwhelming. I ran into a few runners beforehand, from out of town, who were making this their first 50k, as so many have. It's been several years though since I last ran C-nut, though I'm up on these trails all the time.
The trails were fine until Cleator Road. As the picture above shows, snow presented somewhere up on the climb. There was a bit of a boot track, with mud spots, which made it not so bad. Much easier than a couple weeks ago, when I was marching around up there. The ridge was pretty clear--no latent ice. The third aid station was moved to the junction at Dan's Traverse, run by Doug, race founder and all around good guy. Snow on the back side, slushy.
I got passed by everyone. It became a little amusing the things people called me: Sir (?), Bro, Brother, Chief, Boss... I was basically doing the long walk, with intermittent jogging. I felt stiff, and I made a dozen rookie mistakes in gear, prep, etc. Familiarity may do you in. More training would help, of course. Maybe I can use the experience to learn from, although right now as I ache I'm looking forward to an old fashioned 10k.
Friends were everywhere, volunteering. Krissy as RD, of course--great job, all around. So many smiles. Dean, Terry, and Kevin at AS 1. Adam at AS 2. Doug at AS 3. After that, things went foggy for me. Actually, Glenn on Chinscraper. Great to see Dean and Terry again at AS 5. Terry was all business, warning me about cutoffs. Dean was cracking jokes. Gretchen and Kevin at the end, helping out. Good peeps, these. Thanks to all that made it happen.
The course seems to change slightly year to year. This year there was a brief detour through the 100 Acre Woods to the finish line. Aid stations were moved. Most notably--and maybe this has been the case for years--the final descent was on the Fragrance Lake trail and the last aid station was at that gate.
Views were great from up high.
