I realize I’m now 9 days late on getting this blog post written and posted…and I realize that in the blogosphere I might as well be reporting on something that happened 6 months ago…but, I’m going to adopt the philosophy of any good, local news station and keep a story “alive” long past the time it shoud’ve been put out to pasture. So, here are some thoughts about some of the top finsihers in the 2009 version of the Chuckanut 50K.
1.) Aaron Heidt made it look easy. Once agrain Grand-master Glenn (that’s my new nickname for trailrunning photographer extraordinaire Glenn Tachiyama) was on hand to take some awesome photos such as the one of Aaron to the left. And, to think that Heidt had a bad cold 2-weeks before and was wondering if he should even run or not. Check out Aaron’s blog post here.
2.) Greg Crowther is a mentally tough dude. Anybody who enjoys doing repeated loops around Green Lake has to be mentally tought. I think there is a perception that he is really at his best on easy trails or roads, but I’m not sure I agree with that perception. Last year, he finished third at White River (US 50M champs)…and, I woudn’t call that a flat course as there are several really good climbs there. In fact, I’ll bet two years from now, Greg is far better on more technical trails than on less technical ones. I realize that the guy does many of his training miles off trails…but, I just have a suspicion on this one.
3.) Adam Lint had a nice run finishing 5th. Adam was lucky enough (and good enough) to make the world 100K championship team last year…and is a beast climbing hills. He may not be the fastest ultrarunner out there, but put him on a tough course with some major climbs and look out. I’m good friends with Adam, so I’m obviously biased — but, at 25, I believe he’s got a world of potential. It’s still hard for me to belive that this guy struggled to make the varsity cross country squad at the small D2 college we went to back in Pennsylvania. I realize that 8K/10K is very different from 50K or 100K…but, I ‘m quite confident he’d crush most of those guys now…even over shorter distances. I’m thrilled Adam moved out to Seattle…and that the Seattle Running Compnay (my favorite running store) hired him. I think he’s in for a stellar, stellar year.
4. Mike Havrda finished 6th. I’m guessing most of you don’t know this guy…as he’s very much under the radar. In fact, this is a great, great run for him. He finished 3rd in the 50K at last year’s North Face Challenge in Bellingham, but I view this as a much better finish given the strength of the field. Here’s a guy who shows up religiously for the Sunday AM runs at Cougar Mountain sponsored by Seattle Running Company (have I mentioned that SRC is my favorite running store lately 
), and has improved with every race that he’s run. I’m not sure how much innate talent Mike has…but, his drive to succeed and committment to the sport will go a long way in his continued improvement.
5. A very solid run for Brian Morrison. Brian is a smart, smart runner. I know he’s learned a ton from folks like Scott Jurek over the years, and it shows. Over on his blog, Brian indicates that he ran about what he expected:
So, as far as Chuckanut went, I was very happy with the time that I ran (4:13:06). It was about a minute faster than last year, but I was 3 places further down. That’s alright though. I knew it was going to be a very competetive year. My hope going in was to run between 4:10-4:15, so I ran exactly what I thought I should run.
Seems like Brian’s training is coming along nicely in prep for a great Western States. I should also note that it’s fun for me to watch Brian be successful in his own right…but, it’s also fun to see the influence he has on younger runners in Seattle (e.g., Adam & Mike who I mentioned above).
Anyway, just wanted to “close the loop” and over some thoughts on Chuckanut. As always, a great, great race.
It should be noted that rest/down-time can mean different things for diferent people. 
