Tag Archives: trail running

Finally — back running with SRC at Cougar Mountain

Posted on August 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

As I’ve mentioned numerous times on this blog, I’ve struggled with a hamstring injury for much of the last two years.   It really prevented me from enjoying trail running.  I could do short trail runs (~5 miles), but any long runs on the trail would leave me on the sidelines for days or weeks.   Needless to say, this was incredibly frustrating.  I finally said “screw it” and  paced fellow IUP runner Adam Lint for the final 6+ hours of Cascade Crest 100.  That run through the night up in the Cascades was the only truly enjoyable run that I’ve had in several years. 

Finally, my hamstring is healed.  I owe this largely to my wife, who really helped guide me through some physical therapy to get it healed and strong again.   I’m still cautious, but this morning, I ventured out to the Seattle Running Club sunday morning run at Cougar Mountain for the first time in years.  I had a blast.

It was a small group – just 6 of us today following White River yesterday.  The weather was rainy & foggy (great for running…crappy for every other summer activity).     We did the normal loop, only did it in reverse hitting De Leo’s wall near the beginning instead of the end. 

Still being cautious with my hamstring, I cut it short in an effort to keep my total time around 2 hours.   All said and done, I logged 12 miles in 2 hours with a total elevation gain of 2,151 feet.   One of the things I really appreciate about Cougar is that the elevation gain doesn’t come in one big climb, as it does at Squak or Tiger mountains.  Rather, Cougar is a bunch of ups and downs with nary a flat section of trail to be found:

It was great to get back out and run with a group of people…and great to go hit the trails at Cougar.   Looking forward to the August & September runs, when we often get up into the high country of the Cascades (e.g., Denny Lake, Kendall Katwalk, and the Enchantments).

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Seattle Running Club & Bridle Trails Festival

Posted on December 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

I went to the Seattle Running Club event at Fleet Feet last evening. 

It was good to run with folks again (did the 6-miler with some guy named Dominic, Phil K, and others).   That’s the first hill that I’ve run in over 2 months given my hamstring.   Coming up the steep part of Interlaken was very tough on my hamstring, and had to slow to a near walk.  But, it doesn’t feel too bad today, so we’ll see. 

But, the highlight was not necessarily the run.  Nor was it running the new 860 New Balance shoes that Brian Morrison sold me (very responsive…nice).   The highlight was just seeing the Seattle Running Club back up and kicking again.  They’ve gone through some leadership transition/growth, but are undoubtedly alive and going well.  

  • If you want to learn more about what’s going on, I’d encourage you to check out their website here.    
  • If you really want the inside scoop, then check out the minutes from their last board meeting which can be found on new SRC president Greg Crowther’s blog. 
  • If you want to find a great SRC event to do soon, then you should participate in the Bridle Trails Winter Trail Running Festival.  Eric Bone, who manages the Northwest Trail Runs is  heading up this event…so, you can bet it will be well marked and well run.   If you’ve not run this race before, it is a great event because there is something for everybody.  There are  5.2, 10.4, and 50K options.  It’s on  trails, but they are not technical which makes it great for trail running newbies.  There’s enough mud and darkness (much of the the 50K runs through the dark) to challenge the advanced trail runner.     

Anyway, Seattle Running Club is a great, great gig…so, come check out Bridle Trails or meetup at the Fleet Feet running store at 6 PM for the Tuesday and Thursday runs.

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Posted in Northwest Running, races, running, Seattle Running Company

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Bud Greenspan, Tanzanian Marathoners, and My Bucket List

Posted on December 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

Bud Greenspan, the filmmaker who chronicled the Olympic Games for more than six decades, died at his home in New York City.   Greenspan was a cool dude largely because he focused on both the “big” stories as well as the “small” ones that would’ve been totally missed by the world.    An example of one of those small stories happens to have been Greenspan’s favorite (according to a decade-old interview he did with espn.com):

“He came in about an hour and a half after the winner. He was practically carrying his leg, it was so bloodied and bandaged.  I asked him, ‘Why did you keep going?’ He said, ‘You don’t understand. My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, they sent me to finish it.’ That sent chills down my spine and I’ve always remembered it.”

We’ve all had tough races that we’ve struggled to finish.  I remember countless races (steeple races and 10K’s in college as well as some longer races in my post-collegiate days) that I struggled to finish.  But, one of my most memorable was one I didn’t finish…

I remember running the 25-mile race at the Groundhog Fall 50 miler when I was between my sophmore and junior year of college.    Local (Monroeville, PA) ultraunning guru Chris Gibson (who was still breaking 4 hours for 50K when he was 55 years old in 2008) was doing the 50-mile race, and I remember folks telling me to just run with Chris since I was doing the shorter race.    So, I did….but, I had no idea what I was doing.   For starters, I was the only runner sans flashilight…so, I had to run on the heels of others to see where I was going. 

Anyway, about a third of the way through the race, I remember talking

Me Running the Groundhog Fall 50K some 12+ years after the race I describe

with Chris and realizing that my 120 mile weeks were significantly more miles than he was putting in on a weekly basis.  So, I did what anybody in my situation would’ve done…I dropped the hammer with about 17 miles to go.   Like my failure to bring a flashilight, this was not a smart move.  However, this was not my dumbest moment of the day.  No, my dumbest moment centered on the fact that I refused to drink anything during my run, for fear that it would upset my stomach.  I’d never practiced taking fluids, so I didn’t want to start now. 

After getting through the last aid station (about 3 miles from the finish), I vaguely remember feeling really, really dizzy and off of my game.  Everything else is pretty much a blur, but I remember looking at my watch and running on and on and on thinking that I should’ve been done.  After about 50 minutes of running (I had been running 6:45 miles, so should’ve been done more than a half hour ago), I ended up back at that last aid station somehow.   To this day, i’ve no idea how I ended up back there. 

Dizzy and deflated, I dropped out.   I was still leading by a good bit, and likely could’ve still won.  But, I DNF’d.  In reading about Greenspan’s favorite Olympic moment, I can’t help but think that I wish I would’ve been more like the Tanzanian marathoner and stuck it out.   

You may wonder — why are you still thinnking about that one race some 15+ years after it happened?  Well…to this day, I’ve never won a road or trail race in my home town of Punxsutawney, PA.   I’ve come close many times (in fact, I once ran a 15:30 5K cross country race and still lost to one of my colleage teammates who showed up to run).   But, I’ve never won a race in my hometown.  It’s on my bucket list.

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Heading out to Cle Elum for a weekend of trail running

Posted on July 2, 2010 | 2 Comments

There are tons of great places to run in the Pacific Northwest. I won’t try and capture them here (although this might be good fodder for a future post). But, one of my favorites is in the central cascades near Cle Elum. There are two specific runs that I really like in this area.

The first of these is South Cle Elum Ridge, a 29 mile loop that makes up the majority of the Cle Elum 50K run. The description of this route on Trails.com is as follows:

“This is a challenging and beautiful course. It is all run on trail, and most of the climbing is in the first half. On the approach to Windy Pass, a panorama of the entire Cle Elum Valley and the Yakima River emerges. In the distance are the Cascade Mountains, particularly Mount Stuart, the largest non-volcanic mountain in the Washington Cascades. Heading east again, the crest of Mount Rainier appears above the closer peaks.”

As mentioned above, there is some pretty good climbing involved.

To the left is the elevation profile for this run. The total elevation gain for the run is 5,600 feet…so, it’s a good one. But, as you can see in the elevation profile, you get some nice little breaks along the climb.

The second run I really like to do is up along Kachess ridge near Thorp Mountain. This is a ten mile loop, but it’s very easy to add-on, as you can get onto the Cascade Crest 100 course just above Thorp Mountain. You can make this as long a run as you could reasonable want.

To get there, you get off of I-90 near Salmon Du Sac and make a left just north of Cle Elum lake. The trail head starts from forest road 4312. Note: Thorp lake is my favorite “close to Seattle” camping spot. Go check it out sometime. Very worthwhile. And, the trail getting there is short enough that you can hike a case of beer in if needed J


We’re renting a cabin on Lookout Mountain for a long weekend. The primary motivation for doing this is that our dog, Achilles, hates fireworks. But, like myself, he loves trail running. So, the fireworks are really just an excuse to get out of the city for the weekend.

If you’re going to be out near Cle Elum this weekend and want to connect for a run, drop a comment here and let me know how to get in touch with you.

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Office 2010 Launch key to running consistency???

Posted on June 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

The most significant running thing in my life lately is actually not a running thing at all.    On June 15th, Office 2010 launched for consumers.    As many of you know, I’ve spent the last year building out e-mail marketing programs, display advertising, and e-commerce web sites  to ensure a smooth, global launch of our products.  I came to microsoft becauase I wanted to do “marketing” on a broad scale…and I got more than I could handle.  1700+ SKU’s of office, sold in 37 languages, across more than 200 countries.   

 Being responsible for ensuring that users on the web can buy Office on launch day around the globe was both stressful and time consuming.   I’ve spent way more time doing User Acceptance Testing, Bug Bashing, and Contingency planning than I have doing long runs, repeats, or fartleks.  I’m very proud of how things turned out…a great launch with no major issues.  And, we’ve introduced some great new technology.   For example, we’ve implemented Click-to-run, a new streaming and virtualization technology that reduces the time to download Office from hours to minutes.    You can check it out by downloading the 60-day free trial of Office.  If you have a high speed connection, you’ll be up and running in minutes. 

While I’m proud launch was so smooth, I’m excited that it is now behind me and I can focus once again on running.  I still have the same goals for the year…a solid 50K in September, a great relay race in October, and my peak race at the North Face Endurance Challenge in December.    I’m way out of shape…so, time to start logging miles.  I’m not going to worry about speed….just focusing on getting strong.    

 Hopefully, when I look back on the year in review, my trail running will be as successful as our product launch.

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Posted in My Own Running, Northwest Running, ultrarunning

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Kendall Katwalk: SRC Group Run

Posted on August 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

As I’ve meSRC logontioned on this blog before, I love Seattle Running Company because they do so much to make the Seattle running community a better place to live, train, and race.   This weekend, I was faced with a choice between doing the Cougar Mountain 13 mile trail race that SRC puts together or doing the SRC weekend group run at Kendall Katwalk, near Snoqualmie Pass.    That’s a great example of why I love SRC – two great runs…one weekend. 

If I were in a bit better shape, I’d have done them both.   Given that this is not the case, I opted for the Sunday group run.    Phil Kochik, SRC employee and (in my opinion) one of the most under-rated trail runners in the Northwest, led the run.   The run (map can be found here) was advertised as follows:

It will be approximately a 11 mile run; 5.5 miles and 2700 feet up, 5.5 miles down–all on the Pacific Crest Trail. Very scenic but with a few rough rocky sections.

Being from Pennsylvania, I’d never run 5.5 miles of consecutive uphill.  Nor have I gained 2,700 feet of continuous vertical on a run.   So, I wasn’t sure quite what to expect.  As a result, I started out very conservatively.  I was running PCT Kendall Katwalk earlyas the “sweep” – the last runner in line making sure everybody ahead was okay.   I stayed content to run at the back of the back for quite a while.  I was surprised that, despite running fairly high mileage the last few weeks (including a 10 mile trail race last weekend in 85-degree temps), my legs felt pretty good. 

The weather was cool (probably high 50’s/low 60’s at the start), but, I was working up a good sweat, and consumed my first water bottle filled with orange-ginger Nuun by the time we reached the intersection with the Commonwealth Basin trail at about 2.25 miles.   This early part of the trail was fairly mild in terms of elevation gain (I would guess we were gaining about 400 feet/mile), and the cool weather kept a foggy-mist hovering above the trees.    I was tempted to pick up the pace here when Phil, who had gotten to the back while marking the trail to ensure we all went the correct direction, went by at about 2.5 miles.  Despite feeling really good (my hePCT Kendall Katwalk -- near topart rate was still in the low 160’s), I decided to hold back a bit longer, knowing that we had a ways to go. 

At about 3 miles, the person ahead of me (don’t know his name, but have seen him at the SRC runs before), decided to start passing people, as the pace was starting to slow a bit as the trail got steeper.   I decided to follow suit, and next thing I knew I was “breaking away” with this unknown runner in pursuit of Phil & two other runners.   Shortly after we separated ourselves, the trail steepened and I found myself running alone in pursuit of Phil.  After ½ mile of tough uphill climbing, I could see Phil and started closing the gap.  This was a great section of trail, as things started leveling off a bit and the vegetation resembled that you typically see at/near the summit.   But, I looking at my Garmin, I knew we were only 4 miles in and had another 1.5 Kendall Katwalk -- Kendall Summitmiles to the top. 

I hung behind Phil & 2 others for another ½ mile, but they got away from me when the trail started turning a bit more rocky as we neared the summit.   Phil has an incredible ability to just “float” over the boulders.   I heard him telling another runner that he got really good at running through rocky sections of trail when he lived in Colorado and often ran at Rocky Mountain National Park.    After another steep section that included a number of switchbacks, the trail flattened out and was very exposed with a steep drop off to the left.   I’ve read that the views from here on a clear day are spectacular, but on this morning, we could only see a deep valley filled with fog.   Kendall Katwalk -- the katwalkThe run ended at the Katwalk, a narrow path blasted into the side of a rock slab. 

After spending a few moments at the top waiting for others to catch up, we started back down the mountain.  We were running at a pretty good clip, with Phil & Brent (?) gapping me every time the trail became technical, forcing me to pick up the pace after each such section to keep pace.   When we hit the intersection with the Commonwealth Basin trail again, Phil & two others decided to check out that trail, and added on another 1.5-2 miles.   I waited for the next runner, Brian, and cruised on down the rest of the hill.  

Once again, I have SRC to thank for a great run.  I was expecting to be sore this AM from the big up & down, but actually felt pretty good on my morning run with our dog, Achilles.  He was raring to go, and pulled me along at a pretty good clip.   If you’re looking for a great, scenic trail run within an hour of the city, I’d highly recommend Kendall Katwalk.

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I’m Back Running Again…

Posted on April 17, 2009 | Leave a comment
Cougar Mountain, Foothills of the Cascades

Cougar Mountain, Foothills of the Cascades

…as I mentioned before on this blog, I’ve been battling a knee injury (torn MCL).    I’m not completely healed, but it’s good enough that I’ve been able to start running again.  It’s amazing how much of a difference running makes in all of our lives.  

Last evening, I met up with Kevin Murphy, a younger runner who moved to Seattle fairly recently.  Kevin ra in college for Montanna State, and has some great stories about trail running in and around Bozeman.  We ran at Cougar Mountain, and were able to log about 9-10 miles before it started to get dark.    

It was fantastic to get out on single track again.  My knee is pretty stiff/sore this morning, but I’m feeling like a few days running on flat ground will do the trick.  I’m running again…on trails…it’s a good day!

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Bridle Trails Winter Trail Running Festival

Posted on December 31, 2008 | 2 Comments

This past weekend, I had a chance to get out and run at Bridle Trails in Redmond.  I hadn’t been out there for a while and forgot just how much it makes you feel you are in the middle of nowhere, despite being right in the heart of suburban Seattle.

bridle_trailsAs always, it was muddy & mucky and just plain fun.  Unlike most times I’ve run there, there was about 6 inches of snow & slush this time.  I struggle to run 9 minute miles on a course that I usually cruise 7 minute miles.   I also learned that my dog, Achilles, is much better running through the mud & muck than I am…he hammered me the entire way.  

I’m looking forward to participating in the Bridle Trails Winter Trail Running Festival put on by none other than my favorite running store, Seattle Running Company.   There are three races to choose from – 5.2 miles, 10.4 miles, and a full-out 50K.   One of the things I love about these races is the fact that they start at 3:00 PM…which suits me well as I hate running in the morning.  

I’m guessing Greg Crowther will be out to run it again this year.  Every year he shows up and just flat out smokes the 50K race.   In 2007, he broke 3:20, running a course record 3:19:40…that’s smoking.  Especially when you consider that the six-person 50K relay record (which includes Scott Jurek, Uli or Trish Steidl, and Scott McCoubrey on it) is only 10 minutes faster.  

Anyway, hope to see you out on the Bridle Trails on January 10th…it’s a great way to kick of the new year of racing!

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Posted in Northwest Running, Seattle Running Company

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