I ran my first 50k in 2010, and second in 2011. I had injury and illness issues the next two years. The Rattlesnake Ridge Run 50k was my third in as many months, bringing me up to five. They’ve been increasingly difficult races as I prepare for potentially running my first 50 miler at the White River 50 Mile Endurance Run.

I woke up at 4:50 am, not much later than I had been getting to sleep. It wasn’t too bad after taking a few days getting up earlier and a little melatonin. I prepared everything the night before, as I am not much of a morning person.

I had my usual 1 quart glass of water with some rosehip powder. I blended up a small smoothie of two frozen bananas, one beet, some spinach and water to take with me. I loaded up all my stuff, got the dogs in the car and headed out by 5:30.

My yard isn’t fenced, and I didn’t want to leave my dogs locked up in the house for potentially up to 10 hours. A friend from my old neighborhood just down the road from the race location dog sat for me. He owns my pups’ mom and some other dogs so they got to play for the day. I arrived there to drop the dogs at 6:45.

I reached Rattlesnake Lake and parked just before 7:00, checked in, put my drop bags in the proper spots and got ready. The drop bag going to aid station two at the turnaround on the other side of the mountain had two bananas, a bottle of homemade dateorade, some salt caps, sunglasses, and a hat. The drop bag staying at the start/finish line, also aid station four, had two bananas and a bottle of dateorade.

It was a little chilly when I got there, but was supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s later in the day. I decided to wear thin gloves to start the race. My hand sometimes get cold and stiff even when the rest of me warms up from running. I had two 20 ounce handheld water bottles, one water, one dateorade. The handheld straps have pockets. In one were five pitted dates in a sandwich bag. In the other were salt caps in a sandwich bag and my car keys. I also wore my Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek Essential belt. I don’t use both large pockets because it always sits off-centered, throwing off weight distribution, which caused some calf problems earlier in the year. But it’s great for carrying my phone in the water resistant pocket and ID in the small pocket. Then it rides with my phone centered in the back and the small pocket centered up front.

The race got started a few minutes late. I think there were 47 or so runners starting. The course began with a short out and back on the gravel railroad grade Snoqualmie Valley trail before going around Rattlesnake Lake to start the first climb.

I tried to take it easy early, but found myself passing people anyway. I think I was just a tad overconfident about the climbing and maybe a little caught up in the competition. I probably should have hiked more earlier in the race. That first climb is fairly steep at about 1100 ft over 1.5 miles. Then it lets up a little bit, but continues rolling generally upwards until topping out at a bit over 3500 ft elevation. For a few miles, I and several other guys ran within sight distance for the most part.

A little less than 6 miles in was the first aid station. I was there with two other guys. I had just about finished both bottles, and refilled both with straight water, drank water from one of the paper cups they had on the table, took a salt cap, grabbed two dates to chew on and headed out. Just as I was leaving, another guy with a hydration vest came through the aid station without stopping. I could hear him close behind me. The trail soon started descending, and I let gravity take over.

I started flying downhill, and I soon lost contact. There was another climb before the big descent down toward the turnaround at the second aid station. By this time I had gotten into a run/hike rhythm for the steep sections that I should have started from the beginning.

At 9:30, the half marathon was scheduled to start from Snoqualmie Point Park, where the 50k turnaround point was. In order to try to minimize traffic jams, the 50k turned onto a gravel road for the last part of the descent. It came out just downhill on to the road into the park. The short hill on the road up to the park was tougher than it should have been. As I turned onto the road, I caught a glimpse of the guy with the hydration vest gaining on me. I gained a little ground on that small hill, but he blew through the aid station again.

I finished both bottles again. I refilled one with water. I got into my drop bag, swapped the dateorade bottle, ate a banana, and grabbed my sunglasses. I started back out walking to finish my banana and took two salt caps.

The trail immediately started heading back up. At this point, I realized I went out too hard up that first climb. A few minutes in, I started passing half marathoners. I started hiking more of the steeper sections. I was able to hike pretty efficiently and looking at my GPS data afterwards, I didn’t lose much time over those sections compared to running them.

Somewhere before hitting that first aid station again, my mental state started going pretty low. I hadn’t felt that great the whole race, even though I hit the turnaround well before I expected. I entertained thoughts of quitting a number of times, but I wasn’t hurt or really suffering that much physically. At one point, I even questioned if I ever wanted to do another long race, and possibly even quit running completely. Unfortunately, I was in and out of that mental space for a lot of the last half of the race.

When I hit the first/third aid station, I refilled both bottles with water again, ate two dates, took two salt caps and continued on.

I can’t remember exactly where, but one of the guys who was at aid station one at the same time I was caught up to me somewhere in this section. We ran together and chatted for a little while. It was a nice pick-me-up. I doubt he’ll read this, but thanks Jeff. Soon, I could tell that I wasn’t going to hang with him and still have enough left in me to finish well. So I bid him good luck and resumed my own run/hike strategy.

The next couple miles are a bit of a blur. I know I passed a few more half marathoners. I alternated hiking and running on some of the steeper sections. Then finally I hit the descent of the initial climb.

By this time, hikers had just about taken over the trail. The vast majority were very courteous, allowing runners to pass. Unfortunately, they often stepped aside on the smooth, level part of the trail, leaving the rocky and/or rooted portion for passing. A combination of tired legs and trying to pay attention to what or who was ahead on the trail lead to me tripping four times on the descent while passing people. Fortunately, I was able to keep on my feet the first three times. I fell the last time, though. Thankfully, I didn’t fall hard and landed on my backside in the bushes on the uphill side of the trail. The soft landing wasn’t bad at all, but my left calf immediately cramped up. The young woman who I landed next to asked if I was alright. I think I said I was fine, but I don’t know how coherent I was as I tried to get my calf to unseize. I got back up, it relaxed, and I went on my way much more attentive to the trail.

There were a couple occasions that I had to stop and wait for hikers. The first was only a few seconds as one small group coming up passed another going down. The next time, though, it was a very large group of probably about 30+ hikers coming up past a group of about 6 in a narrow section of trail. It seemed like it took about a minute for the stream of people to finish. Meanwhile, the half marathoner that I had passed a while back caught up with me. After that delay, I started calling out “runner” much earlier and more loudly than I had been previously only calling out “on your left.” There were a couple small children that I had to dodge after that, but no more delays.

Once at the bottom, I had to use the restroom and decided to use one on the trail side of the lake, in case there were lines at the start/finish/aid station four.

At the fourth aid station, I refilled my water bottle. I replaced my dateorade bottle and grabbed a banana from my drop bag. I took two salt caps. I also left my shirt there, as it had warmed up a bit. The other guy came through who had also been at the first aid station at the same time as me. I left just before him.

The last approximately 9 miles were on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. It was about 400ft descent out to the turnaround and final aid station, then ascent on the return. Within the first mile of that, the guy from the aid station slowly passed me. I thought about trying to keep up, but I was feeling pretty low again and just wanted to keep the pace I had going. I was running around 9-9:20/mi pace on the way out.

After another mile or so, I started seeing the 50k leaders returning. First was a guy that had been in the group that was loosely together going up the first ascent. Then a few more. Then Jeff. Shortly after that, I saw a guy who was obviously having a rough time. He was alternating walking and running, but when he was walking, he’d reach down and massage his calves. As I passed, I asked if he was cramping and wished him good luck.

I finally made it to the turnaround, which happened to be where the trail intersects with a road in the neighborhood in which I grew up. I dumped the small amount of water left in my water only bottle over my head just before the aid station. Again, I refilled both bottles with water, drank another small paper cup of water, ate my last date, and took two salt caps. The guy who had passed me was there when I arrived and another guy got there shortly after I did. The guy who passed me left, with me following shortly after.

I really wanted to give chase, but I just didn’t have it in me. I started slowing down to around 10-10:30/mi pace. A mile or two later, I glanced back and saw the other guy from the last aid station only about 200 yards behind me. Only a few minutes prior, I couldn’t see him when I looked back. So, I forced myself to run faster, when I really wanted to walk instead. I got back down to around 9:30/mi pace. I was still feeling pretty low, but I was in a race. It gave me something else to concentrate on for a while, which helped a little.

I know that section of trail quite well from back in the day, but I remembered it being much flatter than it seemed on the final leg of the race. I was going to do what I could to not get passed again. This was not like some of my long runs where 3-5 hours seems like no time has passed and I couldn’t recall any specific thoughts. There was no losing myself in the moment on those last 3-4 miles.

It turned out to be fast enough to keep my spot. I finished 10th overall in 5:31:15. It was a few minutes faster than my first 50k, which was on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail with only 1000 ft gain. The Rattlesnake Ridge 50k had 6500 ft gain. I went in with a goal of finishing under 6 hours. I’m incredibly pleased with how well I ran, especially given how awful I felt at times. But I guess that’s what happens when you push your limits.

After the race, I met and spoke with some other runners. Several talked about running White River and asked if I planned to. I’m pretty sure I’ll give it a shot. I hope to see them there and maybe run with them.

Now, several days removed, all the discomfort and negative thoughts have been dulled by time. Remaining is the joy of running in the woods, running up and down mountains, the competition, and the sense of accomplishment. Northwest Trail Runs put on a great race. The course was well marked. The aid station volunteers were helpful, and the aid stations looked well stocked. The volunteers at the road crossings did a great job too. And at the finish line, they had quite a spread of food, with a volunteer manning a grill. I stuck to water and watermelon myself.

I think I’ll go back for more next year.

What I Used
*Altra Lone Peak 1.5 shoes – I was very happy with the shoes.
*Garmin Forerunner 305 – GPS turned itself off and missed a little over a mile and a little gain.
*Discontinued Ironman handheld bottle carry straps
*20 ounce Water bottles made by Trek for Road Runner Sports
*Dateorade – 13 ounce baking dates, 1 yellow beet, 2 bananas, small handful spinach, water. Blended in my Vitamix. Evenly poured into 3 water bottles, topped off with water.
*Saltstick Caps
*5 medjool dates
*2.5 bananas
*180 ounces water – This may seem like a lot, but I normally drink a lot of water. I only peed once during the race and once shortly after the race. I drank another 40 ounces or so after the race, which resulted in stopping twice for a restroom on the drive home.