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FLRC Newsletter - Jul 2003 |
| Cougar Mountain | |
I was desperate -- just had to get away from the mud (as I write this, my caked shoes are slowly drying from this evening's slosh-fest along the Interloken and Burnt Hill trails in the FLNF). So on my way to Tucson where my husband lives and it's bone dry (no, drier than that: drink-a-liter-and-a-half-an-hour- and-still-lose-five-pounds- in-a-two-and-a-half-hour-run dry), I stopped in Seattle. Yeah, it's a not quite on the way, but my daughter is finishing her freshman year at the University of Washington and it was the weekend of the Folklife music festival, so what the heck. Besides, I let myself get bumped off a pair of consecutive flights from Pittsburgh to Seattle and garnered two free round trips -- thank you USAirways! ... but I diverge. What am I writing this for? Oh, yes: the Finger Lakes Runners Club, so the topic should be mud or hydration, but Seattle offered no challenges along either of those lines.
Meanwhile, I had looked online a couple of days before leaving home in search of some nice trails and found that the Seattle Running Company (SRC) was putting on the first in a series of trail races at Cougar Mountain the Saturday I'd be there -- a five miler: short but sweet. The noble intent of this new series is twofold: (1) to introduce not-yet-indoctrinated runners to the joys of trails, and (2) to raise $15,000 for the King County parks as well as provide 640 hours of trail maintenance. Not only this, but they garnered some great overall and masters awards, but more on that later. It's not as though the northwest has been devoid of trail races, it's just that to date they have only hosted ultras, such as the USTAF 50M championships. Look in the July 2003 issue of Runner's World for an article on SRC's amazing Scott Jurek, four-time champion of the Western States 100M Endurance Run -- his wife mentioned the then-upcoming spread as we walked back to our cars after the morning's event.
However, it was a different Scott -- Scott McCoubrey, co-owner of SRC -- who launched this series, and not only did he give a rundown on the course before the race began, but also clued people in on trail-running etiquette: let people by as requested, stay on the trails, say something nice to hikers you pass ("good morning," not "on your left, you sloggard"; my epithet, not his), be cautious on the downhills; and remember that when you get to the top of the first climb, there's still three-quarters of the race to go, so it's okay to walk on your way up.
Yup, we started off uphill from the get-go, but nothing to phase anyone from around here: 650 feet over a mile and a quarter. Now, I don't generally like starting uphill, because it means I have to (gulp) warm up first. But this time I didn't, with no ill effects. Actually, it was a wonderful way to sort out the 176 runners according to ability. The ascent was on an old mining road, which had a nice soft surface (but no mud) and accommodated maybe six people across. By the time we reached the top, the single aid station, and the single-track trail, there was very little passing left to do. Okay, I did make my way by one person and then another and then a group of three and ... but everyone had listened well to the instructions at the start: I said, "excuse me, may I please get by at a convenient juncture?" and they said, "oh, yes, good morning, please do!" So I did.
The trails were through evergreens and hardwoods and mosses and ferns. They were narrow, winding, and crisscrossed by logs. But not muddy. The last couple of miles were appreciably downhill, and I didn't even see that the first masters woman was right there ahead of me until we exited the woods and had maybe 100 feet to the finish. I ended up one second behind her and fourth woman overall. What a delight to gain on someone at the end instead of petering out before crossing the line! And what a delight to win a pair of "spendy" (as they say in the northwest) Nike sunglasses. First-place winners went home with a new pair of Montrails (the store had brought a bunch of loaner pairs for people to try out during the race if they cared to), and third place received something nice, but I'm not sure what. You see, I missed the awards ceremony because I was quite happy and decided to run the course again. So I did. Still no mud. This race was so well conducted that the trail sweepers had completely obliterated any trace that a gaggle of runners had gone by just minutes before -- all blazes were gone, chalk markings erased, and cups cleared away. Good thing the other owner of SRC suggested I bring a trail map.
So if you find yourself in the Seattle area this summer on June 14, July 12, or August 16, be sure to make the short drive to Cougar Mountain for the progressively longer races (7.5, 10, and 13 miles) in the series; check out www.seattlerunningcompany.com and register online. The park is sufficiently extensive to accommodate the full 13-mile route with no retracing of steps. True, the entrance fee is pretty steep ($25 per race or $80 for the four-race series), but $15 off the top of each race entry goes to the parks. I won't be back there until November - using the free tickets to take my other kids to visit their sister - but plan to return to Cougar Mountain or one of the other favorably touted trails when I do return. Unless it's muddy. I'll save the Tucson Mountain stories of snakes and deja vu hares and lizards and getting lost (yet again) among the saguaros and mesquite in 100+ temps for another day.
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