Oregon Cascades 100
August 27, 2022
30:29:17, 52 hundo
7th hundred in 2022 so far…
Tres Amigas
When they assigned us our bib numbers we noticed something special, Jess got 23, Sabrina got 93 and I got 63. The three amigas had threes in our bib numbers and so there would be three buckles for three girls.
Oregon Cascades is called a mountain hundred because it is up in the central mountains of Oregon and is a point to point race from Bend to Sisters, Oregon. But it is not a real tough mountain hundred with only 12000 feet of gain where most mountain hundreds can have in the 20000 + ft of gain. 12000 ft of gain would be tough for me but more scary is the race would be up at elevations between 4K and 7K. In central Oregon it is dry so no real chafage of the skin which is good but you feel like someone sucked all of the moisture out of you after the race. No matter how much I drink, I’m still thirsty.
Race start time was six AM however we had to get our car to the finish and get a ride back to the start, that made for an early morning. Jess secured us a ride and we were out the door at 3:40 AM. I brought some throw away sweatshirts to keep us warm in the cold morning air. It seems like it is hard to throw away sweatshirts as Jerry, who was crewing for Sabrina took them for us and returned them after the race. Thanks Jerry.
Sabrina did great in her first big girl hundred. Only fell once and finished strong. Jerry schooled her to wear actual clothes up in the altitude at night when it was cold. Congrats my friend, you da B..in BA.
Jess of course hasn’t run a hundo in a while due to injury. She did fine after she remembered all the things. She does an excellent job of taking care of her friend the old gal, that’s me and the giggles were a plenty. I do have to watch the amount of excitement she has for this stuff, easy in the caffeine honey and she is not allowed to order dinner without telling me the name of the restaurant so we can actually find it to pick up said dinner.
This was a tough one for me and we can say all hundreds are tough. But the elevation and climbing took a toll on me. I did a lot of hiking and tried to keep my speed up especially on the uphill. Fortunately the grades were more gradual than I expected compared to my Chirico and Mt Si and Tiger training which served me well. During the night the temperatures got into the 40s and my lungs do a number to keep themselves safe. They create this phlegm to protect themselves and then all I want to do is cough up the phlegm. From miles 80-90 I was hacking up and had to slow my pace. I may have scared some folks with the mighty hacks, sorry. I felt awful but couldn’t do anything about it, so suck it up buttercup.
I only fell twice. No damage as the trails on the Bend side of the course for the first 70 miles had smooth and buttery dirt as trails. When I fell I got dirty but nothing hurt. On the Sisters side of the course, the last 30 miles the course was rockier and more technical. You had to wade through some bushes and I am sure I breathed in a lot of dust which didn’t help the lung issue.
I used my poles for the first time in a hundred and they really helped. After about twenty miles of running there were some steeper sections so out of the quiver came the poles. My triceps are going hurt for days because up until this point I had only used my poles on short hikes or runs of about 10-15 miles. For 80 miles I used those suckers and they really helped me on the downs as they gave me confidence that I wouldn’t fall and they helped me keep my hiking pace up to speed on the ups. With more practice I will get skilled in using them.
Food, there wasn't any unique foods at the aid stations, just the usual fair. I have been having some good success with UCAN and Nuun (liquid calories) and gels for the first 8-10 hours. After that I had a rice krispie treat, nutter butter cookies, 4 Oreos, 2 cup o noodles, tortilla with Nutella, and two pancakes with syrup. That’s it. Oh and a lot more gels. They had Muir energy that I alternated with Gu Roctane. There was one aid station before a ten mile segment in the middle of the night that didn’t have any real food so I had some coffee and cocoa. Really there should have been more food at that aid station to get runners to the next aid station, ten miles is a long way to go so I’m sucked down a gel or two, ick.
Over the course of the run I met a few of the runners and most seemed to be attempting their first hundred. As evidenced by the carnage we saw at the finish. Lots of finishers had trashed feet and were hobbling hard. Jess and I were moving well with only one teeny blister each. Thank gosh for Run Goo. I even gave a commercial to one runner who had some pretty trashed feet. We figured we should be sharing this knowledge and could take our commercial on the road.
In the early hours of the morning there were lots of stars and when the sun started to come up some beautiful views. I enjoyed being out in the elements all day, all night and into the next day. I will have to figure out what to do to avoid my lungs from filling with the phlegm, maybe breathe into a buff or something. I will also have to figure out how to best use my poles as my back and shoulders don’t feel great right now. Hundreds are always a learning experience.
Congrats to Melissa on her first hundred and thank you Gene and crew of Melissa for your help.
Happy to finish another hundred and especially grateful to be traveling with my friend. Thank you Jess for taking such good care of me and helping me run hard things and giggle hard.