Sunflower Trail Marathon, Mazama to Twisp
May 11
On the same weekend as the first Cougar Mountain Series races, I ran a beautiful trail marathon that goes from Mazama to Twisp, called the Sunflower Trail Marathon & Relay, put on by Winthrop Mountain Sports. I won the race, and ended up beating the male competitors too (that was a surprise). Two relay teams did beat me, but they had two people and five people, respectively. My time was 3:22:49 for a slightly-long course with just under 2000 feet of elevation gain. My next competitor was 3:29:37.
It was one of those races where everything came together. I could have had a problem with the heat, but I drank at every mile (when my new Garmin beeped) and I was more acclimated than most, because we had experienced a heat wave in Leavenworth. The elevation was less than I’d been training on, so that
was fine.
I was nervous for a few reasons: 1. It was my first running race of the year; 2. I hadn’t done a marathon since Pigtails in December but the difference was that I had really trained for this one, so more was at stake; 3. I love this race and hadn’t run it in several years, so I had high expectations for myself.
But it all went really well. I was able to have a strong finishing kick (when there are finally spectators again, after a lot of alone time), so I knew I had paced myself well.
The big bummer is I wore my new awesome Brooks team uniform and just checked the race photos and somehow there is a photo of everyone except me! I do think Kay Allen got a photo of my on her iPhone (standing still at the finish).
Red Devil Challenge 25k Trail Race
June 1
This race is 3 years old and I’ve run it every year. I also won it the other years and had a title to defend. Last year the next woman was very close to me so I couldn’t rest on any laurels this year. I was getting over a cold but that didn’t seem to affect me, and in fact it probably made me take last week a little easier, so I was more rested. I felt steady for the long initial climb (2000 ft in 4-5 miles), but I wished I was a little faster. My downhill running felt effortless and light and I was slowed only a bit by the mud patches. There’s still an extra 1000 ft of elevation gain, but it’s done over undulating terrain and I loved it because I enjoy switching from uphill to downhill mode and back again. I never saw the 2 men in front of me, but I think they were ahead by virtue of the uphill and if anything I think I gained on the downhill. I was thrilled to find out that I was over 7 minutes faster than I was last year, proof that my trail specific training is going well.
Hope your running is going well. Hope to see you on the trails…