Marathons, 5Ks, 100 milers, Ragnars, 12Ks, whiskey miles. If you run somewhat regularly, you’ve no doubt been quizzed on why you run and what you’re training for and what races you like and what distances you prefer and do you do speedwork have you ever met Jodee Adams-Moore cause I have and have you ever run an ultra and well, why the hell not and wait where are you going? I’d just like to say I’m sorry for bombarding you with those questions at the Fleet Feet group run last month but I’m socially awkward and have no clue what to talk about until I’m certain you’re a Seinfeld or Fraiser fan.
If you had harrassed me with the questions listed above, I’d probably refer to myself as a tried and true *distance* runner BRO who logs hella miles and reads Joe Grant blog posts and would totally be best-suited at gnarly ultras like the Hardrock 100 if I really *wanted* to. You’d look at my bald head and George Costanza physique and have no choice but to believe me, but my training* and list of races run the past couple years suggests otherwise.
*This includes weekly SRC Wednesday track workouts, which only perhaps further confuse my brain as I train with even less distance-inclined guys who somehow manage to lap me during 200m repeats. “It’s only cause I’m a hella milage *distance* bro,” I’ll tell myself while gasping for air.
No matter your preference, there’s something for everyone on the weekend mornings of Cougar Mountain races. One per month from May through August, there’s something for the roadie who’s never set foot on a dirt trail to the grizzled Pigtails veteran who only sometimes leaves the mountains and everyone in between. It’s been around since 2003 and has been the playground for many of the wacky characters many of us have heard about over the years in this occasional hotbed of running talent. Just browse some of the old results. In 2003 we had young unknown phenoms with familiar-sounding names like “Jodi Adams-Moore” coupled with a not-quite-the-Fleet-Feet-owner-nor-can-he-rent-a-car Brian Morrison. The future owner of the Balanced Athlete was only my age! Most of the women are running under maiden names you might not recognize today. It’s a time capsule, and with good reason. For someone like me, who can’t pick a discipline and type of running I want to move forward with, I can always rely on the Cougar Series.
So with the 2014 season opener to the historic series looming last weekend, and my lazy spring, the piddly little 5 mile it was. The 5 mile was my very first foray onto Cougar Mountain back in 2008 and I loved it enough that six years later I’m sitting here on my really expensive futon practically begging you to run it yourself (or any other distance in the series) before you die. Compared to the Fremont 5k, it’s an earth-shatteringly hilly course, but compared to all other races in the series it’s easily the gentlest. You climb for a bit after a mile, a bit before and after the aid station at mile 3, but for the most part you can let it fly. To put it another way, it’s the race at which you’re most likely find a Club Northwest runner. On that note, it’s also the race you’ll finish closest to Joe Gray if he decides to show up. I had run the 5 mile four times before last weekend, with what I think are spectacularly consistent results:
2008: 33:59*
2009: 33:31
2010: 33:41
2012: 32:57
*Interestingly, 2008 was the year I PR’d in the (road) 5k with a 16:40, a round, thousand second number I’ve not been able to touch since. As my track splits seem to also confirm my declining speed compared to then, my Cougar times are still somehow trending downward.
Last weekend I was back for #5, this though my first time as an “#SRC-Brooks” honoree. That wish to impress my new teammate Nick Symmonds, combined with the facts that I hadn’t *really* raced since last December and that short races terrify me, had me sweating bullets the morning of. But I had a good poo and ate well and made sure the hay was in the barn. Thirty three minutes and one second later I was done, two places behind the win, behind two fellow #SRC-Brooks “teammates” that I’m not ashamed to admit would have beaten me 99 times out of 100. Four seconds slower than 2012 but on a much sloppier and slower course. All things being equal, I probably ran my best 5 mile yet.
A few months ago I was still entertaining the idea of running the White River 50 mile in late July, because it’s been 3 years since my last jaunt past 50k and I need to believe I’m still a hella distance bro. But as is often the case, I’ve procrastinated and now I find myself only a couple months away from the race and really zero 50 mile-specific training done. Not even an obligatory Mt. Si ascent. Am I still an “ultra runner”? Does it matter? So far in 2014 I’ve raced a beer mile, a 5.2 mile leg in a relay race and a 5.14 mile trail race. In two days I’m going to race a road 5k and a couple weeks after that I’m going to look like am Oompa Loompa next to Brett in his purple spandex at the Fremont 5k.
TLC once famously said “what about your friends?” Well, at the moment my friends like track workouts and short trail races so I guess that’s what I like too. TLC also famously said “Realize the realism of reality treats” which I fully take to heart with my running. Realistically I’ve only got so many more “fast” miles on these legs. Lastly though, ultramarathons, TLC also famously said “Oh baby, baby, baby, I got so much love in me.” And I do. For you. Someday I’ll return to you and become an honest ultrarunner once again, but probably not before a few more of those historic Cougar Mountain races.
I like TLC 🙂
