Tag: srcbrooks

#SRCBROOKS 2019 YEAR END Update!

Post author By Seattle Running Club
Post date January 6, 2020

Boy howdy it’s another #SRCBrooks update! This time we rehash the end of summer, the perfection of autumn, and coming of winter. Which means TRAILS & XC! Or, if you’re Joe Kelly, road marathons!

Onto the (squints)…..bloody nipples?! Take it away, Joe!

Joe Kelly

The second half of the year was a big change of pace for me compared to the past 3 years on trails. I was focused on racing the Philadelphia Marathon, which would be my first road marathon in over 3.5 years. I got myself into great road shape by October with hopes of sharpening my speed with some XC races. Unfortunately, I pulled my hamstring in early October and wasn’t able to race until the end of the month. I raced the 7.6 mile distance at the October Cougar Race and placed third overall improving my time from last year by over a minute. A cool aspect of this year’s race was that it was scored like an XC meet. We went toe to toe on trails with the CNW guys. SRC went 2-3 but did not have the depth to beat our rivals on the men’s side. This result gave me confidence going into my marathon taper. Unfortunately, less than a week later, I sprained my ankle running on trails. I recovered quickly enough to be healthy on race day, but any confidence in my fitness was certainly lost. Philly Marathon conditions were very Seattle-like – windy, rainy, and cold. I went out conservatively and ended up negative splitting by 1:45 – my first negative split in a marathon. I ran my first marathon in Philly in 2009 on almost the same course and I beat that time by over a minute. It was also my fastest marathon since 2013 and 3rd fastest of my life. 2019 was an up and down running year for me but I’m proud to have represented the SRC Brooks team during that time. I won’t be returning for the 2020 season as I enter fatherhood but hopefully I’ll be back on the squad in the future.

Kristi Houk

Wow! What an amazing year for running. I find myself in a very happy state where I have finally found my stride and able to race, rally, and rumble! Through my most epic of trail races, I have developed a more realistic sense of what constitutes hills and running up them. To be frank, I do not enjoy torturing myself slogging up mountains (nor running recklessly down them either), but as of late they seem to be a consistent feature in many of my races. All year, Cougar Mountain has been what I would like to consider “difficult trail running” but that has all changed with my most recent endeavor, the Don Diablo 35k. The reason behind this particular race selection was not the eternal glory nor the numerous peso prize purse, but rather the ticket we (Alex and I) needed in order be invited to stay at a family member’s home in La Ventana (the race’s finishing point). Heck yeah I will run a race to stay in Mexico! Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

Prepared is not a word I would use to describe myself for this race. Yes, I had been running but not in heat, on mountains, or long distances. So with one sixteen miler under my belt, I deemed myself prepared…enough. The first day of “trail” desert running in Mexico was doable though running in sand and heat amongst organisms that stab, puncture, and sting was a bit challenging…and unnerving. After an hour and a half of running and one liter of water later, my prospects looked bleak. Nevertheless, the weather Gods heard my cries of desperation and brought forth a tropical storm which quenched my dehydrated spirit. Despite the relief, this particular storm almost canceled the race in its entirety with the dooming prospects of flash floods and eroding cliff sides. Yet, in Mexico, caution tends to be thrown to the wind and race went on as planned.

Race day started with guava empanadas at four in the morning with occasional swigs of GU. Breakfast of champions. Race start involved digging a potty hole in the sand like a cat and a mile sand shuffle before the major climbs and descents which left me grumpy and questioning my sanity. When the storm hit and the rain started, floods of mud cascaded down the mountainside causing me to lose a shoe, fall on a barrel cactus, and slip and land on my butt so hard that I got a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my rear. Navigating the race involved looking for Pop-tart sized markers on rocks, trees, and cacti. Did I get lost? Short answer, yes. Did I stubbornly go on without making sure I was on the right trail? Short answer, no. Alex, my voice of reason, made a point to tell me before the race to not trust my own instincts and go blindly in the desert at the risk of saving a few minutes. Bah. I guess the five minute time loss of waiting for some fellow runners to catch up so I could follow was small price to pay instead of the bleak alternative (obviously I would be chupacabra food). Though challenging, I have never felt more invigorated by such an experience that pushed me outside of what I thought I was capable of. From this point on, in my running, I crave that feeling where panic, bliss, and pain all meld into one insurmountable human experience.

Thank you to all SRC community, Brooks, friends, and family who help guide, challenge, enhance, and nurture me. I wouldn’t be half the human I am today without your support! I have enjoyed volunteering at the Cougar Mountain Series races, helping out teammates who are in a bind, and lending a hand in local fun run around West Seattle!

Here is another brief glimpse into my world of running:

9/14/19 Redmond 6k 1st F, 1st overall 22:55

9/22/19 Sounder Rave Green Run 5k 1st F 18:45

9/29/19 Burien Brat Trot 5k 2nd F 19:02

10/5/19 Curtis XC Invite 1st F on SRC Open XC team

10/26/19 West Seattle Monster Dash 5k 2nd F 19:45

10/27/19 Cougar Mountain Series #4 4th F

11/10/19 PNTF XC 2nd F on SRC Open XC team]

11/17/19 Don Diablo 35k (La Paz, MX) 1st F 4 hours 41 minutes

11/23/19 Regional XC (Portland) 3rd F on SRC Open XC team

12/14/19 Winter Wonderland 5k 2nd F 20:16

12/21/19 Santa Paws (Palm Springs, CA) 1st F 18:38

Alex Bowns

The 2nd half of 2019 was a good one. I got another PR, found a few new running routes, and did some running with my local Lake Union SRC’ers.

I ended the year with a marathon PR down in Sacramento where I got to run the race with other SRC teammates! The race was a blast, great course with excellent organization and a high quality of runners. I didn’t know if I would be in shape to run a PR this year, but having other teammates running with me kept me motivated to push myself the whole way.

I did a little bit more volunteering at Cougar Mountain this fall. When I was out on the trails I was running with a little hand saw that I could use to clear downed branches and thin logs from the trail.

My highlight of this years running would have to be a trail run I did by myself out at Spray Park in the Mount Rainier wilderness. It was a 17 mile loop with a lot of elevation gain and great single track trails. While out there I ran past two bears! After that run, my quads were so shot that I could only hobble for the next couple of days while they recovered.

Aside from running, I celebrated a few other new changes. I started a new job, became a bike commuter, and got married! Looking forward to running into 2020!

Trisha Steidl

I thought I raced frequently during the first half of the year, but it turns out I ran more races in the second half. What fun! This was due to participating in the PNTF Masters Grand Prix, Cougar Mountain Race Series, and the XC season.

The Four on the Fourth and Labor Day Half Marathon (photo at right, PC Amon Mende) were both part of the Masters Grand Prix. I had never run the former and found it to be a fun race in a welcoming community with a “surprise ending” up a big hill into the finish. The latter, as usual, provided a competitive field which made the race experience more fun for me. I had not prepared for this race, so it was fun to set myself a goal pace and work to stick to it – which I did, despite it being quite warm!

I ran the July and August Cougar races this year. Looking back, I wouldn’t say my preparations were very smart. Not by design, Uli and I climbed Mt. Rainier 5-6 days before each race. In fact, I did a few dumb – but fun – things in the week leading up to the July race. By no surprise, I did not feel good for that race and it didn’t go well. The August race went better, mainly due to a significantly improved mindset/game plan…and doing fewer dumb things beforehand. While I wasn’t fresh for the race, I had a fun time competing and ended up gaining a new friend and SRC teammate out of the experience (photo at left, PC Somer Kreisman)!

The 2019 XC season was fun as usual. It’s always a blast – and a shock – to go from running for hours on end to racing for less than 25 minutes. We had a solid women’s team this year and I enjoyed racing with them throughout the season (photo at right, 2nd PNTF race, PC Somer Kreisman).

Mixed in with those races were two very different “race” experiences. I had decided early in the year that I wanted to challenge myself to run new-to-me routes and attempt at least one FKT (fastest known time). I found one route that particularly intrigued me in part because it included a trail I had run on last year as part of setting a FKT and quite a few people had run it previously. The short story is the first time I ran it, I had to keep stopping to check the route to ensure I was going the correct way, which cost me a bunch of time. I wanted to do it again with the confidence of knowing where to go and, thus, the mental freedom to put my head down and just run. It was very wet and foggy the second time, which wasn’t too bad, but also meant no views. The worst part was tripping on a tree I didn’t see due to an ill-timed check of the watch and falling hard on my knee and hands. I wasn’t able to run normally from that point on, but was determined to grit it out because I was running significantly faster than my previous attempt. I made it through and took a big chunk of time off the women’s FKT that will hopefully provide some fuel for other women to go for it! (photo above about a half mile from the finish, PC Michael Havrda)

My final two races of the year are the Kent Christmas Rush 10k and the Yukon Do It! Half Marathon. These are both a part of my build up for the Houston Marathon. Keep your fingers crossed for me on January 19th!

Along with racing, I had a good time volunteering at the Cougar races as well as participating in the final King County Parks & Rec/SRC trail work party at Cougar. I got a group of folks to run together for the trail work party and we were able to move three significant trees off the trails (photo at right of the group moving a tree).

Big thanks to SRC and Brooks for another great year of support!

2nd Half Race Results:

Four on the Fourth – 1st woman, 1st master

Cougar Mountain 10.8 mile – 3rd woman, 1st master

Chinook Pass Loop FKT – women’s FKT of 6:14:16; fastest time overall (as of July 19, 2019)

Cougar Mountain 14.5 mile (PNTF Association Trail Championships) – 1st woman, 1st master (PNTF Champion)

Labor Day Half Marathon – 11th woman, 2nd master

Chinook Pass Loop FKT – women’s FKT of 5:49:32; 2nd fastest time overall (as of September 16, 2019)

Emerald City XC Open – 14th woman, 3rd master 2nd SRC

WWU XC Classic – 2nd master, 2nd SRC

PNTF XC Masters Championship – 4th master, 3rd AG, 2nd SRC

PNTF XC Open Championship – 19th woman, 1st master, 3rd SRC

USATF XC Regional Championship – 24th woman, 3rd master, 2nd AG, 2nd SRC

Kent Christmas Rush 10k – 3rd woman, 1st master

Tyler Vasquez

Accomplished, tired, and reflective are some of the adjective and verbs which describe the second half of 2019.

Accomplished. We are always searching for the next goal. After finishing my 100 miler, I was searching for something new and felt that I needed more. This want and need made me feel unsettled. My mom referenced to me that I have accomplished many things in 2019 and that I have just glazed over them. At this moment, I realized that I have achieved more than I could have imagined. I have raced hard for 8+ months and the time has come to realize that I can feel accomplished with myself and my achievement. No need to prove anything, but just a general acceptance of my accomplishments.

Tired. As the darkness began to become a large part of our days so did sleep. Sleep became my best friend. I needed recover from the thrashing I did to my body and the sleep was the only way that I could recover. The heart was happy, mind was satisfied, and the body was tired.

Reflective. Running has become a part of me. As my body did not permit too much running in the latter part of 2019; running became a part of me, but more importantly being active became a part my life. I have become reacquainted with the athlete that was always there.

Thank you Seattle Running Club and Brooks for the experience of running hard, running with fellow runners, and running happy!

Adam Hewey

My marquis race for this year was the IMTUF 100 mile in McCall, Idaho in September. I was undertrained and underexcited. I thought I could mail it in and just finish for my 15th 100 mile race. I couldn’t, I didn’t. I DNFed at mile 50 because I really didn’t have it in me. It was and is a pivotal point in my maturation as a runner.

I have always been quite competitive and willing to work very hard to achieve my race goals. I enter races to be on the podium. I have many friends who are not blessed with speed who run for the love of running and race to be social. This year I turned 52. The competitive fire is still there but the commitment to the work in getting this jalopy on the road was missing. It all came to a head at IMTUF when I couldn’t let go of racing to just enjoy running. I wasn’t enjoying it at all and I stopped. Then I had to take a break and recalibrate.

I started running again a few weeks after my failure in Idaho. I ran because I wanted to. I ran because I wasn’t training for anything. I ran happy (Brooks, see what I did there?)

SRC Brooks team members get free entry to Cougar Mt. races. In all my years running in Seattle, I have never run a Cougar Mt. race. The 4th Cougar race this year happened to be the PNTF Championship in the 14.5 mile race. I signed up because I wanted to be part of the team. I was stoked to wear my Brooks SRC team shirt and toe the line with team mates. I had an absolute blast! Running fast on trails is so fun after a summer of slow 100 miler training. The racing is also a reminder of how much you can muster when you see another runner to catch! I caught a few and finished 13th overall and 4th masters.

The next Cougar Race was the final of the series and a chance to do an 8 mile race with Cross Country scoring. Fun. The trail was in excellent shape partly because a cadre of SRC runners, myself included, did some serious trail work clearing large trees and sawing off errant branches the week before.

I strapped on my trusty Brooks Calderas and braved a very cold morning to start with team mates and rivals from the dreaded Club Northwest. The race was fast and I thought I was doing well until I was passed by a guy in orange who I’ve battled with at all the XC races I’ve run. I let him go, relaxed and ran my race. A mile before the finish I caught him back. We battled all the way to the final puddle where he slipped and I beat him and another Club Northwester by 2 seconds to take 17th overall and 2nd masters. Both guys behind me were masters! Racing is fun.

My final race of the year was the PNTF Cross Country regionals at Woodland Park. 6k was the distance for Masters. I am not very good at XC but I love the camaraderie of the SRC team. I ran a very mediocre race and huffed and puffed to a sub par finish. The CNW guy I beat at Cougar finally beat me and was really happy. I was kind of happy for him too.

This year on the SRC Brooks team was great. I really enjoyed being part of a bigger thing and loved training in the Launch and Caldera. Trisha is an amazing leader and the team is a great asset to SRC, Brooks and the Seattle running community.

Somer Kreisman

I spent the summer throwing myself up and down mountains nearly every weekend, hellbent on developing the prerequisite neuromuscular groundwork and nutrition/hydration experiments required for trail racing. I’m not sure how many times I went up and down West Tiger 3 between June and September, but I’m certain I could tell you every strava segment location on the route.

The first four trail races in 2019 left me with valuable experience but little tangible success. Then there was Cougar July (10.8 miler). I started this race in my typical fashion: sprinting off the startline. I’m sure every coach will tell you this is exactly what you should do in any distance beyond 5K. Things were going well until the Wilderness section. For as long as I’ve been a trail runner (10 months?!), I’ve harbored this previously unfounded fear of downhill running. If you’re familiar with this section of the course, it’s a lot of switchbacks and a whole lot of descent. The week before, I did a course preview and told my training partner that if there was a section I was absolutely going to biff it on during the race, this was it. I’m not saying that I’m clairvoyant, but I’m not not saying it. Two to three switches in, in full send, I suddenly found myself sliding on my elbows in the gravelly dirt. Ouch. A quick damage assessment and a bee sting to my shin later, I started power hiking out of the bowels of Wilderness. I drifted into second place and then decided not to give any more time or places back as there wasn’t much racing left. I put my head down and held on til the finish, executing another trail race with 100% self-extraction. Bandaids aside, this marked the first inkling of success on the trails.

In August, I snagged a late entry into Rainshadow Running’s Oregon Coast 32K in October (#Baby’sFirstRainshadow). This became my ‘A’ race for 2019. The one I was going to put every bit of fitness I harvested all summer toward. A trail running festival featuring a half marathon in my hometown (Whidbey Island) was the week prior, and I thought this would serve as an excellent tune-up for Oregon Coast 32K. Well, as the saying goes: everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Or, more accurately, badly sprain their ankle… During the Whidbey Woods half, I was solidly in the lead for the women’s race, when at mile 6 my right foot hit a root at the perfectly wrong angle. On contact, I heard my ankle pop and I instinctively clutched onto the nearest tree for support. Instant pain. Many swear words. I checked to see if I could put weight through it. Nope. More treeholding. More thoughts swirling for what this was going to do to my 100% self-extraction streak. Another minute passed and I put my foot down. It wasn’t great, but I could hobble. Then hobbling gave way to jogging, jogging into running. I crossed the finish line and managed to hang onto first place despite slowing substantially. One trip to urgent care and a podiatrist appointment confirmed an incomplete avulsion fracture in my fibula and two ligament sprains in my foot. This also confirmed Oregon Coast was definitely out. I was heartbroken.

After a week, I could run without much pain or increased swelling. I felt robbed of the opportunity to compete at #BabysFirstRainshadow but decided this was not productive. While trail running was out for the next month to avoid a re-sprain, I could still accomplish a decent training block for the Seattle Half Marathon in December. I’ve got a lot of history with this race, so it proved to be a good substitute. I put my nose down for four weeks leading up to it, reeled everything back the week before, and gave myself permission to try on the day. I walked away from it with a third place finish and zero injuries, which was a fulfilling way to close the book on 2019.

Having the opportunity to be a part of SRC Brooks this year helped my running in ways I didn’t anticipate. I’ve always been trail-curious, but being a part of this community really pushed me into it head first. What I didn’t realize is that all those mountain days over the summer served as invaluable strength training that translated to road fitness in the fall and helped me whittle down my 5K season best from 18:47 to 18:14. Volunteering and giving back to the running community also makes participating in it even more rewarding.

2019 results through July-December:
-2F: Carnation Run for the Pies, July
-2F: Cougar Mtn Series 10.8 miler, July*
-1OA: Cougar Mtn Series 5K, August*
-1OA: Summer Blast @ Redmond Watershed 10 miler, August*
-1F: Labor Day 5K, September
-1F: Whidbey Woods Half Marathon, October*
-1F: Capt Jack’s Treasure Run, October
-3F: Green Lake Gobble 5K, November
-3F: Seattle Half Marathon, December
-1F: Kent Christmas Rush 5K, December

*=Trail

Olin Berger

Races

Cougar Mt. 50k: 4:41, 2nd OA

TNF Endurance Challenge 50m: 8:01, 33rd OA

Well, I did not quite have the redemptive upswing at the end of the year for which I was hoping. At least, not performance-wise. My biggest struggle in the second half of this year, apart from a pretty tenacious hamstring issue, has been finding/maintaining motivation to race, train, and generally just spend the same amount of time running that I normally do. I’m still working on what that means for my next year of racing, but think it’s an exercise that will help rebuild the mental platform on which the leg works rests.

The Cougar 50k was great this year since about ten times as many people were at the start than is normal. Though I quickly learned that they were all there to run a cross country race, so it was back to running around Squak wondering if anyone else had even signed up for the 50k. Someone had and they beat me.

I was primed to run the TNF50 last year when I was in great shape and injury-free, but then the wildfires came. Years of watching Joe Creighton practice his vape plume “magic show” had acclimatized my lungs to the most hardy of pollutants, but not all were so prepared and the race was canceled, leaving me to run it this year with a dearth of training and motivation. However, not caring a ton can be a huge benefit to one’s nerves and mental state during a race. I actually enjoyed a good chunk of it, appreciated the beautiful trails, and even logged some race miles with SRC friends.

I focused a lot on racing this year and ultimately came out a bit disappointed, as expectations were high. But improvement is a long process, should you decide to stick with it, and I’m not quite ready to shift my focus to becoming Seattle’s top scorer on Fleet Feet’s Track & Field arcade machine. I’m looking forward to looking forward to running more next year.

Tyler Cox

Fall of 2019 has been of fun time of running with friends and welcoming back that lovely PNW, grey raininess. After my 2-day jaunt around the Wonderland Trail towards the end of summer, I took a little time off before training for a fall 50k. I took advantage of some of the SRC related racing opportunities to do my best at not getting crushed too badly in a few cross country meets. I always love the feel of XC meets, although I likely could have used some more 8k specific training! My last big long run coincided with the October Cougar Series races, so I took the opportunity to run the hilly 19.5 mile course. I felt much better than when I ran this same race about 1.5 years ago, and managed to snag the win, which was a nice plus.

In November I traveled to Moab to meet up with some college friends and take my shot at breaking 4 hours on the speedy Dead Horse Ultra 50k course. While I almost went up in a ball of flames in the last 5 miles, I managed to hang on and run 3:49 for 5th place! The rest of this fall has been filled with recovering and trying my best to translate 50k fitness into 5k fitness in 10 days (it didn’t work very well).

Rob Bond

Back to the roads. The second half of 2019 was anchored by the California International Marathon in Sacramento. The race was in December and required a plenty of work on the flat path around Green Lake. My trips to Cougar Mountain were mostly to volunteer for the trail run series. We ran the Squak Mountain aid station during the 50k race in October and cheered the tired runners home. Fortunately, the weather that day was fantastic.

After a busy first half of racing, I ended up competing in only 3 events after August. I continued my unusual streak of silver medals by finishing in second place at both the Green Lake Gobble 10k and the Olympia Turkey Trot 4 miler. Both of these were smaller events centered around Thanksgiving, so the stakes were low and the blood sugar was high.

The final effort of the year came at CIM. The goal was to break a 3-year old marathon PR. Thanks to a solid crew of Seattle Runners I was able to knock 2 minutes off my time and run a 2:27. It was a great weekend for SRC with lots of PRs, PBRs, RNR, and DOMS.

Overall 2019 was a strong year of running for me. I ran over 4000 miles, had some really great PRs, and finished second in 8 races. Hopefully 2020 will include more great running and ideally a few more wins.

Katelen Phelan

Photo Credit: Somer Kreisman

Curtis Cross Country Invite 5k- 21:08, 4th F for SRC

PNTF Cross Country 6k- 26:40.44, my 2nd fastest 6k on course

Regionals Cross Country 8k- 35:11, 7th F for SRC

Photo Credit: Kristi Houk
It was cross country that got me into the sport of running back in high school. It was the chance to race cross country again that sold me on joining the Seattle Running Club (SRC) back in 2014. Since then, I’ve consistently raced each cross country (xc) season with SRC, but this sixth year of xc turned out to be my lowest racing season so far. Somehow, I managed to be available to race only three xc races this year, all of which were slightly different distances. The Curtis Invitational was a gorgeous and fast course. I had the pleasure of seeing a handful of former cross country runners of mine (I coach cross country at Sylvester Middle School) after their morning high school races and before we SRC ladies went head-to-head with collegiate runners. At PNTF, I had my second fastest time at the Lower Woodland Park course. At XC Regionals in Portland, I ran my first ever 8k and loved the distance because it felt like my endurance training was on my side. In my opinion, if all women’s xc races switched from a 6k to 8k, it would be the right choice. The SRC Wednesday Workouts during the xc season are always a treat because we’re off the track and in the parks and trails. Since spending the first half of 2019 training for my Boston qualifying marathon time, it felt refreshing to get back on some trails for the last bit of 2019. There’s a sense of comradery and friendship during xc that keeps me coming back year after year. Training-wise, I’m still getting a healthy dose of runs in with fellow SRC members at the Monday Flying Lion Brewing Runs, Wednesday Workouts, a couple tempo runs, and few Discovery Park trail runs. In the fall, I had the pleasure of coaching alongside former SRC member-Paul Young at the middle school where I work and occasionally now, we meet up for runs in Burien before the sunsets on these short winter days. In time for Christmas, I came down with pneumonia this year, so until I’m fully recovered, my training will be on pause.
Photo Credit: Doug Brown

Katy Gifford

After SOB 100k, I wanted to focus the rest of the year on improving my strength; physical and mental. I’d been giving myself too many breaks. Even though I had finished all the races, I felt I just scraped by. After a few weeks off, I decided to join a few SRC workouts and wanted to give cross country a try. While this was new to me, it gave me a new focus. The camaraderie was awesome! Between race and personal schedules, I was only able to race and attend one cross country race. I brought my parents along too; and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the vibe. Everyone was so welcoming; I can’t wait to join again in 2020.

In July, I had the honor of pacing a friend (Ling) at Cascade Crest 100. She and another friend were planning on running together, but the other had to withdraw from the waitlist due to injury. Ling was also contemplating removing from the waitlist, as she didn’t want to run alone. Thankfully, it was a “Seattle weekend” for me, and I was able to help in any way! I do enjoy running races, but I also really enjoy helping others achieve their goals. During the race, her crew kept me updated with her progress. I drove out to their rental house and was able to get a few hours of sleep in before meeting her at mile 69. Ling is super strong and determined, and also a gift to the running community. She captains aid stations at many Northern CA races, and has been doing so for many years. We set off before sunrise; she was in great spirits. She had the course notes for me to help keep her on track. We climbed to meet the sun, talked about her day, and saw her favorite animal – the pika! We never saw a goat, but I told her all about them. It turns out we just missed one! The course is beautiful! I took pictures as she continued toward the finish. She has many buckles, but that hoody was calling her name! She kept joking with me that I now need to run it just for that hoody (I do love hoodies)! That was her attitude the entire time; just kept it light and pressed to the finish. I was a great day; we’re talking about repeating in 2020.

The rest of the year I focused on road running, in preparation for my pace leader duties at California International Marathon (CIM). This would be my 14th consecutive CIM, 10th as pace group leader. I had a pretty good training block leading into CIM; the Sammamish River Trail is a great training area! I joined the YMCA and found a few classes to attend during the week to break up the running. Saturdays I ran an out and back from the Y, so that I was back in time for yoga. I felt really good going into CIM. Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t go as planned (at least the race portion). It has always been a great weekend, as this was my first marathon. It is also the same weekend as the Western States lottery. CIM…well the first 17 miles went well. My co-pacer and I were chatting and right on pace. Unfortunately, I had some stomach distress that caused me to stop (this never happens). I hoped I’d be able to catch her and the group, but I just wasn’t able to do so. I felt horribly for leaving her, and really felt bad in general. But, then I realized no one cares! I took in the cheers from the crowd (it really is an immense crowd, especially the closer you get to the finish). And ran with gratitude.

The day before CIM was really the exciting part of the weekend (and year). With 32 tickets (6 consecutive years), my name was selected! I don’t remember much of it; everything went quiet in my head, but I was told it was really quite loud in the auditorium. Those who are selected and are present in the audience, come up to the stage and have photos taken backstage. It was amazing! Many friends were also selected; it will be a great year!

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Club News Featured Race Reports

#SRCBrooks 2018 End-of-Year Update!

Post author By Seattle Running Club
Post date December 30, 2018

And 2018 is a wrap! The #SRCBrooks Beast B-Teamers Killer B’s L’il Beasts™ have stayed busy in the 2nd half of the year, chugging brews, seeing races get cancelled, handing out pizza at your favorite October trail races on Cougar Mountain, pacing, running 100 milers, racing XC, wearing Brooks shoes & gear, and eating donuts!

Once again thanks to Brooks Running for keeping our children shoe’d and warm! Be on the lookout for the 2019 team!

Keith Laverty

The second half of the year started and ended in some unexpected ways but it was another memorable Fall to say the least.

To kick off my Fall, I decided to run a local favorite, the GOAT Run – except this year I ran in the new 50k distance option. Everything was going smooth and clicking away the miles at a good clip – that is until an out-and-back section toward the end. I had run two miles without seeing any course markings, got worried and turned around too soon. One event led to another and I was ultimately DQ’d for my first time by unintentionally cutting off 0.6 miles of the course. Another lesson learned in doing more pre-course homework!

The rest of Fall was 100% all-in for training and returning back to The North Face 50-Mile Championship for the 2nd time. Along the way, I picked up a win at another coastal, ocean-view ultra at Rainshadow Running’s Oregon Coast 50k. Typically a wet and windy affair, we truly lucked out this year with sunny, blue skies and no wind.

Unfortunately, due to the devastating wildfires and extremely poor air quality, TNF 50 was cancelled on the Tuesday before the race. However, they announced that they would be donating all $30k of prize money and all the event food to the relief fund – so I was happy to hear that news.

Feeling anxious to race, I hopped into a local trail half over on the Grand Ridge Trails across from Tiger Mtn. The next week, I even convinced myself to try a competitive road 10k on Turkey Day, and to my biggest surprise of the year, I somehow raced to a lifetime 10k PR in 31:20. I finally got a flatter, faster course combined with a highly competitive front pack that pulled me along.

One week later, I also wanted to put my 50-mile training block to use and hopped down south to the desert to compete in the McDowell Mountain Frenzy in Arizona. This was the first 50-miler that felt relatively good through the whole thing and had plenty of zip in my legs even after the 50k mark. It was a unique experience to run among the cactus while spotting large spiders and jackrabbits along the trail. I pushed the last few miles to sneak under 7 hours in 6:57:31 for a new PR. The PureGrit 7 was the right decision for this distance and terrain!

I had fun once again volunteering at SRC’s October Cougar race by working the finish line food tent as well as the coldest, yet most epic aid station at the top of gondola for the Crystal Mountain Sky Marathon. Thank you SRC and Brooks Running for the amazing support through the year!

2018 2nd Half of Year race results:

1st – Oregon Coast 50k (3:54:03)

1st – Grand Ridge Trail Half (1:41:15)

3rd – Mukilteo Turkey Trot 10k (31:20 – PR)

1st – McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50-Mile (6:57:31 – PR)

Katelen Phelan

After the first 50 mile race of my life this past July, I embraced my recovery. I went on vacation and ate dessert every day. Upon return, Trisha suggested I continue this habit. Now I’m sucking down less running gels, fueling heartier and desserting better.

Labor Day weekend I camped in Mount St. Helen’s Backcountry, waking to run the Backcountry Rise 20 Miler. The trails were novel, breathtaking, and earned me 3rd female in my age group. Something I’ll be back for next year.

Weeks later, I ran the RAVE Green Run 5k, securing 1st in my age group and third female overall.

This year, was my 5th season of Club Cross Country with the Seattle Running Club. I started off feeling disappointed that the transition from ultramarthon racing to XC was tougher than anticipated. But as the season wore on, I gained back my short distance speed. My second XC race earned me a 46 second course personal record (PR) and 9 second XC PR.

At the end of October, I raced the Cougar Mountain Final trail – 7.6 mile race. I surprised myself by rolling my ankle 4 times and still managed to buzz past a lady at the finish. The rain was dumping that day, but I had volunteering to do. So I brushed off the dirt on my legs, layered up and joyfully refilled snacks for the brave 50k racers who faired the nasty weather and course marking interference. There’s nothing that brings more joy than greeting race finishers with a mountain of pizzas, beer, and snacks. I participated in one trail work party this past year–the final one of the season. It was so much fun digging out ditches and walking around with SRC friends that it left me wanting more!

I topped of my racing this year with Club Cross Country Nationals in Spokane, WA. Thanks to (or despite) chilling temperatures, I had my fastest 6k XC race of all time- ticking 6 seconds off! I can’t wait to race cross country with my SRC teammates again next year!

As a person with flat feet and bunions, support shoes are my friends.
My long run trail shoe of choice: Brooks Adrenaline ASR 14 (No longer available).
Long run road shoe of choice: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 18 & 19.
Cross Country racing shoe: Brooks Cascadia 13.

What’s next? Dialing in my speed to chase down a Boston Qualifying time!

Planned Races:

January 12th- Bridle Trails 5 mile

January 19th- Redmond Rain Run Half Marathon

February 3rd- West Seattle Beach Run

March 16th- Chuckanut 50k (Round 2!)

April 28th- Blooms to Brews Marathon

Summer 2019- Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series

July 28th- Jack & Jill Downhill Marathon

September 7th- Backcountry Rise

Fall 2019- Club Cross Country Season

Olin Berger

The second half of this year continued along the theme of highs and lows. I was looking to redeem myself after a disappointing performance at the White River 50 (low), and took out my frustration on the Cougar Mountain 50k; winning and shaving about 10 minutes off of the course record (high). With that confidence boost, I prepared to test my speed against the fast boys at The North Face 50 Mile, which was then canceled due to poor air quality (low). But I went down to the bay anyway and had a really good donut (high). Since then I have been focusing on the upcoming Bandera 100k in January and will attempt to score a Golden Ticket to the 2019 Western States 100.

Ellen Lavoie

The beginning of my second half of 2018 was all about gearing up for an FKT attempt on the easternWashington Columbia Plateau Trail in mid-September. With a star crew I attempted the 130 mile trail but failed leaving 29 miles for another day. The trail has about 70 miles of insanely difficult large ballast rock to run on. One of the most unpleasant surfaces the feet can ever experience. I’ll be back though…I’ll be back. The next three weeks after my CPT FKT attempt was all about rest and recovery. After way too much eating post my FKT attempt, I had a couple of races to finish out the year: the SRC Cougar 19.5 mile race in late October earned me 2 nd place in the age category. My last race of the season was a ½ Marathon with Northwest Trail Runs at the beautiful Redmond Watershed that I used for 100 mile training more than anything. That last race earned me a pure middle of the pack placing with a 2 nd place age category (oh if only they recognized that!). Next up…a couple of 100 milers on the horizon for the first half of 2019 and another bigger than big FKT recon in Canada (stay tuned for that
one)!

Thorin Kane

In August I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle home from work. I (luckily) walked away from the incident, but with a broken wrist, tons of road rash and a pretty messed up body. After a couple months of doing zippo, I was out of shape, bored and ready to get back to things. Sadly 2 months off killed my fitness and I felt but a shade of my former self. Now a couple months later, I am happy to say that I am healthy and starting to resemble a fit runner again. I am focusing on strength and training a lot in Hardstyle Russian Kettlebell. I am planning on racing again in the new year, want to focus on mountain and adventure races. A strong body and mind is needed. I look forward to repping SRC everywhere I go.

Trisha Steidl

The second half of 2018 was pretty fun!

I raced the USATF 50k Trail National Championships in New Hampshire in August. The course was tough and long (33-34 miles) and the day was crazy humid. The hardest part, besides the penultimate couple of miles, was the transition from running on smooth road to technical trail. My brain took a long time to make the switch, but once it did, my legs were going! It has been awhile since I’ve travelled across the country to race and I learned more about how to better approach that in the future. All-in-all it was a fine day as I finished 8th overall (women) and won my first national championship, taking the masters title. Helping to illustrate the depth and class of the women in the field this year, the top 13 women bested the previous course record! The first national championship title for the PureGrit 7s!

In early September I ran the Owyhigh Lakes Loop, a 34-ish mile route at Mt. Rainier National Park which is a part of the Ultrapedestrian Wilderness Challenge. My goal was to get the FKT (fastest known time) for the route. Starting on the Eastside Trail at the Steven’s Canyon entrance and heading clockwise, I felt strong and positive about the effort I could put out.

Unfortunately, despite having a map and having looked into all the details thoroughly ahead of time, I missed a right turn about a half mile into the route. My attention drawn to my left by a shiny sign, I simply did not see the trail to my right. This added 2.6 hilly miles and at least 30 minutes (including stopping to figure out where the heck I was) to the route and killed my mental momentum regarding my FKT attempt. I considered starting over and had I truly realized how close to the start the missed turn was, I probably would have started over. In the moment I felt compelled to continue on and so I did. For the next several hours, due to the missed turn and added miles (and time), I ran with a tension in my body and mind that didn’t serve me well. That said, I was able to enjoy the beauty of the places I traversed. It was a wonderful weather day, despite some smoke lingering in the air from the fires.

The last 6.5 miles were brutal for me. I thought I had fewer miles left to traverse than were actually left. I also had looked at the map to see that the trail would cross paths with plenty of creeks only to find all of them to be bone dry (or water too far off the trail for me to be able to reach). I was parched the last 70 minutes or more and hearing water off in the distance was mental torture in the moment. Upon finishing and touching the “Eastside Trail” sign at which I had started, I immediately turned around and sprinted to the water fountain and drank and drank and drank.

Despite adding on mileage and time early on, I still ran the women’s FKT and the second fastest time overall for that route (at least at that time, I don’t know if that has changed). Big thanks to my friend, Ryan Parker, for driving and being there for me before and, especially, after. Probably also the first FKT for the PureGrit 7s!

The rest of the fall was spent focusing on running cross country with my SRC teammates!

In October I ran the Emerald City XC Open and WWU Classic. Switching from racing for 6-plus hours to 6k was a big swing in pace, intensity, mental focus, and well, just about everything! Having these two races with my teammates helped prepare me for the important races at the end of the season.

In early November I race the PNTF (Pacific Northwest Track & Field) XC association championship races. The masters race was first, where I finished 2nd woman to my teammate and longtime friend, Marlene. About 25 minutes later, I ran the open race, finishing as the #2 woman for our open team. It was fun to race both races again this year and to help my team. I learned a lot from this experience and was excited to take that knowledge forward to the upcoming Regionals race and, especially, to Nationals in Spokane where I would be racing twice again.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was the Regional race. The masters and open runners all race at the same time, so I got to count for both, yet only race once – whew! I finished as the #2 masters and open woman for SRC. Unfortunately, less than two minutes into the race, I took a step and immediately felt pain in my left hamstring. Unsure as to whether I could finish, I tried to stay calm and assess the situation as I was running. It was painful and I couldn’t run normally, but it only got worse to a certain point and then plateaued, so I felt all right finishing the race. I took three days off, got worked on, and, fortunately, was able to get back to running fairly quickly.

December was XC Club Nationals in Spokane! It was cold, with temps in the mid-to-upper 20s for the masters race and the low-30s for the open race. I raced in tights to help preserve my hamstring, which was a good call as I still felt cold for the first half of the masters race. With about 2.5 hours between races, I did my best to stay warm, eat and drink enough (but not too much), and overall put my body in the best place possible going into the open race. I did a fairly good job with that, but definitely would have preferred the races only being 25 minutes apart like they were at the PNTF championships. I finished 15th overall for masters and #2 for our team. In the open race I was our #3 scorer.

It was a blast running with my SRC teammates this XC season! I love racing, but racing with a team can be so much more fun and with awesome teammates like mine, it’s easy to feel motivated to give your all every race.

Arthur Martineau

I spent most of my summer studying for my Master’s degree.

I had a nice three day weekend at the beginning of August training for the Cascade Crest 100. This is an event I put on every year. We had about thirty people come out and run 15 to 70 miles of the race course. There was some smoke in the air, but it was better than the Seattle area.

I was very fortunate to have the time this summer to run around Mt. St. Helen’s. It had been a few years since I did this. I love how the trail is so diverse.

Cascade Crest 100
About 60 miles in my stomach went south, and I got sick. This is nothing new, it happens almost every year. It usually only lasts a few hours or less. Unfortunately this year, it continued all night. This was my 13th finish in a row. I think maybe this year I will just shoot for finishing the entire 100 miles and not worry at the time.

Pacing at Teanaway Country 100
In September I paced a friend at the TC100. Pacing can be a stressful thing for me to do. I did my best to slow her down when she was going to fast and to speed her up when she was going to slow. I told many jokes and said EAT about 100 times.
The rest of my year I’ve been struggling with ankle issues. It sucks getting old!

Jenny Easterberg

Wow, where to start with all my fun running/racing adventures from this past half year…!

I have just thoroughly enjoyed representing SRCBrooks at all of my races. From the deep lush woods of Washington to the dry desert of Nevada, I have experienced so many awesome events and people, it’s been great to expand my running repertoire. It’s difficult to pinpoint any one race in particular as my favorite because they all have their endearing qualities, even the ones that kick my butt lol.

My most recent escapade was running 2 marathons in 8 days in Hawaii because hey, why not, it was Hawaii. It was absolutely amazing, to say the least. Such a unique experience, one of the reasons it was on my Bucket List. My “training” for that was running the SEATTLE Quadzuki over the Thanksgiving weekend. That was also a Bucket List item for me and I had an amazing time doing it! I won it for the women so that was a huge accomplishment for me as well.

It seems like I’m on a mission to continue experiencing my “Bucket List” runs/races. Having been in strong recovery from an eating disorder for over 7 years now, it’s wonderful to see my dreams coming true and actually making these fantasies a reality. I have never felt so strong and so determined to continue to inspire others in recovery as I do now. That is the sole reason I run and share my story. If I can give hope to even just one person who is suffering then I consider it a success. Through the ups and downs of this past year I have learned that the higher purpose is a great driver and therefore should always be at the forefront. That is my motivation and why I will keep running and challenging myself to try new things even when I doubt myself. Because you don’t know until you try, and I now have a plethora of great stories!

Biggest Race: Honolulu International Marathon: 889/32,000

Most Halfs at once: Quadzuki- 4 halfs, 4 days: 1st place female.

Longest running event: Road Ragnar: 35 miles.

Best PR: Beat the Blerch.

Toughest Half: Seattle Half

Isaiah Henmen

Well, the second half of the year didn’t go entirely according to plan race-wise, what with a DNF and a couple missed races I had hoped to run. However, I filled the void in every way I could devise, from volunteering for the WTA along the South Fork of the Skokomish (trail maintenance) and the SRC at the Cougar Mountain 50k (Squak aid station), to extending my adventures to include running an FKT and being a pacer. In all, it was a memorable year.

Hurricane-Hayden 100K–FKT, August 4

I’d been contemplating a 100 mile FKT attempt in my favorite place in the world: Olympic National Park, but instead I settled for 100k, more specifically an epic 64-mile loop starting at Hurricane Ridge in the north and venturing south to Hayden Pass and the heart of the park, linking 7 mountain passes in all (Obstruction Point, Grand, Cameron, Lost, Hayden, Dodger Point, Hurricane Ridge), resulting in over 18,000 ft. in gain. What a day! Here’s a picture of a young buck I encountered on top of Grand Pass. I tell ya, he seemed to appreciate the views even more than me.

For more deets on the route and its challenges, visit the following link: https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/isaiah-hemmen-hurricane-hayden-100k-loop-wa-2018-08-04

Wasatch 100–DNF, September 7
The race I was looking forward to all year: Wasatch, one of the first 100 milers, dating back to 1979, traces the crest of the Wasatch range south from Kaysville to Heber City, UT. With 26,000 ft. of gain and comparable loss, much of it on rocky and technical terrain, and at altitude no less, the race is a beast! As a sea-leveler, I was most intimidated by the altitude, given that runners spend a great deal of time between 8-9,000 ft. and top out above 10,000 ft. Yikes! Hard to spend time that high in the PNW. So, rather than wing it by showing up the day of and hoping for the best, I planned a Idaho-Utah road trip around the event and managed to spend 2 nights at 5,000 ft., 3 nights at 6,500 ft., 3 nights at 10,500 ft., then 2 nights back down to 4,000 ft., followed by 2 nights up at 7,500 ft. This amounted to nearly 2 weeks at elevation–all during my taper–which allowed me to acclimate gradually without incurring much additional stress to the system. Other than some inexplicable stomach pain (more on that later), I felt prepared, I felt primed. So, come race day, I charged from the start, straight up the initial 4,400 ft. climb (in the first 5 miles!), and felt good–in roughly 12th place–until I didn’t. At mile 8, my stomach dropped and symptoms only spiraled from there, exacerbated by the heat, which climbed to 96. First, I couldn’t eat; then, I couldn’t intake fluid–only lose it. My stomach felt like a knot of poison. I pushed on, through sheer determination, to Lamb’s Canyon just shy of half-way, and dropped. No mind-over-matter magic was possible in this one; something was off–very off. Turns out I had contracted Giardia thanks to drinking out of the Elwha River (my filter failed) during my FKT attempt a month prior. Talk about disappointment. Then again, I had spent two blissful and unforgettable weeks on the road with my family, so I could only bitch and moan and pity myself so much. But mark my words, revenge will be mine!

Teanaway County 100–Pacer, September 15
8 days post-Wasatch, and 6 days into my Giardia-curing course of antibiotics, I got a call from a buddy to pace him at the Teanaway Country 100, RD Brian Morrison’s sadistic dream come to fruition: 28,000 ft. of absurdly steep trails in the Teanaway country south of the Enchantments. To hear tell, Brian has upped it to nearly 31,000 ft. for 2019. Luckily, the trails are so spectacular and the volunteers are so enthusiastic that you can’t help but push on. Excited to see my friend, chomping at the bit to capitalize on my fitness, and determined to have a last epic hurrah on the trails before work began anew and fall degraded into winter, I forgot my stomach woes and went long, pacing the last 50 miles from Standup. Much of this was in the dark, but we made light of it.

Side note: My vote for ultrarunning performance of the year is Brandon Benefield’s staggering 20 hour time on this course. Somehow, he managed to run a great deal of the long and technical climbs, separating himself from a stout second place by over 3 hours! An absolutely superhuman feat.

Carkeek 6 Hour–2nd place overall (1st masters), October 27
Loops, anyone? We’ve all run loops before, but I suspect few of us have been so (un)fortunate as to run loops like these. Admittedly, I was initially intrigued by the format of this race, based on time rather than distance, and comprised of lots of small loops. After all, that meant I could just relax to the zen of repetition, and I would never get lost because the course was simple. Of course, what’s the first thing that happens? I get lost. Only briefly. 6 hours and 18.5 laps later–and feeling loopy–I finished with 35.28 miles and nearly 9,000 ft. of gain. Not sure I’ll ever do that again, but I’m happy to have done it once.

Emma Saarel

Although my knee injury has yet to heal, since August I have been able to participate in a couple short races, volunteer at the final Cougar Mountain race of the season, and join the ‘Northern’ contingent of Seattle Running Club for an evening run. It was great to run Cross Country with the team at Emerald City Open, serve food at the last Cougar Mountain race of the year, cheer for Masters’ and Open racers at PNTF Regionals, explore Maple Leaf Reservoir with Ellen, and run a Turkey Trot in Park City, UT with my brother. Winter brings new opportunity for cross training, and I hope to begin seriously hitting the trails soon after the New Year begins! As always, lots of love and happy holidays to this wonderful community!

Doug Jordan

The second half of the year was filled with many ups and downs, but I am quite happy with how it ended. After placing second at the Lake Union 10k, I knew that I still had some fitness, despite the fact that most of my time training time was being spent on the bike. My first XC race was the PLU Invite, where I placed third after running a 26:02. This was an official XC PR, so I was really happy to start the season on such a high note. My next race of the season was the local work 5k. I went out crazy fast (4:38?) but ended up running a 5k PR of 15:08 and winning the race. My next race was only a day later, this time the ECO XC race at Woodland Park. I was feeling great going into the race, although I knew how challenging the course was, and wasn’t sure how my legs would hold up on day 2 of back to back races. It certainly did not disappoint, and I ended up placing 8th running a 26:43, a personal best for the brutal hills of Woodland Park. Despite feeling like the season was going to be my best yet, I ended up straining my calf at a workout the following Wednesday. 3 hard, fast efforts in just 6 days was clearly too much for me, and I had to take off a few weeks. I had to skip the Dawg Dash 10k, WWU’s 10k invite, and PNTF. Going in to Thanksgiving break I wasn’t sure I was going to even be able to do a turkey trot for fun, but when Thursday actually rolled around, I was feeling surprisingly good. I showed up to the Seattle Turkey Trot in Ballard, and was able to take the win running a 15:03, on a very downhill course. I was out of town for Regionals, and I was trying to focus all my energy on staying healthy for nationals.

USATF Club Nationals was a fantastic race. Other than being obviously long, it was a firm-packed, gently rolling golf course that was plenty wide for the 450+ runners. The men’s open 10k was an afternoon race; it was scheduled to start at 1:30. I tried to eat a big breakfast, but I failed to do so and ended up snacking on Evan’s granola for a while around lunch time. There were many bets made over how fast I would go out, and I tried my best to cruise through around 5:00, despite feeling like the entire field was ahead of me. According to my watch, I split 15:33 for the first 5k, and 15:59 for the second. My official time was 32:45, and I placed 142 overall and 4th on the team. While I technically didn’t accomplish my goal of breaking 32:00 in the 10k, I think I would have easily done it on a course that was actually 10km. Going into the holidays I’m ready to take some time off, then start training for the Eugene Marathon in April.

Tags race images, Race Reports, srcbrooks

Club News Featured Race Reports

#SRCBrooks 2018 Mid-Year Update

Post author By Seattle Running Club
Post date August 11, 2018

The #SRCBrooks Beast B-Teamers Killer B’s L’il Beasts™ have been busy in 2018, tagging summits, tearing hamstrings, handing out Gu at your fav trail races, carbo-unloading on your favorite trail courses, and swimming!

Once again thanks to Brooks Running for keeping our children shoe’d and warm!

Emma Saarel

On December 31st, 2017 around 9pm I decided to try to hike/run 10,000ft gain in a day. I woke up at 4 am on New Years’ Day for this hastily-planned adventure, even though I didn’t expect to actually achieve my goal. I wanted to try something I really didn’t think I could do. I ended up hitting the 10,000ft mark, and in doing so opened up a whole series of possible adventures I would have, before that day, believed beyond my abilities. I completed seven 10,000ft+ days (totaling 65,757 feet of climbing) and gained a lot of experience and fitness that ultimately allowed me to complete my first ultramarathon on June 2nd, the Squaw Peak 50 miler in Provo Utah with 14,000ft gain/loss and a max elevation of 9,300ft.

The complete list of 10,000ft Days

New Year Trifecta (1/1/2018) 10,432ft

Loup Loup Skimo Race (1/27/2018) 10,000ft

Soggy repeats on Tiger Mountain (2/4/2018), 10,259ft

Tiger 12 Summits (Take 1) + some cable line (3/17/2018), 10,666ft

Cheering @ Yakima Skyline Rim 50k (4/21/2018), 10,000ft

Mixed Bag of Adventure in Leavenworth, WA (5/20-21, 2018) 10,000ft

Squaw Peak 50 Miler Provo, UT (6/2/2018) 14,400ft

I have been relatively inactive since the second week of June due to a knee injury, but managed to stay connected to the SRC Brooks community through volunteering, spending several hours dropping off posters at local cafes and businesses for the SRC Cougar Mountain Trail Series, volunteering on behalf of SRC on a Habitat Restoration project in Discovery Park, and handing out finisher prizes at the July installation Cougar Mountain Trail series. I made a less-than-intelligent decision to try and climb Rainier towards the end of July, and was bummed to miss out at White River. It’s now getting to crunch time (if not already past) for some huge objectives I have planned for this Fall…so here goes nothing.

Katelen Phelan

2017 was my year for trying on a marathon, my longest distance at that point. So when stepping up to be an SRC Brooks Team member I made 2018 my year for trying on ultramarathons. My goal races were the Chuckanut 50k in March and White River 50 Mile in July. In preparation, I ran and raced trails with SRC friends more frequently than ever before in my Adrenaline ASR 14 shoes. I also embraced solo long runs in the city when needed. The Chuckanut 50k was a blast, teaching me about proper race attire, a need for savory fuel options, bathroom requirements, and not to trust my watch for accurate pace and milage information while on trails. The White River 50 taught me the joy of freshly-swapped socks mid-race, that no coffee before a race is the right choice, the need for a better chafing prevention system, the temptation of comfortable aid stations, to push through pure misery, and reconfirmed my love for well-earned views. Both races highlighted the plethora of supportive, determined, and fun folks that make up our Seattle Running Club community. This year I volunteered at a few local races- Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival, a few Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series races and the Brooks PR Invitational. It’s a real treat training with friends, then being a support on race day who caters to their unique aid station preferences (there’s nothing like a spoonful of Nutella to make Mariangela smile). My training plans, trail run ventures, and long-term goals led to surprising speed increases at shorter races too!

Race Results for 2018:

1/13: Nookachamps Half Marathon- 2nd F in age group 19-29, 34th overall, PR (1:43:58)

3/17: Chuckanut 50k- 26th F in age group 20-29, My 1st 50k (6:33:31)

4/28: Horse Lake Trail Run Half Marathon- 12th F, 38th overall, (2:13:19)

5/12: Cougar Mountain #1 10M- 2nd F in age group 20-29, 6th F, Course PR (1:54:37)

6/9: Cougar Mountain #2 14M- 1st F in age group 20-29, (2:45:32.4)

7/4: Carnation Run for the Pies 5k- 2nd F in age group 25-29, PR by 38 secs (21:13 mins)

7/28: White River 50 Mile- 58th F, (13:22:01)

Upcoming Races: Backcountry Rise 20M, the Fat Glass 50k (some number of loops), and the SRC Club Cross Country Season.

Doug Jordan

To put it lightly, 2018 has been incredibly frustrating. I started the year with some weird hip pain, and after taking most of December 2017 off, still wasn’t pain free come January. After a couple painful Wednesday workouts and a 24 mile run commute for my 24th birthday, I developed deep inner groin pain in addition to the hip pain. After an MRI, I was diagnosed with a torn labrum and osteitis pubis in the groin. I then tried a cortizone shot in my hip, which didn’t really work. I did countless hours of PT and took 3 months completely off of running. In order to not go crazy, I started doing kick-less swimming, and eventually added elliptical, then finally started biking. I’ve become a fairly devoted bike commuter, as well as spin class attendee. I’ve found that running after biking somehow warms up my hip and allows me to run mostly pain free. Since the bike->run combo was working for me, I signed up for the SeaFair Sprint triathlon. I would have liked to do the olympic distance, but the 10k run seemed a bit too far to do on about 5 miles a week of running. In the weeks approaching the tri, I added more brick workouts (bike->run) and started to really see an increase in my power output during spin class. When the race finally came, I had a blast! I am not a strong swimmer, coupled by the fact that I hadn’t been either kicking, or practicing open water, so the swim was clearly my weakest link. I had a very rough T1, and really struggled to get my wet feet into my shoes that I (mistakinly) left on the bike. Once I got into my rhythm, the biking felt pretty good, although I missed the turnaround point by about 30 seconds. Finally, I started the run! I felt pretty good, but was worried about my hip acting up so I took it out fairly conservatively. There was a hill around the two mile mark that I didn’t expect, but once I crested the hill, the last mile was a breeze. I split that one in 5:30 and finished the 5k just over 18 minutes (18:03). My run split was good enough for fastest of the day, and overall I placed 8th in the men’s division (2nd in my age group). I surely could have placed higher up if I didn’t have as many bike troubles, and if I didn’t swim breastroke. Coming up, I have the Lake Union 10k, where I would love to break 35, although I think that may be too ambitious. Hopefully, my hip will stop acting up enough for me to run cross country, but if not I’ve seen about a half dozen surgeons and am considering getting FAI surgery to fix the labrum and remove my cam lesion.

As for volunteering, it was quite easy since I couldn’t run the cougar series. I volunteered at two of them so far, helping out at the finish line. I also attended a trail work party.

Trisha Steidl

The first half of 2018 has been pretty decent from a race perspective. I started off the year with a win in the Nookachamps 5k. The course wasn’t at all what I was expecting and I ended up being sick, but I made the most of the day.

My next race was the Chuckanut 50k. This was my 4th time running this race and it was the deepest women’s field yet. Training was going well until about 5 weeks before the race when I hurt one of my hamstrings. I still felt fairly strong and was excited for the race, but went into it knowing it would be my worst placing ever due to the deep field (and the injury). Little did I know what would happen during the last 10k of the race. In fact, I didn’t even know what happened until 7 weeks later! (More to come on that….) I finished in 10th place and was the top female masters runner.

After Chuckanut my hamstrings both felt pretty bad and in a way I had never experienced before. I chalked it up to running a 50k and/or getting older. The following weekend I went to do a workout found I couldn’t even run normally and was in a significant amount of pain. Not knowing exactly what was wrong, I did my best to continue to train while also getting my hamstrings (and lots of other areas)
worked on to reduce and figure out the problem.

Five weeks later I ran the Whidbey Island Marathon. I didn’t really want to do it because I hadn’t been able to train and my hamstrings (and other things) still weren’t better. It was a mentally taxing race focusing on pushing myself to continue on pretty much from the first mile. I wasn’t physically tired when I was done because I hadn’t been able to run faster than a normal easy run pace, but my mind was shot. I finished 3rd female and top master.

A little over two weeks later, I learned that I had been running on two partially torn hamstrings, with the tear in my left leg being the more substantial of the two. From this I was able to determine that what I felt during the last 10k of Chuckanut was the beginning of the tearing. Now I know why, despite working really hard, my last 10k was so much slower than I had expected! (At least it’s not just from getting old.)

Two weeks later I raced the Rhody Run 12k. This is a Steidl family tradition and I wasn’t about to miss it! I finished 2 nd female and top master. The best part was I could tell my hamstrings were finally starting to feel somewhat stronger!

In June I ran the Whistler 30k. I had been looking forward to this race for a few months and was excited that my hamstrings were finally starting to feel stronger in time for the race. It was fun to run somewhere I had never been before and race women I didn’t know. The course was enjoyable and challenging. I came away with 2 nd place and top female master.

My final race of the first “half” of the year was at the Seattle Masters Classic (aka Regional Championships) in the 5000m. This is a track race, which was held at West Seattle Stadium. It was a hot day, the race started 30+ minutes late, and I ran alone the whole time, but I won for the women overall.

It’s been fun running so many different types of races and different distances. I’m looking forward to finally getting some consistent training under my belt without any hamstring issues to see what I can do in the second half of the year!

On top of racing, I have enjoyed volunteering. I helped with parking at SRC’s Bridle Trails and the member appreciation party in January, worked the trails at Cougar Mountain in April, helped with registration at SRC’s May Cougar Mountain trail series race, and did shoe sizing/fitting for Special Olympics athletes at the start of July. I enjoy giving back to my club and community. Volunteering always
ends up being a good time with good people.

(Many of my race reports are on the SRC website. Check them out and submit yours, too!)

Arthur Martineau

This year I’ve only run a few races. In January I ran the Bridle trails 50k in 5:01, I was the first over 50 years old to first. I also volunteered to park cars before the race. I’m sure that’s why I was slower than last year. The competition is six loops around the park, mostly in the dark. The next weekend I ran the Capitol Peak 50k down past Olympia. My time was 5:30, I struggled with some fatigue from the previous week’s race and a cold. Two weeks later I ran the West Seattle Beach Run 1/2 marathon on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s good work up an appetite before the big game. I ran 1:39 half marathon for second overall. I weather was a bit windy, but it’s a tailwind half the time.

My next race wasn’t until April. It was the Twilight 12-hour race in Cle Elum, Wa. The race starts at about dusk and ends just after sunrise. I didn’t go very fast, but I outlasted the rest. I completed one more loop than the second-place guy. In June I started to run the Needles 50k, but due to an equipment malfunction, I changed to the 25k. I was 4th overall and 1st master in a snowy time of 3:23.

I’ve enjoyed volunteering at the Cougar Series this year. I’ve been running Aid Station 3 by the water tower. I also managed to go to a couple of trail work parties. I like working on the trails; it’s excellent cross-training! And on the non-running front, I’m attending SPU for my Masters in Teaching this summer.

Ellen Lavoie

In 2018 my goal has been to concentrate on longer races with a few shorts ones thrown in for speed work. So far with a few exceptions, I’ve managed PRs. I’ve had a great time racing, volunteering, and hosting SRC Thursday night runs again this year while representing both the club and Brooks in the quickly vanished first half of the year.

The year started off well with a 50km at the Bridle Trails Running Festival, in Kirkland, WA, with a 2nd age group placing and PR! This was followed up by a trail ½ marathon a week later managing another PR. What a great start to the year but then I crashed and burned in steamy Arizona at the Aravaipa Elephant Mountain 50Km at the beginning of February.

After a break from racing for most of February and March to train and refocus I came back with a 3rd overall win in the 5 hour run at the fun Seattle Dizzy Daze around Greenlake. A week later my second finish of the 50 miler at the notoriously tough eastern Washington Badger Mountain Challenge ended with cutting off 1.5 hours from last years’ time giving me a 1st age group placing.

May started with a boost at the inaugural Lake Hills 50km in Bellevue with an 2nd overall and yet another PR for the distance. June and July have given me a few more PRs in shorter distances. Unfortunately as I’ve been dealing with some health issues, the last two long races of Yakima’s Grey Rock 50km and the White River 50 miler have ended in official DNFs. But that’s ok, me and my PureGrits will be back stronger than ever in no time at all!

The next month and a half I’ll be concentrating on training for an FKT attempt on the eastern Washington Columbia Plateau Trail that spans 130 (often primitive) miles of pure fun!

Jenny Easterberg

It is so difficult to sum up 6 months of awesome running in a short story but I’ll share with you the best! It has truly been an honor to run and race representing SRCBrooks. This year was about getting out of my comfort zone. I started the year out with a bang, having my first race a 35k with 6500’ elevation gain. By far the most challenging race I’ve attempted thus far. It resulted in my successful win for the women! Numerous races have followed in various destinations and across multiple distances, all equally fun and challenging in their own ways.

This past month (July) marked my 7 year recovery from a nearly fatal eating disorder. Every year, that day is no less monumental for me. I run and race because I’m alive, I’m strong, I’m determined. And simply because I can. The most meaningful aspect of my running is sharing my story with others in the hopes of inspiring anyone who is struggling. If I can change even one life, I consider it mission accomplished. People struggle to believe that I went from a wheelchair to podium finishes, supported by SRCBrooks. It is my testament to the power of this hope and community, which I share on a daily basis. So on those days I don’t feel like running, I still do BECAUSE I CAN. The fact that the Seattle Running Club and Brooks believes in me is absolutely phenomenal. It has given me a whole new hope of touching the lives of others, and has helped me stay strong in my recovery.

I had the privilege of volunteering at the Special Olympics in July, and it was quite an experience. It was so wonderful to see all of the athletes work so hard and feel so accomplished. It was also a great reminder of what being on a team is really about. I always know there are people cheering me on and it has helped me summit some big mountains in my life. For all of these experiences, I am truly grateful.
I look forward to enjoying my wonderful running community in the coming months and years. Plenty of stories to come!

Isaiah Henmen

Coming off an abbreviated early season race schedule in 2017 (thanks to a fractured fibula), I was eager to flip the script in 2018, so I filled my calendar and dug into training. In addition to racing—see recap below—I was stoked to volunteer at the infamous Chuckanut 50k, as well as to join my fellow SRC members and SRC-Brooks teammates in fine-tuning the trails of Cougar Mountain with some good old-fashioned grunt work. In each case, whether training, racing, volunteering, or working, the biggest thrill has been meeting new people, sharing our love of the sport, and celebrating together—win or lose. Looking ahead, I’m chomping at the bit for more of the same.

CAPITOL PEAK MEGA FAST ASS 50k–Jan 20
Olympia, WA
It’s risky to sign up for a race in January. I learned that the first time I ran this one—back in 2015—as I became near-hypothermic thanks to ceaseless freezing rain and a foot of standing water virtually everywhere. This time around, there was a chill in the air, but the trails were in relatively good shape—as were the old guys. The 40+ crowd snagged the top 4 spots! Speaking of which, it was a thrill to run and chat with local legend Adam Hewey—until he pulled away for the win!

RUN FOREST RUN 50k–Feb 17
Montesano, WA
Another early season race with early season weather. Bone-chilling rain and ankle-to-shin-deep mud made for slow, miserable progress and, ultimately, ultra misery. Nonetheless, if I could weather such conditions with steely resolve, I figured it would have a fortifying effect, preparing me for the physical and psychological trials ahead—chief among them my spring goal race: The Badger Mountain 100.

THE BADGER MOUNTAIN 100m–Mar 30
Richland, WA
Including the previous races, I managed to put in a solid 2-and-half-month block of training, and I figured—if all went according to plan—that I was good for a sub 22-hour finish. To my surprise—thanks in part to the perfect weather and the adrenaline of being relentlessly pursued by SRC’s own Dale Peterson—I went sub 20 hours, in 19:32, good for 5th place overall (2nd masters). Aside from puking up a quesadilla the second time up McBee, I felt like an apex predator pretty much all day—except at the turnaround. Not surprisingly, I had be warned that the turnaround is the hardest part of the race, especially psychologically, because you have to face the cold, hard fact of Damn, I have to do this again!? Indeed, the 100-mile course traces the 50-mile course twice over, so you have to go up and down Badger Mountain, Candy Mountain, McBee Ridge, and Chandler Butte twice each. Ouch! The turnaround was doubly difficult given that the 50-milers were celebrating their finish as I retraced my steps. Thankfully, I found my momentum again, spurred in part by the awesome volunteers and a change of shoes (into my trusty Brooks Launches—see finish line picture).

CAPITOL PEAK 50m–April 29
Olympia, WA
4 weeks post-Badger, I was surfing Ultrasignup and saw The Capitol Peak 50 miler—a race that holds a special place in my heart, being my first 50—was to take place early the next morning. On a whim, I decided what the hell and clicked “Register.” I knew what I was getting myself into, right? I had run the race before. I could even visualize the course…the final descent anyway. Given my relative success a month before, on a slightly bigger stage, at double the distance, I was primed…wasn’t I? Recovery had gone reasonably well, consisting of a zero week, followed by a 31-mile week with easy runs of 4-7 miles, followed by a 61-mile week that included a 30-mile fast-packing trip in the Olympics—though I wondered if I hadn’t overdone it there. Also, there was all that beer to consider. Following Badger, I really craved beer. We all have our post-race cravings, and this was mine, except the craving didn’t subside after the first taste. After all, I was severely calorie-depleted, and there’s arguably no better calorie-delivery concoction, so I kept those hazy IPAs coming. I’d earned it! To hear tell, it’s hard to lose fitness in the first month after a big training block, even if you’re pretty sedentary, but given the aforementioned nutrition plan, I was worried I had beaten the odds and done just that. In any case, I was soon to find out.

It was an early, 6:00am start, so I woke up at 3:30am, ate a can of sardines in olive oil (go figure), drank a black coffee, hit the head and then the road for Olympia. I warmed into the drive with a basketball podcast, amped the mood with Mobb Deep, then throttled into Pantera (bizarrely, the only 2 cds in my car). Yep, I was primed. When the gun went off—i.e. the RD yelled go—I went out hot like a poor man’s Jim Walmsley (or so it felt). Thinking the first aid was at mile 7, I brought one handheld and one GU. When mile 7 came, to my astonishment it was merely a water-drop. Disappointed and confused, I blew by without stopping, thinking that the real aid station must be shortly thereafter—2 or 3 miles at most. Unflagging, I continued to push the pace. A young buck named Nolan Atchley, who I had pegged to be a frontrunner (he won!), was out ahead, but I was comfortably in second…until I wasn’t. That putative aid station never materialized—until mile 14. By that point, over 2 hours had elapsed, and I was full-on bonking. “I thought the first aid was at mile 7,” I blurted. “Just water,” one of the volunteers countered. I pounded some watermelon, grabbed 3 gels and a handful of chips, thanked everyone, and continued on. Rather than get better, the bonk got worse—even after 2 back-to-back gels. Not only that, but the Heed—my least favorite energy drink—wasn’t sitting so well on top of those oily sardines. My head lurched, and so did my stomach. Unfortunately, it only spiraled from there. Before I knew it, I’d been passed by half a dozen runners and could barely even hike the second big climb. It was amateur hour. All I could think was how arrogant and foolish and unprepared I had been—and, perhaps worst of all, how little I cared to finish. It wasn’t just my head and stomach that weren’t in it—my heart wasn’t either, and that was the deal-breaker. At just beyond the halfway point, with a mixture of self-contempt and relief, I declared myself a DNF.

Reminders (speaking for myself)—all of which are obvious enough.

Give yourself sufficient time to recuperate after a 100.

Ramp your mileage back up gradually.

Don’t sign-up for a race the night before. Plan on it well ahead of time and let the excitement build.

Do your research (e.g. know how far apart the aid stations are!).

Don’t get too cocky. Past performance is perhaps an indicator of future performance but no guarantee.

A nutrition plan can—perhaps should—include beer, but only in modicum.

Bring some of your own race-day nutrition.

Don’t eat oily sardines on race morning.

You’re no Walmsley, not even a poor man’s.

FRAGRANCE LAKE 50K–June 9
Bellingham, WA
Hoping to redeem myself, and looking ahead to my summer goal race—the Wasatch Front 100—I thought it wise to sign-up for a couple mountainous 50ks as tune-ups. Put on by Destination Trail—the same folks responsible for the Triple Crown of 200s—the Fragrance Lake 50k takes place in Bellingham’s Larabee State Park and traverses Chuckanut Mountain. Having run the Chukanut 50k, I can say that the FL50k is significantly harder. Lacking the flat out-the-back on the Interurban trail, it gains nearly 8,000 ft (as opposed to Chuckanut’s 5,000). Thankfully, the resulting suffering was periodically broken by sublime views of Samish Bay and out to the San Juan Islands. Feeling strong from start to finish, I placed 2nd overall behind blazing fast newcomer Thomas Kean. Speaking of which, standing on the podium was a treat. More races should make this a finish-line tradition.

NEEDLES 50K–June 30
Easton, WA
My last official race in my buildup to Wasatch was The Needles 50k, a most “brutiful” course—straight up and down with many creek crossings, snowfields, and panoramic views into the Cascades and down to Cle Elum and Kachess lakes. I couldn’t recommend this race enough. Put on by Cascade Crest 100 RD’s Rich White and Adam Hewey, it consists of 33 miles with over 10,000 in gain along rugged ridgelines, including an ascent of Thorpe Mountain. However, just as remarkable as the epic terrain is the epic sense of community this race fosters (despite there being only 2 aid stations). Two nights of camping are included in the entry fee, and I’d say most racers stayed the first night and late into the second day to celebrate and talk shop post-race. Given the competitive field—including local speedsters Jesse Lang, Brian Rakestraw, Maxwell Ferguson, and Duncan Hoge, who placed 1-2-3-4–I was thrilled with 5th place (1st masters), good for the 6th best time in the race’s 3-year history. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt as comfortable pushing that hard for 6 hours. Here’s to hoping I can hold onto that feeling.

2018 Results (so far…)

Capitol Peak Mega Fat Ass 50k—4th overall

Run Forest Run 50k—5th overall/ 2nd masters

Badger Mountain 100—5th overall/ 2nd masters

Capitol Peak 50m—DNF

Fragrance Lake 50k—2nd overall/ 1st masters

Needles 50k—5th overall/ 1st masters

Up Next…

FKT attempt in Olympic National Park–TBD

Wasatch Front 100—September 7th

Cougar Mountain 50k—October 28th

Keith Laverty

This first half of the year might take the cake for my most memorable stretch of running, racing and adventures to date! This was also the first time I had a coach since the days shortly after college. I’m going to say that this was not a coincidence but rather a direct positive impact to my training, fitness and stoke factor.

I was able to pick up 8 race victories and several PRs/CRs. However, out of all the races in 2018 so far, my most proudest performance was one that I did not win but rather my 7th-place finish at the Chuckanut 50k (link to race report) in yet another deep field. I was able to take 12 minutes off from 2017 and race hard from start to finish, feeling strong most of the way.

A few weeks after Chuckanut, a friend and I took on the 47-mile beast that is the R2R2R (S. Kaibab->N. Kaibab->Bright Angel) in the Grand Canyon and the first hot day of the season. This run is probably worth its own race report containing several stories and photos but long story short, the canyon got the better of me.

Exactly one month of barely surviving the Grand Canyon, I was miraculously able to get my legs back underneath me to run a new 12k PR at the super-stacked field of the Bloomsday 12k / WA State Road Championship. This started a string of more PRs at the Rhody Run (link to race report), NODM and the Millerslyvania 50k (link to race report). After building the road marathon strength, I carried that over in the 50k distance to run the 5th fastest time in North America in 2018 so far.

I finally capped off the month of July with my first shot at the White River 50. Despite the warmer temperatures and a couple early race mistakes, I was happy to pull off a podium spot with a 3rd-place finish.

With taking so much from the running community, it’s always rewarding to give back as I volunteered at a Cougar Mtn. trail work party as well as working the aid station at the Lumberjack 100M/100k/50M trail races.

2018 1st Half of Year race results:

1st – Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival 10-Mile (59:09)

1st – Capitol Peak Mega Fatass 26k (1:40:58)

1st – Run Forest Run 25k (2:00:40 – CR)

7th – Chuckanut 50k (3:51:18)

37th male – Bloomsday 12k (39:37)

1st – Trillium Trail 10k (38:06 – CR)

1st – Rhody Run 12k (39:24)

1st – North Olympic Discovery Marathon (2:34:44 – CR)

1st – Millersylvania 50k (3:12:13 – CR)

1st – Bainbridge Island 4th of July 5k (16:24 – CR)

3rd – White River 50-Mile (7:34:19)

Thorin Kane

This year has been marked by some sluggish running training. When I find it hard to commit to a running plan or schedule I generally turn to some form of cross training. This has worked out pretty well for me so far! While I haven’t raced many times this year (only 3) I have had great results in each.

At the Yakima 25k in April I ran a little faster than last year, although the top end of the race was more competitive. Last year I had finished 6th male and this year I fell to 8th male. This race was one I had looked forward to coming back to after running it for the first time last year and I had even more fun this time! It is a pretty grueling event with huge ascents and descents but I was really happy with how my body handled it on the pretty low mileage I have been doing. Most of my cross training has been focused on strength and high intensity aerobic intervals. This paid off great in the climbs, and not so great in the traverse. I made the top of the first ascent (which is about 3k ft up) five minutes faster than last year, but lost most of it in the two traverses.

In May we went to another Rainshadow running event at Sun Mountain, where I raced the 25k. This race was a lot more difficult for me, given how I have been training. The ascents were still very challenging but a larger portion of the race was just flat or mostly flat running. Since I have been mainly focusing on my strength for climbing this didn’t turn out well. So while I didn’t run as fast as I would have liked I still finished in the top ten men, eleventh overall.

Heading into the rest of the year I am hoping to run a couple more big races (big for me) and close out the year strong. For me, this year has been all about getting strong and healthy again and to really start building back up my base fitness. So far so good, I haven’t been hurt at all, and I am stronger than I have been since college. I am taking the long term approach and learning to be a bit more patient!

Olin Berger

The first half of 2018 brought some big highs and lows in my running career. I started my racing season with the Sean O’Brien 100k, hoping to score a Golden Ticket to Western States. Instead I got myself an ankle sprain and a DNF. Fortunately, I had a big race coming up to keep my mind off of that disappointment.

In May I joined Team USA for the Ultra Trail World Championships in Penyagolosa, Spain. I had worked through a solid training block after my injury and managed to finish 37 th , scoring for the team, and helping us achieve a 4th place team finish. I loved the entire experience; from getting to march with the team in the opening ceremony to meeting all of the international runners at the team hotel and seeing which squad took down the most donuts at the breakfast buffet. Running through small mountain towns full of cheering crowds was also a very special experience.

After the high of Worlds, I’ve unfortunately had another dip down. At this year’s White River 50 Mile, I was hoping to log my third win in three years and improve upon a just under seven hour finishing time from last year. My stomach, however, felt a humbling was in order and I spent a good deal of the first half regretting food choices. I still managed to finish, but was unable to perform to my ability and expectations, so am looking to rectify that at this year’s The North Face 50 Mile in November.

Apart from my racing, I’ve enjoyed supporting the Brooks Team and Seattle Running Club by volunteering at the club’s aid station at the Chuckanut 50k and helping out at aids stations at the Cougar Mt. Trail Run Series. I have also volunteered at some of SRC trail work parties at Cougar Mt.

Tags race images, Race Reports, srcbrooks

Club News Featured Race Reports

#SRCBrooks 2017 End of Year Recap!

Post author By Seattle Running Club
Post date January 13, 2018

Image: RunIceland

The #SRCBrooks Beast B-Teamers Killer B’s L’il Beasts™ wrapped up 2017 in typical style. We had a Marathon Olympic Trials qualifier, jaunts up the mountains of Iceland, local marathon titles, and the typical batch of CRs from Keith Laverty!

Once again thanks to Brooks Running for keeping our beautiful kids shoe’d and warm! Stay tuned for the announcing of our brand-new team for 2018!

Sophia Liu

Image: MarathonFoto (we think)

The second half of the season started with a focused 14 week training for the Berlin Marathon. For a tune-up race, I ran a traditional local competitive half marathon–Labor Day Half–in preparing for the Berlin Marathon. My training went pretty well and this race was a confidence boost. I finished first in 1:16, but unfortunately the course was half mile short so I couldn’t claim a half marathon PR.

Berlin is famous for good racing conditions but this year we weren’t as lucky. It rained pretty hard before and during the race. Accounting for the long trip and last minute low back injury, I finished in 2:48:30 (29th female) which was one step forward. Although I had a ~2mins PR, I believe I am in 2:45 shape, so what was next?

I decided give CIM another try and shoot for under 2:45. I didn’t give myself any break, post-Berlin. Directly into 8 weeks of condensed training for CIM. With a good race conduction, consistent training, and a little bit of luck (finally), I did it with a time of 2:42:50 and I qualified for the Olympic trials.

I am not a U.S. citizen and running for China still means more obstacles to overcome, but i believe in it. Thanks to all my Chinese and American friends to support me along the journey! 2018 we are looking forward for more to come…

Steph Grimm

Image: RunIceland

The second half of 2017, I was singularly focused on Run Iceland, the 5-stage, 110K trail race that doubled as Thorin’s and my honeymoon. My goal was not lofty: I wanted to finish without injury and to really focus on enjoying each day’s journey by not constantly measuring my race performance by my typical standards. Iceland made the latter goal extraordinarily easy. The landscape is beautifully rugged, oftentimes otherworldly, and the trails take you through it all: along glaciers, beside waterfalls, up grassy bluffs, across black sand beaches, through rivers and above crater lakes. It was stunning and running in that country was pure joy. Day Two’s Mountain Stage became the favorite run I have ever done. A 2,500′ climb rewarded us with views of the sea and the Vatnajokull glacier. Despite being a poor climber, I couldn’t stop smiling on the single-track traverse and the descent. By the end of the 110K, I had completed my first-ever marathon, made friends with athletes from ten countries, and fallen completely in love with staged races. My RunIceland necessities: the Cascadia jacket, Cascadia GTX, Huma gels. Thank you, Brooks and SRC for a runtastic 2017.

Trisha Steidl

Image: Takao Suzuki

2017 finished up much better than it started. I’m finally in a place where I can take care of myself, which means my fitness is progressing.

Baker Lake 50k is a PNW classic I’ve wanted to do for awhile, but my work schedule didn’t allow for it. I finally got the opportunity to take part and it was great! It’s a fun race. I love out-and-back courses because you get to see everyone and cheer them all on. I enjoyed that to the fullest. I also felt continued mental progress in this race – being able to stay positive and focused rather than go into the downward, negative mental spiral I sometimes can get into during races. Fun to experience both mental and physical fitness improve! (Shoes: Brooks Mazama)

PNTF was a blast! I’m finally old enough to run both the masters and open races! I’ve been excited about this prospect for a few years now. On the day, it was snowing and cold and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to handle running two races within 20 minutes (or a little less), especially because I wasn’t used to racing such a short distance. I had so much fun racing and being there for my team! It was by far not my best or fastest racing on that course, but I ran steady for both and was able to help my team. It actually felt strange not lining up again on the start line for the men’s race (but I’m really glad I didn’t have to do another 10k on top of the 12k I had already done!). (Shoes: Brooks Mach 17 Spikeless)

The Regional XC championships were in Portland and the weather turned out to be pretty decent. Again, I felt out of my realm at such a short distance (and only one opportunity to race this time), but tried to get and stay uncomfortable the whole time. I placed well here, but was frustrated to find out too late in the race that the next masters woman wasn’t much ahead of me. Since we ran with the open women at the same time, it was difficult to tell (even though masters wear numbers on their backs showing their age group) because there were so many bodies in close proximity. I was still happy with my consistent, uncomfortable effort and could tell I felt significantly better than I did at the PNTF races. (Shoes: Brooks Mach 17 Spikeless)

I did not expect to win the Seattle Marathon. The new course is hillier than before and the purpose of the race for me was to get a road marathon under my belt since it had been 2.5 years since I last ran one. Around mile 14 is when I got competitive. I was told that I had significantly moved up on the 1st and 2nd place women, so I knew I had a chance. It was fun running down the women ahead of me and keeping the woman behind me at bay. I didn’t know I would win until I crossed the finish line in first. It was a very cool experience to win again after 6 years and especially as a masters runner. (Shoes: Brooks Asteria)

Representing my club and Brooks this year has been a real treat. I do my best to be a great ambassador for both and appreciate their continued support of me.

Oct 7: Baker Lake 50k – 1st, set masters CR by almost 10 mins
Nov 5: PNTF XC Masters Championships 6k – 3rd and PNTF XC Open Championships 6k – 3rd for the SRC women’s team
Nov 18: Regional XC Championships 6k – 3rd master, 2nd for the SRC women’s open team
Nov 26: Seattle Marathon – 1st, CR (but only b/c it’s a new course)

Keith Laverty

Image: Takao Suzuki

For the first time since songs like “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO were topping Billboard charts, I finally reigned back my race schedule a bit to focus on training – although with bigger distances. I raced four times with a gradual build-up to the hyper-competitive TNF 50-mile in San Francisco.

The first-time event, Backcountry Rise Trail Runs 20-mile, was surprisingly a beast of a course with almost 5,000’ of gain, just north of Mt. St. Helens. The first half of the course was mostly in windy, cold conditions in exposed sections and no avoiding wet overbrush as if going through an automatic car wash. I was able to re-take the lead with only a few miles to go and snag the victory.

The GOAT Run Marathon and Baker Lake 50k races were ideal tune-ups, setting new CRs in both events. It was the strongest I’ve ever felt at the end of a 50k and finished the last 1.5 miles at ~5:35 pace. I wore the Mazama 2 for all three build-up races and it delivered yet again on comfort, grip and speed.

The grand finale of the year went out guns blazing as expected like a XC race with a stacked and deep field. We zoomed through a memorable sunrise, ocean views, plenty of hills with 10,400’ of gain and capped it off by finishing across the Golden Gate Bridge while trying not to take out tourists or photo bombing their photography. I had a bit of a rough patch from mile 25 to 37 but I was able fight back and finish relatively strong over the final two hours in 24th place overall in 7:20 flat. This was another great learning experience to take with me going forward.

For a deeper race analysis, check this link: https://teamrunrun.com/north-face-50-mile-san-francisco-race-report-keith-laverty/?platform=hootsuite

I also volunteered at this year’s Cascade Crest 100 and Cougar Mountain 50k.

Thank you again, Seattle Running Club and Brooks Running!
2017 2nd Half of Year race results:
1st – Backcountry Rise 20-miler (2:50:49 – CR)
1st – GOAT Run Marathon (2:55:38 – CR)
1st – Baker Lake 50k (3:44:46 – CR)
24th – TNF 50-Mile Championship (7:20:00)

Ellen Lavoie

Image: Takao Suzuki

My fall started off with a completion of the entire Iron Horse/John Wayne trail that spans over 300 miles from the Idaho/Washington border west to N. Bend. I ran across the state with support from friends and family for an OKT (only known time) of the former railroad line in a record time of 9 days.

After rest from racing (and running!) for a few weeks after the Iron Horse OKT, I was back to the grind and finished out the year with a couple of short races. The first was a post recovery 5 miler at the NWTR annual Reindeer Romp on December 2 nd and came out with a middle of the pack finish. Next was the elusive (to me) and feared 10 km distance in another NWTR race at Seward Park that brought my finish closer to the front of the pack.

As the year closes, my running mileage is finally ramping up so that I may concentrate on ½ marathons as “short distances” and a variety of long distances including 50 km, 50 miles, and 100 km with another OKT attempt thrown in for a weekend in April (stay tuned).

I’ve enjoyed another year on the team with a great group of fellow athletes on the team and look forward to continuing to represent not only Brooks Running but the Seattle Running Club in both tame and crazy running adventures.

Joe Creighton

It’s been tradition for the me these past few years to conclude my year of running with self-immolation in the form of cross country. Similar to how lifting large quantities of weight and shaving your chest makes it easier to take your shirt off at the beach or the in-law’s house, running consistently horrific workouts and races all autumn makes it easier to log miles and misery in the spring & summer.

Sadly, if my tale of autumn 2017 running was a book, people would complain loudly about the dissatisfying ending. In short–since the story sucks–I pulled the ol’ hamstring 10 days before the big whiskey-soaked trip to Kentucky for the National Championships in Lexington. I stopped running and crossed my fingers that I’d have enough juice to complete 10 kilometers, and reminded myself that, worst-case scenario, I’d still have a couple sips of Heaven Hill BiB and Stagg Jr with Paul Mannino to keep me warm afterward.

Fast forward to no warmup in sub-freezing temps on race day (not wanting to waste any miles), and mile 2ish later my hamstring tapped out. I was mentally prepared for this to happen, but it was no way to end a year. While I limped back to the start/finish and got made fun of by CNW coaches, I was mentally distracted by watching some of the fastest #bros in the country wrapping up their seasons and by trying to figure out how the hell I was going to spin this conclusion as a positive for my highly-anticipated #SRCBrooks recap.

Proud of my teammates and team, we rallied that night and spent our precious few hours in Lexington……..drinking Buds and Natty Daddys with a bunch of other thin weirdos at an Airb&b house party. I continued my brief trip’s win streak by being roped into a Boat Race with my teamamtes and causing us to lose because I can’t chug ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Images: Paul Mannino

Two days later I had revolting bruises all along the back of my leg, to match the ones on my heart. As I type type this, I’m still chair-ridden and not running. But I will run again, and I will soon hate it again. For now I rest and savor my extra hour every day, occasionally swelling with pride at big-mile runs my friends are doing.

Summer’s still a ways off. This trial will make it all easier when it’s here. (repeat to self)

Olin Berger

I wrapped up 2017 with my first international race, the Ben Nevis Ultra, part of Salomon’s Skyline Scotland race series. This was a surprising race in a literal sense. From a length of 100k when I signed up, the course ended up growing to 120k by the time of the start. I was also not expecting knee-high bog, route finding over mountain passes, and minimal support. It was not my greatest race performance, but it was a fantastic adventure involving stunning views of the Scottish highlands and summiting the highest peak in the U.K. I managed to finish 11th overall, though finishing itself was an accomplishment given the +60% drop rate. I have taken the rest of the year off from racing, gearing up towards the Sean O’Brien 100k and IAU 50 Mile Ultra Trail World Championships in 2018.

Along with volunteering at SRC’s trail races, I was fortunate to be able to volunteer at Northwest Trail Runs’ “Moran Constitutional Relay” a great race on Orcas Island. I’m looking forward to another great year of racing and helping with races in 2018!

Jenny Easterberg

I have had an absolutely wonderful 2017 year of trail running and racing! It has been truly a dream come true to be sponsored on a renowned running team like SRC, especially one with so many amazing and talented runners.

While I started out a bit rusty and creaky way back in January, I challenged myself to see how many races I could do in the year (30 so far), including ones that deviated from my usual half marathons. I must admit my new favorite is racing back-to-back half’s on weekend mornings in the summer, which I find incredibly fun and is now a staple of my weekend activities whenever possible. This past month in December I even tried a Saturday 35k followed by a Sunday 30k and very pleasantly surprised myself by placing 1st for the women in both, and winning the second overall. And I had a fun challenge running two very different races in the same weekend!

I will say that the Northface Endurance Challenge marathon was by far the most challenging (hence the name) yet most fun marathon I’ve ever run. I was able to both podium finish and PR in my marathon time. The most unique run I was given the opportunity to do this past year was the Grand Canyon and it was beyond stunning.

I was also given the wonderful opportunity of volunteering at multiple SRC races and it was an honor to be there cheering on my teammates, and feeding them Pizza post-race! I always strive to be an outstanding representative of SRC and Brooks, both on the trail and off. I’ve had some outstanding wins as well as some surprising losses, but both prove good ego checks and reminders to never take anything for granted, and to appreciate each and every opportunity. You can look for me and my Brooks Calderas out there on the trails next year! Happy running!

Tags Race Reports, srcbrooks

Featured Race Reports

#SRCBrooks 2017 So-far Season Report!

Post author By Seattle Running Club
Post date September 9, 2017

The squadron known as the #SRCBrooks Beast B-Teamers have had a busy year racing our wonderful trails &….paved roads, all the while stepping into the grime of the running community and getting their hands dirty with volunteer work, be it race volunteering, digging blackberry root balls out of the ground at Cougar Mtn, or offering to give Keith Laverty a couple hours of babysitting so he can go hit the trails. We all give a shout out to Brooks Running for allowing us to do all of this in fresh kicks and cool gear that can’t be found anywhere else. But enough from me, let’s hear from the team themselves!

Keith Laverty

The first half of the year started off with a significant event… my wife, Elisa, had given birth to our baby boy, little Luke, born on January 2nd. New year, new baby! From this point forward, somehow, this event had also sparked some extra daddy power into my training and resulting in perhaps, my strongest and most consistent string of performances in a row.

Maybe this is because I have a new found purpose, or really making use of the time I have to train, to really count. Or maybe, it’s been those few extra hilly training runs with a stroller that has elevated my training. With all that said, it’s been a fun first six months of 2017, racing 10 times. Of those 10 races, 3 of them were new Road PR’s, 4 of them were setting new CR’s and 2 races running under the previous Course Record (Smith Rock Ascent, Mt. Hood). All the hill running combined with speedwork seemed to translate well into the roads, especially on the hilly course like the Rhody Run in Port Townsend.

Giving back to the community is ever so important for our sport, our trail systems we use and for our peers. So far, I’ve volunteered with SRC at the Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival in January and a trail work party at Cougar Mountain.

I finally took a crack at the muddy Chuckanut 50k this year, which so happened to also be arguably the fastest men’s field ever for the race with big names sprawled all over the entry list and a world championship spot up for grabs. So I knew I wanted to go into it well prepared while also running my own race. Rocking the upcoming Brooks Mazama 2 trail shoe, these shoes were dynamic enough to feel fast on the 12+ miles of flat and nimble and sturdy enough to handle the technical Ridge Trail and the Chinscraper. I ran just smart enough to be able to close the final 10k feeling good to finish in 9th place.

I capped off the end of Spring/early Summer with two local trail races. At Rainshadow’s Beacon Rock 25k, I shaved off 14 minutes from my 2014 time to take the win in 1:58. Experience + course knowledge paid off this time around. Then going into GoBeyond’s Mt. Hood 50k, with only 2,700’ of elevation gain, I knew this had the recipe of a monster 50k PR opportunity – and that is exactly what happened in the new PureGrit 6 trail shoe. Thank you again to SRC and to Brooks for continuously making my feet happy and my running happy.

2017 1st Half of Year race results:

1st – Orcas Island 25k (2:19:39)
1st – Valentine’s Day Dash 10k (33:07)
1st – Fort Ebey Kettles Marathon (3:25:51)
9th – Chuckanut 50k (4:03:13)
1st – OAT Run Half Marathon (1:22:05)
4th – Oiselle’s Tenacious 10k (32:13)
4th – Smith Rock Ascent 15-Miler (1:46:09)
1st – Rhody Run 12k (40:02)
1st – Beacon Rock 25k (1:58:40)
2nd – Mt. Hood 50k (3:22:06)

Stefan Redfield

2017 is flying by: This year’s heavy rain lead to anti-depression training which in turn lead to a couple solid early efforts with PRs in the Half Marathon (1:12:00 for 3rd) at Mercer Island and trail 10 miler (58:45 for 4th). Both races are becoming annual events for me, and both races nail my weakness against hills in a mid race panic attack kind of way. I loved them, and can’t wait for next year. To conclude the early year road racing I finally was able to make it to the Beat the Bridge where I ran my fastest 8k in recent years. Pre-race tensions were heightened lining up next to Garret Heath, it was fun to latch on to the front pack even if only for a couple of minutes.

Those early longer efforts built up a good base for my later spring/summer races where I focused on shorter, faster events. Hopping back onto the track, I was happy to race for Team SEA in the Seattle vs Portland 3k at the Portland Track Festival, helping the team take its first victory over our southern rivals. Rolling with that I finished up the summer attending several Club Northwest All Comers meets in Shoreline, hitting a season best in the 5k of 15:14 and racing my first 1500 since my collegiate days; once again Heath and I squared off, lined up against a squad of Brooks Beasts (A Teamers) and various talented individuals. I was unable to attain an Olympic A standard of 3:36 in what was perhaps my best opportunity to do so, instead running a relaxed 4:09. In all seriousness, the 1500m is a special race for me and that heat gave me a real taste for it again. This track season made me extra sentimental and In 2018 I am aiming to put effort into speed work and getting back to my 1½ k roots.

The season has been stellar for spectating as well. Before/after racing the Portland Track Festival I was able to watch heat after heat of world-class races. Although I have been in the sport a long time (for my age) I have never seen anything like it. The excitement was boosted by watching my teammate Caroline Austin qualify for her first USATF National meet in the Steeple Chase, an excellent cherry to an impressive season. The Brooks PR Invitational in June was a highlight and one of the most exciting track meets I have attended; the talent level of those high school athletes is simply amazing. Off the track I also was very proud of my friend Olin Berger winning the White River 50k to punch a ticket to the Ultra Trail World Championships, a very sweet accomplishment.

Cheers to 2017 so far, I look forward to ending it with a fast paced Cross Country season and if you are a SRC member reading this, I hope you come out and join me and the rest of the team!

Ellen Lavoie

In The first 1/2 of 2017, I’ve spent my races and training time getting ready for another FKT attempt of the cross Washington Iron Horse/John Wayne Trail. I’ve focused on leaving my comfort zone and trying some distances I had not done before. I’ve had a great time racing, volunteering, and hosting SRC Thursday night runs while representing both the club and Brooks in this whirlwind nearly eight months that have flashed by.

Late March was My first major race and first 50 miler at the Badger Mt Challenge in the tri cites. Fifty miles, of which 35 of those were in rain, wind, and frigid temperatures. I finished the race with a middle of the pack ranking in less than favorable conditions. The next big race was the 100km event at Lumberjack Endurance Races on the beautiful Kitsap peninsula. Destined to have a year of challenges, Lumberjack did not disappoint. Known for mud, mud, and more mud, this year was the muddiest “they” said! I realized that was true when at one point I stepped and one leg ended up deep down into black gooey mud up to my knee!

The last eight months have also been spotted with “short” races with distances from 5k to 20 miles. Two SRC Cougar races, one 20 and the other 14.5 miles ended in 1st place age group wins. In addition, the 14.5 miler gave me a 2nd place USATF masters win!

The Northwest Trail Runs winter series ending in January gave mea 3rd place masters win throughout races ranging from 4km-5 miles.

The majority of the remainder of the year will be running the and then recovery following my FKT (and first) attempt to run the entire 300-ish mile Iron Horse/JWT.

By the end the year I’ll be picking up in training and racing some 1/2 marathons as speed training for the next year.