50 Cubed

It was a 50's weekend! I ran my 50th Marathon or greater distance race at Chuckanut , It was a 50K, and Michelle ran her first 50 miler at Pacific Rim 24 hour!


Shawn Lawson finishing Chuckanut 50K. How did I get that picture?results


















Jenny and Michelle finishing their first 50 miler at Pacific Rim 24HR






Steve Stoyles finishing Pacific Rim with 105 miles, His first 100 miler.


















Lisa Bliss 2007 womans winner of Badwater running at Pacific Rim 24 HR.













Rob "Rattler" Hester talking to his cardiologist before attempting to eat the worlds largest cinnamon roll.
















Chuckanut 50K had good weather this year with just light rain at the start and a few spittles along the way. The temperature was perfect at around 45 degrees F. I arrived at the start at 7:00 AM after walking just a short 1/4 mile from my fathers home where I spent the night. The race seemed to have a lot of late arrivals with a long line of people still trying to pickup race bibs and chips just 10 min. before the start. The race seemed to start on time and I tried to work my way up to the front third of the pack. The first 6 miles of the run are on a fairly wide gravel trail with just a short section going to single track along a small creek. Eric Gierke a Marathon Maniac took the first fall of the day in this section making a mud dive and scraping up his knee. Annie Thiessen was witness to his crash and was trying to tend to Eric. Since I knew Annie was a potential front runner I encouraged her to move on and that I'd make sure Eric was OK. She took off and ended up placing 3rd. Eric was fine once he got moving again. It always sucks the joy out of a run when you crash, especially when it's in the early miles. The first aid station is located at mile 6 and then you head out to the first real climbing. The middle section of the run which is about 18 miles is on or around Chuckanut Mt. and has one epic climb they call chinscraper. The trails were muddy but I was glad that I was up in the top third of the pack because they were going to get much worse as more runners stirred it up. I stayed steady in the climbing and went to a 50-50 pace walk/run in the tough parts to keep my momentum going. This worked well for me. When I hit the last aid station with 6 miles to go I was feeling good after a long down hill run. As soon as I hit the slight up hill grade of the flat trail I felt a bit heavy legged. I managed to run about 2 miles and then I started my 50-50 routine again. I finally got my legs back with just two miles to go and ran it in. With a time of 5:34:40 I shaved 10 min. from my time last year. I saw Bushwacker, Olga, & Gail from Oregon at the finish.

After the race I showered at my dad's place and then jumped in the car for the drive down to Longview WA where Michelle, Steve, Rob, Jenny, Cat, and Jamal were running the Pacific Rim 24HR. The five hour drive when surprisingly well and I didn't need to stop for any rest along the way. Jess Mullen, and Leslie Miller who both ran Chuckanut 50K also came down to the race and were attempting to run another 50K distance. Crazy women! The course is a one (1) mile loop around a lake. The path is mostly crushed rock with a few short sections of concrete sidewalk.

When I arrived in Longview Rob and Jamal had finished. Rob had not had a very good day and Jamal banged out 46 miles really fast and paid the price with some total body pain. I ran them out to get a burger and picked up some coffee for Michelle and Jenny. When we got back I changed and ran the last four miles with Michelle and Jenny. I got to chase a muskrat that was up feeding on the grass near the lake. I came fairly close to it but when it realized I was coming after it, it showed amazing speed and agility as it headed back into the lake. After Michelle's and Jenny's 50 mile celebration I ran one lap with Steve Stoyles who was at mile 73. Then Michelle and I went to a motel for a good nights rest.

Michelle and I went back to the race in the morning and managed to witness Steve finish with 105 miles. We all headed out to breakfast at Stuffy's. This restaurant serves massive portions. We were joined by tc who had run around 107 miles, and Wendy & Jessica who drove down to run some of the final miles with Michelle and Jenny.



We finished the weekend by going out on a 3 hour cruise on a friends 90 foot boat. It was a great weekend! It's the one on the left.