Uhm... An Update!

A June 10th snowfall blanketed nearby mountain peaks. Yes indeed! The heat will be here soon enough...

June 2nd- 19th: Up and down with the training...so it has gone. A 30ish mile week and then a 50ish mile week. I've run when it made sense and I DID finally get my book art off and in the mail. Hooray! The most recent 7 day stretch has been my very best of the year - I think. 86 miles in the last 7 days, including a 22mi 4.5 hour trail run on Thursday morning/afternoon. Even better, I had already logged 2.5 hours (16mi) and about 3900ft of climbing on Tuesday morning. The recipe for now is rest. Following are some highlights.

June 19

20-22mi. 4:28. Parked at W. Buttermilk snowpark up the Twisp River Road. Used trail no. 440 to follow the Twisp River NW to War Creek and then eventually Slate Creek Trail Head. This 6+mi stretch along the river is fantastic. Great undulating trails amidst the shady trees. Entirely runnable, but nicely rolling. At this point, the Slate Creek Trail heads up! For 1.5 hours I mostly hiked, with a little bit o' running. I never did reach Slate Lake, but I was very close. A little too much snow to deal with in the final shady stretch. Plus I was getting tired and ready to turn. Felt strong on the decent, and the new Montrail Streaks are working well. Stable and roomy enough on the steep downhill. Always a good test. Especially when wet. Which mine were. 4 x H20. 1xcliffbar. 1xCB. 2xGu. 2xsalt. (ST)

June 18

7mi. 57min. Power's Plunge to Black Bear and home. A cruise with some climbs. Felt better than anticipated after Tuesday's run. (ST) BIKE 30min to town with K.

June 17

14-16mi. 2:24. Big climbing today as I waited for some car repairs in Twisp. From town, I ran the Lookout mountain road to the abandonded fire tower. 3900ft of elevation gain in my 1:28 effort to the top. My distance estimate is a "best guess" given the much quicker decent. Running hard the entire way back down still took 50+ minutes. Still, its likely closer to 14. A little short on water today. Not iodine. 2xH20. 2xgu (ST)

June 15

15-16mi. 2:30ish. Wolf Creek Trail plus some additional with Brian. Added on to the end after an abriviated trip on the trail. Brain was feeling tired today. (ST)

June 16

THE TITUS VAN RIJN 2008 - THE WINTHROP ADDITION

The afterglow of an excellent Titus!
From left to right: Erik Brooks, Annie Filer, Molly Filer, Carol Filer, Taylor Woodruff, Dawn Woodruff, Chris ?, Sarah Brooks. Not pictured: John Roth, Lyn Roth, Keeley Brooks

9.63mi. One Hour. Plus I ran a mile to warm up so... I get to log 10.5 miles for the day!

All totalled, 11 local paticipants logged 76, 733m or 47.68 miles. The morning was near perfect, with 8:40ish AM starting temps in the low 60's. It heated up just a bit this was not at all a factor.

Of special note for this year's race: 3 TVR newbies participated. Among them, 13 yr old Taylor Woodruff. Taylor, with early teen guts and determination on his side, rallied to his 7.15mi (11500m) performance after only one hour of sleep. He only slept for an hour, because a wolf scat/pawprint expedition with his dad and older brother turned into a sleep-in-your-clothes-by-the-fire-on-top-of-a-mountain adventure. It is up for debate as to whether or not Taylor's dad had planned to camp out ahead of time, but there was not tent and no sleeping bag. This is a fact. Still, Taylor showed up not-so-bright-eyed and ran in his first-ever TVR. Apparently, this is also the first time that Taylor has ever run more than 3 miles in a stretch. Give that boy another black cherry soda! Congrats Taylor!!