Walking up the last big hill

Not sure what possessed me to sign up for this one other than the fact I was about ready to run a half and it seemed like there would be some great views along the shore of Whidbey Island. What I hadn’t considered was the elevation gain. I expected a run from the shore up to the bluff but didn’t realize until days before that the trail had 2600′ of elevation gain and was also as twisty and turny as Dash Point. This made it the hardest half I’ve done elevation wise and very similar in nature to the Deception Pass 25k which had a few hundred more feet for the extra few miles.

That said, it was a perfect day to run with temps in the mid to upper 40s and the wind had died down a lot from yesterday to a cool breeze coming off the water. The trails were a bit wet and muddy in places due to yesterday’s rain so I opted for Inov-8 TrailRoc 245s instead of Luna Sandals for the run and this turned out to be a good choice.

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At the Start of the race

I ran the Jingle Bells Snowshoe Run with Snowdog Events in December and had so much fun that I had to do it again so I signed up for the February event.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather with the sun shining and temps in the upper 30’s though the snow could have been better.  After having deep powder in December we were left with a mix of slushy snow, ice, and very thin areas with more grass than snow but the course took advantage of what snow was left on the golf course even if it did have to be shortened to a 4k instead of 5k loop.

I ran with the same setup as before – a pair of thin Injini wool socks covered by a pair of thin SmartWool socks, Merrell Trail Gloves and the new Atlas gaiters I won in the pre-race raffle.   Add on the Atlas Run snowshoes and it was a great lightweight setup.

The course was fun given the snow conditions though I felt it was a bit harder than last time around mainly due to the changing conditions.   It all went by way fast and I finished 5th overall in 29:17.  I thought I had finished in 2nd since I only saw one other person at the finish line but evidently the other guys all vanished.   Still, not a bad finish for the event and it was fun.  I didn’t stick around too long afterwards, once I cooled off I headed out to the Yakima in Cle Elum to fish a few hours.

Next up – Ft. Ebey Kettles Half Marathon next week…