Gorge Waterfalls 50km

There's nothing better than an early season race to get you over the hump of all those dreaded late winter runs on snow and ice and road and whatever else you can come up with to keep yourself entertained and excited about the up and coming season. So four of us from Nelson and two from the coast met up at the Gorge Waterfalls 50km trail run this past weekend just outside of Portland Oregon. The race sold out in 45min with 300 runners entered so I figured it must be a special course- and it was. You run by and in one case behind several magnificent waterfalls, and because it is an out and back, you get to see them from a different perspective again. The funny part is, I was so focused on my run I hardly noticed anything. When Lisa took photos of the falls and showed them to me at the end, It was hard to believe I missed them!
Being and out and back course it was fun to see everyone, including your friends and the race leaders out there.
I finally seam to have put together a solid 50km effort, which was quite surprising being it was only my 13th run of the season. Maybe all that Nordic skiing does pay off?
I really focused on not going out too hard the first hour as I really didn't feel like suffering the last 15km of the race like I have in the past. When I got to the turn around for a 2:23hr split I new I had a chance to break 5 hrs if I didn't go out too hard the first 25km. The best indication in any ultra of how you are doing is simple...if you are passing people in the last 30-40% of the race- you've ran a smart race...if you are being passed- you're likely done or went out too hard...For once I played it right and passed 17 runners on the way back...geez that feels so much better than bonking and having runners blow by you :)  I finished in a very happy 4:56 for a pretty descent 2:23/2:33 split
Scott, Lisa, Erin and Carolyn all had awesome runs too...Patrick still hasn't figured out why he suffers since he puts in 4 runs before going out and doing a 50km race!
With our early spring this year in the Kootenays some of the lower trails are now good to go- so hopefully see you out there!....Oh and if anyone has been on the trails from Glade let me know as I'd like to check them out...

Post race smiles...Patrick, Lisa, Scott, Erin, Carolyn and Randy