On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of July, "we" decided it would be "fun" to run "The Hardest Half Marathon in the Northwest." Travel to Oregon wine country, take in the sites, enjoy the traffic, and...yeah...run 13.1 miles mostly up hill.
We had a pet/house sitter so we were traveling sans pup, which was good because we had quite a deal we had made concerning fish for morels. Two coolers in the back of the Subaru took up any room Lucca would have had. After a lovely drive from Coeur d'Alene, to Portland, then south to Wilsonville (where we stayed), we jumped back in the car and headed over to Dundee to figure out how to get there and where the starting line was. It was going to be an early morning and the last thing we wanted to do was get lost before the big event. The two meals we had that day, one in Boardman (which was overpriced and we could hardly eat = bad), and the other in Newburg left us disappointed. (You wouldn't believe the "antipasto" they gave us. Seriously, two small sticks of bad cheddar cheese, ONE pepperoni, ONE pepper, two small carrot sticks, and ONE piece of salami. Ridiculous...I could hardly keep from laughing when they brought that out as an "appetizer.") So, with achy bellies, we finally got back to the hotel at 8:30 p.m. and called it a night.
The next morning found us up and about at 4:30 and out the door by 5:00ish? I'm not sure, doesn't really matter. The race started at 7:00 and we had to have time to do all the pre-race stuff.
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| Aww, looking happy and nervous |
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| Of course they started them on a nice hill (I had to RUN to try and get this photo. I was wheezing and Sarah still had 13 miles to go!) |
I had been playing around with maps and whatnot prior to race day (because I can't seem to figure out smartphones...oh, and I'm a map guy) so I knew where I wanted to be and how to get there already. The first spot was about six miles in.
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| Of course I had to stop on my way to the junction to snap this photo. I like vineyards. |
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| Not too bad for photos...beyond this there is a cruddy hill for them to climb. |
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| I had walked up that hill to see if there were better photo spots, when I heard this guy chugging up behind me! He was in first place and running HARD up that hill. Amazing. |
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| Figured I'd try and get vineyards and proof in some of these... |
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| I had a little bit of time, thus the attempt at being creative playing with my ND filter. |
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| All of a sudden...Sarah! Whoa, she was moving! Still got a thumbs up though... |
Now is when I started to realize I was in trouble. Sarah was hauling ass and I had a lot of driving to do to get from one point to another. (Not a lot of connecting roads in that country.) So I hustled to basically the peak of the run about 9 miles in.
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| More proof? |
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| Vineyards in the background, but no chance for a running shot with them. One racer actually stopped here, pulled out his phone and was taking photos! |
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| Oh, and don't even THINK about walking through any kind of "woods" down there. Those folks are literally surrounded by blackberries! Hmmm, the Clearwater in August or back to Portland? Not really a tough decision. ;) |
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| Sarah at the top |
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| Bummer it's blurry, but she's smiling! WTF? Of course, I was being goofy and hollering, "Way to go Idaho!!" So now she's "Idaho" in out-of-state races I guess. |
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| Not sure how their knees could hold up on the downhills. |
Now, Sarah only had four miles to go. I had a LONG way around (so as not to be on the course itself) and after this shot I had to move. It was funny though, I was standing in some one's driveway trying to be inconspicuous, when the owner came out with a chair. All he said was, "you're making me tired. Use this." (I was squatting and pacing up and down the road.) I thanked him quite a bit but had absolutely nothing to give him. So, upon leaving, all I could do was fold the chair up and lean it against a tree. I looked to see if I could see him, but I'm glad I couldn't. I ended up SCREAMING down dirt roads, hit the highway, and then had to make a decision. My map showed me paved vs. gravel roads, but I couldn't make the labels out. My original plan was to use the main roads all the way back to the finish, but this little cutoff road would make things quicker. Split second decision and I entered in my own orienteering race! It was a gamble, because I could've gotten lost in a hurry, but SOMEHOW I was able to glance at the map now and then and turn it so it was going my direction....that showed me my "turns" and I made it to the finish just in time. I jammed the car into a parking spot, grabbed by pack and camera and ran back to the finish. About two minutes later, there was Sarah. Whoof!
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| Crossing the finish. Pay attention to the time on the board!! Holy crap! |
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| How in the world can you keep smiling? |
As part of the race, Sarah was able to get a wine glass and signed me up for one as well. After that, about 30 wineries were there in a big tent putting on a huge tasting! Basically all Pinot Noirs...we are now hooked. (If you haven't tried Duck Pond Pinot Noir, but get a chance, definitely do it.)
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| Posing |
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| Still smiling but lookin' tired. |
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| So there we were tasting a bunch of wine and trying to figure out the rest of our day. When we decided to actually look at the time! |
Well, we went back to the hotel so Sarah could take a shower and stretch some more, then we headed BACK to Dundee to grab some lunch. We went to a popular little bistro and had a cheese plate and some other extremely rich sandwiches. Neither of us could finish them. BUT, I was determined to take Sarah to a real tasting so we hit up a place in "downtown" Dundee first. They recommended their sister company Lange Estate with great views of Mt. Hood and good tasting. And...that's where we ended up!
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| Outside of the Lange Estate vineyards |
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| It really is hard to capture the feel of that country. Very pretty and posh, but not. You know? |
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| I like this photo for some reason. It'd be better IN the vineyard, but huge fences prevented me from doing that ALL DAY darnit. |
Well, we made our way BACK to Wilsonville just in time to start thinking about where we could go to meet up with Butch's son Matt for the big trade. As it turns out, he just met us in our hotel's parking lot. Boy, he described and transferred plenty of King Salmon, Coho, Chum, flounder, and little coastal shrimp to our coolers for a little over a gallon of dried morels. I looked at it all and said, "Matt, I think some one's getting taken advantage of here." All HE said was, "I know. I was TRYING to get you more!" Nononoo, I think WE got the upper hand. He denied that to and said he was definitely the winner in this deal. Both parties were happy, that's a good thing when trading.
We ended up going back south to Newburg to a brewery called McMenamins which was very welcome. Honestly, the most relaxing portion of the trip for me. Very laid back and nice to have a couple pints. We all ordered some food to go and Sarah and I finally stopped moving for the first time since we'd gotten there.
The next morning found us packing up later than we anticipated (we were both worn out) and headed over to Starbucks for some strong coffee. That's when Sarah glanced at one of here rear tires...low. Hmm, my thought was initially to just head back across the street and use the air hose at the gas station. But then, we saw a tire place right near us with a sign that said "free tire pressure checks." Okeydoky. We went over there and found that tire to be 12lbs low...the fella wanted to take it off and check it out, so we let him. Sure enough, at some point we had collected a screw. So he patched that up and told us it was no charge! What? Nope, all flat repairs are free. We'd been talking about it so I asked, "Ever think about opening up a store in Coeur d'Alene? We're getting a little disappointed in Les Schwab." He said, "Actually, we have a store in Hadyen, it's called Discount Tire up there." Sweet.
We were both just really happy to not have to deal with a flat on the long drive home. Saw lots of people doing just that on our way back.
But then, after getting home at 5:00, I had to run out to get more vacuum bags for the fish. I had turned into a Washington / city driver! I slowed myself down and quit tailing people (my pet peeve) and made it back home where I set up a processing area out back while Sarah vacuumed up the bags and labeled them. Well, I was surrounded by bees and flies and didn't want the bags and stuff sitting in the bed of the truck, so I ran the trash to the dump. Home at 8:30.
It was a looong, fast paced weekend...but we survived and saw a lot of new country. Oh yea, and kicked butt on a hard run. What the race folks had said about 3.5% max gradient was a lie. There was easily 15-20% (more?) grades that if you were hiking along with a pack...would make you work. And they were running them!
Oh, unfortunately, much like what happened almost exactly two years ago...Lucca got ripsnorting around the yard on Saturday and tore her OTHER ACL. Darnit Lu. She's getting yet another surgery next week. Hmmm, ACL --> Spleen --> ACL. What more can break on that pup?
