Today, we ran the final 40K of the Chuckanut 50K course. (John Schick, John Clark, Scott Young and myself.) We all finished, we all ran strong, and we all enjoyed great weather on what is an arduous, 26- or 27-mile endeavor that gains some 4,300 feet. I take that back. John Clark, powered by Payday candy bars and the like, ran obscenely strong. He didn't finish at Fairhaven Park, but rather ran all the way home to his house in the Columbia neighborhood. (Show-off.)
Like half of Bellingham, I've got the February tubercular cough and spent the first couple hours horking up bit of trachea and lung. For the most part though, it sounded worse than it was. Though back in swamps of Lost Lake, I admit I had a few moments when I considered cutting it short (I'm sick, I've got an excuse, etc.) and figured I'm destined never to finish this run. But once I cranked the iPod, I was able to hang in.
Scott, Clark and I started the final stretch of the I'urban together but as always seems to happen, in about three minutes they were mere figurines on the horizon. It's as if they're running on a People Mover, like you see at airports, and I'm just walking on the trail.
So we're five weeks out and we've already got this run in the bank. Folks are dealing with the mid-winter break (that was canceled) and flight plans (on an airline that's canceling all its flights) so we're not really sure what's up for next week. Actually, I know what's going on Saturday: Baker's turning 8!
NOTE: Mega-thanks to Doug McKeever, Frank and Carol Schultz, and Sharon Hofnagle for doing a superb job clearing the Ridge Trail of all the blow-down from this winter's storms. The trail is in great shape.
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