“Do you want to do this 50k I found in late March?” That’s what my running partner Shawn texted me one day shortly after the FOURmidable 50k. “Sure! We can treat it as a training run. Practice fueling and run it nice and steady,” I replied. Famous last words!
I had not heard of the Rattlesnake Dick 50k before but I’ll be honest, the name and logo intrigued me. It sounded perfect actually. A smaller size race on local trails with perfectly placed aid-stations. What I wasn’t expecting, was the weather change.
Weeks before the race we had some stellar warm and sunny weather. I am warm weather girl and love me some heat. This race, didn’t have any of that.
I grabbed a ride with Shawn and Courtney to the start with the plan that the family would come and get me at the finish after some house projects were completed.
The other bonus of this race is the location. The Cool Fire Station is a great place to have a race. We arrived with some time to spare and then lined up with everyone else to start this thing. The 50k and the 25k both started together.
The rain was falling as we started which made me second guess myself in what to wear. At the last minute I threw on my windbreaker knowing full well that I would probably ditch that pretty quickly. I am one of those runners that runs hot all the time. Every other part of my life I am almost always cold but not when running. I knew better than to start with a jacket but it folds up small enough to stuff in my pack.
It was muddy from the starting line. Huge pockets of mud and puddles of water made the start slower than normal with many trying to hop over some of the mud puddles.
Rollercoaster was a bit of a conga line because it was so slippery. Shawn took off and while I wasn’t quite ready to jump into that pace, I appreciated the effort to get around some runners and have a little bit more real estate to run to avoid slipping and falling into anyone. We had started the race at the back of the pack so we had a lot of passing to do.
Once we reached the No Hands Bridge (mile 3.1) aid-station I needed to remove my jacket and pack it away. The rain was still falling slightly but I was hot.
Making our way towards ADO we chatted and ran. We came across some fencing for the new goats that are there to help with fire safety.
It was hilarious because as us runners approached, all 100+ goats stopped and looked up at us like we were the crazy ones to be out there in the rain.
The race takes you around the lower trails of the Auburn Dam Overlook parking lot to the next aid-station at Portland Ave (mile 7.7). This was another full aid-station with happy volunteers and a timing mat. We stopped briefly to refill.
The course takes you down the paved road a little bit before you veer left onto some trails that will take you down to Cardiac Bypass and the river.
Before you get to the river you have a quick water only aid-station at Oregon Bar (mile 10.2). We were still stocked from the previous aid-station so we bypassed that and made our way to the single track that parallels the river.
These are some of my favorite trails to run on. Rolling beautiful trails that didn’t have nearly as much mud as some of the other sections. The oak was pretty prevalent but that’s a given on these trails.
Shawn and I moved into a steady pace reminiscing about this same section during our Rio 100 race last November.
As we were running, we started seeing some of the lead 50k men making their way back from the half way point/turn around. After some time, Shawn said, “I haven’t seen a female yet. You might be winning!” That’s always a joke between us when we’re running a race and don’t see anyone else. I laughed but he was serious.
As we neared the aid-station, we did see the female lead runner (looking so strong) making her way back to the finish. Not long after that was the second place female and as I entered the aid-station/turn around (Rattlesnake Bar, Mile 16.2), the third female was just leaving.
Shawn looked at me and he immediately turned into David Goggins before my eyes. Unfortunately, I waited until this aid-station to use the restroom. There are not many spots on that single track section ( at least for females) to handle a quick pit stop so I waited and then had to run to the far side of the aid-station where the bathrooms were AND try and replenish my bottles.
I also got to see some friends out there cheering and volunteering. Shawn kept yelling at me to hurry up. He was ready to chase down some female runners with me.
We left the aid-station and motored our way back the way we came. We came upon the third place female pretty quickly. She seemed like she was in good spirits and enjoying herself out there.
When we finally got off the river trail and were making our way back up towards Cardiac Bypass, we came upon the second place female. Shawn gave me a look. We were on a steep uphill and I wasn’t sure I had anything in me right then. I can’t speak for the other runner, but to me, she also looked like the hill was taking more out of her than she wanted. I felt her pain.
We passed each other, cheered each other on and I kept just following Shawn up the hill. He was really motoring and I just kept focusing on one foot in front of the other and running on any flat sections we came across.
We reached the Portland Ave aid-station (mile 24.7) and I knew with the timing mat, that Vans would be tracking me. I glanced at my phone, and he apparently had tracked me when I reached Rattlesnake and had texted me that I wasn’t far behind 3rd and to RUN!
The one thing about this race is that it is an out and back on the same trails. Which is great because you don’t have to worry about getting lost and a bonus because you get to see other runners and friends. However, it also means when the weather is bad, the trails are doubly muddy from having traffic going in both directions.
At some point, “just a training run” went out the window and I really wanted to try and make the podium. First place I knew was so far ahead and running incredibly strong so I told myself to just keep moving, no matter what and see what happens.
When we returned to No Hands aid-station (mile 29.3) we barely stopped. We knew that the final miles were up hill and were very wet, muddy and slippery. We grabbed some fuel and started climbing.
My legs were tired but they still had enough in them to run some of the hilly sections and then power hike the rest to recover. The mud was bad but not that terrible. It was easier to navigate since it was just the two of us on the trails.
I think in all my years running, I have only ever once before run UP Rollercoaster. I am almost always run down it (because it is so fun). Running up is actually a pretty steady climb and a solid workout.
When we finally reached Cool and were making our way towards the finish, Shawn’s energy was electric. I think he was happy to be done but also happy that he helped me score a spot on the podium.
We crossed the finish line all smiles and all those at the finish line were cheering a ton for us as we crossed. Such a great vibe at this race and such awesome volunteers.
The whole family was there at the finish. I guess they had been exploring the trails and all the mud too.
My girls were totally grossed out by my legs and the mud which is nothing compared to what they looked like before I went through some stream crossings to clean them. haha
Overall a super fun race. The mud and weather made it that much more fun I think. We saw some friendly faces out there and it was fun to cheer each other on as we passed each other on the trails. This race had great volunteers and a very runnable course.
Bonus is that finishing at the Cool Fire Station means you can hose yourself off post run. Win win!
The training run plan didn’t go exactly as I thought it would but it was really great to see that I had some speed in the middle of the race. I wanted to finish feeling strong and I did.
Definitely a race for anyone thinking about doing an ultra distance and not quite sure where to start or for those training for something as it definitely allows for opening up in some sections and pushing yourself.
Many thanks to volunteers and to the race director too! Thanks for a great race!
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
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