Oregon Cascades 100 started and finished in Sisters, Oregon.  We stayed in Bend, a half-hour away, which is a delightful (if ridiculously pricey) outdoorsy brew-pub mecca.  As any west-coaster knows, however, August is peak fire season in the west.  This year was no exception in central Oregon.  Five days before the race, AQI in the area was hazardous from fires in the Deschutes National Forest.  On Thursday, the RD said the forecast looked good and the race was a go.  Miraculously, the smoke then disappeared until Sunday night.  Someone must have made a deal with the patron saint of idiotic ultra runners to make the conditions clear up for race weekend.

I have mixed feelings about this race, partly due to my own decisions, partly due to the race.  With a name like Oregon Cascades, I was expecting amazing scenery, but it wasn't particularly epic.  Maybe I'm just spoiled.  There were lots of trees, which were nice, for a while.  But the course was mostly on mountain bike trails with little in the way of views until towards the end.  There were several stretches of boring gravel roads, although at night, that made for open skies and fantastic views of the stars overhead.  Over night, there was a bizarre stretch through what appeared to be a burned out swamp with lots of dead trees.  The kind of scenery where you wouldn't be surprised to see the Eye of Sauron in the distance.

I did the race without crew or pacers, which added a bit to the challenge since I had to stay alert and focused (not easy under the best of circumstances!).  Aid stations and course marking were inconsistent - sometimes well done, sometimes not.  There were some long stretches between aid stations, up to 10 miles a few times, which felt very long, especially at night when hobbling on a gimpy foot (I developed a mean case of extensor tendonitis).   Plus my watch died around 1 am because I was using it for tracking the race course, which drained the battery.  I wanted to have a live version of the course because mountain bikers sometimes mess with course markings (as they did last year and again this year, although the issue was quickly fixed).  But, I should have used a phone app instead of my watch.  After my watch died, I had to estimate distances and check my phone repeatedly for the time, which was about as fun as it sounds.  The heat was not as bad as I was expecting, except for the last 20 miles which were mostly in the sun.  My Rabbit sun shirt was a life saver, worth every penny.

In any event, I kept at it and finished in 30:49:39, under the 32 hour cut-off but well behind my goal of sub-30 hours.  I think my fitness was good and I could have made my goal without the tendonitis.  That's a new issue for me, and I need to figure out why that happened.  Happy to have gotten my WSER qualifier, and I'm looking forward to relaxing for the rest of the year.  Or until the end of September.  Or until this tendonitis goes away.

Here are a few pics.  If you look carefully at the sunrise photo, you can see burned out trees from the Mordor section.

Well done on the 100, plowing through with the foot pain. There is always something during a 100 it seems. Bummer about the course. I looked at the route and noticed they did not have you out on the green lakes trail and others up in the higher country closer to the sisters. Real good views up there. I remember we ran part of that flagline trail and after awhile it became much of the same though it was shaded.

Anyway, congrats on the WSQ! That was my goal back in the day, get the Q then rest and hope for best in the lottery. Hope you get in this year. You deserve it.

Congrats, Gatsby!  Will you be able to snag your AS runner spot for WSER?  Sucks about the foot.  Hope it heals up quickly.

Wonder when the fire went through that one section. Cripes, the way the West has been the last few years, who knows. 

Thanks, I’ll take all the good vibes I can get for the WSER lottery. I’m also entering my RC’s lottery for the aid station spot. Odds are better there, but I don’t get preference or special treatment. 

Sandy, you’re up next!  You picked a beast of a race but you’ve put in the work. Go get’em!