Warning, this is long! Columbia River Power Half-Marathon Umatilla, Oregon Saturday October 25, 2008. After completely bonking and feeling absolutely wretched during the Super Jock n Jill Half marathon on Labour Day (I had been sick all week and I also went out too fast), I started shopping around for a redemption half-marathon to run that would land sometime in October. There was one in Elma WA, not too far away, but I couldn’t make it that weekend. Then I received my copy of NWRunner Magazine and noticed an ad for the new Columbia River Power Marathon/Half-marathon. It was kind of far away (3.5 hour drive), but there is something undeniably irresistible about running an inaugural race. Plus it had this to offer: running over the mighty Columbia River twice. First over the tightly secured McNary power dam and locks, then again over the highway 82 bridge. Also the “host” hotel was less than ½ mile from the race start. And the race was on a Saturday, so I wouldn’t use up the whole weekend. I could drive down on Friday and be back by dinner time on Saturday. This race was put on by Marathon Maniac #3 and I have no doubt it was scheduled for a Saturday so that the more maniac maniacs could run the Tri-Cities Marathon the next day (in a town about 28 miles away). The dam: I was thinking I could PR this race. That was until I actually saw the elevation profile from their website. Then I had seriuos doubts but I still worked out a tentative PR plan based on running certain paces on the downhill miles to make up for slower splits on the uphills. Friday morning I had a very promising phone call right before I left the house. This put me in an exceptionally good mood for the long drive. The drive was beautiful and it hardly felt like 3.5 hours of road time. I went east over the I-90 mountain pass and down through the Yakima River valley. It is shocking how drastically the terrain changes upon leaving the sodden temperate rain forest of western Washington, with its dense growth of evergreens, ferns and moss and then shortly after the pass finding yourself in the semi-arid eastern part of the state. There is one section between Ellensburg and Yakima (I have never driven down this way) that has enormous soft-edged rolling ridges completely barren except for the purple-grey sage brush and sparse little dried out grasses. Not a drop of water anywhere. Then the route veers closer to the Yakima River and finally there is a bit of greenness, as the river supplies the only water for a large part of the year for the apple orchards and vineyards that line its banks. Semi-arid eastern Washington state. You can see Mt. Rainier in the distance. This picture does not do the landscape justice. I got to Umatilla and checked into the hotel (a little dilapidated but the price and location were hard to beat!). I went to the packet pickup and found the organizers very friendly and helpful. I still didn’t realize this would be such a small race. They were putting colour-coded AG stickers on each bib. My age said 28!! Not! I had to politely inform them I am actually 44. No one could figure out how that mistake had happened but one fellow said it wasn’t inconceivable that I could be 28. (I wanted to hug him!). The long-sleeved technical race shirt had a tight weave and silky quality that I complimented them on. I skipped the pasta feed because I really wanted to eat early and relax. The drive had tensed me up somewhat and I needed to unwind. I actually got 7 hours of sleep that night….incredible! The race started at 8 am the next morning. Let me tell you what a luxury it was to be less than ½ mile from a race that starts at a reasonable 8 am. I peeked out my window at 7 am to see a small group of 6 or 7 runners that had opted for the early start running past the hotel. That was cool and pumped me up. I ate a banana, mini-bagel and drank coffee from 6 to 6:30 am. I think I should have eaten something small maybe 20 minutes before the race too, but I didn’t feel like it. I left my room around 7:40 to walk over to the start. I had on my black Adidas response baggy shorts, two long sleeve tech shirts, the top black one having a thicker woven material. And my black gloves, green fanny pack, sunglasses and red and black Asics 2130’s. I had my classic black theme going on here, which I just can’t do in the summertime. It was about 37F and I was dressed just right. It got up to about 48F by end of the race and the top layer came off during mile 9 to 10. Overcast skies developed into mostly sunny by the end. A police office played the national anthem on his trumpet (not bad) and the mayor of Umatilla made a quick speech which ended with a rather brusque “now get going!” There couldn’t have been more than 150 runners, and with so many of them wearing Marathon Maniac yellow singlets and jackets, I figured at least half the field were running the full. That left not a whole bunch of us doing the half. A big group of chatty excited women were beside me. I guessed they were my main competition and I was right. The first mile was flat and went past the hotel. Then came a steep 130 foot descent down the bluff to the McNary dam. I tried to spin the wheels on this downhill to gain some time. It was almost too steep to run well. Running across the dam was pretty damn cool. A local woman told me she was impressed they let us do this, as it is normally so tightly secured. I kept looking at my Garmin and I was right on pace and feeling pretty good. After the dam, on the WA side of the river, we started a long 130 foot climb uphill, followed by a small downhill then back up again. It was a bit hilly but my pace didn’t suffer too much. Around mile 4.5 I ate a Gu and drank some water. Almost immediately after that, I started to develop a side stitch. Oh No!! Please no! I am forever plagued by these things. I think the combined drinking while running threw my breathing off. I tried my bag of tricks and got it under control, whew! It was flat from mile 4 to 5 then a steep downhill of about 140 feet which nearly brought the side stitch up to 5 alarm level again. I ran down this hill slightly stooped over to control my diaphragm. It was extremely awkward but it worked and the stitch went away. The next mile was flat and then we approached and ran through a tunnel underneath highway 82. I couldn’t quite figure out how we were going to get up onto the highway bridge, but right after the tunnel there was a pedestrian path that did a switchback climb up to the bridge. Great. This change in elevation was definitely not apparent on the elevation map. (In my notes I had it marked as a 20 foot climb – maybe it was only 20 feet (not likely) but it felt like 100!) Right before this climb I was on pace to PR, with a cumulative pace of 9:35. I ran quickly and lightly down the other side of the bridge because I knew I bled a lot of time on that bridge climb. We then turned onto another flat long road into some wind but suddenly I was out of gas, clearly undergoing a bonk as my current pace slipped to 10:20 (at about mile 8). And the best was yet to come. We still had that 200 foot climb from the river bank to the top of the bluff looming ahead. I told myself I was conserving my energy for that, even though I knew deep down inside that I was bonking. 1 – 9:27 (fine, a bit of downhill) 2 – 9:16 (big downhill) 3 – 9:30 (flat, too fast!) 4 – 10:03 (uphill 130 ft) 5 - 10:02 (mostly flat) 6 – 9:18 (big downhill) 7 – 10:08 (flat) 8 – 10:09 (bridge climb, up then down, hey not bad!) 9 – 10:39 (flat, and so the bonk begins…) I noticed most people were walking the monster hill. So I did too. I mixed in some running but it was mostly walking. My cumulative pace at the top of that long steep hill was 10:07! Where did that 9:35 go?? I knew there was no way I could run the last 3.1 fast enough to salvage a PR, and that was fine with me. I decided to coast/jog/enjoy the rest. The last 3 miles were pancake flat and I assumed I’d be able to run decently along here, but I just couldn’t get any speed going. I am really embarrassed about those last 3 mile splits. 10 – 12:49 (monster hill) 11 - 10:56 12- 11:01 13 - 10:42 0.2 - 1:55 (9:45 pace) There was one woman in pink ahead of me. I thought I should at least try to pass her before the end. With about one and a half miles to go, she pulled out her cell phone to call someone and slowed down a bit. Great, here is my opportunity!! I got closer to her, but at the same time two women that were behind me started closing in. They were part of that big group of women that had all started together and they quickly ran past me, up to the woman in pink and started giving each other encouragement. Crap! They told pink lady “only one mile left…let’s pick it up”. I scouted out these women and figured they were all in their 20’s and 30’s, but I couldn’t be sure. I thought about actually asking them how old they were, but wouldn’t that be rude and set up an ugly race to the finish line? (Women are ridiculously like this, I thought of those cartoon chipmunks (“you go first”, “no you”, “no you I insist!”). I couldn’t see their AG colour coded stickers either. Since I was running so crappy anyway I just mentally crossed my fingers hoping they were all younger and hung back. I could have easily (I think) stayed with them and then burst ahead in the last 100m but I didn’t think they were in my AG anyway and worse, what if I got challenged and out-kicked? I came in 10 seconds after them. One of them was in my AG (she was 44!) I came in 4th in my AG (40 – 49). I lost my chance to earn my very first AG ribbon by 10 seconds. I lamented my decision to let them go ahead of me for the rest of the day. I don’t know when I’ll get this chance again, small races like this are hard to find. Final gun time 2:16:06 I came in 31st out of maybe 60??? Results are not posted yet. The winner was 1:47 something. Not a fast course. Not a fast crowd. Low tech posting of the race results. The hotel had a noon checkout. I was in heaven. I took a long shower and soak, then went back to the race finish to watch some of the full-marathoners come in. I saw the lead woman come in at 3:50. Just as I got there, they were announcing the AG winners from the half. I was hoping that if they gave out a female master’s award, I would move up to third. Pathetically, and it really is pathetic, I went up to the RD to check. Just like looking at the roster of people who had made the cut from basketball try-outs in high school, I looked at his list of names and mine was not there. (I always made the team btw, but the feeling of anticipating a let-down was the same!). They were not giving out a separate master’s win. In the school cafeteria they had a nice spread of baked potatoes and fixings. I had the best ever baked potato with chili, cheese and sour cream. They also handed out really nice finishers medals. I wasn’t expecting that. This race was a downright bargain for 45 dollars. I felt a bit guilty about how well we were treated, the long sleeve tech shirt, the medal, the baked potatoes and other goodies to eat and the small field of runners with tons of volunteers. I think these small races really kick butt. I know if they do this race again next year the field will get much bigger. I think it is only about 2 hours east from Portland. I am sure the news will spread. I might be back myself.

I recall the September race and hoped you would have a more satisfying experience here. I wasn't sure how you felt about it however. I know it wasn't a PR and that you slowed and said you were "embarrassed". Share with us how you feel about the performance please, and what you are trying to do at this distance. I enjoyed this report for the detail and pics. What is next for you? Spareribs

Thanks for the detailed RR! Makes me feel like I was there too. A friend of mine worked in Umatilla for a couple of years at the Army Depot, where they're incinerating nerve agent. He hated it there. It sure is a bleak area, especially compared to the west side of Oregon. Sounds like a great inaugural race. I like the baked potatoes afterward - that sounds like better fare than most races, where you get pizza. Sorry you didn't manage to get a PR or an AG placement, but a fine effort anyway.

I like your positive attitude, Enke, and I always enjoy photos in a race report. But next time don't fret about being polite at the finish, just torch the other wimmen and collect the prize that is rightfully yours. Dark Horse

I *almost* went to this race, but turned up at Tri-Cities today instead. I heard that the full version of the race you ran was quite challenging and had 5ish miles in the sand. Did you encounter any of the sand miles? Sorry about the 4th... but odd things happen. I've had guys yell at me "How old are you??" It's kind of weird, but I know what's going on. Sometimes I tell them something random. Sometimes I tell them the truth. ANYWAY. It sounds like it was a pretty race and running over the dam certainly seems like great fun. And now I know where to send Sheila a Christmas card.

Enke, Great report! I know you must be frustrated about the AG placement -- I would be too! Anyway, no reason to dwell on that, as I can't believe how you handled the side stiches! Incredibly good job!

It sounds like a wonderful experience Enkephalin!!! Thanks for sharing.

Enke...well done, we're all proud of you....beautiful scenery out there!