Headed to the coast Friday morning and got to my campsite and set up the tent then picked up my bib and swag. I got a t-shirt, a headlamp, a baseball cap, a sticker, and coffee cup! The free headlamp was cool. Walked around town a got myself a veggie burrito and headed back to camp where I at my burrito and had a glass of wine. Poured another glass of wine and headed up the bluff to watch the sun set. Bed early..9 ish.

Woke up plenty early to get to the race that began at 7:30. The race begins on a river that dumps into the ocean. When I pulled up there was movement on the island in front of me. I thought it was birds but it was baby seals.

I miss the speech, but as we were running a woman mentioned the race director said to take it easy in the first 10 miles. I asked, why is it hard. They said no it’s easy. Well it was easy. It was a dirt road along a river..I thought we were gradually going up but now that I look at my Garmin I think that was an illusion.

I was running with Seth and Mike from Missouri for a few miles. They had plans though. They wanted to be at 18 miles in 5.5 hours. People with running goals scare me so as they pulled forward I said goodbye. I ran the first 10 miles in 1:43:14. This is also where we left the river, went into the woods and began to climb.

We climb about 1,000 feet in the next 3 miles. I actually appreciated the walk break and the forest was very beautiful there. Once we got to the top we had a very steep back downhill around 50 feet. There was a shape left hand turn here..I almost missed it and later would find out a few people add miles to their race. A girl was behind me and I keep looking back to see if she made the turn. Hopefully she did but now thinking of it I never saw her again.

So one minor creek crossing 6 inches deep so feet are wet now. I thought hmm that’s why they have a drop bag at the 3^rd aid station. Dry socks would be nice. The woman behind me yelled when she got there is this it..yep! After crossing the creek we were once again heading uphill.  My feet were socked but only the left foot made a squishy squeak noise.  This unevenness was starting to bug me.

So at third aid station we hit a dirt road…not like the first that was grown over but a hard packed dirt road. For the most part this was downhill running so it was ok. In the odd years they reverse the route. I’m pretty sure I had the easy year. After a couple miles on the road we turn off. A guy standing there tells us we have 5 miles of slightly downhill gently rolling single track for the next 5 miles. Those words made me sworn. So this is like mile 17 to 22. Just one foot in front of the other rolling along feeling like I am super woman. Although this was sweet the trail would keep dipping down for little gullies. Umm that takes a bit out of you dipping that one foot down. Hey I caught up with Mike and he was way ahead of his plan..but where was Seth. I asked but could not hear the answer.

Someone on the forum posted the picture of all the fallen trees so when I saw this thought I should take a picture.

That flower was so cute.  I started talking to the vegetation...oh your so cute...thanks for showing up ..

Ok mile 22.5 I remember because a woman directed me up a hill and said, You will climb a 1,000 feet in the next mile and at the top is the aid station and you will be at mile 22. So I looked at my watch and thought “Whatch you talking about Willis?” I hope she’s wrong…what the heck…that makes no sense…than I remember don’t look at your watch, don’t worry about whether the race is long or not just run.

Hit the 22 mile (23.5) aid station and petted a fat black lab and headed down a paved road. Did I mention their aid stations where lacking…pretty much PBJ, oranges, bananas, potato chips and gus. Know this I had packed myself a new super to me food. Blueberry bagels with honey pecan cream cheese. The road was like a quarter of a mile that felt like 10. Then head back into the roads and on some of the trails in the Russian Gulch state park where I was camping.

I ran with John for a few miles...heading into the campground on a asphalt trail ...groovy tree taking over grampa.

We headed through the camp ground and then climbed up to the bluff. We ran along the edge of the bluff some road again…the wind was blowing pretty hard and the trail was narrow and 6 inches deep so was pretty hard staying upright. After running that for about a mile I turned and the wind was at my back…so I said I am going to let that wind push me. There was one part where we had to use ropes to go down rocks under an over pass. Some thought that was adventurous but it was a little silly.

I was afraid they were going to parade us through town but we said on the bluff until we came down to the beach where we had to run through the sand to the parking lot to the finish. (a friend wants me to sign up for a 50 miler with 16 miles on sand, oh hell no!!)

I finished in 7 hours and 5 minutes. 65 out of 137 finishers. 4^th in my age group.

After party…seems Seth got lost and that is why I never passed him. The beers were good and cold. I hung with this group of kids from Oakland. The girl with the Mohawk DNF last year so came back and dragged 5 friends. One friend came in 3 overall women’s, the other girl who finished in full make up , glitter, off the should shirt, pink hair, sparkle tights finished having only ran 10 miles as her longest run. Another girl almost tackled me a mile 1 one a guy in front of her dropped his phone and she ran backward to pick it up while I was still moving forward. The Mohawk girl finished last of her friends but she was so very proud of herself.

My medal is an bottle opener…love useful things.

Very nice destination race...wouldn't want to do it on the odd years though.

Sounds like fun, Sue. You'll be in great shape by the time Mt Hood rolls around.

Can tell you on the West Coast - no rocks on those trails.  Waterfalls look great.

Any loud noised while camping? 

Good job. Gorgeous place. Thanks for the report.

Good job, Queen! And loved the pictures. That scenery would never get dull.

QoN, looks like a great place to run (and drink beer).  Congratulations.

Thanks for the RR and great photos.

Nice run Queenie. Rivers, forest, ocean, and cushy trails. What's not to like? I think all those photos may have cost you a sub7 but we don't worry about that stuff here.

Great job Sue!  Really cool looking country- almost foreign looking (at least for a guy from Montana).

I think you're in a lot better condition than you let on here   Whatever you're doing, you're doing it right!

Finally got around to reading this. Looks like a nice race.  From my perspective I could run most of the day on PBJ and Bananas.  I get grumpy when there are no bananas.