Oregon Coast 50k

Posted by Kaytlyn on Oct 14, 2015 in Race Reports, Running, Trailrunning, Trip Reports

When you get two data people into a room with a course map, an elevation chart, and a crazy idea – a few hours and beers later you just might get a well-calculated, ambitions plan. That’s exactly what happened a few days before Oregon Coast 50k this past weekend.

Course map for the 50k

Oregon Coast 50k elevation profile – about 4500 ft of gain

The plan was simple. We’ll run ~X pace on the downhills, ~Y pace on the uphills, and somewhere in-between on the flat/rolling sections. “Yeah, I think we could do that,” was my skeptical response, knowing full well that it’s nearly impossible to plan out your pace mile-by-mile on a trail, especially for an ultra. If everything goes perfectly – okay, maybe more than perfectly – legs feel good, fueling goes well, and we’re having fun, then maybe it’s possible to break 5 hours. That would put me 56 minutes under my previous 50k PR and it’d put Ely over an hour and a half under his PR. That’s just insane. But that’s how overly-ambitious reach-goals are supposed to be, right? Great – our plan was decided, and we were stoked.

“Wait…one more thing. We should probably check the weather forecast.” Ely pulls up the trusty NOAA forecast for Yachats, Oregon and starts laughing. I walk over.

Ha! There goes that plan.

Hurricane Oho was making its mark on the PNW, bringing along heavy rain and winds up to 50 mph. With that unexpected information (clearly we’d been living under mounds of work in windowless rooms for the past week), we essentially tossed our A goal out and agreed that in the end, we would run by effort and just have fun. And so we prepared for an epic adventure.

Not looking so good….

We left Seattle on Friday afternoon managing to beat most of the I5 traffic, and arrived in Yachats a little after 8pm. While we had initially planned on camping on the beach, a month ago Ely convinced me that there was a good chance it would be raining on the coast in October. I am SO glad we made other plans – our tent would have been destroyed or floating in the ocean somewhere! By the time we changed our minds the Adobe Inn (the start/finish of the race) was full, but we found an awesome AirBnB just a few minutes away. That night we ate our usual pre-race food (Thai fried rice for Ely, white rice with a little tofu for me), drank some liquid carbs, laid out our race gear, and passed out.

The race had a late-ish Saturday morning start of 9am, but as usual we both woke up early to get our systems in race-mode. Even before sunrise, you could see how wet and windy it was outside. We drove over to the Adobe at 7:30am to check-in, boarded the school bus at 8:15, and by 8:45 there were ~200 cold runners huddling around the bathrooms in a parking lot in Waldport waiting to start the short trek to the beach start. I had the jitters all morning, which is unusual for me. Ely and I talked about this while we were on the bus – usually we just stroll over to the race start a few minutes before, which helps keep the whole pre-race mindset casual, and there’s really no time for nerves to creep up. But this time, we spent nearly 1.5 hrs waiting for the race to start, so that combined with not knowing what to expect from the weather (or my legs in that weather) just got my heart pumping.

The first 6 miles on the beach was the most mentally-challenging running I’ve done. Here’s why:

1. My legs were not prepared for running on soft sand (and I was wishing I had done some beach running/training to better prepare for it.)
2. The wind was INSANE – 50 mph headwind gusts are NO JOKE. At one point I remember a huge gust that caught me off-guard. I screamed, almost got knocked over, and turned around backwards to brace myself from the sand pellets that felt like needles on my thighs.
3. Rain + Wind + Sand + Seagull Poop = Zero visibility. I was really glad I brought along clear-lensed biking glasses.
4. We passed a sealion carcass. That’s just terrifying to see when you’re in the mindset we were in. “Oh look, that guy didn’t quite make it through the six-mile stretch!”

There were a few highlights to the beach. Ely spotted a guy in a Packers Jacket upshore and shouted “Go Packers!!” and was heard! It was really crazy/fun to run in giant pack, with everyone using each other to block wind and for moral support. And, despite the weather, it really was a beautiful place to run.

 

The beach ended faster than I thought it would, and before we knew it Ely and I were whizzing past the Adobe Inn onshore. Except… we then realized that we just missed the first aid station.

It was sort of tough to to see – the winds had been so strong that the usual aid station setup was moved behind the inn, and since we weren’t familiar with the area we just had no idea. Once we realized what happened we stopped, looked at our watches, and thought “oh crap, should we go back?” I needed water, and Ely and I both had made the decision to switch out our shoes (which were in the drop bag at that first station). We literally ran backwards on the course, wasted too many minutes changing shoes (which honestly was pointless – more on this later), and blasted out of there as fast as we could.

After that short fiasco, there were ~2 easy miles on road before we ducked onto the trails for the first of 3 climbs, ~1000 ft over ~2 miles. It was during this first climb (around mile 10) that Ely and I caught up to and passed most of our beach-huddle crew, which was a surprise because I was worried we had lost too much time with the shoe change. There were a few women in this group, but I wasn’t paying much attention because honestly the conditions just wouldn’t allow it. I also hadn’t been paying attention to my watch – we kept our plan up to run by effort, not pace.

The wooded trails were a relief from the headwinds on the beach, but at this point the rain really started coming down. Once we hit the downhill, Ely and I kicked it on the GORGEOUS trails and started hooping and hollering and “oooohh yeaaah-ing” as we leaped over puddles and flew down the switchbacks. The views over the coast were breathtaking, even through the weather, and inside the woods it glowed green beneath the gorgeous PNW forests. These were stunning trails, and it was So. Much. Fun!

Battling the wind and rain at Cape Perpetua with a grin. Thanks to Glen Tachiyama for capturing it! Check out the rest of his incredible race photos here.

 

Ely, being a doofball. Lucky to have him as my racing partner! Thanks to Glen Tachiyama for capturing the action shot!

At the bottom of the first climb as the trail crossed the road, we passed a group of cheering fans.

A quick note: all the fans, and all of the volunteers, deserve so much credit for being out there in those conditions. Thank you!!!! You really were all crazier than we were for being out there.

This was the first time I realized I was towards the front of the women’s pack – Ely heard one of them say “that’s the #__ place woman” – but he didn’t hear what place. A bit further down, we met the second aid station at mile 14. When one of the volunteers told me I was the first woman to come through, my response was “Seriously?? Yeaah!” Although mile 14 is more like 25% through a 31 mile race in my books (yeah, I know I was a math major, but I’ve also run a few miles) – there was so much time left, and it was still anyone’s race. Ely and I didn’t talk about it, but we were both silently agreeing to the plan: keep fueling, don’t trip, and just keep pushing.

 

The second climb (~1400 ft over ~4 miles) was where the rain REALLY starting coming down – it was pouring! The soft dirt trails quickly became flooded and turned into either:

1. raging rivers carrying sticks and leaves, or
2. steep, technical, slippery mud

Our clothes and shoes were completely soaked – making me wish I hadn’t bothered with the shoe change earlier. But for the most part, Ely and I both just laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Somehow we just kept cruising, enjoying every minute of it with a grin on our faces. Maybe we’re both crazier than I thought.

We ran together until mile 19ish, at which point I took off on the downhill and Ely followed close behind. I lost sight of him after a few switchbacks and kept cruising, knowing that if I could keep up my pace on the final climb of the day that I’d have a good chance of staying in 1^st. (Note to couples who want to race together: it’s really in the best interest of your relationship to discuss what you’ll do when one person wants to take off, and have that discussion BEFORE you get to that point on race day–Ely and I have chatted about this at length multiple times, and so we have a mutual “go get it!!” attitude).

 

During the final climb I passed a few guys, walked a little more than I wanted to, and kept pushing up the switchbacks. I was relieved to start on the downhill again, and as always had a blast flailing down the muddy trail. I ran that final stretch of trail and 2 road miles with a nice guy I’ll call “long-sleeve-dude” – I paced him on the downhill and he paced me on road. Thanks for the help with those fast miles, “long-sleeve-dude”!

All smiles – coming into my first 1st place finish! Thanks to Glen Tachiyama for capturing it!

As I turned off the road and onto the grass for the final stretch into the finish at Adobe Inn, it finally hit me that I was going to win. It was a pretty surreal feeling – I had a smile plastered to my face and was just psyched. I came in 1^st place woman, 16^th overall at 5:01:58. I high-fived James (the race director), chatted with our friends Alex and Margaret who were there to see us finish, and chatted with the volunteers as I cheered for the next few finishers. Ely was one of them – he finished strong in 19^th overall in 5:10:07, just a few minutes after me.

Ely and I at the finish line with James Varner (in the yellow sailor suit). It was actually a downpour when this photo was taken – thanks Alex and Margaret!

I’m stoked that we both placed well, but even more stoked about our finish times (and PRs!) in such insane weather conditions.

Hanging out at the finish area, enjoying some post-race beer and cheering for the final finishers. The rain did eventually stop!

After a quick shower, we spent the rest of the day hanging around the finish line cheering for other finishers, drinking beer and eating pizza, listening to the Pine Hearts, and enjoying the Rainshadow post-race party. Their races are truly amazing. We wrapped up the evening with beer, cheese, and board games back at the AirBnB. Then, of course, Sunday was sunny and beautiful and we got to do some exploring before heading back to Seattle that evening.

The Oregon Coast is beautiful!

 

My Beacon Rock growler has a new friend!

Thanks to Rainshadow Running and all the incredible volunteers and fans for such an awesome race weekend!!! We’ll be back.

 

Katy’s Gear:

• Shoes – Scott eRide Grip 3.0 (on the beach only) + Pearl Izumi EM Trail N2 (for the rest)
• Gaitors – Outdoor Research Wraiped Gaitors (on the beach only)
• Jacket – Arc’teryx Squamish Hoody (on the beach only – this hoody continues its status as my favorite thing ever, always saves the day!)
• Shorts – Patagonia Strider Shorts
• Top – Brooks  Versatile Lite top + North Face Bounce-B-Gone sports bra
• Bottle – UltrAspire 20 oz Bottle
• Fuel – 9x Gu, 3x S!Caps

 

Ely’s Gear:

• Shoes – Lone Peak 2.0 (older pair on the beach, newer pair on the trails)
• Shorts – The North Face Better Than Naked 5″
• Top – Saucony Hydralite tshirt. In bright orange, of course.
• Bottle – UD Fastdraw 20
• Fuel – 9x Gu, 4x S!Caps