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UPWC: WAS UP (What A Surprise) run report

Posted by gck Friday, December 25, 2020 0 comments

After lots of lurking and then finally completing my first Ultra Pedestrian Wilderness Challenge event last year, I was hooked and wanted to do more. My capabilities are on the lowest end of the challenges offered, and I'd already completed one of the easiest routes last year. This year, my trail training all went out the window with COVID, and I was in far worse shape for trail than last year.

Fortunately UPWC had added a new route suitable for Ultra Pedestrian beginners: the What a Surprise route, a nice loop in the Stevens Pass area. Advertised as a 25 miler with elevation gain in the 5000s, I knew I could get away with hiking the entire thing and still finish in daylight-ish. I had even done parts of the route before as day hikes to Surprise Lake and Trap Lake. 

I'd done a lot of hiking in August for WTA's Hike-a-thon, reacclimating my body to what 4000 feet of elevation gain felt like. As the last long hike/run for that month, I did the 18 miles to Snoqualmie Lake, reacclimating my body to what long distance felt like. I was ready. Took a break for Labor Day weekend, and we were planning to do the route as a small group the next weekend.... 

Snoqualmie Lake

...and then smoke-pocalypse happened. Air quality so terrible that I did literally nothing for almost two full weeks. When running became possible again, I immediately ran a fairly terrible virtual half marathon to meet the deadline for results submission for the Lake Sammamish Half. The next weekend, I wussed out because of flaky weather forecasts. It ended up being lovely, and we hiked instead, but I felt awful on a mere 8 miles/2800 feet again. Smoke in the lungs still? Things were not looking good.

Hey, it's 2020, and YOLO. We called it for the next weekend, our group now down to just me and Shawn. Since this was a loop hike, we had to decide where to start and which direction to go. People in the UPWC group were making all sorts of different decisions, but for me, it was pretty clear: counter-clockwise, starting at the Iron Goat trailhead. 

Iron Goat trailhead

We started bright and early at 7:30am and admired the train cars at the beginning and gave thanks that the restrooms were open. Immediately, we did probably the most dangerous part of the trip: running across Highway 2. This is a two lane highway with one of those signs on it that says "X days since the last serious accident" where X is never that high of a number. I wanted to make the crossing when there was daylight and not that much traffic. Not a problem.

Railroad near the Surprise Creek Trailhead

After some navigational challenges (that trailhead is always hard to find, and once on the trail, we managed to walk past the first turn we had to make), we were on the Surprise Creek trail. This is a lovely trail that I've hiked twice, but this time it was just the first part of a long day, so I didn't take as much time to appreciate it. Surprise Lake was a short detour off the route, but Shawn hadn't seen the lake before, so we stopped briefly to take photos, make a toilet stop, and for me to eat a McDonald's sausage burrito. Glacier Lake is right past Surprise Lake, but I have always chosen to sit at Surprise Lake instead of continuing on. One day I will get there, but this was not the day.

Surprise Lake toilet. Toilets are important.

The next order of business was the climb up to Trap Pass, which is also where we switched to being on the Pacific Crest Trail. On the topo map, it looks like a long a scary line of tight switchbacks going up way too many contour lines. I thought it would be a sufferfest, but it wasn't so bad. Trap Pass was the high point for the day, and while there were other small climbs to do, it felt like an accomplishment to get most of the climbing done right away. 

Surprise Lake

At the very top, Shawn burst into song, doing some parody rendition of the introduction to "Circle of Life." I don't remember exactly what he sang, maybe something like, "IIIIIIIIII'm at the top now!!! Blah blah blah blah." And then we saw a guy approaching us. Oops, we interrupted his nature experience with the crazy singing. But he told us that he was supposed to meet some friends who were backpacking, and he didn't think they would have made it out this far already, but then he heard the singing and it sounded like something they would do, so he came back to investigate. Haha..

Fall scenery near Trap Pass

At this point, we should have started running, but as we stepped over the pass and saw the scenery, I said, "We are NOT rushing through this." The slopes were ablaze with bright fall colors and full of juicy blueberries. Walking through this section was definitely the highlight of the loop, and it made me thankful that all that the universe had done to make us delay this trip had led us to this perfect view. Trap Lake was glittering down below, and we could hear some backpackers and their dog at the lake.

Trap Lake

We began pursuing the answers to two important questions. Shawn: How many bags of blueberries can I pick and have it still count as running? Me: How many photos can I take of the same view? 

Trail grouse (on the trail and bottom left corner)

We ran a bit as we dropped back into the forest, though at some point my knee started twinging and I used it as an excuse to be lazy and not run (spoiler: this is a theme). We also had two grouse jump in front of us to cross the trail. 

the hills are aliiiiiiive

It wasn't long before we got to Hope and Mig Lakes. More bright fall colors all around, meadows full of ripe berries. Also more people. Stopped for a toilet break but decided to wait a little longer before filtering water.

Mig Lake

Up until this point, I'd hiked everything on the route before, other than the climb between Surprise Lake and Trap Pass, but now we were entering new territory for me. But the PCT was pleasant, full of nice views and endless fall colors. There was a tarn, a view down to Swimming Deer Lake, and then I ran out of water. There were supposedly streams along the PCT, but we weren't seeing anything that was easily accessible from the trail. 

Swimming Deer Lake peeking out behind the trees

Lake Josephine was a large, beautiful lake, but it was a detour of few hundred feet down to get to it, which our legs weren't willing to do. The map showed a few small lakelets and streams that were right next to the trail, but still nothing easily accessible. There were points where we could even hear the running water, but it was too far off the trail and not visible. I was getting grumpy. Finally, we gave in and filtered at Lake Susan Jane, which was basically muddy stagnant water.

Lake Josephine

You can't really have long distance running stories that don't include some sort of GI factor. Unrelated to the muddy stagnant water, I'd started feeling some unpleasant pressure in my stomach, the kind where it's uncomfortable until it comes out, and you think it's probably gas but it may not be, and this isn't really the place where you want to be wrong. Of course, we'd passed all of the backcountry toilets at this point, and I wasn't desperate enough to duck into the woods, so instead I complained excessively on the uphills and refused to run the downhills (theme!). I knew there were toilets at Stevens Pass, and it was only a few miles (sigh) until there.

Lake Susan Jane aka our water savior

The small climb leading up to Stevens Pass just felt brutal. It was the final climb of the day, and our undertrained legs were tired. However, we got back into the gorgeous fall colors in this section, and it was pretty entertaining to be hiking through the ski area where I recognized the lifts and runs. We made it to the high point, then eagerly started heading down. The toilet is near. And then we take a wrong turn, one that goes to the ski lodge instead of the parking lot with the toilet. So we have to go back uphill. I am really complaining at this point and so is my stomach. 

Jupiter chair lift at Stevens Pass

Finally, we get to the parking lot and approach the toilets, and.... I kid you not, the slowest old lady in the world, assisted by a walker and one person on each side of her, is inching her way from her vehicle to the toilet. I did for the briefest moment consider running in front of her and getting to the door first, but that would make me the worst person in the world, so of course I did not. And seeing how slowly she was moving, I knew that it would probably be 15 minutes waiting for her to reach the door, use the restroom, and exit..... so we kept going. Iron Goat had a trailhead on the east end with a toilet, and what's another 4 miles of your stomach threatening to explode, right?

We took the pedestrian bridge over Highway 2, but we had to walk/hobble along the shoulder of Highway 2 for about a third of a mile as cars sped by. This was certainly the most unpleasant part of the route, but it's a small price to pay for such a cool loop that connects all of these trails.

Tye Road

We had a few miles on Tye Road, which was perfect for running. I managed to alternate between walking and hobble-jogging without having any unpleasant accidents. At this point I was looking at ducking into the trees, except there weren't very good spots and cars kept driving by every once in awhile. The road was making things worse by switchbacking so it was taking forever.

Then, a blessed sight: PORTAPOTTY. I am saved! It was indeed gas after all. And it turned out that the bathrooms at the east trailhead were closed, so this really was a fortunate thing. 

Wellington snow shed

Finally, in the last 4 miles of this 26+ mile day, we started actually running. My legs were tired, but they had running energy left since we'd basically walked most of the day. We ran through the ghost town of Wellington and through the really cool snow shed that protected the rail from avalanches. There was also a giant tunnel, but there were signs and barriers telling you not to go through, so we walked outside of it.

Iron Goat Trail

The sun was setting and there were some nice views, especially from the Windy Point viewpoint, but we were ready to be done. Rushed down the switchbacks (that I was thankful to be going down instead of up) and made it to the parking lot at last! We passed some people near the bottom who asked us about our run and gave us some very nice congratulations on our accomplishment, which felt great. I guess I do miss all of the "good job!"s that everyone normally does on trail runs.

Windy Point

I clocked in at 26.3 miles, a full marathon effort, with almost 5,800 feet of elevation gain, elapsed time of 11:14:47. Took longer than last year's 31 miles, but that's ok. I'm happy our legs could still carry us that far, that I didn't have any horrifying accidents, and that we got such a glorious day after a smoky September and a very challenging 2020.

Hike-a-thon is chugging along, and I'm keeping up with my goal of hiking twice a week around the Middle Fork. I've also made my Tableau viz, this year adding GPS tracks for my Middle Fork hikes and images when mousing over the calendar. Click here or on the image to get to the viz, which you can interact with (best on non-mobile).




Thompson Lake

This was a solo hike. I'd originally intended to do something a bit spicier, but as the cloudy forecast turned into rain on the drive, I decided that the potential of slipping and falling in a place where there might not be anyone else around wasn't the best choice, so I changed my plan to the Granite Lakes trail. 

Clear evidence of trail maintenance

First thought: it's so nice to be on maintained trail! This was a world of difference from last week's Rainy Lake adventure. Both of these hikes made me very grateful for trail work, because I could clearly see how much of a difference there was between well-maintained trail and a non-maintained route. I couldn't believe how much easier and faster the elevation gain was.

Foxglove

By normal standards, it was a gloomy and unattractive day for hiking. But after lots of continuous sun and heat, I was thankful for the overcast weather and occasional drizzle. Flowers on the trail weren't bountiful, but I saw a lot of foxglove that was looking really nice, and I got little patches of other flowers like columbine and tiger lily. 

Junction sign

At the junction of Granite and Thompson, I hesitated but decided to go for Thompson, since it was longer, would probably be quieter, and was a lake I hadn't been to before. On the way back, I definitely had the energy to tag Granite as well, but in the interest of time I decided not to. One guy blew by me as I was trying to decide, and he and I leapfrogged a few times on the way there and on the way back.


Foxglove and white aster(?)


hungry slug

There were a few small groups leaving the lake as I arrived. While I was there, it was only me and Mr. Leapfrog, and I moved out of sight range, so it felt very solitary and quiet. I sat on some rocks and ate a bag of Doritos. 


Initial view of Thompson Lake



moody clouds


Thompson Lake

The trail actually continues from Thompson Lake on to Mount Defiance! It's interesting to see how the trails of the Middle Fork link to other areas where I've hiked. I knew there was a trail that went somewhere past Mt. Defiance but it never clicked until this trip exactly where that went.

moody forest

I ran most of the way down, since the trail was in great condition and my legs were feeling good. Then out to Popeye's for a well-deserved spicy chicken sandwich.

Popeye's chicken sandwich

Lake Kachess

I took a break from the Middle Fork to do some quick overnight camping trips at Lake Kachess. On the second trip, Shawn and I brought our inflatable kayaks and paddled on the lake for awhile. It was peak time for the Perseid meteor shower, and conditions were favorable since we were east of Snoqualmie Pass, and we saw some really spectacular meteors. A good number of large, slow, and long-tailed meteors this time. 

Lake Kachess

We also did some walking along the Lakeshore Trail loop, which gave a few different perspectives of the lake and also introduced us to a hardworking squirrel.

squirrel lugging around a large pinecone

Oxbow Loop

This short 2 mile loop off of the Middle Fork surprised me! It's easily accessible, short, with no elevation gain, and I hadn't heard of it before. I assumed it would be boring. But the scenery ended up being very pretty. The path going through the trees was so lush and green. In the first section, there were dozens of tiny little frogs jumping across the trail. We tried to be careful not to step on them.

so much green!

The hike goes around a little lake that was cut off from the main river. Along the way, there are several nicely placed benches where you can sit and admire the scenery. There's also a side trail down to the river. 

peaceful bench

I often focus too much on big hikes that I forget how pleasant the shorter ones can be. I'm definitely glad that Hike-a-thon is helping me remember!

Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

Starting off Hike-a-thon 2020 at Rainy Lake

Posted by gck Sunday, August 2, 2020 0 comments

I participate in WTA's Hike-a-thon every other year to raise money for Washington trails. In normal years, I might be busy trying to rack up as many miles as possible or getting in some backpacking or volunteering weekends. This year, I have constraints that make things more complicated: I get too stressed out on trails with a lot of people cuz pandemic, and I can't be away from my sick, old cat for very long because he needs shots. 

But constraints can be nice because they force you to be creative and perhaps explore things that you wouldn't have explored otherwise. So this August, I'm going to do my Hike-a-thon mostly in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie area, a region close to Seattle, mostly within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and not super popular outside of a few specific trails (Mailbox Peak, I'm looking at you!). 


A chain of origami cranes on the trail sign

The Middle Fork trailhead is the start of the hike for a number of different destinations. Even so, the parking lot wasn't close to full, and no one who started when we did were heading where we were. Near the trailhead was a very impressive bridge crossing the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. It's relatively new, and before the bridge was put in, people had to ford the river to access the trails on the other side (no thanks!).

Bridge over Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

 Along the bridge and at the trail sign were strings of origami cranes. At the trailhead, there had been a handwritten sign that read:

Cranes folded by co-workers from Evergreen Hospital in Honor 
of 
Kurt Julian
ICU RN, Lover of this Hike, Father of 4 
who lost his life fighting against COVID-19 
after taking care of many COVID-19 patients

A sobering reminder of the times that we are living in. Rest in Peace, Kurt, and thank you for your service. 

A chain of cranes on the bridge overlooking the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

We entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and walked a short distance down the Pratt River Connector trail, which was pretty flat with some nice glimpses at the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.

Trail sign

Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

We walked right by the turnoff for Stegosaurus Butte without noticing it, so I was worried that we'd miss the turn, but it was actually a very clear trail fork. And it actually looked like a real trail!

Rainy Creek

The pleasant trail condition didn't last long before the muddy patches started. However, after half a mile of mudpits on Taylor Mountain the weekend before, this was amateur mud in comparison. According to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness guide, the "Rainy" name is because this area receives more than average rainfall. 

Rainy Creek

The trail stayed close to Rainy Creek most of the time, giving some pretty peek-a-boo views through the trees. Some of the falls were really nice, but there weren't good places for a clear photo. This route, after all, is not an official trail and was probably mainly constructed for fishermen who were interested in fishing the lake and getting there in the most direct way possible. 


Trail conditions

Trail conditions were fun. To find relative solitude on a weekend on a hike that's only an hour drive from the Seattle area, you basically have to find something that's unpleasant with uninspiring views. I am only willing to compromise so far on the views (I want to see something), so extra unpleasant it is! There were plenty of sections of Old Mailbox Trail type steep, but with worse maintenance. Then there would be a short break in the steepness, but instead it would be large blowdowns to maneuver over/around or mud. The one saving grace was that there was shade, and the forest was lush and beautiful. And there were berries to eat, though they're just slightly underripe.

Huckleberries!

After passing two people on the Pratt River Connector right at the beginning, we didn't see a single person until we were getting closer to the lake, where two hikers overtook us. We passed two parties of backpackers (including a father with two young sons who had caught some fish for breakfast) on their way down, and we passed them both again on our way down. I'm not surprised it was taking so long on that trail with backpacking packs! There were a handful of other people, but overall, I was happy with how quiet the trail was.

I believe that is Garfield Mountain

As we got higher, there were occasional breaks in the tree cover that would yield some mountain views, which was a nice change in scenery. Finally, we descended a steep path down to the Rainy Lake, which was lovely. 

Rainy Lake

There was a path around the side of the lake, which apparently led to campsites and perhaps some sort of memorial plaque, but we decided not to go in the interest of time/energy. Maybe next time. I might need to have some trail amnesia if there is to be a next time. By the time we made it down, crowds had started gathering along the shores of the river, probably about as many people who were waiting at our next destination, the North Bend Popeye's.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

Support me by donating to my Hike-a-thon!

GRGR 2020: Rediscovering a sense of purpose

Posted by gck Friday, July 17, 2020 0 comments

2019 was a pretty good running year for me. It was the first year I'd trained consistently, hitting over 1200 miles for the year. Though my first attempt at a 50k resulted in an unfortunate DNF, my trail running was getting stronger and I started working with a coach, which resulted in much smarter training. 

2020 had so much potential. I was signed up for another 50k, one that looked beautiful and that I thought I had a good shot at completing. I had some soft PRs for 5k, 10k, and half marathon that I wanted to break. Maybe more interesting mountain routes would happen in the summer. I was ready for the first step, a flat half marathon at the beginning of March, perfect for PR breaking...

...and it ended up being one of the first runs to be postponed due to COVID-19. Specifically, the city pulled the permits. It was optimistically postponed for mid-April, when I was supposed to be out of town. Of course, neither one of those things ended up happening. I was in a bit of a mood after that, feeling like all of the training was pointless because it was unclear when races would ever happen again. Around that time, my cat also got really sick, and his conditions prevent me from being away from him for very long, so that has put some limits on the mountain adventures as well. 

I got over the mood, kind of, but my running felt like I was just executing a plan. Exercising outdoors definitely helped keep me sane, but it still felt like something was missing.

Ginger Runner Global Run

Some of the awesome registration swag!

I've never been a fan of virtual races. I'm not motivated enough to race if it "doesn't count," and usually the swag doesn't tempt me. So I'd ignored all of the virtual races that had been advertised... until GRGR. This time, it was the swag that caught my eye! The race t-shirt was a Rabbit EZ tee, my absolute favorite running shirt, and the "art pack" included a dozen postcards featuring race/outdoor photographers and artists (some that I knew) and proceeds would support them. Finally, the event itself would be a week of daily challenges with a cumulative goal for the total event miles to equal 24,901 miles, or the distance around the world. I also convinced a few other people to sign up so I'd have people to cheer on / commiserate with.

Day 1: Tour Guide

First thing Monday morning, I excitedly checked the GRGR site for the first challenge. Tour guide! The idea was for your run to show off something special and local. I decided to do a route highlighting my city of Kirkland, running from the marina downtown and following the waterfront up to Juanita Bay Park. I wanted to get this done as early as possible so there would be fewer people around, so I quickly got ready and rushed out the door. 

Bad photo of a surprise coyote

One highlight of the run was a juvenile coyote I stumbled upon as I entered Juanita Bay Park. I saw this little long-legged animal gracefully leaping through the grass, and my morning brain thought it was a miniature deer at first! Then a bunch of rabbit went running in different directions. The coyote didn't seem very determined to catch them.

Juanita Bay Park, beautiful even on a cloudy day

Day 2: Tri Day

Day 1 was a surprise and a rush out the door, but by the end of that day, we'd figured out that by 10pm, you could get spoilers because the results entry form had been updated with the prompt for the next day. There would be more details in the video posted later, but the spoiler was enough to make plans for the next day, which I greatly appreciated. Tri Day meant three activities, including a run. Since I had to fit a workday in there somewhere, I did a quick 5k run in the morning, an easy neighborhood bike at lunchtime, and a yin yoga session in the evening.

Biking to Little Free Libraries

I'd tossed around the idea of doing a longer bike ride, like a distance that would be reasonable for a sprint triathlon, but I didn't want to wear out my legs too much that early in the week, so I opted instead to meander around my neighborhood, visiting a few Little Free Libraries to drop off books. I guess I was feeling a sense of adventure and took some short dirt and gravel trail connections that my bike was ill-suited for (but I did not fall down!). 

Yoga with cat assist

Ended my Tri Day with a lovely Yin Yoga session live streamed from 8 Limbs Yoga. Well, mostly lovely. Some of those long holds are rough on runner legs! My cat was participating as well, laying next to my mat for a lot of the class. When I was doing frog pose, I was screaming inside my heart from the difficult stretch, and then I felt my cat gently lay his head down on my foot, and then I was squeeing inside my heart from the cuteness.

Day 3: Workout Wednesday


I groaned at Wednesday's challenge -- to run a 10k as fast as you can. I'd just set an unofficial 5k PR on Saturday, and my legs weren't quite up for another speed challenge, but I decided to at least try to get a time under an hour. My last 10k race was a few years ago, and I was just over an hour. I've long since had the fitness to run it in less than an hour, just not the right circumstances.

I did a quick race predictor calculation, and I wondered if I could run close to a 9 minute mile. The first mile confirmed that no, that was not going to happen, so I aimed for below 9:30 instead, which did. A 5k on a track is unpleasant enough, but a 10k on a track is pretty miserable. But it was the best place to run without having to avoid people or put on a mask in the middle. I normally never run with music, but it didn't seem like podcasts about letterpress, David Duke, or the Cleveland court system were going to be enough to keep me going, so I put a Fall Out Boy album on repeat.

Final time: 58:15. I'll take it.

Day 4: GPS Artiste

I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that GPS art was coming. One guy did amazing GPS art everyday for his challenges! I didn't have a good way of doing anything too creative, since I never used routes on my watch (and Garmin Connect wasn't letting me publish them anyway when I tried), and my phone was too unreliable. In fact, I put my route on my phone as a reference, and I wasn't able to use it at all and had to do it from memory. So it's good that I went for simple. Hi!

I enjoyed seeing other people's work. Shawn drew a really cute bunny in a field! 

Day 5: Photo Friday


Watershed Park

Friday's challenge was photography -- but specifically, for the photo qualities, not just the most beautiful subject matter you can find. We were encouraged to explore good lighting and composition and maybe drag our DSLRs out on our run. I am not at all into real photography and I was definitely not lugging my big camera with me on a hot run. So I just did what I could and took some phone photos of Watershed Park nearby. One cool thing was that since I was specifically looking for photo opportunities, I noticed that Mt. Rainier could be seen peeking over the trees from one point in the park! Later when I got home, I saw on NextDoor a report that a woman had stumbled upon a man in that park with his pants down being inappropriate. Glad to have missed that "unique photo subject."

Mt. Rainier peeking out between the trees

Day 6: Two Hours of Vert


I figured based on previous years that there were two challenges yet to come: vert and something about running 2 hours. Well, they combined them: how much vert could you get in 2 hours? I didn't have high expectations for myself, but I knew Shawn was capable of more than me. We did some negotiating and decided on Rattlesnake Mountain, which had about 2500 feet available, but there were always repeats at the top if needed. I knew the trail would be in decent condition and not too much of a killer, and I figured I could do about 2000 feet and 4.5 miles in the 2 hours.

Mt. Rainier and the beautiful clearcut of Rattlesnake Mountain

The hiking trail wasn't too busy, especially past Stan's Overlook. I brought a mask anyway to comply with the law and did have to put it on a few times. This was my first run in my new Salomon vest, and while I was thrilled with how much stuff I could shove into the front pockets, I wasn't used to how loose they were. A one point, not too long after I'd used my mask, I noticed that it wasn't with me anymore, and I had to backtrack to get it. But later on near the top of the ridge, it was missing again, and I didn't know how far I had to backtrack, so I kept going. Fortunately, no one wants to touch someone's used mask in these times, and I picked it up on the way back. And I actually brought three masks with me, so I was legal in the meantime. 

North Bend and Mt. Si

Well, turns out I underestimated myself! I managed to get over 2700 feet of elevation gain, and for the last 15 minutes, I ran repeats up a short gravel road leading up to the Rattlesnake Mountain summit. And I think I had a fair shot at 3000 feet if the trail had gone up consistently instead of going flat and downhill once on the ridge. Shawn made it to East Peak and got close to 3000, and then we hiked down together. While there weren't many hikers on the trail, there were a ton of mountain bikers on the bike trail system that wound around the hiking trail. I found out later that someone I knew was up there, and our paths almost crossed at one point. The bike traffic keeps the parking lot extremely full, which may contribute to the lower hiking traffic. 

Can't hit North Bend trails without a stop at Popeye's

Popeye's is the food stop after a North Bend hike. They actually had their chicken sandwich this time, so I had my first one! Pretty tasty, though I definitely would not have stood in a super long line for it.

Day 7: Free For All

The last challenge was to try to get as much distance as possible for the day, running, hiking, or walking. My legs were sore from the day before, but they had enough energy left to run. Getting started was the hardest part, since the soreness was very pronounced until after warming up. Shawn and I decided to split our miles into several runs, and we'd figure out how many we were going to do as the day progressed. Started out with a bit more than a 10k run, followed by a 5ish mile run in the afternoon. We figured out that he was close to 60 miles for the week and I was close to 50, so we did one final 3.5 miler before dinner to hit the mileage. It didn't feel like I had completely emptied the tank, but it felt like the right time to be done at that point. And that day, the participants did finish accumulating enough miles to go all the way around the world.

Week total mileage: 50.1 miles
Week total elevation: 4672 feet
Week total Type 2 fun: endless

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