PIGTAILS RUN RACE REPORT 2006

 

Many runners were gearing up to run Lord Hill under the directorship of Tim Lofton on Saturday, February 4, 2006. Unfortunately, the local forecasters were predicting high winds for the coast of Washington and areas north of Seattle. Reluctantly, Tim cancelled the race over concerns for everyone’s safety. We would find out later that this was a wise decision.

 

Although winds were also predicted for other areas of Western Washington, I still wanted to get a long run in. And so was born the “1st Annual Pigtails Run.” Tim sent out his announcement on Thursday morning. By Thursday evening, I sent him a proposal for my run and asked him to forward it to the entrants of Lord Hill. By Friday morning, I had a handful of interested people e-mail me back and Tony Phillippi even created a web site for my race on the MM site! By Friday evening, I was able to get some Montrail bottles and GU gels donated by the Seattle Running Company. Chris Warren went to Costco and donated water, Gatorade, chips, and CHEX mix from the Marathon Maniacs. WOW! With the help of some friends, I was able to put together a race in two days! That has to be a record!

 

I only got about three hours of sleep the night before the race. I was nervous about the weather, runner turnout, and what I would say at the briefing. The winds were strong that night, waking me up frequently and not allowing me to go back to sleep. When I left my home Saturday morning, I heard on the news that the Snohomish area, where Lord Hill was to take place, had sustained winds in the upper 40s and gusts up to 70mph.Tim had made the right decision. It was blowing around here, but not enough for me to be concerned that it would prevent us from running.

 

I arrived at the park at 7AM. It didn’t take very long to set up. Chris Warren came early as well with his supplies. Twenty-six brave runners showed up to challenge the elements. (I apologize to our friends from the north who came half an hour late. I had changed the start time to 8AM, but they had already left Victoria and did not get that message). The run was held at Lake Youngs Watershed in Renton, WA. It is a 9.5-9.6 mile loop that one could run 1, 2, or 3 times. This gave runners the option of bailing out if things did not go well or if they only had a certain distance in mind. Also, everyone had the choice of which direction to run it. It turned out, as I found, that running it counter-clockwise meant more head wind. Most people who did more than one loop experimented with both directions. There were a few blow-downs, including a large tree that had been uprooted. The trails were in pretty good condition. There was a 1.5 mile stretch that paralleled Petrovitsky road that was muddy and got your feet wet. As everyone found out, this is a tough trail because most of the hills are gradual and don’t really allow for walking, so you’re running a lot. Two of us, James Varner and I, decided to make it a 50K run instead of 28.8 miles. James ran 3 more miles, which actually made his total more like 51K.

 

The feedback I received was positive. People were thankful to have an alternative run for Lord Hill. Although the trail was tough, people enjoyed the challenge. It rained and the wind blew, but all in all, the conditions did not make the run extreme. Most importantly, no one got hurt. Thanks to all those who showed up made my first attempt at being a race director a fun and memorable experience. Since this race went well, I may have a repeat performance next year, but look for it in the first week-end in March so as not to conflict with Tim’s race. Also, there seems to be a void there in the race calendar for a marathon distance. It would also be a good training run for those training for Yakima.

 

Happy trails!

Van “Pigtails” Phan