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18 March 2010

Season opener this weekend - Chuckanut 50k

This Saturday will be my first race of the season, the Chuckanut 50k down in Bellingham. This year will mark my 9th effort at that race, it an event I love getting down to. I have been relatively consistent in my results there, typically finishing in a 5:15ish sort of time, with outliers at 5:35 (ouch) and 4:42 (yowza!). I love running this race because it is the first time in the year when all the local PacNW runners congregate and I get to see friends from Washington, and even BC too, who I haven't seen since last season. Everyone shows up for this one, and it is a great time. It is a fun course and has always been well-organised, with current RD credit going to Krissy Moehl and my LaSportiva teammate Ellen Parker. Weather can rane from nasty Pacific winter conditions with wind, a deluge of rain, and maybe some snow, or it can be warm and spectacular out; it looks like we'll get the latter this weekend, which is a real bonus.

As far as the actual running aspect goes, Chuckanut is not my kind of course. It starts and finishes with 10k of packed gravel railbed, so tends to favour those athletes with some early-season wheels underneath them - and that ain't me at the moment. My training has been consistent this season, but I am taking a different approach this year with a lot of core strengthening and cardio work which has paid great dividends in hill climbing, my typical w
eak spot. However, what I have been missing so far is speedwork and leg turnover, so with 20% of the race run on flats, I'll be lacking the skill that most benefits that part of the course. The middle hill section should go well, but overall it likely won't be a stellar finishing time for me. But who cares - I'm not worried about that! What I am really looking forward to is seeing friends and enjoying another beautiful day in the woods!

This year's race will also be a tribute to our dear friend Dave Terry. Despite the opportunity to catch up with many friends, I will definitely miss seeing Dave on the course, he was always a regular at Chuckanut.
Dave Terry climbing up Little Giant Basin Road, Hardrock 2007

1 comment:

Derrick said...

All the best Bruce! Looks like it's going to be an awesome field. Have fun!

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