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I just completed the 2008 Race to Robie Creek, the Northwest’s Toughest Half Marathon. My time was 02:03:32. Not bad, 613th out of 2,431 and 114th out of 230 in my age group. You can view my photos on MySpace in my Race to Robie Creek Album.

There are several things which make this race difficult. The course is a 13.1 mile half marathon which gains more than 2,000 feet in elevation to Aldape Summit in 8.4 miles. From there the course plummets more than 1,700 feet in the final 4.7 miles.

Mile 8 was perhaps the most brutal. An incredibly steep climb to the summit, punctuated by a rowdy group of fans/detractors offering, among other things, cupcakes, donuts, jell-o shots, beer, champagne, Crown Royal, and cigars. A sucker for temptation, I gave into the first 4, all without stopping. The donut was the hardest to get down, it dried up my mouth even more than it already was.

After 8.4 miles up, it is time to go down the backside… My fastest mile was the first down the backside, estimated at about 5 minutes, mostly because I could not slow down. Miles 11 – 13.1 were particularly brutal, mainly because they started to level out and my legs started screaming at me.

But by the time I made it to the finish, it was all worth while. A picnic area on Robie Creek filled with fellow runners, live music, beer, shepherd’s pie, baked potatoes, cookies, brownies, and more beer.

I am already planning on 2009. Next year I will be sub 2 hours!

Additional coverage over at the Idaho Statesman, including a Robie Creek photo gallery.

I found myself in Portland this weekend visiting with family. While reading the Saturday paper I discovered that the Susan G. Komen Portland Race for the Cure was on Sunday. Having never run a 5k before, I decided to sign up.

The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. Last night I got prepared. I pinned my number to my t-shirt, set my alarm for 6:00 a.m., and reviewed the schedules for Max. I planned to walk to the station and ride Max to the starting line, but things never go as planned.

I awoke at 4:30 a.m. full of anticipation for the race. since I was planning on getting up in 90 minutes, I decided to go back to sleep. Unfortunately I awoke to morning light forcing its way into my room. Crap… I checked my clock and found it was 7:00 a.m.

How in the world was I going to make it to a 7:30 a.m. race?

I was dressed and out the door at 7:10 a.m. The left no time for a walk to Max. I could drive and be there in 10 minutes, but what about parking? The crowd was expected to be 40,000. No time to chance it. So I did what came naturally, I ran.

I ran to the starting line and as I approached the starting area I heard the countdown “10, 9, 8,7…”. I could not figure out how to get around the barriers so I jumped a barrier and ended up in the middle of the pack at the starting line. I peeled off my long sleeve shirt revealing my “Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure” t-shirt and number ‘10355′.

I don’t know how far back I was, probably less than a minute back. I made pretty good time, finishing at 27:02. Not bad for my first 5k. At least now I have a benchmark.

I decided to map my crazy journey to the race. Turns out I ran 4.31k before my 5k run. If I ever run another 9.31k, my unofficial time for 9.31k is 47:02.