Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 mile - Sunday April 15, 2012 - Sisters, OR

Vitamin D! The D is for Deficient.

There's always something that feels magical about the rumble...this year was a combination of friends, burritos, sunburn, and a little bit of depression. When I say depression, I mean the kind you get where everything is perfect except the way you feel during a race. This particular race kicked my butt and put me out of character and into a dark spell for the last 30 miles.


THE COURSE


Here's a brief approximate course description: Flat 4 miles, 9 miles gradual uphill, 9 miles gradual downhill, 10 miles flat/uphill, 8 miles downhill, 400m track finish, DONE.


3...2...(fist bump)...GO!!!

Love Tap from the Yassine Machine,
the Legendary Rob Hendrickson starting right behind me

After having a great race at the Gorge 50K 3 weeks earlier, I was all kinds of confident going into this race. After the start, there was only 1 runner who took off as if he were going for gold. The rest of the pack was going steady and sticking together (Max King among them). I clung onto the back of the group and ran with them rather comfortably, but I knew it wouldn't last. After all, this was just another training run for something better (Miwok 100k / Bighorn100m), and my legs weren't exactly rested for this race. So...why again was I running with the front pack...?

Running with Lewis

As soon we got off the "road to perdition" and onto the single track, something happened...the gradual uphill was rapidly sucking the life out of me, and I was struggling to find my comfort zone. I blew by the first Aid Station while grabbing a PB&J square, only to watch it fly out of my hands as I face planted into the trail just moments later. MY PB&J! NOOOO!!!! That was a wake up call. My legs couldn't keep up with my ambitions, and my fatigue was preventing me from concentrating on what I do best (NOT falling on my face). My pace slowed, my legs were struggling on even the smallest climb, and all I could think about were the burritos at the finish line. Man, 6 miles in and I'm feeling burned...this is going to be a long race....


After getting passed by a couple runners, I latched on to some familiar faces (Jared who I met during Hagg Lake, and Lewis Taylor who I went hunting with in Eugene). We pretty much ran together until the turn around at the top of the climb, and that's when I tried my luck on the downhill. After pulling away from the group, my pace was slowed as I started paying attention to the trees. The high desert forest was generously spaced out, making it easy to spot someone on the trail at least 100 meters ahead. It'd be hard to hide from anybody running the race...and this was a problem because I had to take a shit, and I get shy about that kind of thing (unless I'm 95 miles into a 100 mile race. Sorry again, Matt). Eventually I found a giant rock formation to hide behind. Problem solved.

Just before the
40m Turnoff

Back to the Trail! I lost my group of friends, especially after I made my first lengthy Aid Station stop to fill both my bottles. Getting off the trail and back on the Road to Perdition, I saw Lewis hundreds of yards ahead. Well, that's the last I'll see of that guy...God speed. After the turnoff, things were feeling heavy at this point. My bottles were heavy, my legs were heavy, and my heart was heavy. I don't know why I was having such a hard time keeping a positive mentality, but it was tough to be optimistic when I felt like walking. I should have known better than to get so negative, but these things happen sometimes. I kept running, because I wouldn't have forgiven myself for walking when I had no real reason to.

My GU face

The next section of climbing really wasn't that bad, and I enjoyed the "steep" uphill parts. I had my bottles filled at the next aid station, grabbed a quick bite, and ran off. There was only one more aid station to go, and I knew Todd Janssen would be there. That became my main motivation to get my ass in gear, cause I gotta make Todd proud! I was pushing the uphills just fine, and my legs enjoyed the downhills...but my enthusiasm was completely gone. I passed one runner who was sucking it big time, and that gave me a little boost of confidence. A couple photographers later, Todd Janssen's aid station appears!

Todd: How do you feel, Jason?

Jason: I feel like shit!

Todd: Hey, you're being filmed on the GoPro

Jason: Huh? Oh, hehe...

With only 5.5 miles to go, I was ready to be done. I wasn't feeling sick or anything, just drained mentally and physically. Almost there!...Wait a minute...where are the pretty yellow course markers? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww shit demon (explicit)....Lo and behold, I made a wrong turn. Josh Nordell had followed me too, and we tacked on an extra mile together. As unfortunate as it sounds, it was a bonding moment. As we got back on course, I used him as a pacer to get me through a rough patch (Thank you!). My legs were reluctant, but he pulled me along for a few miles. Then the the downhill dirt road appeared, the final descent back into the high school! Alleluia! BURRITOS! When I hit the track for the final 400m loop, I dropped my water bottles, started to sprint, got tired, stopped sprinting, sucked wind, remembered why I quit track in high school, jumped over the hurdle, and took it home.

Results: 4:51:08 (supposedly) – 12th out of 147 Finishers

Pace: ~7:17 min/mile

Best Hug Ever 

Considering my main goal was to break 5 hours, I had a good race! There's a number of things I could have done in order to better prepare myself (mentally) for the race, but my youthful ignorance threw me into an all-familiar Catch-22. Using a race as a training run for an even bigger race often leaves little time for tapering. My problem is that when I run a race untapered, my competitiveness still pushes me to run what I WANT to be capable of...and thus, I fall into a dark place when I hit the physical reality that my body can't keep up, at least not with the legs I had that particular day. Without adhering to the fundamentals of race preparation (aid station memorization, course memorization, and situational compromise), I left myself with very little ammo to help me fight my shit demons....in retrospect, I should have thought of people like Terry Fox for a little perspective.


MY HERO - KYLE CHAFFIN

Before the Rumble, 2012

First of all, I would like to thank Kyle and Nicole (and Justin) for their support all these years since the 2010 Bunker to Bonnevile 50K. You're awesome, and I appreciate you guys more than you know!


Kyle broke his leg in November 2010 when he slipped on black ice during a winter road race in the gorge. Most of 2011 was spent healing until he was able to start running in Sept/October. At this year's rumble, Kyle completed the longest distance of his life by running the 20 mile race. It's been a long time coming, and it's great to see you running your ass off again! Congrats on your run, and keep after it! See you soon!

Kyle's Leg, Beacon Rock 50K
June 2011

MIWOK - DNF


3 weeks after the Peterson Ridge rumble, I attempted to run the Miwok 100k on May 5th. After 12 miles, I dropped due to a sore foot that had been bothering for a couple weeks. With the Bighorn 100 on June 15th, I decided to drop and give myself time to heal. Since then, I have been diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis and am undergoing treatment. Now after 3 weeks of rest (including the 2 weeks prior to Miwok), I have less than 5 weeks until Bighorn to heal and gain back some cardio. This'll be an interesting few weeks for me, and I'll blog later about Miwok, my treatment, training, and my confidence going into Bighorn.


After seeing how hard Miwok was this year, I'm REALLY glad I dropped. Mad props to Stephen Petretto for pushing through a tough finish!


Cheers!


Jbob