I was originally planning to start the racing season off at the Way Too Cool 50k (Mar 13) but the combination of injury and family commitments changed my plans. With the exception of a few dates per year, my race calender is normally very tenuous. The priority for the first half of 2010 is the Western States 100 and therefore all other races are pretty much in preparation for that event or to provide a fitness/equipment check.
The Shot Gun Blast 50k was a very low key local event held at Shot Gun Creek Recreation Area in Marcola, Oregon (right up the road from my home in Eugene). I anticipated the course being hilly and muddy and that was pretty much all I had to go on. I was happily surprised to see other locals: Tom "Tea Bag" Atkins (2010 WSER entrant), Bob Coll, and Trish Kluge showing up to take part. Although it was a brisk 38 degrees at the 9:00 AM start, the forecast called for temps in the 60's with sun. Sounds like a good day to me!
Almost forgetting to pin on my number....I rushed to the starting line with no warm-up, one Nathan Quick Draw hand held bottle with water, and one 4 oz. First Endurance EFS liquid shot flask. When the gun went off, I casually got out to the front of the small field, where I was joined by three others. I was not expecting an aggressive early pace or much of a lead pack lasting that long. My goal was to get in a hard effort and to see how I was coming along. The course began with a gradual climb on Shotgun Creek Road which would soon turn into a gravel road as the climb progressed to a steeper gradient. The first few miles I ran alongside Jason Hawthorne from Albany, Oregon. As the grade increased, Jason and I pulled away from the other two and as my body warmed up, I pulled away from Jason.
At about the 6 mile mark the race course leaves the undulating gravel road and jumped on to a steep and muddy grunt of a hill that would climb 1-1.5 miles of slick terrain. This would bring us to the back portion of the course where we would begin our primarily gradual downhill return to the start line and finish of the first loop. Half way up the muddy climb, I could not see anyone behind me and thought that if I ran solid to the top and rolled down to the start/finish area I would be comfortably in front.
I knew the course was short when I came through lap 1 in 1:37. I was expecting to see maybe 1:50 or so. Oh well, I dropped my gloves and kept going. I was also surprised to see someone new 1 min behind me (Mike Rosling) that I had not seen earlier. Initially I thought he may be competing in one of the other distances, but quickly realized that was not possible. Getting back out on the climbs again, my legs felt great, and my energy levels were solid from the EFS liquid shot. I got a bit nervous when Mike cut the gap in half after I made a pit stop to answer nature's call. However, I again ran the muddy grunt of a hill hard to the top and rolled it out all the way down to the finish. Finishing in 3:17:44, I new the course was short which was confirmed by RD William Wycoff immediately after finishing. He told me that he forgot to mark a small section (.7 miles) at the top of the course resulting in the course being only 29.4 miles. Oh well.....felt good and beat my legs up a bit. It was a good test.
Mike Rosling came 2nd (3:22:06), and William Swint 3rd (3:37:22). The women's race was won by Pam Smith (3:43:14) of Salem, OR. In an unusual twist to the results, the RD adjusted the times to show the actual time, as well as, the predicted time (based on pace) for the full 50k distance. My time was (3:17:44) or (3:28:44). Take your pick...either way it was a course record day and something to build on.
