Tiger Mountain 25k and a Surprise

Saturday I went along for the ride with Eric, Steve and Rob up to Tiger Mountain for the Western Washington Fat Ass. I only planned on running the half ass version for 25k. I knew I'd have to wait it out at the end for the guys but I didn't want to drive up in the snow if it was going to be poor weather.
I enjoyed my solitude. It was great being out in the forest. It rained a bit, but it was mostly good. Once I was up high enough it was snowing and beautiful.
The start is mostly flat for the first few miles, but then there is a long climb, maybe two and a half miles ( or at least it felt that long). I had to stop and take off my jacket. I have been battling a sore hip at the crest and it was burning on the way up. I was in need of some varied terrain! At last there was some flat and then a bit down and it felt good to run again. I played leap frog with a few runners and discovered that one of the men was one of the organizers of the run that comes down from Alaska to help with the event. He took my picture in what I called the gingerbread forest. As you ran on the packed snow trail just before emerging out on T1, you run through a dense forest that is fairly dark. The light on Saturday with the snow made it beautiful. If you looked downhill all the trees were white from the snow and if you looked up, they looked dark brown almost black, silhouetted against a stark white sky. He took my photo along this trail, and said he was trying to capture the effect of the forest. It was beautiful.
The climb to T2 was short and steep. I tried to go up it backwards for a while just to use different muscles. I tried to run some too up that hill, but it was very hard. Once at the top, you have to go down a skinny trail through the bushes. The snow was packed and quite slippery here. I used an old backpacking/climbing trick I learned many years ago, I call it the "veggie belay." I hold onto the trees and bushes as I go down so I don't slide on my tush! It worked to my advantage. I passed a couple of people in this section and was quite surprised. I thought I was pretty much the last person, but I really wasn't! I knew it wasn't far to T3 and then the 3 miles of down hill to the finish.
I was feeling good, although ready for flat or downhill. I also knew that halfway through the last downhill section I would have had enough downhill! This was true. This last section is quite tough. I like to run downhill and just let go ( although not as much as Rob does, that guy can fly downhill). Sometimes on this section you can feel like a runaway train. I just didn't want to fall and roll down. At this point it was hard to hold yourself back. You just go. Quads get trashed. It has been two days now and I think my quads hurt more today than yesterday!
I passed Steve running with Shawn and not too far away was Eric and Rob. I mentioned that I was glad I was not going up. I knew I'd have a long wait for them back at the car, but that was okay. I'd take a nap.
I got down, signed in at 4:04. I'm not sure how great a time that is, but I was happy. I was using it as a training run for the Capitol Peak mega-fat ass on January 19th where I want to complete the 34 mile run. It was a very tough but good run. I am happy I went and would do it again.
Last night I hosted a surprise party for Michelle's 50th birthday. I was trying to help Eric out who had spent much of the week with his Dad in Bellingham after surgery. It was a success. Michelle was surprised! I think we had about 20 people present to celebrate with our princess. I was happy to find "Birthday Princess" items at the local party store and even a pink and black boa for the "Over the Hill" Princess! :) I actually found the boa in the "Sweet 16" section. I made an ice cream cake after interviewing Eric to find out what Michelle's favorite ice cream was. I layered chocolate graham cracker crust, coffee Ice cream, chopped up dark Dove Chocolate, milk chocolate Dove syrup and another layer of coffee ice cream. It was yummy! We had lots of great food and great people to celebrate.

Have a great week!
Grace and Peace to you.