Paradise to Sunrise = 31 miles, 16,000' gain/loss

This past weekend Joe, Tiff and I went down to The Wonderlad Trail, for a little perspiration and inspiration. If you aren't familiar with the trail, it is a 94+ mile trail that circles Mt. Rainer, home of some of the most breathtaking views and largest glaciers in the world. Trying to fill the void the left by not competing in any adventure races since May we decided to run an unsponsored 50k. Tiff planned out the entire route that would start us at Paradise and finish at Sunrise, 31+ miles total. As if the mileage weren't enough, he and I would be traveling up and down nonstop over about 16000' of elevation gain and loss. Joe offered his Friday night and Saturday to be our support at various spots along the way, to replenish our water and food supplies.

We arrived at our campsite right around 7pm Friday night and quickly set up the tent and got started on making dinner (pasta fest). Great conversation and lasted about 5 minutes once we climbed into the tent as I fell asleep midway through a deep conversation, I guess my body knew what it was getting into. The next morning we woke up at 5:30, which pushed our hopeful start time of 6 back to 7, after we tore down camp, had some oatmeal and coffee and reviewed the support stations again with Joe.

This is us just before setting off on this epic adventure. The amazing thing about the picture is that we had views like this all day long! Anytime we got tired of looking at the trail, all we had to do was stop and take in the scenery and we were rejuvenated for another hour or so. The first leg was a fast downhill run to Reflections Lake, where we would meet Joe and refill our bottles. When we arrived we hadn't taken into account that there were 2 parking lots and so we ran past where Joe was before deciding to go back just to make sure we didn't pass him up. That was all we needed was to miss our first CP and worry Joe.

To the right is Tiff running next to Reflections Lake and over our first snow encounter. To be honest, this had both of us a bit concerned about the amount of snow that we would hit later on in the day, fortunately it didn't get too bad. The constant conversation piece of the day after running next to prestine lakes light this one was, "how can people not believe in creation when they see things like this?"

We were making great time and running down great single track trails with unbelievable views along the way.

After leaving Joe at the lake, we had just over a 6 mile run till our next CP at Box Canyon, where he had food, chairs, and a small cheering section for us as we came out of the trail and to the car. At this point we were well on way to make it in under 8 hours, but what we didn't realize that it was only going to get harder and hotter as the day went along. The next section was 16 miles before we saw Joe again and most of it was climbing. We really enjoyed this section, full of more scenic sites and the occasional hiker. Actually, we ran into a number of people that were on day 6, 7, etc. along their way to completing the entire Wonderland Trail (Very Impressive!).

This section drained me as the hot sun pounded and our feet pounded the trail. It seemed as if this section of the trail would never end. I honestly felt for a moment that we were Frodo and Sam, walking in circles trying to get to Mordor, which no matter how fast or hard we moved always seemed the same distance away.

Finally, we reached Panhandle's Saddle and we knew that Joe was hiking up to meet us along the trail, so we buckled down and jogged down the trail until reaching him. I was really starting to lose it, as stomach cramps and no hiding place from the sun was starting to wear on me. It was great to have the entire team together running/walking down the last 8 miles to the car, along the way passing a number of hiker's who kept asking, "Is this some kind of race?" We just smiled and continued on our way.

Alas the finish was near and we completed the long journey in just over 9 hours and gained a few sore muscles in the process. More pictures to be posted soon.

Way to go guys!!!!!