Thousands of years ago, glaciers roamed the earth. “The sheer weight of a thick layer of ice, or the force of gravity on the ice mass, causes glaciers to flow very slowly. Glaciers periodically retreat or advance, depending on the amount of snow accumulation or evaporation or melt that occurs. Alternatively, glaciers may surge, racing …
Category Archives: Running
Tunnel to Viaduct 8K
The wave felt like an enormous ocean swell, except that I was nowhere near the water. It was January 17, 1994, hours after the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake struck, when a 5.0ish aftershock sent me and a dozen other onlookers scurrying for safety from our vantage point atop a concrete bridge from where we could …
Constitutional Rite
Mount Constitution, which tops out at 2,400 feet, is the highest point in the San Juan Islands. It’s located on Orcas, the largest of several hundred islands that make up the archipelago. ‘The name “Orcas” is a shortened form of Horcasitas, or Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, the Viceroy of Mexico who …
Hal Higdon, Mount Si, First Road Race With My 19-Year-Old Guy
Three miles from the finish line of the Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon, I notice something half a mile in the distance that I’d hoped not to see: a dark-haired guy in a gray t-shirt and shorts…walking. I suspect my teenage son may have fallen into a trap common to inexperienced runners, like starting out …
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Got What It Takes To Loop the Lakes?
Running along the dry, rocky trail strewn with pine needles in the Anacortes Forest Lands, I never expected to see a murder in progress. The perpetrator, Thamnophis sirtalis, lay dead across the trail, its prey having progressed nearly halfway along its digestive tract before it came to an…ahem…dead stop. I grabbed the nearest stick and carefully …
Bad News, Free Shoes, Spectacular Views
Standing alone in our tiny, two-room, bathroomless cabin in Winthrop on race morning, I took a step, felt a twinge atop my thigh, and collapsed, which didn’t seem like a great start to my Cutthroat Classic 2017 adventure. Even worse: it happened twice more before I’d even made my way to the start line. Less …
Ragnar Trail Rainier: It Ain’t For Babies
“It’s Ragnar Trail for babies,” I told my teammates a month from the start of the race. I’d seen the trail map screen and neglected to notice that the 800′ of climb shown was for the Green Loop only. A week later, while scrutinizing the site, I realized my mistake. Total climb: 4,500 feet, which …
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Race Report: 2017 Chuckanut Mountain Half Marathon
A Washington Department of Natural Resources publication includes the article Paleogeography and Paleontology of the Early Tertiary Chuckanut Formation, Northwest Washington, “Residents of northwest Washington feel at home in a landscape where majestic forests provide a foreground for rugged mountain vistas-except on the many days when the panorama is obscured by fog and drizzle. Fossils in the Chuckanut …
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Chin Scraper, Trail Taker, Might I Need a Pacemaker?
Race day morning: raindrops barraging the skylights, wind whipping through the trees, and a forecast of 100% chance of rain from nine to noon, the duration of the Bellingham Trail Half Marathon. So, I did what any self-respecting person would do, went back to bed. As I lay there, I knew I wouldn’t be able …
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Race Report: Mt Erie Trail Run
Putting The Art of Racing in the Rain into practice wouldn’t have been necessary during this year’s Dallas Kloke Mt Erie Road and Trail Run. Meteorologists forecasted cloudy skies with no chance of precipitation. Had I known my new nemesis, younger and smaller than I, would embarrass me so much, I may have decided to just …
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