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Willamette Valley Road Runners (WVRR)
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        ROSE CITY 50K ULTRA............Mick Evans

     Though mainly known for the relay, Rose City Relay also allows runners to participate individually in either a 50 mile or 50K ultra. This year I decided to give the 50K a try, I had run portions of the course in previous relays and was looking forward to running the Wildwood Trail. The only other ultras I've done were at Autumn Leaves (Champoeg) so I wasn't sure what to expect, except, I expected lots of hills.
      We started at 7:00 am at Waterfront Park (the 50 milers had left at 5:00 am). I bumped into Pam Merrick and David Hipps at the start - they were on our Jasper-Banff team last year, and this was going to be Dave's first official ultra. We lined up ahead of the 15 mile walkers and then we were off - I stayed to one side as I intended to walk the first half mile and didn't want to get run over by those real walkers behind<g>.
      I haven't run much around Portland, so it was fun to head south along the riverfront trails and discover new sights. I switched to running 2 mins, walking 1 min until the first exchange, after I crossed Riverside Drive and headed up Palantine I hit my first long steep hill - I guess this is where the last leg of the old relay course headed. I maintained my run/walk regime until the 1st exchange and then switched to R4/W1. At this point we were on the first leg of the old relay course heading through Tryon State Park to Terwilliger/ Barbur Blvd. As we dropped onto Terwilliger the 50K course headed right towards Barbur Blvd, and the 50 mile headed left for a Lake Oswego out and back.
      At about mile 10 I slowly caught up with Pam (at a traffic light), and she and I ran together for the rest of the race. The organizers had done a great job of marking the course, and even had volunteers to hit the walk buttons on the traffic lights as soon as a runner appeared. Pam and I crossed Barbur Blvd and headed up Terwilliger and onto the Wildwood Trail. I stopped my run/walk regime and let the terrain dictate when to walk and when to run. We were able to refill our water bottles at each exchange with either water or energy drink and the organizers had also arranged to drop and pick up competitor's bags at certain exchange points. Except for water I carried what I needed - fig bars for the first 20 miles, and Power Gel for the last 10.
     The middle part of the course was sublime, we were both fully warmed up, had plenty of energy, the finish line was too far away to think about and we just floated along and chatted as if we were sitting in easy chairs on the back porch. On the leg to Pittock Mansion we slowly started reeling in a 50 miler, we closed within 50 feet but no closer. Once we crossed Burnside and started up the zigzags we were able to have several short conversations with him, as we approached each switchback he would pass by about 10 feet above us, and we would chat for about 20 secs.
     After Pittock I started to tire, Pam had been content to let me set the pace up until then but now took over the lead and pulled me along. The 50K course diverges from the 50 mile course on this leg and turns right onto Aspen - there were huge signs and chalk arrows to alert us (I wish I could have taken a photograph<g>). We dropped down onto Thurman and headed into town. My legs were dead and if it wasn't for Pam I would definitely have slowed quite a bit. We passed through the final exchange and hung a right on Front just below the Steel Bridge, and then along the waterfront. As we cleared the Burnside area we could see the finish line porta potties in the distance and we slowly accelerated as finish line euphoria kicked in, and we finished the same way we had run the last 6 miles with Pam about 1 step ahead of me. Our time was around 5hrs 41 mins (about 1 hr slower than my Autumn Leaves attempts). My finish line happiness was interrupted when I foolishly tried to bend over to remove my chip - the inside of my upper right leg cramped up - I hate this cramp - I can never figure out how to stretch it out and resort to rocking back and forth trying to find the position of least pain - it would be another 15 mins before the chip was removed.
     I managed to capture 9th overall and 4th in my age group, Pam was the first women, and Dave finished in the top 5 overall. I haven't done Rose City Relay since '96 (as a member of a relay team) and was surprised to see how small this event has become - it's too bad - it's a great event !! I also experienced firsthand what the rest of you all know - Portland's running trails are magnificent !!