A couple years ago I had the pleasure of writing a preview for this race. At the time, my calendar was full of ultras and this was not on the radar, but I knew I wanted to run it. So near the end of the 2019 season I made a note to sign up, and I did. I was psyched! Of course, 2020 happened and we all know how that went. The Mac was postponed…
According to the television show Cheers: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.” And sometimes, you want to go for a long, long, long run in the woods where the birds keep you company. For those times, Tillamook Burn exists. Tillamook Bun 50 Mile and 50K are back this spring after being cancelled in 2020 (because…well…2020). Both races use the rugged and scenic trails in Tillamook State Forest, where trees, flowers, and…
Last year was a year of firsts for me, including my first 50 miler on this very course. It is a course I have grown to love for many reasons, and it never ceases to amaze me with how tough, and yet how beautiful this area is. Run The Rock trail races were started in 2017 by my friends at Alpine Running, and in just a couple quick turns of the calendar, the race has…
Every year, new races pop up all over the place while some go away. This fall, there’s a trail race happening in the Columbia River Gorge, being put on by a new race director, that is sure to get your attention … if you like hills. The 25K has 4,300 feet of gain, while the 50K has 7,300 feet of gain. And while runners of ultras know that hills are often part of the bargain,…
Outside of a little town called Glide, there is a trailhead called Swiftwater – located a mere 25 minutes northeast of Roseburg. The trailhead gets its name from the quick current running downstream from Deadline Falls, which happens to be right next to the starting point of the NUT 100K/50K trail race, put on Go Beyond Racing. The NUT was first introduced to us in 2015, and met with much enthusiasm as a premier ultra…
Trail races abound in Oregon, from east to west, from north to south; every distance you want is out there, pretty much. Some are much tougher than others, some offer stunning scenery, and some even have amazing race organizers and volunteers. However, few offer all that and more like you’ll find at Ochoco Trail Runs from Alpine Running. Last year at Ochoco, I completed my first 50K. Why in the world did I attempt a…
If you know your Beatles music, you know the lyrics to this song. Interestingly, one of the best lines (in my opinion) is in the first verse. John Lennon writes “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…” In the world of running, especially off road, running with your eyes closed would surely find you face first in the dirt. As John rattles on, looping back to the chorus, singing about how “nothing…
If you run ultras and live in Oregon, you have most certainly heard of “The Mac” and its illustrious fabled course. And even if you have never run this race, you probably know a handful of people who have. The Mac 50K started in 1996, and if the fable is to be believed, 2 crazy brothers and their buddy Clem came up with a stellar course in beautiful forested area to the northwest of Corvallis.…
Run Oregon had a few bloggers out for Alpine Running‘s Run The Rock at Smith Rock State Park. Read on for their accounts, then go here for the 2018 results, here for the 50M/50K photos, and here for the half marathon photos! Bobi Jo: Less than a week has passed and we’re still on our runner’s high over here at Run Oregon from our weekend spent at Smith Rock! It was a full on adventure, with the 50M and 50K…
Every race has something special, from costumes to scenery, from finisher medals to beer, from elevation gain to fast times. Each of us has those memorable races we can look back on that had something extra few races could compare to. Silver Falls Trail Runs is like that for me; a course unlike nearly any other I have raced on, filled with waterfalls, sweet single-track trail, a fun little hill at the end, and a…
