The Chuckanut 50k Ultra Marathon

Saturday I volunteered at the Chuckanut 50k ultra-marathon.

The alarm went off at 4:45am and I have to admit it was easier to get up because I didn’t have to prepare to race… or worry about anything. I just had to get dressed and show up at Justin’s house on time – easy. When we arrived I dropped off my runners, Justin Angle, Mike Adams and Jeff then checked in with the race staff. I was stationed at aid station 3/4, located at the beginning and end of the Lost Lake Overlook loop. Krissy had given me the cool job of running the 8 mile loop before the racers arrived and making sure it was flagged properly. The trail was awesome, with gorgeous views from the ridge of Bellingham the Sound and Lost Lake.

After running the loop I helped at the aid station, giving people water, nuun, Coke, refilling water bottles for them, etc. There were a handful of adventure racers running, it was fun to cheer them on: The Yeager brothers (TRIOBA race directors), Team MPGear.com (Jen/Rick Jerebec, Cliff Lyles) and a local team racing in PQ, Team TBD.

It was a very exciting race as Uli Steidl came through our aid station at mile 21 right behind some young hotshot from Olympia. Uli apparently wins everything; tons of Seattle Marathon victories, various ultras, I guess he’s just that good. He was apparently just playing with this young guy as I heard in the last 10 miles he put considerable time on him.

Oh yeah and I take back what I said about my teammates coming through Aid Station 4 suffering. Both Glenn and Tyler were looking super strong as they came through the 2nd to last aid station at 21 miles, with 10 miles left until the finish line. Glenn ran a 4:51, Tyler a 6:15,. My non DART-nuun friends also faired well with Justin Angle hammering the field to place 5th in 4:14 – so impressive, and Mike Adams finishing in a strong 5:10. Good times.

See the results here and photos here.