The Cascade Crest Classic 100

Four members of the Virginia Happy 
Trails Running Club made the trek to WA.

As long as I have been running Ultras, I've had Washington State’s Cascade Crest Classic 100 miler in my sights, now in its 20th year running. It’s a long journey there, involving a lottery, a summer of hill training, and a trip from Virginia. With a 34 hour cut-off the real goal was to just finish, but I couldn't help but set a modest time goal of under 30 hours. The race features over 23,000 feet of climbing on a giant clockwise loop through the central Cascades of Washington State. Climbs this long and steep are rare on the East Coast. Still, I found clever ways to train mainly in Shenandoah National Park by incorporating repeats of the most prominent peaks. I finally got in off the lottery, and this would be my only Western States qualifier for 2019, so after a long flight from DC it felt like it was do-or-die.

In the past I have struggled specifically with the nutrition aspect of 100 milers where I expect to be on my feet for over 24 hours. I've battled upset stomachs in the heat of the day, have difficulty getting down fluids and salt, and get very hungry late in races, all leading to a bit of a zombie-like march at night. I started training with primarily liquid calories and electrolytes this season, no more salt pills, a moderate amount of gels, and the typical snacking at aid stations. Pacing was important, and I took the advice of "start slow and then slow down" to heart. It all worked, and I felt just as strong on the back half, coming close to an even split. I never got tired at Cascade Crest either – the 9:00 AM start enabled a full night of sleep before the race that carried me all day (and night).

The race started out with some massive climbs past Goat Peak, on through Tacoma Pass, and a 30 mile roller-coaster on the Pacific Crest trail. After this we had a technical rocky descent down to a 2 mile abandoned mining tunnel. Parts of this descent were so steep that ropes were set up to assist in lowering yourself onto the “trail”. As we ran into darkness, despite only being half-way, all my systems were clicking and I started to think "I got this". My modest crew met me at Hyak Park at mile 51 with some hot food, and I picked up a pacer for just a 15 mile section. I continued to breeze through aid stations on foot, only sitting down briefly at mile 75 to change socks and eat some oven fresh pizza.

The back half saw more long climbs, some taking 7 miles to top out, and the aptly named "trail from hell" past Lake Kachess, so filled with rocks, roots, and ledges that little can be run. There were a few more chin-scraping ascents in the "needles" section, and a then a long descent back to Easton. Running the final 4 miles on surprisingly fresh legs I came in to the finish at 27:43 on the clock, smashing my previous goal. More importantly, I finally feel like I have a nutrition system that works for 100 mile runs.

Extra thanks go out to long-time friend Jeremy Rood for providing transport, dealing with my delirious rantings after the race, and bringing me my not-so-secret weapon at the half-way point (A Taco Bell chalupa – no sour cream, substitute beans for meat). I also experienced some trail magic from Brian Abrams, a Cascade Crest veteran and local runner who agreed to pace me for a key section at night. We only got connected a week prior and ironed out the logistics the night before the race. Huge Kudos to Race Director Rich White and all the volunteers involved for taking great care of the runners, and putting on a tough-but-fair 100 miler.

The look when you have nothing left to give.