Saturday, November 27, 2010

Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k Results

Under blue skies 27 brave runners(and walkers) completed the icy and snowy 5k course in Winthrop today. We also had 5 young ins complete the treacherous 1k loop.

Here are the results:

24:27 Chris Casey Winthrop WA M
24:29 Lucas Barthalomew Spokane WA M
24:53 Hayden Gandy Hamilton MT M
24:59 Dave Acheson Winthrop WA M
26:45 Ellis McLoughlin Seattle WA M
27:30 Ben Taylor Seattle WA M
27:56 Deni Maxwell Snohomish WA F
27:57 Shawn Maxwell Snohomish WA M
28:02 Julie Gandy Hamilton MT F
28:40 Emerson Worrell winthrop WA M
29:08 Stephen Taylor Seattle WA M
29:57 Bill McAdon Winthrop WA M
30:26 Jay McLoughlin Seattle WA M
33:00 Peggy Porter Seattle WA F
33:02 Adri VanBianchi Twisp WA F
33:34 Tanner Gandy Hamilton MT M
34:15 Quinn Shelby Winthrop WA M
35:14 Jenne Layfield Everett WA F
36:29 Jacqueline McLoughin Seattle WA F
38:06 Anne Acheson Winthrop WA F
40:00 Clark McNaull Seattle WA M
40:01 Peter McNall Seattle WA M
46:47 Tedra Acheson Winthrop WA F
48:48 Miller Marysville WA F
48:48 Dave Miller Marysville WA M
53:29 lisa sawyer winthrop WA F
53:30 rachel franklin Twisp WA F

Friday, November 19, 2010

Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k (updated)


I'm squeezing one more race into the year: Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k. This first annual race is part of the weekend long Christmas at the End of the Road celebration in which the town turns on the christmas lights for the first time of the year and includes the very popular fireworks, holiday shopping, food, music, santa, wagon rides, caroling, and much more! The first 30 runners to sign up will get a free race t-shirt(since this is a first year race if you're not one of the first 30 to sign up you might not get a shirt). All runners will have a chance to win randomly drawn prizes donated by Winthrop Mountain Sports

Date: Saturday November 27 2010

Location: Downtown Winthrop, WA (one block northwest of the 4 way stop sign--in front of Carlos 1800 Mexican Grill and Cantina)

Cost: Free for runners 18 or younger or $20 or $10 with donation of canned or other non-perishable foods for The Cove Food Bank.

Register: Here is the link to sign up for the race: http://www.databarevents.com/christmasattheend.asp

Course: The entire course is within town limits running almost entirely on residential streets with very little vehicle traffic. The course will have lots of turns and a couple short hills and will not be USATF certified(maybe next year). The course may (but hopefully not) have snow or ice on it and runners should be prepared for any weather conditions.
Contact Info: james@rainshadowrunning.com 509.846.5019

Here is the map of the 5k course(click on the image to enlarge):

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Winter Running in the Methow



Winter Running in the Methow Valley

You may have been led to belive that you could only ski (or ice skate or snowshoe or snowmobile or knit, etc) in the Methow in the winter but there really is a whole other world out there to explore-- in running shoes! My first winter here in the valley for a little while I did what I was told: forget running, buy skis and enjoy the snow. And that's what I did for oh about a month. But I'm a runner and I couldn't just ignore that fact for 3 or 4 months and just wait for the snow to melt. So I started running on the paved roads which were plowed often enough and for when they were icy I used my yak tracks. But really I'm a trail runner so I started getting tired of the roads and that's when I realized that the MVSTA snowshoe trails at Sun Mountain would be packed hard enough to run on. With more than 10 miles of trail to run I thought I was in heaven and I was but soon I started getting bored--when trying to run 40-50 miles a week 10 miles of trails soon became not enough. But that's when I was told that the dirt roads out at/near pipestone had become bare or atleast the snow was packed enough to run on thanks to the 4wd trucks. So now I could do run more than 30 miles of fun and scenic mountain roads and rarely see a car or human. But the event that has fully knocked my socks off was discovering 100s miles of GROOMED snowmobile trails. These trails are intended for snowmobiles so I'll be prepared to yeild the trail in a hurry but unlike the groomed ski trails I see no reason why we can't run on them. So between all those options and of course running on top of the snow when the snow has firmed up overnight we literally have the "run" of the place!


Some Resources for the Winter Running in the Methow:

Methow Valley Running Club

Rainshadow Running

MVSTA

WA State Sno Parks

Loup Loup

Weather Underground


Maps and Grooming Reports

Region 1 Sno Park Map(twisp-winthrop-mazama-loomis-loup-concolly)

Region 2 Sno Park Map(lower methow-chelan-leavenworth)

Boulder Creek

Eightmile

Goat Creek

Yellowjacket

Twisp

Gold Creek

Black Canyon

Sun Mountain(note that some of these trails are off limits to runner/hikers!)

Big Valley(note that some of these trails are off limits to runner/hikers!)

North Summit(note that some of these trails are off limits to runner/hikers!)

Peacock Meadows

Kerr

Winthrop/Pipestone


The pictures for this post are from 35 mile (and 22mi) "Snow Fun" course I ran last january up above the methow and chelan valleys--stay tuned for details on the race coming feb 26.


More Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k

Here is the link to sign up for the race: http://www.databarevents.com/christmasattheend.asp

And here is the map of the 5k course(click on the image to enlarge):

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k


I'm squeezing one more race into the year: Christmas at the End of the Road 5k and 1k. This first annual race is part of the weekend long Christmas at the End of the Road celebration in which the town turns on the christmas lights for the first time of the year and includes the very popular fireworks, holiday shopping, food, music, santa, wagon rides, caroling, and much more! The first 30 runners to sign up will get a free race t-shirt(since this is a first year race if you're not one of the first 30 to sign up you might not get a shirt). All runners will have a chance to win randomly drawn prizes donated by Winthrop Mountain Sports


Date: Saturday November 27 2010

Location: Downtown Winthrop, WA (one block northwest of the 4 way stop sign--in front of Carlos 1800 Mexican Grill and Cantina)

Cost: Free for runners 18 or younger or $20 or $10 with donation of canned or other non-perishable foods for The Cove Food Bank.

Course: The entire course is within town limits running almost entirely on residential streets with very little vehicle traffic. The course will have lots of turns and a couple short hills and will not be USATF certified(maybe next year). The course may (but hopefully not) have snow or ice on it and runners should be prepared for any weather conditions.

Contact Info: james@rainshadowrunning.com 509.846.5019

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Rainshadow Running in the Paper



This was in the local paper back in September a few days before the marathon. I kept meaning to put it up here but i've been super busy getting things ready for next year... anyhow thanks to ultrarunner and local artist Erik Brooks for letting me re-post his work here.

Follow the entire comic strip here: http://hartspass.blogspot.com/ (The real Harts Pass by the way is on the PCT and is the halfway point in the new Rainshadow Running Race North Cascades PCT 100k and 50k in September)




Big news-- new logo and the 2011 race calendar






















Feb 5 Orcas Island 50k/25k Eastsound, WA (ALREADY 99% FULL)
Feb 26 Snow Fun 35m/22m Carlton, WA
Mar 12 Gorge Waterfalls 50k Cascade Locks, OR
Apr 3 Yakima Skyline Rim 50k/25k Ellensburg, WA
May 22 Sun Mountain 50m/50k/25k/1k Winthrop, WA
Jun 12 Beacon Rock 50k/25k N. Bonneville, WA
Jun 25 Cle Elum Ridge 50k/25k Cle Elum, WA
Aug 13 Angels Staircase 50m/50k/25k Carlton, WA
Sept 18 North Cascades PCT 100k/50k Mazama, WA
Sept 25 Winthrop Road Marathon Winthrop, WA
Oct 8 Mt Spokane 50k/25k Spokane, WA
Nov 26 Christmas at the End of the Road 5k/1k Winthrop, WA
Dec 10 Deception Pass 50k/25k Oak Harbor, WA

More Details on all of these races coming soon...