Shellburg Falls - Sunny with a Chance of Fun

The Shellburg Falls Trail Run is not a super competitive event for Gimpy, but since I started running trails last year I get a chance to compare my times over similar courses.  I was hoping to do a little better this year on this somewhat hilly course since I'd started running a lot more hills over the last year.  I'm also hoping to run the entire RunWildAdventures series this year, if possible.

I woke up a little late for the drive up to Shellburg Falls, but was able to make up some time and got to the race start early enough to see William, Mike, and Gene, do the packet pickup, and still get a little warm up run before start of the race.

Carmen at PDX, returning home

The reason I got a late start was that Carmen, my wife and partner for a little over 31 years, had just gotten back from a three (3) month vacation/family reunion in the Philippines the running logistics are getting more interesting.  I was pretty happy to see her and wanted to give her  a chance to hangout with the kids before heading home.

Andrew, Carmen, and Amber

We decided to hang out with the younglings, (Amber and Andrew), before driving back to Albany.  We went to Blitz's Sports Pub for dinner and then to my sons apartment about a block away to wait my daughter.  We didn't get home until about 1AM and it was close to 2AM before I snagged a few hours of sleep and then headed out with a delayed start to the run around 730AM.


Carmen's not big into running or into being cold so she decided to stay home and catch some sleep while I drove up for the run.  But, she supports my running addictions and I hoped to be back home before she got up.






Shellburg Falls is a pretty cool area and even though I've lived in Oregon most of my life, I'd only learned about the place the last year when I started running trails.  It's similar to Silver Falls Recreation Area, but not as developed.  There are still a lot of nice trails to run, hike, and bike on, but can be hard to find if you don't know about it.

Upon arrival at Shellburg Falls I noticed my arch foe "The Weiner Dog" in pre-race form.  He looked good and I was a little nervous that he was running the race.  However, I was hoping I'd get a little competition and find out how my hill climbing would pay off.

Shellburg Falls Trail Run

Shellburg Falls Final Time

The race went well, I think,  compared to last year:

Mile #     2010            2011
1             8:53             9:18
2           10:48           10:30
3           16:20           14:52
4           10:36           10:09
5           10:39           10:10
6             9:04           11:00
6.9        13:17               -
6.5           -                 8:09
Final      1:14:49       1:10:37
 
Overall the course was shorter than 2010, but matched the inaugural 2009 run course, which I didn't get a chance to run.

I think I did better in the first 3 - 4 miles where the course is the same as last year.  I tried to stay with Gene who took off pretty fast and I only caught him briefly while he went over the first bridge, where I'd decided to  take the creek route.

There is always a queue going over that bridge and the wet feet are only a minor inconvenience for a few steps before you forget about them on the next somewhat rocky uphill section.  I was trying not to save anything for the stairs after the falls or the big hill that I knew was coming, but my legs still felt a little heavy going up the first little climb to the falls.

I do think the latter part of the course might have been tougher last year mostly because of the added distance and a hillier trail section before popping back onto the road for the finish.

Gene pulled ahead of me again right after the first bridge and I lost sight of him as we headed up the trail and I kicked into Gimpy gear from here to just before going under Shellburg Falls.  I had no idea where my "Weiner Dog" challenger was, but I was going to push as hard as I could because I didn't think he was in front of me at this point.  Ultimately, I held him off until the steep hill climb where he passed me like I was standing still.  I tried to stay with the little "Weiner Dog" as best I could, but those short little legs are faster than you might think.  This is also where I spotted William "The Sasquatch".  Thanks for the high five William, it gave me a boost along with following that little four legged critter that ultimately helped me increase my pace enough to pass Gene on the same uphill section.

Once we got to the top of the "Walking" hill I lost sight of both Weiner (ahead of me) and Gene (Behind me).  Now I had my mind worry about keeping my pace up to stay ahead of Gene and glancing ahead to see if I could find Weiner.  I managed to stay ahead of Gene who finished close in 1:12 and some change.

Nice run, Gene!!!

Weiner dog beat me by almost four minutes (Dang!!!).  I'd like to say part of that was because I got behind someone who was faster than me on the uphills, but slower than me on the downhills.  The last mile or so is downhill and I tried a couple times to pass, but he wasn't having any of it and every time I'd just about pass there was a switchback or the trail narrowed.  Well so much for my excuses, I'll have to take a few more chances next time.

I'm still not sure I'd have caught the "Weiner".  Nice run "Weiner Dog", errggghhh!!! Until next year!!!

Also note worthy, Mike Rosling finished a strong 3rd and had a nice run time of 49:57, just breaking 50 minutes and a 7:20 average mile pace.  Wow, way to go speedy Gonzales.

Mike and I had a good 8 mile run on Wednesday at Cardwell Hill and then the Fitton hill loop, I'm now convinced those good training runs before a race can pay off sometimes.

Well, I'm looking forward to a good running year in 2012 and can't wait 'til next year...

Until then gotta few more days before the Western States 100 drawing, raffle, and many more miles on the trails.





Until then, Let's Go Gimpy!!! Time to Run!!!