Bigfoot 20 Trail Run at Mt. St. Helens
The Bigfoot 20 is part of a number of trail races put on by Destination Racing. For this specific location at Mt. St. Helens they offer various length starting at 20 miles (see course map), then 40, 73 miles and finally 200. For those who are really into ultramarathons, this is part of the “triple crown of 200 mile series” with other destinations in Moab and Tahoe.
But, for me, twenty miles with an elevation gain of 4,165 ft and loss of 4,178 ft seemed like a significant enough challenge given my state of fitness and relative newness to distance running. I have still never run a marathon and only knocked off a few half-marathons in the last few years. But earlier this year I ran 24 miles in Forest Park just to see if I could possibly be up for an ultra there sometime and figured as long as I wasn’t set on trying to do really well, or run the whole time, I’d have a stellar adventure with gorgeous scenery.
We were due to start and finish at Marble Mountain Sno Park, a place I had never visited before even though it is only 73 miles from my home. Considering the athletes that came from the east coast, the south, Hawaii and other places in between, I was definitely one of the locals and eager to enjoy a mountain area that I had no experience hiking even though I often see the flattened top in the distance as I drive around the streets of Portland. Several of the visitors from the south and east had no way of training for anything like this and had no idea how they would perform. I was also glad to see many racers older than myself. I wondered if they would be taking their time, like me, or really going for it. Time would tell.
Most of my training came from Powell Butte just down the road from me. Over the last two years I have gotten used to hiking poles and expected to use these at the Bigfoot 20 as well. So most weeks I would add to my distance and get lots of hill training at Powell Butte. I also had a few training runs in Welches with seriously steep sections, though short at just 1-2 miles uphill. My expectations had me finishing the race in 5 to 6 hours.
I had spoken to a few athletes who were working on the 40 or 73 miler that finished before our 20 mile was due to start. The boulder fields were a unique feature, and sure enough once I got up there it was a challenge to know where the trail headed. As I was mostly just following others, I didn’t get lost but one racer who whizzed by me a few miles from the race end said he was off trail for over 30 minutes in the boulder fields!
Our aid station was 12 miles into the race and would be a godsend. This would be my chance to fill up on pickle juice, watermelon and replenish my exhausted water supply with a sports drink which would last me, but only barely, until the very end it would turn out. Just after the boulder fields I fell flat on my face at mile 5, tripping on nothing much really. But with just a scratch and dirty skin, I pressed on hoping for a water source to get cleaned up in before long. In these long distance journeys, I find it becomes a race to just get to the next thing. In this case, the aid station at mile 12. That would be my race right now. Don’t think about the rest.
After the aid station, I began to rely more on my app to see where I was and make sure I was on trail. The markings were well placed, so I was never really in question, but just knowing that the Caltopo app was working and letting me know my progress was somehow comforting. The trails became much more of an offroad adventure at times, though intersected with roads and single lane track off and on as I worked my way back to the start of the race. Each mile became its own accomplishment. I was tired.
I completed the race in 37th place out of 90 with a time of 5 hours and 26 minutes. Within my age category (40-49) of 27 athletes, I placed 12th. It was a lovely warm day out exploring a good section of the Loowit Trail and goes towards making this summer feel like I accomplished some decent outdoor goals.
