It’s pitch black as we line-up at 5 am under the gondola in front of the Willamette Pass Ski Lodge, 70 miles east of Eugene, Oregon. With headlamps ready, we say our good-byes and, at the sound of the horn, begin to climb directly up the ski run.

The Waldo 100k is a loop-type course, starting at an elevation of 5,120′ and climbing up several mountains including Fuji, The Twins, and Maiden Peak before returning to the ski area for a total of 11,000′ in elevation gain (and equal loss). The race is considered the most prestigious in the state and has included many of the biggest names in Oregonian ultrarunning such as Tim Olson, Hal Koerner, and Ian Sharman. Registration sold out this year in less than 40 minutes.

“Up for doing a bit of running in San Diego in June?”

I had quite a few big training runs on the schedule leading up to my first 100 km race, the Waldo 100k later this summer, so when two friends asked if I’d crew and pace at the San Diego 100 miler, it sounded like a great excuse for a vacation.

My friends Hozumi and Jeremy, both much more experienced and talented runners, have been really great in mentoring me over the past year as I transitioned from road to trail and in training for longer distances, so I was happy to help.

I first heard about the Kneeknacker North Shore Trail Race a few years ago while training for a marathon. It sounded nearly impossible at the time, running from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove along the Baden Powell trail with 8,000 feet of climbing over 30 miles, when having to run up even a small hill in a marathon seemed like a challenge.

With Waldo 100k coming up in 4 weeks, Kneeknacker was technically a training run. I did take a short taper of a week or so, but was still running 75-100k per week in the two weeks prior. So I felt a little over-trained for a race of this distance and relatively fast pace (I never thought I’d consider a 50k to be too short and fast) and perhaps a little under-rested. But don’t get me wrong – I was definitely there to race and gave it my all.

Two weeks ago I traveled to Winthrop, WA to run the Sun Mountain 50 miler. Since moving from road to trail about this time last year, I had run a few 50 km ultra marathons but this was my first time running anywhere close to 80 km.

Town of Winthrop

The race was a huge success for me and I finished in 8:49 for 16th place, despite several of us taking a wrong turn that may have cost us 15 minutes or so and adding a couple of miles.

My goal was to finish feeling strong, to enjoy the experience, and to learn a little more about myself and about running into what had been unknown territory.

Here are the 3 lessons I learned…