Pacific Rim 24-Hour Run - March 15, 2008

I went to the Pacific Rim 24-hour Ultra to get in a 50k training run, a last longish run before Umstead. I had heard nothing but great things about this very low-keyed event held in Longview, WA. It turned out to be everything I expected and much more. What a great event!

The venue is a nice 1 mile loop, mostly on crushed gravel with just limited sidewalk and asphalt surfaces. There is plenty of aid at the one station and volunteers that work very long hours making sure the runners get credit for every lap.

The field was strong, at least among the men. There was some serious competition going on througout the event. More importantly though, there was a laid-back fun run feel to the race. Everybody seemed to know and encourage each other. It was the perfect venue for spending quality time with old and new friends.

Like I said, my goal was to do 50k and then to just take it easy, walk, and help crew Tim Englund who was running to do his best. He had hopes of reaching a minimum of 100 miles, and if all went well, 110 or even 120.

The trail around the lake was quite nice with just a few short and gentle inclines, which made for nice scheduled walk breaks on the otherwise flat course. The weather was nice by Pacific Northwest measures and the day alternated rain and sun, oh gosh, maybe 30 times. It was chilly and damp at night, but the Seattle-area runners said the weather was "spectacular," one of the best years ever.

I wore Drymax socks and had no blister problems at all despite the rain. I also wore my giraffe Moeben Sleeves, which I just love.

So, I ran the first part of the 50k easy and then picked up the pace the last 10 miles to get it done. I wanted to tire out my legs so that I didn't get any lofty ideas of running 100 miles or something like that 3 weeks before Umstead. I did the 50k in 5:07 and then went back to the hotel and showered and then returned to the course to walk and chat with many friends. For the rest of the daylight hours, I walked, ran, and crewed for Tim, who hit 50 miles in bit over 8 hours and was still looking fresh like he'd just got started.

I tallied up 50 miles, and then after running some crew errands, I took yet another shower (yep, I was the cleanest runner out there!) and got 2-1/2 hours sleep. I returned to the course at 6 am to pace Tim the last 3 hours. He had moved into the lead by a mile overnight and had settled into a fast walking pace with Dave, who was the eventual 2nd place winner. We got running again and accumulated a total of 120 miles, which is where Tim was going to stop. But since he had another 20 minutes before the race was over, I walked a "victory lap" with him, which was the perfect ending to a great 24 hours.

Tim won the race with 121 miles. As I said, the competition was excellent in the men's field with 10 runners over 100 miles. I ended up with 100k plus the extra "victory lap." It was a fabulous event and my hearty thanks goes out to Fred and the volunteers who did a superb job.

Congrats to David Lygre & Willie, Michelle & Jenny for completing their first 50 miler, tc, and to so many other friends! It was great to see Olga, Mike & Eric who stopped by Pac Rim after running Chuckanut. It was just like a party of friends!

Here is a link to some photos by runner Bob Lynes.

Here are the official race results!
Thanks, Fred!


50K 50M 100K 150K 100M
1 Tim Englund 5:18:15 8:40:08 10:56:20 17:21:54 18:55:45 121M
2 Dave Stevenson 5:03:36 8:20:11 10:44:44 17:39:40 19:14:33 117m
3 Joe Lee 5:48:57 9:30:41 12:05:27 19:01:51 20:31:30 112m
4 Fred Johnson 4:37:45 7:58:58 10:21:36 17:58:20 19:47:23 108m
5 Steve Walters 4:52:48 8:33:10 11:28:10 20:10:04 21:54:55 107m
6 Ken Ward 5:19:58 9:09:10 11:46:28 20:23:02 22:15:39 106m
7 Steve Stoyles 5:44:10 9:24:00 11:49:58 19:41:30 21:49:19 105m
8 Jeff Hagen 60 5:45:08 9:38:33 12:31:52 21:32:43 23:03:02 105m
9 Tony C 5:21:26 9:16:24 12:10:50 21:35:34 23:04:14 101m
10 William Holmes 6:35:10 11:36:58 15:23:25 86.5m
11 Ultra Al Miller 8:07:40 13:24:01 17:34:30 73.5m
12 Bob Lynes 69 6:40:50 12:09:44 19:14:35 66m
13 Tim Lawson 4:52:48 8:33:10 11:28:10 63m
14 Don Messinger 6:10:10 10:09:33 12:43:42 63m
15 Lisa Bliss 5:07:05 14:43:46 23:42:10 63m
16 Eb Engelmann 66 7:08:41 12:06:51 55m
17 Stuart Johnston 5:19:01 10:03:24 50m
18 Bret Henry 7:01:47 11:32:46 50m
19 Jenny Appel 8:05:29 14:00:10 50m
20 Michele Barnes 8:05:29 14:00:11 50m
21 Suzanne Norman 10:20:59 48.25m
22 Jamal Shoto 4:32:40 46m
23 E David Granum 61 10:08:19 45m
24 David Lygre 65 7:08:41 43m
25 Kyly McMurray 4:59:40 42m
26 Tom Riley 4:59:41 42m
27 Lynn Werner 6:27:36 42m
28 Frank Purdy 7:28:35 42M
29 David Olsho 6:36:25 41m
30 Rob Hester 5:44:10 41m
31 Marc Brewer 5:47:43 40m
32 Gail Phillips 7:13:59 40m
33 Ethan Bergman 5:23:26 32m
34 Jeff Mikesell 5:19:35 50k
35 Monte Pascual 5:46:34 50k
36 Caroline Klug 5:59:14 50k
37 Chas Sundling 6:36:25 50k
38 Max Welker 65 7:25:23 50k
39 Amy Lynes 9:02:54 50k
40 Gary Parcher 61 9:24:35 50k
41 James Thatcher 9:57:18 50k
42 Jess Mullen 17:23:36 50k
43 Leslie Miller 18:35:16 50k
44 Bill Henry 72 27m
45 Cat Schwartz 26.2m
46 Bob Stoyles 14m