Orcas Half-ass

Another spectacular weekend in the woods! We had perfect weather - the sun was out, the sky was clear, the temps were moderate. Although several things went sideways this weekend, the race did not.


The weekend started on Friday with the news that our course was modified due to 18 inches of snow at the peak. We were really bummed - both Eric and I loved last years course and wanted to do it again. Saturday we ran a quick three miles with the run club, then ran another half hour with our runners-in-training, hit coffee and came home to pack. Steve and Bob (his 79 year old Dad) picked us up and then we were off to Seattle to get Margaret. We made it up to Anacortes to catch the ferry we were planning on (always a long shot with traffic). We got to Orcas and drove straight to the little restaurant we found last year. They were closed. Okay, plan B. Walk across the street to check out a couple of other places. We found two open and packed to the gills. We put our name in at both and spent the next hour waiting for a table at one of them. Once we were seated, we were told they were out of several menu items. Apparently Orcas wasn't ready for 200 hungry runners showing up on a Saturday night. In the end we had a lovely dinner, with a bit of side drama between a group of runners and a tense restaurant owner. I'm thinking the owner needs to work on his customer service skills!




I have to tell you that I am so grateful for the alternate route - it was stunningly beautiful and I got to see sections of the island that I've never seen. It was incredible. The run around the lake was familiar from last year, then we headed up the Boundary Trail. We came to a section where the orange ribbons that marked our course took a turn straight up the side of the mountain. Straight up - I am talking about climbing with both hands and feet, climbing, not running, not hiking, but placing one foot, finding a hand hold and climbing. I looked at Margaret and (speaking of the RD) said "now's he's just faking it, this isn't even a trail!" We got partway up and looked up to see the course photographer perched there taking our pictures. We thought we were done, but there was more ahead. Up, up and up. Then, soon enough, it was straight down - running, but no switch backs, feeling slightly out of control. The funny thing is, I couldn't help but climb and run down with a huge grin on my face - it was so much fun!

Margaret and I had determined that time would not be an issue. Once again, we'd enjoy the day, the forest, the scenery and come in when we came in. We stopped several time for pictures (which I'll post in a day or two, in the meantime, check out Eric's pictures) and just to ooh and ahh. I had so many favorite parts I can't even describe them all. A huge cascading waterfall, a series of downed mossy trees over a creek, a large mossy clearing on the Secret Loop, then a spectacular view clear to the Cascades, Bellingham way across the sound, Mt. Baker in the distance and the farmlands of Orcas below. The feeling that if I ran down that grassy, mossy hillside I'd fly right down to the bay. Then back into the deep woods, with the eerie green light filtering through the trees. Coming out below the falls and looking back up at them. Another long climb alongside and above the creek. Back to the lake and suddenly, there was the camp. We were in, time: 5:31, distance: about 15.5 miles, elevation gain, about 3500 feet.

We went into the warm central camp building, where we found a feast - two kinds of homemade vegetarian soup, bread, beer, spiced wine, tea, chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. A bluegrass trio was playing, and tired runners were sprawled across the room. We waited about an hour for Eric and Steve, then another half hour or so for Bob. Eric, Margaret and I headed back to the Inn to shower and change, then we planned to pick up Bob and Steve and figure out dinner.

When we walked into the room, the sinks and tubs had standing water in them. We thought that was strange and let the water out, then Eric headed for one shower and I headed to the other. A few minutes later, we discovered that there was no water. A call to the front desk let us know that the water for the whole resort was off and they didn't know when it would be back on. We had a thin trickle that we could use to kind of wipe the mud and salt off, so we did. We discussed going back to the camp and using the showers there, but felt sure our water would be back on soon. Given our disheveled state, and the wonderful food we'd had at the race, we opted for a dinner of bread, crackers, cheese, apples and wine. We laid around eating and talking till we finally wandered off to bed at 10:00, still with no water. It finally came back on about 2:30, waking us all up as water started trickling out of faucets and filling toilet tanks. I got up at 4:30 and got a wonderful, hot shower before everyone else crawled out at 5:00. We had to get back to camp and pick up Arthur, then be on the 7:00 am ferry.

As I reflect on the weekend, I realize how blessed we are to live in the Pacific Northwest and how blessed we are in our friends and in our local running community. There were certainly glitches in our weekend, and moments of grouchiness, but we pushed through with good humor, lots of teasing and laughs. We made it, and we are all back home now, tired, with wonderful memories and a large dose of serenity and beauty to hold us till the next time.