Badger Mountain 100… Hilly plains and gusty winds with no tree in sight, am I in back in Kansas?
My in-laws live in Washington, so I decided to travel back there to both visit and get in a 100 mile race. This also allowed them the opportunity to crew, which they had been wanting to. It was cold at the start, which I prefer, knowing I’d warm up quick. The very beginning are nice switchbacks up Badger Mountain. I heeded advice from previous racers to be conservative and not go out too fast. This was wise. I stayed in the conga line and power hiked to top, keeping my heart rate down. Once at the top, it’s smooth switchbacks down, and you can stretch out the legs and cruise. This felt great, and shortly after a short pavement section, I was at the first aid station at the bottom of Candy Mountain. I saw my crew, switched out my bottles, and headed up the switchbacks, just like at Badger. Again, I just power hiked up to the top. The backside of Candy is a nice, steep downhill with some small rocks, but one I was able to get down quickly. My favorite sections are the downhills, and I love flying down them.
At the bottom of Candy, you hit some dirt which leads you to a very narrow single dirt track for a short distance to the infamous culvert. It’s not long, and I didn’t use a light but the dark does play with your depth perception. Once you pop out, it’s back onto pavement (none of the pavement sections are long) and then to the start of vineyards. There’s a nice stretch of flat to Jacobs aid station. You turn onto small gravel and run alongside the vineyards on private lands. This is a nice area where you can pick up the pace until you hit the jeep roads. The jeep roads are very dusty with rollers and just tough to get a consistent speed going. At around mile 14 is what’s known as Demoralizing hill. It’s a short, steep dirt downhill. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I definitely had to take it a little slower in the dark the second time. The bad part with out-and-back courses are if I’m having a blast bombing down a decent, at some point I remember I have to make that climb back up it. At mile 15 is the Orchard aid station and near the end of the jeep roads. Once these end, it’s back on pavement to McBee aid station where my crew was waiting for me in the parking lot at the base of McBee.
24:53:45
Time
17,717 ft
Total Ascent (Garmin Enduro 2)
21st
Overall
5th
Females
I grabbed some food and my poles for the steep climb to help save my legs for later in the race. It’s 0.8 miles with about 1100 feet of gain. This was nowhere near the worst climb I’ve done, but it is taxing. And the winds that day made it that much worse. During the climb, we estimated it was 20-30 mph gusts. There were several racers climbing up simultaneously. I just put my head down, and kept grinding up. At the summit, we were met with 30-40 mph crosswinds along the ridge. There was an area to drop off your poles if you didn’t want them on the ridge. I elected to do this and not deal with them. I had thought I had done some exposed, windy races in the Midwest, but Southeastern Washington said, hold my beer. This was my least favorite section of the course and cussing was involved. There’s small, jagged rocks packed close together, and the wind just sucked the life out of you. It felt like eternity to Chandler Butte aid at the turn around, which is at the top of a hill on the ridge. I grabbed a quick drink here and headed back along the ridge, fighting the cross winds. I finally reached my poles back at the top of the climb and grabbed them to take back. Fortunately, you do not run down how you came up and instead, take very narrow switchbacks down. As long as kept my feet tight, I could move fast down these carrying my poles. I saw my crew again in the parking lot where I grabbed a sandwich and then headed back towards the start. The wind had started to lighten up on the jeep roads and vineyards but picked back up on the climbs up Candy and Badger. I finished the first half ahead of pace and was feeling good. I still had a small shot to sub 24, but I knew it going to be a tall order with the climbs and the wind over night. I decided to pick up a pacer at Candy to give me a better chance at finishing under 24.
I typically don’t have pacers at out of state race like this. Fortunately, my mother-in-law introduced us to Jonathan and Melissa, who are runners new to the ultra scene and wanted to experience a 100. I ran with Melissa from Candy to McBee. Back at McBee the temperature had dropped so I switched into a warmer pullover and grabbed a buff along my poles. I was doing the McBee section solo and would pick up Jonathan back in the parking lot. This time up McBee, I was the only one on the side of the mountain, in the dark. I hit the top, and although the winds were less, it was freezing. I decided to keep my poles to help me move faster along the ridge and up the hill to the aid station. At Chandler, I gulped down some chicken noodle soup. It was warm and delicious. I made sure to get in and out. I knew if I stopped moving for any length of time I would start shivering. I picked up some speed on the downhill switch backs and once again saw my crew. I only spent a couple minutes switching out bottles and grabbing some cookies, but I quickly began to freeze. Jonathan and I took off fast down the pavement, so I could get warm again. We chatted about running and races and pretty soon we were at the back of Candy making our way back up. The sun had come up by the time we made back to the Candy Mountain aid station. There was less than 5 miles to go. I had missed the sub 24 window but really wanted to get under 25. I was tired, and my feet hurt, but I still had a little gas in the tank for those down hill switchbacks. I told Jonathan I wanted to sub 25, so I was booking it as fast as I could at that point. I finished in 24:53, 5th female. I was thrilled to see the finish line. I’m so thankful to my crew and pacers. It’s not always a glamorous job, but it really does make all the difference.
Overall, the race is a well-oiled machine. The aid stations are top notch with great spreads and very supportive volunteers. The swag is also above what you get at some races.