Yours Truly Snoqualmie Valley 50K January 27, 2002 Carnation, Washington, USA FINISHERS -------------- Jim Kerby, 39, M Carnation, WA, USA 4:05:28 Gene Trahern, 39, M Brier, WA, USA 4:05:28 Mark Hartinger, 45, M Shoreline, WA, USA 4:05:28 Scott Krell, 41, M Snohomish, WA, USA 5:18:23 Chris Ralph, 50, F Kirkland, WA, USA 5:37:50 Tom Ripley, 53, M Redmond, WA, USA 5:37:50 COURSE DESCRIPTION This is the third consecutive year using this course. It is a wide, mostly flat, dirt railroad grade converted to bikepath. The path is mostly shaded in moderately dense woods and traverses scenic Cascade mountain foothills. Runners cross a bridge over the impressive Tolt river as well as numerous other streams and marshes, including glimpsing the Snoqualmie river. The route is out and back 10 miles to the south followed out and back 5.5 miles to the north. Runners are able to provide themselves aid at mile 20 from their cars. WEATHER -2 degrees C to +2 degrees C, cloudy, snowing (sometimes heavy), 5-7 cm accumulation during the run. DESCRIPTION Everyone started out together and chatted about their plans for the year. The snow fell intermittently, sometimes heavily, stinging eyes and piling up in hair for those unfortunate enough to not be wearing a brimmed hat. Jim, Gene and Mark stuck together on their way to a 4:05 finish. Scott, Chris and Tom ran mostly together for 20 miles before separating. Scott changed into shorts at this point in an interesting attempt to motivate himself to move faster so that he could keep warm! Chris and Tom have been training most of the fall and winter in preparation for running a 100 mile run in Alaska in February. Most weekends they find themselves pulling sleds through deep snow in the Cascades, but decided to spice up their training with a long run without carrying all that extra gear on a sled. This small event has always been a fun early season kick-start to training and racing for the rest of the year. Everyone tries to stick together and push each other towards a hard workout and respectable finish time rather than treat it as a race for individual performance. Yours Truly Snoqualmie Valley 50K