My race of the year is Val d'Aran by UTMB in July. To prepare for this grueling race, I signed up for one trail marathon and four ultras, one each month starting from February to June, as "training" races. I completed the Fort Ebey Marathon (5,500ft of elevation gain) in February, Badger Mountain Challenge 100M (16,000ft) in March, Canyons Endurance Run 100K (16,000ft) in April and was running Tiger Claw Double 50M (15,000ft) in May before heading to Idaho to run Scout Mountain Ultra 100M (23,800ft) in June.
Tiger Claw Double has more elevation gain per mile than previous ultras so this race was a good diagnostic check for all the hill training I've done so far. Also, the race site, Tiger Mountain, is closer to me than Mount Si so Tiger could be great training site after I got familiar with its trails.
Tiger Claw is a trail marathon started by Ethan Newberry, also known as the Ginger Runner, who produced one of the best documentaries on The Barkley Marathons so check out the video below if you are curious about the craziness of The Barkley.
Tiger Claw consists of completing 4 different loops in Tiger Mountain totaling 25 miles with 7,500ft of elevation gains. For the Double, you simply run the loops twice, the second loop in the opposite direction as the first, for quad-numbing 15,000ft of vertical!
The race website has a great description of each loop (here) so I won't recreate the wheel by describing each loop. Instead, I'll outline few thoughts about my experience.
I woke at 3:30AM for 5:00AM start at Highpoint Trailhead, which is off Exit 20 on I-90. Driving from West Seattle, I got to the race site little late due to some last minute issues so by the time I checked in and received my bib, the race was about to start. I pinned my bib and started to run towards the starting line as the race was starting. I was the last runner to cross the starting line, about 30 feet behind the last runner of the main group. Not a good way to start, but I knew it was a long race. I have plenty of time to catch up.
The race started with Green loop, an easy flat 4.5 mile warm up. After Green, each runner can decide in which order to complete the remaining 4 loops. I initially decided on the order shown below:
I thought the Yellow loop (Poo Poo Trail) would be the easiest so decided to run this loop first to establish a good pace and I would run harder Orange (Cable Line) and White (Nook) right after while my legs were still fresh. Lastly, the Pink loop (Tiger Mountain Trail). For the second half, I would run the two hardest runs (Orange and White) and save two easier ones for the end.
Well, everything went as planned for the most part. Yellow loop wasn't too bad as it had a lot of runnable sections. I was bit worried about Orange for its steepness but it wasn't bad either with a fresh set of legs. I was actually caught off guard when I reached the top because I didn't expect to get there so fast. This section was much more technical than Yellow and Green with steep climb and muddy ground, though.
White loop was bit harder despite it having less elevation gain per mile than Orange. This section can be divided into two parts: first 1.5 mile climbs gradually but the last 0.5 mile is very steep, I think even steeper than the Orange loop. Luckily, it's not that long so the section ended before it got too painful.
Lastly, the Pink loop was bit of a pain due to elevation and distance - it seemed like the loop dragged on and on. The section started with a climb on a quiet single track along thick vegetation. After couple miles, there's a downhill section for about a mile before the loop forces you on a steep climb to the top.
It took me little under 6 hours to complete the first 25 miles and I was feeling pretty good. The race was very well organized with aid stations at the top and bottom of West Tiger 3 Trail, the common decent during the first half and common ascent during the second half, which made refueling easy. The main aid station (the bottom) had great assortments of goodies and munchies (Oreo cookies, potato chips, M&Ms, PB&J sandwiches, oranges, watermelon, etc.), but the best was hummus wrap, which became my main fuel source. For whatever reason, hummus wrap really hit the spot for me during this race.
For the second 25 miles, I decided to deviate little from planned route, running longer Pink and Yellow loops first and then shorter but steeper White and Orange last. The steepness of White and Orange didn't bother me as much as I thought they would because the sections were short so they ended rather quickly.
Going up on West Tiger 3 Trail, the common ascent during the second half, was a gradual climb that wasn't too difficult but it became really annoying starting on my third climb due to fatigue and repetitiveness.
Going down on each loop was definitely easier than climbing up and other than Orange all loops were mostly runnable. Orange was too technical due to its steepness and muddiness so I had to be careful not to slip.
I had two target times in mind for this race. At best, I wanted to complete the race within 13 hours, and at worst I wanted to complete it within 14 hours. Anything beyond 14 hours would be unacceptable. Starting on my decent on the last Orange loop, I was really close to making 14 hour personal cut off. I had run 49 miles so far and had less than 20 minutes to climb down a very technical section and run last 0.25 miles through thick bushes and water puddles to reach the finish. It was a balancing act between speed and stability - do I speed up and risk falling, potentially ending my race, or do I take my time and hope I can make up whatever time I lost during the last 0.25 miles?
I chose speed, hoping my shoes, Altra Olympus, had enough grip to keep me upright. I ran down the trail, grabbing tree branches and bushes for stability when available, and made my way down with about 3 minutes to spare for the last 0.25 miles. After fighting through thick bushes and puddles of water I saw the parking lot ahead of me. I pushed myself harder, running close to 8 minute mile pace. I ran across the parking lot and made a semi-circle to the left to cross the finish line at just under 14 hours!
Time on my watch read 13:59:43. I had 17 seconds to spare.
Official time was 13:59:03.
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