My Ultrarunning Primer -- The 2000 Jack Frost 5-Hour

Back in 2000, in the middle of the Jack Frost 5-hour run in West Linn, Oregon, I was churning out some wet, muddy 1.62-mile laps with the veritable Glenn Tachiyama. I had decided to transition my marathon running to ultramarathons -- and this race would be my little breakout into the world of trail ultras.

A soaking wet trail at the 2000 Jack Frost 5-hour run.

After years of training to break 2:40 in the marathon, I ended up with numerous 2:45-range marathon finishes, but the next phase of my life as a runner I knew would be on the trails, not roads. But for now I was running through a Pacific Northwest drizzle with Glenn, trying to stay up with the likes of Tom Moritz, Steve Smucker, and Dave Terry. Glenn and I pushed each other along, as the trails of Mary S. Young State Park grew progressively more slick.
I took a brief pause before the start of my last lap to attempt to clear up confusion about the number of laps I had completed so far. I was sure I had completed 21 already and had time to get in one more. Frustration fueled my last loop and I blasted through another quick loop to complete 35.75 miles in 4:59:02 -- even though the official results show 34.18.
http://www.coolrunning.com/results
/00/or/Feb12_JackFr_set1.html
I was pleased with my first ultramarathon results nonetheless. I'm happy I could share those miles with Glenn, who now devotes his time to capturing images of so many runners' ultra marathon efforts around the Northwest. That early race planted a seed in me that has yet to fully develop, but serves as my starting point into this now-growing world of ultrarunning.