Saturday, July 2, 2022

Race Report: 2022 Cook Park Marathon

On July 2, I ran the Cook Park Marathon in Tigard, OR.  This was the first race of the Firecracker Triple, which consists of the Cook Park Marathon, the Summerlake Loopy Marathon, and the Flat Marathon.

The first Firecracker Triple was held in 2011.  It was built around Foot Traffic’s Flat Marathon, which is always on the 4th of July.  The 4th was on a Monday that year, and Steve Walters held two smaller races on Saturday and Sunday, making it possible to run marathons on three consecutive days.

In 2012, the 4th was a Wednesday.  Steve still held his two races on the weekend and called it the Firecracker Double.  In subsequent years, there have been races on three, four, or five consecutive days.

2020 was going to be the last year for the Firecracker Triple, but the races were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  After a two-year delay, the final Firecracker Triple is being held this year.

I did the Firecracker Triple in 2011, 2014, and 2015.  I also did the Firecracker Quadzilla in 2013.  I’ve had some great results in these races.  I had the fastest combined time in both 2011 and 2014.  Because I have so many good memories from these races, I had to be a part of the last Firecracker Triple.

The names and venues of Steve Walters’ races have changed over the years.  This is the third time I’ve done the Cook Park Marathon.  It was also part of the triple in 2014 and 2015.

Deb and I flew to Portland on Friday.  Before driving to our hotel, we made four stops.  First, we stopped at the Foot Traffic store in Vancouver, WA to pick up my race packet for Monday’s race.  Packet pickup was available at different Foot Traffic stores on different days.  This was the location that was most convenient for us, since it’s not far from the Portland airport.

Next, we stopped at a brewery called Zoiglhaus Brewing Company.  Zoiglhaus makes German styles of beer, and one of their signature beers is a style called a zoigl, which is an historical beer style from a small region in Bavaria.  It’s rare to find this style of beer anywhere in the U.S.

After Zoiglhaus, we stopped at Salt and Straw, which makes ice cream.  Salt and Straw has interesting flavor combinations, and you can taste several of them by having an ice cream flight.  Deb and I each ordered a flight, and then we tasted each other’s flavors, so we each got to try eight flavors of ice cream.

Our last stop was another brewery, which was supposed to have another historical beer style called an adambier.  Unfortunately, this brewery has gone out of business.

Both of Steve’s races are in Portland’s western suburbs.  Monday’s race is on Sauvie Island, which is also on the west side.  We stayed at a hotel in Beaverton, which was centrally located for the three races.

After checking in and unpacking, we discovered a problem with our hotel room.  We were able switch to a different room, but repacking, moving, and unpacking again took time.  We ended up going to dinner later than we planned.

We had dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant called Golden Valley.  We split a candied bacon appetizer, and loved it so much that we regretted not getting one for each of us.  We also had their meatloaf.

We tried to get to bed as early as we could.  Deb was able to sleep for most of the night, but I only managed a few short naps.  The first night in a hotel is always tough for me, and I often have trouble relaxing the night before a race.

The race started at 7:00, but packet pickup started at 6:00.  Deb was a race volunteer, so we got there early, so she could help with packet pickup.  When we arrived at the race, I saw lots of people I know.  A few of them asked me how I felt.  The best answer I could give is to say I felt shaky.  Besides the lack of sleep, I also had a couple of bouts of diarrhea before we left the hotel.  It cleared up before we left, but I definitely wasn’t feeling up to par.

The course was six laps of a 4.37 mile loop.  The loop starts and finishes in Cook Park, but also goes through Durham City Park and includes an out-and-back on a greenway along the Tualatin River.  The course is mostly paved.  There were a couple sections of wood chips or gravel, but those sections were short.

The loop was the same one we’ve run in the past, but we started in a different place.  Instead of starting at a pavilion near the boat launch, we started at the pavilion near the main entrance.

There was one aid station at the start/finish area.  If we wanted to drink more frequently than once per lap, we needed to carry water with us.  I kept a large cup at the aid station and made a point of drinking a substantial amount of Gatorade each time I finished a lap.


Before the race, we did several group photos, including everyone doing today’s race and everyone doing the triple.  There were also group photos for various running clubs.

I went into this race with no expectation of running competitively.  In the last two weeks, I only ran twice, and they were both short runs at an easy pace.  I’ve mostly been resting to give a high hamstring injury a chance to heal.  I was confident I had the endurance to finish these races without any difficulty, but I expected to be slow.  That said, I couldn’t help but be tempted to test the waters.

The start was somewhat comical.  Nobody lined up within 20 feet of the starting line.  When Steve said, “start,” and blew his air horn, everybody just stood there for a few seconds.  It’s like everybody was waiting for everyone else.  I finally started running and crossed the starting line at a leisurely pace.  The runners around me also started at a leisurely pace.  Finally, one woman who started much faster ran around us and sped away.

My pace felt slow for the first few minutes, but after about half a mile, it started to feel faster.  I wondered if I was starting too fast.  After I ran far enough to start getting splits from my watch, I found that I really wasn’t going that fast.  My early mile times were all in the 9:30s.  That pace shouldn’t feel fast, but I haven’t done much training in recent weeks.

I was actually more concerned with how my left leg felt.  My pace wasn’t causing any tightness or discomfort in my left hamstring, so I didn’t worry about it too much.

At first, there were only about five runners ahead of me.  As other runners got warmed up, a few more moved ahead of me.

Going through Cook Park, the course is fairly flat.  The out-and-back along the Cook Park Greenway has several small hills.  On the way out, there was one hill that was uncomfortably steep going down.  Coming back, I had to get up on my toes running back up that hill.

Coming back through Cook Park the course was flat again.  Instead of going back the way we came, we took a path that goes near the boat launch and past the area that used to be used as the starting line.  Then we began an out-and-back on the other end of the park.  This one took us under a railroad bridge and then alongside the tracks.  When we got to Durham City Park, we did a short loop  through the park.

The loop through Durham City Park had a few sharp turns and a few small hills.  Once again, there was one downhill segment that was steep enough to be uncomfortable and one uphill segment that forced me to run on the balls of my feet.  Coming back into Cook Park, the course gets flat again.

It’s been seven years since I last ran this course.  Some parts seemed familiar.  Other parts I didn’t remember.  Finally, some parts were different than I remembered them.

I finished my first lap in 42 minutes.  That put me on pace to finish in 4:12, but I expected to slow down.  I still felt like I was going a little fast.

Next to the table with water and Gatorade, there was a large table with a variety of food.  I don’t usually eat solid food during a marathon.  I usually get enough calories just from Gatorade.  In addition to the Gatorade, I also ate glazed donut holes.  I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t get too depleted, since I’m racing again tomorrow.

I took a long time the first time I went through the aid station.  While I was there, three more runners passed me.  I now counted 11 runners ahead of me.

The out-and-back sections gave me a chance to see the faster runners.  The first runner coming back was the woman who started faster than anyone else.  She was way out in front now.  Later in the same lap, I saw her already in the second half of her third lap, while I was still in my second lap.  She was doing the half marathon and went on to set a new course record.

My second lap was about 30 seconds slower than my first lap.  I was still on pace to break 4:15, but not by much.

In my third lap, I started to wonder how many of the people who were ahead of me were doing the half marathon.  I’d find out in my fourth lap.  By then, the faster runners who were doing the half marathon would already be done.  Anyone ahead of me who was still on the course was either doing the marathon or the seven-hour race.

Late in my third lap, I had a mishap.  I was in Durham City Park, when I reached a small bridge over a creek.  I didn’t remember crossing a bridge before.  I’ve been known to get so focused on pace, distance, and effort, that I don’t always notice my surroundings.  Still, it was odd that I didn’t remember the bridge.  I was on my third lap today.  Including the first two times I did this race, this was now my 15th lap around this course.

I hesitated, but then continued running.  I started to pay more attention to my surroundings.  I kept waiting to see some familiar turns, but I didn’t see them yet.

Next, I saw a playground.  I also didn’t remember seeing a playground at this end of the course.  The loop through Durham City Park is kind of remote.  You don’t see much besides trees.

I turned around and started to backtrack.  I went until I saw the railroad tracks.  On the trail next to the tracks, I saw runners who were completing the loop.  I was just starting the loop, so it didn’t make sense that I should run in the opposite direction that they were going.  I second-guessed myself and turned around again.  It seemed like this had to be the right way to begin the loop.

I crossed the bridge again.  I continued all the way to the playground.  Looking farther ahead, I could see that the path would go through a parking lot.  That was definitely wrong.  I asked people at the playground if they had seen any other runners come through.  I was the only runner they had seen.

I backtracked again.  This time I went all the way back to the railroad tracks.  When I got there, I realized my mistake.  We were supposed to follow the railroad tracks and then do a loop through the park.  Before the beginning of the loop, there was a place where there was a trail going to the right, but we were supposed to go straight.  A short time later, we would reach a fork, and we would keep to the right.  I got to the first junction and thought that was the beginning of the loop, so I turned too soon.

It's worth noting that both of these junctions were extremely well marked.  I just wasn’t paying attention to the signs.  This mistake would haunt me for the rest of the race.

When I finished my third lap, I was half done with the race.  My watch should’ve said 13.1 miles (or perhaps a bit more because of measurement error).  Instead, it said 13.9 miles.  I ran an extra eight tenths of a mile.  I ran it somewhat hesitantly and stopped a few times, so it may have taken as long as a full mile.  I wasted both time and effort.

I had been looking forward to seeing how many runners were still ahead of me.  There were only a few, but their leads were larger now.  One runner, who was only a few minutes ahead of me before, now seemed to be about a mile ahead of me.

That took the wind out of my sails.  My pace in the last three laps was noticeably slower.  Part of that may have been fatigue, but there’s no question part of it was psychological.  If I hadn’t gone off course, I might still be within striking distance of the leaders.  Instead, I was well behind them.

In the first three laps, my mile times ranged from 9:30 to 10:00.  In my 4th and 5th laps, my mile times were between 10 and 11 minutes.

I usually speed up in the last lap of a race.  Not today.  In the last lap, some of my mile times were slower than 11 minutes.

I eventually finished in 4:32:54.  Then I found out I took second place.  It’s a small race, so there are only awards to the first place male and female.  I thought I saw at least three runners who were faster than me, but two of them may have been doing the seven-hour race.  I didn’t have to compete with them.

After getting my medal, I stayed long enough to find out if the runner who beat me is doing all three marathons.  He is.  He leads the triple.  I’m in second place, but I’m 20 minutes back.  Without my wrong turn, I’d still be in second place, but I’d only be trailing by about 10 minutes.

For what it’s worth, my watch read 27 miles when I finished.  Here’s the map of my route that Garmin Connect drew.  The short out-and-back near the east end of the course was the part I wasn’t supposed to run.  I actually ran out-and-back on this segment twice before getting back on course.


Part of my recovery regimen for running on consecutive days is to refuel as soon as possible after the race.  On our way back to the hotel, Deb and I stopped at Burgerville.  Burgerville is a regional fast food chain that uses locally grown ingredients.  That seemed to be a theme of this trip.  Later in the day, we went back to Golden Valley for dinner.  We had to have more of that candied bacon.




Race statistics:
Official Distance:  26.2 miles
Actual Distance (including wrong turn):  27 miles
Time:  4:32:54
Official pace:  10:25
Actual pace:  10:07
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  457

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