Diving deeper into the local race culture of Washington, I was excited to have the opportunity to have a go at Cascade Crest 100. I have seen friends go and run this race in years past but it wasn’t until this summer that everything aligned for me to race.
For those who arent familiar with Cascade Crest, it is a popular mountain 100 mile endurance run set in the Washington cascades that is only accessible via a lottery. In January of this year I was #144 on the waitlist for this race and thought I had a small chance of actually getting into the race. Luckily I decided to stay on the waitlist and see how things played out. I did the required trail work and was slowly making my wait up the waitlist. Then a week before the race I found myself in position #30 and then two days before the race I was given a spot! I had prepared well for this race even including a taper with a PCT section J FKT attempt backup plan if I wasn’t so fortunate.
I have been making great progress in learning how to tailor my training to my needs, schedule, and indicators of progress. Its so hard to step back and think about what actually makes progress in our training when there are so many external ideas about what works. Sometimes what we need is very obvious but takes time to understand.
My goals for this race were all about my own learning. I wanted to really show that I know how to run 100 miles. I wanted to run across the finish line. In all my previous attempts at this distance (run rabbit run in 2024 and Javelina in 2025) I had some major malfunction that caused a death march to the finish. To me this race was really about capturing data on this distance so that I can continue to improve.
Start to Stampede pass (~ mile 31)
This years course was changed last minute to an OAB due to a wildfire that spawned two days before the event. I love a nice loop so this was disappointing but I was still excited to chase my goals. I started off at a more conservative pace in the first few miles letting the leader go ahead of me (Devin Olson). I was trying to keep my heart rate lower but then made the decision to catch back up with Devin since I generally wasn’t struggling to keep up and thought it was a manageable pace (easily holding a conversation). Devin and I went back and forth with each other for the first 10 miles before I made a move up a dirt road out of the Cole-blowout saddle aid station. I hadn’t met Devin before this race and didn’t know what I was in for the rest of the day. The rest of the race to stampede pass I was 5-10 mins in front of Devin, never really extending the lead to a comfortable level but also trying to save some energy for a great finish. I checked in on my energy levels by paying attention to my mood and my ability to eat food. I was able to eat all my gels and was cheery at each aid station/when passing others cheering. I even saw a baby bear in a tree which startled me as it hissed at me when I ran past it.
Stampede Pass to Hyak (~mile 51)
This was probably my most cruisy section of the day. My energy and mood remained high and I was moving well through some of the less verty section of the course. I continued to eat just about every gel I packed (which exceeded 100g/hour). I was thinking about how good I would feel at the halfway point and how that would set me up for a great second half of the race. I went through the tunnel and I think I was hitting ~7:30 pace which was great. I remember someone from one of the aid stations told me “you are here early… I mean REALLY early”. I ended up hitting the half around 8:09 which was probably right on Jimmy Elam’s loop CR splits. My coworkers also showed up with an amazing sign that literally almost made me cry. It was so awesome seeing everyone here.
Hyak to Stampede Pass (~ mile 69)
I picked up my pacer Aaron here and we were off cruising, I saw Devon and then knew I was about 10 mins in front of him. Still not a very comfortable gap. I didnt worry too much and focused on being steady with my pacing. Aaron got me going well up the ropes course and the subsequent small but steep climb up an old logging road. From there we began to see other racers and this really boosted me. Every time I saw someone we knew it was like a hit of dopamine. We were talking and having fun. Then once people started thinning out near the back of the pack I noticed I was feeling hungry. This wasn’t good, it meant I was falling behind on calories so I took about 3 gels in about a 15 min span which helped tremendously. I then ran out of gels that I brought prematurely and began to rely on aid station food. I scarfed down a PBJ and a few Gu gels (not my favorite) and kept going. I was still running well but was concerned about the hunger cues as I was really on top of eating all my gels and must’ve still been well over 100g/hour which has been my go to standard. At stampede pass I got ready for the night. I slipped on a bandana to help with keeping the air in my lungs warm and moist, put on a waitlamp and a naked belt to hold my leki poles, and got a full vest of gels and liquids. I told my crew I needed to eat real food. I was blessed with some nori rice rolls from the aid station which hit the spot. I then headed out with Christian ready to take on the part of the race I feared the most.
Stampede Pass to Finish
All I needed to do was keep running through this section and minimize walking/stopping. That is what I told Christian and kept saying in my head. In the past this is where I had fallen apart. I definitely started this section in the best shape id been in before so we were off to a good start. The trail to Tacoma Pass was pretty uneventful although I was worried my pace was slowing. I just told myself to go as fast as I thought I could maintain to the end. At each aid station I would try some new food that they had, soup, avocado, chips, pretzels. This was really ideal but my gels were cutting it for me at that point. Looking back this is the probably the biggest lesson I learned from this race – eat more and probably more real food too! Its incredible Im able to continually accept higher calorie and carb levels while racing.
At Tacoma Pass I tried to shove down some mashed potatoes and Red Bull too quickly and it all came back up. This is really the first time I’ve ever thrown up while racing ever so I was a bit surprised but I immediately felt better. I left the aid station with new gels and liquids and started up the huge climb out of Tacoma Pass. I knew this would be tough but not the Crux of this section for me. I was confident I could keep or extend my gap up the Little Bear climb but the final descent is what would be tough for me. As we reached Little Bear I again tried a new food (pringles and avocados this time) and was on my way. I had unknowingly extended the gap to 21 mins at this aid station. Which looking back is really hard to think about. As we moved from this aid station all climbing had become very difficult, luckily I was able to run a few less steep climbs with the help of my leki poles including the road out of saddle 2 aid station. Here is where I heard the cheers of the aid station volunteers about 10 mins after we departed. That ripped me apart mentally. I was hoping the gap (that I assumed had opened up Little Bear but wasnt sure by how much) was much larger. Devon was fighting hard and I was giving everything I could to not fall off the trail on the rutted dirtbike trails on the way down from Goat peak. Eventually after running scared for about 5 miles I saw Devon’s light flare up behind me and knew it was over. At this point I was just happy I was still running (although much slower) and set my goals to finish under 19 hours.
On the last 5 miles or so I got pretty grumpy, probably from a lack of calories and from the deep ruts in the traik that tested my will in the final miles. Eventually we made it to the road and Maggie ran it in with us. 18:49:44 with a final mile ~9:30 pace. I was so happy to finish with that final mile being an actually running pace that I didnt really think too much about getting passed so late in the race. I knew now that I could really run 100 miles. That I could compete and do some serious damage. I even already knew what I needed to fix.
Thank you to Maggie, Aaron, and Christian for stepping up last minute and helping me achieve my goals. Yall are the best crew I could ever want and mean so much to me.
I wore the Injinji Ultra Run Mid-Weight Mini-Crew Socks for this race and they helped keep my feet in spectacular shape. Minimal blisters and basically no toenail damage was seen during this race. These socks have extra padding that helps with those longer races!
-Noah
