Let's start with the distance. This is the longest scramble in the series, the course varying each year a little depending on Kevin's mood. This year's route came in at 7.2 miles, give or take.
Next let's analyze Kevin's pre-race comments on the course. He usually says something cheeky like 'It's 6 miles but it'll feel like 8!" Or it's five and a half but it'll feel like 7!" Always with a big grin on his face, too. For Ole's Assault?
"It's a little over 7 but it'll feel like 15!"
How right he was...
Throw in rain in the days leading up to the event (not to mention thunder, lightning and rain DURING), add in steeper hills and gullies and ravines, lower obstacles that are crazy hard for a guy 6'4" - and you have a much more epic-er XDog outing.
The race is held on property just outside of Astoria, OR. Ole was the original owner of much of the land in the area, and his granddaughter and her family still own and work the land today. They run a logging operation and do it in a sustainable way, which is pretty awesome.
We had driven over the night before and camped at Cape Disappointment out near Ilwaco, WA. We scored a nice little campsite at the end of the road and enjoyed a fairly quiet evening. Camera Crew even got in a little kite flying. I don't mean a short span of time kite flying; I mean a 'little kite'.
It started sprinkling a little just as the sun was going down so we were forced indoors (tent) earlier than we would have liked, given the mild temps. But we played cards (I crushed her at Crazy 8's, she killed me at Go Fish), then we hit the hay so we could be well rested for the big day of killing ourselves.
We got up the next morning after a wonderfully restful sleep, fired up the camp stove to heat water for coffee and tea. We made breakfast - fruit and PBJ's, then broke camp. The drive over to Klaskanine River Park took about 45 minutes. We were enjoying the windy roads of Highway 202 out of Astoria and blew right past the turn off to the race start. We joked that we did that intentionally because we were both feeling a little apprehension over this event.
Ole's Assault brought out the usual XDog crazies. Many people look familiar since we've seen them many times over the last several months. A few asked what event number we were on - we're famous that way. I've said it before - this crowd is awesome. A special breed of people who are always more interested in a good time than in their finish time. We hit the restrooms and waited for the pre-race announcements, which are always entertaining. The gist of the instructions are 'if you get lost or hurt yourself, it's your own damn fault'. To start us off, Kevin led us out in the truck for the first 1.25 miles on some paved and gravel roads, then released us upon the 'trails'. Or maybe it was 'released the trails upon us'.
There were many obstacles on the course, some man made and others placed by Mother Nature. It seems there were a lot of 'duck under and/or crawl' obstacles, which were brutal to my lower back. Standing back up straight got more difficult the further along we went. To rub a little lemon juice into the cut, we were standing on a very steep bank sizing up the best way to get to the bottom of a particularly nasty gully, when alluvasudden my feet went out from under me in the slimy mud and I landed square flat on my back. Ouch. Still hurts today - partly because of another fall a few days later!
That, kids, is what we call foreshadowing.
About two-thirds of the way through we came across a young man named Jake, about 15, who was visibly upset. We asked if he was okay and he replied that his mom had fallen, hit her head and was bleeding, so he was trying to find help. Camera Crew is a trained Wilderness First Responder and I have a fair share of training as well. So we asked a few questions - not enough, as it turned out - and decided to backtrack to find them, see what we could do to help. Jake was with some other runners so we sent them on the way out. The info we got made it sound like his mom was just back up the trail a little ways. Thankfully, we met up with the boys older brother, Aiden, and found out a couple of vital pieces of information: His mom hadn't fallen and hit her head, but rather had smacked it while ducking under a log. Big difference. The velocity of a fall would lend itself to a more serious injury, but bumping your pumpkin could only be so bad, since one would theoretically be moving a little slower while maneuvering under a deadfall. And we found out that she was actually back very near the start of the trail portion of the race, not any where near where we were. So we decided to re-retrace our route, and head back along the course with Aiden until we got to a point to hook up with the road. We found the younger brother and left them near the road to be picked up by volunteers. A gal named Liz came through saying she had arranged help to get to the mom via the road and that there were a couple of soldiers with her and her husband. So those guys would definitely be trained to help her out.
Well, we were pretty frazzled by all that excitement, confusion and extra effort. The finish was a little anti-climactic because we were just a little fried from the course and the backtracking. Needless to say, this race was exceptionally epically awesomely difficult - and fun, in it's own devilish way. It was as advertised - the toughest XDog event of the season. As usual, we felt a unique sense of accomplishment that comes from the extreme nature of a challenge such as this. It pushes your limits as well as your buttons, a test of physical and mental toughness. We did pretty well in both categories, for the most part. I will say that at least I wasn't speaking in tongues like after the Dirty Duathlon back in April.
I'm sure Ole was looking down at the spectacle, laughing his ass off.
We took Highway 30 back to Portland. I like this drive - it's interesting and traffic moves along. But, wow, my back was killing me. Sitting still while driving just made it tighten up, which made unloading the SUV fun. Oh well - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
Get some massage for that back, buddy - you are describing something that can just cascade from one pain to compensating pain elsewhere. Consider it an anniversary gift - send me the bill!
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