LOCATION: Clackamas Ranger Station, Mt Hood, Oregon
So I heard about this new marathon online. It look the idea of the Mt Hood PCT 50 miler and made a marathon out of it. The PCT 50 runs from Clackamas Ranger 
Station to Timberline Lodge and back. So the organizers of the Timberline Marathon decided to bus you to Timberline Lodge and have you run the 25 miles to Clackamas Ranger Station, then have you run another 1.2 mile loop. I thought it would be a fun downhill course. So I signed up. I drove to Mt Hood and spent the night at Clear Lake campgrounds (not too far from Clackamas Ranger Station). Since the weather was quite rainy that night, I decided to sleep in my car instead of pitching a tent in the rain. It was the first time that I slept in my car prior to a marathon, I done it dozens of times since. I drove to a parking lot where you catch a bus to Timberline Lodge. I met a couple of Maniacs there. The buses were about 20-30 minutes late, which freaked some people out. Once we got to Timberline Lodge they started people two at a time. I remember thinking I could run fast since it was mostly downhill, but I didn't realize how running a trail marathon is a lot slower than running a road marathon. At one point along the trail there was a bees nest. I heard a few runners ahead of me say "Bees!". I didn't think much of it until I saw it and jumped off the trail and quickly ran away. The bees were quite mad, and one (or two) of them got in my sock and stung me, I didn't really feel it until a while later. I head a few people got stung 10-12 times. Quite scary! I ended up running a 4:40, which isn't horrible for being my first trail marathon. A good time!
Station to Timberline Lodge and back. So the organizers of the Timberline Marathon decided to bus you to Timberline Lodge and have you run the 25 miles to Clackamas Ranger Station, then have you run another 1.2 mile loop. I thought it would be a fun downhill course. So I signed up. I drove to Mt Hood and spent the night at Clear Lake campgrounds (not too far from Clackamas Ranger Station). Since the weather was quite rainy that night, I decided to sleep in my car instead of pitching a tent in the rain. It was the first time that I slept in my car prior to a marathon, I done it dozens of times since. I drove to a parking lot where you catch a bus to Timberline Lodge. I met a couple of Maniacs there. The buses were about 20-30 minutes late, which freaked some people out. Once we got to Timberline Lodge they started people two at a time. I remember thinking I could run fast since it was mostly downhill, but I didn't realize how running a trail marathon is a lot slower than running a road marathon. At one point along the trail there was a bees nest. I heard a few runners ahead of me say "Bees!". I didn't think much of it until I saw it and jumped off the trail and quickly ran away. The bees were quite mad, and one (or two) of them got in my sock and stung me, I didn't really feel it until a while later. I head a few people got stung 10-12 times. Quite scary! I ended up running a 4:40, which isn't horrible for being my first trail marathon. A good time!
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