Yesterday I completed the Tillamook Burn. I can sum it up in a single word and that is brutal. The course description warned of "lung busting" hills which admitaly I didn't really read until after the race. However when I see lung busting on the description I still think long steady incline, I used to do hills in cross country miles of hills in some cases. But these lung busters were not just lung busters they were soul crushing piles of earth hell bent on destroying your mind and body as you attempted to ascend them one step at a time...

The course was somehow more up hill than down. The first section was pretty easy nice long easy hill then down by the river and then quick up and down stuff into and out of mini gulches while following the shore by the river. The middle killed me with the hills. The last mile or two was fairly flat, but very wet as a good stretch was in a creek (not across but up and in stream) and some culverts under the road.

If I'm gonna keep doing this kind of think I may need to find some place new to train for these kinda hills and terrain...