"why do they call it oyster dome?" "it's an ancient temple built by oysters."

live streaming at KBOD 2015. photo
courtesy  of susan harumi duffield glesne.

i lost count of the stream crossings at the kill bill's oyster dome challenge 25k.

partly because there were a lot of them...partly because some of the trails themselves were streams.

the organizers for this, the inaugural KBOD event, set a strong precedent. this was a low-maintenance affair, classed up with nice people and actual oysters. i mean, i've heard about exotic aid station fare at other events, but i'm not sure they included bivalves.

"did you actually eat an oyster?"
"heck, yeah, i ate an oyster."

evermore, part of the lore.

because of what cliff maas described as a "potent westerly atmospheric river event," there was an amazing amount of water coursing through the, uh, course. in the pre-race briefing, one of the organizers said there was water on the trails where there's never water on the trails.

trip-trapping over someone's bridge.
photo courtesy of takeo suzuki.

so, while you may have been able to keep your feet dry after the first couple of crossings, the rest of the day you just picked a path and plunged through. bloosh. also, that thing about trails themselves being streams? that was real. in some places the only way to go was down the sluice. sloosh.

car ride from seattle to alger: rain.
car ride from alger to seattle: rain.
entire race and post-race: no rain to speak of. (despite a dire forecast for bellingham and the surrounding areas. "an inch or more on the way, starting at about 9 a.m." yeah, nope.)

the course was a trail runner's playground: chinscraper-esque climbs, long descents, and lots of runnable terrain in between. gps reports vary, but the range was from 3200 to 3750 feet of elevation. at either end, a sturdy challenge.

many thanks to the folks at northwest endurance events for a new race on damn fun trails. and to the oysters for sharing this great place they call dome.

***********
kill bill's oyster dome challenge 25k

3:35:37
26/76 (overall)
3/6 (m 50-59)
shoes: saucony xodus 3.0 with lots of miles and a grippy vibram tread. glad i still had these in my closet.