Soohy takes part in Mountain Lakes 100
PORTLAND, Ore. — In the middle of a 100-mile race through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, Jordan Soohy was on auto-pilot.
His earphones were in, with nothing playing through them. He couldn’t remember how long they’d been silent, just muffling the sounds of the trail crunching beneath his soles.
Nor did he care.
“You reach a certain point sometimes — especially during the long-distance stuff like this — where you really just kind of stop thinking,” Soohy said. “There’s nothing on your mind. ... That’s why I do it. Those are the best moments.
“I just hope to get to that point, where I’m just kind of flowing and running and not really thinking about it.”
In September, Soohy finished 12th overall in the Mountain Lakes 100 with a time of 22:53:56. He finished seventh among men in the race, but it’s not so much about placement for him as it is easing his mind.
A Seneca Valley graduate, Soohy didn’t compete in cross country or track in high school. He played basketball for a little while, but it didn’t stick. He actually didn’t begin running on a regular basis before moving across the country with his girlfriend.
“I didn’t really know anybody when I moved out here,” Soohy said. “I was kind of just in a weird place trying to get used to everything. I’ve always had a bit of high anxiety and stress and depression on and off in my life.
“I was looking for something to kind of help me with that.”
Therapy didn’t really help like Soohy had hoped. Neither did meeting with counselors or psychiatrists. One day, he tied up his shoes and ran a few miles. He did it the next day, too. Soon enough, it became a daily routine.
“It was a way for me to come home from work and just get rid of all that,” Soohy said. “I always felt better afterwards. ... It’s my medicine. It helps me feel like a better person. Ever since I’ve started running, things have only gotten better in my life.”
The majority of the Mountain Lakes 100 was run on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest, a terrain reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail. Runners went from Mt. Jefferson toward Mt. Hood and back.
“It is one of the most beautiful places in the country, if you ask me,” Soohy said.
He described the course as a lot of climbing and descending, which added to the toll the effort took on his legs.
“That’s one of the most difficult parts of doing a hundred-mile — or any sort of — ultra-marathon in the mountains,” Soohy said. “It’s one thing to run on a flat surface and on pavement and on something smooth. But, the constant up and down of the trail — ascending, it was about 13,000 feet of vertical gain over the course of 100 miles, which is quite a bit.”
It was Soohy’s second time running such a distance competitively. He’d previously taken part in the Antelope Canyon Ultra-Marathon in Page, Ariz.
“Nothing but sand and rocks,” Soohy said of that desert romp.
Soohy hurt his ankle in February and had to bow out of another race he planned to run in. Once he was back to training, he’d 50-95 miles a week. He’d head out for runs of 20-35 miles on Saturday mornings.
“The funny part about doing these races and running 100 miles is that — in the months leading up to the race — you’ve got to run hundreds and hundreds of miles,” Soohy said.
He would train on the roads around where he lives before discovering a nearby park with its own trail-running community.
“I just found something special,” he said. “Being able to run in the woods and on the trail and being able to just take in nature and be out there, that was kind of what changed me from just being a runner that was running half-marathons and running on the road to, ‘Oh, I can run longer distances in these beautiful places.’”
Of course, the length of the race wears on those who take part.
“Your body and mind go through war,” Soohy said. “The low points are the lowest of lows, the worst pain and discomfort you can put your body through. But, that’s exactly why I run them. I need to reach that low moment where I truly believe I cannot continue, only to power through.”
Soohy doesn’t envision himself running a race that’s longer than 100 miles. His long-term goals are to qualify for and run in both the Western States Endurance Run and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. The former is held in California, while the latter — which Soohy describes as “the Super Bowl of trail running — takes place in France.
“I’m just trying to set my personal best every time I do a race,” Soohy said. “I want to be faster than the last time every single time.”
Soohy’s earphones aren’t always silent. He listens to music and podcasts, too. But, there’s something about being immersed in nature that he always comes back around to.
“Sometimes, on the longer runs — especially when I’m in the woods, on a trail — I’ll just kind of listen to my footsteps and being part of the forest, which becomes very peaceful.
“It’s a very good stress reliever.”
