As the title states, this was my first ultra. Angry Owls is unique in that it is a timed race, so there were 3 time options: 6 hour, 12 hour, and 24 hour. I chose the 6 hour and decided to run as much as I could! Having never run more than a marathon before, I was setting my goal at 31 miles (a 50K), which I greatly surpassed at 41 miles!

Delving into the comments about the race and explanation for my rankings:

T-shirts/SWAG: I'm not a huge fan of all the bling and t-shirts that come with every race. I have more T-shirts than I can hope to wear, and my medals often just collect dust. Angry Owl understood that, and gave us very sleek hats instead! This surely helped to keep the race cost lower which I appreciated as a recent college grad.

Aid stations: It's a 1-mile looped course, so there was only 1 aid station at the start/finish. It was VERY well stocked with anything you could wish to eat and drink. Pizza, gummy bears, pickles, Tailwind, burritos and the list could just go on! I brought my own supplements, but I was confident that should I run out, they would have what I needed. Oh, and I snuck a couple gummy bears at the end.

Course scenery: For a 1 mile course, Bush Park was excellent. You run mostly on trail, right by Willamette University's track, and then back into the forest that lines a creek you can hope into. When the temps reach 95 degrees on your run, the creek was a blessing.

Elevation: I think the change in elevation was maybe 7ft per mile? It's extremely flat and the one "climb" is just a short section of the trail approximately 1/3 of the way into the mile.

Parking: Ample parking at Bush park and in the neighborhood around. The start is also set-up right next to the parking zone, and the course runs right by it, so you could even back in your car, pop open the trunk and set-up right there, which is exactly what my crew did. It also made it easy for my spectating family and friends to find the area since it was just adjacent to the parking lot.

Race management: Absolutely terrific! From the hype posts on Facebook to the informative emails days in advance, this race management was 5 stars! They are super friendly, and they would sing praise to each runner as they ran by! I've never felt more supported and cared about as a racing individual than the Crusty Cap crew made me feel. They would joke about the color of my shorts, tell me my pace was amazing, and one volunteer or race coordinator came up to my car afterwards as I hobbled in to congratulate me on a great run.

Overall: 10/10 I would recommend this as anybody's first ultra! It's an easy course that is well supported. You won't get bored running in the loops, and if you're looking to push yourself the race managers will make sure that you are well equipped in morale and aid to make it there! I'm absolutely looking forward to running this race again, but maybe spending more time on the course (24 hours...!) because of the great people I met.