11/11, 7:00 9 of us piled into 2 cars and drove out to Smith Rock State Park, with 2 stops on the way. I happened to be in a car with 2 Indians (from different regions) and an American (the driver) who lived in India (and speaks multiple Indian languages). We spent quite sometime discussing languages. Arrived at the park around 10am. Didn't know that Run The Rock was today. 50 mile, 50 Km, and half marathon. The park looked quite festival. We had difficulty finding a parking spot. Eventually parked in the lawn in front of the field station.
We were doing the Summit Loop today, with a couple of spurs. A small part of the Summit Loop trail is new to me, like the Burma Road. The runners were going down on the road. One lady had problem with her knees. Another was running with trekking poles. One runner was dressed as Elvis. We were hiking against the running traffic, and met runners almost all the time. Strange that we didn't see any supply stations during our hike, except at the very beginning/end, where two timers were ticking away. 
We had lunch by Crooked River before detouring to Monkey Face on Mesa Verde trail. It was warm and calm (a bit windier on the top). Once we were back down the river, we saw runners again. These were the tough ones, on their 2nd loop of 25 mile. Saw only 1 girl. By the time we were back to the road/toilet, a couple of 50 milers had already finished (under 8 hours)!Weather was quite nice. Rain when I arrived at Gateway. Cloudy on the way. Partly sunny here. Dry trail. The mountains were semi-covered by low clouds, but we can still make them out. Lots of snow on the mountains.
On the way back, our car decided to have dinner at a new Japanese eatery in Welch, called Koya. The food isn't good (a poor imitation of Asian cuisine, probably run by a local who's never been to Asia), but the sake list is longer than the food list. I had a sake flight and soba noodle. The noodle soup has no flavor, just diluted soy sauce. The small dining area is homey, and each light bulb has different filament. I got dropped off ~8pm only 3 stops from home, it happened that all 4 of us lived on the west side.
