Course-Trained - Running the Mountain Trails

Kettle Moraine 100 Miler - Madison, WI

2009-06-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

Every year I try to do at least one trip to the Midwest to visit my Dad. Last year was Kettle Moraine 100KM. It was an epic day filled with heat waves, thunderstorms, hailstorms and a tornado watch. Despite all that I had a good race in my first 100K and a fun time throughout. And I really fell in love with the terrain of the Ice Age Trail that it's run on. Lots of climbing (more than 12000 feet) but mostly soft pine needle-laden trails.

So I decided to head back again this year, but step up to a 100 miler for the first time. I've always been a bit ambivalent about 100 milers. Is it really necessary to run a whole day straight? But if I was going to do one, Kettle was probably the best first 100 miler for me. The only thing that scared me was the need to head back out after getting into the "finish" at mile 62. Plus the race director Timo Yanacheck (one of the nicest guys I've ever met) lets participants "drop" at 100K and still gives them credit for the 100K. This is just too much temptation!

My plan was to try to run 23 hours. But anything less than 24 hours would have been just fine. I planned all of my times at the various aid stations and Judith was going to meet me with my preferred fuel and good cheer at each one.

The race was bigger this year and now has chip timing. I guess this is less work for the RDs but seems like it detracts from the simplicity of trail racing (I don't think I'll use it for the Quicksilver Trail Half Marathon). So race morning we picked up my chip and waited for race start on a much cooler morning than last year.

Ready to run at the Nordic start area

After Timo started us out, we headed out on rolling soft green firetrails to Tamarack at mile 5. Then more rolling firetrails to Bluff Road at mile 7.5. I got to Emma Carlin at mile 15.5 ahead of schedule at 2:25 (had planned 3 hours), so I missed Judith who had gotten there at 2:30. I had to settle for aid station Heed here, which upsets my stomach a bit (any conventional sugary sports drink does). Then the dreaded open fields, which this year weren't too bad as it wasn't that hot. I met Judith at Highway 67 at Mile 23.5. with my preferred ultra fuel (Perpetuem). From highway 67 there is lots of single track up and down connecting to some wide fireroad. On the fireroad Zach Gingerich passed me in the other direction, running very fast and strong. Then the fireroad started uphill to get up to Scuppernong. On the way up the hill, I noticed several runners come the other way who I had passed earlier (and hadn't repassed me). There's a shortcut marked off with a white chalk "NO" on the uphill to Scuppernong where a runner could bypass about two miles of running by taking it. Oh well, its a full 100 mile - two miles shouldn't matter too much in a race this long. And my only goal today was to finish.

I reached the Scuppernong turnaround in 5:24 this year (a bit slower than last year). I stopped for a leisurely lunch here with Judith: soup, red skin potatoes, Red Bull and cacao nibs. Yum. Heading back down the trail from Scuppernong, I saw another older runner with a long beard trying to take the NO shortcut. I told him he was going the wrong way. Heads up Timo - you may want to clarify why people shouldn't do this during the race briefing?

On the way back, there were no thunderstorms this year. I hit Highway 67, Emma Carlin and Bluff without incident. Then back through Tamarack where I had a leisurely break for some great grilled cheese and tomato soup from Ian Stevens and the rest of the crew there. I purposely did my fueling there because I wanted a quick turn at Nordic to go back out right away. While there Chris Garcia arrived. Chris is another Bay area ultra runner and had written to me asking about conditions at Kettle Moraine and to recommend training - somewhat amusing as he is a far more experienced ultrarunner than I am.

After a leisurely meal chatting with Ian, I passed Chris and got in a couple minutes earlier. I hit the 100K mark at the start/finish area at 11:50. Last year I finished the 100K in 13:55 (4th master, 13th overall) so I was pleased with progress thus far and wasn't really feeling tired. I grabbed a quick potato and coke and headed back out immediately, trying to avoid the lure of the finish area. On the way back to Bluff Road I got more grilled cheese at the Tamarack aid station from Ian, and got back to Bluff Again around 7:20pm.

On the way out from Bluff to Highway 12 Zach Gingerich passed the other way, probably around 8:30 pm, with maybe 15 miles left in his race. I realized then that he was likely to beat Eric Clifton's course record and maybe even sub 15 hours? The next aid station after Bluff is at Highway 12 at Mile 77. I hit it at 9pm when it was getting dark. I stopped to drink ginger tea, abandon my iPhone (not safe conditions to be running with music at night) and rig up my headlamp and flashlights. I haven't done much night running except pacing Jean Pommier at Rio Del Lago 100. And that course really wasn't that technical. The trail out to Rice Lake (both before and after Highway 12), by contrast, is quite technical. I slowed down enormously at this point getting used to the idea of running on single track on a cloudy night.

Still at mile 81, I was apparently in eighth according to the webcast (not sure if believe that). I just downed a quick cup of coffee here as this wasn't a crewed aid station. On the way back to Highway 12, I was passed by several runners who were much more confident at night. I arrived back to mile 85 at about the same time as Chris. As I sat drinking coffee and talking with Judith, I told him it was my first 100 miler so I was all about finishing today and I wasn't going to go chase him down.

After mile 85 though, my quads were completely done. I've never had that happen before after quite a few ultras with punishing climbs and descents. So I settled for a brisk powerwalk back to the Bluff aid station at mile 92.5. Judith walked me a half mile out on the way to Tamarack in the dark, which helped my spirits quite a bit. At Bluff, I drank more coffee and downed some miso soup: almost as good as Tamarack's tomato. After a fast 2.5 mile walk to Tamarack, I got some more soup from the kind volunteers there (Ian was napping at the time though). Then a five mile walk back to the finish. I did manage some stiff legged running for the last two miles back there.

I finished in 21:40 to my pleasant surprise since I had planned for 23 hours. This was twentieth overall. But I was mostly just glad to finish my first 100 miler as I wasn't quite sure that I had it in me to do it.

Spent and happy to be sitting

Chris was the next finisher ahead of me, just 90 seconds beyond Robert Insley. Zach Gingerich finished in an incredible 15 hours 17 minutes for a new course record by 40 minutes. This kid has a future in ultrarunning. Zach, when do you come out West to challenge the big guns? Timo presented me with the small kettle that all 100 mile finishers get. And we hung around for a bit drinking cocoa and eating chili. I am very curious when my quads will return as they still seem quite immobilized.

Buffalo Run 50 Miler, Salt Lake City UT

2009-03-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Having business in Salt Lake City on Friday, on Saturday I did the Buffalo Run on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This great race was started three years by my friend Jim Skaggs. I did the first one that year and fell in love with the race and its venue on Antelope Island amidst the dramatic Wahsatch range. I'm not alone in liking and recommending the race. After under 150 people participated the first year, the race has grown to over 460 participants. Nikki Kimball (probably America's fastest woman ultrarunner at least at shorter distances) showed up for the 50K.

This year I thought that I would just do the 50K, given that American River was the next week. But the race venue is so great that I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to step up and do the whole 50 mile, but just take it easy. I would have been happy with any time under 9 hours, after winning masters in 8:38 last year. We got to the start just at 6am and saw over a hundred people gathered at the starting line - a big increas from previous years. Shortly afterwards Jim sent us out. I was carrying a flashlight but it really wasn't quite necessary with all the other runners. I once again (incredibly) missed that first turnoff as did several other runners and had to double back (not very far this year). We were then on flat singletrack heading south towards Elephant Head. We eventually made the climb towards Lone Tree (with no aid station set up there this year). I fell in with Cory Johnson and got to hear about his many successful 100 milers including five successful completions of the Hard Rock 100.

On the out and back to the edge of Elephant Head I stopped to take some pictures of buffalos. I continued running out to the edge to pick up a kids sticker to prove my presence: "Super!". We bombed back down the fire road and eventually picked up some single track that climbed up the islands central ridge. It then descends back to close to the starting area at mile 19. Then there's quite a grind up a hill up to mile 20 and the main eastside road. This year this was an aid station, and to my surprise Judith was there waiting in her beloved Red Hummer with a welcoming kiss. This was a great surprise and boosted my spirits immensely. She told me I was 18th at the time, but I wasn't really keeping track.

I continued on without getting any aid and hit the single track near the east shore of the island. We turned north to head up to mile 21's turnaround, where there was no aid this year. There was also no course marshall. How do they make sure people do it? Utah people don't cheat I guess? (they all seem quite nice)

Then there's all mostly flat, slightly rolling single track down that east shore down to mile 33 and the turnaround. I hit the halfway point at four hours. Hmm... too fast, given that the race finishes with technical hilly terrain? I don't know - it felt like I was running easily, efficient and strong. During this stretch I passed several runners and even more on the way back up to turnoff back to the start at mile 44. Judith was there again with good cheer and encouragement. The guy in front of me that I had been chasing down took a chair there and I think dropped. I reached it at 7:13, possibly within reach of 8 hours if I really wanted to crank it the last six miles. But my goal for the day was just to run easy and finish strong.

I ran back down the fireroad along the fence feeling good and took a right onto the exposed single track which led out to a short stretch of road. Then another right onto the nicest most scenic singletrack of the day. Near mile 46 it lets out onto another aid station and the entrance to the rocky, rolling, technical single track that encircles the northwest peninsula of the island. Last year I felt bad here but felt great this year the whole time. Around mile 47 I had to do a small bushwhack to avoid a buffalo blocking the trail and munching on a bush. I knocked up out some consistent 9 minute miles and finished in 8:07, good for first master again and tenth overall.

After saying hi to Jim we headed back across the causeway to Layton, looking forward to a day of boarding at Snowbasin on Sunday.

Los Gatos Overgrown Fatass Trail Marathon Results

2009-02-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Despite the impending rain (which turned out to be not so bad and probably helped times overall), twenty runners gathered at Novitiate Park this morning to run the second annual Los Gatos Overgrown Fatass Trail Marathon, also known as the Overgrown Fatass. I was inspired to first hold this race last year based on the steepness of the overall course running over Mt. Sombroso. See the elevation profile below as captured by Baldwyn Chieh on his Garmin 405 on MotionBased.com. This year Sean Lang was my co-race director. This turned out to be quite a big help as his wife Heidi manned the 13 mile aid station on Hicks Road along with her colleagues from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

We set out promptly at 8am. I chatted going up the Jones Trail hill with my friends Cynthia Moore and David Dreyfuss. Eventually Sean came alongside with Gordy and Sean, Pierre Couteau and I bombed down Jones Trail to Alma Bridge Road. Turning left on Alma Bridge we ran the half mile over to the Overgrown (aka Limekiln Trail). On the climb we seemingly dropped Pierre. We went the two miles up to the Kennedy Intersection, reaching it at 39 minutes. This is probably my fastest time for this stretch. Carol Silvera was waiting for us up there with water, good cheer and a cowbell. She had shlepped a case of water and gels up there for all of us.

Sean and I kept going and got to the top of Mount Sombroso at 1:11. Again, this is a time that I won't be matching soon. We bombed down the other side on Woods Trail to Hicks Road. Pierre passed us on the descent moving at an incredible sub 7 minute clip. He came back out of Hicks Road and I passed him about half a mile out of the aid. I reached the Hicks Road aid at around 2:03 and got my bottles refilled. Sean came in shortly afterwards. I climbed back up Sombroso in 67 minutes, which also surprised me, making far better time than I expected.

My toes were really hurting on the descent and I didn't make great time. I was still in second when I passed Carol again at the Limekiln Kennedy intersection. But Sean and Mike Mahon passed me on the last part of Overgrown reaching Alma Bridge Road. Once they were past I loped out an even pace back to Novitiate Park, finishing in 4:22 which was far faster than I would have imagined. Here's the profile of the run as captured by my 405. According to Garmin its more than 10,000 feet of climbing. I think that's a bit exaggerated (as Garmins tend to. But its certainly at least 6000 - probably something like 7000 feet.

Pierre won in an incredible 3:59 a time that will stand for a while I predict. Sean was second in 4:17. Mike was third in 4:19, I was fourth, and Andy Benkert (who I had run with a couple weeks ago at the Saratoga Gap Fatass) was fifth in 4:32.

My good friend Max Petersen was giving free massages and stretching to all runners. Fantastic! It will certainly help me recover more quickly. We all hung around drinking Lagunitas, eating, and cheering other runners in. A great winter's day of running. Huge thanks to Wendy Bernal for checking everyone in and out, Carol Silvera for running the Overgrown-Kennedy aid station and Heidi Lang and friends for running the Hicks Road aid station.

Full results:
1. Pierre Couteau, 3:59.07
2. Sean Lang, 4:17.40
3. Mike Mahon, 4:19.21
4. Adam Blum, 4:22:38
5. Andy Benkert, 4:32.30
6. Jim Normile, 4:50
7. Haiming Yu, 4:52
8. Jim Magill, 5:09.20
9. Toshi Hosaka, 5:35.00
10. Doug Bloyd, 5:35.10
10. Baldwin Chieh, 5:35.10
12. Anil Rao, 5:36
13. Keith Lubliner, 5:38.30
14. James McDonald, 5:48.20
15. Cynthia Moore, 6:30
16. David Dreyfuss, 6:30

Half marathon:
1. Frank Kochinke, 1:54
2. Basty Kochinke, 1:54
3. Eleanor Normile, 2:14

Los Gatos Overgrown Fatass Trail Marathon- Los Gatos CA

2009-02-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

This year's Overgrown Fatass will be held on February 8th at 8am at the Jones Trailhead in Novitiate Park in Los Gatos. It has been advertised on Facebook for a while but some attendees aren't Facebook subscribers so I'm doing this possibly redundant post. Here is what is posted on Facebook:

Los Gatos Overgrown Fatass Trail Marathon
Los Gatos to San Jose on the Overgrown Trail through Sierra Azul
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009
Time: 8:00am - 1:00pm
Location:Novitiate Park (Jones trailhead)
Street: Jones Avenue
City/Town:Los Gatos, CA
Contact Info:a@adamblum.com.
Route:Jones Trail to dam, Alma Bridge Road over to Overgrown Trail. Overgrown Trail to top of Mount Sombroso. Wood Trail down to Hicks Road and return.

Description:
26.2 miles. 6000 feet of climbing. 95 percent trail. Scenic views of the whole Bay area from the top of Mount Sombroso. There will be aid at the intersection of Overgrown (Limekiln) and Kennedy (about four miles in) and at Hicks Road (13 miles in) and of course Overgrown and Kennedy again (22 miles). But PLEASE remember to bring your own water bottle.

Here's the run from the LG Roasting Company (which is about half a mile before the actual race morning start) to top of Mount Sombroso and back. Check out the burly elevation profile. Also here's the post on last year's run which has maps of the course and directions to get there.

Thanks to ZombieRunner for providing goodies to each of the runners! And a big thanks to the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District for the permit. Most importantly thanks to Carol Silvera for running the Overgrown/Kennedy intersection aid and to Heidi Lang and the Leukemia/Lymphoma society for running the Hicks Road aid station!

The Santa Cruz Badass Run - Los Gatos to Santa Cruz CA

2009-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite training runs takes me from my house in the Santa Cruz mountains to Santa Cruz all on trails. I documented the full tunnel run in previous blog posts (replete with tunnel pictures). Several local running friends that weren't able to make the tunnel run (or it was too long for them) asked about the shorter route right from my house to Santa Cruz. So I decided (in true ultrarunner "fatass" tradition) to hold the first annual "Santa Cruz Badass Run" from my house to Badass Coffee in downtown Santa Cruz. In addition to finishing at Badass Coffee, my favorite SC Java shop, the title of the run I hoped would preclude any whining about the limited bushwhacking, scrambling and river splashing required - a strategy that mostly worked.

Ten trailrunning speedsters gathered at my house on Sunday morning: Jean "the injured Frenchman" Pommier, Leor "fastest known ascent" Pantilat, Gary "course record record holder" Gellin, Paul "straight over it" Taylor, Alistair "bombing Scotsman" Adams, Rich "the mountain biking comic" Blanco, Brian "masters miler" Lucido, Pierre "rail rider" Couteau, Mike "Western States" Topper and myself.

Before leaving, we arranged for my friend Wendy and Gary's wife Holly to take vehicles to Santa Cruz to meet us there. We set off at 8am and within 3 minutes were down onto the trail. The caravan crossed over Mountain Charlie Gulch on a log and were on the old "Rudy Trail" logging road that parallels Mountain Charlie Gulch. Eventually this runs up to a point where you can turn right to go back down to the Gulch. An old locomotive boiler is there and that's my normal loop back home on my daily run loop. Instead of visiting that (maybe next year's Badass?) we kept straight past a timber harvest boundary and into some tall brush that covered the road. I was expecting whining at this point, but perhaps the name of this run held that at bay.

After some overgrown trail we dropped down a snowboard style slide down into a wash and scramble up the other side back onto the old railroad grade. I normally take a line that climbs gradually up the other side and led the guys over that this time. Paul somehow found a way straight up the vertical cliff (I need to have him show me how he did it).

We were stopping often to reassemble at these points but still making really good time overall. Pretty soon we hit the old Zayante Tunnel north end (what I refer to as tunnel #4, portal #7)

After bushwhacking over the tunnel hill to the other side of the tunnel (pictures of that on previous blog posts), we arrived back on the railroad grade trail. Shortly afterwards, the railroad grade runs out into Zayante Schoolhouse Road. A fence there gets you back onto the beginning of the old tracks: some of the guys stopped to take pictures there.

Once we got onto the tracks Brian, Rich, and I started really blazing (6:30 pace). We hit a somewhat scary old railroad bridge where Pierre caught up. We had done it before together and I've noticed that those crazy dangerous bridges seem to make him go FASTER not slower. After the second bridge, we stopped to wait for people at the Felton archery range sign. We crossed the range to get over to Felton via the covered bridge.

My watch had us reaching Felton in well under 1:30 and slightly under 10 miles. We stopped at the White Raven for coffee, and Jean and Gary (both battling injuries) decided to end the day there and ride with Holly to meet us in Santa Cruz.

Leor requested the "more scenic route". You can get to Santa Cruz in just 17 miles if you get back onto the railroad tracks and there's plenty of trail on both sides. But it's more interesting to instead follow trails over the hills of Henry Cowell Redwoods Park, drop down into the San Lorenzo River and come up into Pogonip Park. It's a couple miles longer that way and much more climbing. This also happens to be the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Santa Cruz course, as detailed extensively on this blog last September. It's definitely one of my favorite courses. That river crossing is just classic.

After downing our lattes, we headed out without Jean and Gary, but still eight strong down Route 9 to the Henry Cowell Redwoods entrance. From there we turned left into the main entrance of Henry Cowell and took a right on the River Trail which is the far edge of the PCTR Santa Cruz course. The River Trail is mostly flat, but runs out into the Rincon Trail which is a serious climb. Just as this starts, my Garmin 405 watch ran out. So here's the route to that point from my Garmin 405 (see below for Alistair's more complete capture of the route).

Leor, Brian and I ran quickly up the hill but they dropped me soon enough. At the top and the turnoff onto Big Rock Hole Trail we waited for everyone to gather again. On the bomb down to the river, Alistair Adams and Paul ran ahead of everyone fearlessly. When we got to the San Lorenzo I caught them and ran straight across in the thigh high current whooping and hollering the whole way, just as I did on PCTR Santa Cruz raceday. I can't help myself when running rivers like this (can we get an extended river running ultra organized some day? would anyone show?) Rich Blanco did the same and eventually caught up on the other side. We ran up the Rincon Connector trail just past the tracks to wait for everyone again, just before the Route 9 crossing.

Once reassembled I gave a minibrief of the remaining route at that point: Rincon Connector (NOT the UCon Connector) to Spring Trail to Lookout Trail to Harvey West Park and we'd meet at Harvey West. We headed across Route 9 onto the Rincon Connector singletrack: a fun little trail (inducing a few more whoops). Eventually it lets out onto the Spring Trail fireroad. Leor and Brian were moving with me on the fireroad but eventually dropped me, while I just stayed in sight. Eventually Rich came alongside and we ran together for a bit. Brian had apparently hurt himself and was limping by the time we reached the Lookout turn. But it wasn't far for him to walk until Harvey West at that point so we kept going. Pierre caught up on Lookout and Rich, Pierre and I bombed down the single track of Harvey West to the park together. We met up with Leor and waited for everyone else. Brian limped in and we asked him if he'd seen anyone. We were missing Mike, Paul and Alistair. We eventually figured out that they might have dropped off Harvey West early into the city and just navigated over to Badass Coffee on their own (I knew Alistair had his Nokia N95 with maps with him). So we took off for the one mile run over to downtown and the finish.

Even with all the breaks to regather, we reached the finish (about 19.5 miles) in around 3 hours (quite a bit faster than I expected) Once there we got some welldeserved lattes but unfortunately no sign of Mike, Paul and Alistair. Apparently they had taken the UCon Connector instead of the Spring Trail and ended up on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Here's the route that they took with Alistair's N95 (it's also more complete than my Garmin 405 - I've always said that the N95 is the world's best runnerphone) Alistair had the presence of mind to email though to let us know that they had gotten lost. I called him and we then drove back to Harvey West to rescue them and got there just after they emerged from the trail.

We drove back to my house and recounted our respective diverged adventures for the day and upcoming plans for the racing seasons. A fantastic epic day on the trails. We'll hold this again next New Year's Day, with perhaps some course markings as well.

Angel Island 25K - Tiburon, CA

2009-01-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

This is one of just two Pacific Coast Trail Runs races that I haven't done, and the only one in the Bay area that I've never experienced. I had never wanted to wait for the ferry from Tiburon and start so late in the day. But with no injury excuses handy and no fresh snow on the ground in Tahoe, I went ahead and signed up this year.

Angel Island does three loops of around 8km each: one around the outer perimeter of the island, one about halfway up, and a third that climbs to the top of the island. Its a fast course with just 2000 feet of climbing. It seemed like running 40 minute loops (right around 7:30 miles) should be achievable, with a finish around 2 hours.

I did notice that Mike Pigg, a legendary triathlete from the 80s, was entered. I planned to try to hang on his shoulder to win the masters division. But I didn't see him at the start. Apparently he didn't start when everyone else did. I took the lead for the first mile or so. On the first climb I was passed by several young speedsters, but I stayed at a consistent pace. Probably Mike was in that pack.

I kept up a remarkably steady speed on each loop: 40 minutes for each one. On the last one we got treated to a climb to the top of the mountain where a sign said "I made it!". I finished in 2:00:53, good for ninth and second master. Mike finished about a minute ahead.

It was a beautiful day for running. But there was no soup today! (say it ain't so Wendell!) So I headed back out to the ferry and managed to be just in the first freightload back. I met former Santa Cruz mayor (and current councilwoman) Catherine Beiers, who at age 76 did the 16K in 2:25. Amazing.

Original Fatass 50K - Saratoga, CA

2009-01-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

This race is the original fatass, as I described last year. I drove the ten miles from my house in the Santa Cruz mountains to the start at 7:30.

Fellow Ultraholic Sean Lang was there and, to my surprise, so was Flyin' Brian Robinson, all time record holder at The Barkley Marathons.

David Kamp, the race director, started us out at 8:00am sharp. We headed up the Skyline Trail to the Hickory Oaks Trail, retracing the route of both the Stevens Creek 50K and the Skyline Ridge 50K. We had a train going of myself (stopping every few minutes to take pictures) Brian Robinson, Whit Rambach, Sean Lang and Andy Benkert.

We made the turnoff to the left down Ward Road down to Portola State Park.

At the Park Headquarters, we stopped to refill water bottles and ran across some early starters.

We then made the creek crossing and got onto Old Haul Road. We made the turnoff onto the Portola Trail which connects to the Butano Trail. Its quite a climb but I was feeling good today. I led the charge up and only had Brian and Whit next to me at the top. We connected to the Big Basin Trail easement which let out onto China Grade Road. Once there we saw Winnie and Lee Jebian's car again this year. And I again dropped off some superfluous warm weather gear. We headed back out onto the Basin Trail. This connected to the Skyline to the Sea trail for the grind back up. Once we approached Waterman's Gap I started to bonk and cramp from running on just water for so long. We all hit Waterman's (the intersection of Routes 236 and 9) at 4 hours even. 4 hours for 22 miles of this amount of climbing was probably too aggressive for me and I doubt that I'll match this in coming years.

I had to take a rest and get more water from Paul Fick who had decided to run a few miles with us. Brian and Whit ran on ahead. I should have begged some electrolytes from him and fuel but I was too lightheaded to think of that. I took off at a slow trot. Eventually Andy Benkert caught back up as we approach the highway rest area. When we got there I finally thought of begging for crackers from one of the picnickers while Andy ran on ahead. I felt great almost immediately and took off back up the road. As with last year, I didn't find the trail crossing right away but was back on it in about half a mile. Apparently this was slightly ahead of Andy. I got back to the finish in 5:43 faster than I did last year.

Despite the bonk near the end, overall this was a great training run. It was fun running with Brian and Andy and getting to know them better.

season finale doubleheader: PCTR Muir Beach and Rodeo Beach

2008-12-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

Pacific Coast Trail Runs saves some of their most beautiful courses, Muir and Rodeo Beaches in the Marin Headlands, for the end of the year. For the last several years I've done some combination of Muir Beach and Rodeo Beach. Its a brutal duo, mostly induced by that last bomb down the hill at Muir Beach (which shreds my calf every year I do it) followed by Rodeo Beach's extreme climb up the Coastal Trail off of the beach. Last year the calf injury I got at Muir exacerbated by the Rodeo Beach climb had me limping for months afterwards - I was hoping to avoid the same fate this year.

I got to Muir Beach on the morning of the 13th and ran the mile into the park that non carpoolers had to do. I chatted with both Will Gotthardt and Ryan Commons as they prepared for what I thought would be an epic battle for the PCTR ultra series overall championship. Ryan had a few points on Will but doesn't like back to back races. So I thought Will had a shot. I also saw Ralph Lewis at the starting line. He was doing the 10K so I had one less speedster to fight in the 17K.

I took off hard up the first steep hill of the Pirates Cove Coastal Road. But Tom Knauer, Ryan, Caitlin Smith, and Alex Street passed me regardless early on. On the single track climb to the ridge a couple other guys passed me, but I repassed them as we descended to the Tennessee Valley trail and aid station. After this aid, Nathan Yanko passed me moving very quickly up the Marincello Trail, passing Ryan and Caitlin (who I could still see close up ahead) as well. We made the turn off of Marincello onto the Bobcat trail to connect to the Miwok trail. As we got back onto the Old Springs Trail single track I saw Tom Knauer up ahead. I passed him bombing down to the Tennessee Valley aid station. From there I lost a little time confused on where to go from there (why I am confused after so many years doing this race I'll never know). Finally I figured it was back the Tennessee Valley trail to the Fox Trail. On this climb, I saw Tom Knauer catching up at the apex, and sped up on the bomb down this trai to try to lose him. Once I did I slowed down to save my legs for next week. But Wayne Chan flew by me in the last half mile at quite a clip. I tried giving chase but realized I was guaranteed to injure myself doing that. As it was my Garmin 405 said I was doing sub 5 minute miles in the last stretch - too dangerous on that steep decline and I definitely felt the pain of it afterwards. I ended up finishing seven seconds behind him in 1:26:14, good for fifth and first master. Five points more to the PCTR series or 71 overall. Ryan would get a few more points with another top ten finish and Will would drop with back problems. So the ultra series goes to Ryan. Frequent middle distance competitor Jason Reed, duels chronicled in previous blog posts, would win the 50K today. Way to go Jason!

My calf was indeed again sore this year, but not really injured seriously. I got a couple electrical stimulation treatments from my chiropractor, Elite Chiropractic, and a couple massages. And I continued to run (probably too much). By Saturday I felt I could gut out one last race for the year. A first or second place with a noshow by Jeff Emery would win the overall PCTR trail series for the year. But any points (top ten) whatsoever would give me second place, since my friend Gary Gellin was taking a week off after a hard race in the masters national cross country championship last week. I took off hard at the start, and I hung on the shoulder of the leader (the amazingly fast 52 year old Brian Pilcher). We went through one tunnel and crossed a field back onto the Coastal Road switchback.

But as we came up the road, a group of several runners came out ahead of us from the right. This included Jeff Emery and Caitlin Smith. "Where did you guys come from?" I asked. "You guys went the wrong way", Jeff said. Brian sprinted out ahead of them and I tried to just tuck in behind.

"OK, Jeff's here after all. Now the important thing is to just finish top ten. Take it easy and don't get injured" I said to myself. As I mused on this, Paul Taylor flew by me as fast as I've ever seen him run. As we came down the singletrack Old Springs Trail to the aid station, Alistair Adams came alongside. We both came into the aid station at the same time. I tried to keep going on what was the 50K course but Alistair shouted at me to doubleback and follow them (thanks Alistair!). It turns out that Brian Pilcher had made the same mistake and he came out onto the Marincello Trail as we were climbing it as well.

Brian flew past us up the hill and I tried to give chase, leaving Alistair and Paul behind (but probably not too far behind). A couple minutes later Alexander Gaber passed me as well. But I kept him in sight on the climb. As we approached the turnoff for the single track Alta Trail I caught up to him. Alexander kept going and missed the turnoff but I shouted at him to come back and follow. He realized his mistake and turned back. At this point I turned on the jets as I hate being passed more than halfway into the race. He stayed about a minute back for most of the rest of the race. I finished in 1:33 even, good for sixth overall. I was very pleased to run 7:34 miles in those hills (2200 feet of climbing in 12 miles) and just glad I wasn't injured. Alex came in shortly afterwards followed closely Paul Taylor and Alistair Adams.

A fun season overall. Very happy to come in second overall in the trail series and first master. I can't wait for a break from running: snowboarding and snowshoeing (wait is that running?) for the next week at Squaw (Tahoe) and Crystal Mountain (Seattle). Congratulations to Jeff Emery on his overall win! And a big congratulations to other PCTR series winners, including Ryan Commons who won the ultra division overall.

trail shoes

2008-12-07T20:01:00.001-08:00

I got asked recently for my opinion on good trail shoes. The following nine shoes are my tried and true stalwarts.

Left to right starting with the first row here they are:

(first row, left to right)

New Balance 790s - absolute my one goto shoe. Most Bay area trail races are actually lots of fireroad without too many rocks or bushwhacking. Its a minimalist shoe but more than enough tread for most needs. I actually have multiple pairs of them, one with the heels cut off for even lower profile. The big disadvantage of 790s is they wear out almost instantly.

New Balance 840s - this is a new shoe that I bought recently. It has become my favorite on my "home trail loop" which has lots of bushwhacking, treacherous downhills and challenging uphills with loose scree.

New Balance 800s - good for longer course with rocks and pounding hard pack. I often use them early in very long races (50 miles and longer)

(second row, left to right)
New Balance 811s (can you tell I like New Balance yet?) - I have done a bunch of "snow running" and deep mud running in these and enjoyed it. Otherwise way too heavy a shoe for me.

North Face Hydro Trak - great for running in rain, water and rivers. They are basically mesh and don't absorb water. I have a couple runs locally that involve long river runs. These are perfect for them.

Nike Free Trail 3.0 - great for training in a minimalist shoe. Don't race in them and don't run too often in them. But for occasional training and building foot strength they are great.

(last row, left to right)
La Sportiva Maxum Ridge - a beefy stiff shoe. Great for running with orthotics when you need a stiff sole. Great for running or hiking in snow (better even than the 811s)

Nike ACG Ascents - similar to the NB 811s in many ways: good for mud and light snow Probably prefer the 811s over these nowadays mostly since NB fits me so well.

Salomon - I just love the snug lacing system, light overall weight and yet still aggressive tread pattern. Now that the 840s are out I'm not using the Salomons much.

Overall my favorite is still the New Balance 790. But I like the NB 840s as well. And overall I could do over 90% of my running with the pair of these shoes.

PCTR Woodside 17K - Woodside, CA

2008-12-07T15:15:00.000-08:00

The PCTR season is winding down with three races in December. Huddart Park in Woodside is a favorite training run haunt and I've done the various race distances on the Crystal Springs and Chinquapin Trails many times. This varied from a course record in the 10K in 2005 (since then the course has changed) to a disastrous offcourse injured 50K last February where I was last but got to meet Tom Kaisersatt and experience ultras in a whole new way.

Today I just wanted to get a few points towards the overall trail series (I clinched the masters division in October). Right now Jeff Emery is leading with 78 points. Jason Wolf has 70 points. My much faster friend Gary Gellin has 62 points and I'm sitting at fourth with 60 points. Some third and second place finishes for this and Muir Beach and Rodeo Beach over the next few weeks would at least put me in contention for the overall series.

I got there in time to watch Leor Pantilat, Will Gotthardt, Scott Dunlap and Jason Reed take off on the 50K at 8:30. Tom Kaisersatt was also there at the start to support other ultrarunners, classy guy that he is. Chatting with him, he seems to remain in good spirits despite his ongoing battle with cancer. He's also going to be at the start of the Los Gatos Overgrown Fatass that Sean Lang and I are holding on February 8th this year.

Then at 9:00 my frequent short distance rival Ralph Lewis lined up for the 10K. While waiting for my race to start I drank some Coke as it was the only liquid around I could find. I figured my intolerance for sugar wouldn't be an issue on such a short race. I would be wrong. While I was foolishly downing my soda, Paul Taylor and Alistair Adams (frequent masters age group rivals at PCTR races) arrived on their bikes! Impressive guys. I said "well when you beat me today I guess you'll really own me".

Then finally at 9:15 I lined up with Gary, Paul and Alistair for the 17K. Alistair took off like a shot trying to follow Gary down the Bay Tree trail. I took it easy and just stayed within sight of Paul Taylor. Finally down on Richards Road I fell in alongside Paul and we chatted about the season and past races. When I saw Alistair up ahead on the climb I took off to catch up. Alistair seemed to be suffering, said to go ahead so I took the left onto Chaparral on my own and sprinted out to the Crystal Springs trail climb. I really like this part of the Woodside course. The climb just keeps going and going and going with lots of "false summits'. Most runners seem to flag at some point during the ascent. As I got within a mile or two of the King Mountain Road aid station and turnaround I had to stop and hurl from the Coke and pretzels I had stupidly ingested before the start. It was not a quick affair and at least five runners, including Paul and a guy named Scott Smith who was just behind me on most of the climb, passed me while I was prostrate.

But feeling better, I resolved to try to catch up. I got to the aid station just behind Paul and took off back down the hill to the Dean Trail. Paul let me go ahead of him through the gate. And I took off after Scott Smith, who was about a minute ahead. I steadily reeled Scott in on the descent and managed to put a little distance between Paul and I. I thought we were on pace for about a 1:25 finish. So when I was 15 seconds away at the 1:20 mark, I thought I would be fine putting in a kick to at least make it a fight for second place. Then I heard a cheer and it was clear we were coming to the finish much sooner than I thought. I put in a desperate kick at that point but I finished 10 seconds off in third place in 1:21:25.

Another six points for a total of 66 points. Still in fourth place but now only 12 points off first place with two races remaining. A couple second places would give me 82 points, which is probably what Gary will end up with as well.

Paul came in shortly afterwards in 1:22:59 with Alistair about 10 seconds off of him. This was pretty close to a repeat of the Big Basin 20K back in April.

I stayed around chatting with Gary, Paul, Alistair, Ralph and watching more finishers. Ralph was third in the 10K in a respectable 50:48, especially as he is dealing with a groin pull (this was the toughest injury I've ever had to recover from). Leor would end up a rare second place to Keith Bechtol who did the 50K in an incredible 3:36.

Silicon Valley Half Marathon AND Marathon Pacing - San Jose, CA

2008-10-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

In all honesty, this is not one of my favorite races. It runs mostly on the Los Gatos Creek Trail WHICH THEY DON'T CLOSE. Yes, that's right. For your $100 marathon fee, you get to dodge strollers and rollerbladers and even some bicycles for hours on end. I did the half marathon a couple years ago and the full marathon last year. And I thought I wouldn't do the course again. Especially as I don't do road marathons anymore, and I don't really take road races in general too seriously. Plus I am in serious back pain, going to my chiropractor almost daily. So I couldn't have too high an expectation for today.

But its convenient and I've been running well lately despite back pain. So I wanted to see what time I could run for the half and was hoping to have a good race today. My friend Charlie dropped me off at the start at 6:30am and I waited in the not too cold morning among a surprisingly small crowd (I wonder why, besides the fact that the course is not very impressive).

I planned to try to run 6:30 miles and finish in around 1:25. But after the first couple miles it was clear that I was only feeling comfortable with 6:40 miles (due to poker until midnight the night before perhaps?). So I resolved to just run under 1:30 and enjoy the day, taking pictures en route.

I got to see Ultraholic Rajeev Patel near the halfway point, cheering the Ultraholics doing the full and half marathon (Baldwyn Chieh, Ron Duncan and myself). The Los Gatos Creek Trail is absolutely overfamiliar to me of course. So it was easy to time it to finish right below 1:30 at 1:29:57 chip time (1:30:03 gun time).

After finishing I ran out to the marathon turnaround point to wait for Baldwyn Chieh. Baldwyn and I left around 1:40 on the race clock. He was on pace to qualify for Boston which was his goal today. I was hoping running him back a couple miles might help a little.

Baldwyn and I running out from Los Gatos

He seemed to be running well and held onto qualifying pace for those two miles that I was with him. As we got back onto the trail and he turned to head north I headed back to Los Gatos to meet Charlie for breakfast at Los Gatos Cafe.

After a quick delicious omelette at LG Cafe (they really do make the best omelettes in the Bay area) we headed out to meet up with Tom Kaisersatt to walk him in the last few miles. Tom is undergoing chemotherapy for fairly serious cancer right now. He is the veteran of many marathons and ultramarathons. He has done every year of the Silicon Valley Marathon. Many of the people whose lives he has touched over the past decades decided to walk him in. The Mercury News wrote an article about it yesterday.

Tom and I first met when I ran offcourse for ten miles at Woodside 50K on a day when I already had a calf injury. This was probably my toughest ultra experience. I was bonking because I had run away from aid stations and did not have enough fuel to handle going so far offcourse. I met up with Tom and he shared some potstickers with me (who else carries potstickers in an ultra?!) which made me feel much better. And he wouldn't let me quit the race (which I was pretty determined to do that day). Then he came to my Overgrown Fatass race the next week. Finally we both went to Kettle Moraine 100K this year. When I met up with the "Tom's caravan" at mile 22 I talked to Tom about our impressions of Kettle Moraine.

Walking Tom in, photo courtesy of Jean Pommier

After this I got to meet Flyin' Brian Robinson, the record holder at the world's toughest ultra: the Barkley Marathons. I talked at length with Brian and his wife Sophie about their experiences at the Barkleys and other races.

Chatting with Flyin' Brian Robinson and his wife Sophie

Eventually around mile 24 my friend Tracy came alongside. I got to run her in to her personal record in the marathon.

Running Tracy in to her PR

This was quite a funfilled and eventful morning in paradise. And I must say all the pacing (Baldwyn, Tom and Tracy) was far more fulfilling than my actual race.

Carmel Valley 25K - Carmel, CA

2008-10-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

I hadn't run this race since 2006, when I won the short course. I was eager to try some of the tough climbs on the "back loop". This course has over 8500 feet of climbing on the 50K (two loops of the 25K) and is the second steepest PCTR course. Gary Gellin was running the 19K and I didn't recognize any of the names in the 25K. So I thought I might have a shot to win overall. No excuses handy to perform poorly except continued back pain, which hasn't really seemed to slow me down. Arriving at Garland Ranch State Park, I saw Sean Lang and Ray Sanchez at the start, who would both compete for the 50K win.

I took off with Gary Gellin and Jason Reed in hot pursuit of some pre-teen tow-headed boy. We ran out the flat trail from the center out to the hills. This was the Lupine Loop trail and after about a mile turned up quite a steep hill to get to the Mesa Trail. At the top of the hill I dropped Jason, who had beaten me for first at Santa Cruz. But today I think he was just tired after Dick Collins Firetrails last week. After another couple miles we dropped down Garzas Canyon Trail to the Carmel River. On this flat straightaway I saw Gary Gellin flying back already from the 19K (which he won with ease). After this we turned left to cross a river and reach the one course aid station. At this point the 19Kers needed to turn back and I kept going. As I arrived at the aid station and surrendered my water bottle to them temporarily, Eric Miller arrived in behind me. I picked up the pace going back out. But climbing the steep Laureles and Vasquez trails Eric was just too fast. Well fast is the wrong word. His little running mini trot up the wall face of the mountain was faster than my trot.

We bombed back down the back side of the mountain and came back down to the River Trail. It's an easy thing to do to just turn left and follow the pink ribbons right back. But runners need to turn right and get back to the aid station that the orange loop started at. I'm sure many runners made this mistake, as I saw a runner do it after I came back north from the aid station to follow the pink ribbons back. On the way back we went Garzas Canyon all the way. On this climb Ray Sanchez caught up.

We ran together from here pretty much all the way back in, although I put in a little finishing kick since I was just doing the 25K.

I finished in 2:30:04, good for third overall and first master. Eric Miller did a fine job descending apparently since he finished in 2:15, well ahead of me. Jason Reed came in seventh about 8:40 after me and said that he and Sean Lang had run between 6 and 8 minutes off course. When Sean came in he asked where Ray was. When I said "five minutes ahead" he left quickly to go hunt Ray down, which he successfully did. Whit Rambach was second in the 50K, with Ray ending up third.

Golden Hills Trail Marathon - Berkeley, CA

2008-10-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

I like this race a lot for a number of reasons:
- its point to point. I love point to point races. Makes you feel like you're going somewhere and guarantees no boredom. I think its quite difficult psychologically to DNF in a point to point
- It's run on the same course and the same time as Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Miler. I'd get to be a spectator of watching elite ultrarunners such as Hal Koerner, Victor Ballesteros and Jean Pommier lay it down in the other direction (and hope that I didn't get passed by one of them on the way back as I did last year)
- It's extremely hilly with over 5800 feet of climbing on the marathon distance course. This is much hiller than the Firetrails 50 Miler which takes a slightly different route back. I love climby courses
- I had come in 9th overall and second master last year in a time of 4:14. I felt that this year, despite the car accident, I should be able to shave off quite a bit of time on that
- Its the race run by Ann Trason, the greatest woman ultrarunner ever. And she makes great soup.

I had very low expectations for performing in this race. I was rearended in a six car collision on Route 280 on Wednesday.
I was laid up the rest of the week in bed with a sore back and neck. On Friday afternoon I tried running around. And while my back and neck hurt, it didn't hurt more than sitting. So I decided to try to do the race on Saturday after all.

Last year my friend Brian had dropped me off at the start at Tilden Park. This year I drove to the start/finish at Lake Chabot (also the site of Skyline 50K and the
Lake Chabot Trail Challenge). Arriving there around 7am I then took the "bus of shame" up to Tilden Park. I say bus of shame because here we were a bunch of ultrarunners (or at least many of us on the bus were so). And instead of running up to Berkeley to run back to down Lake Chabot we were taking a BUS. I tried to feel better about it giving myself the accident as an excuse, but it was little consolation.

We got off the bus in frigid temperatures that felt to me like 40s but was probably low 50s. There was a small shred of sunlight poking through the trees and I tried to warm myself in it. I chatted with Leor, who had won this last year and set the course record in an incredible 3:19 and change.

We started out and I fell into the lead pack with Leor, Rob Elia and Ron Gutierrez. Leor quickly peeled off of us after about half a mile. I hung with Rob and Ron for a while but eventually my back started spasming and I had to stop and self-massage. Gerell Elliott came up alongside and we ran together for a while. He was a road marathoner tackling his first trail marathon. I hung with him until the next aid but he eventually pulled away. At we approached the second aid station at Sibley Park (7.6 miles), Alex Vaz-Waddington started chasing me down. He came into Sibley at right around the same time. I took with a quick break and headed back out for the 3.5 miles to Skyline Gate. Not stopping at Skyline I thought I had opened up a lead on Alex. As we bombed down the hill off of West Ridge onto the French Trail he seemed to catch up. I had to drop him on the steep climbs of the French Trail.

From there I was never really pursued until Caren Spore started catching me on the climbs of the MacDonald Trail. I'm a big fan of Caren's so I relished the opportunity to run with her. We got into mile 20 at Bort Meadows at the same time. We bombed down from that aid station to the Brandon Trail for the last 10K of the run. We hit that aid station at 3 hours even, so I new Karen was in good shape to challenge for the women's record of 3:49 set by Sarah Lavender Smith the previous year. I resolved to knock out some 8 minute miles with her to set her up for the record. We reached Bass Cove Aid Station at Mile 23.2 at 3:25. Eight miles the rest of the way would make the record for Caren. I told Caren to go do it and run ahead, while I knew I would be happy with 9 minute miles and a 3:52 finish.

I knocked out those 9 minute miles on those last few hilly miles, hoping that Caren would run 8:00 miles and not 8:01 miles. And indeed it took me 27 minutes for the last few miles, and I finished in 3:52. This was sixth overall and third master (last year it would have been fourth overall and second master). Caren missed the women's record by three seconds.

I hung around in the gorgeous East Bay sunshine, eating Ann's soup, drinking beer, icing my aching back, and cheering other Ultraholics in. These include Jean Pommier (third overall), Sean Lang, and Rajeev Patel. Jean had come in third and Sean was ninth. I introduced myself to Hal Koerner and got the updates on his recent racing. It always amazes me how approachable the stars of this sport are. Then I headed back to the South Bay for some bedrest for my back.

The Lost Tunnels to Santa Cruz Run - November 1st

2008-10-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Lost Tunnels to Santa Cruz run will start at 8am on Saturday, November 1st, the day after Halloween. This is an unorganized free, "run at your own risk" fatass run. Experienced ultrarunners only should be participating. Its about 50K (31 miles) total with some form of aid at mile 11 and a stop in Felton at mile 21 for coffee and carbohydrates. See the previous Lost Tunnels post for pictures and more detailed description of the route. Below are more concise turn by turn directions.

Start - Portal #1

We'll meet at the Wright's Station Tunnel at the Los Gatos Creek bridge on Wrights Station Road at 9am.

View Larger Map

To get there take the Summit Road exit east and take a left on Morrill Road. Make a left on Wrights Station and take it down to the Los Gatos Creek bridge. There's parking just before the bridge.

To Portals #2 and #3

Wright's Station Road south to right on Morrill Road
Morrill Road to Summit Road
Summit Road to left on Summit Canyon Road
Left on Summit Canyon Road to where it turns into logging road
Down the logging road veering right at the first major fork to get down to portal #2
Climb up from the tunnel onto the railroad bed
Continue on the railroad bed for two miles under and over trees until you get to a ravine with a house on the other side
Go down and up the ravine and you'll get on a wider trail that takes you right into Laurel and Portal #3

Distance: 5 mi

To Portals #4 and #5

Run down Laurel Road until it hits route 17.
Cross route 17 and run on the right shoulder Route 17 for 1/3 mile (not that pleasant but I think this is the only "bad patch" of the run) until you get to Glenwood Cutoff.
Make a right on Glenwood Cutoff and head down to Glenwood Road. I will try to arrange for some form of aid station or car here.
Make a right on Glenwood Road and go up to Eagle Road to see portal #4
Turn back around and head back down Glenwood Road past Glenwood Cutoff (and the aid car) to the
driveway on the right that connects to the railroad grade
There you'll see portal #5. From here its pretty much all trail (the next 20 miles) to Santa Cruz.

Distance: 11 miles

To Portals #6, #7 and the Railroad Tracks

Bushwhack up the hill past the tunnel entrance to Mountain Charlie Road
Go down Old Schoolhouse Road to the end
Veer left down the driveway onto the railroad grade
Take a right at the fork and go past the underbrush to the tunnel, which is portal #6
Turn back around and head due west staying to the right (don't go back up the hill) en route to Zayante. You'll be on the old railroad grade for about four miles
Stay straight and take the singletrack up the hill to the Zayante Tunnel, portal #7
Go around the hill to the right and up to the top which is Old Kenville Road
Continue down this road to a left turn on Zayante Schoolhouse Road
Run about 100 yards on Zayante Schoolhouse and look for the no trespassing fence on your right.
Go past that fence and you'll see the tracks. This is about halfway and its pretty easy to follow from here out. I suggest sticking together as much as possible for the first half. From here on anyone who wants to blaze shouldn't have problems navigating on their own (especially those who've done PCTR Santa Cruz before)

Distance: 16 miles

Start of Tracks to Felton

Run the tracks past the fire station, over the suspended bridge, through Roaring Camp, then across another bridge to the crossing with Graham Hill Road
Make a right on Graham Hill Road and run over to the Route 9 intersection
Make a left turn and you'll see the White Raven coffeeshop on the right. Stop for coffee and carbs.

Distance: 21 miles

Felton to Santa Cruz on the PCTR Santa Cruz Course

Run down route 9 to the Henry Cowell entrance
Make a left and follow the signs to the River Trail.
At the River Trail you're now on the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Santa Cruz course.
Note that if you get back onto the railroad tracks while in the park you can shave off a couple miles at the expense of not as scenic a run.
Take the River Trail to the Rincon Fireroad down to the San Lorenzo River
Cross the river and go back up the Rincon Fireroad to Route 9
Cross over to the Rincon Connector which connects to the Spring Trail
Take the Spring Trail to Lookout Trail on your left
Take Lookout Trail down to Harvey West Trail and Harvey West park
From Harvey West Park you take a left on Dubois and then a right on Encinal to get back on Route 9
Route 9 turns into River Street at Route 1. Follow River Street to Front Street until it turns into Pacific. Pacific will take you to the wharf.

Distance: 31 miles (50K)

PCTR Santa Cruz 29K and Rio Del Lago 100 Pacing

2008-09-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

What a fine weekend of trail running in paradise this was! I was eagerly anticipating the PCTR Santa Cruz race. It's held on the trails of Pogonip and Henry Cowell Redwoods Parks. These are both on my trail run to Santa Cruz, so I know each root and rock of them. With no excuses handy to perform mediocrely I knew I needed to throw down here to wind down the season on a high note.

Coincidentally Rio del Lago 100 is the same day. I was originally supposed to pace Michael Hayden (current junior record holder in the 100K and other distances). But with him not coming up for it, I agreed to pace Jean Pommier (who I am signed up to pace at Western States next year as well). With Jean as one of the favorites to win, this would be a high pressure but exciting day and night day for me.

Santa Cruz 29K

I showed up at Harvey West Park next to the Costco in Santa Cruz on race morning and saw many familiar ultra faces. Will Gotthardt, Carol Cumunale and Gary Gellin were volunteering (I was relieved to see Gary not racing this morning). Chuck Wilson, Ryan Commons and ultraholics Sean Lang and Hao Liu toed the line of the combined 29K and 50K start in the middle of the park.

After Wendell embarrassingly insisted that I step up to the starting line in the front to begin the race (because as you'll see I wasn't quite the fastest guy in the race), I led out the field in a parade loop around the park. I foolishly then led the lead pack (Ryan, Sean, Jason Reed and myself) off up Harvey West Trail into Pogonip Park. We climbed the switchbacks and as we came up to the top and the beginning of Lookout Trail, Jason Reed ran up alongside. I hadn't met him before and we chatted a bit before turning right onto the Spring Trail heading down to Route 9 and the Rincon Connector Trail, where I let Jason go a bit ahead but tried to keep him in view.
Eventually Ryan Commons and Sean Lang, dueling it out for the 50K lead, came alongside.

As we descended the Rincon Connector Trail heading down to Route 9, I let them go ahead and stayed within sight.

We crossed route 9 onto the Rincon Fireroad heading down to the San Lorenzo River, which I hit in 30 minutes (far faster than my training splits). Sean, Jason and Ryan slowed down for the crossing. But I joyously splashed through the waist-high pool of water to the uphill climb on the other side. Those guys were definitely climbing faster than I was, which I found surprising since I rarely get passed on the uphill. By the time I reached the intersection with Big Rock Hole Trail the guys were out of sight. But I bombed down the other side of Big Rock Hole and then the Rincon Fireroad to the River Trail. I normally don't run down steep hills too quickly but, for me, course familiarity is the key to swift descents. I reached the turnaround at the Henry Cowell Picnic Area at 55 minutes (my best time in training was around 1:03). I was back on the heels of Ryan and Sean (Jason was a little bit ahead). We all ran back out together on the River Trail to do the 7K "orange loop". They almost made a wrong turn early on the River Trail. But I stopped them and led them up the River Trail to the Ridge Trail and the right turn. They left me on the climb. But after I plowed up the sand hill to the observation deck I bombed down Pine Hill Trail and Eagle Creek Trail confidently catching them again at the Picnic Area (Jason was again about a minute ahead). Still I had only done this in 40 minutes, about the same time that I do it in training, with little speedup. I guess its just difficult to cut time running on that sand.

It was 1:35 when we all three left for the 6.5 mile run back to Santa Cruz. I was still able to hop the fences in and out (Hey Ryan and Sean: I may be a little slower, but its all about style - you need to hurdle those next year!) We again ran out together on the River Trail and about halfway up the River Trail/Rincon Fireroad Climb the guys pulled ahead. I bombed down from Big Rock Hole Trail to the Rincon Fireroad and made another fast river crossing.

Then back up the Rincon Fireroad on the other side to Route 9. Then the Rincon Connector Road up to the Spring Trail entrance. I felt great on the familiar runnable flat Spring Trail and laid it down trying to close the distance. I turned left on the Lookout Trail heading down to Harvey West Park and thought I saw the leaders disappear into the woods of the Harvey West Trail. Once on the Harvey West Trail descent, I did what I could to get past slower 21K runners. Finally past them I turned on the jets and sprinted the remaining half mile to the finish. I hit the finish line in 2:29:43, a minute behind Jason Reed (and Sean and Ryan's splits). This was good for second place and first master. After hanging around briefly to chat with Hao Liu (who came in with a strong 2:54 finish), Jason and Will, I headed out for the drive up to Sacramento for Rio Del Lago.

Pacing at Rio Del Lago 100

I got directions from Jean's wife Agnes to meet at Hazel Bluffs at mile 78. I was worried that I would be late when I arrived at 5:30 as the volunteers were setting up the aid station for the first runners. But the heat had taken a toll on the entire field. Agnes called to let me know that Jean had assumed the lead over Chikara Omine. Eventually she arrived in person to give me my pacer bib. We sat with the aid station volunteers waiting for Jean. It turned out that Greg Bauhof assumed a lead over Jean, arriving at around 7:25PM, taking sustenance from his father's minivan instead of the aid station. Jean arrived 15 minutes later and after a quick stop at the aid station (something I really need to learn from for longer races) we headed off together down the trail as the sun set.

We crossed under and up multiple underpasses of the Hazel Avenue bridge over the American River to get onto the trail heading south. The trail initially was mostly asphalt bike path: not something I associated with ultra trail runs. But at least it was fairly flat. Eventually it started darting in and out of side trails, but still stayed mostly flat. And it was clear during this stretch that you were in the city of Folsom, with major roads in view for much of the time. I hadn't paced before so this was something to learn. Jean and I didn't start with an opinion on whether I should run behind or in front. Eventually Jean decided that he wanted me running behind. This was fine except that often the directions for the trail weren't clear so occasionally I would run ahead to scope out where to turn and keep Jean running consistently.

After passing quickly through the next aid station at mile 81, we arrived at the farthest aid station, positioned next to a loud rock concert in this semi-urban setting at 9pm. This was a 1:20 split for those six miles. After some delicious coffee and brownies from the nice ladies running that aid station, we headed back towards Hazel Bluffs. We passed Mark Tanaka at 9:40, right around mile 87. So we presumed a 1:20 lead over him. It turned out that Mark had come into Hazel Bluffs 45 minutes behind. So this out and back stretch had almost doubled Jean's lead. This was essentially insurmountable and second place was locked up as long as Jean didn't blow up.

We arrived back to Hazel Bluffs for more pizza from the crew there, and Agnes was there as well. Then heading out east back to the school and start/finish area on real trails now. They were quite dusty however and Jean pointed out the dust motes in light from our headlamps and said that all the dust must be causing his difficulty breathing all day.

With such a lead there was no particular reason to push hard but Jean was running steadily and efficiently with good form. At Negro Bar we stopped for soup and watermelon. This didn't seem to sit well with Jean and he started suffering GI distress. Now the walking breaks were predominating. But when running he still looked fluid and strong.

We headed back out for the last 3.1 miles to the finish. At one point climbing up to the levee, with about a mile left, I thought I saw a headlamp behind us. This couldn't be possible that someone was on our heels. But I couldn't afford to take any chances with second place on the line. So I told Jean we needed to start running for real. He started really moving and we must have done a sub 8 minute last mile and crossed the finish line at 18:46, second place overall.

After about an hour the third place finisher came in but it wasn't Mark. In talking to John Olson (who had challenged Jean early) he said that Mark was suffering but determined to finish. So hearing that he might be quite a while to go, we headed off to the hotel a little after 2am to get a few hours sleep. Overall it was inspiring to see Jean conquer the heat, exhaustion, breathing difficulties and gastrointestinal problems, and still run strong and consistently. A much more thorough recap of the race is of course at Jean's excellent blog.

Montana de Oro 25K, Morro Bay CA

2008-09-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Having enjoyed the last Montana de Oro run in April, I decided to make the drive down to Morro Bay again for this run, and an excuse to visit the many good Paso Robles winemakers. Unlike last time, no Bay area regulars toed the line in the beginning, with the exception of Dave Delucchi (who won masters last time).

This time it was overcast at the start, but this yielded good running weather on what might have otherwise been a hot August day. We ran out on the bluff with beautiful views of the surf, and then turned inland after about a mile. We did the switchbacks up to Valencia Peak, which I reached at 50 minutes this time. Coming down off the peak Dave Delucchi caught up and we chatted for a bit, but I couldn't wait for him and pulled away. He beat my 15 minutes last time so I was surprised. But he was just running the course today for fun while accompanying his wife. I got back from the first 12K loop in 1:08 and went back out at 1:10. This was a minute or two faster than I did in the spring.

Heading up the road I got passed by one guy before turning right off the road to climb Hazard Peak. I felt like I ran this stronger than last time, but the course was slightly different and it felt a bit longer. Wendell later confirmed this. I never saw anyone in front of me or I would probably tried to hunt them down. I only saw Dave behind me a few minutes back on a couple occasions. So perhaps I didn't run as aggressively as I did before. I finished in 1:33 about four minutes slower than in April. This was good for third master and eighth overall.

I hung around at the beach for a while chatting with Jorge Diaz, who had won the 25K in his very first trail race and Dave Delucchi, who filled me in on his recent Ironmans.

"The Lost Tunnels": Los Gatos to Santa Cruz Trail Run

2008-08-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

My favorite training run takes me from my house in the hills above Los Gatos to Santa Cruz all on trails. From my house to the beach it's about 18 miles and a little under 3 hours. I've had people ask "how in the world is this possible to do this only on trails"? This trail happens to follow the old railroad grade from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz. One of the most intriguing things about the old railroad grade is all of the tunnels that are present on it, as documented by Ray Hosler.

As a dedicated bushwhacker of the hidden trails of the Santa Cruz mountains, I've come across most of these tunnels. I thought I would document the trail path from the Summit area of the Santa Cruz mountains to the Santa Cruz beach via the old railroad grade. And at the same time provide some recent photos of tunnels that people haven't seen. For example Ray Hosler's site does not show the south end of the Zayante Tunnel (what I refer to as portal #8).

I'll start at the first of the tunnels, Wright's Tunnel and continue from there along the route of the old railroad grade as much as possible (obviously when we hit the tunnels we have to run around them. The entire length of the route is right around 50K. Pictures of the whole route are available on Flickr.

To get to the north end of Wright's Tunnel (portal #1) go east on Summit Road from Route 17. Make a left on Morrill Cutoff and then another left on Wright's Station. You'll then see this on your left.

tree marking path to Wright's Tunnel, Portal #1

You can see the tunnel hole behind the tree. Going over the fence and down the path you'll see this large tunnel portal.

Wright's Tunnel, Portal #1

To get to the "other side" of Wright's Tunnel you can either attempt to dig past the dynamited entrance, or go up back to Summit, take a right and go down past Sunset Drive on the left and take the next left on Summit Canyon Road. At this point you've gone about two miles. If you keep bearing to the right it will take you down to the logging road that leads to the tunnel. Here is portal #2, the other side of Wright's Tunnel:

From portal #2 get up onto the railbed by climbing up to the west. Then run on the railbed (ducking under and climbing over fallen trees) for about two miles. The railbed will end at a ravine across from a house. Climb down the ravine and back up into that driveway. It turns into a trail that runs into the town of Laurel and you will see portal #3 straight ahead.

Glenwood Tunnel, Laurel Side, Portal #3

The map below shows the general vicinity of portals 1 through 3.
Its about 5 miles total between portal #1 to portals #2 and #3, assuming a bushwhack from portal 2 to 3.

View Larger Map

To get to the other side of this tunnel, you'll go down Schulties to Laurel Road, make a right and then hit Route 17th South. Going down 17 to Glenwood Cutoff and making a right will drop you off on Glenwood Road. Heading up Glenwood Road to Eagle Road on your right, you'll see the Glenwood tunnel south portal (portal #4) on your left. This is about 3.5 miles.

Glenwood Tunnel, Glenwood Side, Portal #4

Heading back south on Glenwood Road, you'll go past Glenwood Cutoff and then you'll see a driveway on your right that will connect over to the old railroad grade path. Its a little under a mile to here. So far we've gone about 9 miles.

Through the trees you can then see the Mountain Charlie tunnel Glenwood portal (portal #5), ahead. This portal is impressive and is seen by very few people in its remote location in the woods. Here's a map of the general area between Laurel and Glenwood.

View Larger Map

Since it's a bit hard to find if you have a GPS it's located at 37.098 degrees north and 122 degrees west. You can also get a fix on it from Google Earth by looking for Clems, CA, which will get you very close to the tunnel itself. Note that none of the tunnels are visible from Google Earth due to the very dense tree cover on almost all of the trail. The tree cover is also an issue as far as getting GPS coordinates for the other tunnels. But your GPS device should work at this portal.

Mountain Charlie Tunnel, Glenwood Side, Portal #5

If you bushwhack up the hill above the tunnel (trying to follow what train must have done underneath the mountain), you'll end up on Mountain Charlie Road. At that point you'll see Schoolhouse Road ahead of you perpendicular to Mountain Charlie. Follow that road past a couple houses, a horse barn and a chicken coop to what seems like a dead end, but where it turns into a dirt driveway. When it gets to the bottom it will reach a fork, the left one is well maintained and leads down for half a mile to someone's house (!). Don't take this fork. Stay to the right where its overgrown. After a couple hundred yards you'll see this incredible view of the Mountain Charlie tunnel, south portal (what I call portal #6), one of the least viewed anywhere.

Mountain Charlie Tunnel, South Side, Portal #6

Now heading back out to the fork, stay going east (don't go back up the hill) and you're on the railroad grade that takes you all the way to Santa Cruz in a straight shot. This is basically where I pick up the trail from my house. This is one of my favorite places to run on the planet and I can go hours here many days in a row never seeing a car, house or person. Lots of deer, raccoons, bats, and, yes, mountain lions, though.

Santa Cruz water company property fence along the railroad grade (which there is an easement for)

After you run for several miles on this flat and wide but beautiful and incredibly private and remote trail, it runs into someone's backyard as you approach Zayante. See the Flickr set for more details of this idyllic portion of the run. But just stay to the left here and you'll see single track that climbs up a hill. As you climb the hill it lets back out onto flat wide railroad grade path again and you'll see the Zayante tunnel ahead.

Zayante Tunnel, North Side, Portal #7

Passing that tunnel you climb up and over a hill and you'll come out after a couple hundred feet to the Zayante tunnel South Portal. This portal, portal #8, is taken over by a records storage facility. Note that no pictures of this portal appear on Ray Hosler's site (perhaps because the entrance is obscured by the building?).

Zayante Tunnel, South Side, Portal #8

Bushwhacking around this building you'll come out on a path on the other end that leads to Old Kenville Road, an unlabeled dirt trail. Following this road it lets out onto Zayante Schoolhouse Road, which you'll follow for a hundred feet or so until you see this on your right. The total distance from the last real road (portal #5 on Glenwood Road) is probably about 5 miles. Thus we've traveled about 14 miles so far.

fence off of Zayante Schoolhouse Road behind which is path leading to tracks

Following the trail behind the fence for a hundred feet or so, you'll reach a sandy area and the beginning of the old actual train tracks.

Beginning of old railroad tracks!

After a few miles the tracks will reach Felton and Graham Hill Road, and the Big Trees Railroad train depot. Keep going straight across Graham Hill and into the Big Trees Railroad Depot. There are lots of runners who run Henry Cowell Redwoods up to the depot and back, so noone will bother you here.

Here's a map showing the area from Glenwood to Zayante down to Felton. You can see that its about 5 miles from Zayante to Big Trees Railroad depot in Felton by road and the railroad tracks parallel. So far we've gone about 19 miles.

View Larger Map

Note that you can also go to the right on Graham Hill Road to grab a coffee in Felton (the White Raven on Route 9 just below Graham Hill) as a quick break, picking up the railroad tracks again from the Henry Cowell entrance. This adds about a mile to the trip.

train at Santa Cruz Big Trees Railroad Depot in Felton

After a section of passing the parked trains for the Big Trees Railroad (including a narrow gauge train heading out east to Bear Mountain shown here). There is a nice trail alongside the standard gauge track all from here going into Henry Cowell Redwoods Park.

narrow gauge train leaving east up to Bear Mountain, seen from the standard gauge track

After this point it enters into Henry Cowell, a beautiful heavily forested state park with much firstgrowth redwood. After going over the San Lorenzo River and paralleling the river for several miles it crosses over Route 9 and the tracks continue on the west side of 9 in Pogonip Park.

crossing Route 9 from Henry Cowell to Pogonip Park

After a hair-raising railroad bridge crossing it reaches Santa Cruz, crosses over Route 1, and continues on to the Chestnut Street bridge, which probably counts as the final tunnel (and thus portals #9 and #10). I don't always run this part through the tunnel because it's not that pleasant, often choosing to get a coffee on Pacific Avenue instead. In either case (the tracks through Chestnut Street or ambling along the shops of Pacific), continuing on drops you off at the beach.

The following map shows the nine mile run on the tracks (roughly paralleling route 9) from Felton to Santa Cruz. Thus the whole tunnel run is about 29 miles.

View Larger Map

A dip in the surf is the perfect end to an amazing run. At this point, you can run back up the hill (which my friend Pierre did when he ran it with me), take the bus back up to Summit, or meet some friends on the beach for a ride back up. I recommend option 3.

the wharf in Santa Cruz

I'm tentatively planning a fatass (unorganized trail race) for a bunch of my local ultrarunner friends on this route for Saturday, November 1st. I'll be making another post on this blog to outline the logistics of that run.

Salt Point 26K - Jenner, CA

2008-08-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is one of PCTR's most beautiful courses. It is held in Salt Point State Park, and in classic PCTR fashion runs from the beach up into the hills in a very short time. Along the way you pass on singletrack through coastal woods, forests of pine on the ridge, an open prairie, more woods, a steep bomb of a descent, country roads past horse farms, out onto the coastal bluffs buffeted by wind and waves, before finally finishing at the park campground. I did the 11K in 2006, got lost as usual, and finished third in 1:06.

I was looking forward to not getting lost and enjoying more of the scenery in the two loops and 26K (16 miles) that I would get to do on this visit. I got there an hour early, chatted with Chuck Wilson, who was there to the 50K. I also got to meet Jasper Halekas, among the more modest unassuming world class ultrarunners that there are. I congratulated him (a year late) on his Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Mile record and the accompanying movie (a little cheesy but still a must see for serious West Coast ultrarunners). I also filled him in on some of the details of Erik Skaden and Michael Wolfe's attempt to beat that record last month (they did not succeed).

Ray Sanchez, Jasper Halekas, Bryan Wyatt and myself at the start

At the starting line I greeted Ray Sanchez, doing his second race of the weekend a day after doing the Headlands 50K. Apparently he injured himself at PCTR's Headlands 50M and was wearing a knee bandage that looked like it couldn't possibly have any effect. I saw Gary Gellin at the start as well. Gary is much faster than I am so I knew I wasn't going for the win today.

Still, I went out hard with all the leaders out the fireroad and the left turn onto the singletrack. I stayed with Jasper and a few of the 26K leaders all the way up that first climb (Gary was way out in front of all of us). On the flats of the ridgeline Jasper and three others pulled ahead. As we hit the lone aid station on that first 15K loop, and I was filling my water bottle, Mario Jackson (second in the 50K) pulled ahead. After bombing down some more and crossing the road, I entered the ocean side of the park. There was an intriguingly precipitous rocky descent into a small ravine, and a climb back out onto another bluff. Then it was another two miles or so along the ocean back to the start/finish area. I got in there at 1:22, surrendered my water bottle, and grabbed a Red Bull and kept going. I felt great this whole time. On the second smaller 11K loop, I tacked on a 1:06 (right around the time of my 11K two years ago) and finished in 1:28. This was fifth overall and first master (40-49).

Jane had a delicious Lagunitas IPA waiting for me. I sat quaffing the ale and chatting with Gary Gellin about local South Bay trails while we waited to cheer other runners in. Gary had finished the 26K in an incredible 1:58 for the course record. He turns 40 next year and I'm trying to convince him to go back to the cycling world before that happens.

While sitting there enjoying the morming we saw that Bryan Wyatt came in ahead of Ray Sanchez on his first loop, but Ray would pass him en route to come in third. Jasper would finish the 50K in an incredible 4:16.

We then headed off for a leisurely ocean drive back south on Route 1.

Firecracker 10K - Santa Cruz CA

2008-07-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

This race is one of my favorite short runs anywhere. It has a lot to do with triggering my initial interest in trailrunning. The Firecracker starts at Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz, and runs up into Pogonip City Park. I cross through Pogonip on my favorite training run: from my house in the Santa Cruz mountains to the beach.

Last year I ran it in 43:30 while training through, just missing third master in very competitive Santa Cruz field. This year I felt like I was in better shape so I hoped to do the same or better. I was planning to do the Angel Island 25K I wasn't planning to run too aggressively. We did the first street loop of Harvey West Blvd back to the park and onto Encinal Blvd., hitting the first mile in 6:10. Then left up Route 9 to Golf Course Drive, hitting the Pogonip Trailhead at around 15 minutes. Then up the infamous hill of the Brayshaw and Prairie Trails, hitting mile 3 at around 22 minutes. Up the hill I felt in my element as a trail runner and passed around five runners. Coming out onto the ridge and running on the spring trail I sped up but I got the familiar nausea that I get when cresting hills and running fast and had to slow down.

Shortly after mile 4, we let out of the park onto Spring Street, at around 29 minutes. Just less than a couple miles two go pounding the pavement of suburban streets. I kept up a six minute pace down the hills, but tried to save my quads for Angel Island. I lost a few places here, unusual for me at the end of races. I finished in 41:45, good for 21st overall and third in the 40-44 agegroup. For some reason it was record as 41:50. First master was Nacho Duran in 41:28. Just behind him was Greg Gaver in 41:36. I'm looking forward to next year when I'll be 45. That agegroup was won in 42:29.

Pacifica 30K - Pacifica CA

2008-06-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

There's something about this course that I really don't like. Last year it started with running in the mist (which I found depressing). Then it was the necessity to come back to the starting area and run back out again. Finally its the unrelenting continuous climb followed by continuous descent. I don't mind one or two long grinds. But five of them (which is what the 30k's three loops had) is too much. Then the long quad-thrasing ab-cramping descents. I much prefer some rollers and runnable area thrown into the mix. People that do well at Ohlone (like Will Gotthardt and Jean Pommier) probably like this course. I think in the future I'm going to avoid both courses if there are alternatives on those weekends.

I also had a lot of trepidation about this race, as I would have to do it in orthotics. I've been training in Nike Frees recently (a minimalist shoe with basically no support of any kind). I went a little overboard this week with long trail runs in them. By Friday my feet were very sore and I was getting twinges of plantar fascitis, something I thought I had licked many years ago. So the only way I could do this race was to go ahead and turn my beloved lightweight New Balance 790s in to awkward "high heeled" running shoes with balky orthotics in them. On a technical trail run like this - a recipe for disaster.

At the start this year it was sunny and warm. I don't think I've ever even seen sunshine in Pacifica in the morning before. I saw Chuck Wilson and Rob Byrne on my walk into the park this year, and regaled them with tales of Kettle Moraine's biblical extremes of this year. Will Gotthardt was there, as was Ryan Commons (a surprise show, no doubt to keep Thom Clarke, who he's competing with in the PCTR Ultra series, in the dark). Obviously Will and Ryan were then the 50K favorites (which proved to be true). Ray Sanchez was there sporting an expedition hat. He would come in third. Also lining up was Jason Wolf the PCTR Trail Series overall leader, who would win the 30K in an incredible 2:46.

Jason Wolf, Ray, myself and others at the start, photo courtesy of Rick Gaston

I headed out up the hill in chain following Will Gotthardt (there may have been a couple 20Kers ahead of him, but he led the longer distance guys). Halfway up the hill Ray passed me which is unusual as I've generally led him throughout in these PCTR races when I'm doing middle distance. Good running Ray. Ryan was still behind. I got to the top fairly quickly without noticing the awkward orthotics. But on the descent that high center of gravity with the raised heel was very noticeable. I came in after the first 12k loop out to North Peak in around 1:10. I grabbed some coke and potatoes and filled my water bottle with Perpetuem and some coke (not all the way it turns out due to the coke foam, I would regret this later). I'm guessing Ryan came in and headed out for the second loop while I was doing this.

Heading out for the 9k loop I still felt good most of the way, but tried to keep my speed in check. I was pretty much by myself the whole time, but could see Hoa Tran up ahead. My water bottle wasn't full and in the hot sunlight I came in after the second loop in 2:12, passing Drew Beesing (2nd in the 20K 20-29 agegroup) just before he finished. By this time I was getting sore toes and some chafing (remnants of Kettle Moraine 100K flaring up). So I took about ten minutes to retape my toes and apply BodyGlide. I should have had an extra pair of large toebox shoes with me. That would have helped quite a bit. I also made sure to get a full water bottle on this trip.

I headed back out for the final loop, feeling alright energy-wise. But my toes were still hurting. Also the chafing wasn't really solved by the BodyGlide. Also I really hate repeated "Groundhog Day" loops. Its like some kind of penance for sins having to do that. Makes me want to join the gymrats and go run on a treadmill watching bad TV.

On the last descent I slowed down in noticeable quad pain. I don't know if the orthotics were to blame or not. I did have one wipeout with about a mile to go on the switchback descents, putting a noticeable bend in my middle finger. That wipeout I am pretty sure was due to the orthotics. Luckily the need for them seems to have disappeared already so I won't have to go through this experience again soon. Will just confine myself to Nike Free training only once per week

I finished as bib number 332 in 3:32. This was good for fifth in the 30K and first master, earning for another 10 points in the age group part of the PCTR Race Series. Will Gotthardt won the 50K today with Ryan second, and Ray third. Surprisingly PCTR Race Series competitor Phil Oreste did not show for this race though he was registered So I guess I'm leading the 40-49 age group 66 to 36 points. I'm third overall in the trail series, but will not be able to catch either Jason Wolf or Jeff Emery as they are just too fast for me.

Afterwards I chatted with Rick Gaston, who was volunteering to get in hours for TRT 100. This reminded of the one week I have left to get those 12 hours. Yikes! I'll have to cram in a lot of assistance with Quicksilver Running Club at the Western States Duncan Canyon aid station to get that all in. I also got advice from Rick (also pacing next week) on how to pace for next week's pacing of Jean Pommier at Western States.

Geraldi's Tag

2008-06-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Alan Geraldi (he of the back to back Hardrock, Badwater, TRT, Leadville, UTMB, Wahsatch this summer) tagged a bunch of Ultraholics (Jean, Michael, Chihping, Baldwyn and myself) with 5 interesting questions today.

1. my running ten years ago
I've always been a cyclist. 10 years ago I was a workaholic at Microsoft in Seattle. Once I moved to California in 2000 I got back into bike racing and then triathlons. I found, to my surprise, that running was my strongest leg. I did almost all my training on the trails around my house and loved it. I did surprisingly well in the first trail race I entered and started doing them absurdly frequently.

But it took me many years to come around to doing ultras. I only started doing them last year. I still do a lot of shorter distance trail races and I still have a lot to learn about how to do distance well.

2. the best and worst race experience
My best ultra performance was North Face Seattle 50K last year. It was a brutal 10,000 plus feet of climbing course. I was running with the big boys for almost the whole race (Tim Twietmeyer, Kami Semick, finishing second master to Tim and 15 minutes behind Kami). I have a lot of shorter distance wins that were a lot of fun. The most beautiful courses I've done (short or long) were all in the Marin Headlands.

Although I've made a ton of mistakes doing ultras (almost every classic one) I don't know that I've ever really had a truly "bad" trail run. Even the total bonk, 10 miles off course disasters were amazing experiences that I wouldn't get rid of.

3. why do I run?
Being out in nature, pushing myself to my limits, at one with the trail and the mountain, is an indescribable and ineffably moving and exhilarating experience. It is completely addictive. Although I love to race weekly and am very (probably overly) competitive, the core of the passion is really just the trail running itself. My morning trail runs in the Santa Cruz mountains are something I would find extremely difficult to give up under any circumstance.

4. best and worst advice I've been given
Hmmm, good advice? I came from an old triathlon coach: "do something every day". Simple. Effective. Not everyone follows it.

Bad advice: overhydration. Beyond the risk of hyponatrenemia, people are just beginning to discover that the body can only process so much fluids per hour. Beyond that more fluid and sports drink makes it difficult for your body to metabolize any fuel.

After doing a bunch of reading, I'm starting to become convinced that my races with big GI issues were due to too much drinking. One water bottle of sports drink per hour (supplemented with aid station cups) seems to work best.

5. tell us something surprising that most people wouldn't know about you
While I was still a hardcore cyclist, in high school my ambitions were much more geeky. I led my high school chess team to the state championship (which we lost).
But my true ambition is to be a Beastie Boy (replacing one of the other Adam's when they retire)

Lake Youngs Ultra 50K - Renton WA

2008-06-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

This race traverses the 9.6 mile loop surrounding Lake Youngs in Renton, WA three times. It's almost all trail and there are nice rolling hills most of the way for about 900 feet of climb. One unfortunate feature is that you never actually get to see the lake. Its run around a fence on the outside of Lake Youngs. Participants who want to can add another 2.3 miles at the end running back to a marked spot on the course and back. I did the race last year and just ran two loops, tweaking my ankle and having to stop.

This year when I showed up race morning Arthur Martineau said "Hey Adam I didn't think you were coming. You need to register and give some money". Wow, why was I listed on the entrants list then I wondered? (I had checked the race site yesterday to see if I was signed up or not) "Oh, I saw that you listed this race as planned on the Marathon Maniacs site so I saved you a spot." Amazing - now there's a useful aspect of the Marathon Maniacs organization!

This year I had ran the Kettle Moraine 100K the week before in biblically extreme conditions (heat, thunderstorms). And then done a lot of long training runs this week. So, I had no lofty goals for today's race. I figured I would run three 1:20 splits of the 9.6 mile loops with a couple minutes for refuels and then tack on 20 minutes or so after the 28.8 to do the 50K. This would put me right around my 50K PR of 4:24 but not much less. The approximate 8 minute mile pace seemed reasonable since there is supposedly 900 feet of climbing on each loop. My primary goal was just to run even splits and keep a consistent pace.

But out on the first loop I felt great and settled into a 7:30 pace instead. I got back to the start at 1:12:04. I had to take a bathroom break after the first loop (these woods are not deep enough as they skirt the fence) and I stopped to drink a Red Bull and eat potato chips (co-race director Jennifer Martin said "huh? why would we have potatoes?") and headed back out onto the trail at 1:18.

The second loop I was shooting for being 1:18 again. I ran slowly at first eating my chips (man I miss those potatoes). I fell in alongside Roger Chou and Cindy Bigglestone. This was apparently Roger's second trail run. His first being PCTR Forest Park from a couple weeks earlier. Otherwise it appears we like to do the same races as he also did Vegas and Boston. Shortly afterwards Cindy and I sped up and moved ahead. Cindy is a hardcore triathletes venturing out onto the trail for run training - this was her first trail race. She asked about other good local trail races and I regaled her with my Seattle area favorites. She also told me about her training for Ironman Canada in August. I haven't done any multisport events since last year so I enjoyed hearing about it. I'm going to go to her spin class in Redmond, but only if its raining out! (the only excuse for indoor cycling in my opinion)

We came back in at 2:33:12. Cindy stopped after this loop. I took two minutes to drink and eat and headed back out at 2:36. On the third loop I still felt good and felt like I had actually sped up. But instead I noticed that I was approaching the finish around 3:55:40. I headed back out and kicked it in gear for the final two miles to the 50K finishing in 4:11:08 - my new PR. However I think that 50K mark was just set up at one mile though (i.e. not quite enough for 2.3 miles additional), since I felt like I was doing 7 minute miles at the end not 6:30 miles. I think with some tapering this would be a good race to try for a sub 4 hour 50K some day.

Feeling great about the PR, I hung around eating delicious barbecued burgers and chatting with Marathon Maniacs president Steve Yee (he's good luck, my previous PR of 4:24 was set at Mount Si 50K where we ran together as well), Francis Agboton (we had run together last year here and at White River), and Roger. After eating my fill I headed out to pick up the kids and begin a weekend of constructive laziness, milking Father's Day and race recovery to the fullest.

Kettle Moraine 100K - Madison WI

2008-06-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

I seem to have a knack for picking unexpectedly brutal races this year. First the inaugural North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler in April in Bear Mountain, NY. This ended up being called for time for all but the top 19 of the participants (and their average time was 12 hours). Ohlone 50K three weeks ago was a scorching almost totally exposed 100 degree plus heatwave, with two runners being hospitalized. In terms of effect on the participants though, Kettle's heat and humidity had far more effect on the field.

In fact, though I've only been doing ultras for a little over a year, I haven't heard of any races with this high a drop rate. In the 100 Miler, 15 participants finished out of 114 runners who reached the Scuppernong mile 31 checkin. This is an over 85% drop rate. Stunning. In the 100K, there were over 70 starters but less than 40 finishers.

On race morning, the heat and humidity was already evident at 6am at the starting line. So we knew it was going to be a tough day. I lined up at the starting line with a custom bib made by Ultraholic leader Chihping Fu (see below), alongside last year's 1 and 2 finishers fellow Ultraholic Mark Tanaka and fellow Philly boy Joe Kulak.

I ran with Mark, Joe and Zach Gingerich (with a 3:20 50K PR) until the Tamarack aid station at mile 5. At that point I let the leaders move on ahead and stopped to beg some potatoes from the just opening aid station. I headed back out enjoying the soft firetrails and constant up and down hills that wound through the forest.

From miles 16 (Emma Carlin aid station) and mile 23 (Highway 67 aid) the course runs through quite a bit of open high grass fields. The heat in these areas was overwhelming. Once the trail led back into the woods the temperature was a bit more comfortable. I reached the 50K mark of the Scuppernong aid station turnaround in 5:08. I was in fourth place for the 100K at the time, and first master.

As I hit the fields on the way back the heat did take quite a toll (everyone around me was walking). And then I hit some blister issues (presumably due to extreme sweating. I took 30 minutes at mile 45 to fix the blisters, change socks, and try to cool down. On the next leg I hit some major chafing issues beyond what I've had at any race (not really sure why at this point). I had to take time to pin up my shorts in something like an adult diaper to alleviate it (I know - not a pleasing image).

Shortly after that a serious thunderstorm started up. It was apparently part of a tornado warning. The sky was lit up several times with massive lightning. We don't usually get thunderstorms in California. So this was interesting to see. It also cooled things down a bit. At mile 50 there is an unmanned aid station called Horse Riders. Some runners stopped here to take shelter from the rain. But to me this was an opportunity to run in cooler weather. However in the extreme thunderstorm I couldn't quite see the way back onto the trail. Eventually after running into an actual horsebarn one of the locals directed me back onto the trail.

At mile 55 I stopped for another 20 minutes, to eat soup and drink Red Bull. I had spent so much time stopped before that I assumed (incorrectly) that I was no longer in contention for my agegroup so I was in no particular hurry. It was my first 100K and finishing was the primary goal.

After leaving Bluff Road and running one or two miles I saw Mark Tanaka and Zach Gingerich running together. To me it looked as if Mark was in the lead. Apparently that honor belonged to Joel Eckberg, who I guess reached Bluff Road and the turn to Rice Lake before I got to that aid station. Mark looked like he was having a tough time in the heat. He finished second in 20:39 this year after winning last year in close to 16 hours.

After another mile or so I stopped at the Tamarack aid station five miles out and sat down again chatting with Ultraholic Ian Stevens, while he got me potatoes and Mountain Dew. It was a festive atmosphere there with tiki torches all aglow in preparation for the night runners of the 100 Miler. Feeling good after this point I took off a good clip. I ran across Bay area ultrarunner Rick Gaston coming back out for the 100 miler with about 2 miles to go in the 100k. Rick was looking strong and would finish 3rd overall in the 100 miler.

I felt great this whole last stretch and managed to pass about five people enroute to finishing in 13:55. This was 13th overall (out of 70 starters) and fourth master. Third master had come in two places ahead and 10 minutes earlier. Perhaps a little less than an hour in aid stations was called for! But overall I was very happy with this race, and toughing out my first 100K (and first race over 50 miles) under extremely difficult conditions.

Thanks to Chihping for the great bib!

Lake Chabot Trail Challenge - Oakland, CA

2008-06-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

With one more week to the Kettle Moraine 100K (my first race over 50 miles) my training plan had me doing a 13 mile run on Sunday anyway. So I decided to drive up to the familiar Lake Chabot, site of the Skyline 50K and Golden Hills Trail Marathon, to do this lowkey trail half marathon. My goal was to run about 1:40 on this hilly course and stay fresh for next Saturday.

I brought my friend Marco, a budding new trail runner who had just done Quicksilver 25K a few weeks earlier. At the start I saw Ultraholics Baldwyn Chieh and Chihping Fu (whose wife was doing the 5K).

Heading out on the east side of the lake, after leaving the asphalt pavement of the Lake Chabot trail, we did a quick up and down of a two hundred foot bump at mile 2. At Mile 3 we hit the Live Oak hill: 600 feet of climbing in a mile. Then up and down rollers until mile 9, when we dropped back another 400 feet to skirt the western shore of the lake. I got passed twice in short order once I got to mile 10. I considered chasing after them since I really don't like being passed. But today was not supposed to be about racing. Just before the finish I wasn't sure which way to go so I made the first left that would get you to where I remember the start being. Once I figured out the right way to go I had to backtrack 50 yards or so and keep going to hit the finish the right way. I finished in 1:40 and a few seconds (not really sure of my exact time or place).

Afterwards I relaxed in the sun chatting with Baldwyn Chieh, Mike Palmer, Julie Nye and other local ultrarunners while waiting for Marco to finish. Marco came in around 2:52 and we headed back down to the South Bay shortly afterwards.

PCTR Forest Park 20K - Portland OR

2008-05-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

I flew up to Portland this year to try to save some face after getting passed in the last quarter mile last year and coming in second by seconds. This year I switched to the 20K to avoid another beating at the hands of Terry McCormick. But this year, despite racing well (I thought 1:30 for the 20K would be realistic on the hills and still ran 1:28), and leading out all runners for the first mile or two, I wasn't as fast as Thomas Cason, a 1:15 half marathoner from North Carolina. So... second by seconds again.

I had a great time as usual in Portland though with the kids. Lots of running books picked up at Powell's: the world's greatest bookstore.

Ohlone 50K - Fremont CA

2008-05-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

This race is a classic. Its the hardest 50K not at elevation (based on average times historically). But with this year's 100 degree plus heat-fest it may harder than almost any 50K (Karl Meltzer's Speedgoat 50K probably still beats it).

I arrived at the 50K start Sunday morning at a civilized 7:30am (the race's 8am start time being one of the nicer features of the race except on such hot days). I chatted with ultra fixtures Will Gotthardt (his home course and winner of last year's ultra rookie of the year) and Beth Vitalis (multiyear winner of this race and who would also be this year's winner).

Jack and Lainey and I at the start, with Will Gotthardt and Jean Pommier in the background

I felt (incorrectly) confident of my ability to handle the heat, as normally its not a problem for me. I planned this year to go slow early and summit in around 55 minutes instead of 50 minutes. Otherwise, despite last week's 50K at Quicksilver, I was looking forward to a fun race in beautiful California golden hills.

We headed up the hill and I fell in with Bryan Wyatt, a familiar feeling after running with him last week at Quicksilver.

Climbing to Mission Peak, photo courtesy of Dan Turchin

I reached Mission Peak this year in 56 minutes. I had worn heavier New Balance 800 shoes, so the descent off of Mission Peak didn't hurt as much this year. I reached Sunol aid at around 10 miles at 1:45. I changed into some lighter shoes (probably a mistake) and picked up a new bottle of Perpetuem from my drop bag. Felt great up through the Rose Peak but was holding back in fear of the heat I guess. I got to the Schlieper (mile 25) aid station right around last year's time of approximately 5:30. But on the descent to Satan's Pit I cramped out in my right ab. This has happened before to me once or twice and I've noticed that it can go away. A bunch of people passed me including ultraholic Steve Ansell and Clare Abram (who I had run with at Tahoe Marathon last year). When I got to the bottom at Satan's Pit, my ab was the least of my problems. I was suddenly completely nauseous and dizzy. I laid there by the stream for at least 20 minutes decorating the trail. Even when I got up I still didn't feel right and went into a survival shuffle for the rest of the race. Jim Normile (second place runner in my Overgrown Fatass) passed me around mile 28 (same place as last year). Adam Ray caught up to me at mile 29. He was also having a rough day in the heat. I bombed down that hill to the Stromer aid station with him, but then let him go on ahead. Ultraholic Hao Liu caught up shortly afterwards and we ran the last couple miles together. I finished in 7:10, 43rd and just barely in the top third despite a very rough last hour and a half on the trail.

Jean Pommier had a fantastic day and won by over 20 minutes in an incredible 4:57. Will Gotthardt improved his place to 7th, finishing in 5:37. Beth Vitalis won and set the master's women record which was incredible under these conditions. Caren Spore was second woman this year. I chatted with her about upcoming races and tried to convince her to come up to White River 50M again this year (we had both done it last year). I enjoyed the barbecue and mingling with so many elite local ultrarunners before heading back to the South Bay.

Quicksilver 50K - San Jose CA

2008-05-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

What a perfect race to have on my birthday! My "home course" - the Quicksilver 50K/50M. This was one of my first ultras last year, doing the 50K in 5:18, having fun the whole way. This year I planned to do the fifty miler instead. The day before I drove out with my dad to the race start and helped set up for the race, before picking up my bib. Last year I had done trail maintenance getting a severe case of poison oak in the process, but I skipped that step this year.

It dawned a perfect day for the race, not nearly as cold as last year at the start. Just before we lined up I saw Chihping Fu, who said he was still nursing his stress fracture, exacerbated by last week's Miwok 100K. As we ran out I fell in alongside Keith Blom, who knows this course like the back of his hand. I wanted to run 8:30 and Keith usually beats that, so I thought running with him would be good. On the early hills of the Virl Norton Trail though I felt good and took off ahead. I found myself running with Devon Crosby-Helms. This was a sign that I was running way too fast. But I did get to hear about her plans for her budding running career. She wants to do trials for the Olympic Marathon
in 2012.

As we got to mile 6 and the first water stop I slowed down and ran with Bryan Wyatt for a while. I got to hear his story of having his car stolen overnight recently. We got to the dam aid station for the first time around 1:30 and shortly afterwards Suzanna Bon caught up with us and the three of us ran together for a bit. I arrived at English Camp at mile 14.5 at around 2 hours - I was way ahead of last year's split of 2:15. Again - probably not a good sign. The volunteers asked for pushups. "Has anyone done them?". "No.". Well those guys deserve what they ask for so I knocked out five marine styles.

Then up the grind up the hill to the top of Mine Hill Trail before bombing back down and getting into the dam aid station again at 2:30 - well ahead of plan. Coming out of the aid station and running down the Guadalupe Trail I saw Jane and my kids coming up from the road where I had pointed her to a "secret way" into the park.

Shortly afterwards Stuart Taylor caught up, doing the 50K this year again, after doing his first ultra last year in 5:02. On the climb back up to the dam I slowed down and got passed by Quicksilver veterans, Keith Blom, Jim Magill, and Rick Gaston, all motoring strongly up that familiar hill.

I got to the dam again around 3:30 and picked up a fresh bottle of Perpetuem, some electrolytes and a Red Bull from the kids. I grabbed some potatoes and a turkey sandwich and continued up the hill. Feeling like I was plenty ahead of goal pace I slowed to a walk to eat my sandwich. As we crested the hill I was ready to start running again. But as I pounded the downhill the blood blister that had been slowly forming became excruciating. I need to run with more shoe than my favorite New Balance 790s on courses with this much pounding descent. I'll be running in New Balance 800s in next week's Ohlone 50K.

After a second visit to English Camp (where they declined my request for beer saying I could get some on my way back out), I saw Graham Cooper coming back up the hill looking very fresh and strong. Then I saw Chikara Omine and Victor Ballesteros running together. Shortly afterwards on the grind up I saw Mark Tanaka running down. And as I got up to the Hacienda fireroad I saw Suzanna Bon bombing down the hill. I loped in easily for the last couple miles to finish at 5:21 - around the same time as last year.

With the blood blister going on and my dad and my kids in the finish area where the beers were flowing, and the grills were burning, it seemed the better part of valor to just stop at the 50K point. While my time thus far was just fine and I really didn't feel too badly, suffering through the blood blister for another 20 miles just seemed a pointless alternative to enjoying the rest of my birthday. So I stopped there. To my surprise just about everyone I knew doing the 50 mile had also stopped! Scott Dunlap, Devon Crosby-Helms, Sean Lang and others had all stopped at 50K after signing up for the 50 mile. Scott had a great suggestion for improvement: just sign up for the 50K and bring $5. If you want to do the 50 mile then ask to change to the 50 miler once you get into the 50K finish. I think thats my plan next year.

My friends Charlie DeGraw and Marco Garcia had finished the 25K race, their first race longer than 7.5 miles, without major incident. I hung around chatting with Sean Lang and Stuart Taylor while my kids brought me beers and burgers for the next couple of hours. We watched Graham Cooper come in for the win in 6:35, setting a new course record. Chikara Omine was second in just under seven hours. Shortly after that I took off with the kids up the hill for yet another birthday barbecue (gluttony is a nice perk of ultrarunning).

Pat's Run 4.2M and Race for Literacy 5K - San Jose and Mountain View, CA

2008-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I hadn't gotten into the Miwok 100K that was being held on Saturday due to a bad Wifi connection on the ski mountain on registration morning (Miwok sells out immediately). In so doing I missed my chance to the "Bay Area Triple" of Miwok 100K, Quicksilver 50M and Ohlone 50K on successive weekends. I'm instead only doing the latter two.

So this weekend I signed up for a pair of short road races instead. I decided to keep mileage low and intensity high just before Quicksilver 50M next week. This almost resembles a real taper, something I haven't really tried before.

So on Saturday morning I joined thousands of other local runners to do Pat's Run - a 4.2 miler in honor of Pat Tillman. As most of you know Pat was a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals who volunteered to serve in the military and was killed by "friendly fire". The run started at Leland High School where Pat went to school.

Like many roadraces, it was an uninspiring course. It runs through the surrounding suburban cul de sacs, before finishing up on the football field. There's another 10K run from Leland high school that at least takes you out on the bike trail.

I planned to run 6:15 miles and try to finish in 26:30 or so. I hit mile 1 (with some downhill) at 6:10. Mile 2 had some climbing and I hit it at 12:40. Mile 3 was right at 19 even. Mile 4 should have been right around 25:15 or so, right on track for 26:30. Instead I hit it below 25 minutes. And I finished up at 25:53. This was definitely faster than planned: about 6:10 milers. I think the course may have been a little short.

On Sunday I drove with my friends Charlie and Marco (doing his first organized road race) to Shoreline Park for the Race for Literary 5K. Several hundred people were there at the start in the chilly mist.

We ran out on a bumpy path from the kite-flying area. I had heard Vanessa Lordi say that she wanted to run 6:10 miles. "OK, I'll draft off of her", I thought. We did indeed hit the first mile at 6:06. Going into the second mile I realized she was slowing down (probably to 6:30 pace) and passed her, losing maybe 15 seconds on that. Elyseo Hernandez was running about 50 yards ahead. as we approached the two mile mark at around 12:30. I suspected that he was in the over 35 age group (I turned out to be right), so I guess it was worth making the effort to catch him (I had bet Charlie and Marco breakfast on winning my age group). I started reeling him in slowly. I caught him right around the 3 mile mark and the turn into the kite flying field at 18:45. I sped up and put out a little kick to not get passed, finishing in 19:20. This was good for third overall and winning the 36 and older age group.

I waited for Charlie and Marco to finish. They both came in sub-30 minutes well in the top half. Great job guys! We hung around in the emerging sunshine eating delicious vegetarian Indian breakfast: ukhma (which was sort of like spicy grits), pongol (which was like a creamy lentil dish) and sambar (a lentil-based red sauce). We followed that up with more breakfast (the bet proceeds that is) at Los Gatos Cafe.

Big Basin Redwoods 17K - Boulder Creek CA

2008-04-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

I drove down the backside of my Santa Cruz Mountains to Big Basin for another Pacific Coast Trail Runs classic. Just the 17K today. I hadn't run at all since getting back from Boston a few days earlier.

A smaller crew of regular ultrarunners were there, probably because Miwok is next week. Kevin Swisher, Ray Sanchez, and Thom Clarke toed the line as likely favorites for the 50K. Leor Pantilat was there as well running the 25K. Paul Taylor was there to challenge me for at least masters in the 17K.

Paul and I chatting before battle, with 50K winner Kevin Swisher in the foreground

I went out hard in the top few on the 17K loop that all but the 9Kers had to do. As we hit the first long climb about a mile in, I noticed that indeed Paul Taylor was hanging on my shoulder. As we crested and I made a customary wrong turn ("when in doubt keep going up?" Paul correctly headed down on the right course. I tried to keep him in sight but he's a faster descender. As we approached the next climb I caught back up and joined him in a walk, thinking it was better strategy to just hang with him and kick later. But I can't walk the hills. So I took off and run upwards.

This is a great course with a lot of runnable climbing (over 2000 feet) in just 17K. I kept up a run and didn't hit any more extended downhill until the last mile or so. I bombed down as hard as I could at the end thinking Paul had to be close. I finished in 1:29:21, good for second overall and first master. Paul came in at 1:35 even.

I hung around chatting with Paul, his friend Alistair Adams and 25K winner Leor Pantilat briefly afterwards, before heading off to nearby Felton to La Bruschetta Sicilian restaurant for a fantastic brunch in the warm sunshine.

Boston Marathon - Boston, MA

2008-04-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well every reasonably serious runner wants to do the Boston Marathon one day right? I guess that I am no different. Although I have become more and more ambivalent about road marathons over time as I grow more attached to trail ultras, I decided late last year that I would qualify for Boston, run it and then be done with road marathons. At least in North America (I would like to run Berlin Marathon some day to visit my sister there and maybe run sub 3 hours).

So I ran 3:15 at Silicon Valley to qualify last October. Then some young friend said "oh you old guys get to qualify so easily!". So then I had to go run Vegas in December in 3:10 and change to do the open standard for anyone. So.. given that I qualified I pretty much had to do the race, despite the fact that it fell right I between a lot of important (to me) trail races.
I flew out after winning Skyline Ridge 10K on Saturday and arrived very late on Saturday night to the Park Plaza hotel right near the finish area. Waking late thenext morning I caught the end of the women's marathon before going into the thronged convention center to pick up my bib.

Monday morning I woke up at 4am, despite the late race start of 10am. Just a habit before big races I guess. After eating a leisurely oatmeal breakfast (probably too much for just a marathon) I caught the 6:30 am bus out to Hopkinton. It really is quite a production number getting 25,000 runners shipped out of the city to the race start. If there is ever a natural disaster Boston will be more prepared than any other city to handle the logistics.

Although Boston itself was reasonably warm for the early morning, Hopkinton was bitter cold and windy and there was no heat in the tents. I was dressed only in a couple layers of t-shirts, and I realized that I'd be hanging around for a couple hours with no warmth. My bus seat-mate was kind enough to give me his disposable rainshell. But it was still cold even with that on.

A stupid move not having a jacket. But its rare that I have a race that I really have to wait so long for. And I hate dealing with drop bags. There was a line for a "pre-race massage" that was done indoors. Oh well, I guess I'm going to experiment with having a massage before the race. This would turn out to most likely have been a mistake. They worked my habitually tight calves and hamstrings, which felt great (as did being inside in the warmth).

After braving a 20 minute wait for the porta-john (police were patrolling the woods on the lookout for rogue urinaters - I knew there was a reason I liked small trail races better), I hiked with a few thousand other Wave 1 runners to the starting line. I was in corral 7 after being "seeded" as runner 7055 based on my 3:15 qualifier. I guess I would have been a corral forward if they had used my Vegas time instead. As we waited the sun started to peak out. This was cheering after a very cold and dreary morning wait.

The gun went off and after not too long for such a big race, I crossed the starting line. A crowd was cheering for the first mile or two alongside the race (as they were for almost the whole course). This is one race where it would be quite difficult even for me to get lost on.

I wanted to clock eight minutes for the first mile and then settle into seven minute miles. For some reason, I found myself in a 7:15 mile rhythm. I was a bit baffled by this as 7 minute miles seemed so easy and natural in last winters road marathons. Perhaps I was feeling the effects of last week's 50 miler and Saturday's 10K after all. Still I ran easy and felt good for the first 14 miles or so.

After stopping to kiss the girls at the Wellesley Wall, I found my calf twinging on the slight incline (I hadn't even reached the Newton hills). I stopped to stretch it out and started up again. Every time I tried to push the pace back to 7:15 at least it seized up again. Finally I settled into a stiff-legged "nocalf" gait of 9 minute miles I was able to continue. At the first several aid stations I begged for electrolytes (I hadn't brought any for this seemingly cold day) but noone knew what I was talking about. This was pretty frustrating, although I guess I should have some pills with me given my proclivity for cramping. Still cramp or no cramp there's no way I wasn't finishing a race with tens of thousands of people screaming and encouraging me from the sidelines.

I managed a good push in the final two flat miles to finish in 3:39 and change. I looked everywhere at the end for electrolytes and still couldn't find one. On the walk back to my close by hotel I ran into Steve Yee, president of the Marathon Maniacs. I hadn't seen him since running with him at the Mount Si 50K. What a contrast - I had set my 50K PR at that race, and today I was lucky to finish, Steve had a tough day as well but finished a couple minutes ahead of me.

Given that it was Monday I was eager to get back to California for a bunch of work happenings. I rode a cab right from my hotel at the finish to the airport. At the United counter I was told that I had won at least one division today: first runner to check in for a flight.

With the cheering crowds, long history, and fine fellow competitors, Boston is a one of a kind experience. Despite the mixed results, its a good potential last road marathon for me.

Skyline Ridge 10K - Palo Alto, CA

2008-04-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

With Boston coming up on Monday, I should really have slept in today before my flight. Instead I drove the ten miles up to Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve for another Envirosports race. It was on the same course as the Stevens Creek 50K and the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Skyline 50K. The course is too nice and too close to me to skip,

While waiting for the customary EnviroSports late start in the brutal sub-40 degree cold and wind, I chatted with Kelly Emo (another compulsively frequent competitor) making a rare venture onto the trail doing her first of two races this weekend. She's back to competing in triathlons seriously, doing masters sprint triathlon nationals soon.

I also saw Ralph Lewis, a fast short distance trail runner who has usually bested me in such runs. So much for an easy day before Boston. The half marathoners were sent out first, with Leor Pantilat leading out and eventually winning by a wide margin.

Then we 10Kers were sent off. We circled a loop in the parking lot twice before heading through a narrow gate onto the trail. In the lead, I took my customary wrong turn at the first fork. Ralph yelled at me to get back onto the trail, where I had to pass another runner to get back up to him. We ran for a while together before I passed him on the upward climb. Then coming to the top onto the first downhill he passed me and tried to put some distance between us. On the next long climb about two miles in I caught up and pulled away. Then there was a rocky downhill before the aid station turnaround. Getting to the bottom it was unclear if I had to go to the aid station or just turn. While I hesitated Ralph caught up again.

On this subsequent climb back up I pulled away again and decided that I'd rather not be passed again. So I put some distance between us, hoping to give myself a buffer before the last mile of almost all descent. I didn't see him from that point on. I finished in 47:20, good for first and the infamous Envirosports rubber chicken and a free pair of Vasque trail shoes. Ralph came in about 30 seconds later.

We talked about upcoming short trail runs while I waited to cheer Kelly in, before I headed off to SFO for the long flight to Boston.

North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler - Bear Mountain NY

2008-04-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is the most extreme "trail run" I have ever done. And I would guess its the hardest sub 100 miler ultra in existence. Please let me know if I'm wrong about that. Because I'll enter any such other race immediately after finding about it.

I had done the first year of the North Face Endurance Challenge 50K in Seattle last fall. I had a great race that day, and I loved all the climbing they managed to squeeze in. The Bear Mountain race was billed as far more technically challenging. So I knew I wanted in on this one, and made plans to fly to New York City as soon as I saw the race posted in January.

Make no mistake about it: this was actually not a trail run. It was fifty miles of primarily bushwhacking. How is this possible you might ask? While there were some sections of single track, some deer paths, and even small segments of fireroad, the majority of the course was following white ribbons amidst the woods. After a certain point it became clear to everyone I was running around that if you really knew where you were supposed to go potentially hours could be saved cutting tangents and not following the white ribbons precisely. Since there really was no trail to speak of it would be hard to even call that course cutting. But if you're not familiar with the course, not only will you not be able to do such optimizations, you will be lucky to end up going in the right general direction at all.

As it was, the wrong turns that I ended up making were _after_ stopping and consulting with other runners at some length about which way to go. And we all went together on these wrong paths. When you do that and end up visiting the same aid station twice, it can be quite deflating. So...if you want to do this race (if they even hold it on this course again) the biggest single thing you can do is to go run the course beforehand (which I have no doubt the top finishers did). Ideally do it with a GPS and slap down some waypoints for later analysis. I do plan to do that next year.

But more challenging than the direction-finding was the nature of the terrain itself: the ribbon-marked so-called paths went up and down hollows and washes and rocks and crags, with dozens of knee deep creek crossings, and a bevy of rain-slicked moss-covered rock slides alternating with wet leaf slides. This no doubt explained the high prevalence of bloody limbs amongst the other competitors. I did fall five times onto my butt, making snowboard runs of the black diamond variety. But despite many minor scrapes and bruises I was nowhere near "best blood" for the day. Thankfully I didn't hear of any truly serious injuries.

As hilarious as these escapades were (and I had a smile on my face the whole time), it was abundantly clear that North Face didn't even make a head-fake attempt to time the course. The "projected times" for leaders and mid-pack were off by many hours, even halfway into the race. Also, I followed several runners into a pointless loop that had us all hitting aid station one a second time (among other small wrong turns that I would guess a majority of the participants ended up making).

As a result this gives me the most mixed emotions of any race that I have ever done. On the one hand I love these kinds of courses. It reminds me of my "secret stash" of trails around my Los Gatos Mountains lair (albeit East Coast bushwhacking is quite a bit different overall than West Coast shwacking). On the other hand, it became very clear during the race that people had no idea what they would be up against here. And despite the competitive venue I couldn't help but empathize with their sufferings.

As I started to figure out ten miles in, it was quite evident that the vast majority of runners would have to be pulled from the course. There was no way that the organizers were ready to do night-time monitoring of a 50 miler. And despite the 5am start, most runners would indeed have finished well past sunset. It seems that the 65 people (out of the 81 starters for the 50 miler) who got past 26.5 miles were counted as finishers, with their places recorded as of that milestone.

I continued past that point and passed at least five more runners.I was told by volunteers approaching mile 33.5 miles, at around nine hours into the race, that I was in the the top 20. I felt strong and was enjoying the afternoon. I had been passing people all day since my initial double visit to aid station 1. So I felt like I could have got back up to the top 10. But I was pretty sure they were going to start pulling everyone from the course soon anyway (which turned out to be true). And we had theater tickets in Manhattan for the evening that would not have been makeable with even the best of finishes. So I called it a day there, overall very satisfied with the day's adventures, although perhaps a bit frustrated by the unnecessary extra loops and thus the missed opportunity for a breakout race, given a terrain that I really enjoy. If this is a DNF, I'll take this particular one with no shame. I would do this race again, though I would definitely run portions of the course beforehand (especially if they modify it at all) and not make any plans for the evening after the race.

I'll be posting pictures and blow by blow details soon. In the meantime see this
better blog post from Scott Livingston (whose wife is a monster on the order of Krissy Moehl or Beth Vitalis).

Waiting for the 5am start

Malibu Creek 25K - Calabasas, CA

2008-04-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I enjoy running in the hot desert climate of the mountains around Malibu and Santa Monica. I had done earlier races in Exterra trail series here as part of the Trail Runner Trophy Series a couple of years ago. So, despite having done the Golden Gate Headlands 7 Miler on Saturday, I hopped the one hour flight down to LAX on Saturday evening to do this Pacific Coast Trail Runs race. The day broke a little overcast and cold as I drove from the hotel to the race site in Malibu Creek State Park.

A surprising number of Bay area athletes were there: Ray Sanchez, fresh from the American River 50 that day, Will Gotthardt, Ryan Commons, who's been on assignment in LA for a while. All of them were doing the 50K. Having run the Golden Gate Headlands 7 Miler on Saturday, and with next week's North Face 50 Miler in New York, I only planned to do the 25K. With 3000 feet of climbing, I thought 2:30 would be a great time.

Wendell warned us about a river crossing that was supposedly thigh deep. I didn't really want to get that wet so Will and I both thought we would take the road option. At least that was the plan.

Olver Obagi, Ray Sanchez, Ryan Commons, Will Gotthardt and others at the start

Wendell started us off at 8:30am. The 9Kers turned off after half a mile for their own loop. The rest of us continue on. I was running with Will and Ryan. The Obagi brothers, who I had finished behind at the Morro Bay 25K, were a bit ahead. We all hit the river about the same time without seeing a road option. The rest of the lead pack splashed through. Will turned back to look for the road. I followed Ryan across some rocks to the right, staying relatively dry.

After the crossing we came to the first aid station about 20 minutes in. Then the climbing started in earnest. Up, up and up on fireroad. Ryan pulled away, and eventually Will caught back up after making the road crossing. He pulled ahead as well. I had Oswald Obagi in sight, less than a minute ahead of me, for most of the climb.

Catching up to Oswald Obagi on the climb

As we got onto the ridge, and did a number of rolling slightly technical descents he pulled away. And Martin Brooks started to come up within sight behind me.

On the most technical rocky descent down to the aid station at mile 8, Martin pulled in as I was leaving. OK, I better step it up. On the subsequent climbs I pulled away more. But as we got down to the continuous descent at mile 10, Martin eventually pulled alongside. We ran for a while together. Hearing even more footsteps behind us, I picked up the pace and put some distance between me and Martin and the next guy, Bennett Ouchi. Coming out onto the flats, I put even more distance between us. With a couple miles to go, the trail turned to rocky single track which I knew would slow me down. Out of that stretch with about a mile to go, I could see Martin behind me again only about 100 yards back. Climbing up the road back to the start area, I had to push to keep that gap. I came in in 2:11, far faster than planned for a 25K with 3000 feet of climb, good for fourth overall and first master.

I hung around chatting in the now emerging sunshinewith Martin, Bennett, Wendell, Sarah, and Jon before heading to the Burbank airport and a quick flight home. I like these Malibu races and will be back for more of them later this year.

Eagle Park 5M - Sammamish WA

2008-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

I had to go to Seattle anyway this week. So flew up to Seattle the morning of the race. After landing at 8:45 I drove to the site of the race in Sammamish, arriving just before race start. The ground was covered in snow, and the trail seemed to promise a muddy slippery escapade. Race Director Eric Bone promised no course records today.

There were 10 mile and 5 mile courses all starting at the same time. I had done the 10 miler last year in 1:24. 1:30 as a goal seemed reasonable under the conditions.

As we started out, it was in fact like skiing down every rolling decline. And there were puddles all over the course. It was pointless to avoid them and everyone quickly got their legs completely encrusted in mud. After several near falls, I decided that it would be prudent to just do five miles today and not risk injury for several bigger races coming up. At the aid station I turned around and tried to go catch the leader. I finished in second place again this weekend in 41 minutes and change. Surprisingly under the conditions this would have been the course record for previous years.

Napa Valley Trail 10K - Calistoga CA

2008-03-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

I decided not to do the full marathon of this race as I had to fly to Seattle the next morning and where I planned to do another race. The 10K should be a nice little speed workout before a brutal gauntlet of ultras in April and May: AR 50M, North Face NYC 50M, Boston Marathon, Capitol Peak 50M, QuickSilver 50M, Ohlone 50K, and PCTR Portland Forest Park.

I saw Ray Sanchez at the start of course, as we both seem to do each and every local trail race. We compared notes on the last five races we had done together (Sequoia, Skyline Ridge, Napa Valley, Marin Trails, Morro Bay) and the next two (AR 50 and Malibu Creek next weekend).

Race director Dave Horning sent out the marathoners first. Before the half marathon start ten minute later he said that half marathoners could stop and get credit for a 10K. Perfect. I decided to save the time and go ahead and start my 10K right there and then.

Leading out at the start
I headed out and tried to stay on the front. Pete Kogler was just moving too fast however. I ended up staying about a minute off of him for the whole run. Molly Schmelzle was nipping at my heels for most of the run as well. Good incentive to move faster and not get "chicked". Molly won the women's half marathon and finished third overall.

We were going up and down fairly mild rolling single track. There were some stream crossings to slow things down. But not too many. I had done this race in October of 2005 in around 50 minutes. But really this seemed like a course that should be 7:30 pace or so. 45 minutes seemed achievable. At the finish, by the time I clicked stop on my watch (they weren't really ready for finishers since I had started ten minutes earlier) my watch read 45:31. With the wave that started 10 minutes later, Rob Cargie of Calgary, Alberta ran it a bit faster and won the 10K division in 45:05. I ended up in second place (first loser) as I would do again the next day in another race in Seattle.

This is a fun little jaunt of light rolling hills. I'm not quite sure that its worth the drive up to Calistoga. But if you're hankering for a day in wine country it may be worth the drive.

Buffalo Run 50M - Antelope Island, UT

2008-03-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

I had done the 25K inaugural version of this race two years ago as part of the Trail Runner Magazine Trophy Series. Last year they added a 50 miler. This is one of the most beautiful courses I've ever done: views of the lake from every turn and running amidst herds of buffaloes and antelope. Plus the Race Director Jim Skaggs promised to make the 50 miler more challenging this year with multiple ascents of Elephant Head Mountain.

So I really wanted to come out and do this race despite the fact that it filled late last year. Luckily some room came free on the waiting list at the last minute. So I cancelled my trip to do a Virginia race and came out to Utah instead.

My goals for the race were to:
- run consistently and efficiently throughout finishing strong and ready for more
- win the masters division. I thought that I would need to run 8:45 or so to do this (last year masters was won in around 8:30 but its a more challenging course this year)
- as a stretch goal run 8:30 or less

The race started at the ungodly hour of 6:00am under a bright full moon. The runners lined up in full headlamp and reflective regalia.

We ran out from the campground at the edge of the island on fireroad and were supposed to turn left from there onto a trailhead. But the various different chalk markers made me think that we should stay straight. I was leading out, but I had someone on my elbow when I chose not to turn so I assumed I had gone correctly. Once I could see the campground again I realized that I had made a mistake. I got back onto the trail 16 minutes into the race in dead last. In other races, wrong turns have demoralized me and I've had trouble finishing strong. This time however, I resolved to get back to the front.

As we ran up to Elephant Head I had the pleasure of greeting almost every runner as we approached the aid station for the turn to Turtle Rock. This was a little out and back where a sticker needed to be collected. For some reason people were turning to do that out and back spur at mile 4 instead of mile 9 as the map called for. Anyway, either way it works I guess.

I was running fourth as we made a climb out up a ridge at mile 15. Coming down from there I stopped to take some pictures of the buffalo herds and got passed by the eventual fourth and fifth place finishers as well as some other runners who I would repass.

After passing the buffalo herds, we descended from the ridge onto a large fireroad by mile 18. This passed close to the start/finish area, and continued up and over a hill and then down to the lake. Turning left at the base, we ran out a mile or so to the aid station at mile 20.

Then south on single track on the East Coast of the island, bordering the road, reaching the southern tip of the course around mile 31. Back north on this road to the northernmost aid station at mile 43.

Then west around the westernmost peninsula of the island on some very rocky treacherous single track. Its completely unmarked for over three miles and most runners I talked to thought they might be lost. Rounding the bend the tents of the finish campground were finally visible. Feeling strong and knowing I wasn't lost, I sprinted the last half mile or so back to the finish area.

There the 25K and 50Kers were waiting with homemade buffalo chili (is this why the buffaloes were eyeing us runners so angrily on the course?) and Jim's delicious homebrewed red ale. We hung around for hours cheering runners in and enjoying the food, fine weather and the breezes off of the lake in this unique venue.

As I had hoped for, I felt great in this race throughout and I was happy to finish in 8:38 given my 16 minute detour. I did manage to win masters after all, and was seventh overall. No wrong turns would probably have netted me fifth overall. But I was pleased with a day of running strong under adversity regardless of the result.

This race is a well kept secret and there weren't too many other Californians in it. I'll be letting my local ultramarathoners about it though. I expect it to grow and be quite difficult to get into soon.

Montana de Oro 25K - Morro Bay CA

2008-03-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

I've done just about all of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs races at one time or another. But I had never done this one in Montana de Oro State Park near Morro Bay. But hearing about the spectacular views and given that I love the "race up the hill from the ocean" genre of trail run, this year I made the three hour drive down from the Bay area for a rare PCTR Sunday run.

We stayed in the Morro Bay Inn about ten miles away from the race site. On the drive there, we stopped at the Starbucks in Los Osos where I ran into Vladimir Gusiatnikov on his way to the race by bike from the train at San Luis Obispo. We gave him a ride to get him to the start on time and admired the surf while we waited for the race to start. I hadn't expected to see familiar faces so far away. But at the starting line were Ryan Commons, Joe Murphy, and Ray Sanchez (another lunatic who seems to do each and every local trail race).

All the distances (8k, 13km, 25k and 50k) started at the same time at 8:30am. Wendell was nice enough to individually tell Ryan and I to be sure to make the turn off of the road on the bluff. This was probably because Ryan is fast and I am stupid.

I felt great at the start and headed out near the front with a whoop. I was just behind some high school age kid for most of the run out on the bluff. Once we hit the bluff the smell of the sea air was overpowering and inspirational. From here on the views in the race were incredible. It is one of the most beautiful courses that I've done.

We turned off of the bluff onto the Rattlesnake Trail to begin the climb up Valencia Peak. I enjoyed the climbing and kept at a run almost the whole way. But not too fast as I'm still spooked by my earlier calf injuries from overaggressive uphill running. I got passed by a handful of people:, Thomas Reiss, Oswaldo Lopez and Ryan Commons from the 50K and David DeLucchi, Anissa Seguin, and the Obagi brothers from the 25K. Reaching the top of Valencia Peak I felt strong and bombed back down past the oncoming runners approaching the peak. We then turned onto Oats Peak trail for the return to Spooner's Cove and the start area.

I got back to the start at 1:10 into the race, had a couple cups of Coke and headed back out Pecho Valley Road to the Ridge Trail up to Hazard Peak. Ted Nunes was right behind me for the run down the road. I could see Ryan Commons and a few runners ahead on the climb, but I knew I would lose them on the descent. After climbing Hazard peak there were a few more rollers before hitting Islay Creek Road for a few miles of long flat running back. I finished in 2:29, fifth overall and second master.

We headed off to Paso Robles wine country for a visit to my favorite American syrah maker: Hunt Cellars for an afternoon of anti-oxidant and resveratrol-rich wine tasting.

Marin Trails 20K - San Rafael CA

2008-03-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

I had planned on doing the Land Between the Lakes 50 Miler in Kentucky this weekend. But my dad called me telling me that he was getting a foot of snow in central Kentucky and that they should have at least half a foot in western Kentucky. My enthusiasm to fly that far to run 50 miles in the snow was low.

So I headed up to San Rafael on race morning to do Envirosports little trail run in China Camp State Park. Ray Sanchez was there, but I didn't see many other ultrarunners there today. Most of them were doing Way Too Cool 50K of course. I was still feeling the effects of last week's back to back at Skyline Ridge and Napa Valley Marathon. I headed out easy and enjoyed the fun climbs. I finished in 1:25 and headed home to rest for a long training run on my hidden mountain trails the next day.

Napa Valley Marathon

2008-03-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

I had made the mistake of eating gels with no water at yesterday's Skyline 23K so I had some major digestive issues all day Saturday and Saturday night. But I still made the perhaps foolish decision to toe the line on Sunday morning along with 3000 other competitors. I figured I could still manage 7:30 pace for a sub 3:20 finish (another unnecessary Boston Qualifier). I ran out at an easy eight minute pace, when who should I see but Ray Sanchez who had also done yesterday's Skyline Ridge 23K. We ran together for the next 13 miles or so.

He said he also wanted to run 7:30 pace. But we still ended up running 7 minute splits until the half marathon mark. I knew I would pay for that speed so I let him move ahead right at that point.

I relaxed and resolved to enjoy the day, finishing up with a bunch of eight minute splits for a 3:32 time.

If I ever focused on road marathons (they aren't a priority for me), I could see trying to make this race a PR.

PCTR Skyline Ridge 23K

2008-03-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Although I had Napa Valley Marathon the next day, I couldn't resist a race just a few miles from my house in the Los Gatos mountains. Its also the same site (and thus good practice for) the Saratoga Gap Fatass (that I had done a few weeks before) and the Stevens Creek 50K (that I had gotten lost at last year!) Taking it an easy pace the day before a marathon should be good for longer distance training.

Before the race I got to see a bunch of familiar faces lining up for the 50K: Sean Lang, Leor Pantilat, Will Gotthardt and Ryan Commons. Ryan did me the honor of wearing my "race uniform" of black surfer shorts and orange shirt: flattering since he's become much faster than me.

Given that it was just a 23K, I headed out in front at a good clip with Leor Pantilat (who would win the 50K). I kept up a good pace through the early hills but was still passed by several runners including Sean, Ryan, and Thom Clarke. Mark Tanaka came alongside and we chatted about Kettle Moraine, which he had won last year and will be my first 100 miler.

We reached the turnaround at 50 minutes and I stopped to drink some coke and sports drink (I had no water bottle). After a mile or so, Scott Dunlap came alongside and we compared notes on fellow Trail Runner Magazine Trophy Series races and competitors. He surged ahead as well. As we headed around the lake to the finish Paul Taylor caught up and I let him pass. Since he was also sans water bottle I had a suspicion we might be competing for first master in the 23K. Smelling the finish I put out a kicki encouraging him to come along as well. I finished in 1:55:50, good for third overall and first master.

Beautiful course. Fun day. I headed home to help Liz with her homework before Sunday's race in Napa.

PCTR Sequoia 30K - Oakland, CA

2008-02-16T23:45:00.000-08:00

I drove up to Oakland intending to do the 50K, despite my ongoing calf woes. Due to various toepad soreness the previous week, I switched to heavier shoes to protect my already sore feet from downhill rocks. This would turn out to be a mistake.

The race started at 8:30. I ran out a bit behind the lead pack. I hit the first aid station at Moon Gate at 23 minutes. Then up Tres Sendas to the French Trail. Once French Trail hit Toyon Trail a spur started. I hit this intersection right at the one hour mark.

Then down all the way to Canyon Meadow and the aid station. I was getting a hot spot from the rarely worn Terrocs. I got a couple bandaids from Bryan Wyatt. I also chatted with Garett Graubins who I had corresponded with frequently when he was editor of Trail Runner Magazine, and I was successfully pursuing winner of the Trail Runner Magazine Trophy Series in 2006, but had never met.

On the way up I realized I was still feeling the hotspot despite the bandaids. So I decided to just do the 30K today. After climbing the spur I hit the West Ridge Trail (also site of the Epiphany Ultra and the Skyline 50K and the Golden Hills Trail Marathon, all of which I've done recently) moving at a good clip and encouraging all the 20Kers that I was now passing. I bombed down the last three miles from Moon Gate almost catching Ray Sanchez who was continuing on for the 50K. I finished in 2:48, eighth overall and second master.

I left to go meet Liz early for a day of shopping at Santana Row.

Los Gatos Fatass Marathon aka the Overgrown Fatass Results and Race Report

2008-02-10T21:41:00.002-08:00

12K Distance

Wendy Bernal - 1:25:15
Jenny Chang - 2:00:00
Sanjeev Mishra - 2:00:00
Marco Garcia - 2:18
Charles Degraw- 2:18
Eleanor - 2:20

Half Marathon (22K) Distance

Lourdes Cardona - 2:40
Frank Kochinke - 2:40
Tony Nguyen - 3:26 ** bonus miles

Marathon Distance

Sean Lang - 4:22:25
Jim Normile - 4:33:26
Haiming Yu - 4:50
Joe Murphy - 4:53
Kyle Dando - 4:45.06
Patrick Shuck - 4:56:40
Mike Schuck- 4:58:06
Jim Magill - 5:02
Laura Murphy - 5:09
Adam Blum - 5:14:59
Vladimir Gusiatnikov - 5:20:41
Keith Lubliner - 5:22
Brian Hawkinson - 5:47 ** bonus mile!
Christine Miller - 6:31
Tom Kaisersatt - 7:09

I posted a few weeks back about my rationale of starting this race. Note that there is a new name. The race grew faster than I expected. Plus its run on the "Overgrown Trail" in Los Gatos. Hence its now (and in perpetuity) The Overgrown Fatass. (I don't know why I didn't think of this name before). It runs from downtown Los Gatos, at the Jones Trailhead in Novitiate Park, up Jones trail, to Alma Bridge Road, to the Overgrown (Limekiln) Trail. Then it climbs over 2000 feet on Limekiln Trail to the top of Mt. Sombroso. From there runners bomb down Woods TRail to Hicks Road and the border of Quicksilver Almaden Park. Returning back up the mountain, runners retrace their steps back to the Jones Trailhead. According to Keith Lubliner there is 5960 feet of climbing. I have seen 50Ks with more elevation change, but no marathons. Next year I am going to add a dogleg on Barlow Road towards the top of Mt. Umunhum to make it a 50K. My hope is to get the total climbing above 7000 feet.

The day before the race was sunny and actually a bit on the hot side. Luckily Sunday morning was still sunny, but now a bit chilly. Good running weather. I got to the Jones Trailhead with a vat of coffee, bagels and a case of water for the participants (yes, its supposed to a minimalist fatass race, but I like to underpromise and overdeliver). I met Haiming Yu around 8am as he headed out to do a 5 mile "warmup". As 9am approached, over twenty people were there at the start. I issued the fairly simple race instructions and sent the runners off at 9am exactly.

I took it easy at the start and tried to chat with each and every participant as we headed up Jones Trail. To my surprise I felt good despite my gimpy calf, and I worked my way to the very front where Sean Lang was setting the pace. Sean and I would run together for quite a ways. As we came to the top of Jones Trail, Jim Normile bombed down in front of us (as is his wont in many races). We reached Alma Bridge road and turned left where I had placed pink ribbons the day before. We then had about half a mile of rollers before reaching Overgrown Trail on the left (also marked with ribbons). Sean, Jim and I turned off the road on the Overgrown trail together. Sean and I pulled away on the uphill. But Jim and Haiming Yu were close behind. Sean and I got to where Overgrown meets Priest Rock and the water bottles that my friend Laurent had mountain biked up there were still there. We refilled filled our bottles from it, and took a picture.

Then onward and upward alongside the power poles, to the top of the mountain. After another half mile Haiming caught up to us and we ran together for a bit.

As we approached the turnoff to Kennedy near the peak, Kyle Dando caught up. Here's Kyle and Sean at the Kennedy Road intersection where Woods Trail starts, with Mt. Umunhum showing up in the background.

After we reached the highest point we started the steep decline down Woods Trail to Hicks. Sean eventually pulled ahead and I let him go. Jim Normile caught up as well as he excels at the descents and he and I ran together for a bit. When Kyle Dando came up Kyle and I ran together for a bit and caught up with Sean, before Jim passed all of us. Jim came in to the turnaround first, with Kyle, Sean and I shortly afterwards.

Brian Moore and Pavan were volunteering to give aid at the turnaround on Hicks. They were there with sports drink, water and chips stacked up on Brian's car trunk. This was a huge help! We couldn't have done it without those guys.

Sean and I left the aid station around the same time and ran together for a while. But my calf finally started twinging (I was pleasantly surprised that it had taken so long). So I slowed and let him go on ahead. On the grind back up to the top of the mountain, Haiming caught up again. As did the Shucks. As I approached the top my calf wasn't the only issue. I had clearly not brought enough gels. This was a good thing for training as I'm getting my body accustomed to running off of fat stores alone. But its a sure recipe for a slowdown. Thus, on the descent, I was passed by another three runners.

But I still enjoyed myself the whole time on this perfect day for a run. After bombing down for three miles, when I got back to the water stop at the Overgrown-Priest Rock intersection there was no water left, and bottles were missing. Clearly passersby must have been grabbing bottles. This surprised me. Next year, we need to have a dedicated aid volunteer at that spot. I finish bombing down the trail, stopping mountain bikers for water every once in a while. This got me back to Alma Bridge Road without dying from dehydration. Then back up the Jones Trail climb and back to the Novitiate Park/Jones Trailhead. I finished in 5:14:59.

Fifteen runners did the full marathon distance. The total distance turned out to be 26.6 miles with 5960 feet of climbing (thanks for the stats Vladimir). Sean Lang (who I always seem to run a few minutes behind at local ultras) won the race in 4:22.

Runners hung around in the perfect weather, watching other finishers, quaffing IPAs and raving about the beauty and challenge of the course. Despite its bootleg origins (and the assembled motley crew of sweaty beer drinking runners), the Park Rangers were friendly and helpful and even picked up bottles from the unattended aid stations before I could retrieve them. Amazing.

Again, thanks very much to Pavan Ramarapu, Brian Moore, Laurent Pfertzel, Wendy Bernal and Charles DeGraw for manning and stocking the aid stations and the finish.

Next year’s Overgrown Fatass will have a 50K option as well with even more climbing. If we climb Bald Mountain in the process it will of course be the Overgrown-Bald Fatass.

Woodside 50K - Woodside, CA

2008-02-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

I love running the trails of Huddart Park in Woodside, one of my favorite training sites. Also, I won the short course there a few times as well. So, despite my injured calf, I decided to run this race anyway, treating it as a training run. Little did I know that I would more than get my money's worth as it turned into a 40 mile training run.

The sky was ominously cloudy, but it wasn't raining at the start as Wendell issued his announcements.

I took it easy at the start and chatted a bit with Chuck Wilson and his girlfriend Christine as we ran out Richards Road.

Then moving up the familiar climb of Chapparal and Crystal Springs to the Skyline Trail I ran with Taylor Valentino for a while. I hit the Kings Mountain aid station at mile 5 around 1 hour and, in the spirit of a training run, chatted with the heroic volunteers there for a bit.

From there, we continued on the rolling Skyline Trail to the Bear Gulch aid station. We continued on Skyline Trail, then down Alambique to the Bear Gulch trail, which was supposed to start a loop. However, I missed the turn for Redwood Trail which would take us back. Eventually I figured out that I had gone too far, and attempted to take some turns to get back. I spent about 90 minutes (conservatively I'm guessing 9 miles) on this escapade before finally finding the orange ribbons again.

At this point I fell in with Tom Kaisersatt who supplied me with some much needed snacks (potstickers yum!) Tom's good spirits buoyed mine, quite demoralized by the sidetrip. We stuck together for the next two aid stations.

But once we hit Chinquapin trail I had to have the fun of bombing down the hill. I ended up finishing around 7:23, something close to last. Apparently Wendell can't mark bonus miles as he once did or it would be marked as 63km.

I think this will turn out to be a great training run for several early season 50 milers that I'm committed to.

The Original Fat Ass 50K - Saratoga Gap, CA

2008-01-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well I'm holding my own fat ass race (free, unorganized, winter trail run) in a couple weeks. So how could I not do the original Fat Ass 50K held at Saratoga Gap (where Route 9 meets Skyline) only 15 miles from my house also located at the summit of the Santa Cruz mountains? It was first held by Joe Oakes in the early 1980s, and the RD mantle passed on to David Kamp when Joe moved to Oregon.

This year, the day broke cold but sunny and beautiful. I wended my way up the twisty Skyline Drive from my perch in the mountains south of the Gap, getting to the race a few minutes before 8 am. Race director Dave Kamp, Steve Patt, Keith Blom, Christine Miller and a few others were there.

I was a bit nervous about running this as I am directionally challenged even on a "real race marked course". On an unofficial course which would no doubt have recently downed trees from large winter storms that we've had in the Bay area in January, I was pretty sure that this race would stress my meager orienteering skills. Luckily Keith Blom was there, and we generally run about the same speed (though I think he's a bit faster). So I at least would have a partner in figuring out where to turn.

We headed up the Skyline Trail to the Hickory Oats Trail. This is the same route as the middle miles of the Stevens Creek 50K.

Then down down down the Slate Creek Trail. There were several possible offshoot trails. But someone, presumably Dave Kamp, had subtly arranged sticks into directional arrows as clues to the right way to go. We eventually reached a park maintenance area which had water. We ran into early starters Mylinh Nguyen and Chau Pham. I congratulated them on their recent Ultrarunning magazine profile and invited them to the LG Fatass on February 10th.

After some water and a snack we left the camp area, crossed over Old Haul Road and found the Portola Trail. We climbed up the slope hitting the Butano Ridge trail, while Keith regaled the newbie ultra guy (me) with stories of his many 100 miler exploits (love the one about sprinting from No Hands Bridge to finish WS in 24 hours).

Finally reaching the top we headed down the Basin Trail. We stopped occasionally to try to figure out the right path.

Once we reached China Grade road Winnie and Lee Jebian's van was parked with snacks and water set out. After partaking of both, I left my jacket and gloves and we set out into Big Basin on the Basin Trail. It was plenty warm by this time - I was sweating and a bit concerned by my lack of electrolyte pills.

Shortly we ran across Winnie and Lee doing trail work. We kept going and soon enough lost the trail markings. The Jebians happened to come up and they helped us find the right path. Once on that path it undulated up and down and eventually across some lunar like rock formations. I had raced on these in some runs held by Redwood Trails. Not too fun in light shoes, but at least we were generally going uphill by that time.

Eventually we hit the long sought Skyline to the Sea Trail and commenced the upward climb. We came out onto Route 9 at Waterman's Gap, and it wasn't quite clear where exactly to go.

We eventually found the trail off to the right and began the run upwards. With a little over two miles to go, my oft-injured left calf started to cramp up (so much for no need for electrolytes on a seemingly cold day) and I had to let Keith go on ahead. Shortly afterwards, the trail let out onto route 9 again and I couldn't quite see where to continue back onto the trail. I ran the last two miles on the road, finishing just as Keith arrived at Saratoga Gap as well. Clearly the road was a bit shorter and avoided some hills. Keith recorded my time as a couple minutes after his: 5:47. Whit Rambach came in a few minutes later. He had apparently started at 8:15am, so it appeared that he was the "winner" (shortest time) by 10 minutes or so. By this reckoning, I guess I was third, though relative place is somewhat irrelevant in a fatass run (especially one with stops to figure out trail markings every few miles). Overall, I was happy with the early season running on a hilly (7600 feet of climbing) and tree-obstructed course. It was a great race on a beautiful day in, I believe, one of the most beautiful places to run in the country.

Thanks to Dave Kamp for his above-the-call-of-duty course markings and continuing to host this historic event.

More 2007 Retrospective and 2008 Plan

2008-01-13T18:50:00.001-08:00

Chihping Fu "tagged" me with a list of questions about the past race season. Its a better format than my original 2007 retrospective post.

1. most memorable moment on the trails
North Face Endurance Challenge 50K in Seattle. A brutal challenging course with over 10K of climbing. It was when "endurance running" seemed to finally click for me. It felt like I could just keep on climbing. I finished wanting more.

2. best new trail discovered
I discovered more new trails surrounding my house in the Los Gatos hills, but those will remain secret. But as far as racecourses, I love the trails and mountains of the White River 50, which I did for the first time this year.

3. best performance
North Face Endurance (second master, seventh overall) was the best ultra. My overall win and masters record at Mount Diablo 8K was probably my best executed race.

4. don't know how I survived without
Support from my crew, at the 50 milers.

5. person who I would most like to meet
Karl Meltzer. He races often. Does very "climby" courses. Doesn't seem to rely purely on footspeed. Writes a great blog.

6. race I am most excited about
My first 100 miler: Kettle Moraine in June.

On that topic, my race schedule for 2008 is shaping up. I'm doing a bunch of local 50Ks until March. Then Napa Valley Marathon on March 2nd, my only road marathon besides Boston. Then off to Kentucky on March 8th to do the Land Between the Lakes 50 Miler and visit with my dad. The next week I'm headed up to Bellingham WA to do Chuckanut (my first ultra last year) again this year.

April is the North Face 50M in Bear Mountain NY, followed by the Boston Marathon. Then Capitol Peak 50M in Olympia, Washington. May is the Quicksilver 50K on my birthday, and then Ohlone 50K the following week (this back to back was admittedly tough last year). After a few weeks rest, in June I'll be flying to Madison, Wisconsin to do Kettle Moraine 100.

After that race, just one more race and I'll be doing Tahoe Rim Trail 100 in July. Then a couple more races in August followed by the Lean Horse 100 in South Dakota. Then trips to DC in September for the North Face Endurance 50 and the Great Eastern Endurance Run. From then on just local lowkey ultras for the rest of the year.

Los Gatos Fatass Run

2008-01-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

Update on participants on 2/5
Whew - way more people than expected. I guess the South Bay does need some more trail runs. If you're coming and not in this list, please post a reply on the forum or send me an email.

Frank Kochinke
Lourdes Cardona
Jon Burg
Patrick Schuck
Mike Schuck
Jim Harrison
Sean Lang
Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Marco Casado
Beth Vitalis and Joe (her boyfriend)
Ryan Commons
Keith Blom
Christine Miller and Chuck Wilson
Keith Lubliner
Jim Magill
Tony Ngugen
Kyle Dando
Brian Hawkinson
Jill Mitsch
John Burton
Charles DeGraw
Adam Blum
Lynn (SJ Running Meetup)
Taylor Valentino
Tom Kaisersatt
Haiming Yu and Dirk (early starters)
Jenny Chang

Update on parking on 2/3: There are more people than I expected signed up. If the residential street parking on Jones Road fills up, I suggest driving back to College Avenue and parking in the lot behind Fumare Cigar Lounge. There should be plenty of room there.
Update on 1/12: I ran the trail this morning. Its not 1.4 miles from Limekiln Trailhead to Priest Rock intersection. Its actually 2.0 (per the GPS of Keith Lubliner). So, after removing the Novitiate Trail dogleg, the total distance is now 26.6 miles. Also, I was asked for a shorter distance option, so there is now an 7.6 mile (12K) option as well.

I want to encourage more trail and ultraruns on my beautiful local South Bay trails. The only ultra in the South Bay that I'm aware of is the Quicksilver 50K. I also want to keep up the "marathon or ultra per week" pace I've been doing, and there's nothing local on February 10th. So on that date I'll be putting together a small Fatass (free, unorganized) Run on the trails above Los Gatos, with marathon, half-marathon (22K) and 12K options.

Date: Sunday, February 10th
Time: 9:00am
Directions to start:
Take 17 South to Los Gatos downtown (Route 9) exit. Head west on Route 9. Make first
left on University Avenue (driving map from google maps below is slightly different but it works too). Make a left at the deadend on Main Street. Make a right on College Avenue. Make a right on Jones Road and continue until it deadends at the trailhead.

Cost: FREE
Aid/Food:Water at the 4.3 mile mark (Limekiln/Priestrock intersection) for all distances. Water/sports drink at marathon turnaround on Hicks Road. There will also be some snacks at the finish.
Other Frills/Awards/T-shirts: NONE
Results/Timing:We have a volunteer collecting times at the finish for me to post.
RSVP/Questions/Volunteers:Would be useful to have some kind of headcount to know how much sports drink to have available. So email me if you're planning to be there or have any questions. If you want to volunteer, even better.
Marathon Route:
Jones Road Trailhead of Jones Trail to dam – 1.2 m
Alma Bridge Road to Limekiln Trailhead – 0.6
Limekiln to Priestrock Trail – 2.0 (AID STATION - water)
Continue on Limekiln to Woods Trail – 3.0
Woods Trail to Hicks Road – 6.5 (AID STATION - water, sports drink)
Return on Woods Trail to Limekiln Trail – 6.5
Left on Limekiln Trail to Priest Rock Trail – 3.0
Continue on Limekiln Trail to Alma Bridge Road – 2.0
Right on Alma Bridge to Jones Trailhead – 0.6
Right on Jones Trail back to town - 1.2
Total: 26.6 miles (in the fine trailrunning tradition, you're running slightly long)

"Half Marathon+" (22K) Option:
Jones Road Trailhead of Jones Trail to Dam – 1.2 m
Alma Bridge Road to Limekiln Trailhead – 0.6
Limekiln to Priestrock Trail – 2.0
Continue on Limekiln to Woods Trail intersection – 3.0
Turn around and return to Jones Trailhead via the same route - 6.8
Total: 13.6 miles

12K Option
Jones Road Trailhead of Jones Trail to Dam – 1.2 m
Alma Bridge Road to Limekiln Trailhead – 0.6
Limekiln to Priestrock Trail – 2.0
Turn around and return on same route - 3.8
Total: 7.6 miles (12K)

Detail of start/finish on Jones Trail

Epiphany Ultra

2008-01-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Don Medinger, publisher of UltraRunner, hosts this fatass (free, unorganized) race on the Skyline firetrails (on a course also used for Dick Castro Firetrails 50M, the Golden Hills Trail Marathon, and the Skyline 50K) above Berkeley to celebrate his birthday each year, around the Feast of the Epiphany (hence the race name). He used to do it as a mile per year until 2001 when it reached 50 miles. Now its 1K per year, so this year was a 57K. Runners can show up whenever they like and track their own time.

I decided to just run a marathon. I arrived at the start at Skyline Gate above Berkeley at 8am. Although we'd been having hurricane rains for a couple of days (I had no power when I left my house), it was a clear beautiful day to start. I wasn't quite sure of the course when I got there (most people had started at 7am). So I made up a course around the periphery of Redwood Regional Park. This one was quite hilly, up and down the ridgelines. I got back to Skyline Gate at 10:20 and signed onto a rain-soaked clipboard (by this time the rains had started again). Then I figured out what the real course was supposed to be and ran straight out the stream trail all the way through the park, to the MacDonald Landing. Then up the hill towards Lake Chabot. I ran into Chuck Wilson at the 57K turnaround and ran back with him for a while. It started to really rain heavily. I slogged back through the muck and mud to the Skyline Gate at 12:32. Chuck had told me that the 57K turnaround was 5.5 miles from the start. So I "owed" two more miles. I ran out one mile on the West Ridge Trail passing Caren Spore (who was also making up her own 19 mile route and starting late) and turned backaround. I finished the first marathon of the year at 4:47:50.

Fatass races are fun. But I don't like to drive so far for them. I need them to catch on in the South Bay. Ironically enough, the first Fatass ever was supposedly in Los Altos, but it seems to be inconsistently held recently. Supposedly its running this year on January 19th. But most ultrarunners I know will be at the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Pacifica run that day.

Looking Back on 2007

2007-12-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

2007 was an exciting year. My first year doing ultramarathons. I had a lot of trepidation going in as I wasn't sure that I was really a long endurance athlete. To my surprise some of my best races were the longer ultras (50 milers). By the end of the year I felt like I really understood how to race an ultra well. I started regularly finishing in the top ten, generally in the top few masters (old guys). More importantly I was enjoying the races start to finish and feeling strong throughout.

I did 42 races last year (down from my usual 50 or so per year). Twenty of those were marathon and longer. Of the thirteen ultras I ran, three were 50 milers. Some highlights of the year were:

Favorite course: any Golden Gate Headlands race (GGH Marathon, Muir Beach, Rodeo Beach).
Toughest course: White River 50M (and my second favorite)
Best performance any distance: Mount Diablo 8K (overall win and masters record)
Best ultra distance performance: North Face Endurance 50K, Bellevue, WA (seventh overall, second master)
50M PR: JFK 50M (7:57)
50K PR: Mt. Si Ultra (4:24)
marathon PR: Las Vegas Marathon (3:10:56)

My big lessons learned (old saws to any experienced ultrarunners but which I had to learn the hard way myself) were:

- don't try to run when injured - just skip the race (this was a hard one for me)
- run less, cross-train more (cycling whenever possible)
- avoid road marathons, especially when big ultras are coming up
- acclimate for ultras at elevation, or better yet, just stay at sea level!
- go at a moderate pace for the first half hour
- eat something small (potatoes, pretzels, chips) at all the early aids
- don't stop or sit ever

Finally I want to thank the fair Rebecca for all her support crewing my races. I couldn't have done it without her. Judy Ranzer, my travel agent, figured out all of our flight and hotel logistics, just from a list of my races. She displayed endless patience in the face of constant schedule adjustments.

Rodeo Beach, Sausalito, CA

2007-12-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

Rodeo Beach is my favorite course to run anywhere. Last year I had won the short course here. And earlier this year I had run the Golden Gate Headlands Marathon there and had a great race. And of course had a great run last week at Muir Beach 50K along much of the same course. So despite having pulled my calf last week, I showed up here to try to do a lowkey run for my last ultra of the season. I had had some training runs during the week, running the flats from downtown Los Gatos to my office in Cupertino. So I thought I might be able to pull off the race after all.

Walking to the start

Heading up that first hill from the beach on the Coastal Trail, my calf was twinging the whole way. Once I hit Wolf Ridge the downhills were fine. Up the hill on Miwok fireroad my calf was getting tighter and tighter. Down Old Springs trail to the Tennesse Valley aid station, I realized that I wouldn't be able to do the 50K after all. Not unless I wanted to walk all the uphills and make my finish time a few hours longer. Probably not a good idea since Rebecca was waiting for me. I told the aid station volunteers there that I would do the 20K, and headed up the Marincello Trail.

I still had to walk all of the uphills, whereas I was able to run the downhills and the flats, despite the pain. I finished in just over two hours. Rebecca had run the 8K and was helping Sarah set up the finish line food. We headed off early for a weeklong trip to Squaw Valley at Tahoe: no running, just snowboarding. Probably just the right cure for my injury.

Muir Beach 50K - Sausalito CA

2007-12-15T15:31:00.001-08:00

My favorite place to run on the planet: the sacred Golden Gate Headlands. Despite the advent of snowboard season (shredding it up last weekend on Crystal Mountain in Washington state) it was worth breaking out the trail shoes again to run into the headlands from Muir Beach. Last year I did the 11k arriving late and thus not contending for the win as I used to do at many PCTR short races.

My goal this year was to run the 50k, do it in under six hours, and focus on enjoying the run, taking pictures of the spectacular views throughout (apologies in advance for the photo spam - I love my new Nokia N95 phone with 5 megapixels - a true ultrarunner's friend). Great training for Miwok 100K, Headlands 100, and other races I am planning to do in 2008. Heading up that first killer hill towards Pirate's Cove I was running with the leaders. I realized that I should slow down and save some powder for the long day and stopped to admire the view of the surf.

Pirate's Cove

We undulated up and down the narrow single track of the Coastal Trail before heading down the Tennessee Valley Fire Road to the aid station. I dropped off my jacket, gloves and sunglasses at the aid station. Then up the grind of Marincello fireroad (the same as the Golden Gate Headlands Marathon and the Rodeo Beach Run).

cresting Marincello

Then down the single track towards the Coastal Trail again. Then up the climb out onto Conzelman Road. I hit the aid station and then out onto Field Road running down to the Lagooon.

Looking out over Field Road down to Rodeo Beach

We turned left onto the Oil Spill Bypass, a slightly faster way up to Rodeo Beach.

Approaching Rodeo Beach

From Rodeo Beach, we started the grind up the Coastal Trail, up through the concrete tunnel, then out onto the road, up the steps and finally onto Wolf Ridge.

Up from Rodeo Beach to Wolf Ridge

Down the Ridge, up the Miwok fireroad, then left onto the Old Springs Trail, plummeting while trying to avoid day hikers until we got to the Tennessee Valley aid station again. I grabbed some coke and potatoes from Will Gotthardt who was volunteering after finishing second in the 17km. From there, down Tennessee Valley Road, and a right up the grind of the Fox Trail. Reaching the summit, then bombing down two miles back to Muir Beach and the start/finish area.

I got back to Muir Beach and the 33km mark at 3:15, way faster than I thought I would (about 45 minutes ahead of schedule). I picked up another bottle of Perpetuem and headed back out at a relaxed pace. Back to the Tennessee Valley Valley aid station, Will refilled my water bottle while I grabbed another Coke at around the 4 hour mark. Then the 5km loop up Marincello Trail, turning onto the Bobcat trail to head back down to Tennessee Valley.

Down the Bobcat to Miwok with an hour to go

Then back down Miwok to Old Springs again and the aid station. I ran right past at 4:45 and tackled the grind up Fox Trail again. I did finally flag a bit on that climb this time, and got passed by the friendly Daniel Borcherding. I got to the the top around 5:13. At the top, about two miles from the finish, I felt good and decided to bomb down to the finish. I started really moving, cramped out and just ran-hobbled through it. I must have clocked six minutes miles as I finished to my surprise in 5:25 and change, ahead of my goal. Good for ninth out of 72 in a strong field. A very good day in the temple of trail running.

Ryan Commons had won the race in an impressive 4:32. He has come on strong as I remember running with him for a while at Ohlone. I also chatted with Beth Vitalis and Michael Kanning until Rebecca got there to drive me home. Off to Buckeye's at the bridge for a great post-race meal.

Las Vegas Marathon

2007-12-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

This was my "backup road marathon" in case I didn't qualify for Boston at Silicon Valley Marathon. I planned to race this one aggressively: run 7 minute miles throughout unless and until I fell apart.

Race morning the Bellagio shuttled us to the start at the Mandalay Resort in some very nice vans. We still ended up walking quite a ways to get to the corrals. In the huge throng of people (over 12,000 competitors), even trying to get as far in front as possible, it took me a minute to get across the starting line.

I ran the first mile in 6:47 before slowing down to a more reasonable 7 minute pace. My splits were as follows: 6:47, 7:02, 6:55, 6:53, 6:53, 6:55, 7:11, 7:12, 6:53, 6:54, 8:18 (mile marker long!), 6:06 (translates to two 7:12 miles if these two miles were correctly placed), followed by 7:32. At mile 13, I was at 1:31:30 and hit the half marathon at 1:32:25 (chip time). Then up the hill of around 500 feet of climbing (although most people think of Vegas as being flat): 7:32, 7:30, 7:35, 7:35,7:12. All along the way spectators and grade school cheerleaders (in town for a national competition) cheered us on.

Around mile 17 I started to get a bad blood blister on my toepad (us trail runners aren't used to road pounding), slowing down to approaching 7:40 miles. Bummer. I should have worn thick socks for a road marathon. My splits from 18 onward were: 7:37, 7:38, 7:41, 7:29, 7:08 (downhill!) and 7:42. Turning right at mile 23 through the crowd of half marathoners on the backside of the strip all of the faster marathoners had to slow down to avoid the walkers in the half marathon. I held steady at 7:40 miles, as it was too hard to speed up amidst the crowd, and finished at 3:10:56 - a PR and good enough to qualify for Boston regardless of age (the open standard being 3:10 and change).

I felt good about the whole day. I think that with proper gear, no blister emergencies and a clear finish to the course I will be able to run 7 minutes throughout and post a 3:04 as my times from shorter distances indicate I should be able to.

Quad Dipsea - Mill Valley, CA

2007-11-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

This is the most extreme race held on the famous Dipsea Trail. The Double Dipsea, one of the oldest footraces in the country is help on the same route: from Stinson Beach to Mill Valley and back. I've done that several times. It's the site of the Bruce Dern movie On the Edge. The whole course is quite inspirational. Not really being a great descender in general, I have never gotten the hang out of pounding down those endless steps into Mill Valley (or the less extreme stairs to Stinson Beach for that matter). Still I've managed to hobble my way through it and have fun doing the Double.

But I had always found the idea of crossing over the hill four times to be utterly unfathomable. Even this year, after doing three fifty milers that had all gone well, I admit that I was still intimidated by this race.

I arrived in Mill Valley (unlike Double Dipsea, the Quad starts in Mill Valley rather than Stinson) the morning of the race and did my best to keep warm in the sub-freezing temperatures. I was still a bit stiff from JFK the week before. But overall feeling pretty good (no excuses). Running up those steps at the start amidst the crush of runners is not that fun. I pushed a little too hard to get away from the hordes. Finally it lets out onto the trail. Chuck Wilson was working the aid station halfway at the Summit and refilled my water bottle quickly on each pass through.

I noticed that Beth Vitalis took an early lead among the women, continuing another strong season for her. I happened to be running behind Krissy Moehl most of the way, probably a sign that I was running too fast. I ran the first leg feeling pretty good, thinking that I was holding back, in 1:13. I picked up another bottle of Perpetuem from my crew and headed back over the hill to Mill Valley. I pounded down those infernal stairs reaching the start/finish area at 2:31.

Quad Dipsea Halfway

Still feeling good on the third leg I got back to Stinson Beach at 3:53.

I thought I had 5:30 in the bag, and I would have been happy with that the week after a good race at JFK 50M. Halfway up the hill I cramped out. I took some electrolytes but then got nauseous worse than I have at any race. As I proceeded to lose my lunch onto the trail Keith Blom caught up and said "I hope you're going to cover that up!". I'm not really sure what caused all this. Probably some combination of not enough electrolytes and not enough fuel. Finally I got up and started a slow hobble back up to the aid station at the summit. I stopped there and drank and ate for a while. I really didn't want to finish this race. Somehow I got up and ran/fell down the mountain for a 5:49 finish.

Erik Skaggs won in an impressive 3:53, threatening the men's course record. Beth Vitalis set the women's course record in an incredible 4:39:39.

JFK 50 Miler - Hagerstown, MD

2007-11-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

This is the country's oldest (45 years old) and largest (over 1300 participants) ultra. Its relatively flat - not generally my favorite kind of course. But a chance to run a sub eight hour 50 miler. And I have rental property in Virginia, but haven't met my tenant there. This was a good excuse for a fall visit.

This year the race attracted Mark Lundblad, Eric Clifton, Greg Crowther, Eric Grossman, and Sean Meissner: ultra luminaries from across the nation. Perhaps it wasn't quite so crazy to fly across the country to go. It was frigid the morning of the race: 28 degrees. Although I lived in the DC area for many years, I'm now a California cold weather wimp. So I stayed in the shelter of the schoolhouse where morning of registration was done as long as possible. With ten minutes to race time, I started walking to the start line with the over a thousand other people running. I had never seen such a crowd at an ultra. The gun went off before many of us had reached the starting line.

We ran up the road to where the trail started a couple miles away. It was a steep enough hill that many runners started walking. I kept running and passed many people since I had started late. We turned onto the Appalachian Trail and enjoyed the respite from the asphalt for a while. That is until the descent started. Unlike most California ultras, the trail was covered by rocks. In my lightweight New Balance 790 ballet slippers, my feet were cut into small shards by the constant impact on the sharp stones. The occasional rises on the Appalachian Trail provided welcome respite from the downhill punishment of the rocks.

Eventually the hills yielded to the flats of the C&O Canal Towpath. This was around the 15 mile mark. I hit it at around the 2:30 mark. I was running with two sub 3 hour marathoners, Michael Dunkle (who would finish a few minutes ahead) and Robert Ayers (who faded to 8:32), easily clocking 7:30 miles at that point.

Since my goal was eight hours I slowed down to try to do eight minute pace which should easily get me the eight hour overall time. We ran 26 miles on the path. I came off of the path at 6:45, with eight miles to go. We were now going up and down rolling hills on asphalt. It wasn't that fun running out on the road, but the traffic wasn't too bad and the weather was nice. I felt like eight hours was in the bag, so I settled into an even 8:30 minute pace to finish under 8 hours and not blow up. Mission accomplished. I finished at 7:57.

Then off to my favorite restaurant in the world: the Inn at Little Washington, in rural Washington, Virginia, for a fantastic celebratory meal.

Metro Silicon Valley Marathon - San Jose CA

2007-11-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well I don't normally do road marathons. But I would like to do Boston Marathon once. So I signed up for this relatively flat local roadrace in order to qualify for Boston for next year. As a 43 yearold, I needed a 3:20:59 to do so (you get 59 seconds grace over the nominal standard). I planned to race conservatively: just run 7:30 miles and finish in around 3:17. This is a simple way to plan splits: just 15 minutes for every 2 miles and one hour for every 8.

One of the other nice things about this race is its on the morning after the "fall back" for Daylight Savings Time. So it felt like we were starting at a civilized 8am instead of the nominal 7am. The weather was absolutely perfect as the sun rose and it was 50 degrees out.

I felt so good at the start that I accidentally ran the first mile in 6:40. I slowed down after that but was still running too fast. Michael Bauman, a very frequent marathoner and optometrist from Visalia, pulled alongside with Sarah Kummerfeld (who would finish third woman). He was talking nonstop and was a bundle of energy and good cheer. We all wanted to run around 7:30 pace so we ran together for a few miles, turning onto the Los Gatos Creek Trail around mile 5. Once on the trail we had to dodge the cyclists, pedestrians and baby strollers. This is a very unfortunate feature of this race: the lack of dedicated space for it. I felt good enough that I pulled away around mile 8. I got to the halfway-point high school at 1:33, still running around 7:10 per mile. Last year, I just did the half marathon and finished here at 1:30:29.

Though the race is mostly flat, there were some actual hills leaving the high school before we turned back onto the trail. Now we were facing the oncoming runners. I still felt good until around mile 20, which I hit around 2:25. I started to feel the effects of the pounding at this point. Plus my right glute, which has been injured for a while, started to tighten up. In order to insure a Boston Qualifier (i.e. not cramping and having to hobble to the finish as I saw some others doing), I slowed to 8 minute pace. I finished in 3:15:33, which would have been a qualifying time even if I was a dew-eyed 35 year old youngster, 35th overall out of 726 runners. At the Vegas Marathon in a couple weeks, I'll try to maintain 7 minute pace as long as possible, and run under 3:10.

I stopped off for a free massage at the finish to handle the tight glutes and hamstrings. Then off to Santana Row for a great meal and a day of relaxing in the Indian summer sunshine.

San Francisco 12 Hour - San Francisco CA

2007-10-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

This race is held on a one mile loop around Crissy Field in San Francisco. I was always a little dubious about such "multihour events" around a loop course. But it seems to be a popular way for ultrarunners to get some mileage in before big races. Given that there were no local ultras this weekend, it seemed like a good opportunity to try this.

It was great weather for it with the sun shining down on the San Francisco Bay shortly after race start. I dialed into an 8:20/mile pace and tuned into the iPod, which I usually avoid when out on the trails. On each lap we ran west on Marina Boulevard to the edge of the lake, out towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

The wind was coming from the ocean the whole day at a good clip, so this stretch was tough each time. Turning right we ascended a small hill and then turned right again on a dirt path back to the start area.

It was nice to be able to stop at my bag after each lap, pick up water bottles, drop off excess clothing and grab snacks. After I finished my first water bottle a few laps in, I saw Keith Blom there, crewing for his wife. He kindly offered to refill my bottle for the next lap and kept it up for the whole race.

For the first hour or so, I just enjoyed the beautiful day: the views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, the sailboats, the happy San Franciscans enjoying Indian summer.

But after about an hour the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walkathon started up _on the same course_. This was a bit shocking as the walkers of course didn't respect the cones that were set out for the runners.

After twenty miles the repetition and the half mile of asphalt bike path pounding removed the remainder of my enthusiasm about the race. I resolved to just stop after a full marathon, which was 26 laps since each lap was slightly more than a mile. If I had known that I was just going to do a marathon I might have done faster laps. But I wasn't going to set a PR regardless as there was just too much wind. As I got to the 26th lap, I realized I had less than 8 minutes to finish under 4 hours. So I kicked in a 7 minute lap to finish in 3:59:15.

So, it was probably a good 26 mile workout on a beautiful day. And I learned that lap courses are not for me.

Golden Hills Trail Marathon - Berkeley, CA

2007-10-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Ann Trason organizes this race to take place on the same day as the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Miler. It runs in the same general area as the Skyline 50K (see earlier posts) and, like Skyline, finishes at Lake Chabot Regional Park. My friend Brian volunteered to help Ann at the race, so he also volunteered to drop me off at the start at Tilden Park north of Berkeley.

It was a beautiful cold morning but the rains from the previous day had left the trail visibly muddy. There were several miles of muddy trails to be navigated at the beginning. It really isn't something I'm used and I churned slowly along throught he mud. Wendell Doman (organizer of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs) yelled at me to go faster as he started catching up to me. I sped up as the trails started drying out. I felt great today and ran all of the hills. The only part I didn't like was the hardpack fireroad going down to mile 20. As at Skyline 50K, I slowed quite a bit there to save pounding on my knees. Around mile 23 you get to the Bass Cove Aid Station and run around the south side of the lake.

I finished strong near the end passing several runners in the process. I finished 9th and second master in 4:14:15. Leor Pantilat, who I had raced with at Cle Elum a couple weeks back, won overall and set the course record at 3:19:19. Sarah Lavender Smith was second overall and set the woman's course record.

With Brian entering scores, I hung around in the Indian summer sunshine for the excellent post-race feed and Hefeweizen. A perfect way to spend a crisp sunny October day in the beautiful East bay hills.

North Face Endurance 50K - Bellevue, WA

2007-10-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

This was the first year of a series of races in Washington, DC, Iowa and Seattle, designed to promote trail racing to newcomers. With a championship in San Francisco in December, they introduced the largest prize purse in the sport: $10,000 to the overall winner of the 50 Mile Series.

This race starts and finishes at the Sky Mountain Trailhead in Bellevue, in the heart of Eastside Seattle-area suburbia. Seattle runners are lucky enough to have both Cougar Mountain and Squak Mountain in easy reach. 75 runners gathered for the 50K before the 8am start, in the cold drizzle. Runners gathered around space heaters and underneath tents until the race began. Although a complicated course the trail was extremely well marked, and had aid stations stocked with Accelerade and food every four or five miles.

The course had a quite a bit of climbing, over Cougar and Squak Mountains and back. Its a style of race that I like quite a bit. I don't remember walking any of the hills. I finished seventh overall and second master at 5:54, and first master was Tim Twietmeyer himself (the guy in all the North Face ads that Dean isn't in). Age group winners got free Zune MP3 players! Hey Tim, don't you think they would have given you a free Zune just for being on the North Face promo material!

This was a very well organized race. Since their final race in the series is in San Francisco December 1st. I'm tempted to skip the Vegas Marathon on the 2nd to do that race instead.

Lake Tahoe Marathon - South Lake Tahoe, CA

2007-09-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

This marathon is the highlight of a weeklong sports festival of bike races, triathlons, running races including a Triple Marathon (three days in a row of marathons) and a 72 mile ultramarathon, which starts at midnight and finishes with the final day of marathons.

I was originally signed up for the Triple Marathons on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But running engineering at a startup can interfere with the bestlaid plans. I only managed to get out of the office late Friday night, and took the last flight out to Reno from San Jose. Driving over the Mount Rose pass from Reno, we hit a bona fide snowstorm and had to slow to a crawl over the mountain. Finally getting to Tahoe City (where the start of the marathon would be) around 1am, we got a few hours of sleep before the marathon start.

The day broke bitter cold as we went to the marathon start around 7:30am. I picked up a bib and went to Sid's bagelry for bagels and much needed coffee. The elite women started at 8am (to make their marathon finish more interesting I guess?) and the rest of the marathoners were sent off at 8:30am.

The road was very icy. If I had known I would have worn my trail racing flats. Instead I had on some Brooks T4 racing flats with very little grip. I skittered precariously over the ice trying not to fall.

After a few minutes of running I got a call from Kim. Somewhere along the drive the rental car had bottomed out and was damaged and barely drivable. I ran along and tried to give advice on what to do for her to get to the half marathon start. I felt pretty good given the lack of sleep, but I still haven't mastered going much faster than eight minute miles while on the cell phone and sliding along on ice patches. Over the next hour and a half I still managed to have four more phone calls, and not fall, and eventually we got the car problem solved.

We had some nice views of the lake and the lovely homes on it for the first 10 miles or so. I wasn't feeling the effects of altitude as I normally would. I got to the 13 mile point at 1:54. I stepped up my pace as we approached the hills past mile 15. It was billed in roadside signs as the "hill from hell". It really wasn't bad by ultra standards, but it was probably the biggest hill I've seen in a regular marathon. No longer worried about broken cars or making phone calls, I started truly pushing going up the incline and felt very strong throughout. At mile 18 a bagpiper celebrated the completion of the first climb. And we were treated to beautiful views of Emerald Bay. After descending for a bit a mile the climb began again, and peaked round mile 20. I got there right around three hours. We then pounded down three miles of highway, before turning left onto a paved biked path around mile 23.

Hitting mile 24 at 3:35, I started pushing hard, wanting to get a sub 3:50 finish. As I got to mile 25 I started passing quite a few people and entered the straightaway after mile 26 at a full sprint. I finished in 3:49:53, second in my age group and 32nd individual finisher out of 422. For some reason I don't understand they did give me a nice top 25 windjacket though (top 25 male finishers I wonder?).

Presumably due to the extreme cold and ice, most of the runners seemed off of their historical times (Mike Miller, winner of the 50-59 age group, did 3:24 this year and 3:14 last year). First in my agegroup was Sean Sweeney in 3:28. That would be a stretch for me to do. But with a good shoe tread, less ice and less phone calls, I would hope to be able to run 3:30 in the marathon next year. But, hmmm, that 72 mile ultra run does look interesting....

Almaden Times 10K - San Jose CA

2007-09-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

No convenient marathons or ultras this weekend, so I settled for a little local race. Its held at Leland Junior High in Almaden, somewhat close to Almaden Park where the San Jose International Triathlon is held. The run course seems to share that same bike path. We started running south on the road from the school, turned to the left and got onto the bike path at around the one mile mark. My goal for the day was to run 6:20 miles and do under 40 minutes. With a warm windless morning, running along a protected bikepath (better than just plain roads) and cutting the tangents, and always finding someone to draf off of, I seemed to be clocking 6:10s.

Then we ran north on the bike path, past the school again at around mile 3 and stayed on the bike path. The turnaround was about a mile and a half north of the school. We then started running back. The turnoff of the bikepath sort of sneaks up on you. Once I saw it I started sprinting, but it was a bit too late. I also ran up into a woman with a double stroller from the 5K, taking up the entire finishing chute.

Despite that, I ended up finishing in 37:47, my best 10K road race (something I generally avoid) in quite some time. I ran into Steve Sokol in the finish (he and his son had done the two mile), and we waited around for his wife to finish. A nice day for a race but anything less than a marathon doesn't seem like a real effort anymore.

Cle Elum Ridge Run 50K - Cle Elum WA

2007-09-16T05:21:00.001-07:00

This race seemed just up my alley, and hence worth the flight to Seattle and a long drive. Greater than 6000 feet of climbing, most of it frontloaded, very slow average times (indicating a tough course) despite it being held in the hotbed of ultra competition (near Seattle) and almost all singletrack. I flew up to Seattle late the night before and drove the 90 miles to Cle Elum, getting to the "official race hotel" the Stewart Lodge, around midnight. The next morning I followed a couple other race participants from the hotel the half hour or so to the race site. A huge number of early starters (usually reserved for the slower runners) had taken off at 7am as we drove into the park.

This race advertised only two aid stations and I had no crew. So I came to the starting line with pockets stuffed with a dozen Hammer Gels, one for each anticipated half hour of running. The race started off on the park road for about a half mile, turning uphill to the left on fireroad. After another mile or so we hit single track. After a couple miles of rollers the climb began in earnest. We ran up a thousand feet between mile 3 and 5, close together on a very dusty trail.

running behind Paul Morrison

Then after a couple more miles of descent, we climbed another thousand feet getting to mile 10. Then rollers and bit of dropoff to get to the first aid station. This last stretch to the aid station is virtually unmarked. I had a lot of pauses as other runners and I tried to verify that we were still on course.

I hit the first aid station at mile 12 at 2:25. I downed some Mountain Dew, ate chips, topped off my water bottle and headed back out up the trail. Another thousand feet or so of climbing in the next few miles dropped us out onto a brief stretch of fireroad. The markings for turns were just yellow pieces of plastic lying covered by dirt. I missed the turnoff from this fireroad back onto single track. After running a half mile more down, I figured out that I had probably missed a turn. I could see runners on the ridge above. So I turned back and finally saw the single track turn on the right. I probably only lost ten minutes or so on this escapade.

I repassed a few runners that I had been ahead of as we continued upward another 500 feet. Again this trail is not wellmarked. Miles can pass without any hint of ribbons or other direction indicators. Finally getting to the of the trail lets you out onto "Windy Gap" - a plateau that actually connects to several trails, without it being obvious where the descent is. Eventually you figure out where the descending trail is. There are no signs or arrows. Just a strip or two of plastic in the dirt.

I bombed down the extreme grade from Windy Gap switchbacking down the mountain. I usually expect to get passed on steep descents, as its not my strength. I managed not to this time. After crossing Taneum Creek there's a short uphill that takes you to the second aid station.

running through Taneum Creek

I hit that aid station at 21 miles at 4:25, thinking I could probably still do six hours (my goal for the day) despite losing the ten minutes on the wrong turn. But though the trails mostly descend there are quite a few minihills, streams, and other traverses. I felt pretty good the whole way. No extreme fatigue. I finished in 6:09, happy with a solid run. This was fifteenth out of a field of 100. If I hadn't lost my way, I would have contended for third master, who finished in 5:59. Regardless it was a good run on a course that is exactly the way I like it: lots of climbing and lots of technical rolling single track when on what might look like flats.

Stevens Creek 50K - Cupertino CA

2007-09-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

This free race is held at the Skyline Open Space Preserve, about 10 miles north of my house in the Los Gatos hills. Steve Patt, owner of Stevens Creek Software, funds it personally, initially as a sort of birthday celebration for himself. There is only a voluntary $20 contribution to the Audobon Society preservation trust.

The registration site wasn't available when I was race planning in January. Once I got around to checking again the race was full! Dejectedly, I agreed to volunteer and sweep the course for Steve. Have to give back to the ultra community when the races are local and convenient (as I did with trail work at QuickSilver 50k).

To my great surprise and delight Steve wrote to me a few days before to tell me that I would be able to run after all. The sun was shining down as the race prepared to start at the very civilized hour of 9am. It was a perfect day to run, though perhaps a bit warm for some. Steve walked us up the parking lot to the north and across Skyline to start on the east Ridge Trail.

15 year old Michael Kanning took off like a shot and I was close on his heels. I wasn't pushing it a bit and just felt great running up and down the rolling ridge of my local Santa Cruz mountains. It felt just like my backyard trail loop in terrain and vegetation. Michael built a minute or two lead and I saw him occasionally on the straightaways. Eventually I heard Beth Vitalis (a very strong ultrarunner from Livermore who has been second many times in this race) and Alan Geraldi. Preferring not to be hunted, I slowed down to join their conversation. Beth is also a more experienced and faster ultrarunner than I am, so this was my clue that I was going too fast. I ran with them for a while, but as the uphills increased on the way to Saratoga Gap I pulled away again. I prefer to run the hills while Alan, probably wisely, just powerwalked them. After we came out to some downhills Beth caught up again. She has this fast and furious cadence, arms and legs swinging wildly, on the downhills and the flats that is quite impressive. It doesn't look efficient to me, but it works better than the way I descend. She had cheery greetings for every hiker and runner, amidst all of the flailing. I learned on our jaunt together that Beth's picture is apparently on the cover of some Gu packets. Well I guess I really should slow down then!

I pulled into Aid Station 1 at Saratoga Gap at 10.9 miles, refilled my bottle, ate some chips, drank some Gu20 and grabbed the rationed single Gu packet. I left the aid station at 1:46:57. Beth and Jun Funaki caught up to me and we ran together for a while. The soreness that I tend to get around mile 15 set in after a few miles and I slowed to let them go ahead. I also got passed by Brian Wyatt. Eventually I caught up to an early starter and who I begged some Advil from. This helped quite a bit. I sped up and came into Aid Station 2 back at the Open Space Preserve at 19.3 miles, still in fifth place.

Alan Geraldi had caught back up and he and Mike Topper passed me going up the hill north on the trail leaving the aid station. I still felt good and kept a steady pace across the Alpine Road crossing and continuing up. We came to a "controlled burn" area that looked like the surface of Mars. As I came down the hill from there, I wiped out on the trail and bloodied my knee and shins thoroughly. I made sure to keep running so the soreness didn't set in. If anything this only fired me up, as it usually does on my frequent wipeouts. But I was still passed by Ian Hersey as we turned back onto single track for the final descent to the turnaround.

I came into aid station 3 at 25 miles in 9th at 4:28:26. I ate a bunch of potatoes and drank several cokes. Now to really turn it on for the finish. I was hoping to gain back several places as I saw several tired faces coming out of the turnaround. The climbing that was involved in the last five miles should help me quite a bit and I was ready to push it. After we climbed back up, we turned to the right on some singletrack to head down the mountain on Mandigo Trail. I missed the left turn on Ancient Oaks and went all the way down the valley to a deadend. Then I had to run back up the hill the other way until I saw where the turn was supposed to be. Apparently this happened last year as well to some of the leaders. It looks like its only three miles out of the way. But with the brutal climb back up I'm pretty sure that this added 30 to 40 minutes to my time, just counting the time on the detour itself.

I was a bit demoralized by the sidetrip and just loped out a steady pace from then on, enjoying the beautiful day, finishing in 6:27:15. Steve was nice enough to asterisk my finish with a "* Bonus Miles" indicator. Jun Funaki overtook Beth Vitalis to win this race. Beth finished second and was first woman after several attempts. Mike Topper went from sixth just behind me at aid station 2 at 19.5 miles, moved up to fourth by aid station and finished strong to come in third as first master. After an impressive start, Michael Kanning faded to sixth by the third aid station. But he managed a late surge and ended up fourth.

This is a beautiful race in an area of incredible trails that cry out to be appreciated by the Bay area ultra community. Lots of climbing and mostly singletrack, its a better course than many larger local races. I hope Steve Patt's idea of self-funded organized free races catches on more. Definitely better organized and more well supported than many Fatass races that I've gone to in the Seattle area. And plenty of aid as well. By contrast the next weekend's Cle Elum Ridge Run in Washington cost $70 and only has two aid stations during 6000 feet of climbing. I've been threatening to put on a race on my backyard trails close by (that connect to the southern extreme of this race). Steve's generosity makes me feel like I'm really dutybound to do that. If so, I'll try to stagger on the six month interval so people can get to appreciate both spring and late summer in the lush and scenic Santa Cruz mountains.

Mt. Madonna Challenge 6K - Gilroy CA

2007-08-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I went to this race knowing that Steve Sokol would be there to continue our rivalry, detailed earlier on several entries on this blog. When I arrived I sat chilling out by the start for a while, chatting with other participants. I said "I wonder where Sokol is?"

"Oh he's here. He owns this race" I was assured by another runner.

Well, well. How's that for motivation. I lined up in the front at the start after that, with Steve on the far right side. Two young collegiate runners from West Valley appeared to be waiting to contend as well.

We took after at the starter's signal. I was hot on the heels of the two college guys. Steve was close behind. The hill went relentlessly upward. The college guys pushed it harder, I kept them in sight and Steve started to fall off the back.

I felt very strong after a week in Colorado and the race up Pike's Peak. I ran one of the faster hill climbs I've ever done. But I didn't try to stay with the leaders because I thought they would surely blow up. What I didn't know is that one of them was a "rabbit", not even entered into the race, just running the first half of the race with his teammate to break the wind for him. When I reached the peak I still had him in sight, maybe 15 seconds off his pace. I couldn't see Steve behind me.

As we turned onto the downhill he still had his rabbit ahead of him (which helped even more at that point of course). He pulled away and finished about 40 seconds ahead of me.

I hammered near the end trying to finish under 26 minutes. I had 25:59, but the timer had me at 26:00, second overall and first master of course. The winner was still at the finish but his rabbit must have turned off of the trail. Steve came in around 45 seconds later in 26:44.

I hung around chatting with Steve, his wife Leslie and their son Alex until the award ceremony. Despite not winning, I felt very good about how I ran today. Bodes well for upcoming fall races.

Pike's Peak Ascent - Manitou Springs CO

2007-08-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

I'm an uphill runner, so how could I resist a run up almost 8,000 feet over 13 miles? I've been intrigued by this race for a long time. So much so that last year I ran it as a bandit because registration was closed. This year I managed to get my registration in in the few hours it took to fill up.

Last year, I was floored in the last two miles by the elevation. This year I took the step of flying out a week early and staying in Manitou Springs for a mountain vacation with Rebecca and the kids. I hoped to acclimate and not have a repeat of my previous blowup.

I was actually also hoping to do the infamous "Pike's Peak Double": the Ascent followed by the full marathon the next day. I missed the deadline for "normal marathon registration" so I signed up for the Triple Crown Series in order to still be able to do the marathon. Unfortunately getting injured at the Lake Youngs Ultra stopped me from going to Colorado for the next day's Garden of the Gods race. Hence I was out of the marathon.

I flew out to Colorado the week before and stayed a couple days in Boulder before driving down to Manitou Springs with my kids. We stayed at the Black Bear Inn right on the mountain. We spent our days doing Colorado tourist stuff: whitewater rafting, exploring the local caves, and hiking various trails. I even worked a few runs in on the mountain. The train that drops you off on the top of the mountain gives you 40 minutes to buy souvenir crap - time which I used to run down a mile and back up again. This is probably the best Pike's Peak training. Another option, for those not wanting to run the whole mountain but still get in high elevation training, is to get off of the train at "Mountain View" and run over a mile or so to Barr Camp for the 6 mile climb up the rest of the way.

Friday night before raceday we had a superb meal at the Craftwood Inn. We ate mostly game: antelope, elk, ostrich, emu and, my favorite, bison. Who needs carb loading?! Elizabeth said it was her favorite meal ever. The next morning I got up earlier than I needed to, took a long hot shower and made myself some bad inroom coffee before Rebecca drove me in to Manitou Springs. As a 1:30 halfmarathoner I had qualified for the elite wave, meaning I got to start at 7:00am instead of 7:30. It was still a little chilly so I arrived at the starting line with the race t-shirt of my trusty Patagonia trail running tee. A large crowd gathered waiting for the start. Probably the biggest crowd of any "trail run" I've seen. Although this race was certainly packed with road runners and seemed just like any large road marathon.

The start was in the middle of the main street of Manitou Springs, about a mile from the trailhead. I took it easy at the start and let the overenthusiastic hordes of runners run ahead. At the left turn on Ruxton Road, as it slanted upwards, the enthusiasm and velocity of many of them wore off and I started passing people. At the trailhead was the first aid station. I abandoned the Pike's Peak Ascent race t-shirt as I had warmed up. I felt good and ran steadily ahead for the next few miles, clocking about 15 minute miles. I was carrying a water bottle so m y aid station stops were short - just enough time to get them refilled. I made myself eat Hammer gels every 30 minutes for the first ten miles (which worked well and I should have kept up the whole way).

The penultimate aid station was Barr Camp, about 5.5 miles from the top. I still felt great and kept up the pace through the turnoff to Bottomless Pit Trail (4.8 miles from the top). I hit mile 12 at 3:05. In training I had been running that last mile in between 20 to 25 minutes (after running from the top down five miles to the Bottomless Pit turnoff and back up). But finally, the dreaded altitude caught up to me as I hit 13,000 feet. I slowed to a pitiful shuffle. I hit the Golden Stairs at 3:37. I perked up as we finished most of the boulders and managed to run the last few hundred meters, finishing in 3:48.

Josh (pink shirt) running me in to the finish

I enjoy the extremity of this race (almost 8000 feet of climbing!). I do think a bit more training at higher altitude would let me finish in 3:30. I'll try to do it next year if I don't do the Leadville 100 that day instead.

White River 50 Miler - Crystal Mountain, WA

2007-07-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

I eagerly anticipated this race all year as certainly the toughest I have ever attempted. I did run the Bull Run 50 Miler in Virginia in April. But that was just my second ultramarathon, and my expectations then were only to survive. I didn't really try to "peak" for this race. I had actually been mostly just cycling after coming back from Colorado a couple weeks earlier, enjoying the late summer evenings and my new Trek Madone (the subject of another post).

The White River 50 Miler is the USATF national trail 50 mile championship. It is located smack in the heart of the elite ultrarunning community of Seattle. I had no illusions of placing highly in such august company. Legends such as Scott Jurek, Greg Crowther and budding legend Krissy Moehl were not doing this race (they would each be on hand of course) but they are still indicators of the level of talent that the northwest has in ultras. No, my goal for this race was just to run feeling strong and enjoying the mountains. This would also be the first time that my kids crewed for me. I wanted it to look fun for them, and looked forward to much longer rest stops than usual.

We drove down to Crystal Mountain on Friday evening. The race checkin was in the rustic Swiss-style Alpine Inn, where my kids and I always stay when we ski there. We've been there so many times that the resident cats know us and sneak into our rooms to sleep at night. So we of course made arrangements to stay there this weekend as well. The Alpine Inn has no TVs and small rooms, but is still one of our favorite places to stay anywhere.

Although we arrived after 8pm the volunteers were still handing out race packets. We picked up my number, as well as a technical shirt and some socks. After getting directions to the race start at Buck Creek, we repaired to the Snorting Elk restaurant in the Inn for a delicious pre-race meal.

The next morning we all rolled out of bed and drove to the race start at 6am. I downed a Powerbar C2Max before the race and drank some coffee that Rebecca had artfully scammed from the still not open Snorting Elk. There were several noshows at the race including Lon Freeman, which perhaps accounted for starting a few minutes late, at 6:33am. As with Bull Run, my plan was to take it easy for the first half and then see how I felt before really pushing it. So I started at the back of the pack and worked my way up gradually. After less than a half mile of fireroad we were deposited onto single track. We winded along the flat root-strewn single track, bordering the river for a couple miles until we emerged onto the highway. Shortly after the highway we reached Aid Station 1 at Camp Sheppard. Rebecca and the kids were waiting there. I picked up forgotten Advil and electrolyte tablets and now began the climb up the hill. I felt great and passed quite a few people on this climb. My altimeter read almost 6000 feet when we peaked just before Corral Pass. I reached Aid Station 2 at Corral Pass at mile 17 at around 9:45am. I hung around and drank Red Bull and ate salted potatoes for a few minutes, since I was so impressed that Rebecca and the kids had made it up the treacherous fireroad to meet me. A little before ten I took off back down the ridge. I wiped out on a rock on the slight descent. As usual, the sight of my own blood just woke me up and got me motivated. I comically starting growling fiercely and sprinting (so much for my leisurely run through the mountains). Who should I see running up mid-growl but Greg Crowther sweeping the course (I thought he gave up on trail running after Western States?).

Once we hit the woods again (around mile 20) descending down to the Ranger Creek water stop, a French guy passed me eager to bomb down the hill. Despite not normally being much of a descender I passed several others past Ranger Creek down towards the road across from the Buck Creek aid station (marathoners bonking?) At Buck Creek I sat for quite some time, eating potatoes, and drinking soup and Red Bull. This was probably a mistake as I got up quite stiff and sore. I took off at a walk/hobble despite being fine when I sat down. I guess the solution is to not sit ("beware the chair"). Its too bad, because it felt great when I was sitting there.

I was actually very relieved when we started climbing on singletrack again in earnest as I could powerwalk much nimbler than my sorelegged run. Although I ran the entire "first mountain" this one was steep enough that it seemed much better to walk most of it. We reached the aid station at Fawn Ridge at mile 31 (and 4200 feet) and I down downed more Coke and potatoes and pretzels. Yum. We were informed that it "just five more miles to the next aid and the summit" (actually it was closer to six). And just another 1000 feet up. At Sun Top, there was a large aid station set out with lots of enthusiastic volunteers. I hit this station at around 2:10pm. The legendary David Horton (PCT record holder and former Hard Rock winner) came in shortly afterward I did.

From this station, runners had to pound down six and a half miles to the last aid at Skookum Flats. The hardpack fireroad was brutal on the quads after such a long run. This is the one part of this course that I don't like.

I hit the last aid station at Skookum Flats at 3pm (8 1/2 hours into) with visions of a 9 1/2 hour finish flitting before me. After downing some sugar Red Bull and eating more potatoes that Lizzie fed me, I took off, again quite slowly to start. It was just 6.6 more miles so I thought I had a shot. But soon enough this river-fronting trail turned out to be reasonably technical. I figured out soon enough that I was not going to be running 8 minute miles at the end of this fifty miler. So I resolved to just enjoy the scenery of the south side of the White River, which I so often admired driving along 410 on the north side. I fell in with "Cougar Bait" who I had been running behind for the climb to Sun-Top. He said he thought he was bonking so I took off ahead. The last portion of this remains quite hilly in its "rolling" despite the mild looking appearance of its elevation profile. I came out of the trail onto the fireroad towards Skookum Flats for the final half mile. A cheering crowd including Rebecca and the kids helped me to finish with a fullon sprint in just under 9:50, good for 53rd, and the fifteenth masters runner.

I guess that sounds slow, but this course is a monster. I was within shouting distance of several far more accomplished ultra runners than I (David Horton finished six minutes earlier) I think 9:30 is doable once I'm more used to this distance. With the exception of my (presumably avoidable) stiffness after sitting at mile 27, I felt pretty good the whole time and never really suffered. Being able to run up and down mountains without massive pain is a life-enhancing gift. With the possible exception of the Golden Gate Headlands this course is the most beautiful I've done: almost all single-track, lots of climbing, a mixture of shaded forest paths and open mountain vistas. Once I've really learned endurance I can see myself focusing on this race and trying to do really well. It is definitely a climbers course and the downhills are not too terribly technical for my klutz-like self. Josh got Scott Jurek's autograph and we headed off to Enumclaw for a recovery dinner at Cafe Panini.

High Mountain 25K - Leadville CO

2007-07-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

This was my third and last race on a weeklong excursion to Colorado. It was an interesting experiment as to whether a week stay at altitude would ever be able to acclimate me to racing in those conditions. After racing in Leadville and Vail the week before at over 10,000 feet, and training most of the week on Pike’s Peak I hoped to be able to race well in this Leadville-based ultra. It would be tough. The race starts at 10,000 feet and climbs to over 12,000 feet several times during the race. Last year I had done the 25K, suffered quite a bit at elevation, but finished in 2:57, and 18th overall, which I was satisfied with at the time. This year I planned on doing the 50K ultra. I would have been happy with anything under 6:30 in the ultra.

Rebecca dropped me off at the race start at 7:30. We ran into Dale Reicheneder, who was there to compete in the 25K and add points to his 2007 Trophy Series total. Amanda the race director sent us off at 8:00am. We ran down a wide trail eventually coming to a wide rocky uphill path amidst some woods. This let out onto a road that ran down to Turquoise Lake. We made a left on the road until we got to the marker for the singletrack trail that ran alongside the lake. I then settled in to 6 miles of little rollers that bordered Turquoise Lake. Eventually those ran out into a path that ran up through a campground away from the lake. After half a mile of asphalt we came to the one and only aid station. I hit it at 1:20 about the same time as last year. I was consciously going slow knowing that some brutal hills were coming up after the aid station. And that I wanted to do 50K this year.

After the aid station, the asphalt road continues and then racers turn off to the left onto a dirt road which hits a trailhead on the Colorado Trail. The trailhead opens on to some semi-technical single track. And then the relentless climbing begins. The race climbs over 2,000 feet above the lake area, continuously rising at sometimes brutal steepness. Finally it lets out back onto fireroad at the apex. From there it runs mostly downhill (with a few steep uphills thrown in) on a wide fireroad under the power lines for several miles. It then lets out onto Route 5A about half a mile from the High Mountain Institute. I hate that asphalf. You turn left off of the road into the field that fronts the institute. I came into the halfway point at 2:59:18.

I got a new bottle of Perpetuem from Rebecca and headed back out on the loop counterclockwise the way we came in. Its nice the way you hit the uphill right away, leaving the flats to the end. I actually like climbing and enjoyed the uphill. But I was reduced to powerhiking as I had started to really feel the altitude. I passed Dale going downhill to finish the 25K on the beginning of the climb. He had run off course by several miles.

Once I hit the top I bombed down the singletrack at speed, feeling good musclewise (no soreness), but starting to to have irregular breathing, something that never happens to me at sea level. I came out of the trailhead and down the asphalt road to the aid station near mile 24 by 5:05. Rebecca was waiting there. She heard from Dale that I had asked for Advil and showed up to provide it. I sat down and drank some coke, ate some pretzels, and took the Advil. Once I got up I was very sore and stiff and could barely run. I really should have just stopped right there. I ran/walked for a couple miles but didn't really have it in me to finish. I called Rebecca to meet me at one of the parking areas along the lake that we had hiked yesterday. We drove to the start/finish area and I told Amanda to just mark me down for the 25K at 2:59.

Vail Hill Climb - Vail CO

2007-07-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

This 7.5 mile race climbs up the slopes of Vail Mountain in Vail. Its quite a popular race with around five hundred participants. Its been held for 31 years, and many of the participants spoke of doing it more than a dozen times. It reminded me a lot of California races like the Santa Cruz Firecracker I had just done and the Great Race 4 miler from Saratoga to Los Gatos.

Normally, an uphill only race would be exactly the kind I would want to do. I was still not acclimated though. I took it relatively easy up the hill and just tried to keep constantly running. I finished in 1:21:59.

There was quite a festival atmosphere at the top of the hill. I enjoyed the race refreshments and picked up my shirt, before riding the gondola back down to Vail village.

I plan to be here next year over the Fourth of July for races and Leadville Trail 100 training. I'll do the race again and it will be at the end of a week of acclimation. I'd hope to go around 1:10 with those conditions.

Leadville Trail Heavy Half Marathon - Leadville CO

2007-07-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

This race kicked off a week of vacationing and racing in Colorado. I planned to do this race, the Vail Hill Climb the next day, and the High Mountain 50K also in Leadville the following week. In the interim we planned to visit Manitou Springs and run Pike's Peak every morning, partially to train for next month's Pike's Peak Ascent.

I had no high expectations for this first race after flying in the night before with no time to acclimate. The race starts in downtown Leadville at an elevation of over 10,000 feet and goes up to Mosquito Pass from there. Indeed I was quite lightheaded at the start. I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. The streets of Leadville turned into fireroad which continued for quite some time. After several miles we hit some single track and kept climbing. We passed a number of snowdrifts and ran past spectactular wildflowers. I ended up not following the full marathon signs and got caught up in the half marathon. It was still quite challenging, and I felt lucky to finish in 3:07.

Santa Cruz Firecracker 10K - Santa Cruz CA

2007-07-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

I love this race! It starts in Waddell Park, next to the Costco in Santa Cruz and winds up the infamous Pogonip Trail in the university of Santa Cruz campus. I've done it for several years, and it just might be the first trail race I ever did. So I have a lot of sentimental attachment to it.

This year I dragged Rebecca, my best friends Charlie and Frank, and Frank's girlfriend Nerissa down the hill from my house to go there and run as well. My goal was to run something like 43 minutes this year (I was a little over 44 minutes last year and was third in the 40-44 age group with that). Santa Cruz always has scarily competitive fields, especially in masters divisions.

The race starts at the civilized hour of 9am, another great feature. Almost five hundred people lined up at the start line. I got a place close to the front next to my Los Gatos hills neighbor Steve Moore. The British announcer (hey isn't this when we declared independence from those guys?!) counted down the race start from ten to zero and then took off running with the field. The first mile loops around the neighborhood and around the park for the first mile. I hit that one at 6:15. Then it was back out to route 9 and up a couple blocks to enter the UCSC campus. There's a trailhead at the bottom of the hill that I think I hit at around 20 minutes. Then its a steep uphill on Pogonip to mile 4. Then a left off of the trail and into the neighborhoods, pummeling downhill on asphalt the whole way. Its quite bonejarring. Probably the only thing I don't like about the race. I finished in 43:30, 33rd overall, and only good enough for fourth in my agegroup this year.

I grabbed a delicious pineapple popsicle and ran back out to meet Frank, Nerissa, Charlie and Rebecca. After running them all in, we considered hanging around for the free pancake breakfast. But we headed up to Scotts Valley to Auntie Mame's instead. Followed by an afternoon at the pool and a barbecue, this was a superb Fourth of July.

PCTR Pacifica 21K - Pacifica CA

2007-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

I went to this local race originally intending to do the 50K. Though I do almost all of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs, I had never run Pacifica. I don't like to race in the fog of Pacifica. And I prefer races that aren't multiple loops as this one is.

I was still battling a plenitude of minor ailments from the previous weekend's marathon and duathlon at Pacific Crest. So my goal was just to finish the 50K in any time, however slowly. With that in mind, I told Rebecca that she didn't need to crew me at this race.

I ran out slowly up the first loop up to North Peak. A lot of good climbing, nice scenery, and single track. I still didn't like the cloudy weather, but a pretty course. I was running very slowly, still very stiff from last weekend's marathon and duathlon, intending to try to do the 50K. I finished that first loop in around 1 hour and 18 minutes. I lingered in the start/finish area before going out on a second loop, eating salted potatoes and refilling my water bottle.

I then ran out on a shorter 9K loop, with two steep hills. I started to pick up the pace on these hills and passed several runners. At the top of the second hill, I picked up the pace running down. But I twisted my ankle and had to hobble down the hill for the last mile or so. Trail running is about gutting through twisted ankles and tweaked knees. And I have several experiences of the pain going away. Certainly I plan to have to do that in the future. On this day however, I gave myself a break and took the 21K finish when I came in after the second loop.

Pacific Crest Olympic Duathlon - Sun River OR

2007-06-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, a chance to do a duathlon! A sport which I love which is pretty much dead. It was worth dragging my sore and weary bones out of bed the day after the Pacific Crest Marathon for this rare opportunity.

Rebecca dropped me off at 8am at T1, which was 25 miles away from the Sun River resort (we had stashed a pair of running shoes at T2 the evening before).

getting dropped off at T1

She then took off back to the resort to participate in her 10K which was also starting at 9am. I rode my Quintana Roo Caliente tri bike (with some ancient Zipp 404 aero wheels) from where she had to drop me off to the T1 transition area.

Most of the duathlon riders had racked their bikes already, so I had to park mine at the end of the tri racks, way away from the exit. Eventually the riders started lining up to start the duathlon in waves of 2, first come, first served. For some reason (probably to simplify timing computations) they did not start the duathletes until the triathlon got underway. Rather than stand in line, I sat down in the sun next to bike and waited for the line to move through, before going out as the last rider. The first triathlete was coming out of the water just as I took off.

I felt great and passed many riders on the road back to Sun River. The course had moderate rolling hills and was quite windy. I felt fine though in my aero wheels. As was to be expected perhaps, given that its so long since I did a tri, I had a couple bike problems. The rings above the headset were loose and rattled around distractingly (probably didn't really hurt my speed). Also I couldn't quite engage the highest gear (53x11). This did actually slow me down. Nevertheless I did manage a 1:04 split (between 23 and 24mph).

I lost some time in transition looking for my shoes. They had added racks so my shoes weren't where I expected them to be. The day after a marathon at elevation I just wanted to run eight minute miles in the 10K. I managed a run split of around 47 minutes. I felt good about that.

After an excellent Broken Halo IPA, Rebecca and I headed out to drive to Portland before our trip back.

Pacific Crest Marathon - Sun River OR

2007-06-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Pacific Crest is a weekend endurance sport festival held in Sun River, Oregon near Bend. Five thousand athletes and their families descend on this little resort in Oregon's high desert every year. I was intrigued by it initially because it was a chance to do a duathlon, a sport which I enjoy immensely, but which has pretty much died on the West Coast. I planned to do the Olympic duathlon (25 mile bike and 10K run) on Sunday and the marathon on Saturday. No plans for PRs were in place since I knew that the altitude of over 4000 feet would slow me down.

Rebecca and I flew from SFO to Redmond/Bend Friday evening and drove the 15 miles from the airport down to Bend. We had a great meal at the Merenda Wine Bar, which has a stunningly good wine list, possibly the best by the glass selection I've seen. I prepared for the race in great style by sampling liberally from it.

The next morning we drove down to Sun River from Bend and got my race packet for the marathon around 7:00am. It was a chilly 55 degrees or so but clear and sunny. We headed out in a "procession" from the athlete village to a point on Sun River's encircling bike path. At 7:30 we started out running the gently rolling asphalt path. I had hoped there would be some hardpack trail but it was all paved. Beautiful views of the woods and lakes. But still paved. I knew I'd be hurting by mile 16.

I had planned to do each 13.1 mile loop in around 1:40 and finish in 3:20. I knew the altitude would hinder performance so I thought 3:30 was a reasonable fallback. I reached the halfway point of the finish area right on time. I felt fresh and thought I could even do a "negative split" of a faster second loop time. I took some Advil around mile 15 when my legs began to get sore. But it was no use. By mile 18, while I was still fresh effort wise, my legs were too sore and I slowed down to 9 minute miles. I finished in 3:37, 20th overall.

finishing strong, thirsty for good Oregon IPA

I enjoyed the race. If I don't get into Western States we'll come back again next year and I'll do the long course duathlon. We hung around afterwards while I downed some superb Broken Halo IPA and got a muchneeded massage to try loosen up my calves and feet for the next day's race.

La Sportiva Trail Running Trifecta - Snowmass, CO

2007-06-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

This was a sequence of races held on Snowmass Mountain just outside of Aspen. Trail Runner Magazine was kind enough to send me out there for being Trail Runner of the Year last year. The "trifecta" consisted of three races: a 5 mile run up and down the hill Saturday morning, a hill run straight up Snowmass Mountain on Sunday, and a half marathon on Sunday up and around the mountain and down.

Rebecca and I flew direct from SFO to Aspen the night before, an easy trip since the direct flight from SFO to Aspen just opened up after several months of not being available. We drove the short jaunt from Aspen/Pitkin airport to Snowmass Village to stay in the Laurelwood Condominiums right next to the race site. When we pulled into the parking lot there was a large fat bear in the first available spot. With some large white object in its mouth (a sandwich? a human body part?). A thrilling start to our stay.

The next morning dawned sunny and glorious in what is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We went down to the race start to check in. We picked up some lattes on the way to the lift which carried us up to the race start. It was a small but hardcore field with grizzled trail racing vets such as Bernie Boettcher ready to compete with recent cross country collegians. The fact that I knew I wouldn't be competitive at elevation let me enjoy it more, with no pressure to perform.

The race director sent us off up the wide grassy fairway straight up the mountain. After a quarter mile of climbing we turned off onto some single track which turned into the woods undulating across the mountain face. Most of the course was then single track with brief jaunts onto fireroad. The race organizers had two aid stations set up, almost unheard of for such a short course. Although I had trouble breathing at this altitude I drank in the scenery, enjoying every minute. At sea level, I can't imagine a course I would enjoy more or do better at. It definitely reminded me of the short course Pacific Coast Trail Runs races (such as Mount Diablo two weeks earlier).

After 25 minutes or so I hit the downhill which contained a fair amount of fireroad. I didn't really bomb the downhill since we had a couple days more of racing, and my right foot's outer edge was still hurting from the Lake Youngs Ultra. I got passed by one young racer on the downhill and another older guy threatened to pass me. I finished at 46 minutes and change.

Finishing the five miler

Rebecca and I immediately hightailed it to Aspen to go to the Main Street Bakery Cafe for breakfast before the afternoon hill race at 1pm. After a good breakfast we headed back to the Village.

My right foot was hurting so I tried to ice it in an attempt to be able to run on it for the afternoon's race. I was unsuccessful so we instead ordered a masseuse in and relaxed by the pool for the afternoon before heading into Aspen for dinner at Bistro Rustique, a great little country French restaurant.

After Saturday's massage my foot felt fine, so we got up at 8am to walk down to wait for the half marathon start. This race started just a hundred feet up from the village based.

We ran up to where the five mile loop had begun and started doing the same loop counterclockwise. I was really moving slow as the altitude had begun to affect me even more the second day. I enjoyed doing it in the other direction this time, and as we got back down to the base of the loop we did another full loop of that five miler course. Once out we ran back down the mountain to the starting area. I enjoyed myself the whole time, treating it as a training run for next week's marathon at Pacific Crest at 4000 feet in Bend, Oregon. I finished just under 2:21, which I was happy with given all the climbing and racing at elevation.

Rebecca and I headed off to downtown Aspen afterwards for the Food and Wine Festival which happened to be the same weekend. We had lunch at the Pacifica Seafood Bar, drinks at the Hotel Jerome and dinner at the Explorer bookstore (which has a cute vegetarian cafe amidst their eclectic stacks) before heading back to the airport for the 2 hour flight back to San Francisco.

It was a small crowd (seemed smaller than the 70 people they claimed). But I hope the race does well as the venue is perfect: both the oncourse scenery and the offcourse surroundings.

Lake Youngs Ultra - Renton WA

2007-06-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

We flew to Seattle the night before and stayed overnight at the Renton Spring Hill Suites. Race morning dawned gray and cool (for June). We drove the six miles to Old Petrovitsky Road at 6:30am where a small group of 80 or so racers gathered. Some runners had chosen the 6:00am early start.

My goal was to run 1:20 for each 9.6 mile loop and finish in under 4 hours.

I took off at a slow jog and tried to take it as easy as possible. I was still fighting a little psoas twinging especially on the downhills, but thankfully didn't seem to have and calf, soleus or foot pain. The course itself was ideal for me: lots of rolling hills and all trail. It was a little weird that we were actually running _outside_ of Lake Youngs Park. The trail ran alongside the outside of the fence the whole way. I also would have preferred some singletrack.

I finished the first loop of 9.6 miles in 1:18 and Rebecca was there with Red Bull and chicken soup for me. I knew that I was running around sixth overall but didn't know that I was first master. I took off caught up to Ken McFadden, who had come in the first loop after me. Chris Davis passed both of us powering up the hills looking strong. Even though I was taking it easy, I did feel inspired to reel him in. Ken tagged along and we caught him about halfway into the loop. Chris announced that he was just doing two loops today. We ran together for a while and when I saw the last big hill at around 7 miles I surged up it. Ken stayed right on my tail. We then ran alongside each other for the last couple miles and both came in at 2:40.

I felt great on all the hills and I was feeling barely winded and fresh. But the outer edge of my right foot was hurting as soon as I got up from eating. I was looking forward to next week's trail running festival in Aspen and didn't want to reinjure myself, so I called it a day and tried to save some powder for the next battle. If I had known I was several minutes ahead for first master I might not have made the same decision.

Pacific Coast Trail Runs - Mount Diablo 8K

2007-06-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

This was the third time I've done this course. Mount Diablo is my second favorite race venue in the Bay area next to the Golden Gate Headlands (Rodeo Beach, Miwok, etc.). I like the way its uphill to start, mostly single track and great views throughout. Plus Wendell and Sarah's hospitality and race organization is always unmatched.

I dropped back to the 8K on race morning despite planning to do the 50K in my continued attempt to not exacerbate my recent injuries. The fair Rebecca was volunteering for registration duty this morning, so I was glad that she let me slide on the last minute change. The 8K started 15 minutes later than the 25K and 50K. Wendell told the other runners to follow me, but I protested that I usually get lost on this course.

We headed up the immediate steep fireroad hill until the single track through the fields opened up on the left. Then rolling flats and down rutted fireroad for half a mile until it the trail appeared up to the right. Running up the single track steep hill, it eventually opened up to fireroad for yet more uphill. Around and up it seems hard to believe that its only 1200 feet of climbing. Eventually I reached the high point on the fireroad before it turns off to the right on singletrack. I'm pretty sure noone was even close behind me. But instead of dogging it like I did last week I felt like I need to put in my best effort for the whole race, regardless of whether I was being chased or not.

I hit the peak at 25:30 this year, which I remember being around the same time as last year. But this time I let myself bomb down the hill without fear. And when I leveled out on the trail, I kept up the fast. This is how to run, running without fear, with total concentration, and leaving it all on the course. Give it all and let God sort out who wins.

I finished in 42:41, about three minutes ahead of the second place finisher, and a masters record for the course.

PCTR Forest Park Trail 10K - Portland OR

2007-05-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

I drove down from Seattle with the kids and Rebecca so that we could all do this trail run right inside downtown Portland and then explore Portland over the Memorial Day holiday. The 10K went off fifteen minutes after the 20K and the 50K runners at 8:45am.

Race director Wendell put the pressure on by saying "you'll see flags every two minutes or so unless you're Adam and then its every 30 seconds". Uh oh. They're gunning for me now. I took off like a shot after the start with just one runner, Terry McCormick, hanging on my shoulder. It starts with a lot of climbing singletrack which is great. I turned to the side every minute or so to see what the competition was. Terry said "I'm right here". Nobody else was close. After about 15 minutes of climbing we passed a yellow flag that I would have turned downhill at, but Terry stopped me. We continued on climbing up the hill past it. Terry tried to surge after this but kicked it up and stayed with him the whole time. He slowed down after that and after matching his pace for a while, I surged ahead.

Once I got to the top I really turned it on down the hill to the point where I could no longer see or hear Terry. I came out onto a flat road which was marked with several yellow flags. I attempted several times to turn back onto the trails when seeing flags that looked like they might indicate a trail. I passed my 10 year old son Josh running the wrong way. He was following people that had made that right turn at the yellow flag. I told him to follow other runners since they were all heading back to the starting area.

I finally found the turn up the hill and ran update for a few hundred yards to where that previous turn had been. Then left and back down the trail towards the start. On one of the switchbacks I finally saw Terry behind me pumping furiously. I had thought he was long gone, but realized I needed to step it up. As the trail flattened out with about a half mile to go, Terry came alongside moving much faster than I was and quickly dropped me. I finished second about a minute back in 48:52.

chilling with Liz and Ben after the race

Ohlone 50K - Fremont CA

2007-05-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Another great backyard race. My soleus and quads were still sore and tight from last week's race at Quicksilver so I considered not doing this one. But it sounded like a beautiful course and I had an open bet that I could hit summit Mission Peak before 55 minutes that it seemed like a good time to go cash in on. My training runs were right around my normal times so I didn't have a good excuse to cancel. The big question was if my calf could hold up for the whole race.

Rebecca dropped me off at the start at the very civilized hour of 8am. It was a beautiful warm morning so everyone got to start in t-shirts. I shook hands with Will Gotthardt before the run and the starter sent us off. Will, Graham Cooper, Jean Pommier, Mark Tanaka and others led a pack out in front (Lon Freeman apparently decided not to do the race as planned). I hung back as much as I could, feeling great but trying to be cautious. I love races that start with climbs. I fell in with Ryan Commons for most of the climb. We reached the top of Mission Peak (the wooden post) at 49:20. I was still feeling great. Here's me flashing five fingers for sub fifty minutes as I got to the peak.

We started down the other side and my new New Balance trail racing flats were a bit skittish on the downhill. I realized I probably should have gone with my midweight Adidas TR9s. The trail flattened out a bit and I fell in alongside Kevin Swisher. We were running a good pace together and crossed the road about half a mile away from the Sunol aid station when I twisted my ankle on the flat road. I knew better by now not to stop so I continued on and downed some Advil. I reached Sunol station at 1 hour and 30 minutes, about 15 minutes ahead of my planned splits to do it in 6 hours. I decided at this point to slow down a bit. I downed some chicken soup that Rebecca had brought, picked up a couple fresh Perpetuem bottles from her and took off. I probably should have switched shoes at this point.

Shortly after this aid station, while running slower, fellow blogger Chihping Fu caught up to me, snapping pictures along the way. We ran up the climb together looking out over the reservoir
and then turned off on some single track that wound down to the Backpack aid station.

Reaching peak of Diablo sub-50

At the Backpack aidstation Ann Trason was filling water bottles. I stopped to eat some potatoes and drink some coke and left a water bottle there. I was still 10 minutes ahead of my planned splits at around 2:20. I continued on up the hill to the Billy Goat aid station. I started to feel a bit tight at this point and slowed down. I hit Billy Goat at 3:05 and stopped again for potatoes and coke and electrolyte pills. Now I was no longer ahead of schedule but just running the splits for six hours, so it was going to be close. My soleus and Achilles tendons were tight but not cramping. But I had no spring in my step. I got to the uphill for Rose Peak, made the little loop with its beautiful views and hammered downhill to Maggie's at right around 4:05. So far so good. Once down that hill though, when I hit the next climb my calves rebelled and I started cramping, despite all of the salt and electrolytes. I had to start alternating between walking and stretching. Its distinctly possible that if it was easy to drop at that point that I would have. The next aid station wasn't until 26 miles or so. I hobbled along to get there, at 5:30. I called Rebecca to let her know that I was going to be quite late. The next five miles were mostly downhill but I was very slow on the 1/2 mile of uphill that was remaining. I finished in 6:50, just glad to finish at all. Its a beautiful race. I hope to tackle it next year without injuries and run well under 6 hours.

Quicksilver 50K - San Jose CA

2007-05-12T16:16:00.001-07:00

I eagerly anticipated the opportunity to race close to home in Almaden Quicksilver County Park, between San Jose and Los Gatos. So much so that despite injuring my calf severely at Capitol Peak two weeks earlier (the travails of recovering from this are the subject of another post), I decided to go ahead and do this race. I dialed back my expectations from running a 5 hour race (my training splits in the park made me think this was reasonable and would have contended for first couple of masters finishers last years) to a more moderate 5:30.

I kept my training volume very low the last couple of weeks while injured but I did manage to run most stretches of the course. And I volunteered for trail work on the New Almaden trail the Sunday before (yes, four other volunteers and I got poison oak so the rest of you racers didn't have to).

Despite a maximum elevation of under 2000 feet Quicksilver is a very hilly park. The Saturday before I ran the first stretch from the entrance past Webb Canyon to the dam, calf twinging the whole time, as my last long run, and it took me 1:20 to reach the dam. Based on this last data point it was clear that 5:30 was going to be aggressive.

I left my house at 5:00 am and drove to the race, stopping at the Starbucks just off Camden on Almaden. I should have stopped at SBUX in Los Gatos, because this one was closed until 6am on weekends! In desperation, I got them to slide me a large coffee through the door. I arrived at the race minutes before, and had to park outside the park boundary (I guess everyone did since the park doesn't open until 8am). I stupidly left my Perpetuem-filled water bottle in the car, but remembered that I would see the lovely supportive Rebecca at mile 10 so I should be OK with just water at Webb Canyon six miles in.

It was foggy but light enough when the race started at 6am. We headed up the hill of the Virl Norton trail, eventually hitting Hacienda trail and making a right. I turned on my Oakley MP3s and listened to music and relaxed for the first mile of wicked hill, a good way to not go out too hard. I was glad to have run the course or those hills might have been a bit of a shocker. After a mile or so we turned right up Hacienda Trail for still more climbing. Then after a quick bomb down the other side of Hacienda, we took a left onto the beautiful ly maintained ;-) singletrack of the New Almaden trail which skirts the parks eastern border. In my originally planned splits, I was hoping to hit the Webb Canyon aid station at mile 6.4 at 1:15. I knew I wanted to start leisurely and my calf-injured training runs to that point were running right around there. I surprised myself and got there at 58 minutes. And I felt strong, relaxed and fast the whole way, holding myself back in the face of a long day where presumably my calf could rebel at any moment. I stopped to say hi to Gene and down several cups of water before heading back out the trail. I called Rebecca to tell her I was running early and that I would probably hit the dam aid station at 1:30 (7:30am).

I saw Chuck Wilson volunteering at the aid station. He said "hey what are you doing running an ultra?!" (although Chuck got me interested in trail running years ago, I've historically only done shorter races). The fair Rebecca had just gotten there and I stopped to drink some Red Bull and grab the much needed water bottle before heading down Randoll Trail. I caught up to Keith Blom (who had also volunteered last week) about halfway down the trail. Keith was running the 50 miler but looking very strong. Later I saw he finished wel as the second 50+ guy and 12th overall. We got to the Capehorn aid station at 14.5 miles (the measuring points for posted splits) just before 2:15. This was ahead of my planned schedule so I let Keith go on ahead. In the meantime I lingered with the helpful volunteers and ate some yummy potatoes (they didn't have any at the dam aid station) and drank some coke before heading back up the Mine Hill Trail. I got back to the dam at 3:00 even and sat down for some more Red Bull and pretzels and ibuprofen. I'll have to get some better food ready next time (potatoes and chicken soup?) since I didn't really eat much this whole race.

Then it was back down the Guadalupe Trail past the reservoir wall "back way" where I usually start my training runs from, and down the Senador Mines loop to the busy McAbee entrance. Then back up Mine Hill to the dam again. I fell in with Jeff Popov, who was also doing the 50M. I had been doing this loop regularly in about one hour, so I told Rebecca that I'd see her again in an hour: parting was such sweet sorrow. Again, I was pleasantly surprised and hit the aid station again at 3:50 and Rebecca insisted I take some pretzels with me before the last killer climb (though I couldn't muster the appetite to eat them after all). I headed up the hill with Jeff for a while and then took off to run on the heels of some other faster 50 milers. This was some of the most beautiful part of the course, high up in the sunshine overlooking the Guadalupe Reservoir to the west. I got over the hill and down to English Camp at 27 miles at around 4:33.

Just a little more than four more miles to go. Given the lack of net elevation gain I thought that I could easily do 9 minutes and finish up in 5:10. But this was the one part of the course I had not yet run. I didn't realize quite how hilly this last part was. More specifically, a quad busting freefall down and then a long brutal climb back up. I hadn't mentally prepared for this and for the first time slowed to a walk on that last brutal long uphill (something I don't normally do). Something about starting to walk might not have been good. Once I did try to run again, my soleus (the "side calf" which I had strained at Capitol Peak) started cramping and I had to stop to stretch it out with soleus stretches (something I didn't even know how to do before I injured it two weeks ago). From that point on, uphill running was just too painful. I finally got to the top after walking 12 minute miles for those couple miles and then let myself pound my quads into jelly on that last downhill. I came across in 5:18, better than I had planned. I was fourth master and I believe fourteenth overall. It was great to have a day of fun running on a beautiful challenging course (the exact kind of terrain that I like) when I thought I might not have been running at all.

On top of that there was free good beer at the finish and ribs and burgers cooking. What could be better? I chatted with Dale Reicheneder, who had made the trip up from LA for the 25K, and won overall! Scott Dunlap was there as well. He had placed fifth with an amazing 4:37 time. Rebecca used Dale's camera to film a video snapshot of the 2004 through 2006 Trail Runner Magazine overall champions (Scott, Dale and I) comparing notes on the race. Hope to get a copy from Dale to post here. After a couple beers and some ribs in the glorious sunshine Rebecca and I headed off to a nearby recovery meal at the Wine Cellar in Los Gatos. My quads were shrieking on the walk from her house over. We downed a good pinot as I tried to forget that next week's Ohlone was going to be 8500 feet of climbing and even more abuse to my soleus and quads than I experienced this week.

Mt. Si Ultra 50K - Snoqualmie WA

2007-04-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

We flew into Seattle on Saturday and checked into the Salish Lodge, right by Snoqualmie Falls, a couple miles from the race start in Snoqualmie. Sunday races are great. I managed to get a lot of rest in the day before in a beautiful setting. The 50K race also starts at a civilized hour (8:30am, 6:00am for the 50 milers) so I got up at 7am feeling very refreshed. I wore New Balance 940 racing flats since they worked so well at Bull Run 50M and this race looked even less technical. I also wore unpadded triathlon shorts under my running shorts - a good move that I will do again. I drove the couple miles down to the start and let Rebecca sleep to attempt an uncrewed ultra for the first time.

I saw Steve Yee, co-founder and president of Marathon Maniacs (to which I was recently inducted for doing Chuckanut 50K and Golden Gate Headlands Marathon back to back) at the start and he introduced me to some other maniacs. I left my drop bag. Using one was another race first for me, the main spur was to have some true trail shoes with orthotics in them if the need arose. My race plan was to run 9 minutes miles until mile 21 (the last rest stop) and then perhaps turn it up a notch if felt up to it. My goal was 4 hours 40 minutes (9 minute miles). Considering that I did Chuckanut 50K in 5:58 and still was above the median this seemed reasonably aggressive.

The RD started us out on the Snoqualmie Elementary School driveway and we all ran out for about a mile on flat asphalt. It was starting to feel like a road marathon so I asked the guys I was running with if we were ever going to hit a trail. At that point we turned right onto a bridge that let us out onto a flat wide hard-packed trail. I was running alongside Steve and getting the lowdown on the exploits of he and other Marathon Maniacs. These included details of training regimens for marathoning or doubling every weekend. We ran out five miles on this trail past an unattended water stop where I refilled my Amphipod.

with Marathon Maniacs Prez Steve Yee somewhere around mile 5

We caught up to a 50 miler named Larry Abraham, 57 years old and looking very strong approaching mile 30 for him. He was apparently around the top 5 in that race at the time. Steve seemed to speed up but I wanted to hear stories of longer races and I was taking it easy so I ran alongside Larry for a while before speeding up. Then I ran alongside an Aussie who was taking it at a similarly relaxed pace. Some mountain biker came by yelling at us "you're 20th, you're 21st!". We laughed and wondered aloud if he realized we didn't really give a damn.

I got to the first aid station at 10 miles at around 1:28 and took my time switching to my other water bottle from my drop bag, getting more gel packets and eating some potato chips. Several runners caught up that weren't really stopping. I took off around 1:30 and headed up the trail which finally became a bit of an incline. Tim Lofton came alongside and was moving pretty well. I tucked in behind him and we worked the hill together, passing several runners. This finally felt like trail running even though the trail was still too wide and not steep enough.

As we started to crest the hill I realized I was running too fast and let him go on ahead. Over the crest of the hill and down steeply about a quarter mile was the second aid station at mile 16. I reached it at 2:14 exactly nine minute miles, but perhaps ahead of schedule due to the hill. I had some Pepsi and boiled potatoes and headed back up the steep hill. For some reason the nausea that I almost always get at some point (usually early in races when cresting a hill) hit me while still climbing. So I actually walked this hill instead of running it. I also wanted to take some Advil for my legs aching from the hardpack but it had dropped out of the bottom of the pockets of my running shorts. I would have to wait another five miles until I got to my drop bag again to get some ibuprofen. Running back down this hill, albeit shallow as it was, I really could have used that Advil.

I got to the last aid station at mile 21 at 3:00 and took my time taking Advil, eating potatoes and chips and drinking soda while several runners passed. I was actually feeling quite sore at this point from the hardpack roadlike trail. So once I started back up at 3:05 I took it easy for a mile or two. I then started feeling better and picked up the pace to around 8 minute miles. I came alongside Larry Abraham again and kept up a steady clip with him until the unattended water stop at around the marathon mark. I hit that rest stop at around 3:45 and refilled my water bottle from the dwindling supply. After that I started really moving, passing Larry Abraham again and catching up to Brock Gavery, a young guy doing the 50M. We worked together on the flats, moving very fast into the wind and passing many runners, including Steve Yee who seemed to have slowed to a walk after the marathon mark. As we came out of the trail back onto the road I caught up to Tim Lofton on the bridge. I came across the finish to the cheers of Rebecca and my kids in 4:24:15, eighth overall and fourth master. I was stunned by that time and finish in only my third ultra.

Liz, Josh and Ben plied me with bagels, bananas and delicious green fruit juice while we waited for the drop bag, before heading off to our favorite Thai restaurant for a great recovery lunch.

Bull Run Run 50 Miler - Clifton VA

2007-04-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

This race is held on the Bull Run trail in Clifton, Virginia. My house in Virginia is located on the Bull Run river, just a mile or two from the trail turnaround. I ran and rode horses on much of the course when I lived in Virginia. I had to go out to get my house rented this weekend anyway. So, although it was a bit early in the season for me to try doing 50 milers (I had only done my first ultra a few weeks before), how could I not do this race? Doing it in 11 hours or under would qualify me for the Western States 100, my goal for next year. I thought that if I was feeling good I might try for 10 hours. Overall the idea of a 50 mile race was still pretty intimidating. I had done only one other ultra (Chuckanut 50K) and though I enjoyed it, did in fact bonk slightly during that race.

Rebecca and I flew in Dulles the day before and stayed at the Hyatt Dulles, probably my favorite airport hotel, where I also stayed last year for the Seneca Greenway Trail Marathon last March. After a shopping trip to the nearby Safeway for race staples (nuts, pretzels, Red Bull, chicken soup), we retired for a room service meal before our 4am wakeup call. Its a half hour drive down to Clifton and the race start at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park. Apparently the park is part of George Mason University (where I went to grad school) and GMU allowed the race to use some of their buildings to run the race from. Nice. There was a nice warm lodge with coffee and bagels to wait for the start in.

There were a huge number of people for an ultra it seemed to me: 335 according to their web page, plus their supporting crews. I'm new to the ultra world, but I haven't seen a trail run this big. Apparently though the American River 50 has 500 people so maybe its not that big after all. At 6:15am the race started with a casual "go ahead and run" from race director Bob Phillips.

Since my goal was to run under 11 hours, I went out as slowly as I possibly could. I figured I'd do 12 minute miles and do 5 miles per hour. Add in some time for leisurely rest stops with Rebecca eating and drinking and I would come in under 11 hours. Easier said than done. I hit the first rest stop at Centreville Road at around an hour and seven minutes, for about 9:30 pace. Too fast. And yet it felt quite slow amidst the dense pack of runners. There were some nice little rolling hills which weren't quite as fun as they would be later amidst the early clustered throng of people.

The trail was in great condition with no mud (to my surprise, I had heard it had been raining from people I knew in DC) and not very technical. So I traded my heavier Inov8 RocLites for extremely light New Balance 940 racing flats. And I replaced my Perpetuem-filled Amphipod water bottle for a fresh one from Rebecca. I gave up my jacket and gloves as well as the day had started warming. I took a long bathroom break in the woods and headed back out, for another 4.5 mile jaunt to the northern turnaround and back to this same rest stop. To race to plan, I wanted to come in no sooner than 2 hours. But I still arrived a little before 2 hours. So I sat down and leisurely drank a Red Bull and ate pretzels. A race guy came over eventually and gently needled me for dogging it ("its better to walk than to just sit"). So I headed back out onto the trail, back towards the race start aid station.

During this stretch I got to have fun on the rolling hills as the runners had thinned out by this time. I passed many runners who were walking the hills. While I think I get the logic of that, I just don't need to do it on hills that shallow. I don't really find that it helps me unless the hills are much steeper. Still I did hear a lot of runners coach me about walking the hills or I would "pay later". One of these was Gary Knipling, a 63 year old 11 time Bull Run finisher, who ran holding mango bikini bottoms (which he apparently does at every race). He's looking for the owner. I found out after the race that Gary is one of 11 (and the oldest) of last year's Grand Slam Finishers (people who did Western States, Wasatch, Leadville and Vermont 100s). I can only hope that I maintain the humor, optimism and endurance that this guy has 20 years from now.

I arrived at the starting area aid station at the 16.6 mile point at around 2 hours and 55 minutes. I was chafing severely by this time (I will experiment with tri shorts under running shorts at my next ultra) and I took some time to apply body glide. I drank some soup and took some Advil before heading back out a bit before the 3 hour mark. Now we headed south, out across some soccer fields to the Bull Run Marina where Bull Run turns into the Occoquan River. I picked up my iPod from Rebecca here and had some pretzels and nuts. The Beastie Boys got me pumped for the next hilly, gnarly, rock and tree root-infested stretch:

I kick it root down
I put my root down
It's not a put down
I put my foot down
So Mike, get on the mic and turn it out
...
We're talking root down, i put my boot down
And if you want to battle me, you're putting loot down
I said root down, it's time to scoot down
..
Sometimes I feel as though i've been blessed
Because I'm doing what i want so i never rest

Yeah! Yup, that was me the crazy old coot rapping and yelling while bombing down the hills. I reached the Wolf Shoals aid station, the "halfway point" (actually its at around 26 miles) in 4:30 (a little less than 10:30 per mile). This stop is in the woods with no crew access. But they compensate with great creativity from the race staff. This year the volunteers were all dressed up like M*A*S*H doctors and nurses. They had turkey sandwiches and ice cream! Wow. I still couldn't muster appetite for such heavy fare. But I started drinking coke and mountain dew to wash down a handful of salty snacks. Since I had been holding back and was still close enough to ten minute pace, at this point I said, "ok, lets do ten minute miles the rest of the way".

A couple miles further south, I reached the crewed aid station called the Fountainhead at mile 28 at around 4:50. After this no more crew for ten miles when we hit the Fountainhead again at 38 miles. I hoped to do ten minute miles even and hit the aid station again at 6:30, but failed to mention that to Rebecca.

There's another uncrewed aid station just before doing a little peninsula on the marina called the "Do Loop". Out from that aid station you run down the "stick of the lollipop" until you see a race volunteer who points people off to the right to run the loop counterclockwise. I was by myself at this point, listening to my iPod and enjoying the scenery. I saw several racers coming back the other way. Huh?! The Do Loop is supposed to be one way I thought! Thinking I might have the directions wrong, I turned off my iPod to pay attention to trail markings and landmarks and see about other runners going the wrong direction. Well, here comes a very young guy (looked like a highschooler) in a blue and white track singlet. I looked at him incredulously but kept going.

I proceeded around the loop through which borders the river but still has some nice steep hills. Its about twenty minutes to get back on to the "lollipop stick" that joins back to the out trail. I told the volunteer there about the runner I saw and described him. He said "yeah that happens every year and I saw that guy go the wrong way too". Well I'm new to ultras, but at any road race or triathlon that would have really mobilized someone. I got out of the woods to the Do Loop aid station and told the volunteers there. They didn't seem overly concerned either.

I made it back to the Fountainhead aid station at 6:30 as planned. I ate some pretzels and drank water but couldn't quite find Rebecca. Not wanting to dawdle too long, I took off at to try to stay close to my new "second half of the race" ten minute plan. The stretch to the Wolf Shoals station starts to get steep here, and I did start to feel fatigued at this point. Maybe I just needed more Advil, Red Bull and other crew stuff. I reached Wolf Shoals right around 7 hours. This put me off my new "aggressive plan" for ten minutes miles to the finish.

So after Wolf Shoals I picked up the pace and ran five miles to meet Rebecca at the Marina at around 7:50. I was feeling fatigued but still passing lots of people. Rebecca fed me some delicious hot soup, pretzels and Red Bull. I gave up my iPod for the last five mile stretch. I took off around 7:55, promising to meet her at the finish (5.5 miles later) at around 9 hours.

I ran down from the aid station back to the river trail again. Wow, I couldn't believe I was going to do this in under 9 hours. What a pump. I was fatigued and my legs were so I started off at the moderate 10 minute pace. After a mile or two, the trail moved away from the river, flattened out and started across some soccer fields and meadows that we had passed earlier. I am a hill runner so at this point a couple runners started catching me. I didn't look back. I just got concentrated on running tall and strong. Finally after about a mile of this it went back onto trails and up a steep hill. I quickly dropped all pursuers and started passing more people. This heartened me, with three miles to go, I started treating it like a 5k, swinging my arms, concentrating on form and breathing deeply. It flattened out to a technical stretch of river before climbing another big hill towards the finish. I passed a few more runners and came into the finish sprinting and feeling great. 8:43:17 in my first 50 miler, 42nd out of 335 runners. Not that it really matters too much, but given that the marshal at the Do Loop confirmed my sighting of several "wrong way runners" that successfully skipped the 20 to 30 minute loop I suspect my "true place" was significantly higher. Several runners I had passed before the Do Loop happened to be at the finish before me.

I really enjoyed the race. The constant up and down rolling and hills were great fun for me. Anything but a flat trail run. Lots of well-stocked aid stations with cheerful volunteers. I may do it next year, although I may do American River 50 if the dates conflict. I feel like 8:20 (just running an even 10 minute pace the whole way instead of "doggin it" for the first half) is very achievable so that would be my nominal goal.

Rebecca was a huge boost to me, helping me at each aid station with organization, supplies and good spirits. I'm not sure if I am capable of an uncrewed race anymore! We picked up an awesome embroidered finishers jacket (kudos to the VHTRC for great schwag) and headed out to pick up my daughter and drive to DC to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Szechuan Gallery, for a celebratory and recovery dinner. After feeling so good running a 50 miler, I'm very much looking forward to running Mount Si Ultra next week in Seattle.

P.S.: Regarding the "wrong way runners": I told the RD about the specific guy that I saw running the wrong way on the Do Loop. We (the RD and I) even went up and talked to him about it. He seemed confused about what he was supposed to do on that loop. The guy, Michael Hayden, is clearly a talent, holding several ultramarathon junior records. I hope he has a great career and I would bet that he will. I'm new to ultras (newer even than that kid) so I don't know the etiquette here so I'm not inclined to make a fuss about it. Maybe the "noncompetitive" ethos of ultras means that you let people do what they think is right. I do know that in a road race or triathlon one witness to such behavior (another racer or not) is sufficient for disqualification or penalties. And I know that the race volunteer at the Do Loop saw Michael come out the wrong way. I had a far better race than I planned, so I'm not going to let some shortcutters take the pleasure out of it for me.

Golden Gate Headlands Trail Marathon

2007-03-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

With the possible exception of my backyard trails, this race held on Rodeo Beach in the Headlands is my favorite course in California. I love the initial steep climbs off of the beach and, once you hit the ridges, the beautiful vistas of the Bay towards Sausalito and the ocean on the other side. I've generally done well on this course partially because I'm so inspired by it. A great site for my first "just a marathon" of the year.

My goal on this course with over 3000 feet of wicked climbs and a torturous beach run on each of the two loops, was to break four hours. To put it in perspective, former Trail Runner Trophy Series champion Scott Dunlap did 3:45:40 in 2004 (when Dean Karnazes did 3:30). Ordinarily I might have shot for 3:45 but I had been feeling worn down for the last couple weeks from Chuckanut.: very slow workout times.

I showed up to the park at 7:30am as a volunteer to help Dave Horning and the rest of the EnviroSports team, and helped direct cars to park. The weather was perfect: sunny and just cold enough. I wore my lightweight New Balance racing flats, because I knew the course was really not technical at all, and there shouldn't be mud. I carried only my cell (to radio ahead for supplies if necessary during the first loop) , a gel packet (the park service won't let Dave give them out) and Oakley MP3 shades.

The marathoners got to start before the shortcoursers in this race. At the start two runners took off quickly up the hill of the Coastal Trail and there was a smaller lead pack after them. During the climb I restrained myself from trying to stay with the lead runners as I would do for anything half marathon or less, and stayed back with the "chase pack" of four or five more runners. We climbed to the top, eventually climbing the infamous stairs. Then over the rolling ridges of the Wolf Ridge Trail turning left onto Old Springs Trail (unlike the 7 milers who would turn right onto the Miwok trail)l we descended to the horse stables. Just after the stables, around mile 4, there was an aid station with water and sports drink. I chatted with the volunteers, and surrendered my singlet to a volunteer in the face of the hot morning.

Then back up the "second grind" to 800 feet. There's another aid station at mile 6.5 with pretzels, crackers and trail mix. Down the Marincello Trail to the Rodeo Valley Trail which flattens out at the valley floor. Crossing a parking lot there's an aid station with water before a small but steep climb up to Conzelman Road. Then pounding down the highway for a mile (ouch!) to get back onto the trail to the starting area.

Rebecca (also volunteering today) was waiting at the start/finish area handing out drinks to the marathoners to steel them for the second loop. I gave her my cellphone (no need for it today), got a water bottle from her (definitely need for that today) and started in on the second loop. My split for the first half was 1:44 and I was feeling great. So despite my original intentions and my full upcoming ultra schedule, I was then determined to run 3:45. That gave me a couple hours to do this loop that I had already run and which I like so much.

I had no problems on the climb. Once I got to the top of the second grind, around mile 5, I stopped to enjoy the view (as Dave says to do) and take some Advil as my legs started to ache. I also looked behind me and saw noone remotely close. I stopped at the aid station and wolfed down some pretzels and crackers before the next descent, still feeling good the whole way. I drank at the last aid station and still didn't see anyone coming down the mountain.

Once I hit Conzelman Road again the road made my legs quite sore. I'm just not a roadrunner and I slowed down quite a bit. After a few minutes, I finally did see a chaser. Howard Wood was behind me, looking strong and clearly gaining on me. He pulled alongside and we chatted for a bit. We were both doing 50 milers in a couple weeks, thought of this as a training run, and were in no mood for a kickfest. So he graciously offered to run in with me. But he looked way too strong and I declined his generosity. He surged ahead onto the trail. I followed, not trying to chase him down. Good thing: once off of the final trail onto the beach sand, now the sand did faze me. I shuffled through the dunes pretty slowly and came up off of the beach having to sprint a little bit to hit my goal on the nose: 3:45:00.0, and fourth overall.

After another ten minutes or so, other finishers started coming in. The sand seemed to affect everyone. This is one race where the finish photos probably show everyone looking bedraggled.

Chuckanut 50K - Bellingham WA

2007-03-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

This was my first ultra so I had a lot of anticipation building up for this over the last month. But less pressure since my only goal was to finish respectably. To me that meant above the median and under six hours.

I drove to Bellingham the night before the race, a painful traffic-filled two hours from SeaTac airport.Perhaps I should fly in to Bellingham if I do it again? We stayed at the Fairhaven Village Inn, a few blocks from the race start - a nice little hotel. We walked a few blocks through the Fairhaven neighborhood and had a late dinner at the Mambo Italian Cafe: excellent pasta and a bottle of chianti.

Race morning dawned rainy and cold. But I felt good and looked forward to the race. I found a crucial pre-race latte at the Safeway on the way to Fairhaven Park. We got to the park around 7am in plenty of time to pick up the packet and a race chip. A chip-timed trail race? Thats a first for me.

I relaxed in the car for an hour chatting with Rebecca about fueling strategies for the upcoming rest stops where she was going to meet me. I didn't eat anything prior to the race, although we had bars, gels, and pretzels that could have served the purpose (I could have even gotten something better such as oatmeal at the Safeway on the way). I never eat before races, but this was to prove to be a bad move before this particular race. I vow to eat something before all future ultras.

I decided to bring my cellphone since my propensity for taking wrong turns could really hurt in such a long race. I changed into some surfer-style shorts that nestled my cellphone nicely. Unfortunately these shorts would end up chafing my important assets by the end of the race. Vaseline next time - another ultra learning. I wore two long sleeve running shirts, a fleece, a rainshell, and fleece running cap. This made me a lot more comfortable in the cold. But no tights! I'll never do that unless they come with matching cape or something. I topped it off with my trusty Oakley MP3 sunglasses, which looked particularly ridiculous on this gray day. Luckily the lenses retract, which looks even stranger! For the impending mud, I chose Adidas TR9s as my race blades.

The race started just a few minutes after eight AM, up a small hill in the park and past a subdivision and onto the trail proper. I picked a leisurely pace, probably around 9 minute miles, dialed in, and tried to just enjoy the trail amidst the drizzle. The mud wasn't too bad in the beginning despite the rain.

I hit the first rest stop at around an hour and five minutes. I drank some Red Bull that Rebecca had for me. But just wasn't hungry yet (another mistake not to force myself to eat). I surrendered my fleece and shell to Rebecca and headed out back onto the trail. We now turned up a steep hill gaining over a thousand feet very quickly. Back down another hill and we again climbed over one thousand feet going past Fragrance Lake before the third rest stop. I felt great the whole time and perhaps attacked the hill more than I should have, passing several smarter, wiser runners. I sucked down a gel packet during the climb when I started to feel just a bit rundown. Finally I saw Rebecca again at the third rest stop at around two hours and fifteen minutes. I drank some more Red Bull and grabbed a Clif bar and gel packet to go. This was where I really should have stopped to eat.

I left the rest stop and passed several runners on the trail as we headed across and down a fairly technical ridge.

At one point a couple younger faster guys passed me which surprised me since I had thought I was "hanging back" quite a bit earlier and had started to hit my speed. As I headed out into open space, I ate a Hammer gel. Towards the end of the descent my recently injured groin muscles started to ache. I lost quite a bit of speed as I approached the bottom of the ridge. We turned back on a long muddy plateau trail for several miles past Lost Lake. We then turned right off of that trail and started climbing back up to the summit. There was one quick hill of a couple hundred feet, and then we started up a seemingly vertical climb up seven hundred feet or so. This is apparently known as the Chinscraper. Normally I love such steep hills, and have a couple of real doozies approaching this steepness on my daily run. But on this day, I'm assuming due to my poor fueling discipline I truly bonked. I tried eating my Clif bar but I really don't like them, and it was of course too late to help. I finished the last hundred feet walking upwards in a total catatonic daze, getting passed by at least ten runners. And I did wonder for a moment what the hell I was doing there.

Finally I got over the top and ran down to an open area (ahead of the rest stop) where Rebecca was waiting in the rental car. I gulped down chicken soup (delicious!), pretzels, nuts, Red Bull. Anything I could get my hands on. I changed into fresh shoes (lightweight Teva X1s now that the technical stuff was done) and socks and felt like a new man. I had a little under ninety minutes to get there and do what was supposedly a little over 11 miles.

I ran down the hill feeling strong, but I was slowed a bit by the treacherous mud. It was fireroad, but very slick and my Adidas TR9s would have allowed me to go a bit faster. Still I felt great and was whooping with exhilaration. After a mile or so, the trail turned off to the left and backward off of the fireroad. With less mud on the singletrack, I really turned it on and passed two or three runners. After around four miles I met Rebecca again at the final rest stop where I drank another Red Bull and took off on a "flat trail" for the supposedly 6.5 miles to the finish. I had a little under an hour to get there which I thought should be easy enough to do, and was contemplating a 5:50 finish. I was running consistently under 8 minute miles from mile marker to mile marker on the trail. So when it seemed that there should just be a half mile left, imagine my surprise when spectators called out "just a couple miles to go". I had to really push it then to keep it under 6 hours. I'd venture that the last leg is really more like 7.5 miles than 6.5. Oh well, everyone had to do the same course and it wouldn't be a trail run without being longer than advertised. But hey Krissy Moehl, can you check that last measurement for next year?

Regardless, I felt great for these last few miles and passed six or so runners. On the last little minhill, I caught up to Dominic Alexander. He pulled away from me with a quarter mile left. But, though I often kick in the finish, I chose not to chase him down at the finish. Such things aren't done at ultras are they? Anyway, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I finished in 5:58:45, 116th out of 256 runners.

Woods, steep climbs, singletrack, ridges with vistas: what a beautiful race. I will definitely be back next year.

Marin Trails 10K and 20K - China Camp State Park CA

2007-03-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Not realizing that this race is well inside China Camp State Park in Marin, I arrived at the race just as the 20Kers were leaving, so I missed my chance to do the longer race. I went to get my number and lined up with the 10K competitors. It was a perfect, beautiful sunny morning in paradise. Will Baker-Robinson, who I had raced last week at Woodside King's Mountain was there. Its amazing to see a 12 year old race well.

The start was flat and wide for the first half mile or so. The lead pack was Andrew Lavallee Eduardo Vasquez, Will, and I. Andrew and Eduardo pulled away quickly as the broad path narrowed to singletrack. At that point I was running ahead of Will and Scott Weaver, another masters male. I felt really good. None of the groin pull pain that has plagued me for the last couple months. Although I intended this as a "training day" to save my body and mind for next week's 50K, I let out a whoop and took off, trying to put some distance between myself and Will and Scott.

We ran out at a steady pace across the gently rolling singletrack, interrupted once by a road crossing. I touched the tree of the turnaround and headed back in third place still with about 30 seconds on Will and Lynette Sweeney. Around mile four I started to flag. And I just didn't feel like I was competing with the two of them, so I let them pass and took it easy for the last couple of miles.

I finished in 43:49 as the first masters racer, about 40 seconds ahead the next runner. Will and I commented on how much more we like the steep hill runs that PCTR does. I suggested that Will should be awarded a "rubber chick" since the male and female winners get a rubber chicken.

Overall a fun run, but I won't travel that far to it next year though.

Castle Rock - 5K

2006-11-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to this race close to my house in the Los Gatos mountains. The sun shone down warmly on this late November day. I chatted with Steve Sokol, who was there with his trail-racing 7 year old son Alex. Steve had finished first to my second at both the QuickSilver 10K in San Jose and another Redwood Trails run at Big Basin. He congratulated me on my third place finish in the Trail Runner Trophy Series. Last year I had started the 10K along with the 5Kers because I had shown up late. The 5Kers included the UC Santa Cruz cross country team. I was relieve to not see them here this year.

They started the 10 milers and 10Kers first. I took off like a shot taking the lead and before too long ran into the back of the 10K pack. This is an unfortunate way to organize the race. It took a while to worm my way past all of them (some of them wearing iPods!). But I felt great the whole time and after the turnaround saw that I had about a minute on Steve. I finished strong in 24:45 still about a minute ahead of other finishers. A fun race.

Silicon Valley Half Marathon

2006-10-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

The guys were over for poker past midnight last night, but I still managed to get up at 5am and head to the race. I got to downtown San Jose at the Tech Museum plenty early. But there was no SBUX close by! I'm not even sure that I can converse without coffee let alone run a half marathon.

I ran out with the three hour marathon pace group (so I could run 1:30 for the half), and after a mile did manage to wake up and felt good. We were hitting all the mile markers at the right time and I even had to restrain myself not to run away from them. The pacer (holding a 3 hour marathon sign) was a wellknown marathoner (he has to be a 2:30 or less marathoner) but I don't remember his name. Everyone dropped off and the pacer and another nice local MIT grad and I were by ourselves. They said "we're gonna get you past that finish line in under 1:30!".

We ran onto the LG Creek Trail at 5 miles all feeling great. I loved getting off of the road even though it wasn't a real trail. As usual my legs started hurting at mile ten around Lake Vasona, but they rallied me into keeping with them. We then exited the trail behind the Borders at Los Gatos and I could see the high school where we were supposed to finish on the track. Not even 1:28 on my watch. I thought I was golden. We started down the high school track at 1:29 for what looked like a 200m half loop. No problem, I should finish just under 1:30. The marathoners kept going and exited the track back up the trail back to San Jose. I turned left off of the track to what I thought was the finish. Oh my god, it emptied out into a huge field with at least another 200m or so chute to do! I went into full on sprint mode, but still ended up over 1:30 at 1:30:28. It was still a great race for me though and a lot of fun overall.

A cup of coffee and some sleep the night before and I hope my next half marathon (in Seattle on the 26th) will be well under 1:30. My entourage was cheering for me and we all walked over to LG Cafe for a delicious wellearned omelette breakfast.

Seacliff Beach Trail Run

2006-10-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

I drove down to Aptos from my perch in the Santa Cruz mountains, arriving at the Aptos mall for a venti latte before the race. I was looking forward to what are my perfect kinds of races: start at the beach, run uphill and run back down to the beach. Luckily Pacific Coast Trail Runs does a lot of this kind of run.

At the start I saw Kelly Emo compulsively doing no doubt something like her fortieth race this year (shocking) and Chuck Wilson preparing to knock out another 50ker.

I felt great this morning and raced out ahead of the pack climbing up the incline of the road through downtown Aptos. It was a little hairy getting through all of the Sunday morning traffic. I was running with a scary fast young guy, James Hughes. We quickly dropped everyone by the time we entered Forest of Nisene Marks. We ran along the fire road up to the turn off for the trail. I was just behind James up until then, but he pulled away on the hills of the trail. I was impressed because hills are usually my thing. Wendell and Sarah (PC Trail Runs) should have someone to direct people onto the trail though and make sure people go onto it.

After coming out of the trail back onto the fire road Oswaldo Lopez and another runner caught me and we ran together for a while, reaching the turnaround and aid station at about the same time (just under 33 minutes). I headed back down the trail feeling great and pumped up by encouragement of the oncoming runners. I picked it up to 6:30 pace on the downhill and turned off onto the trail again. Coming out the trail I felt great and sped up on the downhill through the streets of Aptos. My goal was the course record set last year by Mike Galligan of 58:52. Once it was clear I wouldn't hit that, I slowed down and hoped to still finish under an hour. I had myself hitting the finish line at 0:59:57. But its on the website at 1:00:07, so maybe I mistimed it.

I finished to the cheers of Rebeccah and her niece Cynthia, giving them sweaty hugs in reply. Another free breakfast at the wharf in Santa Cruz for winning.

San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon

2006-10-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

The race was advertised as starting at 7am, and the San Jose Mercury News made a point of saying to be there to go into the corral at 6am. I got there bright and early with little sleep the night before (after going to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco on Saturday). And then had to wait around until 8am when the race started.

I lined up in the first corral next to my neighbor Steve Moore, who rarely does races over 10K and was doing his first half marathon. Not being much of a road runner anymore, I planned to just try to run seven minute miles and finish in around 1:31. I started out feeling really good and clocked a couple 6:30s to hit the two mile marker at 13 minutes. I realized I should probably slow down a bit and hit the 5K at 20:30. I then slowed down a bit more and hit the 10K at 41:49. that would have been just right for a 1:30 half marathon. I hit the 10 mile at 1:09:26, still just over 1:30 pace but close to the 1:31 that I thought was shooting for. My legs felt pretty heavy and sore from miles 11 to 13, and I ran 7:30s for the last three miles. Those asphalt roads are just too hard on a pampered trail runner like myself. And I yearned to mix up the muscle work on my legs. Still I put a bit of a kick in at the finish and came in at 1:32:49.

I'll try to stay on the trails for the rest of the year, but will still do the Silicon Valley Half Marathon in a few weeks on October 29th.

Bridge to Bridge Run - 7K

2006-10-01T14:10:00.001-07:00

I made a rare venture onto the road for this race. The beauty of the venue made it worth it. It starts by the Ferry building in San Francisco near the Bay Bridge and runs along the wharf and the waterfront to the Presidio above the Golden Gate Bridge.

I manage to squeeze up near the front, despite the thousands of runners in the chute. Despite having raced the day before (winning 40-49 at the QuickSilver 10K) I felt great at the beginning and ran out a bit too fast. I hit the one mile mark at 6:10. As we turned down towards the wharf, I slowed to try to keep it to 6:30 pace. After the tourist shops, the view of the bay opened up. I hit the three mile mark at 19:30 and headed up the hill of Fort Mason. I started to flag behind the college kid pulling me up the hill and he yelled "stay with it sir!" (sir?). I realize "dammit I'm supposed to be a hill runner" and made myself surge. I pummeled down the other end of the hill past Crissy Fields and into the Presidio. The hill still slowed me slightly offpace and I hit four miles at 27 minutes even (my plan was 26).

We turned up the hill towards the finish area. I finished the last quarter mile is 1:53, and finished in 28:53, good for third master and thirteenth overall. John Mintz and Jon Tannehill (frequent competitors for masters at shorter road running here in the Bay area) had just duked it out for overall masters winner, with John winning by four seconds, about a minute of me.

Although I try to stick to trailrunning lately, I will do this race next year. I won't slow down during the early flat stage, and I think I can contend with a sub-28 minute time with proper pacing.

After finishing the race I turned right around and ran back past all the runners, cheering them on, back to the Ferry building, where Susan was waiting to take me to the Slanted Door. Yum!

Cougar Mountain Trail Run - 13M

2006-08-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

This was my first race back after missing a couple months due to breaking my toe. Based on my daily trail run loop (10K and 2000 feet of climbing) I am about 15 percent off of peak race form. The 15 percent is a combination of pain in the toe, especially when running downhill, and lack of fitness due to the long layoff. I decided to do the race anyway. I expected a fair amount of pain and the likelihood that I would fade late into the race.

I stayed overnight in Issaquah and drove the five miles to the race start on a glorious August morning (Seattle is so nice in August and September). I laced up the thickest most cushioned trail shows I have: Montrails (which was the best shoe to wear most of the time while recovering).

I felt great at the start as we ran out Clay Pit Road to the Coyote Creek Trail and started climbing. Hitting the first ridge I still felt great. The downhill from Anti-Aircraft Ridge down Klondyke Swamp Trail (which we would ascend later) was exhilirating and I passed several runners. Apparently footspeed and technique deteriorate slower than overall fitness on a layover. Once we got to the bottom I maintained speed. Around mile 8 as we had started the ascent back over the hill on the Quarry Trail, I ran out of gas and slowed down quite a bit. I actually started walking on the hills which I almost never do. But I finished in 2:20 and right around the times of several familiar runners that I had raced with in early season Northwest races. However, I had clearly lost the fine edge I had gained in several midseason Colorado races at altitude.

This is a great race. If possible I'd like to do the other three earlier races in this series next year.

Carmel Valley Trail Run- 8km

2006-05-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

This race starts in Garland Park, a few miles inland from the beach in Carmel. I drove down from Los Gatos the morning of the race getting more and more excited about the beautiful sunny weather in store. Despite the rain forecast, not even the characteristic Monterey Bay area fog. This combined with the race topology (very challenging but short) made me feel very good about the race. Also, I'd finally gotten some respite from persistent plantar fascitis, so I was able to run without orthotics and with my lightest trail running shoes (Teva X1s).

I started off the race in front on the flats, which quickly gave way to single track trails and then, within a mile, to actual stairs (perfect Dipsea training). I stayed in front through the first couple miles. I was finally passed by a couple runners, who apparently weren't doing the 8km. Wow - passed on the hills. I realized I needed to step it up and gave chase, even though I was pretty sure I wasn't in the same route as they were. More and more climbing until we came out onto a wide open mesa in the glorious sunshine. Then still more climbing until the other courses turned off south while us 8km slackers headed north back to the race finish. This seemed about halfway. It was about 24 minutes, with I guessed 2.5m to go. The record was 38 minutes. Downhill 2.5 m in 14 minutes? Maybe. I kept up my speed but started to get nauseous as I pushed. I eased off to stop from getting sick (Rolaids before the race to lower the acidity from all of my prerace coffee?).

After about another half mile it was clear I wasn't going to set the record. At this point there were no other 8km within sight, so I slowed way down. As I came out of the last set of single track into the open fields I finally spotted David Acosta seemingly starting to kick. I kicked it in myself at that point and finished first in 43:40, well off of last year's record. I did manage to get another First Place hat to replace the one I bloodied on another trail run (the subject of another post).

I love this race. Beautiful and very challenging and short enough for me. It doesn't count for the Trophy Series but I'll be back next year anyway.

March Mudness Half Marathon - Portland, OR

2006-03-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

This race is held in the heart of the Hoyt Arboretum in downtown Portland. Its a great setting, as these are some of the best inner city trails I've ever seen. Its about three and a half miles from the center of the city. Next year I'll try to just run to the start from my hotel and not rent a car.

Packet pickup is at the finish line at the top of the hill in the arboretum, across from the gift shop. They were giving out beautiful green fleece jackets embroidered with the race logo on the back to all participants. Its pretty stunning - I've never quite heard of such schwag at an inexpensive race.

The start is down the hill near their Vietnam Memorial. We ran out on the road for about a half mile before turning left onto the trail. Great singletrack almost from the start. A moderate climb for most of the way. But plenty of mud on the downhills. My worn racing flats (which were sufficient at the first two races of the year) were not really suited to the surface. I probably should have known better ("March Mudness" right?), and even had my beloved Sportiva Exum Ridges in the car just in case. Things had just looked dry to me.

Anyway, I felt great, and pumped up the slopes just fine, up until the turnaround of the out and back course (where there was only water - good thing I had some gel packets). I was in sixth with the next three runners up just ahead in reeling distance. At this point it became mostly downhill and I just could not hang with my ballet slippers on. I got passed by Joe Rowley about half a mile after the turnaround. He stayed in sight but I knew I wouldn't be catching him on the downhill. My only hope was the snatches of uphill that would come up near the end.

After a few more miles I stopped at the aid station that was near the end to chug a quick Red Bull. I was passed by Jenny Knight as I stood there. On the uphill I passed her again, and as we went back downhill she passed me again, and we continued trading places on the ascents and descents. Finally with about a mile to go we came to an intersection (just after seeing the race director at one of the turns) with two ways to go. We had no idea which way to go. There were some vaguely placed tiny orange flags at ground level, but that was little help. So we shouted out "which way" until the race director walked out and clarified it. There were a few other vague intersections, but we eventually figured out that the tiny orange flags were direction markers and finished on the uphill, the only thing that let me come in a few seconds before her.

I was the second masters male in 1:50. The second place finish should earn me 39.3 Trophy Series points. There was a decent postrace feed and nice people. I'll be back next year.

Antelope Island Buffalo Run 25K - Syracuse, Utah

2006-03-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

A race where you can run on an island park inside the Great Salt Lake, amidst buffalo and antelope. Who could resist?

I got to the race at 6am to help hand out bags for the participants (they said they need volunteers) at the entrance to the island. Probably not the strategy for optimum performance, but I race enough I need to do some volunteering to repay that karmic debt. It was quite cold: maybe 35 degrees? But sunny and clear and beautiful Most of the entrants were in by 7am so I was able to leave and drive onto the island for the start.

This race was in its first year but still had over 150 participants.

We headed out on the flats for about a mile to the trailhead. Then it was 2.5 miles from there crosscountry to the Lone Tree aid station. Many people (including myself) abandoned their cold weather gear at the aid station there. Lone Tree was part way up a small mountain known as "Elephant Head". About a mile after Lone Tree the real climbing began, and, for the first time this season, I felt like being a hill runner helped. It was a gradual climb but relentless. I felt great going up. And the downhills were not that technical (which is not my strongsuit). Just muddy, and, occasionally, snowcovered. We got close to the top and came back another trail to the aid station again. Then turned right shortly afterwards and went up another hill, over and down to the finish. I felt great the whole way. Wonderful race. I finished in 2:25 for third masters male.

I then ran out to the aid station (a little more than three miles each way) to get my hat and gloves. I'll try not to make that mistake next year. Those last six miles of slow jog, were not nearly as fun as the racem and turned the moderate 25K run into almost a marathon.

Land Between the Lakes Half Marathon - Grand Rivers, KY

2006-03-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

I flew in to Nashville (the closest airport) with my daughter Elizabeth on Friday afternoon. We drove the hour and a half to Grand Rivers, stopping for a much missed Cracker Barrel meal: a grilled catfish dinner followed by ham, bacon, sausage, eggs, grits, biscuits, gravy, fried apples, and hashbrowns for breakfast. There are no West Coast Cracker Barrel's so this was quite a treat for us.

Steve Durbin welcome us warmly at packet pickup at Miss Scarlett's restaurant, and we repaired for the evening to the Days Inn next door, watching Crackel Barrel-acquired DVDs of Speed Racer episodes for motivation. The themesong ran through my head the next day:

"he's gaining on ya so ya better look alive!
he's busy revving up the powerful Mach Five!
and when the odds are against you and there's dangerous work to do,
you bet your life Speed Racer's gonna see it through!"

I got up at five the next morning, and drove down the mile or so to the race start. It was surprisingly warm outside and a clear sky seemed to initially belie the stormy forecast of the night before.

But, just as the crowd gathered for the start of the races, gray stormclouds lowered. The second that the horn went off, lightning struck, a thunderclap pealed and the clouds dropped rain like buckets. We're off! We went for a mile on the asphalt road and then turned off onto the trail, by which time the rain had thankfully let up. I ran alongside Dale Reicheneder onto the trail. At the aid station before it turned into single track I stopped for a drink and he pulled ahead.

The trail was beautiful single track bordering the lake. The terrain was gently
rolling with some moderate portions but nothing really steep. I felt great for
most of the race, up to mile ten where pain in my right knee kicked in again. I had some Advil with me and choked some down. I managed to keep running at a stiff legged pace. I could see Dale not too far ahead, but I just didn't have it in me to surge back up to him with my knee the way it was.

Coming out of the woods at mile 13 or so (the race is actually 14.3 miles) I heard footsteps behind me. I was in no mood for a kickfest, so I asked his age. He was 49. Bummer, I was pretty sure there were a couple of other masters runners ahead of him "But we're not doing agegroups" at this race. Not realizing that the Trail Runner Trophy Series did track agegroups if the race didn't, I let him move ahead as I gritted my teeth against my knee pain. I finished just under 2 hours, two behind
Dale, and, unfortunately, just seconds behind the third masters runner. No bonus points in this race. That will have to wait for next week.

It started to rain again. So Elizabeth and I headed off up the Western Kentucky Parkway to Louisville. It was a vaste wasteland, primarily due to not being an Interstate - hence no Cracker Barrels. Once we hit Elizabethtown, we picked up I80 to Louisville and spotted the hallowed Cracker Barrel, completing our trip to the Heartland in style.

Seneca Greenway Trail Marathon - Damascus, MD

2006-03-04T09:17:00.000-08:00

We flew in to Dulles the night before and drove to a pre-race meal of Peking Duck at the Peking Gourmet in Falls Church where I used to live.

I left the hotel race morning at 5:30am, with the temperature at 28 degrees and the wind gusting to at least 20mph. Brutal for a now-Californian who doesn't even own a set of running tights. I hit the Beltway and got off at River Road, driving west past all the beautiful Potomac mansions and horse properties. I stopped at a Starbucks in a little strip mall about five miles off of the Beltway at 6am to get a much needed latte. I recommend this as the only available pre-race sustenance stop for those of you doing the race in the future.

As I arrived at Riley's lock (the finish area), the very helpful volunteers were handing out race applications for people to fill out in their cars to let the racers stay warm as long as possible. We piled into an unheated bus and waited for the rest of the racers until 7am or so and then drove out the 25 miles or so to Damascus Regional Park.

The racers filed out and stood out in the wicked chill with the wind gusting away, though it was a sunny, clear day. I commiserated with another racer in shorts from Florida. 115 raced surged off down a wide paved trail into the park. After a mile or so, we turned off onto a real trail. After another mile or so, there was a subtle blue marking off the right where we supposed to turn. The lead three or four guys, including Dale Reicheneder, last year's Trail Runner of the Year, continued on, missing the turnoff. Three of us behind stood there, shouting at them to come back but they didn't hear us. Now the trail was beautiful single track, if a bit flat. I felt great and now ran with the leaders for quite some time. After a couple more miles I stopped for a bio break and fell out of the lead pack of three or four guys (the cold distracted me out of my normal prerace ritual). I quickly dropped back into a trailing pack of another three guys. We ran at 7 minute pace (too fast no doubt though I felt great at the time) for another four miles. Around mile 7 Dale appeared in Santa Monica Trail Runners windbreaker and passed our group. I sped up to run with him for half a mile or so. He had apparently run three miles off course. I dropped back off of Dale and ran with the same secondary pack for a while.

Around mile nine we dropped had a to go down some rocks into a stream and back up another set of rocks. I stumbled and twisted my ankle slights but strained my knee severely, presumably the MCL I tore a few years ago. I spent the next mile hobbling slowly to the rest stop around mile 10. It was all I could do to just walk and I howled as I hobbled. At the aid station, I seriously considered begging a ride home. But I did not fly out to DC to DNF. I was planning a celebratory dinner afterwards (my favorite restaurant - the Inn at Little Washington), and I did not want to be sitting there contemplating my failure of will all evening.

Instead I begged for some ibuprofen. They only had Tylenol - which I took but I knew would not help. After chugging some Mountain Dew I limped off back down the trail (running was still out of the question). Finally a runner passed and, seeing me limping, asked if he could help. "Well some Vitamin I would be great since they didn't have it at the aid station". He produced the magic pills and I took a couple. After another half mile of limping I gingerly started hobble running. It was excruciating and I howled even louder in the empty forest. Finally I came to another aid station at mile 12. Here they actually had some Advil so I took a couple more pills. And I begged an Ace bandage off of them as well for my knee. AFter that I was able to maintain a consistent hobble run for another four miles or so.

Finally, as I ran stifflegged along a wooded ridge, signs started appearing "Sugarland Three Miles". SugarLand? What is SugarLand? We're in the middle of nowhere. What could SugarLand be? An amusement park? A strip club? A farm? "SugarLand 2 1/2 miles". Wow, thats aggressive advertising! Who came out here on the trails to advertise this? Finally after "SugarLand - 2 Miles", the signs sprouted up with increasing frequency. "Atkins Shmatkins - You Need Carbs!", "Forget Fiber - We Want Sugar!". After "Almost to Sugarland - 1 Mile" and "SugarLand - Just 13/28 Mile More", the real sell began "Fat Free Sugar!", then more improbably "Sugar Free Sugar!", "Sugar - Your Body Thanks You Now and Your Dentist Will Thank You Later", and finally "You Need Energy - Welcome to Sugarland!" as the trail opened onto a parking lot with a handful of cars parked. There were a bunch of kids at an aid station stocked with more high glycemic confections than any race I've ever seen. There were Twizzlers, M&Ms, peanut M&Ms, Girl Scout Cookies, heart shaped, candy coated marshmallows, and other treats too numerous to mention. I pounded down six TagAlongs and, more importantly, scored a couple magic ibuprofen candies. Running away from the station one last sign "Now Leaving SugarLand - InsulinLand Five Minutes Ahead".

Back on the trail it was another couple of flat wooded miles to a small water stop by the next intersection. Then the another seven miles up and down slight inclines until we emerged from the trail finally at what was mile 26 and we should have been done. Ah, but it was not to be. Instead we were told that we had "just a long two miles" to the finish. The volunteers had heard about my ibuprofen abuse and I couldn't get an additional fix out of them. On the bright side the stop was replete with chili, salted potatoes, coffee, and sodas. I pounded some more Mountain Dew and some potatoes and hobbled up the hill. The last two miles (really it seemed more like three) were quite hilly, which I would ordinarily love, but definitely exacerbated my now even more agonized knee. We emerged out onto the road across from the park where the finish and ran the last half mile on asphalt to the actual finish line.

I finished in a dreadful 5:29 (although the winner was around four hours so perhaps not as bad as I would think) and 32nd overall. Nevertheless, I was exhilarated by finishing and fighting through the pain. I felt like if I could make it through that accident I could take whatever the season has in store for me. I ate heartily at the Inn at Little Washington that evening, feeling like its exquisite cuisine was a well earned indulgence.