How're ya now? Not 'sbad?
It's been a while since I last toed the line at a race - exactly 52 weeks and 6 days before the race of this report, I ran a 3k relay race mid-pandemic, but that was a massive rolling start and our team all started together. I had volunteered for ultras and smaller road races since then, but the concept of running long distances for long periods of time was once again foreign to me.
Fortunately, I had to get my shit together for the 2022 WSER race lottery, and needed a qualifier between November 2019 and November 2021 to keep my consecutive ticket count going. There were effectively no WSER qualifiers during 2020 in Alberta and we had a non essential travel ban effectively through to mid summer 2021, so despite spending an entire summer volunteering for local events and gravel riding instead of getting long training runs in, I committed to getting off my bike at the end of August and racing a 100k closer to the end of October to give me the most time to prep as possible. It was between Quicksilver in San Jose and Leona Divide in LA, both races that normally occurred in the spring, and I figured the latter would be saved for another year when I could swing by Disneyland on my way home. (Not a joke.)
'Prep' is a strong word, compared to the usual training regime I usually do - I long suspected I had been putting my body through more pain than it needed right before a race. Alas, the longest run I had done before Quicksilver was Rockwall on September long, a 55k effort with 2500m of D+. Anything else was well below 50k, but there were a few faster marathons put in there for giggles. Quicksilver was 100k with ~13,000' of D+, but for some reason I thought it was 15,000' instead and was training like I was supposed to run two Elk Valley's back to back....which would have been doable but I'd be pushing dangerously close to the WSER cutoff as it took me just shy of 9h elapsed to do Rockwall. I had a long way to go - because of my reduced training load in the summer, I had switched to a fueling regime made of Nutrigrain bars (I had a ton of coupons for free boxes), Nature Valley peanut butter bars (thanks mom and dad!), Dad's cookies and Rice Krispie Squares (thanks Brian of Sinister Sports, and racers who never hit that!) and start using actual race fuel.
My goals were as follows:
A. 14h would be nice
B. sub 16h to get a WSER ticket
I flew into SFO right after a rainstorm - the weather for this race was disturbingly divine as we had an atmospheric river rolling in towards the end of the race, but for the most of the race we would only have some light mud at the beginning to contend with. With a 430h PST start and given the climatic conditions the Sunday after, I quickly got all my shopping done, grabbed my bib, ate dinner at a mall's food court and went to bed at a disturbingly early time.
The race was set up so that we would return to the start/finish 41.4mi in. I traditionally change out shoes every 50k, but with my drop bag options being either there or 25.8mi in, I I settled for the former as I'd start with my Salomon S-Lab Wings S8 (yes they are still hanging on).
Sunrise was closer to 730h, so my first few hours would be with a headlamp. I knew the course was described as a hot mix of single and double track, but my first 10k was just fire road, so the 500m climb was taken relatively easy as I didn't have to worry about throwing elbows and jockeying for position. I still ended up running the first 5k with everyone, but backed off once I was warmed up and struck a conversation with an older skimo athlete named Bernie from Roseville. We hung out for a little bit, circling the Hidalgo Cemetery together before losing him with my disturbingly quick aid station transition times.
The next 10k was another 600m climb headed towards the old Almaden Air Force station, still on fire road. It was runnable at first but then we were directed towards Mt. El Sombroso, so while my running turned into a hike, I was greeted the sparking lights of Silicon Valley. I'm sure somewhere out there was Mt. Tam in the back, but with no phone to dillydally with I kept on going. This was the first time I was in the Bay Area where I could see my breath vaporizing in the morning, and it was amazeballs.
Bernie had caught up to me during that stretch but I passed him again once I hit the Woods Rd AS, and the next five miles were a quadbusting fire road downhill with rock sharks hiding everywhere. We headed towards the Lexington Reservoir which was stupid low from the drought, and I dropped my headlamp off at that point to shave some weight off.
Poles were allowed starting at Woods but I declined to bring them because I wanted to run lighter. I regretted this decision on the next stretch, which was a 656m climb over 13k, including a 300ish m climb in a 2.4k section affectionately named 'Dog Meat'. I was passed by an army of runners as I had not been practicing my hiking skills, but the back 4 mi of this leg was all downhill, so I reeled in a lot of those runners back. This back 4 would also be an out and back, so between seeing everyone ahead of me (roughly ~30ish runners) and descending a hilarious amount that would have to be ascended at some point, there was a lot going through my head at that point.
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| "so do I have to run now since you're taking photos?" |
"sweet baby jesus, he's not looking anymore"
Kennedy Rd was the turnaround, and the first place with a cutoff - we had to have done 25.8mi in 7h, and I was a bit over 2h ahead of schedule. I still kept my transition clean and was out in 30s, especially because I knew the grind up would bleed enough of my speed already. I saw Bernie for the last time that day, but ceded my position to yet the same contingent of runners I had passed on my way down - including a couple from Georgia, Rebecca and Michael. I didn't know it at the time because I didn't have my phone with me, but I had actually crossed paths with these folks in my Georgia days during the mid 2010s. I had been running around these two for the better part of the first marathon of the race, but I let them get ahead of me as I knew there would be 1.5mi of downhill back to Woods Rd at the top where I could find them again. Some quick math in my head during this grind (as one does) yielded that I seemed to be covering 30ish k in 4h, so assuming the same vert and hurt on the back end of the course, my estimated finish would be around 13h20m. The course was front end loaded on vert, but with the downhills pounding my quads into hamburger meat, I figured this would be a solid AA goal to hit.
Rebecca and Michael weren't there at Woods Rd, but at least poles were now restricted again so I reeled in a few more runners pounding down to Hicks Rd back in Quicksilver Park. Despite kicking up a rock with my foot on this stretch, then somehow soccer kicking the rock with my big toe in the same step, I finally caught up to Rebecca and Michael after another 10k while the sun showed us the old rotary furnace we ran past in the dark, and we all ran down Deep Gulch Trail together towards the finish line, complaining about where the single track in the first 40mi was supposed to be. My toe was super aggravated by toe box contact on this next stretch, but I had my half size bigger Hokas waiting for me at the bottom.
50k's were starting to finish at this point in time, so not only did I have to run past my car, but we also had to run by a busy Mexican food truck, which was mildly annoying. I made it a goal to flip shoes, roll my quads out and replenish my pack in less than 5 minutes, which happened, but just like clockwork, Rebecca and Michael came surging out behind me on the first climb back out of Hacienda. This time we ducked out onto the Hacienda Trail instead of English Camp, so we had a few steep uphills and downhills to worry about, but it was only 5k between Hacienda and Mockingbird.
We finally hit New Almaden Trail and Mockingbird, which was the first real single track of the day after hours of fire road and double track. (surprise - this trail is maintained by the Quicksilver run club.) Michael had fallen behind because of his quads, and it was now Rebecca and I cat-mousing each other - her driving on the uphills and me on the downhills. This leg was uphill so I lost Rebecca after a half mile, but this was a welcome respite as I knew my quads were starting to burn too. Clouds were starting to roll in but the wind wasn't hurricane force just yet, and I did manage to run a bit once we hit the Randal Trail but I didn't see Rebecca until I got to Bull Run.
Bull Run marked 50mi run, and it was nice to know I had a half marathon to go at this point. The plan would be to run 6mi to the top of a lollipop, then back up to Bull Run in 5 mi, then another 3mi all downhill back to the taco truck. We had to start with a short loop through the Catherine Tunnel which yielded an amazing view of the Almaden Valley but I kept the oogling short so I could catch back up to Rebecca. We returned back to the New Almaden Trail for the last of the single track that day before hitting the McAbee AS.
Both of us kept our transition short here as we both just wanted tacos, but as we were leaving somehow Michael showed up and we yelled at him to catch up. After 1.5mi I let Rebecca go as the climb would be 447m over 8k, and she was now replaced by a mountain biker (wearing a hilarious San Jose Sharks bike jersey) setting glow sticks up. It was still light out and I still had my shades on, but it was clear the sun was setting. We had an excellent view of the Guadalupe reservoir, which was stupid low (again, this wouldn't be a problem the next day), but my desire to be paced by the mountain biker kept me going up the hill. It was pretty hilarious because he wasn't actively pacing me, but because he had to dismount at every junction, I was able to keep up with him up to Bull Run.
Rebecca had long gone when I got there as I fully expected her to have just finished on empty, but by that time I realized I would be comfortable hitting 13h20m so I took it easy on this next section. Seriously - I let one guy pass me with 1.5mi to go, and I think he wanted a sprint finish, but I didn't bite. And then I let the biker go, joking he better not clean the food truck out. I was running my own race and starring in my own movie, and didn't even pick up the pace until I could see the parking lot, finishing in 13h18m (and a crazy 12 mins back of Rebecca). My shades were still on, it wasn't raining yet and the biker had barely started on his taco bowl.
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| Thanks Rebecca! |
I'm of the opinion that the perfect race doesn't actually exist, but in terms of execution I was pretty satisfied with how this turned out. The timing of the weather was pretty fucking divine - this race would undoubtedly be canceled if it was even scheduled for 24h later, and while I attribute some of the outcome to sheer luck (postponement to Autumn, electrolyte that agreed with me, ice and sponges available, no technicality, an airplane that didn't bulk out my luggage) - I think the only place I could have improved upon would be using poles where possible. But even then, my identify is not staked on those two to five minutes of improvement, and I'm pretty satisfied with how this played out and am super stoked in getting back on the saddle for next year.
By the numbers:
- placement: 32/159
- time: 13:18:17
- DNF%: 16%
- Distance: 98.96km (given the amount of double track, I can see how some of my tangents shaved off distance)
- Elevation gain: 4123m
- Moving/Elapsed delta: ~22 minutes
Stray observations:
- Aside from UTMB, I would say that this was one of the most diverse race crowds I ever started with.
- Shortly before this race, my 2014 Garmin Fenix 2 finally died when the charging cable no longer charged it. I have a replacement cable sitting in my office at work and I am pretty sure I can bring it back to life, but I finally treated myself to a new Garmin Instinct (which I paid $145 for).
- This wasn't the solar one, but using the HRM from my Fenix 2 and disabling bluetooth (I don't race with a phone anyways) yielded me enough battery life to get me to McAbee. The watch was fully charged before I got back to Bull Run.
- On the topic of shit that finally broke, I had to swing by REI to grab a new 17oz flask for my 2014 era Salomon S-Lab Sense 1 that is amazingly still hanging on.
- On the topic of 2014 era stuff, apparently I only started with 2014 Killian Jornet race kit from the neck down. That shit's still comfortable.
- This was the first time my NEXUS card and passport was used since February 2020.
- Despite the shitshow that was the bomb cyclone on Sunday - Monday, this was my first Bay Area trip that involved zero ground stops at SFO.
- I had originally planned to drive up to Petaluma and Santa Rosa on Sunday, but given all the PG&E outages, flash flood warnings and the amount of times my ABS kicked in on the I-880, I actually took it easy and met up with some friends in Berkley instead.
- This was also the first Bay Area trip where I did not bother with bringing a GPS unit.
- I think we're a little too early for communal candy bowls. While this didn't happen at every aid station....it was out there.
- Rebecca and Michael, for letting me crash in on your party but for driving me through the uphills when my euro-style thigh pumping was not doing it.
- The volunteers! Infectious enthusiasm that kept me going and my transitions clean.
- there's very little single track. there will be some technicality heading into Mcabee so it'll be good to work on tip toeing, but stride length on the downhills and hiking would be my places for improvement.
- poles if you have room for it. I brought only a duffle bag to SFO and I needed room for bringing some Pliny back.
- Vert is front end loaded.
- This course is different than the last one - the finish is traditionally at Mockingbird.
I have a problem.- My Hardrock entry was deferred to next year (again) and I now have a stupid amount of WSER tickets.
- I was originally going to bag the BGR in April of 2020.....but it's possible that'll be 2022 now.
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