This Sunday, I completed my first trail marathon. I had initially signed up for the half marathon, but a few days prior to the event, I decided that I may as well do the full marathon. Going in, I knew trail marathons were a different animal than a street marathon, but what I did not know is that this was one of the toughest trail marathons in Southern California. The course was a 4 mile loop that we had to complete 6 times with a half loop to finish up the mileage. Upon arriving and meeting other runners, they asked if I had ever done this before. To which my answer was no, why? They pointed out that the hill in front of us was the start, and it continued on until we reached the top of the park. I began to reconsider the half marathon, but I was already committed to this and had some confidence because I have been running a lot of hills lately.
The race started very casually with the Race Director asking if everyone was ready and then said OK, go ahead. I could tell from there that this race was going to be run more like an ultra than a speed marathon. Knowing this, I started off slow, even though my legs felt fresh. I spent the first half of the first loop with Jim who was running the half marathon. He gave me some insight on the course and we chatted about ultras as well. Moving on I continued to take the first loop very easy and cautious. As Jim had mentioned, the single track downhills were rocky, off camber, and steep. These sure gave my quads a great workout. After finishing the first loop, I still felt strong and fresh, but knew I still had a ways to go, so I continued at an easy pace. At loop 3, I broke out the Gu "Chomps". I began to feel a little hungry at the end of lap 3 so I picked up a banana at the aid station and switched to Gatorade for laps 4-6. Upon heading out for lap 6, now 20 miles into the marathon, I began to really start feeling fatigued. I picked up another banana and headed back up the hill knowing this was my last full lap. On the backside of the lap, I tried a new gel called "Stinger". This was a little too sweet and mixed with Gatorade, made for a very upset stomach. For the remainder of lap I battled an upset stomach. At the final aid station, I filled my bottle with only water and set out. I met up with Ed, a veteran ultra runner, who did an early start for the marathon. He joined me up the final half lap. He was a great encouragement and really helped to pace me up the final 1.1 miles of up hill as well as kept my mind off my upset stomach. By the top, I felt much better and saw that I could possibly break the 5 hour mark. I took off down the hill, nearly missing turn offs. Upon my arrival at the bottom, the Race Director congratulated me on making it in under 5 hours. My final time was 4:59:55.
All in all, I met some great people, learned some valuable lessons, and had a lot of fun. Oh, and 1st place was nice too.
The numbers:
26.2 miles
5,874 feet elevation gain
4:59:55 time
148 Average HR
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