It has been quite sometime since I last posted on my blog and much has changed, yet not much really has, if that makes any sense at all. Since my last post about the Rocky Road 100, I have run the LA Marathon for Ability First Charity, severely twisted my ankle at the Old Goat 50 mile, ran two more ultras, and ran a trail marathon. Rather than going into a full in depth race report for each, I will give the brief highlights of each.
La Marathon 3/20 - I have always said I would never run the LA Marathon; just too many people for me. However, through my wife, I was asked to run it for AbilityFirst, a charity that provides services and programs to help children and adults with disabilities reach their full potential. How could I turn that down. What a great organization! Thinking of those they are helping, arriving at Santa Monica at 3:30am and catching the shuttle to Dodger Stadium at 4am for a start time of 7:20am, seemed like the least I could do. As many of you know, the day was really wet. It rained nearly the entire time and in addition to stomach issues, I "gutted" it out. Not only did I take a tour of LA, but also of the many port-a-potties along the route. I finished in a time of 3 hours and 22 minutes. Not great, but not bad considering all things leading up to the race and during. When I finished, even though freezing cold, I would recommend doing this event at least once. What a great experience.
Old Goat 50 mile 3/26 - This was a race I had been looking forward to. It was a real tough trail race with a lot of elevation gain, single track, and stream crossing. With all the rain we had, there was also snow on the course at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, 2 miles into the race, I rolled my ankle to the point I heard a pop. It immediately began to hurt and I could feel it swelling up as my shoe became tighter and tighter. I thought that I would run to the first aid station and assess the damage there. Well, 9 miles later, I arrived at the aid station. I pulled off my shoe and sock and my ankle looks as though someone stuffed a golf ball under my skin when I wasn't looking. I tried to put my shoe back on, but it did not fit too well. I had it checked out and agreed with the advice of Scott Mills to pull out here. While I was disappointed at my first DNF in an ultra, I was happy later on that I did not continue on. It took me a good week before I could run again.
Chino Hills Spring Series 10 mile Trail Race 4/02 - I decided to enter this race for two reasons. The first was because it was right in my back yard. The second was to see how my ankle felt in a race situation.The course was set up very nicely; two loops with a short section of single track and some nice long hills. I taped up my ankle really well before leaving home. I knew that the downhills and single track would give my ankle a tough time, so I wanted to be cautious. During the race, a group of about 4 of us went off the front. I was feeling pretty good, but hung back behind the first two guys. I wanted to let them set the pace. At the top of the first steep incline, all four of us were still together. As we hit the downhill single track, we began to split up. On the second loop incline, it was just two of us. I still stayed behind, looking for signs that he might be fading. None were evident. By the start of the downhill had a slight lead on me. Once we hit the single track, I had to slow down to be careful not to roll my ankle again. Once on the fire road, the pursuit began. First was in sight, and with each turn, I could see I was gaining. Unfortunately by the end, I had not gained enough and ran it in for 2nd. My ankle felt fine. Not much pain at all. I was confident I could begin my training regimen again.
PCT 50 Mile 5/07 - This race is run on the Pacific Crest Trail and is an out and back type course. It begins at 3000 feet and the turn around is at about 6000 feet in elevation. With the ups and downs, there is a total of 7,500 feet of climbing. Throw in some rocky single track sections and you can say it is not the easiest course out there. I started feeling pretty good. I did not want to be in the lead pack, but wanted to keep them in sight and that is what I did for the first 20 or so miles. Temperatures began to climb as the race wore on and with the elevation, I was not taking in enough fluids. I began to really cramp at mile 28. I tried to increase my liquid intake and walked for a long time. I dropped from about 7th place to 16th place. When I was past by 16, I began to run again. I started to feel better, but still not 100%. Any slight misstep and I would cramp up, however, I kept running. Surprisingly, my pace increased and I began to start passing people again. I wasn't quite sure what place I was in, but all I knew is I wanted to keep going and finish. An unfortunate event happened with 9 miles to go. I was running down a narrow single track, kicked a rock, a went down hard. I was carrying 2 handheld water bottles which exploded upon impact. I got up as quickly as I could while 2 runners passed me. They asked if I needed anything to which I declined, because the next aid station was only a quarter mile away. I made it to the aid station, cleaned myself off, grabbed some brownies, and heded off with 2 refilled water bottles. The last part of the run seemed to take forever as I was running extremely cautious on the down hills. The finish finally came, and I place higher that I thought. I was happy to see I had a top 10 finish.....barely.. 10th.
I have a few more race reports and will put those up tonight. Thanks for reading!
