Running in Saint Lucia: doable, at your own risks!

I still have to write about the end of my trip to Panama 6 weeks ago and I'm already back from another exotic destination, Saint Lucia (note, not Santa, it has mostly French and English heritage). Hint about Panama: while I had a couple of great runs in Panama City, the rest of my 2 weeks there would rather be in the "Not Running in Panama" category. And Saint Lucia would easily get in that category. You have to wonder how the Saint Lucia super start, Julien Alfred, managed to train to become the fastest woman on Earth at the Paris Olympics last Summer. Certainly not running on roads on the island, way too dangerous! From her Wikipedia page, she moved to Jamaica for high school then the University of Texas for her Bachelor: these are much better places to run.

We got quite an introduction to road traffic in the few hours after landing. We were driving from Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) to Castries when a reckless driver provoked a major accident. In quite a fate, the guy ended up on the top of his car, just in front of us, but not before hitting another car which was attempting to pass on a winding road, at the exact same time, and that other car hitting the back of another car which got into a spin and ending up facing us. Phew! It took me a lot of efforts all week to manage to record a witness statement at a police station. A few miles later, another serious accident involving 4 cars. Then, as we were exiting Castries, the capital, another one with a motorcycle lying in the middle of a roundabout.

That previous paragraph should be enough to refrain you from trying to run, right? Well, while I don't have the same eagerness to log tens of miles as I used to, after my 2024 meniscus fracture, I wasn't going to do was most tourists do in Saint Lucia, which is to rent a beach chair and lay down for a week. Or more...

At least we were staying on the North part of the island, Rodney Bay. Because the main road ends there, there is less traffic than closer to Castries. It's also an upscale neighborhood so the nearby streets don't have much traffic. An heads-up though: this is a volcanic island so, apart from the nice marina, exploring the many caps around, provides some good hill training. As in steep. Plus heat training as a bonus, all year round!

Main tip is to be super careful and focused on incoming traffic, meaning that you need to run against the traffic. Most of the time there isn't even a shoulder. I carry bottles when I run (my dear Ultimate Direction ones) and use them as virtual shield. You wouldn't believe the effect that lowering my bottle at the height of cars' headlights has on drivers. Still, I got a few close calls and, based on the accidents I recounted above, you don't want to get hit by one of these reckless, bad or aggressive drivers. Be alert!

As a second tip I would advise to run very early. I started one of my 4 runs at 5:45 am but then it was dark and I didn't have a headlamp, it was challenging to avoid the puddles. Did I say puddles? Although I was visiting in February and it's not the rainy season, we got showers every day. Not long but pouring hard. And that is another hazard as visibility is impaired during such showers.

Last warning: at some point, I was trying to run from the end Cap Estate to Cas-en-Bas, to try a new route. Google Maps was showing a road, or at least a path, even for cars. But half way, there was no road, it ended in a private property with fences and 6 dogs yelling at me. As I was retracing my way back, I saw that one of the dogs has escaped, that gave me a boost to sprint up the hill! And another trick then, which I learned from one of our local runners after she got bitten by a stray dog in Costa Rica, the year before I went there to run the Coast Challenge: dogs, even stray ones apparently, are wired to freak out if a human is going to either straw a stone, or use a stick. What's interesting is that you can even mimic or feign it with the gesture, even if you can't find a rock or stick handy. While in Guatemala in December 2022, I had to use a stick to push away a very aggressive dog, and it worked!

Ok, I'll stop there. I had told you I could have placed this post in the "Not running in..." category. Maps do show some trail heads but they aren't easy to find, or may not exist anymore. I was going to run to the top of Mount Pimard for instance, but there was a huge construction site for a new hotel at the bottom and they didn't allow to cross. I tried another way only to get into a super muddy area. Back to the asphalt... As for all the roads displayed on Google Maps, as I found out, many are just access trails to private areas.

I so needed to run, I did log 45 miles but it was challenging. And risky. This Sunday, I went to our local high school track, it feels great to get back to running haven!

Here are 4 Relive.cc flyover videos of these 4 routes, with pictures:

• 7 miles (at sunset)
• 15.6 miles (25K, including a visit of Pigeon Island National Park)
• 13.1 miles
• 9.6 miles, and a sunset over Cap Estate!

Jed Smith 50K 2025: not optimal but great to be back!

I used to manage same-day race reports a few years ago but days seem too short nowadays. Despite waking up at 4 am, time flies fast in an ultra day: 4.5 hours of driving, 1.5 hours to prep before the race and socialize, 4 hours of racing, 1 hour to then some family time and a few hours of sleep to make up for the early wake-up. Then waiting for some pictures to come in on the next day. But work calls again even on a Sunday, let's get a few lines out!

Jed Smith, the race, not the American pioneer, Jeddiah Smith, has been running since 1987 according to UltraSignup, albeit not results on that website for 1988 and 89. Two other pillars of our NorCal ultra running circuit are Skyline 50K dating back 1982 and Way too Cool, 1990. But these are trail and hilly ones, as opposed to the flat and fast Jed Smith which has then attracted speedsters to kickoff the winter season.

I missed 2007 between a trip to Europe and one to Asia, then 2008 as I was racing the 6-day Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica. I ran my first Jed Smith in 2009 when it was still at Gibson Ranch. 10 consecutive finishes in respectively 3:51, 3:25, 3:28 (that new course), 3:19:04, 3:46, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20 (Rich's record), 3:19:54 (on another super fast and flat course dur to park closure) and 3:26. Some good times as we say... Missed 2019 for a trip to Europe, plus hamstring tendon injury, and 2020 because of a trip to Europe. Still coming back from my hamstring injury, I entered the 50-mile in 2021, as a post-Covid test, only to log 35 miles as a long tempo run ("Back to the ultra lab"). 4:05 and 3:42 in 2022 and 2023, then a DNS in 2024, on a mild calf pain and 4 weeks breaking my left meniscus. 

After a lot of work since last October to rebuild, and a few reasonable tempo runs at the track the past 2 weeks, I was shooting for 3:45, a 7:15 min/mile. At least a sub 3:10 marathon split since the race offers an official Boston Marathon time at the end of the 5th lap, as long as you finish the additional and final lap. That was before hearing that it would be rainy, windy and muddy...

Drove in the morning without incident this time on the highway, although I made the detour on 84 and 5 this time (Christine reported a crash on 80 with a car burning...). I got in before 7:10 which gave me time to check-in and chat with two speedsters: Rich Hanna, owner of the race management and timing company, Capital Road Race, and one of the fastest runners in the country in my age group, and James Scanlan, who was aiming at breaking the 50-mile M55-59 American Record (5:48).

Pre-race, I also handed out remaining plaques from last years award ceremony: 6 to Tamalpa and 4 to Buffalo Chips, including these 2 plaques for another local Masters legend, Bev Abbs-Anderson:

Just some drizzle at the start of the 50-mile at 7:30.

Then the rain picked-up while we were getting prepared for our 50K start at 8:30 (photo credit, Shiran Kochavi, Pamakids' MUT Captain). Here I am, getting to the start line with only 5 seconds to spare!

Ah, Shiran, I had not realized we had started that slow (motion)! ;-)

We first run a 1-mile out and back so it's easy to see who is in the lead. I didn't recognize the overall, leader, a gal, then it was Karl and Victor from Excelsior, then another gal. Keep that in mind for comments on the results.

I ran the second mile, returning to the start/finish area, right on 7 minutes for an average of 7:06 min/mile. I was running with that second gal and Victor who couldn't keep up with Karl's sub-7 pace. We lost sight of Karl half way on the first lap (of 6).

I tried not to get caught up in that fast pace but the pace was uneven so we traded place while maintaining a 7:05-7:10 pace. At the end of the first lap, Victor must have stopped to grab something, I lost sight of him behind. I was getting more comfortable running my own pace, trying to get closer to 7:15, which was easier on the way out than the other side where were were battling some headwind plus the mud and puddles which were forming as the rain persisted.

My average pace was still below 7:15 at mile 17 (3 laps), where I did a ~45-second stop to drink a pouch of Vespa and grab a second GU gel. We were drinking water from the sky hose but I would concede that, under the pressure of maintaining that pace, I wasn't drinking enough from both my GU Brew and water bottles.

Failing off pace is hard, mentally especially. the glutes where on fire so it became a mental fight to keep pushing toward the marathon split goal especially. 2 more laps... That mask captured by Shiran...

I still had a few miles under 7:30 helped with tail wind but the return on the other side became harder and hard, clocking 7:40 miles. I even lost the mojo on mile 24, 8:04, then 25 and 26, over 9 minutes, ouch! Marathon split of 3:18: still 32 minutes under the M60-64 3:50 requirement, but would likely get behind the 10 or 15th wave, would I even consider going back to Boston, not so good... 

Meanwhile, Victor caught up with me and passed me in the 5th lap, then Paul Broyer, from Excelsior too, like Karl. Great Men team! At the beginning of the final lap, 24-hour Team USA member, Pam Smith, of Oregon, passed me too. She was running at 7:40 min/mile, my new average pace, while I was down to running the last 3 miles in the 9:20-10:00 range.

On the last up ramp to the Watt Avenue bridge, I saw Bev closing in and that gave me a kick to run the last hundreds yards at 7:20 min/mile pace, which now felt like a sprint... I had been chicked 3 times already, I felt that was enough. Although, now looking at the results, the first two leading gals are absent, they must have dropped. (Correction, per Bev's comment: I hadn't realized, they were actually on the marathon, which started with us.)

4:04:17, I was disappointed not breaking 4 hours but, given the bleak 2024 season and outlook, still happy to finish this 13th Jed Smith 50K. On the road to reconstruction...

In the 3rd lap I got passed by a tall runner with a red hat. On the 4th lap, by another runner in Nike shoes. I didn't catch their bib so not show who's who between Piotr Kaszkur, the winner in 3:36:03 and 3rd place David Horton, 3:53:03. The Excelsior gang took 2nd, 4th and 5th. Amy was 6th overall and I took 7th, a few second ahead of Bev, then her husband Alan in 4:18.

On the 50-mile, James was still smiling and running strong although he had missed his record goal. He easily won in 6:26.

If you think crewing during a record attempt is easier than actually running, you should have seen Chikara, who holds many records of his own, sprinting between the bridge and the aid station table, certainly exhibiting more stress than James... Serious Excelsior team spirit and support!

Here is another super happy camper: after running trail 50Ks all her life, it was Lisa's first flat and road 50K, for a huge PR at 63, breaking 5 hours by a few seconds. Well done, Lisa, and Gary, for your 214th result on UltraSignup, and I bet this is missing many of your ultra man achievements! I'm at 201, will try to log a few this year! (Correction this Sunday afternoon, UltraSignup shows Gary at 218, and 210 results for me, weird.)

As for Christine, she felt it was a loopy long day...

Legendary trail photographer and now retired, Joe McCladdie, was taking pictures with his iPhone, I may add a couple later when he shares. Just a phone? Big change for him from all the tele-lenses he did shoot us with for so many years at local races. Here are two of his shots, grateful to Joe for managing to make me smile! ;-)

For my Club, another big miss: we had hopes to form 2 teams but Marc bailed out, challenged to fully recover Achilles issues, then Marco didn't show up. Bjorn clocked 4:58:06, Elizabeth, 5:06:19 and Charles, 5:58:22.

These results show both Tamalpa and Buffalo Chips short of one finisher to scoring a team. Pamakids had 6 finishers and one DNF but Shiran mentioned 8 starters so, like for Christine, that page might miss some club names (entrants not registering their club upon signing up). Re Tamalpa, not any two runners but Carl and Steve, competing in the M70 age group!

It wasn't that cold, not that rainy for that matter, but I had some challenges changing in the car between some cramping and shivering. I did enjoy the hot tomato soup and one hot dog before the drive back home. Which, despite low visibility with pouring rain in the afternoon, was eventless, accident wise. If not for this other appalling environmental disaster seen after passing over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. Our State is trying so hard to save our planet but I can't imagine the carbon footprint of wildfires, the catastrophe in LA, and that way of burning oil... Not sure what that was about, we could see huge flames under this thick black smoke... (CBS reporting 6 workers injured in the explosion)

Back to the race, I haven't checked all the results of the past years, I felt that, while Jed as kept the very high standards of course and event sanctioning to attract elite runners, the size of the field was really small. At least the 50K with less than 50 entrants, the 50-mile under 20, and even considering the myriad of concurrent options (marathon, 30K, half-marathon). We are so rich in our North California area, it's tough for the USATF Pacific Association to compete. With that, special thanks to the Buffalo Chips Club and volunteers for holding this great winter ultra tradition! Especially on a rainy day, so grateful for these course monitors standing for hours in these conditions... See you all on the first weekend of February next year!

PS: stat wise that was my 80th 50K and 199th ultra race (182 finishes), out of 511 ultra runs, training ones included. Yes, I love the 50K format...