Quicksilver Endurance Runs, Race (Director's) Report, Short Version: Ugh!One word, you can't beat this! However, with all my infinite due respect to Stuart (Taylor, co-RD), Greg (Lanctot, co-RD), Kristina (Irvin, Queen of the aid stations), Paul (Fick, King and Chef of Chez Darcee) and the 150 other volunteers, one word isn't making justice to this ultra party. Nor my cryptic 6 words of the title of this post. So, once again, read on, and if you haven't already done so, I hope you'll join this local tradition soon, one way or another, running or helping out. Because, and that may be a surprise to some, it requires almost as many volunteers as we are allowed to have participants running these trails (by permit).
First, for those who don't know the natural gem our Quicksilver Club is associated with, this 100K race gets us through two amazing parks, right at the door of San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley, 1 million people strong. We start in Almaden Quicksilver County Park, then over to the Sierra Azul preserver, part Midpeninsula Regional Open Space system and home of Mt. Umunhum, even more famous now that it's open to the public (shame on me, I still have to pay it a visit).
Rather than words trying to describe the extent of hilly terrain the 100K course goes through, I can't think of a better way that this 1-minute 3D fly-over generated by Relive.cc (click on image, or this link):
With that, I started the first climb with a moderate effort, losing visual contact with the 2 front runners who disappeared after a couple of turns, in the dark. I settled in 10 or 12th position for the first half mile then started gaining a few spots as the slope was getting steeper. By the out and back down to the Cemetery, guarded by Greg, assisted by his wife, Jen, and her lightsaber at the fork before Spanish town, I was in 7th place, just after Tony, whom I had shared a few of the early miles with at Miwok a week earlier. Studs, they say... ;-)
At Hicks Road, I left my headlamp to Clare and passed one runner who had stopped at the aid station, then another runner a mile later who had stopped to pee, to finally catch up with Tony. I then passed Tony too in the long climb to Woods Road, now in 4th. I caught up with Ray Avalos and we passed over the ridge together. I was carrying enough water, GU2O, GU gels and S!Caps to get down to Lexington so I didn't even stop to wish Loren a happy birthday, I flew straight down and that literally shows on Strava. I could feel I was going fast, maybe even too fast for such a race, but I had no idea that would translate into the 11th best time on that segment, Limekiln descent - Woods to Priest Rock: 6:58 min/mile, and no other faster time on any of Quicksilver race days, that's cool! Now, in all disclosure, Ben doesn't seem to be on Strava, that helps...
Bottom line, at the bottom of that long descent, I was in 3rd place, reportedly 3 minutes behind Ben, and another Bay Area runner, Ian Driver. Sachin filled my GU2) bottle, and up I was again for the most grueling climb of the day, including the infamous Dog Meat section. At the top of it, Sean told me I was now 8 minutes behind Ben and 4 behind Ian. I had walked significantly more than previous years, trying to save some energy, both physical and mental, before the 4-mile long Kennedy Trail uphill section. (Photo credit: Sean McPhearson.)
I saw Ben climbing back as I was still 0.70 miles from the turnaround, then Ian leaving the station as I was getting in. But I didn't get overly excited to rush back, I actually spent a few minutes to cool off, get some ice in my arm sleeves and cap, sponged my Buff and took another GU gel and a few pieces of watermelon. In reference to the title, it was overwhelming to receive so much help from the volunteers, and having so many people calling me by my name. That's certainly looked like my turf, although many people must think that I train on these trails all the time. The reality is that I only run these trails once a year nowadays, on race day, that's it! But I've competed here for more than 10 years, and this Club has been my second running family (more on this later), so everything looked really familiar this Saturday!
Climbing Kennedy Trail back, I was thinking of all the sections which Ben must have run, and increased his lead, yet I did walk some. The motivating part is to see and get encouragement from the runners coming down, some of them letting me know that I wasn't far behind Ian, although I couldn't see him. After the 4 miles up Kennedy, well, it's far from being over: now you get on the grueling "Dead Kennedy Rollers" which include a few very steep albeit short hills. I was super proud of only walking 3 times on that section, pushing so much that, this time, Ian was at the Woods Road 2 aid station.
Fully reloaded I left the station, about 2 minutes behind Ian. To my surprise, I quickly caught up with him after the ridge as I was flying down toward Hicks Road now. To encourage him, I assured him we were not only half way but had gone through the hardest part and climbs of the course. Then I charged on. Not trying to catch Ben but feeling actually better than previous years, and good enough to clock a few 7-minute miles along the way and run all the short uphills.
At Hicks, more love again from all volunteers, including getting the headlamp I had left to Clare at our first passage. I remember asking for my gap with Ben, and I believe someone said maybe 12 minutes, but that didn't change my strategy, and getting some ice in my arm sleeves as well as under my cap, to keep my head fresh and cool. Again, I felt good enough to run everything up and down Hacienda, at mile 41. I can't omit to mention the huge surprise I had on what used to be the super fun and refreshing Yellow Kid single track, now a large boulevard: what is happening to this park, do they have plans to pave the fire roads and open them to car traffic??!!
Anyway, back at the start area, I made quite a long stop at my car, changing top for a sleeveless one (the first one being covered with salt already, with the breeze freezing the sweat in place), yet keeping my arm sleeves as sun protection and a way to get some ice on my arms. Took my 2nd Vespa pouch (not counting the two before the start), 2 more ziplocks with GU2O, 10 more S!Caps (I had taken 9 so far in the first 6 hours) then stopped for a few more minutes at the aid station itself to get water in my bottles and ice in my hat again. I must say, we are so spoiled with all this ice, it is to me an essential factor to handle such a heat, on top of nailing down hydration and electrolytes.
The Hacienda roller coaster was as hard as usual and I did walk the steep uphills, as it wasn't worth killing myself with 20 more miles to go. But after that, what a relief to fly down Virl O. Norton Trail the reach the Mockingbird parking lot, with the party going on. As MC, Greg was already on fire and was bragging about me in the mic. Pierre-Yves took care of my bottles, and I even took a cup of coconut water, something I had never done before. (Photo credit x4: Nina Giraudo)
I was now passing more and more 50K runners, all being very courteous to get off their way to let me pass on the single track. And I was still pushing the effort, thinking that moving faster would get me to the finish faster (that's rather simple math, isn't it? ;-). As I was approaching the trail junction with the Cinnabar trail/connector, two hikers were coming down and, while I raised my eyes to them... badaboom, a face plant, again (in reference to the bad fall I experienced on the island of Roatan in Honduras just before American River, then another fall at American River)...! The hikers must have seen me and worried because I stayed still on the ground for a few seconds, trying to make sense at what had just happened and assessing the situation. As I regrouped and resumed running, I felt a sharp pain in my right knee and stopped to see how bloody it was (I'm on blood thinner since my TIA, 2 years ago): to my surprise, not a single drop of blood, how lucky I was. As a matter of fact, I had fallen like I was doing a plank, on my forearms, protected by the arm sleeves, the knees slightly touching the ground, as well as the pelvis (I will discover some hematoma around my left hip again, in the shower). Mostly dirt all over, really feeling lucky that I didn't hurt myself more on that one, just losing a couple of minutes again in my hunt for 2nd place.
The next mile and half to the McAbee aid station felt long as I was longing for some water to wash my hands and muddy bottles. Fewer people I knew at McAbee, plus a bit of confusion, and indifference among the many 50K runners there, struggling with the fatigue and heat at this point of the course (54 miles for us, 23 miles for them). I got some ice in my cap again and off I was for the 5-mile stretch back up Bull Run, a climb along Mine Hill which I've always loved and found runable, either as part of the past 50-mile course, or even at the end of the 100K. That opinion was obviously not shared by the 50K runners I passed on that section and I stopped 3 times to check on 3 in particular who were struggling the most from the heat.
An anecdote as I passed the intersection where we used to go down to Enriquita: with enough miles without it, the Race Directors spared us from this ultimate out and back challenge and I was actually relieved but, oddly so, my legs thought otherwise and my left adductor decided to freeze right at this spot, the same way I started cramping at mile 35 at Miwok, one week earlier. Like it was all in the mind... The good news though is that I was now at mile 58, with only 4 miles to go, and nobody in sight behind. So I decided to walk that steep uphill at the end of Providencia Trail, before resuming a jog on Mine Hill, now crossing path with the rest of the pack of the 100K runners on their way to McAbee.
What a relief to get to Bull Run for the second time, in Striders' territory. As I was taking time to socialize and chat with Peggy in particular, a few minutes passed and I abruptly interrupted our conversation when I saw a gal flying by the station. I didn't recognize Cat (Bradley) who was in the lead in the morning and rushed behind, slightly annoyed to lose my 2nd place overall, and, as Mark Tanaka taught me more than a decade ago now, get chicked... But this gal was really moving and, while not even managing to catch her up, that got me to run Bull Run in 8 minutes, then the next two miles in respectively 9 and 8 minutes, phew! I eventually caught up with her in the very last downhill as she was concerned about slipping and carefully negotiating the turn, while I kept flying by, only to discover she was just on a training run, phew! ;-)
At least that gave me some wings to finish strong and get to the finish, sprinting to cross the line in 10:22:10, good enough for 2nd this year. (Photo credit: Michele Sun.)
To continue on the love, and to express all the gratitude I had with the opportunity to run this race, I got a big hug with ultra and omnipresent volunteer, Stan Jensen, then MC, aka Papa Bear, and, last but not least, co-RD Stuart. Special thanks to Stuart who had stepped up to direct our club races and putting so much energy and time into this key function, so quietly and modestly.
And after that I badly needed a chair, which Michele Sun offered to me!
In 3rd place in our 100K, 32 minutes later, was Ian Driver. As co-RD Greg repeated several times, that's the first of 5 years we only had 3 runners under 11 hours, so it wasn't a fast year for sure, despite the elimination of the detour down Enriquita this year (but, IMO, the out and back on Kennedy makes the course harder than the original one).
Note that all these years (since 2009), I managed to do quite some May Madness, with a back to back to back ultra with Miwok, Quicksilver and Ohlone (except 2014 when I ran and won SilverState 50-mile as I had to fly to Yale for Max's graduation, and 2015 when Ohlone got cancelled because of the muddy trails but a few of us still managed to run a fat ass on the Ohlone trail). I love this challenge and fitness test on the way to the big mid-year ultras.
As opposed to Miwok and thanks for cramping only once, my legs were not much sore on Sunday and I was fully available to Agnès for Mother's Day celebration (no running that day, but a great 100-mile ride to the Ocean, on highway 9 and other winding back roads near Davenport. I ran 9 miles on Monday, only 3 miles for lack of more time on Tuesday and 9 miles this Wednesday before jumping on another plane, to Raleigh this time.
Overall, I'm really happy to have iced (pun intended) my hydration and electrolytes this time. And managed to run the first half rather strong, while not falling apart afterwards. That even included a few good performances on Strava, although I've to disclose Ben, for instance, doesn't seem to be on Strava, so it's a partial and biased picture:
- 11/626 on the 2.9-mile down hill from Woods 1 to Priest Rock Trail
- 5/176 on the 15.3-mile section between Kennedy trail and Hacienda (but who dares to run all this point to point segment without stopping their watch in training)
I was sad to see afterwards that several teammates had dropped (Thomas Reiss, John Burton), but delighted to see Gaspar among the top 10. And I assume Mark Tanaka will be our third man to score on the team with 12:49. As for Tony, he had a terrible second half, still managing to tough it out and finish, but not without avoiding a trip to the ER to get some IV to fix his electrolyte imbalance.
I also heard about a few GI distress on Facebook, certainly something you don't suffer from while on an OFM/Keto/LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet. For the simple reason that you don't have to ingest much during the race, a big plus especially on such hot and long days. And I have to give kudos again to Succeed for the S!Caps formula (took 16 caps total) and GU Energy (I lost count because I picked a few from aid stations, so I think a total of 8 or 9 GU gels, and 4 bottles of GU2O/Brew; and, disclaimer, I'm a GU Energy Pro athlete, but I loved GU long before getting a discount; I also like that the products are made locally, in Berkeley; and very glad they gave so much products to support our race this weekend!).
Ultimate thanks to all the volunteers who allowed us to push the envelope again, right at the doors of San Jose and Silicon Valley. From the race directors to the aid station crews, the course monitors, course markers (Stuart, Ellen, Jeff, Coach Marc, ...), Kristina, Paul, ...
To the risk of appearing biased, it's my Club after all, I have to say that this is quite an exceptional event, first and foremost from the overall generosity governing all aspects of this ultra party:
- First, while some clubs manage to make a good profit on their race, ours profit goes to local charities, principally to foster well being and exercise among kids.
- Second, the profit is even not the driver. Take for instance the field which is quite limited by our permits, and much smaller than Miwok, Way Too Cool or American River. Then, the expenses on the BBQ which keeps increasing year after year because of strict food regulations, and where nobody is turned away for returning to the buffet, getting their pacer to eat for free too, or get a few beers. And the variety of food requiring all sort of rental equipment in the kitchen, not to mention all the work.
- And what about... shirts for 150 or so volunteers, such a variety of food at the aid stations, abundant ice (another rental expense), finisher belt buckles, plus very nice wooden buckle holders this year, porta-potties at most aid stations, generous drop bag policies (6 places plus your car at the start!), abundant course marking (ribbons and turn signs, before and after, and glow sticks at night!), canopies at aid stations (yes, more shade!), generous goody bag (love the folding cap, well done, I'll take it to UTMB this summer!), ample parking area at the start, ongoing shuttle service between the finish and start areas, course map and aid station fliers available at the start, chip timing, speedy result posting, unique top 3 awards (gold pans!), age group medals, free pictures at various points of the course, popsicles, EMT personnel on call at the finish line, several rental trucks to move all the aid station stuff and BBQ food, drinks and equipment, BBQ options including variety of side dishes and desserts, a variety of beers, a shaded area (priceless) for the post race celebration with rented tables and chairs, I'm probably missing many more important things which make this event so exceptional.
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1 comment:
I agree with everything you've written, Jean! Great race, helpful and energetic volunteers, and I think the pint glass is my new favorite. Run on!
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