Skyline 50K 2023: some serious hill training

Ahh, more than 10 days have passed already, better get this one out of the door before the next race, tomorrow! Ironically, I had written most of it on race day, or evening at least, but was missing some pictures to wrap it up. And then... I went on logging 159 miles the following week, an all-time record for me; that was so exhausting, on top of an already full-time job, not to mention the heat... Let's keep plowing forward!

The question I got the most at the finish was: "how was your run?" 78th 50K races, including 15 Skyline finishes since 2007, with 8 under 4 hours, it's so hard to remain in the present moment and not to compare with the past... But let's talk about that 2023 edition of the longest running 50K race in North America (dixit Adam, the Race Director).

A few 50Ks...

Oh, can you now infer or guess the color of next year's t-shirt from that picture? Hint, I prompted ChatGPT! That AI... ;-)

I'm afraid I can't predict the future, including the specific color of t-shirts for the Skyline 50K event next year. The color of the t-shirts would likely be determined by the event organizers, and it could depend on various factors such as current trends, branding choices, participant preferences, or even logistical considerations. If you're interested in finding out the t-shirt color for that event, I recommend keeping an eye on their official announcements or reaching out to the event organizers directly closer to the event date.

But I digress, let's start with this year's context. First and foremost, Adam had to design a brand new course due to some trail maintenance throughout the local parks. One thing that stood out to me was a more convoluted course profile, with more frequent up and downhills. Let's see how that played out.

If I'm not mistaken, this event used to have an "above the fog" tagline. Given the current heat wave though, there wasn't any fog for a change. At least the 7 am start allowed to log as many miles as possible before the heat hit us in the afternoon. A few even took Adam's offer for an early start at 6 am, not only to beat the heat but more importantly the cut-offs.

There was a joyful spirit at the regular start, with good participation from the Pacific Association clubs: starting with Pamakids which has always the biggest show; Excelsior had the most runners among the favorites; Tamalpa had enough registered entrants to form a team and I saw a handful of tops from Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders as well. Plus 4 more clubs with only one member each. Our Quicksilver team (minus Charles who was setting up the ice cream coolers, yummy!):

Right off the bat, I made sure not to get caught in the excitement of the front of the race. Training for Spartathlon (153 miles between Athens and Sparta on September 30), I've been logging more miles than ever, albeit mostly on roads or tracks. This hilly course was rather intimidating then, all I could do was to take it for some serious hill training session. The first rolling mile was already testing my glutes but I decided to push as long as I could today. All these miles are certainly helping rebuilding some of what I lost with the 2019-2022 hamstring tendon injury. Yet, I can't help but wondering if I'm not doing too much, to the risk of getting injured again. At least I'm rarely running at 6 min/mile nowadays, more in the 7:30-8:30 range.

I passed Jason (Reed) at the end of the first mile this time. Of course, he had raced the day before, as usual or rather as always (with more than 350 races on UltraSignup, he earns the serial runner badge!). I had tapered for just a day, yesterday, running 29 of the 31 days of July and logging the most miles in a month for me, 462. I'm learning to run in a constant state of fatigue, which doesn't seem very smart but hopefully building a strong base for Greece. Better taper seriously in September though to start that ultimate challenge in top shape! Nice shot graciously shared by Dom Philippine (Dom is taking gigs!):

After Jason, I closed on two runners, one from Pamakids, Eric Mercier, and another one in white. The past 2 years I had started walking some of the uphills quite early, I was glad they provided a goal to keep running these sections this year. They both stopped at the Marciel Road aid station. As I was carrying 2 bottles (water and GU Energy Brew), that allowed me to catch them, and actually quickly pass them. Eric stayed closed behind but, again, stopped at the next aid station, Bort Meadows, where he must have gotten quite a mental boost as the station was manned by his Pamakids club mates. (Photo credit: George Rehmet)

Forging ahead, I lost Eric in the downhill to the Big Bear aid station where I didn't stop either. No more runners in sight, neither ahead or behind, just running at my own pace and keeping pushing gently in the uphills.

I also passed by the Old Church Camp aid station (mile 14) where Chihping was also officiating, after being at work at 6 am, building the arch of the start/finish area earlier that morning.

About a mile later and just before entering the turnaround loop, I crossed the two leaders, David Tran (Excelsior) and Andrew Catanese (Quicksilver), running together and fast! I was about 2 miles behind already and not easy miles as I'll find out. Still, I even managed to run all the super steep uphills on that loop, albeit rather slowly, but still a positive achievement, mentally especially.

Quite a few ham radio volunteers were posted at turns along this loop. I asked one of them how many runners were ahead, he replied: "about a dozen." I was hoping for less but, again, I hadn't paid attention to who was ahead in the first mile, on purpose. I only guessed that 2 other runners in my M50-59 age group, Cliff Lentz and James Scanlan, who are rocking our group, were ahead.

As opposed to the first half, I did stop at each station on the way back, to get some ice in my water bottle as well as my hat. I know, such a luxury to have ice at our disposal during our ultra races (I hope they'll get some at Spartathlon, I've heard it was going to be inconsistent at best). I kept running everything until Big Bear (mile 19.5). I left with ice cubes in my my hat and lost a couple. Then I thought I had lost one more although the way it hit my calf didn't make sense. A couple hundred yards later I realize I had lost my sun glasses, dang! I retraced my path and got back to the station without seeing them, dang again, but found them on my third pass, phew!

I was obviously more interested in these glasses than the clock, yet I had learned at Big Bear that I was actually in 10th place, that kept me moving to try to hold on that.  Between the heat, a course which I found harder than the old/traditional one, and my lack of hill conditioning, the hope of breaking 4:30 had vanished on French Trail.

I ran most of the climb on MacDonald trail, still crossing some runners on their way out. I was thinking this new course must make it so more difficult psychologically for them, seeing the front runners with still 20 miles for them to go.

Made another stop at Bort Meadow to get some ice in my bottle, courtesy of William Dai and the Pamakids. (Photo credit: William Dai)

A mile later, I was in the flow while thinking of the next long hill to get back to Marciel Road when I realized I had stepped just in front of a snake crossing the trail, yikes! It was such a stupid move that I went back to see which snake that was and snapped a picture. Not a rattle at least, phew!

Again, a few seconds lost, but I felt ok to only trying breaking 5 hours by now. So, when crossing an ultra legend, I didn't hesitate to stop again to take a few selfies and ask Gordy what he was doing here. He had come from Auburn to see one of his mentees who was on the 50K and, late, hopped on the half marathon. 

That was also his way to grieve for the loss of another ultra legend and one of his friends, Ken Shirk a.k.a. Cowman, 80, another ultra legend and Western States Endurance Run pioneer (Cowman only shows 21 races on UltraSignup, 11 being Western States finishes!).

Was cool to get encouragements from the course monitors at the half marathon turnaround, 6.5 miles to go! (Photo credit: Jawesome Meister)

I got another shot from Dom Philippine while pushing up that long second to last hill, before returning to Marciel Road.

There I snapped another selfie, this time with ultra volunteer, Stan Jensen, who must have seen me at this penultimate Skyline aid station for 15 years, an ultra tradition in itself (Stan's support of Skyline, and so many other local races).

Got some ice again and it was time to get moving, now approaching 4:30 of running time and still 4.6 miles to go, phew! I even had a thought for the leaders who were probably done by now...

The return to the barn had nothing exciting as we were retracing the route we had taken in the morning, as opposed to the traditional course which makes a loop so we come back on the other side of Lake Chabot. As opposed to the younger years, I didn't have any special motivation to rush the last mile, just the eagerness to finish #15! 4:55:45, that was my worst time of all, albeit by only 42 seconds more than 2 years ago when my hamstring tendon was still hurting. And yet it was good enough to take 9th overall and 8th in the Men. And third (!) in M50-59, Cliff finishing 5th overall, 31 minutes ahead, and James 7th overall, 10 minutes before me.

Now, on the positive side, this was a most difficult course in my opinion and based on everybody's results. Even the winner, David Tran, had not broken 4 hours (4:03:21). However, despite these tougher conditions (course and heat), Amanda Wiggenhorn (26, Stanford) managed to post the 7th fastest time in 40+ years (4:18:49)! Also placing third overall!!

Short of breaking 4 hours, at least I was the last one to break 5 this time. I still hold the M50 course record (3:52), next year I'll have some extra motivation to go after the M60 record of 4:38...

So you see, from all these numbers and that dashboard covering 17 years, back to the original question of how my run was, it's complicated: I finished, in the top 10, under 5, uninjured but... the time wasn't great at all. Maybe reflecting that fatigue I built and am trying to get acclimated to on the road to Spartathlon...

Hydration worked well (GU Brew), Vespa did the job of allowing me to resume the strenuous training the next day, just complementing with 4 GU Energy gels.

The finish area was quite busy: most half marathoners had finished, the ham radio volunteers busy collecting course updates from a dozen of volunteers across the park, BeerCity had a booth next to another tent with finishers tees, socks and age group medals, Charles had brought 4 flavors of amazing ice cream and sorbet from his cousin and we were treated with freshly BBQed veggie burgers! Surprised by the lack of shade, I noticed that two trees have been planted in the area recently, probably replacing a much older and bigger one. Hopefully more shade for the 50th anniversary of the race!

I stayed for an hour and a half, taking the time to chat with others. While I had not stopped at the aid stations on the way out, I did on the way back, that gave me an opportunity to thank the many volunteers who spent the day in the increasing heat. So many familiar faces among them, thank YOU for allowing us to safely play on these trails! And kudos to Adam and his crew for another perfectly executed edition! Here are few names from Adam's wrap-up email:

Many of you have commented on the great support and enthusiasm of the volunteers. I want to thank them all, especially the Pamakids runners out at Bort Meadow and the Dusty Bottoms at Big Bear. These two groups are long-standing supporters of Skyline and bring exceptional enthusiasm and support. This is not to leave out Stan Jensen and Chihping Fu who made sure Marciel and Old Church hummed for you.

 

I also want to thank my team: Todd, Mark, Edgar, Karina, Kendall, Kowsik, Megatron, Cindy, Michael Li, Jen, Annette, Siohban, Norm, Betsy, Allison and Theo. Without these folks, I'd be all alone and nothing would happen.

With that, can't wait for the sweet sixteenth! ;-)

PS: Gordy finishing his half

These Brooks Racer ST got dusty!