Horseshoe Lake 30K: a great mix of hills and speed!

Can't believe it has only been a week since MadCity's 50K Road Nationals, and it was already time to get back to our Pacific Association Grand Prix with a race this Sunday: Coastal Trail Runs' Horseshoe 30K. This is the 5th event of our 2025 schedule, and the 4th of 6 in our sub-ultra trail series. In 3 weeks we have Quicksilver 100K, then SilverState 50K, Cool Moon 100-mile, Skyline 50K, Tamalpa Headlands 50K (also serving as the USATF 50K Trail Nationals). Next sub-ultra race will be Stevens Creek Striders' Half (hint, it's also a hilly one!).

It was cloudy in Cupertino this morning but this race starts on Skyline, the ridge of our nearby Santa Cruz Peninsula Mountains so we were going to race above the clouds. There were 3 races this Sunday: a half marathon, a 5-miler and this 30K, assembling both. One out and back for the half, then another one for the remaining 5 miles.

I got a great parking spot near the start which allowed me to connect to quite a few regulars, neat! With at least 70 registered in the 30K, and combining with the half marathoners, we looked like a good hundred at the start. Not bad for an Easter Sunday morning. Although... I suspect quite a few didn't show up. For a start, my age group had Cliff Lentz as fastest prospect after dominating our group at No Hands in January, then Mt Diablo Half. At No Hands, I finished behind Cliff, and also almost 5 minutes behind Brian Sterling, from West Valley Track Club. Brian had finished 2nd to Cliff at Mt Diablo earlier this month, a race I missed as I was at Zion and Bryce Canyon that weekend. With that, I didn't expect scoring too many points this time. Although, there was no sign of Cliff at the start...

I didn't want to push too hard before warming up, I was probably in 12th or 15th as we got on the single track. Before the end of the first mile though, I felt slowed down by the conga line and passed 3 runners from Pamakids, then caught up with a couple of younger runners ahead. This course is challenging because there is no flat section at all, and some sections are quite steep. At least that got the glutes engaged and getting a good workout in preparation for Quicksilver.

I saw the lead runners at the remote aid station, which I'm not calling "turn around aid station" because we still had a climb after that station to get to the half-marathon turnaround. I noticed a bag next to the sign and, sure enough, it had bracelets to pick to prove you had run all the way. I missed that detail in the briefing, and doubt too many noticed. The lead was composed of three runners from the same club: West Valley TC. Andrew Catanese, who used to run with Quicksilver 2 years ago, Amanda Wiggenhorn, and Albert Lin, running together. There was a runner who seemed he could be in our age group and I forgot to check on the color of his bib, to see if he was on the half or 30K.

On the climb after the aid station, I closed on 2 younger runners, that helped maintaining a good pace. It took me 2 more miles to pass them as we were really pushing the pace in the downhills. Then I could see the older runner I had noticed at the turnaround, and steadily closing on him. There was 5 more miles after we came back to the start/finish area, plenty of time to potentially pass him. Well, that was Ben Kortlang, 50, who placed 3rd in the half in 1:50. The older guys were representing, 2nd place in the half was Darrin Banks, 59!

I had found a pair of very nice Oakley sun glasses on the course which I handed over at the aid station. I got my bottle of water refilled and it was time to get on the final loop, or out and back, especially as I knew Brian wasn't too far behind. That made me run the whole mile up before flying down to the famous Horseshoe Lake. On the next climb, at about 14.5 miles I crossed Andrew. My GPS was showing a time of 2:10, the time of the course record. I thought: "shoot, I'm now 2 miles behind!" After Andrew, I crossed Amanda then Albert. A few seconds later, Jean-Baptiste Bouvier, 29. I was preparing mentally to climb at least another mile when, surprise, I saw the turn-around sign, much earlier than expected. I picked another bracelet from the bag then rushed down the hill to retrace my path to Horseshoe Lake. Sure enough, Brian was the first one I saw: safe margin but still, no time to waste!

In the final 1.5 miles, I crossed quite a few runners, more than half from Pamakids: way to represent, Go Green! I finished with a time of 2:32:45, with 17.58 miles on my GPS (Coros, in Trail Running mode). In this thin field, good enough for 5th overall, 4th in Men, 1st Master. Brian finished 6 minutes behind, this time: strong and friendly emulation! With Brian:

Andrew won in 2:20:57 and Amanda set a new course record in 2:23:50. From left to right, Andrew, Amanda, Albert:

I stayed for another hour and a half, for more connections with the community, feeling sorry to leave before everybody was back home but had other Easter activities to attend today. Some reasonable hill training today, a bit of heat training after running in freezing temperatures 2 weeks ago, it feels good to get back to some speed. My knee is letting me know that the meniscus is still damaged but it's more of a whisper, allowing me to race harder, and just enough that I don't overdo it in my training. Great to see the Pacific Association engagement and competition today, see you in 3 weeks at our club's ultra party (Quicksilver 100K)!

Freezing but wonderful Bryce Canyon: my favorite!

I only visited 30 of the 63 National Parks in the US but, so far, Bryce Canyon remains my favorite. Especially in winter with the rich palette of colors include white snow, contrasting with the red rocks and blue sky. And the brittle aspect and impression of fragility of the hoodoos, this canyon which looks like temporary dentelle ready to be washed out by erosion and the elements, wind and rain, if not earthquakes. Million year-old yet, in this age of severe human impact on our planet, you have to wonder how long this natural show will last. You see, I'm sold!

It was my third visit and, this time, I wanted to go down the canyon, not just stay on the ridge. It was a family trip again though so I had to start super early, like before sunrise. And, although it was April already, and Spring, technically, the temperature was close to 20F when I left the hotel, yikes! If you follow my blog and adventures, you know I fare poorly when chilly. By the way, there was a freezing breeze to make things more interesting.

Thinking I would warm-up with speed, I left with only a pair of racing gloves, leaving my bigger fleece gloves in the room. Poor choice. Ever quarter of a mile, in the dark, I had to stop to put my bottles down and blow air through my gloves as my fingertips were badly hurting. And the more I was stopping, the colder I was getting...

Sunrise was scheduled for 7:05 am. I left the hotel in Bryce Canyon village at 6 and my initial plan was to run straight to the end of the Bryce Canyon amphitheater, at Bryce Point, 7 miles away. With the slow progress, I decided to change plan and aim at meeting Agnès and my cousins/aunt at Sunrise Point instead, making a detour through Fairyland Point to then run along the entire ridge of the canyon, before plunging into it at Bryce Point, on Peekaboo Loop Trail.

While I did manage to get to Sunrise Point by sunrise, I wasn't getting warmer after the Sun rose because a thin layer of clouds maintained the low temperature. It helped a bit to get the extra pair of gloves but I needed way more than that bit to be able to run normally. To make the matter more interesting, the ridge trail was covered by icy snow on the steep way up to Inspiration Point, then Bryce Point. The Brooks Pure Grit worked wonder in these conditions, it's just that I was too cold to keep moving.

The wind was strong at Bryce Point: on one hand the views of the amphitheater were stunning and I had to remove my gloves to take pictures. On the other, the cold was unbearable. I wouldn't fare well on Mount Everest...

The plan was for me to be back to the hotel by 9:15 to grab breakfast and it was already 8 am. I ran a couple of mile on the road then heard the Park Shuttle coming: I waived at it, on its side of the road and, zip, it didn't stop. I appreciate I wasn't at the parking lot stop but, geez, I was freezing. Cold. Damned! A few minutes later, a car came through and I waved at it too: two girls driving, I understand the reluctance to pick a stranger. At that point, I called Agnès for a pick up...

The following Relive.cc flyover includes pictures from all the key points: Faryland, Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration and Bryce Points. Click on this link or the image below.

10.7 miles and still no running below the ridge, that will have to wait for next time. And more time than a touristic touch and go!

Zion Park and the Kolob Canyons

Zion National Park spans over two major canyons: the classic and touristic Zion Canyon of course, on the South side, but also the Kolob Canyons on the North West. Without a road linking these two areas, the park has two entrances.

We were visiting with family from France and a friend in Vegas recommended the Kolob entrance, which is less popular and congested, and doesn't require to park your car to catch a shuttle. Zion Canyon is still very much worth the visit, especially if you manage to get early to secure a good parking spot. Otherwise, Kolob Canyon also offers magnificent views of red cliffs. Parking is also limited but, again, that side is less crowded.

We first drove to the top, the Kolob Canyons Viewpoint and hiked the short Timbre Creek Overlook trail. Then drove down to the trailhead of Taylor Creek trail. As we wanted to drive to Bryce afterwards and get there before dusk, I was given 90 minutes to explore that canyon.

I knew nothing about that trail except I had heard about 5 miles to a site worth seeing called the Double Arch Alcove. With an out and back format along a creek, I figured I'll just split the time and turnaround at half the time.

This was quite a technical trail and I quickly lost track of the number of creek crossings. Enough running injuries these past years so I crossed over rocks, very carefully. With that, my progression was slow, in the 12-13 minute/mile range and that wasn't even counting the stops to take pictures! At least I was not alone, there were a few hikers, even a handful of families.

1 mile, 2 miles, I was approaching the dangerous time limit when the trail turn from dust to mud then snow, as the canyon was narrowing and the trail stuck in the shade of impressive cliffs on both sides. 2.5 miles and there was the majestic alcove, at the end of the trail. At least I was able to get to it, just in time for a few pictures and retrace my way back.

So, it was 5 miles indeed but round trip. And technical.

The Relive.cc flyover is worth watching to get a sense of the size of the boulders forming that Kolob Canyon. Sheer walls challenging the 3d visualization algorithm... (click on this link or the image below)

Again, if you have not been to Zion before, Zion Canyon is the best option if you can get to the main parking lot early. Otherwise, Kolob is a great substitute to appreciate the grandeur of this site and natural wonder; highly recommended! And, with more time than I had, you can hike between the two canyons, that looks like even more exciting!

MadCity 50K Road Nationals: way to celebrate ultra race #200!

I'm falling behind again. A week ago I ran in Zion Park then Bryce Canyon and still want to post about these runs, but let's see if I can still do a same-day race report after 777 blog posts, to celebrate a key milestone, my 200th ultra race. In all disclosure, I'm talking about lining up at the start of an ultra race here, 17 led to DNFs (Did Not Finish), although only one of these was before the ultra marathon mark (one failed Quad Dipsea). So, yes, that's only 183 ultra race finishes, and I'm excited to keep working on this number. By the way that's not counting 313 ultra training runs. Including 27 marathons, that's 548 marathons or longer runs, and hopefully, counting!

MadCity, aka Madison, Wisconsin. The 10K loop of the Arboretum around Lake Winagra has been used by Timo for several years to host the 100K Road Nationals which I ran in 2015 (detailed course review with pictures), 2017, 2019 (DNF at 80K, still suffering from my 2018 hamstring attach injury) and 2022. This year also had a 100K, solo and relay, but the 50K served as our Nationals for Team USA selection. And, hint, a few young speedsters showed up, for a great change!

I flew in through Chicago and got to my hotel near the airport around 8 pm on Friday. After a great sleep of almost 8 hours, I woke up before 5 am for a quick breakfast, to be done with food 3 hours before the race. Despite checking the race book several times during the week, I ended up at the zoo, on the wrong side of the shelter serving as race headquarters. While not finding the right entrance stressed me on my first participation, this time I was able to found my way back to the car entrance and got a great parking spot around 6:50. There was an early check-in on Friday afternoon so not too many people on race morning, nice!

I got so cold last week running on the rim of Bryce Canyon before sunrise, I was scared about the low temperature expected at the start, confirmed by the ice I found on the car upon leaving the hotel. Ah, Spring is it? At least it was sunny, with a very moderate breeze, so the speedsters were in shorts and singlets. Me? Long tights, arm warmers, Buff, fleece hat, gloves. Better safe than sorry, I don't fare well when chilly.

At the start I could see another M60-64 runner, Jeff Dorrill, 63, from Dallas, but no sign of Rich Power, 61, of Rochester, MI. I raced Rich at the 50K Nationals in 2019 and we finished 3.5 minutes apart (him in 3:35 and I in 3:31) but that was when I was still at the top of my game, before the 2018 injury and last year's meniscus tear on my last training run before... these same Nationals. Which Rich ended up winning overall in 3:36! Since then, Rich has run several marathons under 3, a barrier I have yet to break again as I'm rebuilding after 7 months off running last year. I couldn't even break 4 at Jed Smith 50K this past February... With that, my goal was to finish, take second and, hopefully, break 4 hours this time (my PR is 3:18:12 on that distance, when I improved the American Age Group record 9 years ago, while experiencing a TIA, a mini stroke...).

After a brief pre-race meeting we were sent off right on time. I didn't rush at the start, I had not even warmed up before the race and, since I got Covid early 2020 before we knew much about it, and maybe with the years passing too, I do need at least a mile to get the engine fired up. I passed Jeff, quickly lost sight of at least a dozen of fast runners in front, and clocked 7:37 for the first mile, a much slower start than at Jed Smith. The longest I've been able to maintain 7:00 min/mile since I'm back at running has been 2 weeks ago at the track, for a half marathon. It was safe not to try to get into that zone.

Yet, once I got warmer, I spotted a group of 4 ahead, 2 men, 2 women, and picked up the pace. It took me 2 miles to catch them, now running closer to 7:00 min/mile, oops! I first passed a runner from our NorCal women-only club, the Impalas: Brooke Bray, 48, from San Francisco. Then the 2 guys, one under 40, the other M40-44. I then ran half a mile behind the other gal who, upon passing her, shared how impressed she was with the regularity and form of my stride. I replied she was doing great too, but her encouragement would provide a mental boost which I cherished throughout the rest of the race. This was Dani Filipek, who owns and operates a racing and coaching business, and runs fast when, as she jokes about it, not keeping expecting babies (3 so far!). Yooper Running Company in Michigan. Post-race picture:

I clocked 45:33 for the first lap (10K), a 7:20 average pace. I felt good although not super confident I could hold that pace, but that was a pace which would get me back under 4 hours, so why not try? (Photo credit for five pictures: Lin Gentling, USATF Liaison.)

By now, I was running alone, nobody I could see ahead, they were way too far, nobody behind. And I was still moving well so I completed the 2nd lap in 45:06, a 7:15 min/mile pace.

The third lap got more interesting as I still felt good and one of the earlier group of four closed on me and we ran most of that lap together, in a time of 45:05. 1 second faster over 10K, that's clockwork or machine level! ;-) Now, at the end of that lap, at 30K, I decided to stop by my mini aid station to take new bottles (GU Energy Brew and water), a 2nd GU gel, and my phone, to check on Rich Power's progress on that 4th lap.

I waited for the "hill" to take an opportunity to consult the splits while walking for the first time. I couldn't see Rich in the list and lost about a minute and a half, scrolling up and down, before finally seeing that he was listed at the bottom of the table as DNS (Did Not Start). Well, that meant I just had to keep going and finish! I was so into my screen that I got in the middle of the road, walking toward a car I didn't see who, thankfully, stopped, phew! Yikes, that was rather a stupid move from me, will I learn better after 200 ultra races (373 races total)...? No running and texting...

After this episode, I resumed running and pushing. But, despite a few 7:15 miles, with that walking break episode, my 4th lap was indeed slower at 47:22 (7:37 pace).

I would be remiss not to mention I got lapped by the lead runner just as I reached the end of lap 3. Oh, my, that pace, so impressive! A few others followed and I could hear the speaker announce the finishers while I was still 1.5 miles away on my 4th lap... More on their times below.

I had lost a bit of stamina for the 5th lap, not to mention my glutes were starting to complain about today's increased load, but was encouraged by the now likely prospect I would break 4 hours. I just had to not cramp and walk. One mile in, after passing the marathon mark in 3:11 (what Coros keeps predicting for my current marathon time, albeit not during a 50K), I lapped Jeff, who was delighted to take second this time, thanks to Rich not showing up. Two miles in, I did walk a bit to take a 3rd S!Cap and 3rd GU Gel (I had taken a pouch of Vespa Power concentrate at mile 16, in addition to two, pre-race). I eased up the pace a bit mid way but picked up the pace again the last mile, to clock 48:14 for lap 5. Total of 3:51:19, I did it, breaking 4 again, yeah! Still room for more improvement, based on earlier potential, but many steps in the right direction of rebuilding! (Photo credit: Roy Pirrung.)

While I believe I initially appeared as 24th overall, I show as 21st on Saturday evening. 15th in Men, 2nd Masters (above 40) and, yes, 1st M60-64. 22nd title, and National Champion patch, all thanks to Rich not showing up today. As we say with races, you have to keep showing up and taking your chance (I say that for me!).

I received the USATF medal and patch from Race Director, Nora Bird, who took over Timo, whom I had the pleasure to see along the course.

Also representing California, Brooke finished a minute behind me, 1st in her age group and 7th Female.

Last picture before leaving, with Lin:

I then had lunch with Roy at Zuzu, before he drove up home, 2 hours north of Madison. We missed our friend Brian Teason, another ultra legend from a few decades ago, who couldn't race this time due to a rotator cuff injury (it hurts!).

Before I conclude, what happened at the front? The finish must have been spectacular to watch. First, Charlie Lawrence, 30, from Boulder, broke the course record by a couple of minutes with 2:49:01: a 5:26 average pace! As for the rest of the podium, the very final quest must have bee impressive: the next 3 runners finished within less than 20 seconds: 2:53:37 (Jeffrey Seelaus), 2:53:50 (Adam Vadeboncoeur --last name with quite a cool meaning in French!) and 2:53:54 (Ryan Root). Johny Rutford also broke 3 hours. Close finish also on the women side: Courtney Olsen also broke the course record in 3:16:44 (shaving almost 5 minutes of it), followed by Sophie Seward in 3:17:34 then former course record holder, Lindsay Prescott in 3:2016 (also under her previous record). With course record prize at $1,000, that's a burden on an event which is already challenged financially.  But at least an opportunity to reinforce the reputation of quality of this event for more years to come. Here are 9 of the top 10 men (Photo credit: Roy Pirrung):

Boarding at 5:50 am tomorrow morning so better call it a day and going to bed, now. Wrapped in these good vibes of being back to holding a faster pace, farther, the whole essence of my blog mantra, or at least title. Next races in California, most likely in much higher temperatures. Although, I didn't mention, I ended up getting rather hot under my hat today... 

PS: so much water and lakes in this area!

And don't ask me why I why I didn't buy a cheese hat (except for the fact the store was closed anyway)...

The track discipline: one or more lap at a time.

What a journey to rebuild after last year's 7-month forced break off running... Without even having to check on past blogs or my running log, I still remember the ease and excitement of running tempo runs of 20 miles or even 50K at the track. 20-15 years ago, I had made a habit of going to the track on Tuesdays and Thursday, before 6 am, to meet with Bob and Jeremy for a diligent track workout. Then travels, early business meetings, heavy racing, a pandemic, other priorities and, unfortunately, injuries, took over and got me off the... track, literally speaking!

When I resumed running back in September, I was so slow and the knee was so painful that it didn't seem right to rush to the track. Yet, I ran 25K at our local high school at the end of September, then a marathon in October and another one in November. Encourage by the progress in January, I pinged Bob and we've met a few times on Sunday morning since. While I'm pretty good at putting pressure on myself and not needed outside motivation to work harder, having Bob to alternate miles in tempo runs helps a lot!

2 weeks ago, we ran a 1:07:44 10-miler (6:46 min/mile). For the first 6 miles, my miles were close to 7 minutes while Bob's were closer to 6:45. Bob skipped a few laps at the end but I was able to pick-up the pace, ending with 6:37 and 6:26 miles.

This Sunday, Bob was traveling so I was by myself and decided to at least do 10 miles, or more as long as I could stay below 7 min/mile. It was quite windy, making the exercise more challenging, especially alone. I had a 14-second cushion at the 10-mile mark so continued for a few miles. Clocked 1:31:30 at the half-marathon mark, hesitated to keep pushing for 25K but felt it was enough for a workout.

I can't emphasize enough how good it is to run at the track, if you have the luxury of having one accessible to you. It's safe, it's perfectly flat and it gets rid of the dangers and distractions of running along and across streets, or even trails (although I'm a big fan of cross training on trails of course). Having the ability to check on or adjust your pace by a second or two every lap, that is every quarter of a mile, teaches you to control your pace like a machine. Being in a controlled environment, it's also easy to adjust distance based on your form or will power. Not advocating to do all your running on a track but the track is the best and optimal setup to consciously work on your pace. On my default go-to loop in my neighborhood, I don't work as hard as at the track.

Anyway, everybody has different motivations to run. But if you want to run faster, then make sure to visit the track regularly. Well, not just visit, but log laps while pushing the pace! All the best!

Knickerbocker Canyon 35K 2025: the epitome of trail running

Single track trails, fire roads, switchbacks, rocks, roots, mud, puddles, creek crossings, creek running, steep uphills, steep downhills, dead leaves, pine needles, fallen tree, tough competition and emulation, camaraderie, great volunteers, legendary trails, professional organization, sub-ultra but challenging distance, Knickerbocker had all the ingredients of the essence of trail running! I just wish I had brought my camera with me to illustrate all these keywords with pictures. Although I'm not sure I had the time to spare for a photo safari...

We added this race to our Grand Prix in 2023. Unfortunately, pushed to the side of the road by a large truck drifting from its lane after Vallejo, I blew up a tire and missed the start. Last year, I was signed up but no show with my freshly broken meniscus. After a good test with No Hands Half in January, I was excited to finally make it to the start this year.

I left home by 5 am and arrived to the start at 7:25 am. For a great improvement, 8 other club mates showed up this time, way to represent! (Chak not on that picture.)

After a few weeks with some much needed and welcomed rain, the conditions were perfect again: soft ground, not too muddy, and thin layer of clouds, clearing up at times in the morning. This time, I made sure to get close to the start line which allowed me to get in the top 15 before we got onto the narrow single trail.

I was in Paul Broyer's footsteps for the first mile and passed him as we got on the Western States trail. One runner had passed three of us running together but I passed him before getting to the legendary No Hands bridge. No stopping at the aid station and up K2 we were, together with a half-marathon runner, with a blue top. In January, then on the half marathon, I had run a good portion of that super steep hill but not this time: I just focused on power walking, knowing there will be another race starting at the top. There was a another 35K runner well ahead of us whom I couldn't close in as I was trying hard to save my breath. This hill is such a beast!

At the top, I thought that we were on for a nice flat loop around Cool. Oh my, I'm so bad at reading maps... I had seen a bit of a dip but certainly not realized we were going down to the American River, once more! 

At the next aid station, the volunteers announced 4.8 miles before coming back to them and I asked if we were going to retrace the same route. As they responded affirmatively, I had assumed it was an out and back. For the next 2 miles, down to the river, I was surprised not to see the lead runners then, only to realize at the bottom that we were going up on a different route. From time to time I could still see that same runner as on K2, a minute or so ahead but, more importantly, I could spot 2 yellow jerseys behind, Paul being in the second. That emulation kept me pushing as hard as possible in the uphills, dang!

I picked a GU gel at the aid station and kept pushing upstream, literally, as that trail section had turned into a creek! Eventually, I caught up and passed that runner ahead, before Cool. I still had no idea how many other runners were ahead but I was resolute to at least resist the charge behind.

From a quick look at the course map last week, I estimated that we were returning to Auburn on the same finish as the No Hands Half Marathon course of January. Which was on the long side, with 13.7 or 13.8 miles. Well, this time, we kept going until we crossed the road which I remembered from quite a few finishes at American River 50-mile. Granted, we needed more mileage to get to 35K, we had to go farther. I was still moving reasonably well in my opinion, passing more Half Marathon runners, when I spotted a yellow jersey a few hundreds yards behind, yikes! This course is relentless, I had to give more!

I finished in 8th place in the Men (chicked x2!), 3:13:12, 4th Masters and winning my age group this time, by a good margin. I should have been super happy with that result, except that the overall winner had crossed the finish line almost 40 minutes ago! Oh well, 87% UltraSignup score for me, when age is NOT just a number... ;-)

Short of being able to race, Shiran snapped a few pictured of my finish.

And that yellow jersey? It was Markus Lampinen, 38, of San Francisco, who finished 3 minutes and a half behind. Followed by Paul right on 3:19.

Worth more than thousands words to describe this course, here is a Relive flyover (click on this link or the picture below).

Despite the slow time, relatively to first place, I'm so grateful for being back to racing competitively. And I'd be happy NOT to still be the fastest on our team... A team which did quite well actually: at 18, Keahi Jack finished 13th overall in 3:19:17. Bjorn in 25th place, then Chak and Richard in 43rd and 44th respectively, Kellen, 11th in the women division, Bob, 75th overall, our Captain Gary in 78th and Keith in 83rd. 9 finishers total but we will only score two teams, one Men, one Mixed.

Speaking of teams, I'm blown away and very pleased to see a new club taking the spotlight in the Mixed division with SRA Elite having the top 1, 3 and 5 spots overall: Garrett Gardner, 2:34:52, Peyton Bilo, 3rd overall and first female, then Gallen Faris. Way to represent the Sacramento area and make a big impression on our Sub Ultra Trail Series! Looking forward to seeing you on Mt Diablo and Horseshoe next month, then in September/October for the last 2 races.

And an additional wow for Jonah Backstrom who, at 51, took 2nd. He was so happy for having broken his 2:40 goal which was Tim Tollefson's winning time of the original edition in 2015 (before Tim set a 2:24:33 course record in 2023).

I took 2 Vespa before the race, 4 GU gels during the race, especially as boosts before the climbs. I realize after the race that I had drunk most of my GU2O/GU Brew bottle but almost nothing from my water bottle, oops! And 2 S!Caps did the trick, sodium wise, as it wasn't hot.

Great finisher medal and tee, recto and verso!

A note on my shoes: I took the risk of running in a new pair of Brooks Pure Grit. Not the latest model as the box sat in my garage for at least 7 years, but the second generation, with an exceptional grip. It was the perfect shoe for the trail conditions, great bet!

For the anecdote, I kind of push shoe mileage quite far, here is a pair of the original Pure Grit I retired a few weeks ago, after the sole pretty much disintegrated, after 844 trail miles... A pair I started using in 2012, time flies.

The drive back home wasn't as pleasant as the way in, with a lot of traffic and a few jams on 80. After spending more than an hour at the finish, I was back home by 4:30, in time to start this blog but crash for an early bed time. Busy Sunday with home projects but I was able to run a 5K loop to get the legs moving. Some soreness but not too bad as I didn't cramp during the race. Meaning there is still room for pushing harder. But not too hard to save the knee. That is the new dilemma...

At least, a good hill training session, thank you Inside Trail Racing, Craig, and your team of volunteers for allowing us to play hard around the Endurance Capital of the World™!