Tamalpa Headlands 50K Trail Nationals: shorter n' sweeter!

Not quite back to back racing yet since Skyline 50K was 13 days ago, run on a Sunday, but getting closer! And how exciting to get a USATF Nationals in our backyards again, such a treat! The backdrop to create a bunch of local National Champions in our Pacific Association.

Many don't realize the extra burden of running an event as a championship: some added complexity on the organizational side but mostly a financial hit. Indeed, the event has to offer prize money and that money doesn't come from USATF. That's why the sponsors of this race are so appreciated and hat off to Race Director, Victor Ballesteros, for working so hard on that long list.

In contrast to the UTMB money and marketing machine, we are on the other extreme of the spectrum here; not quite family-ran but close, thanks to the involvement of the Tamalpa running club, the assistance of the ultra-experienced BAUR (Bay Area Ultra Runners), and the local Marin Headlands running community manning the aid station and key volunteering spots, all forming Victor's extended family.

UltraSignup has the event running since 1998, with gaps in 2009 and 2010 then during the pandemic, 2020 and 2021. All in all, this year was the 23rd edition. And out of these, Steve Jaber was going for his 20th finish: this is history! The event has served as the 50K Trail Nationals in the late 2000s and again, last year. It's a challenging hilly course with more than 2,000 meters of cumulated elevation. I've run it 7 times and was never able to break 4, happy for breaking 4:30 5 times as a matter of fact. I missed last year's edition and return of the championship due to my meniscus tear/cut.

2007 (Nationals): 4:23 | 2008 (Champs cancelled at the last minute): 4:40 | 2013: 4:19 | 2014: 4:27 | 2015 (Nationals): 4:29 | 2016 (Nationals): 4:27 | 2023: 5:21.

I had quite a few goals for this run:

• First, of course, finish. That was my 203rd ultra race start and I DNFed 17 times so I still need a few finishes to reach 200. 83rd 50K race, my sweet spot, a distance I never DNFed.
• Score in our Pacific Association MUT Grand Prix. There were 13 of us in the M60-69 age group although only 6 registered with PA.
• Win the M60-64 age group. For the Nationals, age groups go 5-year deep. And you of course have to be a USATF member to be eligible. In our group, we were 4. Including Ian Schouten from Pennsylvania, showing with a higher ranking score in UltraSignup, so I had some competition, I will have to fight!
• We had 6 runners from our Quicksilver club at the start so finally an opportunity to score 2 teams, one in Men, one in Mixed. Everybody would just have to finish!
• Another goal was to break 5 again if possible. I had mixed feelings about that one. While I have rebuilt to some extend almost 12 months after I resumed running after the 7-month hiatus last year, I still feel like peaking at about 90% of what could have been my potential without that break. So, when I'm wearing the mask during races, it's because I'm still pushing and trying harder...
• Then, like at Sklyline 50K 2 weeks ago where I barely improved the event age group best of 21 years by a minute, I had my eyes on Mark Richtman's M60 course record of 4:47:35. I have so much respect for Mark's memory after a few good fights on these trails in particular, at that event or Miwok 100K, and still so sad and missing him after he mysteriously disappeared while kayaking along the shore. Note for my following race report: because Skyline's original record was 4:38, I ended up having 4:48 in mind for Mark's record all through my run, read on...
• Oh, and not injure myself, not break anything on this course which includes a few technical sections!

All these goals constituted quite an endeavor with potentially conflicting aspects: I will have to fight for a National title and take the risk to run hard and get exhausted, run fast and take risks on the technical downhills in particular, yet make sure not kill myself so I could finish. Ah, the trade-offs of the ultra racing game...

Just missing Sylvie on that team picture:

After this long introduction, let's get to the start! Victor pleaded we all car pool to the start to limit the number of cars in the Santos Meadow: Anil drove to my house and Stuart picked us in Cupertino, that made 3! We got rain while going through San Francisco then it turned to fog after the Golden Gate: so many micro climates around the Bay Area, I've heard about 16! We got parked by 6:10 am and volunteers were still hard at work despite the lack of daylight.

Victor delivered his briefing sparkled with emotion when remembering a few community members we lost these past years. And we were off promptly at 7:30 am. It was foggy but not drizzling at least. With all the youngsters and speedsters, I settled for a start in the middle of the pack, I'd say in 50th position by the first single track. I was running just behind Stuart whose strategy was to try sticking with me. We ran the first 4 miles trading places until I pushed down to Tennessee Valley.

I had tried to find Ian (Schouten) at the start but couldn't spot him. We've never ran together so I only knew his profile picture from Facebook. At least I couldn't see any M60-64 bib number on the back of runners in front of me at the start. With a large field like that though, above 200, you can't be 100% sure. With that, I decided it was better to be aggressive and potentially build a gap. There was a live tracking of the race with 6 intermediate splits, so I decided to run with my phone so I could potentially check on others' progress and gaps.

Besides the rather engaging ups and down of the first seven miles to Rodeo Beach, I have to say that the detour on the sandy beach itself was quite a workout; I couldn't believe how hard it was on the glutes, despite the flat terrain. Them, right after the beach, it was the turn of the hamstrings to burn on the steep Coastal Trail bump above the lagoon; a few signals I've yet to build more leg muscles, yikes!

Again, with all these speedsters motivated by both National fame and the prize money ($10K total purse), I knew I was way behind. Looking at the splits while I read this I see I indeed passed on the Rodeo Beach aid station timing mat in 52th place, I had estimated that pretty well. Carrying two bottles and a few gels, I didn't stop and it was game on for the climb on Miwok Trail, a section I passed a handful of runners. Then 4 more runners while flying down Tennessee Valley again. I knew it was aggressive but couldn't help pushing in the red zone. At some point, I passed 2 younger runners who were chatting, albeit a fast pace already. Right after I passed them, they sped up and followed-me, something which made me uncomfortable at the speed we were going, over the long stairs in particular. Eventually, they joked about getting passed by a M60 guy and backed off, phew!

Per the race rule, I walked through the stables area, then sprinted again through the aid station and passing a few runners who had stopped. Per the recorded split which I see after the fact, I was now in 37th position, 15 spots gained in one aid station! Picture from Shiran Kochavi:

I passed two more runners in the next climb then, about 2 miles after the Tennessee Valley, scrambled to check on Ian's position with my wet fingers and wet phone screen. It looked to me like the splits were actually not posted, dang! I was at mile 13.

After slowing down for that, I resumed pushing again in the uphill and caught up with a M40-45 runner, whom I passed at the Highway 1 crossing aid station as he stopped for a few seconds to get his flask refilled. Then another runner in the next uphill, I was still on fire. I really enjoyed the long and tricky downhill to Muir Woods Road, where I didn't stop either, jogging the first half mile of Cardiac. There I decided to check on the splits again and, to my surprise, saw that Ian was actually marked at DNS (Did Not Start), after all. After all this hard work and pushing in the red zone I was of course tired but, mentally, realizing that I was chasing a ghost or rather, that I had lost the rabbit in my head, kind of killed my mojo. These 2 miles up to the Cardia aid station on Deer Park are runnable since it's well-graded fire road, not to mention some shade, but no joke between mile 17 and 19. I alternated some walking and jogging, catching up a gal from Impala but ended up being passed my that M40-45 runner plus one of the runners I had passed on the way down to Tennessee Valley aid station, just before getting to Cardiac.

I finally reached Cardiac after 3hr10 of running at mile 19.5. I lost a bit more of my mojo again when I saw the lead two runners leaving the station as I was getting in. Oh my, I was way behind indeed! But, again, in a different league anyway, goal wise. It was my first aid station stop and it took a good minute to get some ice in my bottles and refill them. Gobbled a GU Energy gel and a piece of banana and off I was, toward the traditional Pantoll crossing. Only to get yelled at that I was supposed to go down on the Dipsea trail.

Wait, what are you saying? There was definitely a timing mat on the trail to Pantoll and, no, for a change, I had actually studied the course careful since Victor had insistently asked us in his pre-race emails, we were certainly not meant to go down on Dipsea Trail. I started argumenting but ended up complying... One hundred yards later, I crossed four runners going up to Cardiac, I was so confused. A few hundreds yards later, I cross a couple of hikers and ask them if they had seen other runners running down in the direction I was on and they acquiesced. At this point, I capitulated and went on as hard as I could, with my mental reservoir now leaking as I don't really like that section.

The only relief at the end of that section was to hear that we were turning around at the highway, not all the way down to Stinson Beach as we do during Quad Dipsea. While it boosted my mental to cross other runners, the way up on Dipsea was hard, physically. I clocked a couple of 15-minute miles and started to convince myself that, while I could break 5 hours, it was going to be really hard to get under Mark's mark of 4:48. Oh wait, since we saved more than a mile not going down Matt Davis, and saving about half a mile not going up on Steep Ravine, the course had to be shorter, right? Indeed, upon getting back to the Cardiac aid station, the volunteers indicated the course would be 1.7-mile short. That could help.

I still stopped at the aid station to get ice in my bottles as I knew the upcoming section to the finish was very exposed and, when the fog was clearing, felt hot. A M55-59 runner passed me before Cardiac, and a tall runner passed me right after. I was remembering how fast I had been on these last 3 miles in better days but wasn't able to push as hard anymore. Then I got into the final switchbacks above the Meadow. 4:36 and 3 more switchbacks. 4:38 and 3 more. 4:40 and 3 more, ... My watch showed 4:47 when I finally landed on the meadow and I sprinted to a 4:48:45 finish, phew! All the way down the switchbacks, I was thinking that it didn't matter much because, the course being shorter, it wasn't fait to Mark's record and I wouldn't want it. But, still, I felt it would be embarrassing not to try and not get close to it with a shorter course. As I wrote at the beginning, his record is actually 4:47, there you are!

Speaking of record, I was holding the M50 one at 4:27:28 since 2016 but I knew it was in serious danger not only with a Championships but also the presence of Jonah Backstrom plus two other M50 runners with higher scores than him on UltraSignup. Sure enough, Jonah had won his age group in a remarkable 4:02:26. But then, the revised course was definitely short, my Coros had 29.07 miles at the finish. Although I would disclose that I was in the classic Run mode, not Trail Running, which tends to be more accurate on hilly trail courses.

I have to give credit to Ian for setting me up on fire for the first 18 miles. And Mark for giving me another goal, time wise. I met most of my goals then. One which we missed as a club is scoring a Mixed team after Sylvie (Abel) turned around on Miwok trail, shortly after Rodeo Beach, what a disappointment, for her, and for us. Stuart finished in 5:01 and 44th overall. Hiro, who wasn't sure he could break 6 after a disappointing run last year, clocked 5:31 for 81st. Anil, 6:07, and Marco, 8:11. Steve got his 20th finish, in 9:11, respect! Anil's finish:

Stuart and Hiro with their USATF awards.

I ended up 38th overall, 27th Men, 6th Masters and 1st M60. 23rd age group national title, and counting, with quite a few handed over by my friend and USATF official and liaison, Lin Gentling.

Nutrition and hydration-wise, not much thanks to 3 pouches of Vespa Power (2 before the start, one concentrate at mile 19): 5 GU Energy gels, 2 bottles of GU Brew, 4 Succeed S!Caps, 1 piece of banana. No cramps, just some lost fire on the Dipsea trail, losing the drive to push harder. Barely any soreness on Sunday, that allowed me to run 10 miles at the track to shake off the legs. Not fast but still under 8 min/mile.

As for the winners? Oh, they were so fast, and young, and close! In the Men: Cole Campbell, 26, 3:31:45, Liam Merow, 29, 3:32:25, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden, 27, 3:32:29. For the Women: Tayler Tuttle, 29, 4:02, Caroline Alcorta, 29, 4:06, Ellaney Matarese, 22, 4:10. Phew!

Overall, an unusual high rate of DNS (Did Not Start), especially given Victor's diligence to ask runners who couldn't toe the start to leave room to clear the wait list, but a low rate of DNF for such a challenging and hilly 50K. Well done all, and special thoughts to those who couldn't make it especially because of injury (been there too much last year, this really hurts).

Great Moroccan food from the Casablanca Moroccan & Mediterranean food truck, not even having to wait in line! With Jena, grabbing a bite while managing the pick-ups of DNFs (fortunately, 

Great goodie bag, the hoodie for winning my age group.

So, what happened with that course change? Well... yet another crazy curved ball thrown to Race Directors and their team of volunteers. On Friday night, a car rolled over from the road at Pantoll. Miraculously, the women driving survived the many flips and was able to get extracted from her car, alive. But the car ended up on its roof, right in the middle of the trail we were supposed to use after Cardiac. The problem: nobody from the park service had communicated with Victor until about 8 am on Saturday, after the race started! Victor scrambled to assess the situation and make the decision that the only option was for us to go down to Stinson Beach on Dipsea, then, hence the out and back and shorter distance. At least that section was marked since we were already supposed to climb back to Cardiac on Dipsea after, a few days ago, a mud slide closed the standard return on Steep Ravine. Talking about a series of curved balls...

Note that, for Trail Nationals, the distance can't be certified since it typically includes single tracks, so the distance isn't as important, as long as everybody runs the same distance of course. By opposition to road races which have to be carefully measured and certified, so records can be established.

I skipped all the aid stations but Cardiac, but still much value the presence and encouragements of the volunteers at every aid station! This is a challenging course to mark given the multiple park management organizations and requirements, not to mention remote and hilly trails, and the many trail crossings. Much grateful to Course Director, Ken Michal, and all his volunteers, that was perfect!

Sorry for Ken who endured the last minute stress of course change at Cardiac. Not even granting him the luck of getting in the lottery of his favorite ultra, HURT (Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) 100, during the race. Fingers crossed as he got 2nd place on the Veterans' wait list.

Special thanks again to the generous sponsors:

• I believe Arc'teryx in particular provided most of the winners' purse.
• Katemi
• Skratch serving their chocolate-flavor recovery drink
• San Franciso Running Company
• Organic Jambar
• Tamalpa Runners
• Victory Sportdesign with the famous Victor-designed drop bags
• PondFarm Brewing Co.
• Mount Tam Sport & Spine
• UltraRunning Magazine
• East Peak
• Trekker Soap Co.
• Facchino Photography
• Art2Life
• bungalo munch
• Succeed
• thoroughbred studio
• AnimalRun
• Kahtoola
• Unalome Outfitters

Car pooling with Anil who was shooting for 6 hours, Stuart and I had some time to recover after the race and catch up with many from our local ultra running community. With all the fog still on the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco, traffic ended up being rather smooth on the way back.

That was my 8th finish and looking forward to next year's edition already!

PS: a few additional pictures.

Bib pickup, 6-6:45 am.

Sky clearing up between long foggy and cloudy episodes throughout the day.

With the legendary Errol "Rocket" Jones, winner of the M75 category in which he was the only finisher.

Another great show of the Pamakids, with Ken adding to his volunteering duties! ;-)

With Jena, pre-race.

And Lin.

Black Mountain: some grit, glutes and fire!

I like racing because it gives us an opportunity to run with more fire and train harder. I mean, racing provides great training. But racing also provides extra motivation to train harder, between races. It's no secret, I see opportunities to actually work on this hobby at every turn of the trail, to the first degree, up to calling it my second job!

So, one week after Skyline 50K and one week before the Tamalpa Headlands 50K Trail Nationals, I was up to Black Mountain to do a... 50K training run; told you!

It was my 5th trip up to Black Mountain this year, or since I came back from the meniscus tear for that matter. I used to run up there once or twice a month in the good ol’ days but, nowadays, it certainly is not as easy as it used to be. It’s the highest point I can easily run to from home so still a key objective for hill training. In these better days, I enjoyed flying down Montebello Road on the way back but, with the damaged knee, it’s now too much pounding. I adapted my route to run down along Stevens Creek, a direction where most of the downhill happens on the Stevens Creek Canyon Trail, limiting the asphalt section to a few flatter miles on Stevens Creek Canyon Road.

Now back to the Stevens Creek Reservoir at the end of the Canyon Road, I go up on the gnarly Lookout Trail then add a loop down Seven Springs in Fremont Older Park, before returning home along the track. Good for 35 miles. Or 31 this time as I called Agnès for a pickup at the track, feeling I had done enough between the Skyline and Tamalpa Headlands 50K races, not to mention my knees whispering they have had enough. Some good grit still in the uphills in particular, some good glutes work.

But, back to the title, not with as much fire as while racing but I still like pushing myself, just for the sake of it and to test my grit and work on my glutes. But, wait, what fire was that?

I just posted about another Black Mountain run in which I shared about this cool encounter with an olive tree I hadn't noticed for years. Well, poor tree; 2 weeks later, it got pretty hot and half burnt...

Hopefully my new olive tree friend hasn't burnt to its core and will survive this endeavor. But for this year's olive harvesting, that seems quite compromised... Just when I was asking for peace...

After 20 years of running these trails, it was the first time I saw traces of fire in the Black Mountain vicinity. As I was ironically on Waterwheel Creek Trail, a trail which very few people use, I was surprised to see quite a large area burnt, below the trail. The fire stopped right at/along the trail so certainly a managed fire but, still quite impressive and chilling to see; especially when imagining the risk of putting dry grass and bush on fire in the middle of the summer, and the skills it must take to contain such a danger of a fire spreading around!

There you are for a new episode of my Black Mountain Chronicle series! 

Not sure if it is Gold Mine or Waterwheel Creek flowing at the limit between Palo Alto and Cupertino, it is still flowing strong and provides a refreshing stop, short of being able to refill bottles.

Oh, can't resist sharing a picture of the newly renovated bathroom at the Sycamore Group Site: what a nice work, posting here to see how it evolves over the years. Right now, it's still in "Japanese subway cleanliness" state, hoping this holds for a a while!

It was another hot day on the trail when not in the shade and good training for the upcoming 50K race next week. Hopefully with the grit and glutes on fire then!

Black Mountain: an olive branch

Catching up while we carpool to the start of Tamalpa Headlands with Stuart at the wheel, with a short post about a training run on July 26.

Black Mountain trip number 5 this year, out of 134 lifetime ones, and still making a discovery: an olive tree! No, despite the timely coincidence with the recent events making the news this weekend, this post isn’t about solutions to the awful wars(*) in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Maghreb and Sahel, Ethiopia, but a lone olive tree I hadn’t noticed for more than 10 years; I know, Chuck, how embarrassing, not good for my docent application if I was to apply.

I’m not sure if I can claim the classic “to my defense” argument, I was going to say that this was on a section of Waterwheel Creek Trail which I’ve ran downhill recently, to add some mileage and hill training on my way up to Black Mountain. When I speed up, my eyes tend to be riveted on the ground to secure a good footing. But I’ve done it reverse too, so uphill, at a speed which allows to look around a bit more. What I believe happened is that this olive tree got quite healthy and vigorous with our wet Spring this year, so much that branches grew over the trail. Yes, great way to get some attention from runners and hikers, olive tree, well done! ;-)

The sweet part is that this tree is carrying quite a few olives. With the crazy cost of olive oil these days, I hesitated blogging about my encounter for the fear of revealing a golden treasure but, given the low usage of this trail and challenging accessibility (you need a special permit to park at the trail head), I think it’s pretty safe. At least that’s what I thought. Until I ran that trail 2 weeks later, as you'll read in an upcoming post, stay tuned!

Meanwhile, peace to all, please...

(*) So many fatalities from armed conflicts, tracked on that wikipedia page for instance. As I said, awful...

PS: to expand on my contributions to the Black Mountain Chronicle, a few other pictures from these July trips up to Black Mountain.

The waterwheel spring are is still a mess, under the fallen tree...

A brand new house dominating South Bay, on Montebello Road.

The climb on the dam is closed, can't wait to get an official trail here!

The Stevens Creek Reservoir, from Zinfandel.

The archery, from Lookout Trail.

Bench and view at the top of Lookout Trail.

Skyline 50K 2025: 44 years of tradition, and change!

With my broken meniscus last year, my switch to a new age group turned to a disaster and I certainly missed running this Bay Area ultra tradition. While the piece of cartilage isn't going to grow back, the tear has been scrapped to minimize the risk and occurence of inflammation. I've been able to contain the situation by easing up on my weekly mileage --50 miles/week instead of 62-- and rebuilding some of the leg muscles I lost during the 7-month off running. With that, I was really excited to come back for my 16th participation, after missing a couple of editions these past years due to injury (2024 and 2019).

My goals? Sure, finish, score points on our USATF MUT Grand Prix, test my fitness on this classic mid season benchmark; but also a very particular one: set a new Age Group course record. Or event record/best as the course has changed quite significantly over the past 4 decades. I broke 4 hours 8 times since 2007 but last time was in 2018. Since then, I've been pretty far in the 4:34-4:55 range. Yet, I'm feeling stronger this season so I was optimistic about running under Al Brosio's 2004 mark of 4:38:51. Which corresponds to a 8:59 min/mile pace. Al stopped running ultras at about the time I started so I've not known him. From UltraSignup, he was a solid runner in the 80-85% range in his late 50's after he picked up ultra running at 57.

We were in great company in this classic, look at how many races this collective bunch of runners have run! Here is a selection of those with more than 100 finishes listed on UltraSignup, check column 3. And column 11 which has the number of Skyline 50K finishes, prior to last weekend.

As for the leader board of most Skyline 50K finishes, check Scena Performance's Hall of Legends page.

Now, at the brief pre-race briefing, Race Director, Adam Ray, warned us about a muddy section before and after the new aid station, Moon Gate, instead of the traditional Skyline Gate mid-way point. He also sent us off stating that this was going to be a fast course. Ah, I loved that, that would help setting a fast mark!

On the USATF side, Pamakids was of course well represented, as usual, but there was also a blue sea of the nearby Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders (just missing Christine, in Europe).

On the Quicksilver side, 5 men from 18 to 64, quite a range!

Returning to an older tradition, we started around Lake Chabot, clockwise, this year. Memories of sub-6 min/mile pace starts, with Chikara Omine in particular, came back, I was just happy to clock 7:37 for the first rolling mile and not to concern about losing sight of a first group around Andrew Catanese, and a second one around James Scanlan. At 55, James has his sight on several M55-59 records and I guessed he was after my M50-59 event best of 3:52.

With a few hills in the first 3 miles, I was pleased to hold on an 8 min/mile average pace, knowing we had a few tough climbs ahead. I paid special attention not to roll my ankle on one of the numerous golf balls only to do it on a small rock, 200 years after passing along the practice range, duh! More scare than damage but felt a bit stupid to do this on an easy fire road otherwise.

Approaching mile 4, I spotted James and his group about 140 seconds ahead. Again, I was ok to get slightly behind, focusing on pushing as steadily as I could on the uphills. 

Photo credit: Brian Walker Ting, courtesy of #skyline50k and @scenaperformance.

Clyde Woolridge AS. Mile 4.1. No stop.

At this point, I was trading place with Dakotah Griscom, 39. I didn't know him, I learned at the finish it was his first 50K and ultra. He was slightly faster on the uphills, I was faster on the downhills. We would end up running almost 10 miles close to each other! Note that there was a live tracking with 3 splits: that aid station, Moon Gate and the last one before the finish, Marciel Road. Looking at the splits, I see I was in 16th place at mile 4.

Bort Meadow. Mile 6.14. No stop.

Entering the station, I passed Charles Savage, 77, who had picked the early-started option to secure his 19th finish. He was running alongside Tim Hicks, 81, who teased me with: "look, a 60-year old passing us, that makes me like a baby!" Tim would finish 10:06, Charles in 10:32. Respect! Especially after my upcoming appreciation of the new course. Shiran Kochavi, Pamakids MUT Captain, and volunteer, caught a shot as I was passing through.

I then kept my head down for the long climb to the ridge. Better climber, Dakotah passed me before the top but I passed him in the steep downhill before Big Bear.

Photo credit: Jenna Dobson, courtesy of #skyline50k and @scenaperformance.

Big Bear AS. Mile 8.92. No stop.

Running through the aid station, I got on the single track on the other side of the road, a winding section which we've ran in the past editions, instead of a much faster fire road and straight climb to Skyline we used when 15 or so years ago. The big surprise and scoop for me was to leave the wonderful Strean Trail to run Tres Sendas Trail, uphill. Well, running being misleading, hiking it up. It was already such a difficult one to descend in previous editions, the reverse direction really killed my average pace. Way above 9:30 as I got to Moon Gate, dang! I was so anxious to make up time on the way down, I didn't stop either, still having both water and GU Energy Brew in my bottles.

Moon Gate AS. Mile 13.25. No stop.

Dakotah must have stopped at Moon Gate because I lost sight of him, behind. I crossed a wet section shortly after Moon Gate, slowed down to avoid sliding and falling, I remembered Adam's warning and was glad it was over as I passed through the gate and crossed the road. Oh my, it wasn't all, water was dripping from the fog condensing on the redwoods and I lost balance while running through a handful of muddy sections afterwards.

As for making up time in the downhill, that was a complete miss between the high stairs and big roots. Trying to navigate I actually landed on my bad meniscus, ouch! I had caught up another runner but, with the scare and pain, I had to slow down a bit and let him go. One mile later, I caught up another runner with a white top. At this point, unable to run faster than 9 min/mile despite pushing really hard to make up time and get my average back to below 9 min/mile, from above 9:30, I wrote that Trumptrum in my head. Disclaimer, I was really pissed with that new section which I found much harder than any of the 15 previous editions, thinking that was going to cost me my goal of breaking 4:38. Crude content, you've been warned... And, no, it has nothing to see with policies, but, yes, I hate gaslighting among other current societal changes and normalization...

HTML tag <TrumpTantrum>

This Skyline 50K edition is a DISGRACE. The course has been RIGGED. What was the RD thinking, I'm getting my staff to FIRE him!!! We passed near a golf twice, I should have stopped, hopped on a cart, ultra running much easier on wheels. They named a trail after the FRENCH, pathetic! And they even put mud on the trail, DISGUSTING! And dangerous, bad idea! We need to redistrict this course, ASAP. So I can win and meet my goal next time. I'm the best, I always WIN.

</TrumpTantrum>

Pardon my French (Trail), I ruminated my bad thoughts for a few miles yet refused to back down, so I kept pushing on the pace on the tricky single track, like I still had a slim chance to meet my goal. There was still a half marathon ahead, I took a pouch of Vespa Power concentrate to recharge.

Getting on West Ridge Trail was cool as we were welcomed and cheered there by a group of a dozen runners, before flying down on that section. I was going so fast that, that I almost missed the next turn on Toyon Trail: there, I looked down the trail and saw a runner who had missed the turn. I stopped and yelled several times before finally getting his attention: one saved, phew!

Photo credit: Brian Walker Ting, courtesy of #skyline50k and @scenaperformance.

Big Bear AS. Mile 18.4 miles. 1-minute stop.

Finally stopping at an aid station to quickly refill my GU2O bottle and grab 2 pieces of watermelon before rushing out. Running most of the steep uphill, I passed 2 runners, then one more on my way down Bort Meadow, now being on fire again. That allowed me to clock my best mile at 7:17 (mile 21). 

Bort Meadow AS. Mile 21.15. No stop.

Like on the way out, I flew through the aid station and, to my surprise, saw James at the table. My M50 record was safe which, based on my assessment of this new course being much more difficult, made sense. Yet, he wasn't having a great day as he is much faster than I am these days.

Just after the station, I had an hesitation. I could see the ribbons on the trail we took in the morning, Grass Valley, but I wondered if we might get back on Brandon Trail, like we used to, so I did a few steps to see if there would be other pink ribbons on the other side of the creek. I hadn't realized James and another runner had followed me, exiting the station, they yelled I had missed the left turn, so, with this verbal and visual confirmations, I rushed back on Grass Valley Trail then.

Running agains the clock, and seconds, I kept the fire on for the next two miles, clocking 7:32 and 7:47 on the rolling section. Then it was time to hit the long uphill to Marciel Road. Sincerely, I only recall flying down on it from all the years we ran that course in reverse. Needless to say, this wasn't symmetrical. I had managed to get my average pace down to 9:12 after these few fast miles but it was of course harder to maintain a 9 min/mile pace on these 3 miles: 10:16, 9:06, 9:11, every second was counting...

Marciel Road AS. Mile 25.85. Micro stop to get a hug from Stan Jensen.

What a relief to get to Marciel Road and see Stan. Despite being sweaty, he accepted to give me a hug, before taking my split. I asked how many miles were left and one volunteer answered, 2.5 miles! That was the best news of the day and worth keeping pushing after all. My next mile down to the golf was 7:32 but then we were still not quite at the lake yet, we had to climb another mile (8:58), then we hit the rolling section around the lake and I knew it was at least 1.5 miles, forget about the 2.5 miles from Marciel! I even caught up with Matt Ward with a mile to go but that gave him a boost so I couldn't pass him. At least I tried to stay a few seconds behind and, finally, the marina was in sight, phew! 4:36 on my watch, a new dose of adrenaline through the heart...

It probably wasn't looking like it but I certainly felt I was sprinting to the finish, seeing 4:37 on the clock as I approached the finish line. 4:37:37 chip time, 4:37:40 gun time, I did it, phew! I want to hear about the 2004 course to see how it was back then, I swear that has been the toughest Skyline 50K course I've ran since 2007.

To my defense, Andrew had won this edition in 3:52, the time I clocked after turning 50, and . And he was the only runner to break 4 hours this year. Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Case made! (In all disclosure, that was Andrew's Personal Best at this event, after running 3:53 and 3:54 before, out of 5 participations. But I'm convinced he is capable of a better time on an easier course. The 10th fastest time ever is still at 3:35.)

I had run with my phone the whole time so I had it with me to check on my age group right away, not that I had much doubt. Dang, I wasn't listed in the results but there was another dude with my finish time! Time keeper, Todd, realized that he had given me the bib of another runner who didn't show up, hence the mishap. Thankfully, I hadn't advertised the live tracking to my family in France, they would have worried. But Agnès was certainly wondering what was happening to me for not having any split showing.

And so... Short of feeling completely back in shape, I was really happy to break Al's M60 best time by 70 seconds, for what it is worth given the course changes. A 84% score on UltraSignup but Andrew is 29 years younger; age might only be a number but three decades start counting... ;-) And I know I could still do better because I haven't had any sign of cramping, nor much soreness the following day.

82nd 50K race/finish, this distance is my favorite and sweet spot. 10th overall, 5th Master. Overall, I'm glad I had this 4:38 goal to keep pushing the whole way. Otherwise, I would have likely eased up and not break 5 hours. 8 times under 4, 8 times under 5, grateful for these past 16 editions and hoping to remain healthy enough to get to 20 finishes.

Thank you Adam for perpetuating this Bay Area classic and ultra tradition. So sorry that you got beaten up by Trump above, this should pass, he should return to playing golf, the ultra discipline isn't for him! We need you to hold on your job, please! Thank you to all the volunteers who made this 44th edition possible. Short of time I only used one aid station but certainly appreciated the food and drinks at the finish. Including the yummy ice cream which Charles Blakeney keeps bringing year after year, home made by a family member.

Thank you also for the great course marking. And these Ham radio volunteers monitoring the course. It takes a village, many ribbons and hundreds of hours to keep us safe while we challenge ourselves, thank YOU!

Back to my fellow runners, I'l looking forward to hearing from you how you felt about that course, including pre-2007 historical anecdotes from the veterans! Please leave a note, below. That course... (click on this link or the image below for a flyover video).

Speaking of anecdotes, look at the imprint I left after laying down on a bench: sweaty serigraphy/transfer, and advertising for former sponsors! ;-)

Did I mention that, apart from the humid section after Moon Gate, the rest of the course was quite dusty!

Thankfully I had 2 hours at home to get a shower and finish packing before flying to Austin on Sunday evening, like in the good old days.

Special thanks to Adam for having brought back and keeping the original Skyline artwork on the participant t-shirts. And those custom socks, which Agnès enjoys for her hikes!

See you all next year for #45, we are making ultra history! And let's see which course we get, then! :-)