Time wise, still rebuilding after last year's meniscus tear, I was certainly hoping to do better than the 13 hours of 2023. Even 12 hours wouldn't leave me much time to stop by the house before driving to the airport. 11 hours would be better. By the way, for the non insiders, this is all based on a start time of 4:30 for the 100K (with the companion 50K race starting at 7 am).
I woke up at 1:30 am and got to the Hacienda entrance of the Almaden Quicksilver Park by 3:15 am, only to find co-Race Director, Loren, holding off the incoming traffic until the opening of the gate at 3:30 am. Not able to run last year, I was holding the position of directing traffic through the first parking lot so I thanked the team in charge this year (including Jeff who was meticulously positioning cars on a precise line and as packed/close to each other as possible).
This year, the bibs were at the sign-in table on time, and there were plenty of porta-potties so no excuse to start late. After a short briefing, our Club President and co-Race Director, Stuart, sent us straight up Mine Hill, on the footsteps of valorous miners which contributed to the development of this area during the Gold Rush.
I ran the first steps along Gilles, losing sight of more than a dozen youngsters ahead after just a couple of turns. I was thinking of the times I ran upfront and, having just trouble breathing on this first steep incline, thought that there will be a lot of walking today, ouch! Indeed, I did start power walking as soon as we turned onto English Camp Trail. Alternating walking and jogging was the best I could do given the current shape. Given the walking, I was surprised that my first mile was still under 13 minutes (12:13), but it did hurt to think of the times I would run that one under 10. After this rough warm-up, I could pick up the pace a bit down to 11:15 min for the second mile then 9:30 and 7:45 for the next two miles on Bull Run and down to the cemetery turn-around.
I got on that out-and-back section barely before seeing Steven Kool being back from the cemetery, already almost a mile ahead of us, wow! Steven won his past two participations, in course record times, and he seemed resolute to set a new record again. At this point I was in 11th place I believe and ran the next 6 miles with Greg Miller, who reminded me we ran together at Miwok 2016 (what a memory, it was almost 100 ultra races ago for me... Thankfully I have my blog, it was a few weeks after my mini stroke and I DNF'ed to err on the safe side after suffering from hypothermia in that foggy edition). I have to thank Greg for keeping me running most of the way up to the highest point of the course, the Woods Road aid station. Without him, given my lack of current self-confidence, I'm sure I would have walked much more. We even closed on the second female runner (Michelle Kent?) and another runner I didn't know, Ryan Hartwig.
They both stopped at the station while, carrying 2 bottles, I went straight through, passed them and flew down Limekiln. I didn't want to over do it, saving what's left of my meniscus, and preserving my quads, but what cool sensations to clock 7:13, 6:57, 7:30, 7:23, 8:23 and 7:47 miles on that section to make up for the minutes lost in walking on the climb to Woods Rd. With that, I thought I would have created a good lead over Ryan but he reached the Lexington Reservoir aid station just as I was leaving, after a few teammates helped me refill my bottles. For his first 100K, ex-teammate and speedster, Andrew Catanese, had dropped very early at this aid station.
That section up on Priest Rock Trail is the first real wall of the day. In 2023, I was glad to have poles to help moving up and forward but poles weren't allowed this year, to comply with Western States qualifier criteria (this race is one of the coveted events which, if you finish within the allotted time, you can enter the Western States 100-mile lottery). I used to say that the whole course is runnable, and you certainly cannot walk in order to place on the podium, but gone are the years I was in shape to do it.
At the top of Priest, Laura was officiating as course monitor and I asked for a picture, there you are!
After the grueling climb, we go all the way down to San Jose on Kennedy. I was at mile 23 when I saw Steven coming back up, I had already fallen 5 miles behind, duh! Second place was almost a mile behind, then a group of 4 other young guys running together. Getting to the Kennedy aid station, I figured out I was in 9th place and probably first Masters (above 40). Far behind the leaders but still, quite honorable for a 60+ old guy. I wouldn't lie though, despite that encouraging place or maybe due to such a strong start, I was already quite toasted by mile 25, not a great physical and mental state to be at that point of the race. I did manage to thank my club mates manning the station but they must have worried a little... Although I bet they must have seen much worse in the following hours.
Indeed, the next 6 miles (25-31) up to Woods Road aid station represent the second wall of the day to climb. I have to thank all those I crossed on that section and who provided encouragements, and apologize for not having enough breadth and stamina to acknowledge and give some encouragement back. I even got a "we love your blog!" which was really cool and sweet to hear. Still, having to climb back the 3.5 miles we descended on Kennedy Trail is mentally challenging, and physically too of course. Needless to say, I was glad to see Laura again at the top, phew! And I had to make her repeat her warning to me: "beware of the peacocks!" I've seen peacocks at the bottom of Montebello Road often but there, nope, another first! learning from running in Costa Rica, I picked a stone, in case they would get upset but they seemed to just getting their workout as I saw a video on Facebook of Dominick getting to the Woods aid station with these big birds, 2 miles from where I saw them!
The lead gal, Amanda, who beat me at the Horseshoe 35K last month, arrived at the Woods Road aid station as I was leaving. I wasn't feeling much better than at the Kennedy aid station but at least the next 6 miles were mostly down this time. For those who aren't familiar, even running downhill hurts on tired legs. The first 3 miles were ok but I could feel cramping was going to come. I did stop at the spot where a creek crosses the trail, in the shade, to damp my hat and cool my quads. Shortly after, as both legs froze so I had to stop, Amanda passed me. To some extent, that decreased the pressure and I was able to follow her for the next 3 miles to Hicks Road aid station where she barely stopped but I stayed for at least 2 minutes, enjoying the company of Clare and other club mates.
I walked some of the next uphills, seeing Amanda disappear far ahead as we were passing under the old mine machinery. The return to Hacienda wasn't pleasant and my legs froze a few times again on the very uneven Deep Gulch Trail. Despite my slow pace, I was stunned to catch up and pass Amanda just before getting to Hacienda. It was her first 100K, she was probably experiencing some cramping too. We were now at mile 41, after 7 hours of running.
I was carrying a plastic bag which I asked the volunteers to fill with ice, so I could have some fresh one to use at my car. After a few minutes at my car, our race team captain, Gary, showed up to help, that was cool. Despite this assistance, I still lost 7-8 minutes to change, get new insulated Ultimate Direction bottles, refills of Vespa and GU, reapply some sunscreen and vaseline and, critically, a bandana full of ice.
I got back on the course as Dominick was running through the timing mat. As I write this, I see my split was 7:07:14 versus 7:15:23 for Dom. And Amanda was 7:09 but she didn't stop as much as I did. After this long pit stop, I felt refreshed and was actually able to run some of the uphills on Mine Hill then Hacienda trail, building a gap on Dom, whom I saw in the distance as I was getting to the Mockingbird aid station where more club mates were assisting. Another couple of minutes lost there to refuel and get more ice in my bottles before I left, this time without much enthusiasm at all and mentally unable to run any uphills in the next two miles.
As I was slowing down, Dom passed me on Day Tunnel Trail, at mile 46.7. I was toast, most especially mentally. I still managed to shuffle on the way up to the Bull Run aid station maned by my fellow Stevens Creek Striders. Looking really strong, Chengquan Li arrived at the aid station as I was leaving. He passed me a mile later on Prospect #3. Thanks to a focus on taking more oxygen, a key trick it took me years to get, I wasn't cramping too bad but I had lost my motivation and felt ok to switch to a damage control mode, with still 12 miles to go and the heat rising. Speaking of heat, it wasn't too bad thank to a breeze and all the shade over New Alamaden. Yet, it takes some stamina to keep moving on this winding and rolling single track. So much that there were a few 50K runners suffering too and barely moving.
After several miles at 14 or 15 minutes, I finally reached the McAbee aid station. Just before, I crossed an enthusiastic group including Andrew; it was Amanda's crew, and it didn't even cross my mind that she might have been just a few minutes ahead. The second gal came into the station as I spent 4 minutes getting ice in my bandana and cooling off in the shade of the tent.
I kept walking most of the uphills, that took so long, I hate walking... And I got chicked again at about a mile before our second passage through Bull Run. This time I just stopped for a minute, to get ice in my water bottle. A mile later, I passed the legendary Gordy Ainsleigh, first runner of the Western States 100, who complimented for still doing all these runs. I wasn't carrying my phone so no selfie this time and I was actually moving quite fast down to English Camp. 2 miles to go with about 20 minutes before the 12-hour mark, there was really no time to waste. I clocked 9:31 and 8:09 for miles 60 and 61 and gave it all in the last downhill to Hacienda. PS: Stuart corrected me, there wasn't any Gordy on the 50K... I feel I deserve a speeding ticket for the oversight which I'll blame on going too fast. Unless this is just AI hallucination as this post was 100% AI made up (ahem, I mean, generated)! ;-) BTW, I would have also been mistaken as I'd swear I had seen Gordy on this course before. But, per UltraSignup, his only and last appearance was on the 50-mile in 2005, before my ultra time. Now I feel like I need to claim my senior moment excuse/credit...
I sprinted to the finish and crossed the line in a time of 11:55:36, phew! I dreamed of running 11 today but I was thinking of the lower side. Far from my 9:45 of 2015 or 10:14 of 2016, but better than the 13:07 of 2023 at least (granted, that was a burning year). 13th overall, 10th in Men, 3rd Masters and 1st in my age group by 1h40.
While I had some pride in these numbers, as an older guy, I was stunned to hear that Steven had won the race for the third time in a record time of 8:44:51! At this rate, if he keeps lowering that benchmark, we might lose the Western States qualifier label... Steven now has 3 of the top 10 performances. Incidentally, my 13th place earned an embarrassing 73% score on UltraSignup (ratio only based on time, no age consideration...). The next three finished 40 minutes behind Steven, within 4 minutes: Connor Rosenblatt, 30, Carl Koopmans, 36 and Daniel Lingenfelter, 37. On the women side, Amanda Wiggenhorn took the win in 11:44:28, followed by Melissa Taylor and Amber Weibel, the three finishing within 8 minutes, that was close!
While I smile on these pictures between Steven and Dom (credit to Laura McNeil), I wasn't feeling that good, stressed by the count down which which had started as soon as I finished. I gave myself 20 minutes before leaving, I didn't even see Gordy finish. I still had a few ice cubes in my bandana when I got home...
I was still able to spend 50 minutes in my Normatec compression boots before driving to the airport. And get just under 4 hours of sleep, plus a 90-minute nap upon arriving at Max's apartment in Boston. For a change, because of the cramping, I got sore on Monday and Tuesday. I don't think my fatigue in the last 30K was due to electrolyte imbalance as I drank more than usual, and took at least one S!Cap every hour. I think it was more the unusual effort as I can't run as many miles as before and had limited hill training so far. And I know I'm still behind on the rebuilding all the glutes, hamstring and quad mass I had before the past two injuries. But it still shows that the effort and discipline are working and paying off. Next big (huge!) test: Cool Moon 100 in a month... Back to the title, the emulation I get from racing is really the ultimate excuse to push, and train, harder!
Here is the traditional fly-over so you can run the whole thing from your seat! ;-) (Click on the picture below or this link.)
What a special Bay Area ultrarunning tradition this event has been since 1984. I only joined that series in 2009 and ran 17 editions since (5 50K, 2 50-mile and now 8 100K). I'm so grateful to still have a good buffer to keep going, if the body holds... And super grateful to my club mates who allow me to be on that side of the party while they run the show and back stage! It really takes a village around our co-RDs, plus the Striders manning Bull Run. Having to leave early made me feel bad for not having time to stop by Mockingbird to give a hand to Kristina, our aid station coordination queen. Thank you all, I heard so many compliments about your personal care on social medias.
229 registered, 25 DNS, 76 DNF, 128 finishers, it wasn't the most grueling edition, thanks again to the breeze, but special thoughts to all who couldn't fulfill their dream of completing the course in time. What an effort it is indeed, hoping we can all do it again together next year!
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