Way Too Cool 50K 2015: so fast, yet so slow...

In 2006 Way Too Cool was my first 50K and ultra race. I did this race every year since so that's the event I ran the most out of 110 ultras. Although I wasn't blogging yet in 2006, I started a year later so you've heard a lot from me on this event (see all my WTC race reports). What can I add then? Well, between the weather and trail conditions, and how the (ultra) stars get aligned or not, every race is different. In the context of Way Too Cool, even the course changed several times over the 26 editions. Then there is the potential change in race management and directing, this last point being very meaningful as Julie Fingar's NorCalUltras made this race the largest trail 50K in North America with 1,200 entrants! I wasn't born to ultra running back then but I bet that Tim Twietmeyer saw a lot of change through the 24 participations he has had at WTC since 1990!

Another big parameter or variable which influences an ultra is how fit, trained and rested you get into the race. Back in 2006 I was still listening to my best doctor, my sister Marie in France, who was telling me I shouldn't race more than 2 marathons a year. Time has changed and I significantly pushed the limits on that aspect as you know if you regularly check my blog... ;-) I went from running a couple of ultras in 2006 to now running more than 35 ultras a year, including training runs, and up to 3 ultra races in a single month at the peak of the season in May and April. This year, I repeated the Caumsett-Way Too Cool back to back double (like Bill Dodson did this year, at 80), with a much stronger focus on the 50K Road Nationals than this second race of our regional Grand Prix (I still love the hardware... ;-).

Yet, I rarely toe a start line without an urge to run as fast as I can... Here I am with Bill (and ultra legend Roy Pirrung who was running his 1,000th race there) in the much colder Caumsett Park last week:

I spent the week leading to Way Too Cool on a business trip between New York and New Jersey then Oklahoma City. I left Newark (EWR) just after the weekend snow storm but to fly right into a major one... I was supposed to connect through Chicago (ORD) but, after 3 changes of planes and gates at EWR (so long for a restful tapering... ;-), I was sent to Houston (IAH). That flight was late so I missed the connection but was put on another flight to OKC which United created since they had a plane ready to leave for DC where the airport (IAD) was shut down. Let's say that was a good experience and taste of what a real winter is since we have been missing one for the past 4 years on the West Coast. I arrived at SFO as scheduled on Friday morning to hop on my car and drive to Sacramento where I worked for a few hours at our local office before driving up to Auburn to pick my bib. With 1,200 participants, it helps to have Thursday and Friday afternoons as options to avoid the rush on race morning. Thanks to that, I was impressed to see how smooth the race day pick-up was on Saturday morning.

Another kudo to Julie and her team for such a professional race management, all that with a smile! Julie is so into her element when directing that she appears way more relaxed despite the scale of such a race, than when she runs an ultra herself... ;-)

While all these business trips are rather tiring, I had a relaxing evening with my roommate and teammate, Marc Laveson. Marc has had issues with his racing last year and, after multiple tests and doctor visits, it was determined that his blood protein level is too low. Although an explanation/cause hasn't been found yet, he appreciates knowing the effect. After dining at Pete's at the corner of Foresthill Road (I only wished their pasta portion was 3 times larger...), we managed to get a good 8-hour sleep! I was up since 3 am Pacific, so really looking forward to catching up with that sleep. We left the hotel at 5:35 am and, no, we weren't the first ones to get to the Cool Fire Station, but still got parking spots close to the start line (later, there were cars parked a mile away from the start!). All that contributed to a relaxed pre-race preparation, I even managed to work for an hour on my next consulting gig!

We had quite a contingent representing our QuickSilver running club this weekend, 25 runners! Not all of them made it to the frog for pre-race group picture, but still a few, here we are:

This race became so competitive over the past years, it attracts a bunch of super fast runners who are giving ultra rail racing a try. It's not that there is even money to make but Way Too Cool has become a benchmark, a way for some to show their competition how strong they already are, that early in the season. For many others, though, Way Too Cool is their first ultra (I think more than 500 this year!), and for other veterans, this is more of a kick off of the season. With so much disparity, it's good that Julie groups runners into two starting waves, and that the first mile is on a paved road so the pack can stretch before getting on the single track trail. Thanks to a 6:00-minute first mile (oops!), I could still manage to see the 4 lead runners when they got on the single track but that was the extent that I'd see from them today. I was probably in 30th position by then and that was really going fast. I could now even keep up with 2 other runners of my age group, Rich Hanna (50) and Brian Pilcher (58), both notoriously faster than me anyway. Flying at 6 min/mile pace, and feeling chased... (Photo credit: Kyria Wilson)

I finished the initial loop (~8 miles) with the second and third women, Stephanie Howe and YiOu Wang. (Photo credit: NorCalUltras)

I didn't know Stephanie but I had "battled" YiOu when she won Skyline 50K last August and I knew she was really fast. Stephanie was leading our sprint down to Highway 49, but YiOu seemed even more agile and at ease in the rocky section. (Photo credit: Inside Trail)

After 7 min/mile at mile 8, our average pace was now decreasing as we pushed on the long stretch along the American River. YiOu actually left us in the dust and Stephanie stayed beyond me. Last year, I was feeling well in that section too and regretted pushing too soon, I was really not sure if it would work better this year but I decided to keep going on and I was still on a 7 min/mile pace by mile 15 at Maine Bar. I actually passed Victor (Ballesteros) just before the climb and we joked about the crazy fast pace.

Around mile 16 I caught up with Karl (Schnaitter). With the steep climb to mile 19, our average pace was now down to 7:15, still a fast one. When I passed Karl around mile 20, before the ALT (Auburn Lake Trail) aid station, Karl ask me if I was indeed on a PR pace. To which I replied that the course had changed so much over the years, I wasn't sure. And, indeed, I knew I had broken 4 hours a couple of times, but I didn't even know what was my PR at this event.

Anyway, ALT was my first stop at an aid station, to refill my GU2O bottle, and Karl and Stephanie passed me then. It took me at least 2 miles to catch-up with Karl, and Stephanie was nowhere to be seen, so I knew I was losing some steam. Karl and I managed to trot most of Goat Hill's wall, just walking in the last switch back. We were at the marathon mark in 3:15 and I was thinking that the lead runners might have already finished by then. On our way back to the creek, we passed teammate Marc (Laveson) who was cramping badly but was still in good spirit to at least finish.

I wasn't in the mood to push more than just trying to keep up with Karl at that time. Without stopping at the last aid station, Hwy 49 Crossing, we passed a few runners in the last hill, including YiOu who was now cramping too. I crossed the finish line in 3:50:42.

The weather and trail conditions were exceptional, definitely the year to have an outstanding experience and PR. Which leads me back to the title, "So fast, yet so slow..." Did I PR myself? Actually, not, but I was darn close, 17 seconds exactly!

And that was in 2013, with perfect Spring conditions too and a dry course which allowed Max King to set an amazing 3:08 course record then. Well, defying my belief that Max's record couldn't be improved, Patrick Smyth, 28, of Salt Lake City, UT, proved me wrong: he won in a blazing time of 3:04:48, WOW! If the course was effectively 50K (it is close to 1 mile shorter actually), this would be a sub 6-minute average pace! How embarrassing, that made my great performance a poor 80% for UltraSignup, yikes! I also was "slow" enough to get chicked twice: Megan Roche (24, Sunnyvale) was 10th overall and won the Women division in a very impressive 3:41:56. Stephanie (Howe) took 2nd in 3:47:14 and YiOu 3rd, 26 seconds behind me. And it it was not enough, I didn't even win my age group: at 50, Rich Hanna finished 9th overall, 1st Masters, in 3:41:40. Our previous M50-59 age group record was 4:04, he destroyed it! Brian Pilcher was shooting for 3:38 himself but dropped at mile 9 on a hamstring issue. So, yes I was fast, but still quite slow compared to the lead folks: I placed 21st overall, 19th Men and 2nd M50-59. The problem with Way Too Cool is that the level keeps rising! It's not good to get older...

Yet, I was very pleased with my run: still strong despite racing hard 6 days before, no cramp, almost no walking and even a huge smile at the end, something I haven't experienced often at this race (thank you Jena for the picture!). And my Brooks PureGrit worked perfectly on these soft trails.

On our team, Stephen Wassather, who works and trains with many of the fast dudes on Mt Tamalpais, finished in 3:48, 15th overall. I'm super happy for him and it's good for the team that we have runners faster than me! ;-) With courage and determination, Marc finished in 35th, just above 4 hours. Like me in 2013 when I had to rush for a red eye to Mexico, he had an evening flight to Hong Kong, way to live an ultra life!

Huge kudos again to Julie, her crew and army of volunteers for such a flawless organization (well, I didn't experience what it was to go through aid stations after 1,000 other runners...). It's hard to feed 1,200 hungry ultra runners but the small sandwich and the traditional cup cake were enough for me to drive back home. I stayed for an hour to connect with a few, but I admit that, after being away for a week, I was also eager to get back home for 36 hours before my next business trip to Columbus, OH, this Monday. I still managed to get an amazing treatment on my legs from the Monsters of Massage, so good that I was able to run 14 miles at 7:28 min/mile on Sunday, and 9 miles before my flight this Monday morning. Not even recovery runs, I'm back to training already! ;-) But 4 weeks before my next race (American River 50-mile), that looks like a huge break and vacation! Just need to keep training smart and stay healthy. Just...

Wishing you all to stay healthy as well!

PS: I did wear a big 89 in my back in memory and to honor Steve Avilla, his family and his trail running friends. Steve was supposed to run Way Too Cool this year, as his first ultra, but tragically passed away a week before while running on the trails (from a heart situation which he didn't know). As the bib was saying, Run In Peace, Steve...

Way Too Cool 2014: ouch again!

Enough! Someone has to speak-up so better be me... I need to stop chasing big goals while I'm injured and blatantly under trained! Only 110 miles overall of running in February, not a single hill, I should just be happy to toe the line, set a conservative pace and finish. But that's so far from the goals I had set for this year, and the level of fitness I had built in January...

The setup for this year's Way Too Cool was perfect though: 25th anniversary, blue and sunny skies, nice temperatures, 45F at the start and 70+ by mid day, soft trails with just enough mud to remind us we are still in winter and a few creeks to cross. After last Sunday's Nationals, my tibia was burning but I was able to ice it a lot at the hotel I was staying at for my customer meetings in New Jersey. No running of course but 2 sessions on the elliptical to get the sore legs moving. At the last minute I made a reservation for Friday night in Auburn, fearing the parking issues with 1,233 participants in this year's edition. Quite a few being from our San Jose QuickSilver running club (20 total today)!

The team in blue even got interviewed!

It was my 94th ultra race, 45th 50K and 9th consecutive Way Too Cool. I must admit that I have a bumpy relationship with this race, mostly love which gets me to come back, but I had quite lows on this course. 2006 was actually my first ultra. I had bee told it was an easy and "flat" course and suffered so much from cold temperatures that I barely broke 4:30. 2007 was even worse with asthma kicking in and a 4:45 finish (still no post as I started blogging late March 2007). A breakthrough on the shorter course of 2008 with a nice 3:56 ("Cool, at last."). 4:14 in 2009 ("Longer, slower.") then my worst finish in 4:58 in 2010 ("Not completely cool"). Back in 2011 with a 4:18 ("My 5th birthday"), 4:06 in 2012 ("Way too what?") and another breakthrough last year in perfect dry conditions with a top 10 finish in 3:50:25 ("So cool!").

With that I only needed to run 10 minutes slower this year to improve the course record of my brand new M50-59 age group. As usual with the very fast top runners and the 1st mile all downhill and on pavement, the start was very fast. I ran the first mile in 6:06 and it felt easy except for some tension in my calves, residual tiredness from racing hard 6 days ago at the Nationals. I was probably in the top 20-25 at the end of the first loop, coming back to Cool at an average 7 min/mile pace which was comparable to last year. My tibia started burning on the rough downhill to Highway 49 crossing at mile 10 but it was bearable.

The next section is a scenic and rolling 4-mile along the American River and I kept the pace slightly under 7 which was slightly faster than last year. The course is not quite 31.1 miles, closer to 30.4-30.5, with the second half harder in my opinion than the first. My Garmin indicated 1:46 for the first half (15.2) miles, that was indeed a fast pace, way under 4 hours. Starting at the half marathon, my calves started cramping so I doubled my S!Caps intake and slowed down a little, letting Karl Schnaitter among others closing on me by the Maine Bar aid station.

Although the UltraSignup statistics were putting me in 31st position in the list of entrants, Race Director Julie Fingar assigned me the bib #17, I always appreciate the faith she has in me, it did pay off last year! ;-) UltraRunnerPodcast's Eric Schranz was taking pictures of us on Lower Quarry Road (see below). That was around mile 14 and he said "Here is Jean, racing again! You are in 15th." So far, so good...

Well, so far, too fast... The cramps worsen and the pace falling down the cliff, 7:20, 7:30, 7:40... I did pass a couple of runners but was mostly passed by a few others. Teammate John Burton passed me just before the mile 19 camera, and he had the top 2 female on his heels which probably motivated him! ;-) Speedsters Caitleen Smith, who encouraged me, and Magdalena Boulet. A mile never felt as long at the one between that livecast camera and the Auburn Lake Trails aid station. I had my Gu2O almost refilled by one of the volunteers when Mark Richtman flew in the aid station yelling "Gu2O, Gu2O!" Over the last 3 miles I was expecting Mark Murray to catch me, but that was the other Mark who showed up first, the 58-year old and ex member of ultra running Team USA. I left the aid station first but Mark was quick to pass me and leave me in the dust. Our average pace at this point was 7:49, if I recall, so I thought he had a shot to the age group record himself.

From that point, having lost the age group category, the race became a real struggle. The cramping was really bad but, over the years, I learned how to deal with it and keep moving. Albeit quite slowly now. Last year, I was so excited to run most of Goat Hill, this year it was an agony. I briefly stopped at the aid station at the top of Goat Hill to take two small cups of Coke and I had hard time leaving the station, both my legs almost paralyzed. Pictures of me being passed by Michael Fink and Jady Palko, from Galen Farris:

I forced myself to jog the next miles, with more runners passing me, and didn't want to lose more time at the Highway 49 Crossing. The last hill was a struggle and even the last 1/2 mile to the finish with the cramps seizing both my calves (Pictures from Scott Sandow).

While my finish time wasn't my worse here, 4:14:38, I placed 40th and 5th in my new age group, yikes! Here is the screen shot that Greg took from the video live cast at the finish line:

At 58 Mark Richtman had won our age group in 4:02, missing the AG course record by a minute (he had no idea what that record was). Mark Murray also had a tough day with such a fast start and ran a 4:27 (versus 4:02 last year).

The race was won by Chris Vargo from Colorado Springs (3:16:51) beating local elite Alex Varner by 13 seconds, what a finish! To put things into perspective, Max King had set a Course Record last year in 3:08:50 but on a completely dry course so I'd say this year's conditions were not as good, although great for a winter race.

Magdalena won, clocking the 2nd fastest time on this course, 3:53:09, with Caitlin taking second in 3:56 and Jennifer Pfeifer (50!) passing me in the last 1/4 mile stretch to take 3rd in 4:14.

Overall, a masterpiece event organized by Julie and her NorCal Ultras crew, I believe now the largest 50K in North America, and maybe the largest ultra. Apart from the parking (I arrived almost 2 hours before the start and was parked 0.4 mile from the start, some runners having to park a mile away!), it never felt crowded. Well, even it wasn't my best day, I wasn't in the middle of the pack either... I only stopped at one aid station, but thank you to all the volunteers along the course. And to those hanging out at the finish line, I'm sure you spent the whole day handling such a crowd! What another ultra party you spoiled us with!

The first thing I did after finishing is some stretching of my sore legs and get a massage from Ve Loyce, the Monster of the Monsters of Massage. After 17 miles of running with cramps, my legs are still super sore this Sunday morning, but the massage helped me quitting the WTC scene walking... The tibia is burning pretty bad again this morning and I still don't know for sure what the injury is. At least my next race is only in 4 weeks (American River)...

Run happy and safely out there, looking forward to hearing about other WTC stories on FaceBook or the blogopshere!

Way Too Cool 2013: so cool!

My 8th participation in a row at this iconic North Californian 50K race which was also my first ultra back in 2006. This year, it was actually my 79th ultra race, time flies... With the presence of the King, a.k.a. Max King, Leor (Pantilat) and last year's course record setter, Gary (Gellin), it promised to be a fast race at the front. With a super dry winter :-( on top of that which made the trail completely mud-free and an amazing weather, sunny with cool temperatures, you had all the ingredients for a very very fast year.

After a challenging January with a nagging calf injury which kept me out of running and training for 3 weeks, I had a good February, logging 295 miles in 4 weeks (74 miles/week). Yet, even with a few track workouts with Bob and Jeremy, I still feel far behind my fitness level of last year. And 4-5 pounds over my targeted race weight. At least, with a business trip in New York the week leading to the race, I had a good excuse to taper.

I drove straight from a business meeting in San Francisco on Friday afternoon and hit the usual weekend traffic with speed alternating  between 65mph and above to... zero. I was actually super lucky not to hit or be hit... Between Fairfield and Vacaville, in one section where the traffic was fluid, I was following a Rav4 on the left lane when it suddenly stopped to avoid a car which did two full spins across the four lanes in a cloud of smoke before exiting the road on the right side which was, very fortunately, flat and open (no concrete, no gully, no tree, just flat grass...). I stopped in the left emergency lane to avoid the Rav4 and looked in the mirror to see the 4-lane traffic stopping behind us, phew! The only accident I had in my life was a rear-end which destroyed our mini van on our our way to American River in April 2010 (see picture), I certainly don't want to make "accident on the way to ultras" a tradition...

Anyway, had a good 8-hour sleep in one of the motels in Auburn (the same Leor was staying at) and was up at 4:40 am for some break before driving early to the start to secure a good parking spot. The moon's first quarter was amazing in the clear sky at dawn:

It was about 6:10 when I arrived at Cool and the first parking lot was already half full. Omni-present ultra volunteer Stan Jensen (www.run100s.com) was assigned to my bib pick-up area and not too busy yet, so we could chat a bit.

Our Grand Prix co-chair, Bill Dodson, was also part of the early birds. At 78 he was the veteran of the race and still managed to finish 556th out of 831 finishers!

With more than 900 participants, race director, Julie Fingar, set a 2-wave start at 8 and 8:10. She also gave me a nice bib, 20, although, in such a competitive field, I was definitely not looking to finish in the top 20. My dream was just to break 4 hours again, which has been very challenging for me at this race (respective times from 2006 to 2012: 4:29:50, 4:45:42, 3:56:52!, 4:14:43, 4:58:32, 4:18:10, 4:06:00) with several occurrences of exercise-induced asthma or hypothermia.

I toed the start line 5-6 ranks behind the front runners, next to John Blue, Tim Twietmeyer (22nd Way Too Cool!) and Megan Arbogast. I passed the first mile mark in 6:27 which was barely fast enough to still see Leor and Max as they were switching from the road to the trail in the distance in a blazing sub-6 min/mile pace. Imagining their duel helped my pushing my own pace whenever I could on this rolling course.

I completed the first 8-mile loop just under 57 minutes (smiling while breathing on John Medinger's picture, above) and was able to maintain this 7 min/mile pace for the first half of the race. I traded a few places along the American River and felt really good in the uphills which was a great sign.

Yet, I was trying not to get too excited and making sure to hydrate properly as the second half is always the challenge for me on this course. ALT (Auburn Lake Trails, mile 21) was the first and only station I would stop. Thanks to the efficient volunteers, I was out in 40 seconds with my Gu2O bottle refilled, my average pace dropping from 7:23 to 7:25. Like my Asterix magic potion, I also swallowed a pouch of ultra-concentrate Vespa to keep the engine running at full steam (I ran the entire race on 2 GUs, 1.3 bottles of Gu2O and 1 small cup of coca-cola, and didn't even cramp once).

I kept passing a few runners especially in the hills but one almost caught up with me at the bottom of Goat Hill. Too bad for him, that gave me the guts to try to run the whole thing (those who know will appreciate...) which I did, at last! I was thinking of just stopping by at the Goat Hill aid station to hug the Birthday Boy, aka Norm Klein, but, not seeing him, I kept going and passed another runner. My average pace was down to 7:36 after the "wall" of Goat Hill (and the marathon mark) and, after 3 hours and 17 minutes of running, I started thinking I could break these 4 hours which gave me even more energy to maintain the effort in the last miles. Here is a picture credit to Eric Schranz from UltraRunnerPodcast.com, around mile 28:

I didn't walk at all this year and that's what it takes to finish break 4 hours. I was thrilled with my 3:50:25 finish time. The first thing I inquired about, right after passing the finish line and thanking Julie for an amazing experience, was what happened at the front and Julie told be that 4 runners were under Gary's 2012 course record with Max clocking a blazing 3:08! Chris Vargo from Colorado Springs took second in 3:18 followed by Leor in 3:21. Gary gave everything he had this year to finish 6th overall and 1st Master, 29 seconds before Rod Bien who is now 40. Surprisingly I was third Master today, an honor I never got at this race, and 9th overall. This got me a nice bottle of The Climber, a wine from the Clif Family Winery (yes the same family at the head of Clif Bar!).

At 51 Megan Arbogast won the race in 4:06, 53 seconds ahead of Rori Bosio in an exciting duel of generations ;-). As Megan told me at the finish "hey, I didn't catch you this time!" Yes, first time I am not chicked at WTC, in 2008, winner Susan Beck passed me 3 miles from the finish and 1 minute ahead of me.

The Tamlpa team had a very strong representation and amazing presence among the top men finishers. On our side, after Gary and I, it seemed like there was a team meeting happening around 12:45-1pm with a few finishes in that quarter: Clare Abram (4:44), Scott Laberge (4:53), Lauren Lewis (4:54) and Andy Benkert (5:00). Our two other runners also finished close to each other, Stephen Strauss in 6:29 and Tim Allen in 6:35.

Again, in such perfect and pristine conditions, most of the runners had a blast and many were thrilled to have PR'ed this Saturday. A huge thank to Julie Fingar and her team for getting all the stars aligned and, although I quickly passed through all the aid stations but ALT, for all the volunteers who spent the day to assist so many runners out on these nice but remote trails. Here I am, hugging the WTC frog after the race:

The report wouldn't be complete without the mention of the double deep-tissue massage I got from the Monsters of Massage (ouch, it hurts but it feels good to get all these toxins quickly expelled from tight muscles). This massage allowed me to have a nice recovery run this Sunday.

I had to rush to get prepared for a red-eye to Mexico City that same evening so I left at 1pm after having had lunch with Leor and Erica. Thankfully the drive back home was without incident and much faster than the Friday afternoon commute.

My next race is American River, also managed by Julie (Northcal Ultras), and I count on her for an equally amazing experience now that the bar is set even higher! ;-) Well, it was good to get some rain in the Bay Area (while I was in NYC under some snow), out trails and more importantly our reservoirs, creeks and parks, also need water, not just sun. Have a good week all!

Way Too Cool 2012: way too what?

It was certainly not too cool this Saturday, temperature wise. Not as warm as the 78F we had in Sacramento on Friday afternoon though, thanks to some clouds in the sky, but warm enough for me to run with one layer on, and for a few others to run shirt less. Otherwise, it was of course way too cool to run in Cool again, partly on the Western States trail and in particular that cool race celebrating a local frog.

It was my 7th Way Too Cool. The official website was mentioning the 15th annual running but the event has been on since 1990 making it the 23rd edition this year (Tim Twietmeyer only missed 1991 and 2003 so it was his 21st!). Here is Tim (left) with Stan Jensen, at the finish:

Before sharing more details about my race, here are a few "way too..." vignettes as a summary

1. Way too dry (part 1). I've never seen these trails in such amazing running conditions in March, barely a puddle and trace of mud except for 3 creek crossings where we got our feet wet. While it provides amazing running conditions, this really shows that we didn't get much of winter in North California. 19 runners broke 4 hours including 2 gals and 11 masters!
2. Way too fast. With such dry conditions and perfect temperature, it was the day to set Personal and Course Records and both male and female CRs have been improved indeed (for this course which changed significantly a couple of years ago).
3. Way too pro. I should say "so professional", speaking of Julie Fingar's management. With 200 volunteers, chip timing, an expo, big name sponsors, live video streaming, custom-made cupcakes, fully stocked aid stations, announcer at the start and finish line, the events organized by Nor Cal Ultras stand out and become has professional as the main road events.
4. Way too crowded. This one isn't from me but I did hear it from a middle packer: with almost 800 participants on such a great course with many long single track sections, it creates long lines of runners at times.

As you might have read in my previous post, I was still in Dubai on Friday morning. The trip back home was long (23 hours!) and the connection in DC particularly stressful because of the delay caused by the sun flares/storm. Agnès picked me at the airport and we headed straight to Eldorado Hills where she had a seminar, Friday evening and Saturday. That was ideally located, 20 miles from the start which I drove to early to secure a spot in the main parking lot. That was a good move as I had to use the bathrooms several time before the start. Indeed, although I flew more than 1.5 million miles for business and can handle jet lag pretty well, the only thing which I never managed to get right after such slights is GI issues. It always takes a few days for my transit system to regroup but, unfortunately this time, I had only a few hours and the thing was pretty messed up start from the start. With that, I was still at my car when I heard the count down starting and barely made it into the pack at the sound of the gun.

The start was so crowded that we had to walk first, then sprint and slalom to reach the head of the race. I ran the first mile in 6:15 (it's all road and slightly downhill) and settle after a pack of about 20 runners around the top three gals. I ended up just behind Erik Skaden when the trail turned to a narrow single track. Around mile 7 we passed master blogger Scott Dunlap who took this amazing shot while running. Scott is really mastering the art of "backward, single hand, arm length, in action, over the shoulder" photography! All that at 7 minutes/mile pace... (photo credit: Scott Dunlap)

Indeed, I closed the first 8-mile loop in 56 minutes and probably around the 20 or 25 position (photo credit UltraRunnerPodcast.com).

My intestine was hurting but I was still hoping that will clear-up in the way down to the river. As a matter of fact, the pounding in the steep downhill to Highway 40 crossing just made it worse and I had to ease the pace by a few seconds by mile 13. I stopped for the first time at mile 16, for 3 long minutes which got my average pace to fall from 7:12 to 7:22 and I saw about 8 or 10 runners passing. It felt better for a few hundreds yards before the cramps and diarrhea started hurting again. I passed a few runners who were wondering how I managed to come from behind (Ray Sanchez, Mark Murray, Jady Palko, ...) and they passed me again as I had to stop again... Not a good day although the legs were working fine.

With the gastro intestinal mess I couldn't eat anything which wasn't too much of a concern as I was using Vespa. But I was also resisting the need to drink, just forcing myself to empty my GU2O bottle which I managed to do by mile 20. At the ALT (Auburn Lake Trails) aid station, a ranger helped me refill my GU2O bottle. He then proposed to fill in my water bottle and, to my surprise, it was still almost full, I had barely taken a sip of water. That wasn't good either, that's my "Way Too Dry (part 2)" vignette because I did get too dry myself indeed... I took one GU for the whole race, I'm glad fat burning covered for the rest (yes, the Vespa effect...).

I stabilized the pace just below 8 minutes/mile in the relatively flat section before the steep Goat Hill in which I passed a handful of runners. (Photo credit Nor Cal Ultras)

At the top of Goat Hill, I got a hug from Norm Klein, and a quick accolade from Helen. I apologized for being late and not having time to stop by then rushed for the final 5 miles, the intestinal pain becoming more tolerable. I passed a few other runners and finished in 26th position, missing my goal by 6 minutes (4:06:00). It was the day to break 4 hours and 19 other runners had done it today. With teammate Gary Gellin even breaking 3.5 hours, winning the race and setting a new course record of 3:27:43. That should be an age group CR which should last for some time! Here are Gary and Holly before the start:

You can check the recording of the live video streaming in one of these sections, by finish time (I'm afraid Gary went too fast to get caught by the camera...):

1. 3:43:15 - 4:27:39: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21014788 (my finish is at 22 minutes 50 seconds into this one)
2. 4:32:35 - 5:27:45: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21015697
3. 5:30:44 - 7:13:37: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21016790

After Jed Smith and a strong training this year, I definitely had the potential to do better to celebrate my 30th 50K, but this is still honorable given the circumstances. With all the bad exercise-induced asthma incidents on this course, it's actually my 2nd best time (3:56:47 in 2008 on a different course). I heard that many runners set PRs this Saturday, it was indeed a unique opportunity to do well in such perfect conditions.

A big thank you to the 200 hundred volunteers who assisted Julie, her NorCalUltras team and us, before, during and after the race, with such a perfect logistic! And so many cupcakes...

Special thanks to Ve Loyce and his Monsters of Massage for their deep massage. This allowed me to run 16 miles this Sunday; it's almost time to taper again before next race, Chuckanut 50K in 6... days (no, not weeks!) in Fairhaven, WA. I'm going out of my North California "comfort zone", in new territories and picking one of the most competitive field ever. Just to give you some perspective, there are 27 overall or age-graded "100%" entrants in the 700 deep field! Another indication is that Gary, who just won Way Too Cool, would be happy to finish in the top 20 there (he appears in 24th position in the past performance-ordered registrant list, I'm in 84th position...). Definitely out of my comfort zone... ;-)

Talk to you from Washington State next time then!

PS: if you live in the South Bay and like music, Max and his fellow a cappella SOBs (Society of Orpheus and Bacchus) from Yale are stopping by and will give a concert in Cupertino on Thursday evening, March 15 (tickets at http://www.yaleclubofsiliconvalley.org/article.html?aid=130 or at the door).