Skyline 50K 2021: so hard but good to be back!

Sorry if the title looks like containing an ounce or two of the sadomasochist nature of ultra running, I can't help not to as it captures my state of mind. And, from what I could see on social media, it hasn't been easy for most of us indeed, yet... so good!

First, the good part: we are back to racing! I'm particularly grateful to Race Director Adam Ray who took over this long-running East Bay ultra tradition several years ago, for braving the headwinds of organizing an event of that scale. Of course, last year's edition got cancelled due to the pandemic but it was scheduled nevertheless so, since 1982, that makes it one of the longest running 50K in North America and, allegedly, the longest in the West. Everybody was adamant about the joy to gather as a community again! To make the opportunity even more impactful, Adam had added a shorter distance to include even more trail runners, with a half marathon. Adam had set the date and registration website back in January, that's resilience!

Now, are we in shape for this? Except for a few exceptions who kept racing weekly or monthly like Jason Reed or those who trained for and ran 100-milers already this year (think Western States or Tahoe Rim Trail), the answer to the question is a resounding No! Well, not me anyway.

Those following my blog have noticed the lack of activity. Between COVID (which I might have contracted back in February 2020), the lack of racing but, more importantly, the November 2018 hamstring tendon fissure, I fell off the cliff. I barely survived the heat and 50K of slow walking at the100-mile Nationals in April. I was feeling better in May while preparing for the 50K Road Nationals in June but, during one of my trips in France, badly fell in a slippery staircase and reopened the wound. I saw my specialist in France who said, after a lengthy consultation: "the diagnosis doesn't explain your pain, that shouldn't prevent you from doing what you want..." What I want? Well, getting back to running fast but it has become so hard to even train when every stride hurts. On one hand, there is the famous adage: "listen to your body." On the other: "Keep going." So confusing... The ultrasound scan showed the injured tendon attach 35% larger than the healthy one in the right leg, because of so much scar tissues. Almost 3 years, how much harder it is to heal with age... When I think of Russian gymnast Artur Dalaloyan who got a gold medal in Tokyo less than three months after surgery on his Achilles', while typical recovery is at least 8-10 months, this is insane! And what am I really complaining about...?

Anyway, with that, my main goal was to finish and I took extra care of not getting caught in the front of the race. For instance getting at the back of the pack at the start which gave me the opportunity to get this selfie of our team, and a full frame picture by another runner. Short of a very involved team these days, so cool to have 6 runners in to potentially score a men and mixed team!

Starting in the middle of the pack and on a paved section, despite making sure I wasn't going out faster than 8 min/miles (as opposed to sub 6 certain years when chasing Chikara!), I still passed quite a few runners, but never had a glimpse of the leaders. I chatted with a few, it felt good to see so many familiar faces, but new ones as well, so typical of that race which sees many rookies in ultra running given the accessibility of the race from around the Bay.

As soon as we started climbing I realized the lack of training and fitness; that was going to be a longer day this year! The funny thing was that, on the first rolling section, I kept trading places with a handful of runners, getting passed in the uphills and passing them on the way down. That included my teammate Lisa Hughey as well as another female runner, both looking really strong. Tagging along Lisa at the start, photo credits Michael Lucid and Scena Performance:

This lasted for 9 miles until to Bort Meadow aid station. From there, I was really impressed with the smoothness of the pace of one runner in particular, bib 68 (Jake Edman) and 51 (Oliver Chan). Both photo credits Michael Lucid and Scena Performance:

While I typically hammer it down and run on my own, it felt important to tag along today, and that proved a great strategy! While I lost sight of them in the steep climb to the Skyline Gate aid station at miles 16.5, Jake was still at the station when I got up there and I formed the dream and goal of finishing just behind him.

He left the station just before me and I had to let him go as I had a rare and, fortunately, super short occurrence of nausea, with my mouth full of potato chips and... salted caramel GU gel. The thing is that, after being assisted by super volunteer Chihping Fu, I had left in a hurry when I saw Blair Howard (GVH) and Markelle Taylor (Tamalpa, bib 608) closing on us. I didn't know their age group but thought they might be in mine, dang!

Faster than Jake in downhills, I did pass him on French Trail while he was lacing his shoes. I was super careful myself and it didn't take too long for Blair to catch-up before the bottom of the trail. Both my calves were cramping badly, I took an additional S!Caps and a pouch of Vespa concentrate, that quickly helped. I was also encouraged by my stronger walking going uphill, not losing too much ground on Blair, even managing to pass him a mile later. Jake caught up with us and passed me, and I caught up again just before our return to the Big Bear aid station.

Then, with too much walking on my end, and more cramping, I lost sight of Jake at the top. I was only able to catch him right before Bort Meadow. We ran the next 2 miles to Grass Valley, together, and that's when I let him know I'd be thrilled to finish with him. Bringing it back home, only 4 miles to go, photo credits Michael Lucid and Scena Performance:

I told him about the final roller coaster miles, tried to pickup the pace, but that didn't prevent us from being passed by Jonathan Goergen in such an impressive fast pace, phew!

Jake and I finished a few seconds apart in a time of 4:55.

Ouch, my worst finish in 13 runs, that hurts. While the fog was still covering the ridge for the first two hours, it got quite hot at the finish despite some refreshing breeze (the wind which fueled the awful wildfires unfortunately). The race not being too competitive, that time was good enough for 15th overall, 14th men, 3rd Masters and 2nd M50-59, so far behind Cliff Lentz today (48 minutes, ouch!).

Poor Adam who couldn't tell why I wasn't fully satisfied with my race despite a perfect weather, a perfect course (albeit quite dry and dusty), a perfect race organization, from the pre-race communication and briefings on Zoom to the dedicated volunteers, me breaking 5 hours, and the burgers at the finish (I would also mention the beer if I was a fan, but not really). Oh, and these 16 or 20 super cool and helpful radio volunteers along the course, a unique Skyline 50K feature on our ultra running circuit! Photo credit Michael Lucid for Scena Performance:

So, what was not to like? Well, my finish time as I just mentioned. You don't have to apply too much data science to relate to the "falling off the cliff" expression I used at the beginning of the post, the numbers speak for themselves. Hopefully, I can rebuild and get back to more normal times, I still have hope, hopefully that's not too wild of a dream!

Apart from the finish time, mostly good news: I didn't trip down, didn't roll an ankle (a few incidents earlier this year...), didn't bonk thank to Vespa, no asthma, not too sore on Monday despite some cramping (but a good session of Normatec air compression boots does help), still managed to run a reasonable amount of uphills, felt great in the downhills.

The youngsters took the top honors in the Men with defending Champion Steven Kool, 26, taking first again in 3:40 (that time brought back great memories on my end), Andrew Catanese, 28, 2nd in 3:54:30 and Evan Molineux, 27, 3rd, right under 4 hours (3:59:00)! Then Karl Schnaitter, 4:10 followed by his Excelsior teammate and M50-59 extraordinaire, Cliff Lentz (4:11).

On the women side, Kristina Randrup won again this year in 4:16:44 (Adam thought it was a course record but YiOu Wang ran 3:53 the year I set the course record for M50 in 3:52, in 2014. 2nd place was Isabel Diaz from Tamalpa (4:57:32). Then the runner I was running with in the first hills was in third place, about half a mile from the finish, when a drama happened: she didn't feel well, just had the time to call her husband on her phone before passing out. That's when Blair arrived on the scene and, as an exemplary ultra runner and experienced CPR, he stayed for 10 minutes to assist before an ambulance drove on the course. We heard that she was fine but that's a scary experience of course! Both photo credits Michael Lucid for Scena Performance:

With that, my teammate Lisa took third instead (after checking on the distressed runner first before passing by of course, that's what we do in our ultra trail community)!

For our club, Marco finished strong in 6:50, Marc in 7:05, Loren 7:19, our septuagenarian Steve and Jim in 7:41 and 7:58 respectively, then 8:21 for Keith. Bad news though, Marco and Steve didn't renew their USATF membership in time to score. Coach Marc:

How dusty were the trails: dusty enough to make the Dusty Bottoms running club members really excited, both on the runner side but the cool volunteers too!

Special thanks again to Adam for having persisted through the upmost uncertainty of the year and for supporting our Mountain, Ultra, Trail Grand Prix with this race, and Firetrails 50-mile at the end of September. And all the volunteers who took care of us in this summer heat, to keep us cool!

40 years since the first edition which Carol LaPlant ran in 1982, followed by 10 others. With knee issues, Carol still managed to complete the half marathon, along with Mama Lisa (Felder) who motivated so many people to hit the trails in the East Bay in particular. Carol ran about 170 ultras, that was #172 for me, what a coincidence!

At 66 Joe Swenson finished his 21th Skyline, comforting his lead in Adam's Skyline 50K Hall of Legends! Well done, Joe! All finishers got a t-short, a pair of "The Guy Socks" and, for that special edition, a medal!

All in all, moving forward and hoping the effort kills some scar tissues off my butt! Stay safe out there, running and COVID wise...

PS: another site for Michael Lucid photography.