Diablo Trail Half: back to the massive Mount Diablo

This is the second year we included this race in the Short series of our MUT (Mountain, Ultra, Trail) Grand Prix. One of the rationales is to appeal to our USATF Pacific Association clubs on each side of our region which spans from Sacramento and Reno on the east, and the Bay Area, down to San Luis Obispo on the west.

Same-day race reports have pros and cons. On one hand, fresh memories in your head. On the other, missing pictures not yet posted on the race website. Actually, I found this run to be so intense that I wish I had worn an action camera: if pictures are worth a thousand words, video clips are worth millions! Hence the success of Instagram and TikTok I guess... Short of such clips, back to words... And moot point regarding the same-day report as I started writing upon driving back home on Saturday but continue 6 days later on Friday. At least with pictures this time since the race directors have posted their wrap-up on Tuesday, including a dozen of albums from various photographers (short of all the names, I'll give credit to Brazen Racing then). And, in the delay, I also managed to score and publish the new standings, not without quite a few issues with name matching (participants not using the same name between their USATF and race registrations).

My first race on Mount Diablo was back in June 2008 with a 50K, I was only 2 years in my ultra running journey and still learning so much (I had a challenging second loop but still managed to take 3rd behind Jasper Halekas and Graham Cooper, the winner of Western States in 2006). That was also the day I discovered Vespa Power, a product which has helped me a lot since then.

My second race there was a Mountain format organized by Greg Lanctot, an event which showed us that Mount Diablo abound with some serious steep trails. In January 2022. I had been warned!

I had looked at the course and, while I wasn't visualizing the exact trails, the profile was simple enough to remember: 2 good climbs followed by 4 uphill miles culminating at mile 9, then 4 miles down to the finish. What I had missed on that course description was that it was given at 13.8 miles, on the long end for a half. (Credit: Brazen Racing)

I have to admit I was impressed with the size of the field, with more than 275 registered entrants. And that was only for the half, there was also a 50K starting 2 hours ahead of us at 6:30 am with around 150 entrants, a 10K with another 150 or so entrants, and 5K, with about 100 participants. And a hiker division for the half (early start) rounding up to about 700 participants, wow!

There were quite a new faces and youngsters lining up at the start and, right off the bat, the lead runners disappeared and I estimated being in 30-35th place, even losing a few spots around 1.5 mile in the first steep hill which got me to a walk. I couldn't spot any M60 around but I was right in the middle of the M50 battle between one of our scorers, David Moulton, who won the age group last year, and this season's leader, Ed Randolph.

My strategy for the race was to run anything my lungs and glutes would allow me to, and leverage the emulation of the younger runners to keep pushing the pace in the red zone. I lost track of who passed me or even who I was passing in the long climb. Like I don't recall passing Ed as I was focused on minimizing the gap with David, whom I eventually passed before the top. Actually, around mile 7.5, a tall runner with a red hoody (Jeffery Florczak from the results), passed me with an impressive steady pace in the uphill, that reminded me the truck diesel mode in first gear which Hal Koerner described to me while I was running along after pacing Mike Wardian in December 2008. At that point, I felt the urge to try to keep up with his pace, something I was able to do for half a mile or so, and keep visual contact until the famous 9-mile point marking the start of the long downhill which Sam, the RD, described as a roller coaster.

Just before the top I actually passed another runner, all in black (Sabino Armenta), who was a super descender as he quickly caught up with Jeffery and I, and passed us at full speed. I myself passed Jeffery after 2 miles of flying down the hill, and even Sabino after 2 short hills slowed him down.

From there, it was a continuation of the battle against the clock. I had seen Cliff Lentz's time of 1:50 for 2nd place (at 60!) last year, I was dreaming of breaking 2 hours. And at mile 12, I felt good about it, except that we were still quite far from the 1-mile sign we had passed in the morning. Again, I hadn't notice the course was given at 13.8 miles, that made for quite a long last mile and sprint to the finish line, at a sub-6 pace according to my Coros watch.

My GPS marked 2:00:01 when I stopped it but I was given a chip time of 1:59:53, phew, that was close! 15th overall, 11th in Men, 4th Masters. And, yes, first M60!

What I hadn't realized is that the course record has been set at 1:30:14 in 2014, wow. As a matter of fact, Robert Shütz had won this year's edition in a time of 1:33:00. For one thing, Robert ran 2:33 at CIM in 2023. He is from the Strawberry Canyon club and I was thrilled to see three jerseys of their club taking 1, 2 (Ryan Smith) and 8 (Julien Putz), only to discover upon scoring that Ryan hadn't renewed his USATF membership, stealing the opportunity to score a Men team (3 runners).

On the Men side, Hank Beyer took 3rd.

On the Women side: Zoe Chasen (Impala), Erin Gunther, and Sara Bagnel (Impala).

Team and club wise, Pamakids had 30 participants, half of the 61 Pacific Association members scoring at this event, impressive! (Photo from Kimmy Luzette-Reye's Facebook feed.)

Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders and Tamalpa also scored a team in the Mixed division. Excelsior won the Team Men division, and, not surprisingly when they show up, Impala was the fastest team on the Women side.

In addition to the healthy Pacific Association field, I've rarely met with so many runners from France. Incidentally, as I was hearing some French here and there, I connected a few dots, in a sort of French Connection! Rémy, Marie-Pierre, Tristan, Paul, Grégoire... Christine (Chapon), we missed you! ;-) Here with Rémy, with whom I shared a large part of the long climb.

Sincere kudos and respect to the RDs, Jasmin and Sam Fiandaca, for such a professionally-run event with such a large field. For me, a new experience (Brazen) and therefore many new faces, both on the volunteer side, and participants: another side of our so vibrant local trail community! Oh, and these fancy 4-layer deep wooden medals!

I'm now in Madison, WI, for the 100K road national championships this Saturday, such a different format. With some questions about my right ankle after all the pounding and uneven footing of these serious downhills on Mount Diablo, and the many creek crossing at high speed. Like for MUC 50, I had picked my favorite Brooks Launch: this time, not the pair with the hole under the heel but another one with 800 miles in them. Slightly border line on the slippery surroundings of these creeks... But they are still so cushiony and comfy otherwise!