Dick Collins Firetrails 50-mile 2026: 20 years later, #200!

Christine (Chapon) asked that I write my race report this Sunday and Christine spent more time volunteering at the event than I have, so I'm happy to comply. Besides, she knows I have the excuse of traveling to Europe tomorrow to get the thing done. Like I used to do before business trips when I was working.

My first observation of this edition is the stark contrast between the more than four decades that tradition has lived and thrived through, starting with the souvenir of local humble legend, Dick Collins, and the display of renewal of our Bay Area trail running community. I already had a glimpse of such a change at the Tamalpa Headlands 50K last month, seeing so many new faces, and less of the ones I used to run along when I started. As a matter of fact, and that should be verified more scientifically, it seems to me that there are now even several communities which has formed, given the higher number of trail running addicts. We say that there are 16 micro climates around the Bay, maybe we tend to that many groups of runners. One one hand, there is the geographical spread: San Francisco, Marin, the Peninsula, South Bay and San Jose, South East Bay around Fremont, Oakland and Berkeley.

Let's start with a bit of background about Dick Collins as this run his named after him. And since images have so much weight nowadays, here is a 1997 gem which ultra volunteer, ex runner and documentation guru, Stan Jensen, kept preciously for almost 30 years. It has been a privilege and quite a few hours to work with Stan this Summer on identifying as many names as possible in this group gathered for Dick Collins' memorial, in Oakland.

If you believe you can contribute to this identification project, the picture with tag is also accessible in Google Draw, with extensive zooming capability. (The picture has the grain of an older picture, but it had been scanned at 2,400 dpi to capture as many pixels as reasonable.)

The younger folks might not be as excited as I am, I do find the ability to put a face on names of runners from the 80s and 90s, before the web age, quite fascinating. For instance, you'll see quite a few names on the picture, in the Firetrails 50 1995 results. I know, who still cares about history and the last century...?

Closer to home, this brought quite a special connection. Changing age group make me check on AGCRs, aka Age Group Course Records. I still have amazing memories of turning 50, feeling young again and chasing all these records. I even set an age group world record on track at Desert Solstice, and broke a 31-year old record for 50K Road while experiencing a mini stroke (TIA). Locally, I set the M50 course record at Firetrails with a great time of 7:14:27. For M60, the record was set 31 years ago, in 1995, at 8:19, by a certain Dwaine Batt. Well, it took us a few cycles to find people tagging him, he is the tall guy in the upper left corner, holding his wife, Sadie, in his arms. While Dwaine passed away (obituary), Sadie is still alive and I was even able to exchange with one of their daughter, Barbara, over Messenger. Ah, the good and original genuine and useful side of social media, to connect! One of my goals for this year's edition was to aim at borrowing the record from Dwaine (records are meant to be broken later, hence the temporary owning...).

While there is a good margin between 7:14 and 8:19, I'm nowhere near my fitness of 12 years ago, having experiences two significant injuries since (one at 54, hamstring tendon fissure, the other on the very day of my 60th birthday, a meniscus tear which kept me away from running, and exercising in general, for 7 months). Besides, back in my marathon times, I had devised a personal physiological law, consisting in predicting my marathon time by adding my age in minutes to 2 hours, in other words, losing one minute for 26 miles, each year. Since a 50 mile is about twice this, and 12 years have passed, that would lead to 24 more minutes since my last run on this course in 2014. Aggressive but doable. On the other end, with all their bizarre calculations and aggregations, UltraSignup was predicting my finish time at 8:47...

Another key factor with these records is that the course has changed over the years. Kudos to Race Director, Adam, for not only perpetuating this 50-mile tradition but attracting a broader field by adjoining a 100K (since 2017), and a trail marathon. And managing to get us back on the OG course.

As for Dick Collins' life, you can find a few accounts on the web. Best though are two articles from journalist James Raia, who is in the upper right corner of the photo, but these pieces are only accessible to subscribers of UltraRunning Magazine (I've been an avid runner for 20 years, I highly recommend, you get many tips and motivation from every issue, every other month): Part 1 and Part 2. Quick facts: Dick started running late, at 42, but he then raced intensely, completing 1,037 races in the last 22 years of his life (yes, that's an average of 50 races a week!). 10 Western States finish (1979-1991) and 401 combined marathons and ultra marathons (~230 ultra marathons). But these are just numbers. For everybody who met him back in the 80s and 90s, he was the cool humble and encouraging, unassuming running companion. Ann Trason calls him her mentor.

As I mentioned above, Adam also added a 100K distance, the race starting at 5:15 am, under quite a majestic full moon.

Running Coach Michael got on wheels to lead the 100K runners on the first 1.5 miles, in the dark. He will do it for us again 45 minutes later.

Sending the 100K runners for a great day on the trails.

I stopped by the Livestream which was setting up, and had a quick chat with Western States legend and such a big voice on the ultra American scene, Andy Jones-Wilkins, aka AJW.

Christine had been up for a while already, handling the bibs, in the dark... And already snapping pictures, she is quite a multitasker! :-)

Our 50-mile field wasn't too large at the start, just above 100. And, again, with fewer known faces, especially at the front. With that, I found myself leading the early pack for about a third of a mile, despite not pushing it that much. I finally got passed by a handful of runners in the climb to the first aid station, Marciel Gate (mile 3). I even purposely walked certain steep sections to not lose my breath that early on and slow down a bit to time the arrival at the aid station with the first lights of the day, in order to drop my headlamp at Marciel, instead of Bort Staging, an aid station which winds down very late at night, while the Marciel crew can get the lamps back to the start in the morning (and that worked out as planned, I got my lamp back before leaving).

I really like the next 5 miles to Bort, with a lot of downhill on a wide fire road and great footing. I traded places a couple of times, I assumed I got to Bort in 6 or 7th place. Carrying my usual Ultimate Direction bottles (one for water, one for GU Energy Brew, aka GU2O), I didn't stop at Bort, except to ask Christina from Pamakids why she wasn't running today (darn meniscus tear too).

I didn't stop at Big Bear either, still having enough fluid to reach Pinehurst, in this cool early morning. The first surprise of the day was to leave Steam Trail to do quite a hilly detour on Chown then French Trails. Having raced in this area many times, I can't remember if that was indeed part of the OG course. If not, that certainly derailed my plans: with my goal of averaging 9:58 for the whole race, including the killer turnaround, I was around 9:30 at the bottom of this detour but lost about 15 seconds for the average when I got back on Steam Trail. From there, I started really doubting, especially as I was looking a few more seconds on the climb to Skyline Gate.

This time, I stopped at Pinehurst to refill my bottles, at mile 16.5. By that time, I was already above 10 min/mile average and knew the next section wouldn't help lower that number, unfortunately. I still tried to believe but the climb to Sibley was really testing my faith... and my legs, and glutes...

Just before getting to Sibley (mile 19), one tall runner passed me, saying "oops, I might have started too hard for my first 50 mile." I didn't see his face or number, so I can't say how the day ended up for him. But it reminded me of my own first 50-mile on that course, when I took 3rd overall in a time of 7:25, good enough to win the rookie award at 42. From the hands of ultra legends Ann Trason and Carl Andersen (Carl on that Dick Collins Memorial picture too). I wasn't even blogging yet, only started 4 months later.

I refilled a bottle at Sibley, and drank some Coke poured into my water bottle (I had missed that it was a cup-free race...). I like the subsequent steep downhill, except that I can't stop thinking that we have to climb it back, most of the course being an out and back format. Additionally, I'm not as agile as I used to so I can't let it all go and fly at full speed. With that, I waste a lot of effort, and especially through the adductors, in putting on the brakes. Back in the faster and younger days, I used to think that it was stupid from others to NOT let it go, I guess age isn't just a number sometimes, and it catches you...

I hiked some of the mile up to Steam Trains, thinking of the days I used to run that whole section, actually the whole course. And I have to say, when you walk uphill, time doesn't fly as fast, it makes for a longer day. I crossed quite a few marathon runners in that narrow single track uphill section, with a few still having to learn some trail etiquette of giving priority to trail users going uphill, even when you race.

I was now about 20 seconds above my average goal, at mile 22. Bree (Lambert), who used to be on our Quicksilver ultra racing team, was one of the three running the livecast. She had a microphone in hand and hesitated approaching me for an interview but changed her mind after seeing me so focused. Indeed, I was still hoping to regain a few of these lost seconds on the 4.5 miles downhill to Loan Oak, the turnaround at 26.7 miles.

1,200 feet of elevation loss in 4.5 miles, that's rather mild, nothing compared to the Alps or Colorado. But at this point, feeling I had missed a key goal for the day, I was unable to get a good speed in the descent, not able to loosen up and extend my stride. Crossing a few of the lead 100K and 50-mile runners confirmed that I was still in the top 7 or 8, so there was that, from a motivation standpoint. I refilled my bottles again at the bottom, fearing that I will walk most of the climb back up to Steam Train. As it turned out, now uplifted by crossing the other runners behind, I did run more than I had imagined. Well, run might be too big of a word, let's say shuffle.

I got some ice in my water bottle at Steam Trains. The new goal wasn't about the finish time and seeing how long I could hold on in the top 10, given it was such a slow year. That became my motivation for keeping moving, in addition to finishing, of course.

I felt terrible going so slow in the trick descent after Sibley, down to San Leandro Creek. Embarrassingly for a down hill, that has been my slowest mile of the day at 16 minutes, yikes! Roots, rocks, dusty washed out slippery gullies, my brakes were burning! It was so bad that I felt relieve to get on a hill again and clocked a 15 minute mile, hiking up to Pinehurst. By the way, and I hadn't noticed earlier in the morning, it was a joy to see some water flowing in the creek, I love running creeks!

A joy too to see Christine again, at Pinehurst. She had just delivered sandwiches to the aid station crew and snapped a few pictures before driving down to Big Bear. Ah, you should never eat a gel in front of a photographer... ;-) (Next 4 pictures, credit Christine Chapon.)

I couldn't wait to get back on Skyline trail, that section I really liked on the original Skyline course as well, to climb up to Skyline Gate (the course has changed the past few years). Well, once on the rolling Skyline, after a few ups and downs, I saw pink ribbons on a branch and started thinking I had missed a turn as it was orange for the 50-mile. I stopped for almost a minute, the time to ask a biker if she had seen some orange ribbons down the trail. Stupid hesitation which did cost me to get passed by the runner whom I had tried to keep ahead of for the past 10 miles. Well, there were these lost seconds, but also the fact that I kept slowing down. Plus one but still in the top 10 per my calculations. 2 miles later, I got passed by teammate Guillaume Tremintin, then the impressive 100K lead, Alejandro Torres.

I got more ice in my water bottle at Big Bear, as well as the 4th and last refill of my GU Brew bottle. I was close to 42 miles and quite down when realizing that, 12 years ago, I had already finished at that time. That was going to be a longer day. Yet, if I kept moving, much shorter than for many, behind...

I alternated some shuffling and power walking the steep climb on MacDonald Trail. Although I was pleasantly surprised by that okay climb, I again had difficulty speeding up in the long section down to Bort Staging. Some good care from the Pamakids crew, such a long shift for them, and more ice which motivated me of keeping drinking water. It was comforting to hear there were only 2.5 miles to the next aid station, Clyde Woolridge, merci Jen!

There, I saw the famous guy wearing an OG Dick Collins Firetrails t-shirt from the 90s! For the youngsters and new comers, that would be Stan Jensen I referred to in my introduction. And Christine was at that station too, again. From 4 am to 10 pm, that's quite some ultra volunteering! For Scena today, a change of her outstanding involvement and impact into RBO (Run for a Better Oakland) where she has inspired and motivated thousands of kids to run, over the past 15 years.

Photo credit, Jessica de Leon, for RBO:

The final section is challenging and deceiving because you start believing your are done when seeing Chabot Lake, but there are still a few never ending rolling miles to the finish. At last, 2 miles are on asphalt to make it more comfortable. And then you start hearing the announcer. That big voice on the ultra scene. Andy. Telling everybody that I was 62 years old. And finishing my 200th ultra. And that, yes, I was likely in the top 10.

As I chatted later with him, he was as surprised as I was by the slower times this year. He ran this race twice in times of 7:34 and 7:07 at the age of 34 and 35, respectively. My 5 previous runs were between 7:02 and 7:25, between the age of 42 and 50. The winner's time today: 8:22. Not even under my initial goal and that M60 AGCR of 8:19. Hence the above slow year qualification.

My time? An embarrassing 9:42:48, yikes. 9th overall, 8th in men, 4th Masters. But, still, yet another ultra finish. And an age group win. And even more respect for Dwaine's performance. I even wonder if I'll dare to chase that AGCR again...

By the way, there was a brand new time tracking and live reporting system by Laurel. 

Here are my embarrassing splits, showing the wheels falling off early:

And a 3D-flyover video to show you that OG course, from your seat, or couch (click on the image below or that link).

Back to this 200-ultra milestone, these are only the official ultra finishes. It doesn't include 17 DNFs, 16 of them I dropped after the marathon mark. And it doesn't include 334 ultra runs done in training. For a total of 550 lifetime ultras. Although... for that big voice in our sport who doesn't count 50Ks as ultras, the number would then be lower. I have to admit, my sweet (ultra) spot remains the 50K with 87 of them. Only 43 50-milers, 31 100Ks, 22 100-milers. And a couple of dozens of other formats (multi-day, 6, 12 and 24-hour races, and Spartathlon as my longest race. To date.). As a true ultra runner, Andy asked me what's next. A lot this Fall, stay tuned!

No cramping today, going slower and hiking certainly help! I'm still proud of how I managed hydration and nutrition. Only 7 GU gels, as I still combine the strategic carbs with fat burning thanks to Vespa (2 pouches before the start, then one Vespa Concentrate every 3 hours). And 9 S!Caps to maintain my sodium level, some of which ended up on my top after cooling down my head and neck with iced water at Big Bear (as seen on the video below). I had thought of racing a 10K this Sunday morning (Trailblazer in Mountain View, a fundraising event for Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail) but I bailed out and just did a 15K recovery run instead. 200 is just a number, more to come! As long as the body allows...

Mostly for my records, a couple of spots I appear in Part 2 of the livestream recording:

1. At the finish (1:30)
2. Interview with Bree and Victor (12 min)

Our club had a much better show this time: Guillaume took 6th overall, Elizabeth Omodt, 3rd woman, 4 minutes before Jill Cole, Anil Rao, 24th in Men, Charles Blakeney, 39th in Men for his record 26th Firetrails 50 finish, and our team captain, Gary Collina, 58th in Men. That will allow us to score two teams this time (Mixed and Men).

The course marking was outstanding with hundreds of ribbons, flour marking and signs. Thank you to the aid station volunteers for such long shifts, and caring for 2-way traffic on the out and back. I much appreciated the cooked-to-order burger, as well as some ice cream. And I concur with the comments I heard on my table about the quality of the goodies, t-shirt and hoody.

Time to finish packing for tomorrow's flight and see many of you at Ruth Anderson Memorial runs in 2 weeks. By the way, the following day, we are invited to get back to this Lake Chabot Marina, to join Carla for a celebration of Ken's life (see registration link in my Skyline 50K race report).

Next year will mark 30 years since Dick Collins left us. I hope to visit from France for a very special anniversary and celebration. To the one who inspired so many runners... last century... and today again!

Stevens Creek Striders Reservoir Trail Half: love that challenging home run!

I've fallen more than a dozen blog posts behind this year, including a handful of race reports, let's see if I can get back to a same day race report for a big change!

Being in Cupertino, this is the second closest race from home I've ran this year. Not quite as in my backyard as the Big Bunny 5K, but just 3 miles away. A dear place in my heart as I got acquainted to trail running on these Stevens Creek Reservoir trail, upon joining the Stevens Creek Striders 25 years ago! So, yes, feeling rather at home there. Here is the banner displayed at the Western States 100 Last Chance aid station which the club has been manning for 45 years ! (I've been the aid station captain in 2006 and the following two years while also running Western States in 2007, getting the bug from volunteering there in 2004 and 2005.)

This is the 5th of our 6 races in our USATF Pacific Association Short MUT Grand Prix (MUT standing for 3 sports, 3 different forms of running: Mountain, Trail and Ultra). Our final race will be Excelsior's Star City San Bruno Half Marathon in 3 weeks.

I frequently run the 3 miles up to the reservoir from home, on my way to Black Mountain, but, being a race, I drove. It was my 3rd participation, after running in 2022 (1:58:32) and 2023 (2:02:15). And I'm glad I document my races in this blog and my running log because...

The part I didn't like much was when we were rushing down gnarly switchbacks (above), just after the start. Just before the start this year, I went down that part of the course to see if they would have at least remove a dangerous trunk narrowing the single track trail. At least that had been cleared.

However, after the nice traditional pre-race group picture (above, photo credit Michael Dhuey), everybody started walking away from the start area I was familiar with. We walked down the steep road which we used to finish on, toward an area which was certainly much wider and safer. And Stuart assured me that I must have started from there before. Well, Robert, the RD, told me at the finish that it was the second year since they had implemented that course change. At least I wasn't having a senior moment, phew! ;-)

By the way, great participation from our Pacific Association teams today: Pamakids dominating in numbers of course, and a great show from my teammates of Quicksilver for a good change, then Lake Merritt, Tamalpa, Excelsior and even West Valley Track Club!

It was a fast start at the front, I settled in 20-25 position, you have to respect both the distance, and your own years... (Photo credit: Michael Dhuey.)

Our Grand Prix scorer, David Moulton, passed me in the third mile, and I traded places with a couple of other runners until the turnaround on Canyon Trail. I crossed the lead runner just after passing the Vista Point, which meant I was already a good mile behind by mile 4, yikes!

With that out and back format, it was cool to see everybody. Carrying bottles, I didn't stop at the second aid station and gained another spot. The temperature was raising but, thankfully, nothing to compare with the heat wave we experienced 2 days before. Besides, that section was still in the shade, up to Inspirational Point.

I didn't stop at the third aid station either, on Coyote Ridge, where I-Tao (Tsai) was and took these pictures.

I felt I had a decent descent down to Seven Springs, yet not super fast, so I was surprised to see David again at the bottom of the loop. I passed him and another runner on the way up back to Coyote Ridge, crossing I-Tao again on his training run turning to a photo safari!

No stop either at the fourth aid station, trying to save precious seconds before flying down Coyote Ridge. I passed the 2-hour mark with 1.1 miles to go, so long for that aggressive sub-2 goal. I kept pushing gently but I have to say that the final gasp up on these last switchbacks we once used to start on, is brutal.

I finished with a time of 2:10:42, 16th overall, but 1st M60 at least. (Photo credit: Michael Dhuey.)

94 finishers in the half marathon, including 5 in the 70+ age groups, inspiring! Beck Johnstone, 25, of San Francisco and West Valley Track Club, won the race in 1:46:40 (he was the defending champion, clocking 1:39:06 last year). He made it look completely effortless even in the uphills, quite impressive! At 45, Megan Hansen (Tamalpa) won the women division in 2:07:00.

Our Quicksilver Men took 9th (Stuart), 14th and 19th (Luciano). Not bad for 50+ and 60+ year young guys, no? ;-)

I found the marking to be excellent once you got used to check flags instead of the usual ribbons. Perfect organization with in particular so many course monitors and runner tracking at key intersections and turns. I can't comment on what was available at aid station, not having made any stop, but it's great to have 4 passages on such a hilly and challenging trail half. Also a great bonus for offering freshly cooked burgers and a range of soft drinks. Great picnic area with ample seating and tables, including some in the shade (so nice that we had to share the space with hungry and annoying yellow jackets!). Love the unique touch of giving each participant a succulent to bring back home. And the useful sample of Squirrel's Nut Butter anti-chaffing. Kudos too for the prompt posting of race results --manually tabulated, mind you-- in the afternoon. As well as hundreds of pictures taken by Michael Dhuey. A low key community-friend race overall with a demanding course and all the perks of a professionally-organized events!

Well done, Robert, Mandie and all the Striders, way to represent our Cupertino trail running community!

PS: speaking of the inspiring 70+ old gang, here is one runner barely showing his age by displaying a souvenir from the 80s and 90s, a singlet from one of the most influential and original clubs of our local community, Bay Area Ultra Runners (Dolphin South End just celebrated 60 years, that's another historical piece). Steve Jaber, from Tamalpa!

As far of a same-day race report, I wrote most of it by dinner time this Saturday but the addition of pictures had to wait one more day, to make room for a couple of family events... Almost there, I'll now get back to my backlog!

Tamalpa Headlands 50K 2026: tough course with no guts

Ante Scriptum. This is so embarrassing, it took me 4 weeks to write this race report. Oh no, not full time at all, I came back to my notes and Blogger at least a dozen times. Why so long? First, after losing the time pressure imposed by my job, my natural procrastination has spun out of control. For the past 20 years, after each race, I typically had a few hours before either an international business trip or major deadline to rush a post out. No such pressure anymore, that's for one bad excuse. Now, for... number 2 (reason) in the case of this race, there has been some medical condition involved, which has developed 10 days before the race and continued until recently, 4 weeks after, which created quite some uncertainty about the whole experience, I wasn't sure where to start and to finish... Beware, some recipe for some poor writing...

(Tamalpa Headlands profile picture, no credit provided)

<Friday August 21> 

6 days have passed, let's not make it a full week for issuing another race report. The thing is that I've heavily pondered what to share in the introduction. As they sometimes say on the radio... "The following segment contains mature subject matter and language. Listener discretion is advised." I slightly exaggerate, but you've been warned... ;-) And, yes, as you might guess both from the title and all the news in the US this August, this is going to be about guts. Troubled guts, mind you...

Things can get tricky with guts. First, unlike some external injuries, you don't really see what's going on inside. Second, and more importantly, there is a significant lapse between when you eat something and when it's fully processed, it can be several days. Third, and commonly these days, if diarrhea lasts for more than 5 days, there is probably some bacteria or parasite involved. And to be treated with the right antibiotics, you'll need to know exactly which one.

To make an unappealing long story much shorter, I started suffering from some severe diarrhea one week before the race, on Sunday 9. I had flown back from 6 weeks in Europe on 7/30, ate the mini salad on the plane, then more salad in the next few days before hiking for 3 days in the Sierras (Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite) where, I admit, I splashed myself in creek crossings, although not drinking the water. On Wednesday before the race, I even tried a full 24-hour diet, skipping three meals. GI trouble resumed on Thursday, dang. At least I didn't get tempted to run all week, that was some serious tapering. Was it Giardia,  or Cryptosporidium, or...? At this point I was thinking of digressing and branching out with a rant about the American healthcare system, and my frustration with its costs, I'll just say that two online consultations didn't get me the referral I needed to get my stool tested.

<Tuesday August 25>

Dang, I wrote the above 6 days after the race and I got stuck so 10 more days passed again... First, the diarrhea continued for another full week so I didn't know how to move on with my introduction. Second, I got mad again with the healthcare system here, so much that I didn't get my stools tested and, while symptoms have mostly disappeared on week 3, it bothers me not knowing if there are still some bugs inside my guts. Oh well, I hear you, that's not your business!

Let's get to the start line then... I had offered to carpool with Quicksilver teammate, Anil. Between the uncertainty on my end, and his workload, he bailed out on Friday evening. The bad news was that we won't even have a team to score, with only Sylvie and I starting.

I arrived around 6:20 which I thought was going to be plenty of time to get a good parking spot, with a 7:30 start time. To my astonishment, the parking lot was already half full. Thankfully, that meant they were now filling the left row, so the spot wasn't too far. With a field of almost 300, I had never seen so many cars on this lot! And what I noticed when getting my bib was the few faces I knew. Although it wasn't a National Championship after all, there were $10,000 of prize money so a large contingent of out-of-state speedsters, as well as, probably not for the money, a lot of locals I had not seen before.

Actually, many regulars showed up later and, as expected, Pamakids had the largest club participation, not only on the course, but along the course, manning the Tennessee Valley aid station notably, plus presence at Cardiac among others stations.

Important detail to mention: no car flew or tipped over on the course this year but... this year's drama was only the discovery of a bee nest, right in the middle of the start area, and on the path to the check-in table!

Course Director, Ken Michal, discovered it the painful way, suffering from more than 20 stings! At least the course change was more straightforward to figure out and implement, this time!

As for the start area banner, it had to wait before being raised, runner safety first!

Speaking of bees, I couldn't believe the porta-potty brand which was selected this year, that can NOT be a coincidence, someone was playing with the local ultra community! ;-) And, no, I didn't enter the draw, no appetite! ;-) If I was an RD, I'm not sure I'd pick that brand...

I'm no bee specialist but I checked on line (yes, that AI...), and it seems that the bees nesting underground aren't honey bees, but solitary, or... bumblebees. Please leave a comment below if you know more on this hot topic!

Victor, who has been directing this race for several years already, got his fun tradition going, with us raising our arms to create some cool buzz before sending us off. In retrospective, I called that the bee vibe, given the bee hive incident. Cool picture which I can't attribute credit to, as it was posted as profile picture on the event page, without the photographer name.

Unsure how my GI system would hold, not to mention the fatigue of a full week battling this major digestive issue, I was happy to get passed by dozen of runners as we were crossing Santos Meadow on an uneven ground. I picked up a few spots on the Frank Valley Road though, especially after realizing that, contrary to previous years, we weren't hopping on the short single track section of Redwood Creek Trail. (Photo credit: William Dai)

Getting onto the steep Coastal Trail, I could see the leaders already 3 minutes ahead, after only one mile, yikes! Remembering the years I was running that whole hill, I felt bad of having to walk part of it now. I wasn't the only one but a few younger runners were managing to still jog and then, someone who looked like he could be in my age group, passed me! I didn't know him, I found out his name at the finish: David Long, 62, from San Luis Obispo. I decided to push a little to at least keep up while power walking.

That got us through Pirates Cove then Wolf Ridge at a good sustained pace. Like me, David didn't stop at the Bunker Road aid station, and we were then up on Miwok Trail. I enjoyed that section as I was just following and not making or pushing the pace, alternating some jogging with some power walking. Actually, on that segment, another runner joined David. They seemed to know each other as they kept chatting. I also found out at the finish this was another M60 runner, Daniel Jansen, also from San Luis Obispo. I didn't know if they were in my age group, or would could be ahead, but I could sense I would have to at least keep up or pass them at some point.

After the long downhill on Marincello on which I passed both of them, I also skipped the second aid station, Tennessee Valley, then pushed the pace on Miwok, to a point that I lost sight of them before getting to the crossing of Highway 1, where I got my GU Energy Brew bottle refilled, right according to the plan at mile 16.

On the long way up to Cardiac, I passed a few runners but got passed too as I eventually had to walk a few sections. Cardiac lives to its tradition, especially as we get older, phew! I stopped for a few minutes at the aid station as I felt quite worn out. I had briefly looked at the course but had no idea about the loop which was added this year, on a trail which I had never run on. And it didn't disappoint: it was a tricky one with many roots, meet Stapleveldt Trail! After being sent on it by Scena Performance's Adam Ray, at the Panoramic Highway (not) crossing, I experienced a high with a laughable experience: at the connection with the TCC Trail, Tamalpa President, Paul Herrerias, was standing just before the bridge, with his arm extended across the path. I thought he was giving me high five so I tried to make contact with his hand, before getting on the bridge, only to miss it and realize that he was just trying to indicate I should have taken the sharp right turn; I'm sure it would have made for a hilarious video! Another course monitor was posted a few yards away, for the next tricky split between the two trails.

After some additional gnarly downhill, it was time to power walk back to that infamous Cardiac aid station for the second time, on the legendary Dipsea Trail. I made a brief stop, anxious to see who I was going to cross on the next out and back down to Steep Ravine then Stinson Beach. 

<Wednesday September 2>

Shortly after I left Cardiac for the second time then, I crossed Robert Schütz and, based on his blazing times and wins at three other of our Grand Prix events this year (Diablo Half, Horseshoe Lake 30K and Quicksilver 100K), I assumed he was in the lead. Not far behind him was teammate Sylvie (Abel), looking amazing! With that, although that meant I was probably a good hour behind, I imagined that I had caught the front of the race just in time on this long out and back. Only to discover at the finish that there were 5 runners ahead of Robert: wow, what some good prize money does!

On that Dipsea Trail, I continued crossing the lead runners. Including the super impressive M50, Jonah Backstrom (who would end up taking 9th overall, and first Masters, at 52!). I was so far behind, I didn’t really keep count of how many runners I crossed before the Stinson Beach turn around. Down there, ex club mate, Keith Blom, tried to stop me literally, as in blocking my way, as I was trying to get to the water table instead of just going around the cone marking the turnaround. All good and good intention but, oops! Now, he was right, I had to move on: as I climbed back the stairs, I first crossed Daniel, 4-5 minutes behind, then David, higher up. The pressure kept me pushing the pace through the deceiving stairs after Steep Ravine and all the way to Cardiac.

At my third stop up there, I had only one wish, getting some ice in my bottles, for the final 3 miles: I asked Holly who referred me to Gary, alerting him that I needed help! But there was no ice, so I left promptly, knowing how difficult that final section can be given the poor conditions of the trail. Oh my, they scraped it recently, it makes the 2 miles before the switchbacks now so smooth, easier, and faster, a breeze!

I even passed one runner before the Heather Cutoff trail, and chased another one down the switchbacks. To my surprise, I had to keep my eyes up too, as I was seeing another runner with a white shirt closing on me… and I couldn’t go any faster! I finished 5 seconds behind Tommy Chheng and Pascal Joly crossed the finish line 3 seconds behind, what a close finish! Here is Pascal (#136), with another Frenchman who was visiting from Salt Lake City, Nicolas Sondaz (red tee), who took 13th overall, top 10 in Men, in 4:52, at 52. And James Tung.

The Men podium was Spencer Ferguson-Dryden, 28, in 3:50:57, Kevin Stewart, 36, in 4:01: 45, Nick Cioci, 26, in 4:09:10. It helps to be young, and fast! ;-) Jonah’s time: 4:45:31 (my M50 AGCR of 4:27 held on again, and it helped it was set on a faster course...).

One the women side, Sylvie won the race in 4:30:55 and 7th place overall! 15 minutes ahead of Leandra Zimmermann, then Zuzana Trnovcova in 4:50:55. 

Picture with teammate Sylvie before the start:

And she was as fresh after her race, looking so effortless!

I finished in 41st overall, in a disappointing time of 5:36:12. But at least the GI tract held on during the race and I won my age group so there is that. Daniel took 61st in 5:51 and David, 66th, in 5:58. Here is the M60 podium:

Regarding the times, everybody seemed to agree that this course was much longer and harder than previous editions, and especially last year since the tipped over car incident led to a last minute shortening of the course. This year, my Coros showed 31.07 miles at the finish, close enough!

Here is a flyover so you can get a glimpse of the profile (click on this link or the picture below).

Right after my finish, Katherina (Laan) took care of me as I was looking for some drinks. I had met her in May as we teamed up to mark part of the Miwok 100K course. It took me a while to recover from the effort, giving plenty of time to chat and connect with both new and old acquaintances. I stayed at the finish line for about 3 hours, before driving down across the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.

Shiran Kochavi's finish (it still blows my mind he does this after getting two bionic knees last year!), with Kristina, and Victor showing off the bright shorts he doesn't have! ;-)

While the drive through San Francisco and the Peninsula wasn't too bad, I would have stopped if there had been rest areas on the way with toilets. My guts were revolting with cramps. And this is the part your radio station you warned you about... Upon getting home, I had the most explosive diarrhea incident, yikes! While this isn't a medical technical term, this online desciption really conveys how bad that can be: "severe, sudden, and forceful type of watery diarrhea." I'll stop there, that's painful and descriptive enough!

<Friday September 11>

Sorry again for such a disjointed account, let's wrap it up for good, shall we? Phew, I finally feel better after 4 weeks, although I still don't know what that was about. Hopefully it wasn't a parasite because these things may move to other parts of the body. Hmm.

Most kudos to Victor and Jena for another successful edition of this Bay Ara classic, and for bringing the dozens of volunteers to keep us safe. To Ken and his crew for the super well-marked course. And the many volunteers at the aid stations and key trail intersections, from the Tamalpa running club in particular.

Gratitude for the sponsors as well, starting with the super generous Arc'terix and their prize money for the podium. A new sport skin care company in Marin County: Anadel Lab. The beer from PondFarm Brewing Company. And more like Freaks of Nature and Skratch Labs.

Ironically, this was supposed to be a National Championship before the National LDR/MUT committee decided to change their mind and assign it to Daybreak Racing for that exact same date, on Mt Hood in Oregon, only for that race to be cancelled because of wild fires and air quality, and moved even further away from a major city, on the ocean coast, at the beginning of October. Let’s start the lobbying work to get the Championships back in town…

That was race #399 in my running log, ultra finish #199 (50K #87) and, including both races and training runs, ultra #332. After Dick Collins Firetrails being my first 50-mile in 2006, I’m now hoping to make that race my 200th ultra finish, 20 years later! In a few weeks. In Dick Collins’ spirit and memory. See some of you there!