Since I took on ultra running 20 years ago with Way Too Cool in 2006, this memorial to one of our local ultra legends, Ruth Anderson, has been a real cornerstone of my racing calendar, as well as our Pacific Association USATF Mountain, Ultra, Trail Grand Prix well before I joined it. An ultra tradition of our Bay Area ultra community. I had a 13 continuous streak at the event, before the pandemic break, and quite a few great runs when I look back at that list:
- 2007 | 50M | 6:52
- 2008 | 50K | 3:44
- 2009 | 50K | 3:59
- 2010 | 50M | 6:07
- 2011 | 50100K | 8:05
- 2012 | 50M | 5:49
- 2013 | 100K | 7:51
- 2014 | 50M | 6:22
- 2015 | 50M | 6:14
- 2016 | 50M | 6:08
- 2017 | 50K | 3:25
- 2018 | 50M | 6:20 (5 days after a 3:06 @ Boston)
- 2019 | 50M | 8:37
- 2022 | 50K | 3:57
- 2023 | 50M | 7:07
- 2025 | 50K | 3:46
- 2026 | 50K | Breaking 4 hours again...?
And all these race reports...
And here on the last line you have it with regard to my goal, I wasn't going to go for 50 miles, only 50K today, and hoping to break 4 hours at least. I didn't even need the points in the Grand Prix as I already maxed out with 7 finishes and a perfect score. And I didn't have the pressure of making this my 200th ultra finish since that I got that at Dick Collins Firetrails 2 weeks ago. I was just a run in Ruth's memory, and tagging along our local community. Not much pressure, I'll take it!
Some people find this course fast and, fair enough, the 2022 edition was historical with CJ setting a new 50K World Record (2:38:43!) and own local elite, Chikara Omine, an American Masters Record for 50 miles in a blazing 5:05. Personally, I've always had some issues with the rolling part so that's not where I PR'd. Several records were on the line again today and, with that, a fast start for a few.
I've been mostly training around 8 min/mile these days so I was wondering how I'll fare, pace wise, on the earlier miles. I settled behind Max Kam (Excelsior) and Matt Cover (Lake Merritt). My first mile was right on 7:30 and that felt good enough that I picked the pace a little and ran the next mile in 7:05. That reminded me when that was my initial pace on 100K... A bit on the aggressive side though and I knew I wasn't going to "take it" for 31 miles so I eased up a little.
Shiran's shot on lap 1:
I was still able to maintain a solid pace through laps 4 and 5, so much that I did close a bit on Max and Matt who were still running close to each other. Meanwhile, I had been lapped by the two lead runners at my mid point, mile 15.5 or lap 3.5 for me, they only had 1 more lap to go! The year CJ set the World Record, he lapped me twice...
I passed the marathon mark in 3:15, which is 10 minutes slower than my split at Jed Smith last January, the time I used to get into Boston, where I'll be back next April for the 8th time. That marked the end of lap 5. I had finally stopped to refill my bottle at the remote aid station on that lap and, before getting on lap 6, I also made a stop at the main aid station to drink half a can of Coke.
I'm still using Vespa, which helps a lot, I ran the whole 50K on only 3 GU Energy gels, and that half can. I might have depleted my reserve of fat a bit again... ;-)
My lap splits were 31:13 (7:26 min/mile) for the shorter first lap, then 32:53 (7:18), 32:47 (7:17), 32:59 (7:30), 33:44 (7:30), 36:31 (8:07), 38:14 (8:30). I don't like the slowing down in the last 2 laps but I'll take the consistency of the first 5 as an encouraging sign I keep rebuilding.
Breaking 4 hours again felt good, I'm definitely taking that result, making 6 sub-4 out of 6 50K at that event. I actually closed on Victor Skorapa in the last lap, so much that, coming in less than 20 seconds behind, Shiran didn't see me approaching the line. I paused on the finish line so he could get a few shots. ;-)
Kermit and Carlos were known faces at the lonely remote aid station. Conversely, at the start/finish, there were many new faces, I assume from co-RD, Anil Rao's circle. Special shoutout to the two kids who stayed for more than an hour at mile 1 of the loop, to direct us on the usual proper and certified shortcuts along Lake Merced Boulevard.
A quick word on the records. At 40, Nick Tsotu won the 50K in a time of 2:59:34, missing the AG American Record by mere 3:20 mins. On the women side, Janne Heinonen won the 50K and set an American Record AG 50-54 with a time of 3:43:03! At 75, Sharlet Gilbert took 2nd in the 50-mile after setting a new 50K WR in 5:11:25, then a new 50-mile W75 World Record in 9:32:02. Wow and much respect to these Pacific Association members, way to represent!
Max ended up continuing on to win the 50-mile in an impressive time of 6:34:
Our Quicksilver club managed to score one Men team on the 50K, out of 6 team scoring opportunities. So far from the time we were scoring 9 teams at this event, about 20 years ago, when there were three distances: the original 100K, the 50-mile and 50K. On the other side of the spectrum, Pamakids did score 5 teams this time, impressive green wave.
Here with teammate Luciano (photo credit William Dai):
Speaking of colors, after the (Quicksilver royal) blue year in 2025, it was the turn to... go (Pamakids) green, from the bib to the super nice tshirt, and the age group award! Extra cool bonus though this time, the blue (!) dry bag.
If you had a look to Shiran's album, you might have been intrigued by the following picture... Nope, I wasn't proposing to his very own significant other, Christina, but asking her if she'd consider taking over our MUT Chair role in 2028. If you are convinced, like me, that she'd be perfect in this leadership role, make sure to let her know! :-) And, yes, Shiran knows about my little scheme, he was the one taking the picture!
Thank you to co-RDs Anil and Shiran for perpetuating this very nice local ultra tradition in Ruth's memory, Wendell for bringing his Coastal Trail Runs chip timing system, to BAUR veterans Steve and Stan for contributing their decades of experience, and all the volunteers keeping us safe. The weather was perfect again, this Californian weather you can't beat... Yes, you may wonder why I may leave... At least, in the meantime, I'll take it, any minute of it!
Another challenging 50 miles tomorrow morning, time to go to bed and see some of you on the trails then!
