Jed Smith 50K 2026: how much gas in the tank?

ARNOLPHE - Quelle nouvelle?

AGNÈS - Le petit chat est mort.

ARNOLPHE - C'est dommage : mais quoi !

Nous sommes tous mortels, et chacun est pour soi.

These are part of the first lines of Molière's L'école des femmes. For my non French-speaking buddies and readers, it basically means that, Agnès being asked how things are doing, what are the news, she mentions that the young cat has died. With Arnolphe then dismissing the importance of it because we are all mortals after all, and should first care of ourselves. Or, more exactly, our self.

Kiwi, our 18-year cat, died at home on Friday. She was incredibly perfect from the day we adopted her as she was one year old: affectionate, docile, sociable, playful. No drama, no scratching of our stuff, she always used her toys to sharpen her claws. I've known a few cats, all having a way to remind you who was in control. Not Kiwi. She leaves a big hole at home. I've been raised in a family where, in line with the above excerpt from Molière, pets were just animals and it was more important to care about our fellow humans, including ourselves. Confusing feelings about the deep love we grew for Kiwi...

Yes, she loved the Miwok fleece blanket!

And teasing me, here by bombing a post Fat Ox picture setup: way to capture attention! ;-)

Anyway, between this loss and insane negative stress at work, not to mention the country and world news, my tank was almost on empty on Friday afternoon. I still found the courage to carboload as usual before an ultra, but the mind wasn't there. And I managed to sleep for 7 hours before a 4am wake-up call, that helped refill with some gas.

As much as we advise not to try anything new on race day, and that was going to by my 387th race, I felt the urge to brew a mug of coffee for my ride, for some mental boost. I've started enjoying coffee only 2 years ago --it was about time, wasn't it?-- but not taking any before a race yet. In his detailed race analysis, elite 100-miler Zach Bitter details the calorie count of course, but also caffeine. Given the circumstances, I felt it wasn't going to kill me then.

I got to the start by 7:15a, just in time to get the last convenient parking spot, phew! The vibe was building up for the 50-mile start at 7:30. New this year, a 100K format was added to the already rich spectrum of distances, to give Billy Mertens an opportunity to improve the M55-59 American Record. From Colorado, Billy is a Jed Smith regular and 3 of his 4 current records were set here. In 2017, one year after Rich Hana and I improved the 32-old M50-54 record for 50K --for me, despite experiencing a mini-stroke 1 mile from the finish, at the Nationals on Long Island, NY-- I even helped put Billy onto orbit so he could decrease the record to 3:16:29 in 2017 (Michael Wardian lowered it to 3:13:32 last year).

With that, this year's distances were staged along 3 start times: 100K and 50M at 7:30, 50K and Marathon at 8:30, and 30K and Half-Marathon at 9:30. The design of our 50K course comes with a special perk, passing the marathon mark right at the end of the 5th of 6 laps. This way, the chip timing company can issue us an official and certified marathon time which can be used as a Boston Qualifier.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, at least over the past 6 months, you know that 2025 was a rebuild year after being 7 months off running with a torn/broken meniscus in 2024. Since coming back, I've always worked hard to prove Coros wrong about their prediction for my marathon time. Initially around 3:15, they lowered it to 3:09 a few weeks ago, phew! And I still felt I could beat that. For one thing, when I was focusing on marathons, I established my own law (not Moore's one about computer chip performance), stating that I should be able to run a marathon in 2 hours plus my age in minutes. At least before the hockey stick which physiology experts place around 70 years old, when you switch to another linear and much steeper degradation of performance and fitness with age. Now, granted, my law didn't take into account injuries, and the loss of muscle mass when stopping for a few months...

As I mentioned, we started with the marathon runners so I wasn't sure exactly who was running what, despite wearing different bibs and crossing everybody in the initial 1-mile out and back. Elite international marathoner Ian Sharman was at the top of the UltraSignup ranking in our entrant list. He was running really smooth and easy, in the lead on that first mile. I got chicked by Jessy Herring right off the bat and ran the first 3 miles in Victor Skorapa's footsteps (Excelsior), in 6th place.

In the 4th mile, I could feel my glutes well engaged and somehow them telling me to ease up but the breathing was good and I felt the urge to keep the pace as close to 7 min/mile as possible. It was exciting to clock a few miles as fast as 6:52 but each were a reminder to ease up a bit and not getting ahead of myself. I was running on my own by mile 5. As usual, I was carrying 2 bottles, one with water, one with GU Energy Brew so I didn't have to stop. I also had S!Caps (one every hour) and a couple of GU gels. My first stop was at the end of lap 3, mile 16.5, to ingest a serving of Vespa Power. I wasn't drinking much so I didn't even have to grab my other bottles, pre-filled at the car. (Photos credit: Joe McCladdie)

On the 4th lap, I was closing on Sergey Vasyliev (also Excelsior) and that helped remaining focused, although I was determined not to accelerate to chase him. Needless to say, the legs were feeling a bit tired at that average 7:00 min/mile pace, and I didn't need to crash that early. Certainly not before the marathon point since that had become my main goal for today given the perfect conditions and momentum. I did a brief stop at the end of that 4th loop to grab an extra gel, drop my hat, and I lost a few seconds and yards to Sergey.

But I was amazed at how fast I was still moving, when I had a hard time maintaining a 7:15 min/mile during two 25K track workouts in January; there is certainly something to say about the special excitement and motivation on race days! On the 5th loop, I could see Sergey in the distance, closing on Jessy, but I had just enough gas in the tank to still run miles under 7:15, not 7:00 anymore. Jessy must have slowed down because I almost caught up with her before we got to mile 26. As a matter of fact, as I was sprinting down the steep access road at the park entrance, I placed my left foot outside the asphalt and rolled my ankle, what a stupid move to try to save fractions of a second by getting too close to the turn... Thankfully it wasn't too bad, I barely felt it while running 15K this Sunday morning, one day after.

While I would have been delighted to break 3:02 right away to embarrass or challenge Coros' analytics, I was still super happy to clock 3:05:46 for that intermediary marathon. To be fair, I had run the 5th loop as if I was going to still run hard in the final loop, not like it was the marathon finish. So maybe I do have 3:02 in me for my 62 (in a month). For now, based on the myriad of metrics they capture with their watch, Coros lowered its prediction to 3:04:42 as I write this report, there is that to show some progress and improvement. And some hope!

In all fairness, my motivation to push hard decreased on that final lap and I started feeling some cramping coming too in my tired legs. While I'm super proud that my 21 first miles were under 7:15 (11 under 7 actually), the last ones were 7:33, 7:30, 7:37, 7:46, 7:49, 7:57, it was time to get to a close... I crossed the finish line in a time of 3:43:19, a 7:12 min/mile pace. With that, I didn't see Jessy finish, 1'25" ahead, and she was 53" behind Sergey. Upfront and far ahead, the race was won by Blake Furman of Pennsylvania (3:21:42), followed by Ian, now based in Oregon, in 3:26:35. Another Exclesior, Karl Schnaitter came in 5th in the Men, followed by Victor, respectively in 3:58 and 3:59.

At 59, Verity Breen took 2nd in 4:14:35!

I stayed for 2 more hours to see others finish their race, and also work on my tank again. I mean fluid and calorie wise. Indeed, as much as I'm still relying so much on Vespa and therefore, energy coming from my fat, I dangerously played with physiological limits that Saturday. On the fluid side, I didn't even drink all my GU Brew bottle, when I used to drink one every 15 miles. And same thing on the water side. I took 3 S!Caps as planned, but only 3 gels, which is on the low side. And I didn't stop at any aid station otherwise. Things could have gotten worse in the final laps...

I left by 2:15, seeing Billy stop at the portapotty then changing shoes. I saw later in the afternoon that he managed to clock 8:05:32, when the current record was set by another of our local runners, Thomas Reiss, at 8:28:11. That new mark should stand for some time!

In the 50 miles, two particularly remarkable marks on the men side with Anthony Fagundes winning in a blazing 5:24:00 (6:29 min/mile!), and Eric Neill in 5:46:56. And, on the women side, Bev Anderson-Abbs keeping doing her thing, winning overall in an impressive 7:01:30. At 61!

That was my 85th 50K race. After the 2024 incident, I'm so grateful to still be able to run and race again. Still missing the sub 3:20 times of 10 years ago, but we can't have everything, right? Since coming back from the meniscus injury it has been 4:04:17 at Jed Smith last year, 3:51:19 at the Mad City 50K Road Nationals, 3:46:35 at Ruth Anderson, then 3:43:19 today. Enough for me to be foolish again and dreaming of getting under 3:40, at least... But it's going to require a lot more work, again and always...

Speaking of work, I teased Ian that I likely worked harder than him. Just the way he appears to run effortless. He disagreed and, to his credit, he is also back from injury (Achilles). We'll see in 20 years. Fun fact: Ian is going to score points not only in our PA Grand Prix (sorry Sergey...) but also for our Quicksilver team (sorry Shiran!). Because he hasn't switched his membership and club affiliation since moving to Bend.

Also on our Quicksilver team, Liz too 7th in the women division (4:45), and Charles 22nd in the men (5:45).

Quick chat with Gary Towle, MD, who has been on the Western States Board of Directors since 1982 (44 years and counting)! I didn't know, Gary is a big fan and voted for my "older guys" performances in the UltraRunning Magazine rankings.

While I didn't have the time to stop at the intermediary aid station to thank them, that was quite a youthful crew which spent the day helping us out: thank you! Thank you to the course monitors spending hours at the key turns and intersections of the course, and the lead bikers. Thank you to the volunteers at the check-in table in the early morning.

Thank you to those manning the busy start/end area aid station. Thank you to all the volunteers working behind the scene to make this Buffalo Chips event another success. For 45 years and counting! And even without interruption through the pandemic, thanks to John Feeney, Race Director. John who we honored for his 10 years at the helm of this race, last week, at our Pacific Association MUT 2025 Volunteer of the Year (more on this award in my upcoming/next blog post, shortly).

Back to the title, I hesitated with "when impatience pays off" given the inconsiderate initial push of the pace, early in the race. Or "the fruits of hard work and persistence" to relate to the hard work at the track these past months, as well as the importance to keep showing up even when you don't feel good enough. But with the current events and societal changes when they aren't for the better, I see so many people leaving these so-called social media to recharge their empty tank, feeling exhausted and hopeless. So, yes, let's focus on what allows to recharge. And, for me, racing, a good test to feel better, and show that there may be more than what we are thinking is left on our tank.

PS: more pictures

Jed Smith 50K 2025: not optimal but great to be back!

I used to manage same-day race reports a few years ago but days seem too short nowadays. Despite waking up at 4 am, time flies fast in an ultra day: 4.5 hours of driving, 1.5 hours to prep before the race and socialize, 4 hours of racing, 1 hour to then some family time and a few hours of sleep to make up for the early wake-up. Then waiting for some pictures to come in on the next day. But work calls again even on a Sunday, let's get a few lines out!

Jed Smith, the race, not the American pioneer, Jeddiah Smith, has been running since 1987 according to UltraSignup, albeit not results on that website for 1988 and 89. Two other pillars of our NorCal ultra running circuit are Skyline 50K dating back 1982 and Way too Cool, 1990. But these are trail and hilly ones, as opposed to the flat and fast Jed Smith which has then attracted speedsters to kickoff the winter season.

I missed 2007 between a trip to Europe and one to Asia, then 2008 as I was racing the 6-day Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica. I ran my first Jed Smith in 2009 when it was still at Gibson Ranch. 10 consecutive finishes in respectively 3:51, 3:25, 3:28 (that new course), 3:19:04, 3:46, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20 (Rich's record), 3:19:54 (on another super fast and flat course dur to park closure) and 3:26. Some good times as we say... Missed 2019 for a trip to Europe, plus hamstring tendon injury, and 2020 because of a trip to Europe. Still coming back from my hamstring injury, I entered the 50-mile in 2021, as a post-Covid test, only to log 35 miles as a long tempo run ("Back to the ultra lab"). 4:05 and 3:42 in 2022 and 2023, then a DNS in 2024, on a mild calf pain and 4 weeks breaking my left meniscus. 

After a lot of work since last October to rebuild, and a few reasonable tempo runs at the track the past 2 weeks, I was shooting for 3:45, a 7:15 min/mile. At least a sub 3:10 marathon split since the race offers an official Boston Marathon time at the end of the 5th lap, as long as you finish the additional and final lap. That was before hearing that it would be rainy, windy and muddy...

Drove in the morning without incident this time on the highway, although I made the detour on 84 and 5 this time (Christine reported a crash on 80 with a car burning...). I got in before 7:10 which gave me time to check-in and chat with two speedsters: Rich Hanna, owner of the race management and timing company, Capital Road Race, and one of the fastest runners in the country in my age group, and James Scanlan, who was aiming at breaking the 50-mile M55-59 American Record (5:48).

Pre-race, I also handed out remaining plaques from last years award ceremony: 6 to Tamalpa and 4 to Buffalo Chips, including these 2 plaques for another local Masters legend, Bev Abbs-Anderson:

Just some drizzle at the start of the 50-mile at 7:30.

Then the rain picked-up while we were getting prepared for our 50K start at 8:30 (photo credit, Shiran Kochavi, Pamakids' MUT Captain). Here I am, getting to the start line with only 5 seconds to spare!

Ah, Shiran, I had not realized we had started that slow (motion)! ;-)

We first run a 1-mile out and back so it's easy to see who is in the lead. I didn't recognize the overall, leader, a gal, then it was Karl and Victor from Excelsior, then another gal. Keep that in mind for comments on the results.

I ran the second mile, returning to the start/finish area, right on 7 minutes for an average of 7:06 min/mile. I was running with that second gal and Victor who couldn't keep up with Karl's sub-7 pace. We lost sight of Karl half way on the first lap (of 6).

I tried not to get caught up in that fast pace but the pace was uneven so we traded place while maintaining a 7:05-7:10 pace. At the end of the first lap, Victor must have stopped to grab something, I lost sight of him behind. I was getting more comfortable running my own pace, trying to get closer to 7:15, which was easier on the way out than the other side where were were battling some headwind plus the mud and puddles which were forming as the rain persisted.

My average pace was still below 7:15 at mile 17 (3 laps), where I did a ~45-second stop to drink a pouch of Vespa and grab a second GU gel. We were drinking water from the sky hose but I would concede that, under the pressure of maintaining that pace, I wasn't drinking enough from both my GU Brew and water bottles.

Failing off pace is hard, mentally especially. the glutes where on fire so it became a mental fight to keep pushing toward the marathon split goal especially. 2 more laps... That mask captured by Shiran...

I still had a few miles under 7:30 helped with tail wind but the return on the other side became harder and hard, clocking 7:40 miles. I even lost the mojo on mile 24, 8:04, then 25 and 26, over 9 minutes, ouch! Marathon split of 3:18: still 32 minutes under the M60-64 3:50 requirement, but would likely get behind the 10 or 15th wave, would I even consider going back to Boston, not so good... 

Meanwhile, Victor caught up with me and passed me in the 5th lap, then Paul Broyer, from Excelsior too, like Karl. Great Men team! At the beginning of the final lap, 24-hour Team USA member, Pam Smith, of Oregon, passed me too. She was running at 7:40 min/mile, my new average pace, while I was down to running the last 3 miles in the 9:20-10:00 range.

On the last up ramp to the Watt Avenue bridge, I saw Bev closing in and that gave me a kick to run the last hundreds yards at 7:20 min/mile pace, which now felt like a sprint... I had been chicked 3 times already, I felt that was enough. Although, now looking at the results, the first two leading gals are absent, they must have dropped. (Correction, per Bev's comment: I hadn't realized, they were actually on the marathon, which started with us.)

4:04:17, I was disappointed not breaking 4 hours but, given the bleak 2024 season and outlook, still happy to finish this 13th Jed Smith 50K. On the road to reconstruction...

In the 3rd lap I got passed by a tall runner with a red hat. On the 4th lap, by another runner in Nike shoes. I didn't catch their bib so not show who's who between Piotr Kaszkur, the winner in 3:36:03 and 3rd place David Horton, 3:53:03. The Excelsior gang took 2nd, 4th and 5th. Amy was 6th overall and I took 7th, a few second ahead of Bev, then her husband Alan in 4:18.

On the 50-mile, James was still smiling and running strong although he had missed his record goal. He easily won in 6:26.

If you think crewing during a record attempt is easier than actually running, you should have seen Chikara, who holds many records of his own, sprinting between the bridge and the aid station table, certainly exhibiting more stress than James... Serious Excelsior team spirit and support!

Here is another super happy camper: after running trail 50Ks all her life, it was Lisa's first flat and road 50K, for a huge PR at 63, breaking 5 hours by a few seconds. Well done, Lisa, and Gary, for your 214th result on UltraSignup, and I bet this is missing many of your ultra man achievements! I'm at 201, will try to log a few this year! (Correction this Sunday afternoon, UltraSignup shows Gary at 218, and 210 results for me, weird.)

As for Christine, she felt it was a loopy long day...

Legendary trail photographer and now retired, Joe McCladdie, was taking pictures with his iPhone, I may add a couple later when he shares. Just a phone? Big change for him from all the tele-lenses he did shoot us with for so many years at local races. Here are two of his shots, grateful to Joe for managing to make me smile! ;-)

For my Club, another big miss: we had hopes to form 2 teams but Marc bailed out, challenged to fully recover Achilles issues, then Marco didn't show up. Bjorn clocked 4:58:06, Elizabeth, 5:06:19 and Charles, 5:58:22.

These results show both Tamalpa and Buffalo Chips short of one finisher to scoring a team. Pamakids had 6 finishers and one DNF but Shiran mentioned 8 starters so, like for Christine, that page might miss some club names (entrants not registering their club upon signing up). Re Tamalpa, not any two runners but Carl and Steve, competing in the M70 age group!

It wasn't that cold, not that rainy for that matter, but I had some challenges changing in the car between some cramping and shivering. I did enjoy the hot tomato soup and one hot dog before the drive back home. Which, despite low visibility with pouring rain in the afternoon, was eventless, accident wise. If not for this other appalling environmental disaster seen after passing over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. Our State is trying so hard to save our planet but I can't imagine the carbon footprint of wildfires, the catastrophe in LA, and that way of burning oil... Not sure what that was about, we could see huge flames under this thick black smoke... (CBS reporting 6 workers injured in the explosion)

Back to the race, I haven't checked all the results of the past years, I felt that, while Jed as kept the very high standards of course and event sanctioning to attract elite runners, the size of the field was really small. At least the 50K with less than 50 entrants, the 50-mile under 20, and even considering the myriad of concurrent options (marathon, 30K, half-marathon). We are so rich in our North California area, it's tough for the USATF Pacific Association to compete. With that, special thanks to the Buffalo Chips Club and volunteers for holding this great winter ultra tradition! Especially on a rainy day, so grateful for these course monitors standing for hours in these conditions... See you all on the first weekend of February next year!

PS: stat wise that was my 80th 50K and 199th ultra race (182 finishes), out of 511 ultra runs, training ones included. Yes, I love the 50K format...