The story actually started a couple of months ago when Agnès found a great packaged deal for a family trip to Orlando. The only glitch was that we were scheduled to fly back on Friday night, or actually landing at San Francisco Airport at 12:45 AM this Saturday morning, the same morning as the Ruth Anderson race starting at 6:30 AM... Al that on the last flight leaving Orlando and with a 35-minute connection in Phoenix, AZ. I have traveled enough (more than 1.4 million miles) to know that had little chance to work out but was still hoping to make it on time, even if it meant with a very short night. At least I had caught up with a lot of sleep deficiency with several 8 to 10-hour nights in Orlando (it helps to have teen who enjoy sleeping in during their Spring break ;-). Ironically, Agnès picked the last flight to maximize our time in Orlando but, after a week there, I must admit we were tired of the so-called amusement parks (what a crowd at this period) and had gotten too much sun burns to spend the day in the sun. So, after releasing our room, we spent the whole day in the hotel lobby, Agnes and Alex reading and me working... Something we could have well done at the airport while trying to get standby on an earlier flight. As a matter of fact, when we arrived to the airport, the agent told us right away that we had already missed our connection. The plan was quite empty because they had reassigned most of the passengers on other flights but there was no more options for us. After some negotiation though, based on my constraint to be at the starting line of a 100K race in San Francisco by 6:30 AM, the agent agreed to put us on the first flight leaving Phoenix, on another airline: 6 AM, with a scheduled arrival in SFO at 8:20 AM. The time to catch the shuttle to the ling-term parking, to get the car and drive to the start, this meant a 3-hour late start at best. We landed in Phoenix at 10:45 PM on Friday night and got to our room around midnight. With all the stress, I had trouble sleeping and got about 3 hours before waking up at 4 to be at the airport by 5 AM. The flight was 100% full this time but, luckily, the pilot got the airplane off the tarmac right on 6AM and we landed in SFO at 7:50. We ran through the airport and got at the curbside just at the shuttle was dropping a passenger. We were the only ones in the shuttle and our car was close to the entrance of the parking lot so we were quickly off to the starting line, Agnès driving, Alex as a co-pilot and me changing and preparing in the back (fortunately and wisely, just after returning from Vegas last week, I had prepared my race bag and put it in the car in case we had not enough time to drive back home before the race).
It was 8:32 AM when we got on the parking lot: I jumped out of the car, got my bib from Stan Jensen, used only two safety pins to attach it to my shorts and Rajeev's timing assistant jogged with me to the start, half a mile away, to get my "chip time". 2:07:50 after the official start. Quite a record when you realize that I was in the wrong state, on the tarmac in Phoenix, when all the runners were walking to the start... Here on my first loop, photo courtesy of Chihping (see his photo album on Facebook for more):
The first thing which differed from previous years is that, right off my start, I was passing runners. Usually, it takes about 2 laps to start lapping other runners but, with my 2-hour late start, all the runners were now scattered along the course. Just before getting on the parking lot, I saw a few familiar faces including Jon Olsen. It took me three laps to first catch-up with teammates Sean, Toshi, Adam. Sean was on the 100K too, Adam on the 50-mile and Toshi would end up winning the 50-mile. On the plane, I had set my goal around 8 hours, that is 7:43 min/mile pace, and promised myself not to start faster than 7:15. However, given the conditions, I had to contain myself not to run faster than 7 min/mile pace. I hold on a very steady 7:10 average for about 7 laps (about 3:07 marathon and a 3:42 50K if I recall). At the end of my next lap, a small group was looking at the turn, half-mile behind, for Joe Biden who was coming to complete the 100K distance in an astonishing 7:02 (6:48 average pace!). He was followed 10 minutes later by Jon Olsen. I caught up with Sean 2 more times. I was finishing my 11th lap and I thought he was on his last one but he had actually one more to go. Toshi joined Sean and paced him for his last lap; later on Toshi would end up pacing Jim in his last two laps, thus covering 100K total including his win of the 50-mile race! I ran most of the laps around 32-33 minutes but slowed down to 40-minute laps for the final ones. I crossed the finish line in a scratch (chip...) time of 8:05:23 which is by very far my PR at this distance given that I only ran Miwok otherwise.
On the individual side, there was only Charles Blakeney in my age group, whom I passed 5 times during my "catching-up hunt" (a much more tiring one than this Sunday's Easter egg hunt...). I also passed Jason Reed several time who was enjoying a slower 100K after a blazing 2:49 Boston Marathon 6 days earlier and a fast Zippy 5K this Sunday. Here he is, enjoying the lentil soup on Rajeev's aid station vegetarian menu (well, he promised me it was soup... ;-):
A very special thank you to Race Director, Rajeev (also a member of our QuickSilver Running Club), for keeping the low-key tradition of this event up in honor of local ultra legend Ruth Anderson. There are only two aid stations to man along the course but they remain open for more than 14 hours so a very special thank to these volunteers who gave their day up for us, in particular the ones of the South End aid station at which I stopped only once but who comforted me with the famous "Looking good!" at each of my 14 laps, even when I was not feeling as good in the last ones. Of course a unique thank you to the time keepers, Dave Combs and Stan Jensen, who cannot take any rest while collecting the 500 or more splits from 6:30 AM to 8 PM... Thanks also to the volunteers manning the food and fluid tables and Jeanette who refilled my 4th GU2O bottle.
Again, a low-key event compared to some other hard-to-get-in races such as American River, Way Too Cool or Miwok, not to mention Western States. Yet an ideal event to get exposed to ultra running in a very friendly and accessible environment. See some of you again next year then! In the meantime, yet another week of tapering before QuickSilver 50K next Saturday and Miwok 100K the following weekend. What a crazy race calendar, or let's say, great training runs every weekend... ;-). And, next times, I'll try to drive in to the start line instead of flying from out of State at the time the race starts...
PS: see also Alan Geraldi's albums on Facebook (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part III bis) for more pictures of participants (including the start which I missed...)
