4:10 am on the road and driving. Drive time to the mountains from San Marcos was predicted to be an hour, to an hour 15. Being used to driving that route to the desert, I didn't even think about the drive and knew exactly the time and exit without thinking. At 5:20 I parked 50 yards from the start with a quick race check-in and number(255) and now wait 40 mins until the start. Kept eating a PB&J and sipping Gatorade.
5:45 am calm, overcast and no rain! Yee haw. Weather had predicted rain all morning and tapering off to the afternoon. This is when the first of several mistakes occurred. I decided I didn't need a drop because it wasn't raining. It was supposed to start at 3 am and there was nothing on the drive or even now at just before 6 am race start. I had a bag ready with a change of clothes, arm sleeves, shoes, socks etc. 1 minute before race start lined up and ready to go... it started raining.
For the first 13 miles up hill.. it rained.. and rained ... and rained. The trail became a stream of running water and non stop mud puddles and sloshing. Dan took this shot as a group of 6 of us worked to climb in non stop mud and rain. Then, right before the aide station it began to hail. The group of us were laughing at first and telling some bad jokes. But when the hail didn't stop and we started to run with hands over our neck and ears.. the fun went away. It only lasted a short time and made for a good story. Especially when someone in their best Bill Murray voice said... "I don't think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for a while yet". At one point we were running in all white as the ground was covered completely with hail. This is when I really understood why people run in trail shoes. For rocks, and mud. I had zero traction and was sliding all over.
The day continued rainy and windy through the 25 mile turnaround. From there I had another round of hail (while covering with a space blanket someone gave me) and then from here the rain about stopped. With partial clearing now, you started to be able to see into the canyons and the view. A drop bad would have been nice about now as my wet socks started to bunch up in my shoes. This kicked off the start for blisters to form on the balls of my feet. Again, lessons learned and a mental note. Even if you don't use a drop bag. Put one in place just in case. You can always change your mind.
From here on, the trails had dried enough to have little or no puddles and you were actually able to jog/hike and work with your footing when needed. Some more soup at Todd's cabin again on the return and then back at it. I met a guy and we ran quite well together working down the hill for 13 miles to the finish. My legs were tired but I could still hold some sort of trot and try to hold a tempo. My original goal was to break 12 hours. I came in at mile 50 in 11 hours and 24 mins. Not my best 50 time. But given the weather, at elevation, and climbing of 7300 feet. Not a bad day. Tough course with the climb up front and down hill on the knees at the end. This is the first of 4 races for the SD Ultra slam. And I guess technically a training run for and on parts of the course for SD100 in 22 days!
Tough day at the start, but after the turnaround I was good to go. Final Strava details for PCT50 below.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2362091743
No comments:
Post a Comment