I used the credit I received from the Santa Cruz Mountains Race to enter this one when I heard about the screening of Unbreakable in San Francisco the night before. What better way to get pumped pre-race than to watch a film documenting the Western States 100 and be in the presence of director JB Benna and elite ultrarunners Hal Koerner, Geoff Roes, and Tony Krupicka.
Driving into Huddart Park the next morning I saw, off in the distance a bunch of people standing around in what appeared to be a giant line.
It was a line. And it was the check in line for runners to pick up their bibs. The bathroom line was pleasant and only a few people long. I got at the end of the check in line. Fifteen minutes later I hadn't moved and there were about 50 more people behind me.
The funny thing was watching people arrive, seeing them see the shelter where check in was taking place, and following the line with their eyes alllll the waaaaay back, but trail runners are trusting because with each person arriving and asking someone in line if it was the check in for all the races the response was either "I don't know" or "I think so". The people around me were pretty sure about what we were in line for, but not really sure.
They were behind and working hard to get all of the 10k runners checked in for their race that was already supposed to have started before checking in any of the 17k or 35k folks. So we waited in the big line and eventually got through it.
At the start the first 50 yards or so were downhill across the park toward the entrance to the trail, so we went from wide open field to singletrack with an immediate sharp turn. Which meant once we got on the trail we stopped...and waited in another line.
This is a beautiful course: Soft mulchy trail shadowed by giant earthy smelling Redwoods. The wind was howling at the tops of the trees, and we were climbing endless switchbacks.
It was hard work, but I found my gear and cruised my way up and up and up. After 48 minutes of running uphill my legs wanted to stop at the Lia aid station. I gave myself 1 minute, switched to a hike and downed some water and a Gu. I took off again uphill, waiting for the revitalization to kick in, and about 10 minutes later I found a new gear.
At an intersection I saw someone ahead of me cut left and a few others cut right. I looked at the ribbons and cut right and then asked the girl ahead of me, "this is the 17 right?". She said she didn't know and she was just following the people in front of her. Good enough for me!
After the real aid station, we finally got some downhill, so I let loose and flew down the switchbacks. More than a few times I had to completely stop on a turn because my momentum was going to take me flying off the side of the mountain.
I had a ball.
I finished just over 2 hours with cold hands and ears. The tape job I did on my feet was successful. The bad times started when I took off my shoes and socks and attempted to put on my compression socks in the car in the parking lot. First of all, it's really difficult to put on compression socks with semi-numb hands, so I enlisted GeNene to help. As I tried to maneuver my left foot into the sock, my foot immediately cramped up. I screamed, moved my foot in a way as to counter the cramp which caused my calf to cramp up. As I tried to flex my foot to counter the calf cramp, the foot cramp got worse, so I screamed some more while tapping my foot around and trying to stand up inside the car. Eventually I resorted to jumping out of the car screaming "I HAVE TO PUT MY WEIGHT ON IT".
After finally relieving the foot/leg combo cramp we left the park and conveniently missed the exit toward home which meant we were heading back to San Francisco. Then the other foot/leg combo cramp happened shortly after on the freeway so all I could do was try to stand up inside the car, tap my foot, and scream.
My reward for surviving my compression socks was half a crab in San Francisco. Oh, and this...
I'll say it again, I had an ABSOLUTE BALL.
Driving into Huddart Park the next morning I saw, off in the distance a bunch of people standing around in what appeared to be a giant line.
Look at all the people over there, wait, what are they doing? Is that a line? Is that the BATHROOM LINE? That can't be a line for anything that's way too many people to be a line for something.
It was a line. And it was the check in line for runners to pick up their bibs. The bathroom line was pleasant and only a few people long. I got at the end of the check in line. Fifteen minutes later I hadn't moved and there were about 50 more people behind me.
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They were behind and working hard to get all of the 10k runners checked in for their race that was already supposed to have started before checking in any of the 17k or 35k folks. So we waited in the big line and eventually got through it.
At the start the first 50 yards or so were downhill across the park toward the entrance to the trail, so we went from wide open field to singletrack with an immediate sharp turn. Which meant once we got on the trail we stopped...and waited in another line.
 |
| Yes, this is correct, the first half is all climbing. |
At an intersection I saw someone ahead of me cut left and a few others cut right. I looked at the ribbons and cut right and then asked the girl ahead of me, "this is the 17 right?". She said she didn't know and she was just following the people in front of her. Good enough for me!
After the real aid station, we finally got some downhill, so I let loose and flew down the switchbacks. More than a few times I had to completely stop on a turn because my momentum was going to take me flying off the side of the mountain.
I had a ball.
 |
| Coming into the finish |
After finally relieving the foot/leg combo cramp we left the park and conveniently missed the exit toward home which meant we were heading back to San Francisco. Then the other foot/leg combo cramp happened shortly after on the freeway so all I could do was try to stand up inside the car, tap my foot, and scream.
My reward for surviving my compression socks was half a crab in San Francisco. Oh, and this...
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| This is me. In a cop car. Which is a Mustang. A real San Francisco Police Officer took this picture. |
I'm glad to hear that PCTR has their act together again, their races are awesome!! :) I want to run Woodside sometime.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your run!