The Inaugural ITR Marin Ultra Challenge 50 Mile

Marin Ultra Challenge 50 Mile, by Inside Trail Racing
Saturday 30 June 2012

Rodeo Beach, race start and finish (when taken) for the inaugural MUC.
This is La Sportiva country.
#lasportivana

This was Inside Trail's first 50 mile race, and with a no-repetition long-loop going from Rodeo Beach past Stinson Beach, was extremely ambitious.  I had to be a part of it.  As a plus, it was a nice consolation race for a (then) six-timeWestern States reject.

The day before the race, I worked from home from 6 am to 10 pm, with a short late afternoon break to drive my family to the airport so they could spend the next few weeks with my wife's side of the family in the Chicago suburbs.  Race morning I was up by 4 am-- earlier than I'd planned.

waiting for the light at the bridge
no longer an issue for the persistently almost late since the race start was moved

During the first 8.5 miles (a loop that went back to the start) I talked with Elan Lieber, who would cruise ahead and come in 4th.

I am not sure if I have seen Elan since.  I suspect he moved to SoCal.

Around mile 12, while descending to Tennessee Valley, I started feeling sleepy.  My body was tell me "nice morning run, now go back to bed!"  I knew I would need to caffeinate aggressively to get through the day
.

The descent to Muir Beach used the new Dias Ridge Trail, which I'd never hiked or ran on before.

shhh, lifted from web

Most other races (including the original Talmapais Running Club's Headlands 50k in late August) have runners descend from Pantoll and the switchbacks of Heather Cutoff-- all runnable and quite fun.  In this race for the first time I had to run up this.  Since the grade isn't steep, there is neither excuse nor opportunity to walk, making the ascent potentially extra awful.  Jason Perez cruised past me during the climb.

Speaking of Jason, I hadn't run into him at any races in a while, though I would see facebook posts about mountain and motor dirt biking.   I suspected he went over to the other side!

So I just got tagged in a fb post by him a few days after I originally published this, asking if his stitches could wait 14 instead of 10 days.

Since he didn't pay me $500 up front for his personalized, state-of-the-art medical advice and care, I am going to hippo-violate him.  (Note: Most of the other comments and advice from his uninformed layperson "friends" have been omitted.)

Jason Perez

3 hours ago 

So I was told I can remove my stitches in my arm after 10 days, so that'll be Tuesday the 25th. But I have a Mtb race on Saturday the 29th which is 14 days. I don't plan on crashing but then again its a race so shit is always possible. I don't want to have a simple front wheel tuck and open my wound just because its weak. So can I leave the stitches in till after the race or should I remove them at 10 days? — with Mark Tanaka.

Jason Perez I figured I could do like Brad Pitt in world war Z and duct tape a magazine to my forearm. Should protect my arm from anything from road rash to zombies.

Mark Tanaka Generally these become gangrenous and necrotic exactly at 12 days. So either switch your sport to curling ( more exciting ) or ( safer) prophylactic amputate.

Jason Perez So Mark pull them out at 10 days and protect the shit out of my arm? 
Curling is on Sunday so I can still do both.

Mark Tanaka Try not to shit on your arm. If there is shit in your arm, wash it out, don't "protect" it out. WTF is that?

name withheld, as she seemed nice  If you were a cat, advice would be keeping sutures in is fine as long as there is no new inflammation ( pus, redness or heat). Cover it w something tough enough not to rip just in case  Been there, done that......good luck!

• Mark Tanaka I can cut your arm off for free, but need a new Swiss Army knife with a serrated saw. So handy!

  59 minutes ago · Like
• 

  Mark Tanaka Male athletes with missing limbs are all the rage. Just no shooting your hot girlfriend when you are enraged.

  55 minutes ago · Like · 2
• 
  

Mark Tanaka Sorry, in bad taste. 14 is fine, pretend you are a cat. When I crawl out of bed and reach a keyboard I can give you more unofficial instructions and my PayPal account so this all becomes worth my valuable time!

Jason Perez Mark your killing me

55 minutes ago · Like

Jason Perez Should I just go back to ultra running 

Jason, what do you think the answer is?
Remember: this is what can happen to you when you turn your back on the cult of ultrarunning!

If this happens to you, don't look to this blog post to figure out what to do.
Call your doctor!
(Who will tell you to go to the ER, duh)
By the way, Jason, I'll give you $50 for you bike.

On the shorter descent of the Dipsea Trail to Stinson my glasses kept fogging up and slipping off my nose, maybe because it was humid, or I'd just gotten them.

At the bottom, newbie ultrarunner Greg Bruso from Santa Rosa caught up with me, and I think we caught up with Jason Perez. We occasionally chatted as we ascended from Stinson on Willow Camp Fire Road, another new trail for me.

Thec climb is brutal, but gives very clear and great views of Stinson Beach and Bolinas.  Jason dumped us first, then I left Greg behind.

After finishing the Willow Camp ascent I slipped and fell on Coastal Trail.  I then reminded myself that in a new race I don't have to have any hard-set goals--  just to have fun and not get injured or so beat up that I wouldn't be able to hike with a loaded pack on Monday and Friday near Mammoth Lakes with my brother and his friend.  I hadn't backpacked in over 15 years, so was a bit apprehensive.

that week on the John Muir Trail, Mount Ritter or Banner, near Thousand Island Lakes, near Mammoth

At aid station near Pantoll, a volunteer told me it would be 9 miles before the next aid station, but also that there would be a few spots where I could can get water.  I took this with a grain of salt, and drank an extra 24 ounces before having my bottle filled up again.  Actually I took a pinch of salt, not a grain.  Luckily no more than a pinch, because I never saw the water.  

During this stretch and for the first time in a race I ran through Muir Woods.  There were people pushing babies in strollers, older people in wheelchairs or walking with canes. It felt like I was a running back, fairly surreal, but no one got hurt.

It was quite warm and my bottle ran out with maybe 3 miles to go before the aid station at Muir Beach.  I made a mental note for the future to place a hydration pack at the start of the split, but with subsequent year's course changes, this would never become necessary.

finishing 6th overall around 9 1/2 hours, photo by Allen Lucas

An amazing, epic run, and a very  successful first attempt (talking about Inside Trail, not me)!

My family out of town, there would have been no pressure to leave the finish but I had friends from out of town. During almost 2 hours hanging out at the finish, I tried to eat as much as possible to prevent making a pig out of myself with them.  Similar to how it can get dangerously costly to go out to sushi when you are starving.  Much more pleasant than hanging out at the end of North Face Endurance Challenge in December (too cold, too crowded, too impersonal.)

my (married) friends Randy and Andra, from Brooklyn, in the city.  Andra was in town for a veterinary conference.
Thanks for dinner!

Thanks, Inside Trail and all the volunteers!!!

I will try to post reports on 2013 and 2014 soon.

my GPS recording
my post-race photo album on facebook
results
website

partial race schwag and
my 2012 demo Ultra Raptors (now part of the official La Sportiva trail shoe lineup)

winner and La Sportiva teammate Leor Pantilat beat me by more than 2 hours

Skyline to the Sea 50k, 2nd Time: You'll Agree I'm Still a Dork

A few things were different at this year's PCTR's Skyline to the Sea 50k on Sunday, April 10th, from my first Skyline run two year's ago.

First, no pre-race fashion crisis.  Last time (two years ago) I made it a family trip, with upscale "camping" at the nearby Costanoa resort.  I had forgotten my running shorts.

actually NOT a recycled photo.  2009 race report

This year, I left the family at home to fend for themselves (they did go to a birthday party).  Since I left from home Sunday morning, the only way I could have forgotten my running shorts this year would to have come bottomless, which so far has only happened in a dream.

Second, I came to the this year's race sore from running the inaugural Antelope Island Buffalo 100 mile run two weekends before, sort of stupid.  Two years ago, I came much sorer and sorrier from having finished the McNaughton Park 150 mile run, which was a definitively stupider.  Point is, I had to better my time, even if the course was a little longer this year.

Third, instead of talking with David Schoenberg on the bus ride from Highway 1 to the start off of Skyline Blvd (route 35), I talked with Tim (Roush) and Steve (McCluhan) respectively from Concord and Clayton.

I can use the picture I took of Tim after Diablo 60k this past weekend:

-- but as for Steve, forget it.  (I tried to google his image, and, I shiP you not, I got About 822 results (0.06 seconds), none of which look like Steve, even though I am a little fuzzy on what Steve looks like now.  Sorry, Steve, your chance for pictorial fame on this blog will have to wait.

Here are some images you get [qqwhen you type "steve mccluhan" under Google Images (try it!) :

WTF?  Hopefully some of you readers out there wondering why I haven't posted on this blog for almost 4 months can get an appreciation for how difficult this endeavor can be.

David did not sign up for the race, but I was struck with the fact that had he gotten trampled by a buffalo the day before, I would not have noticed and would have enjoyed my conversation with Tim and Steve anyways.  It was sort of tragic and comic and depressing and bizarre when I thought about it, but then I started feeling sick.  See, once the road started getting windy ("windy" with a long i, as in rhymes with "one of a kindy" and not "blow like the windy"), I halted my running-related chatter, laid down and prevented myself from getting very nauseated as I had the last time.

Fourth, it was not as cold at the top as in 2009.  Nonetheless, I was so scared of freezing my ass off in the woods, and much of this course is shaded single-track, so I ran the whole way with my long sleeve black Sportiva jacket.  Sometimes I got a little hot, but it wasn't too bad.

I took no pictures for this race.  Why?  Because I took the race directions literally-- you could only put a jacket and pair of pants in the drop bags at the start to be transported to the finish.  I hadn't seen my pocket camera in months, so I had started taking all my photos with my iPhone now, which I had left in my car.  Besides being anal about following the instructions, it COULD conceivably fall out of the bag and then I'd have no cell phone.

Fortunately, La Sportiva teammate Leor Pantilat got a photo of us two and gave it to me, so I have one photo:

So, anyways, about the run.  It was awesome.  A beautiful day, clearer than two years ago, so better views near the top.  No major mishaps.  There were two guys I passed kind of early (I think I talked with a Troy Hartman, and maybe a Randy asked what took me so long to pass him), then a long stretch without seeing anyone.

Then this guy started catching up with me right before the first stop at the Gazos Creek aid station, at the start and finish of the extra loop that the 50k runners do and the marathoners don't.  During the loop, I could tell he trying to pick me off, but I was able to keep ahead of him.  After the second stop at the aid station, he caught up.  We talked a little, then he made his move and lost me.   Later I would be a little chagrined to discover he wasn't 26, but 46. On top of that, he was from Carmel, which is sticky and sweet.  And his name was Judd.

Ashley Judd actually does a lot of awesome humanitarian work.

I listened to Terry Gross interview her on NPR's "Fresh Air" while I was running once.

Ashley Judd's website

However, because of the Judd thing, it still felt like I got chicked.

And here's the kicker.  His full name turns out to be Judd Haaland.  Do you get it?  Three "A's" in his last name JUST LIKE ME.  So even in the "male runners 40-49 with three A's in your last name" category, he still kicked my aaass.

I passed a bunch of runners until the end, but they were all marathoners that were at a slower pace.  Less satisfying.  By the way, pretty cool that a woman named Linden Bader won the marathon overall.

No age-group top finisher's medal, like I got at Redwood (previous report).  In fact, the three guys ahead of me, places 5th through 7th, were all 40-49, so I was a despicable 4th in my age division.

But, look, the I'm looking so cool here with the race winner!  (And HE was the one who suggested we get a photo together.)

Back at the finish, I found out that Leor, who hadn't raced since November's Quad Dipsea since he was recovering from injury and so hadn't expected that much from himself, broke his course record yet again, finishing in an amazing 3:24:09, which is 53 minutes faster than I did, which wouldn't be such a big deal if it was some 150 mile race and he finished in 33:24:09 and I finished in 34:17:24.  Calculate the ratios to see what I'm getting at.  Damn, I feel so lucky and undeserving and proud to be on the same sponsored Mountain Running Team as he is.  I gotta throw in an even bigger pic of us two:

While we're at it, here's an even bigger picture of Ashley Judd.

 Plus, bonus shots, since you have read this far.

Man (or should I say, OMG?) these are all copyrighted (copywritten?) probably.

I'm going to get busted!

Clap for Leor, Ashley!

Leor's race report-- better written than what you just read, has a nice photo of a waterfall at the beginning, instead of me in my dorky shorts (but no Ashley Judd!)

Thanks PCTR and all the volunteers (I was really buzzing through those aid stations, you were all so smooth!) for making an already beautiful day even better than beautiful.

race website

Garmin Forerunner 305 recorded map of my run