Race report: Way Too Cool 50KM 2014

The middle of the pack: my first ultrarunning experience

My decision to run

Over the last few months I have run more than I ever have. When I got in the lottery for the Way too Cool 50KM race, I was stoked and scared. I had run 5 half marathons and capped off my summer last year by running a 35KM race. The 35KM race I ran was in the Sierra Foothills and overlapped with the Way Too Cool course for a few miles, so I had a general feel for the terrain and knew what I was getting into. I had told myself that I wanted to be less than 220 pounds before I signed up for an ultra-marathon race. I had lost weight during the summer while training (from 270ish down to 245). Even though I wasn’t there yet, I figured that may the next bout of training would help me shed the pounds.

Training

I started ramping up from the 20-25 miles per week of maintenance-mode running to 40+, hitting 46 and 47 miles in the weeks around Christmas and continuing on up from there, topping out at 56, including a 25 miler the last week of January. February offered a lot of challenges with my kids getting a stomach bug and multiple colds. These involved sleepless night in various chairs holding kids. Not the best situation – and we topped off the month with a trip to the hospital with one of our daughters and adding new preventative medicines for them. As for my weight, I dropped down to 230 during this ramp up. Not as much loss as I had wanted, but I felt a lot stronger and capable than I had been going into the other races I did.

Race week

Like every taper I have done for swimming or for running, all the little aches and pains started bugging me. I had a pretty intense week in the lab as well, doing a lot of experiments for my own projects and helping out with some other peoples’ projects as well.  As race day approached I got more and more nervous about how I was feeling and about whether I would finish or not. Thirty-one miles is not short and sweet. It isn’t long by some standards, but I had never run more than the two 25 milers I did in training, so 31 miles was uncharted territory for me.

My brother flew in from Seattle on Friday and the kids and I picked him up at the airport. We ran a bunch of errands, met my wife, April, for dinner and then we got on our way. My brother is a more experienced runner than I am having done a couple marathons and a 50KM last fall. He re-assured me that we would both finish, that I had done the training and now it was time to go enjoy the course and have a good time. This reassurance was nice and necessary – there is nobody like your brother and oldest friend to reassure you. We slept a sound night in a Roseville hotel the night before the race and were able to sleep in until 6am, which is late for us.

The race itself

I was issued a wave two start, meaning I would start 10 minutes behind my brother and what seemed the vast majority of runners. The first mile was on the road and then we hit the trail to go down the Olmstead loop trail to Knickerbocker Creek. Hitting the creek was the first stream crossing of 12 or so for the day. Instead of waiting for people to cross, I just ran right through the water knowing that there would be a ton of water and mud throughout the course. I tried to ease myself into a steady moderate pace that was comfortable and settled in with a couple other folks for the first (8 mile) loop back to the starting area while nursing down a Clif Gel. I hit the 8 mile mark in 1:20, which I knew was on the quick side for pacing for the day, but I was feeling good, so I picked up an S-cap and a gel and was on my way.

I knew the next bit of trail pretty well having run it during the 35KM race I did, but it was a muddy mess with several streams running through it unlike the dry dusty trail I experienced the previous fall. But the huge vertical drop was still the same. I rushed down as fast as I could without trashing my quads and hit the highway crossing while they were stopping traffic for the runners. I would later learn that my brother got held up for 4 minutes waiting to cross.

The trail along the river was beautiful and I could hear the water rushing below. Not long after crossing the highway, I saw my brother from behind. I knew I was going out too fast and he said he was going to take it easy for the first 20 miles, so I wasn’t too surprised, but I was thinking that I would catch him around 20 miles, not 13. I didn’t work to catch him, but, I saw him leaving the Maine Bar aid station at mile 16.7 and just said “hi” to him at that point, as he was leaving the aid station and I was just getting there. I wouldn’t see him again until the end, and his splits show to be much more even than mine were.

Me, on Quarry Road, about half done. Photo from ultrarunnerpodcast.com. 

Around mile 17 I heard a guy talking behind me saying he was from Point Reyes Station. I turned around and asked him if he was Josh who I had randomly followed on Strava. I randomly followed him because I like to look at the maps of West Marin and dream about running the trails out there. We stuck together chatting and running a solid pace until just after we left the Goat Hill aid station.

Somewhere around mile 23 or 24 I caught my toe on a rock and went down pretty hard cutting my finger. The worst part of it was actually getting the gel I was carrying all over my hand and shirt; that stuff is sticky. Falling does very little to raise your confidence, however, and I was being a little more timid with pacing after the fall. At mile 26 we started the most brutal ascent in the race, Goat Hill. This knocked me for a loop. Not that it was a huge climb, but it was a steep climb and also that it comes as you finish the marathon distance.  Getting to the top was a relief, but I was pretty well spent and ended up eating a bit too much at the aid station. At this point, Josh wanted to put some time on me and try to beat me since I started in wave 2, which was 10 minutes behind him.

With the combination of having fallen, climbing Goat Hill, having my new friend take off at a faster pace than I could stay with, and eating one too many Oreo cookies, my wheels sort of fell off. Over the last four miles, there was a big descent and then another climb to the finish. Thankfully there was another aid station right before the climb, where I filled my water bottles and got doused in cold water before heading up the hill to the finish line back near the Cool firehouse. The climb seemed to go on and on, though it was only a mile long. It was sure nice to see the top and know the finish line was in sight.

I tried to kick it up a notch at that point, with a half mile left, but I had very little left in my legs. I ran in through the mud splashing my way and enjoying the cheers and having my name read over the PA. As I got my medal and a water I saw my brother and Josh right there waiting, having finished not too long before me.

Post-race celebration

After chatting with Brett Rivers, who took 4^th place, for a minute or two, we headed over to the food. The race organizers had pizza and cupcakes, as well as fruit and soda. Thanks to Victor Ballesteros at Victory Sports design, we ended up getting a Hill 88 IPA from Headlands Brewing Company as well. We got a hat from Strava as well and chatting with some of my new Pamakid Runner teammates. We looked around the other vendors. We probably should have waited for a spot on the table at Monsters of Massage, but we opted to walk back to the car. This was the longest mile of the day. I took off the shoes and put them in a bag and then changed to flip-flops and cotton cloths for the drive home. The drive home was uneventful, thankfully, and I was even able to get out of the car unassisted afterwards.

When we got back to my house, April had fixed a wonderful recover meal of wind salmon, kale, asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. It was awesome, considering the amount of sugar that I consumed during the run.  Sleeping was a bit more difficult and didn’t really come until I took some Advil at 3 AM. Nothing was sharply painful, but every part of my lower body was sore. Still is, really since it is only a few hours later.

Special thanks
To my wife, April for putting up with the extra hours of training, especially the sessions that went overnight. Thanks to my brother, Tom, who has been a life-long inspiration and a sort of mentor in this running thing. Thanks to my dad, for showing me what master's level athletics is all about through his life-long swimming activities, and to both of my parents for all of the help they provide in my day-to-day life. Thanks to Josh Luftig for helping me through those miles with good conversation. Thanks to Victor for the beers. And finally thanks to all the race volunteers for doing such a great job and to all the people out cheering on the runners.

My brother, Tom (right, in blue) and me after the finish.

This race on Strava:

Stay tuned for the next adventure.