I just did another 50K three weeks ago in the East Bay; for a guy who averages 20 miles a week, you might say this is excessive. But Pt. Reyes had the scenery, a beautiful T-shirt design, a great destination, and a strong club (Tamalpa) putting it on, so I had to go for it. Originally, the Skyline 50K was just supposed to be a "training run" for Pt. Reyes, but Skyline turned out to be my great race (5:09:35) so I guess Pt. Reyes must have been the cooldown run.
I'd been to Pt. Reyes in the past. Pt. Reyes itself is rolling, open country. What I hadn't appreciated is that most of Pt. Reyes National Seashore, the huge southern "wilderness area" where the race was held, was completely forested. I saw the "Ridge Trail" on the map and figured I'd be running along an exposed ridge. Not. What it was was a beautiful carpeted trail through a forest. As were a good many of the other trails on this run. Even the "Coast Trail", which I figured would be pretty open country, was heavily vegetated. And I'm guessing the prime component was poison oak. I tried not to look while I was running; I figured it could only slow me down. But today I'm getting the message from my legs. The story is that trail maintenance was severely compromised this year on many of the trails because the rangers had to spend all of their time removing fallen trees (toppled by heavy wind and rain this winter). As it was, most of the Coast Trail reminded me of the "Secret Trail" to the top of Black Mountain - rutted, narrow, with brush attacking your legs from both sides. That's where I came down wrong at about mile 10 and thought for sure from the pain in my ankle I'd be a drop out at the next aid station. But I hung in there, the pain went away, and that was the least of my problems.
The views. I'd read Lauren and Karen's description of their Pt. Reyes half-marathon a while back. Sounded great. I'm afraid the fog never let me get quite such good views, though it did keep the race temperatures moderate and believe me, I'm not complaining! The lakes we ran by right on top of the ocean cliffs were the neatest scenic feature of the run, IMHO.
My strategy, as usual, involved running all the hills until I could run them no more. Unfortunately I did reach that point on the third climb of the day at about mile 21. Shortly thereafter, running uphill on a gravel road, my foot caught a rock and I went down, right on my hands, then twisted on my back. I had just finished the last of my water, knowing that I was approaching an aid station; as it turned out it was probably 1/2 mile more. I ran in with blood streaming from my hands, and got washed down and bandaged up. I had 7 miles to go and was on top of the ridge. Easy cruise to the finish, right? Not.
Less than a mile down the hill my foot caught a tree root and down again! The damage was mainly to the bandages, which were ripped off. Of course I felt like an idiot; fortunately this time I had water so I could wash off my hands while I continued on my way. Several miles down hill I reach the Bear Valley Visitor Center and discover that my second water bottle, carried in the small of my back, had been mashed flat by the first fall. A Dead Dipsea bottle, natch.
The final 4 miles was the "Rift Zone Trail," literally running right along the San Andreas Fault. The topo map in the visitor center made it look flat. Perhaps it might have been at mile 1, but at mile 27, it was downright hilly if you ask me. I was physically and mentally tired, I'm afraid to say. Tired from running, and tired OF running. I wanted it to be over. 1/4 mile from the finish, adding insult to injury, one of the steepest hills so far (well, it seemed so, anyway).
Break into the open, spot Debi and my mother, break into a sprint (where did THAT come from?) and cross the finish line. One tough race. Listening to some seemingly knowledgeable people, the "word" is that the course was really closer to 33 miles. What the hey. In for a penny, in for a pound.
I did it, anyway. Not as good as 3 weeks ago (56th place; I had been in 40th place around mile 10), bruised (my back is a mess as well as my hands), battered (my right arm was sore as hell; guess that happened in the fall as well), legs itching like hell, muscles still sore, but I'm sure I'll do it again. :-) Tamalpa did a fine job considering the inaccessibility of many of the aid station points. The course IS beautiful, although it could benefit from better trail maintenance. 50K is a nice distance for a race, but it is certainly right on the edge of MY abilities. Like a half-Ironman, on a good day I can make it; on a bad day, I'm going to run out of gas before the end. And then you find out just how deep you can dig.
Great fun.
Steve "Ultra Klutz" Patt
BADRunner@aol.com, back in beautiful Cupertino, CA