Weather was awesome. It was probably in sixties most of the time. First 11 miles were in the woods and it was nice and cool. For remaining miles, it was a nice breeze from the ocean and sometimes, a light drizzle kept things really cool. View was wonderful. You could see the pacific on one side and bay on the other side. It's just a wonderful place to run.
Terrain is quite different. It starts with a mile down and then a mile up before going about 3.5 further down. And then the climb begins going 1200ft over next 5.5miles. But it is not just uphill. It goes up and down in many places, making it even harder.
For first 11 miles, one of my friends, Vivek paced me. Our strategy was to walk steep sections. For runnable sections, we did about .25 mile running and walking for a minute. It went quite well and we made it to 11 miles in 2hr 20min.
Somewhere around mile 10, we saw a really fast runner crossing us. Since I made an early start (1hr early), I told Vivek, no way this guy cannot be a regular starter since for him to be @ mile 10 in 1hr and 10minutes almost seemed impossible. Later, I saw him again when I was around mile 22 returning. And guess what, that guy beat the course record. He finished the 50k in less than 4hours. What a runner!!
Next 8 miles, I ran all by myself. There were a few of the regular starters crossing me. For the downhill parts, I was doing good going around 10min a mile. But, something in my left shoe was bothering me. So I stopped to clean up my left shoe. After that, it was much better. Then, around mile 17 or so, one of left thigh muscle started quivering running uphill. And I was a little scared. I tried messaging but it didn't go away so I walked the hill up. I was thinking, "Man, will I also have to quit this time around?" (Last year, I ran the same race without practice. It was so hot that I dropped out on mile 11). Nevertheless, as I started running downhill, the quivering went away. So, I kept going, walking the uphills.
At mile 19(back at the parking lot), I ate some cookies and potatoes and got my energy back to finish the remaining race. Kiran joined me to give company for the remaining 12 miles. Next couple of miles it was kind of steep uphill. I guess it was runnable but with my quivering muscles, I just walked. Lot of people outside the race come there to do a small hike or enjoy the view which is wonderful. After mile 22 it was downhill for about a mile or so and then back uphill another 1.5 mile. It went down after that all the way to mile 25 which was the turning point. Returning back, another runner Christine who was on my heels for quite some time, joined Kiran and me and we chatted along the way. It was up and down all the way back but by that time, I knew finish was close at hand. A light breeze and light drizzle kept things really interesting. I finally finished and became an ultra-runner after having completed 2 marathons back in 2007.
Trail running is so different than regular marathons which hardly have any elevation gain.Website lists the elevation gain around 5000ft but my GPS watch shows the total around 10000ft!! It was quite an experience. At some point, I was scared I might have to quit because of my quivering muscles. But thanks to Sujanian training, I made it all the way in 7hrs 9min which is still a decent time given that this is my first 50k. I look forward to doing more ultra-runs in future.
Results and pictures posted at http://www.stevenscreek.com/stevenscreek50k.html. I really like the pictures at http://www.seeingbirds.com/stevensck_50K/index.html
Cheers!!
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