Headlands 50

Last Weekend… Janet, Abe and I went to the Marin Headlands and ran our very own 50 miler. We were registered to run Lake Sonoma 50, but it got cancelled. They said it was the weather, I was disappointed, and apparently the Lake Sonoma Gods were not going to have us run that race this year. In any event, we were pissed. What to do? What to do? Within an hour of the cancellation we had plans... We planned our “un_Sonoma” trail run. Abe, Janet and I decided to go run 50 miles in the Marin Headlands. We followed the course I know well from Headlands 100.

If you want to see the course, click on the picture above, this is a link to a google flyover.. Pretty impressive..

This course is pretty steep, we were planning to do 2 - 25 mile loops “washer machine” style (reverse direction each lap). Each lap consisted of approximately 5000 feet of elevation gain, which is definitely a challenging course.

Got up really early and after a quick stop at Starbucks, I was on my way to pick up Janet. Like always she was ready to go and excited about this little adventure of ours. This time, we picked our third amigo, Abe. He is currently training for WS100 so he was motivated to get this 50 under his belt.. The weather was awesome, it promised to be a great day.

Nutrition prepared the day before, GU, coke, bananas, chips, coffee, avocados, canned fruit, pickles, water and power juice.

Abe an I after the first 8 miles.. ready to tackle the next 42

We arrived to Tennessee Valley and got our gear ready, we knew there was a race that particular day so we tried to stay away from the area and took the smaller loop first, an 8 mile loop. We did it no time, and just like that we were back at Tennessee valley. We refilled our bottles, took some nutrition, I thought I forgotten my second water bottle, so I got my hydrapck filled with water and electrolytes and we were in our way for the first 17 mile loop. The day was glorious… it was beginning to get a bit hot. And it had been raining for a while so there were many areas where the water had accumulated and the only way around it was to run through it… which we did. Of course this might be horrible for blisters, but I was lucky and did not get one until the end of the day.

Abe feet after finishing the run... ha!

We had been running for 20 miles+ and all of the sudden I started to feel my plantar fasciitis acting up, I adjusted my stride, and just like that, it was gone. I forgot all about it until the end of the day. Janet asked me for ibuprofen and I swore I had some, but couldn’t find it. We ran for a mile or so then I remembered that I might had some in my hydrapack, I slowed down, took my hydrapack off and found the little plastic bag with ibuprofen and salt pills… score!!. She took some, I took some and we were rejuvenated. We came back to the car, mile 25 or so and ate in earnest.

I had brought pickles, coke, avocado, tortilla chips, gels, larabars, bananas, oranges, and I cannot believe I was eating all of it. I even drank the pickle juice Abe left for me. J We ate plenty and after we were satisfied, we took off for the next 17 mile loop in opposite direction. There are a couple of sections in the loop that are pretty steep. They are murderous on your quads coming down, and horrendously hard and demoralizing going up. Coming down from SCA trail I realized that one thing I will never be able to do, keep up with Janet on the descents. She is an awesome downhiller. Going downhill form the SCA trail, I felt my left toe slamming against the end of my shoe. I knew that mean trouble, I knew I was probably going to lose a toenail, it was painful and at one time I had to stop for a few seconds because the pain was really sharp. I had taken ibuprofen earlier, so I didn’t want to take anymore, but the pain was really bad so I decided to take another dosage I took it and once it kicked in, I could run with no problem. Janet and I kept the same pace; Abe on the other hand was always going ahead and then running back to get us. He didn’t seem to have any issues… I guess, I am just getting old.

The downhills were really hard on my poor feet... :(

And then after 17 miles we were back in the car again. This was a very short break; just enough to get our lights, eat some and get ready with the night gear including a long sleeve or something else. We also ate some more. The last 8 miles were glorious. Simply because we got to see the sunset form the mountain, it is an amazing sight. We also got to hear the crash of the sea and I realized once again how lucky I am of being able to be there and having such wonderful friends. Definitely something we all should experience.

People asked me what do you do and talk during such a long run, Janet and I know each other pretty well by now. Obviously I couldn’t repeat many of the things we have shared during these trail runs; it is great to have a friend whose interest aligns with yours so intimately.

Janet at mile... look at that big smile... I guess we were close to finish.

At the end of the run, we gave each other a hug, changed and when we were about to get ready to go, I realized that the car battery was dead. Yep, there was no way we were going to start it. We were in the middle of nowhere. Two things we were thankful for, a cellphone that had signal and Janet's AAA card. We called the tow-truck and I even took a little nap in the car waiting for it. The tow truck finally arrived, we started the car and we were on our way home. It was a great day... can't wait to do it again.
Now I feel ready for Miwok 100K in three weeks or so... wooohoo!!

The Oakland Marathon

On April 27 I went to Oakland to run the Second Oakland marathon. It has been a while since I ran a road marathon… and I had forgotten how hard they are... ugh!

The day before Rujeko, Jim and I went to get our packets. The drive was hard since Mexico and some other Latin American country were having a soccer match at the Oakland Coliseum, what usually would take about 30 minutes to drive. It actually took around 1 ½ hours. By the time we got to the expo we were already tired and moody. We got out packets, walked around the expo, bought some nutrition and, took a look at some shoes and then we were in our way out. I say we spent about ½ hour at the expo, no more than that. By this time we were already hungry and ready to get something to eat…

We drove back to the city and went to this really cool Italian restaurant. It is a family style... each small plate will serve 3-5 and a large plate will serve 8-10. Can you imagine the size of those suckers? Well, Jim, Rujeko and I decided to get some spaghetti and gnocchi (small servings), but between the three of us, it was pretty much gone pretty fast. We even had room for dessert, cannoli… awesome.

Rujeko and I waiting for our table at the restaurant... ready to carboload.

After a great meal and a good desert, we were ready to get going. We drove to the marina with the idea to take some pictures. You see, I bought a SLR camera a while ago and I have wanted to learn how to take pictures… so having Jim as a teacher was pretty nice. He is a superb picture taker guy.

Learning to use my camera... Look at one of my first attempts. Thank you Jim.

The following day, both Jim and Oliver came to my house at around 5:45 am. We packed my car and were on our way to Oakland. We found parking pretty easy and were ready to start running in no time. It was amazing that I actually found parking pretty nice. This is definitely a good thing about the Oakland marathon; it was easy to find parking. Easy to get to the starting line since there were not that many participants.

The San Carlos Crossfit Endurance Team ready to tackle 26.2 miles of running.. From left to rigth, me, Rujeko, Oliver and Jim

The starting line was fun, the announcer was exciting and then the national anthem, then the countdown and we were off.

And here we goooooo..

I came there with idea of pacing Rujeko to a Boston qualifying marathon of 3:45. Well within the first mile we both agree that it was not going to happen as she was having issues with her tummy. Nevertheless, we actually found a good rhythm and ran without much problem. Interestingly, I found many familiar faces at the run. People that I usually would see at ultras, so it was a real treat to say hello to friends that I only see at ultras

What I like about the Oakland marathon was the fact that I got to see a different part of Oakland. This place is really nice and most importantly, people were really nice too. They were genuinely happy to see us there. And I have never seen so many police officers in one race, and they were very friendly and cheering people too. It was simply awesome; I came out with a different vibe about Oakland. I think I will make this marathon an every year affair from now on...

The first half of this marathon is pretty hilly, the hilly part ended in a pretty steep hill. I mean pretty steep for a regular marathon. The last downhill was pretty murderous, kind of remind me of some ultras I have run, but in an ultra, those are expected… in a regular marathon? No bueno… And when you are trying to maintain a pace, that freaking downhill trashed my quads. I just kept going, hoping that I will not go facedown, as it was pretty easy to do. After this murderous downhill about mile 10, -11, the course leveled up and it was mostly flat.


The weather was glorious; I truly believed that the weather wasn’t that bad, it was just perfect to run 26.2 miles. I was feeling pretty good, Rujeko on the other hand was having some stomach issues thus we fell out of pace within the first mile. She is a trooper regardless and I felt I did my work as she kept saying, “If you were not here, I would have stop by now”. So I did my job, I kept her positive and most importantly, kept her moving. This is our first marathon together and we did not kill each other… So that is a good thing.

Obligatory finisher picture...

After the race we met with fellow runners, Oliver and Jim and headed out to San Francisco to enjoy a very “healthy” breakfast... It was awesome...

This was by far one of the best marathons I have run, not because I did it in certain time, or because I felt good or anything. It was great because of the company. Rujeko, despite her stomach issues, did great and I am glad she convinced me to do this with her. We are definitely coming back to Oakland next year.

My dear friends and SCCF team members, Oliver and Jim did great as well.. Our next marathon will be at the end of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride... yay!! Bring on the Pain!! ..

Kaiser Permanente 1/2 marathon

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to join a bunch of runners at the Kaiser Permanente half marathon. Rujeko and I decided to run this together as a preparation for the upcoming Oakland Marathon which we also are going to run together. I am going to pace her, hopefully, to a Boston marathon qualifying time.

We woke up pretty early as we needed to drive all the way to the Golden Gate Park. After scrambling to get my stuff together we started the drive. It was uneventful until we got to the area where the finish line was supposed to be. Apparently everybody else thought to get there on time as well, and by the time we got there, not only there wasn’t any parking nearby, but the amount of cars in the road was amazing. Little by little we made it out of there and decided to park at close to the starting line. And again, I think everybody thought the same thing as the amount of cars circulating the starting line was just as crazy as the finish line. Somehow, we made it into the Golden Gate Park parking lot, expensive, but we had little to spare. We got into the parking lot, changed into our running clothes and made to the start.

We made it to the starting line and after a quick visit to “the bushes” for me and the porta-potty for Rujeko; we were in among 10,000 runners ready to start the run.

The weather was wonderful, not too cold or hot, perfect running conditions. Now, bear in mind that I have been experiencing some plantar fasciitis issues, so I didn’t know if was going to be able to run the whole thing yet alone pace Rujeko to a decent finish time. Thank God I was able to run the whole thing and did not have to stop at all.

We clocked our first mile in 9:13 minutes, not too shabby, but taking in consideration we were navigating lots and lots of slow people… second mile was 8:13… now we were talking… That was a more decent pace… We kept a good pace until about mile 9 or 10. At that time we slowed down considerably, it got hotter and Rujeko wasn’t feeling good. We ran well when we felt good, and slowed down during the rest stations. Our nutrition strategy worked well, and drinking patterns was awesome. Not issues with nutrition, we just need to do a bit more speed work. At the end we ended up finishing in 1:52:35 which is a decent 8:35 minute per mile average. Taking in consideration that our first mile was pretty slow, we actually ran faster than 8:35 mpm after mile 1. Not bad really…

All in all, this was a great experience and looking forward to run the Oakland marathon together too... woohoo!!

Unfortunately at the end, we learned that a fellow runner died on the course that day.That is pretty sad and I wonder why? Apparentely there was a slow response from the emergency team. It took 22 minutes from the time they were notified to the time they actually arrived on the scene. That seems a lot... don't you think?

Pictures? Damn it.. We forgot our camera!!

A new beginning

It has been a while since I wrote in this blog.. I have been so busy, but I want to start once again. This is the first of many posts this year I am sure of it.

A short recap of 2010…

It was an awesome year indeed. I got to run in many trails, I got to bike some major bike rides and finally the most important news of them all, I got engaged AND purchased a house. Yep, that is right, I am engaged to a wonderful and beautiful woman. Looking forward to the future.

I also continued my CrossFit adventures and they are getting better and better. I keep posting great times and I also realize that CrossFit is like math, the more you do it the better you get at it. It has been an amazing journey, and because of that I feel younger and fitter than I ever felt before. I workout at Carlos CrossFit, a great place I proudly call my own. In there you grunt, you sweat and increase your performance. They offer no mirrors, no chrome, just results; which is a great slogan if you ask me.

This year, my racing calendar is pretty cool it involves a little bit of everything. Here are the most important races I expect to complete.

Oakland marathon March/26

Lake Sonoma 50 M April/2

Miwok 100K May/7

San Diego 100 Miler June/11

Ironman Wisconsin Sep/11

In addition to competing on IMWI, I am also taking a trainer role. I am training a couple of individuals to compete and complete IMWI. It is going to be fun. I will post updates here on that front as well.

So there you have it… those are my A races for this year. Of course there will be others, the PCTR trail runs calendar is very enticing, I am sure I will be on those trails a lot.

Now, keeping checking back, I will post regularly from now on…

Thanks for reading.

Mount Diablo 50K

So last Friday I was making plans to have a mellow weekend.. I thought.. a nice easy ride on Saturday, probably a 12 mile run on Sunday but other than that it was going to be an easy mellow weekend… or so I thought..

I got a Facebook invitation from Janet to run Mount Diablo 50K with her and Abe.. Abe is Janet’s friend currently training for Western States 100. I saw the wall post and I had my mind made up…huh… thank you.. but no thank you.. I just have reconnected with some friends from elementary school and junior high. Some of them my age are already grandparents… I mentioned to this “friend” that was trying to get me to run Diablo with her. S he said…. "Well prove you are not a grampa… come run with us"… and that is all it took. All of the sudden I was frantically trying to sign up on line, I got a friendly reminder from Sara saying that registration had been closed, but I could still sign up on site.. I went home and found my running gear. All I needed now was a good night of sleep and some carbo-loading. Friday afternoon was beautiful so I thought.. I should go somewhere I can sit outside and enjoy the fine sunny afternoon. I joined Rujeko in Redwood City and we went to the only place that it had available outside sitting outside, Milagros a Mexican restaurant. Now… bear in mind, I was trying to carbo-load for a long run the following day… I ended up eating lots of avocado, chips and salsa, corn and beans and other Mexican delights.. NOT necessarily a good pre-race meal.

The day of the race I woke up early… the sun was already up and I couldn’t help but smile of the crazy thing I was about to do.. I dressed; put Vaseline in “certain” locations to make sure I was not going to chafe, and I even had enough time to put a load of laundry. For breakfast, a banana, a power bar and a glass of orange juice was on the menu, and I was on my way to pick up my running buddy.

We drove to Mount Diablo, it had been a while since we saw each other so we had time to chat about the new developments in our very sedentary lives. And then I could feel my stomach doing something that it shouldn’t be doing, not on race day anyway. Just before arriving to Mount Diablo Janet spotted a Peet’s caffee and I made a really fast turn to get in there… it was a relief to have found that place, not necessarily for the coffee or tea but for its “facilities” . Thank you Peet’s coffee.

The start, picture by Alan Geraldi

We arrived at the race start and it was great to see all of the ultra peeps. I met Janet’s friend, Abe. He is training for WS100. And of course it was great to see Sara from PCTR. Like always, in every ultra, everybody was smiling and feeling optimistic about the day which by the way it promised to deliver a nice warm weather for us. Mount Diablo did not disappoint. I haven’t run a single Mount Diablo when it isn’t hot. I mean, is that why they call it Mount Diablo, cuz it is always hot?

Janet and I just before the start of the race.

After listening to the instructions we were off. We knew it was going to be a long steady day so we stay at the very back of the pack… a Million people passed us and we were totally unconcerned about “racing”, we just were happy to be there and running that mountain. The morning was already hot and humid and I just coulnd’t imagine how much hotter it was going to get. I started taking in water pretty fast and took salt pills with earnest. I knew I was going to need them if I wanted to have a good day in the mountain. My tummy was making noises and I was afraid that eventually that Mexican food I had for dinner the day before was going to catch up with me… thankfully it didn’t at all.s the day went by I completely forgot about it.

Now going up in Mount Diablo is not easy, there are places where even footing is a challenge. Running is Not an option in many sections as it is very steep and very technical with many loose rocks and…. well… it is very steep.. I said that before right?. Abe caught up with us and we ran together until the first aid station. We stopped, we drank, and we ate, we chatted and continued our run toward the top. The day was already very hot and Janet and I were overheating. We remember that there was an aid station at the top; however this aid station was missing. This is the first time we do the 50K, so it is possible that the aid station at the top there only on the day of the 50Miler. Thank God there was a water fountain where we could actually refill our water bottles and be on our way once again.

We reached the aid station at Juniper campground where we made another quick stop and put our hands on that delicious fruit they had there. Watermelon and melon dipped in salt never tasted so good, and bananas too.. And of course, the coke… what a life saver coke on race days is. I never drink cola except on race days, it is awesome. Heather Van Ness managed to pour cold water on us and that was a nice touch. We said our goodbyes and we were on our way… As soon as we reached Mitchell Canyon Road which is the flat section of the run, we kept seeing people walking and some had children. So we kept assuming that the finish line was just around the corner… but it wasn’t. We finally made it to the end. We ate and drank some and we were back for seconds..

Janet and I finishing the first 25K

Now running in this mountain is always something special, the views are amazing. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera this time so I did not have many pictures, so I’m “stealing” some from different places and friends that took them on that day. The second loop was obviously slower, hotter and harder. However, I was in good company and we knew it was going to be a long hard day.

What is next… I don’t even know.. It could be another 50K… or a ride or something. One thing is for sure, I am so blessed to be able to do this and most importantly to have friends that challenge me all the time. As people, our lives are influenced and shaped by a bunch of factors... and relationships are definitely at the top of the list. I have been influenced by my parents, brothers and sisters, teachers, friends etc. My values habits, behaviors, passions and attitudes are definitely learned through association with others. I am so glad to have found great friends that inspire and encourage me… for that.. I am very thankful.

Happy kids... the start of the second loop...

Miwok 100K

A quick recap of last year… the weather was horrible, I missed the starting line and it was cold, it was wet and it was windy… with all that I did better than this year.. What gives?

I could go on and blame it on my crew? Oopss.. I didn’t have one… Or I could say that I slept through my alarm Opps.. I woke up and I got a friendly call from my ride.. Or I could say it was my nutrition or perhaps the shoes… I could blame it on the weather… nope that will not go neither since it was a glorious day.. Damn it... Then what went wrong? LOL..

Look at the views.. aren't they amazing?

I got an early wakeup call from my ride, Amy an awesome friend who was coming to volunteer for the first time. I did everything right the day before.. I even went to bed early. When she called me I got out of bed jumped in the shower did my regular pre-race routine with plenty of time to spare. We drove to the starting line, got checked in and took a little nap before the start.

Check the profile... it is over 10,000 feet of elevation gain.. And the downhills are just brutal.

I woke up a couple of minutes before the start, got rid of most of my clothes as it promised to be a gorgeous warm day. I kept my arm warmers and my San Carlos CrossFit shirt... I made it to the starting line said hi to a couple of friends and we were off. The morning was glorious; the smell of the ocean was intoxicating and the views… OMG.. I cannot describe how beautiful was that morning… I could tell that we were going to have great weather it wasn’t cold or windy. It was just perfect for a nice 100K run…. And we were off….. And we were stuck. The race starts at the beach and then it goes into the trails pretty fast and there is not enough room to accommodate all the runners at the same time.. So unless you are a top dog you just have to wait and wait until all runners get on a single file and start the climb right away.

Check out another view.. this climb was long...

It was a great start for me and I was afraid to get sand in my shoes. I had that happen when I ran Headlands 100 with some very unpleasant consequences. I managed to avoid that which was a blessing. As the day went by I soon realize that I was going a little bit too fast. I tried to maintain a pace that definitely was a bit too fast for me… You know you are in trouble when you start seeing little rainbows in dry weather, and or you feel a bit dizzy…. That is how I felt just as I was passing the Bolinas Ridge aid station. All I wanted was some Sugar something that will lift me up. I knew right away that I was going to be in trouble and I wasn’t even half way there..

I ran a bit with Erika Lindland and then she left me in the dust, then I ran a bit with Victoria Folks and she also left me in the dust, ran with Catra Corbett and her bad ass self left me in the dust as well, and then my buddy Brian Harvey also left me in the dust. All I wanted to do was to sit down and never get up. Somehow I found the motivation to keep going.. I knew I was going to finish I just didn’t know how long was going to take and The ONLY time that I seriously consider quitting was on the return at the Tennessee valley aid station.. Good thing Amy was there cuz she motivated me to keep on going… and MY GOD I was spent by then. I was kind of dizzy then…

I tried to hang with Catra, I coudn't.
Remember pain is weakness leaving the body and you left a lot at Miwok (Catra Corbett)

But back to the race… starting in Rodeo Beach we go to Tennessee Valley via some trails I have never been on, they seemed different this year.. or perhaps was just the change of weather. The views were amazing not matter the time, no matter in which direction you look. It was a glorious day indeed… what a difference from a year ago when the weather conditions were totally different. Some days are magical and some days are just miserable, and this one was beginning to seem like the former… it terms of weather that is.. But definitely miserable in terms of how I felt. I remember that infamous time when I got lost in Mount Diablo and it took me almost 8 hours to complete a marathon… even then I wasn’t feeling like I was feeling on Sunday. By far, this is the worst I have felt in a long, long time.

Coming back from Randall aid station, into Bolinas Ridge aid station, runners would usually pick their pacers there.. And I could totally see the difference between those of us running solo and those with pacers. All of the sudden I was being passed by all runners and their pacers, I even tried to shadow a couple, at not avail. I was spent and no matter how much effort I was going to put, I wasn’t going to get any faster so I decided to suck it up and just survive the rest of the way. I knew I was going to be slow, the only question was how much slower than last year?

.

After what seemed like forever I reached the Tennessee Valley aid station, my lowest point in the race, but somehow I found to motivation to keep moving and so I was on my way with Amy’s blessing. The last climb was hard and then the very last part of the race was the hardest.. This one is a bunch of stairs and loose rocks going down steeply and then there is this damn paved bike trail that seems never to end. UGH!! At this moment every single step was painful and I just wanted it to be over with. I could see the finish line from the ridge, but I could also see the paved road ahead and I hated it, I hated every single step of that damn pavement. Then it was the final stretch… a hiker started to scream when she read the back of my shirt (San Carlos CrossFit), and she said that is where I am from. I hobble to the end, got my medal and my finisher’s bag… said hi to a few people but what I really wanted is to sit down and just pass out. After I picked up my swag met my ride and we left the site to grab a bite to eat. I ate and then I just crashed in the car, apparently there was a big traffic problem, I never saw it. The next time I opened my eyes I was already in front of my house. Took a shower and went to bed, the day was done..

This is the very last paved descent ugh.. brutal, I just couldn't run anymore and even walking was painful.

When I think of this day I think of an amazing lesson I learned. I learned that we all have wonderful days and sometimes things do not go the way we envision them to go. Some days are great, some days aren’t, and sometimes I will do great, others I won’t. However not matter who shows up (a great day or a miserable one) I am in control of how I react to them. Today might be a bad day, but there will be a sunrise and a sunset the next day, life goes on and so will I.

Solvang Double Century Bike Ride

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” (Albert Einstein)


The city of Solvang CA, pretty nice town.. Didn't have much time to check it out..

Last year when planning my running schedule for 2010, I thought I would like to become a better biker.. Well, the only way to get better at biking is to get on the bike and ride… so with that thought and the encouragement of Janet I signed up for two major biking events this year… The Solvang double century and the Death Ride.. This is the race report of the Solvang Double century…

Check out the elevation profile....

And let me tell you something about training for a double century… My God it is hard. Not much on your legs but on your buttocks and on the time you get to do something else. So I after I did my share of riding I finally felt ready… Going into tapering I was nervous but I was also excited.

On Friday before the race I drove south to Solvang… Janet, my training buddy, had to work so she was going to meet me in Solvang that night. I did not go to work on Friday so I could drive slow and take my time.. So I packed the night before and on Friday I left aiming to get to Solvang by 6pm. I was excited but also a little nervous. This was the first time I was going to ride for so long and also ride at night, I did not know what to expect.

Bikes all nice and secured on the roof of my car to take the 5+ hour ride to Solvang.

My commitment to become a better rider meant that I needed to step out of my comfort zone and actually embrace the challenge. And I did, I spent long hours on the bike, climbed lots of hills and became comfortable to be able to get out on my bike at any given day and ride lots. Interestingly when I signed up for this race I didn’t know what to expect, thus I was stressed and afraid. But, I really tried to use the fear in my training, Fear is our biggest enemy, and “Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing” After I put the time on the saddle in training I thought, well I am ready, and I hope I will get to the finish line.

The drive was uneventful, I stopped at the outlet mall in Gilroy and got myself a few essentials, a new pair of shorts and a new biking jacket.. I arrived to the host hotel and checked us in, got our bib numbers and checked out their merchandise. The mood was pretty relaxed; it reminded me of the ultra marathon culture. Everybody is just relaxed and it seemed that everybody had done more than one double century… And here I am doing my first one, and did not know what to expect the next day.


After checking in, I drove to the grocery store and found myself some breakfast food. Stopped at a local Italian restaurant and order some carbs, drove to the hotel put our bikes in the room, inflated the tires, and sat down to enjoyed the rest of the evening…

Ride day..
We got up around 4:30 am… checked our bikes one more time, checked tire pressure, food etc. As soon as I stepped out of the room I thought to myself… Damn it is cold. I didn’t know how cold it was, but I sure felt it. Drove to the start, parked the car, checked in and we were on our way… First things first, I turned on up my lamp and Janet asked… “so you got the extra battery right?” I am like.. “What extra battery?” Luckily I had an extra flash light, a head lamp which actually worked well. But man it was cold and dark too. My poor hands and my feet were in pain not to mention my face as well. I wasn’t prepared for this kind of cold.. I couldn’t wait for the sun to show up and warm us up. We settled in a good rhythm, not too fast, not too slow, just consistent.. Then we hit the wind and OMG it was brutal, Janet and a couple of other people were a bit ahead of me and I could see them tilting over a bit, was a funny sight. And I am sure I was doing the same, a lady passed us and told us that we were riding funny, and I thought to myself, so this is what crosswinds feel like.. ugh!!


So then the sun started to warm up and I can feel my extremities come back to life. It felt good until I felt a sharp pain on the side of my leg, my IT band was starting to flare up and we were not even half way there. I got really scared, I could not pedal without pain and I felt absolutely horrible. We reached the second rest stop at mile 86 or so and I tried to stretch a little and took some ibuprofen and we were in our way. The funny thing about all of this that I remember me riding, but I truly don’t remember what was going through my head at that moment. I just remember I was in pain and it was a miserable time. We left the second rest stop and after a while the pain subsided (Thank God for Ibuprofen) and I felt strong again. I kept eating my newly discovered home made energy bars. They were good and filling and obviously were working. Janet had to remind me to eat as I tend to forget that…

One of the aid stations....

This is new to me... I never park my bike like that... ;)

The rest of the ride just got better and better. I think that the first century was harder than the second century. Once I passed the 120 mile mark which has been my longest ride ever, it was uncharted territory from there. But I felt stronger as the day went on… It was great.. We stopped for lunch and all they had was Subway sandwiches all with meat, I asked for vegetarian and of course they didn’t have any. I am glad I brought my own food including a can of goods which I almost forgot at the rest station. Thankfully Janet casually reminded me “are these your nuts?” A guy looked at us and started to laugh, he said “if you had that on video that would had been a great funny one”. We talked about that incident throughout the rest of the ride.

Are these your nuts?

No bad incidents to report, Thank God… except Janet got a Flat tire. She got a flat coming down on a very steep downhill.. She managed to get to the bottom of the hill. We changed her tire, took a well deserved break and we were in our way once again. I think, for me, this particular forced break was a blessing. Yes, we were coming out of a downhill, but I was really tired by now. We rode through some really nice areas including Morro Bay, along the beach in Pismo Beach, and by San Luis Obispo. All sights in this entire ride were freaking awesome, I was thinking that it was really a great day for a ride.

Janet chewing something or something.. :)

At mile 176 or so we had our last rest stop. It was here where we changed to our warm clothes once again. I put on my tights, arm warmers and jacket as the temperature was beginning to drop once again. We also got our flashlights ready for the night to come, ate some, and we were in our way for the last effort. Well as soon as we left the aid station we were welcomed to a very steep climb. The Drum Canyon climb, the road was very rough and then it got night and really dark. We managed to leave a few people behind as we were motivated to finish. We saw some people walking their bikes, but after a grueling day with more that 170 miles on the saddle there is no shame on that. The road was very rough and after we reached the summit we had to go down which was a challenge as it was steep, dark and the asphalt very rough. We managed to get down in one piece, and then it was just a few more miles to the finish line. Those were happy moments, we kept thinking.. WE DID IT.. Wow… I was happy and the best thing of all is that we finished in one piece, within the time limit and we finished strong.

Happy kids the day after.. :) We did it... Woohoo!!

I keep thinking.. Man I am such a lucky man. I am healthy, I got amazing friends including some as crazy as I am that will actually do this with me, and I feel blessed.

Rodeo 50K, an elvish experience..

The last adventure of the year… The PCTR Rodeo Beach 50K.

Fabric $7.00
Tights $3.50
Running 50K in an elf costume- Priceless

A year ago we ran the Muir beach 50K, in that particular race a friend. (Fred Ecks) decided to run as Santa. Janet and I told him that if he was up to, we wanted to be his elves next year (this year). He moved away to Colorado (poor guy), and well, we decided to do it anyway…

Fred Ecks, I mean Santa running Muir Beach 50K last year.

Of course we did not want to spent lots of money on costumes, so we searched for an affordable costume idea.. I found one and we decided to go for it.
The weekend before, Janet and I decided to go for a double Dip Sea trail run. It was her first long run in a while and it was my return to the trails. I had been training for the Ironman in flat easy courses, so needless to say the experience was a little painful. OMG, after we were done with the dipsea trail, we were in pain. And for the whole week following the run I was very sore…. It was laughable, really. We used to train in this trail all the time and now… well obviously we are out of shape.

The day of the double dipsea run, we drove to the fabric store, parked the car and the minute I got out, I realized how much my poor legs ached. I was limping and laughing at the same time, Janet was in the same condition. We found the fabric and bought enough for the costumes and left. Jon Burg and Kim Evanson joined in the festivities. And all of the sudden we were about to have a host of elves running this 50K. Lazy elf (me), Sleepy Elf (Janet) Finisher Elf (Jon), Doctor Elf (Kim), Honorary Elf (nicole). Jon being a Costume making expert managed a really “aerodynamic” and more professionally made attire than ours

Just when we got there.. we look like dorks huh?

The day of the race we got there early, put our costume on and left the car. I have never dressed up for a race, and I don’t think Janet also. Jon on the other hand is always looking for excuses to dress up… We got lots of smiles from the fellow competitors, lined up at the start and waited for the GO from Wendell.. It was a fun start; people kept giving us compliments and looks of disbelief since we were planning to run the 50K "on that".

At the startting line.. from left to right, Finisher Elf, Lazy Elf, Sleepy Elf and Doctor (Cool) Elf.

The best thing of all is dressing up and running a great race with friends. Honorary Elf (Nicole) was doing her first 50K on this race, one of her goals for this year. She had no idea that she was going to be embarrassed by a host of crazy elves.. She did not have a good start but managed to hang on.Her stomach was not collaborating. We, being magical creatures and all, were bouncing along the trail having a great time. We even managed to find Santa. He was riding a horse (not a raindeer), and was wearing a bike helmet…. Obviously NOT the real Santa. We took a picture of him anyway.

The weather was perfect, although a little windy on the ridges, but for the most part it was an amazing day. Perfect weather conditions for running. The best thing of the whole race, people and the fact that we were there to have fun and nothing else.

Look at this sight... What an amazing day it was.

Finisher Elf tackling the stairs..

Taking a little break, what a beautiful day it was..


The lost Elf... Sabrina a member of my running group.

A funny thing happened, we were at the finish line, after the first loop so we needed to get out and do another smaller loop to finish the 50K. As we were getting ready to leave, the first male (Nathan Yanko) came in breaking the course record. WTF? He finished in the 50K in the same time it took us to finish 30K and he wasn’t wearing an elf costume nor was he a magical creature. We laughed and went back to finish the race. Nicole was feeling a lot better then, we talked, we laughed, we talked some more, we laughed some more and then we had less than two miles left. So we picked up the pace… Didn’t want Nicole to believe that all 50K’s were this easy, well it didn’t work, she finished ahead of us and with a big smile in her face. She is officially an ultrarunner now. Welcome to the dark side of running Nicole.. I hope to see you on the trails for more fun and I promise you, they get better and harder too, I wonder what your goal is for 2010?

This is the spot where Nicole became an official ultra runner.. At mile 26 or so... yay Nicole..

After the finish, she holding her "not longer a 50K virgin" coaster from PCTR.