Notes
Dirty Dozen & Half Dozen - Pinole - July 11th, 2015
Here are the rules: You run on a 3.37mi trail loop of rolling hills and shaded paths for 6 (or 12) hours and count up the distance of your completed loops when the horn sounds. During the last hour, you may opt to run a smaller loop of 0.6mi but again only getting mileage credit for completed loops. Ok, go!
At the 7am start, I could tell that the race was a low-key event when only about 20 of over 300 people in the starting corral lined up within 15 yards of the starting line. Few in this group really want to assume they would be in the front of the pack. The announcer had to request several times for everyone to "move up" to the starting line. This is doubly odd given that there were an additional 39 relay teams of either 2 or 3 people. I set out as easy as I could and was immediately passed by a couple dozen people. C'mon, folks - we've got a LONG way to go here. It is easy to get caught up in the nerves and adrenaline of a race start. I combat this with my mantra: "nice and easy".
I'll describe the "big" loop once, so remember that each subsequent loop will be over the same terrain. The first mile starts with a short downhill and then runs along the bay in full sun. The day is clear but cool with a slight breeze - almost ideal. Then at just shy of a mile, the course veers right and up a short but the steepest hill of the course. Then it rolls up and down gently for a bit. When the single track occurs just over half way through the loop, it has a few steep downhills that become a problem in the later loops and when there is any congestion. After dumping onto a paved road for several minutes, you approach the aid station right around mile 2. You then enter the trees and gravel, and meander up a bit over the course's second steepest grade until you exit the shade and wind back down to the start/end and other aid station. Repeat until 1pm.
I didn't know the course ahead of time, so my strategy was to "nice and easy" it from the get go and walk anything resembling a hill. I was expecting a relatively flat course, but I heard that they had to reroute up over a hill because of a downed tree. I believe this was the first and steepest hill of the loop. I walked that one on the first and each subsequent loop. I've been practicing some downhill running around Belmont and let gravity "bomb" me down some of the hills - not too many in total. At the mid-way aid station I request "energy" drink which didn't taste great but was part of my intake strategy. I walked a couple short stretches up the gravel hill and cruised back down to the starting line. I ate a GU gel packet at each approach to the finish area and promptly took in some water at the start line aid station. My plan was to repeat that loop up to 10 times if possible. Goal: minimum acceptable distance 32 miles, target distance: 34 miles, pie-in-sky distance: 36 miles.
My training had been going pretty well over the past several months. This is in contrast to my racing. Ignoring the sprained ankle I got in a fall a year ago April during my first ultra attempt and fail, I also had a pathetic half marathon time early May. Of course some illnesses over the past year haven't helped either including shingles and basil/squamous cell carcinoma surgery. Despite some fun travel the past year too, I'd been putting in several >200 mile months.
The second loop went pretty much the same as the first. People were more chatty this loop as the pre-race nerves settled and no fatigue had as yet set in. I'm averaging close to 10 min/miles now which I think is a bit aggressive for me. Four weeks ago I did a "time trial" four hour run around the 2-mile loop of CSM Cross Country Course to prepare and evaluate strategies and pace. I managed about 10:20ish min/miles but that was over a hillier course and with longer aid stops as I had to fumble around with water/Gatorade etc. I completed a little over 23 miles (but ran until I hit 24) in the four hours. The only issue really was a left ball of foot nerve pinch that I've been struggling with for some months now. It only occurs after some miles and varies in intensity. It held off for 20-ish mile that day.
Having said that, my left foot started to show signs of pain during the third loop. I had hoped it would give me more time today. During the fourth or fifth loop, the pain got worse especially when I stepped directly on a rock in the pain area. To my relief, after loop six the pain plateaued and was manageable. Six loops is about 20 miles. At this point I know 36 miles is not happening, but 34 miles is very probable. I managed one more loop before I started noticing some fatigue. Up to now I had been "nice and easy", now I was "just keep going". Loop number eight was similar to seven. Starting number nine I was feeling like the end of the tunnel was visible. Then something happened at just after mile 28 - my legs wanted no more to do with it.
There have been exactly two marathons where I "hit-the-wall". This is where I tried to tell my legs to lift and they just wouldn't. What happened today was not that. This felt more like my legs were made up of children's blocks stacked on top of each other and I was trying to balance on them. Any wobble left or right would cause them to collapse. In this case instead of collapsing, they cramped into knots. Both legs, mostly the thighs in multiple spots, just started spazzing. Uh-oh, this isn't good. Despite the flat section of trail, I walked.
I had well over an hour to go, and I was walking half way into a loop and wondering if I could finish that. Not good. After a brief "woe-is-me" interlude, I tried jogging again. Calves were twinging, quads and hammies twingy, some part of my inner thigh that I didn't even know I had muscle was twingly, but they weren't cramping. I continued on.
I decided that I'd better switch to small loops after this loop nine in case the cramping came back. My pace took a noticeable hit as I compensated to keep my legs from rebelling. I finished number 9 with time for a big loop - but went small to be safe.
The small loop begins as the big loop, downhill and along the bay. It then abruptly turns right and up a steep hill to connect back to the end of the big loop. This hill is steeper than the big loop hills and I walked it 6 times. Most everyone I noticed still on the course were walking significant sections. I managed 6 small loops without cramping and had another 6 minutes on the clock, but knew I couldn't manage another loop. I jogged a bit more just so my Garmin reached 34 miles and then watched the last three runners sprint to the line to beat the clock (they all did). One of them was the over all 6 hour winner who I found out later beat me by 10 miles. My 9 big/6 small works out to be 33.93 miles (even though my Garmin had it a couple tenths shorter than this), which made my day a satisfying one.
In a smallish race such as this, I can sometimes place in my age group (M50-54). So I stuck around for the race results to be posted. Before posting all the results they went through the 2-person team winners 3rd-1st, 3-person team winners 3rd-1st, women's winners 3rd-1st. At the start of the men's winners announcement they introduced third place with a distance of 33.93 miles...(wait, what?)...Norman Geimer of Belmont. OMG, Why-The-Face, xyzzy.
Stunned. I am much more interested in my time (or distance in this case) than placement - I'd rather run 34 miles and not get an age group award than to have run 30 miles and win my age group. But third Men's over-all? Not in my wildest day dreams. I got a cool running cap with the organizer's logo on it. I also place second in my age group and a nice medal for that. I also get a finishers medal with free on-site engraving. Turns out two women beat me too so I was fifth overall out of 156 6 hour finishers. Interesting side note: 3 of the first four men, and 4 of the first 6 overall were M/F 50-54, so I was in the most competitive age group today.
The race organizers allowed plenty of room along the beginning of the course to set up camp for spectators or supplies. There was free BBQ for finishers and loads of junk food including It's-It's for anybody. (Even Helen ate one.) Overall, very nicely done event with loads of attentive volunteers who sometimes offered and doused my head with cold water at the aid stations. The mid-loop aid station gave out GU gels, so I only used four of my own (had in my pockets) and ate five of theirs which saved me from fumbling in my bag each loop. I may do this one again...
1: 10:01
2: 9:41
3: 10:31
4: 9:34
5: 10:08
6: 10:05
7: 9:49
8: 10:14
9: 10:08
10: 10:04
11: 10:09
12: 9:31
13: 10:39
14: 9:33
15: 10:12
16: 10:18
17: 10:03
18: 10:11
19: 10:11
20: 10:20
21: 10:37
22: 9:40
23: 11:04
24: 10:04
25: 10:39
26: 10:49
27: 10:56
28: 10:54
29: 11:44
30: 11:15
31: 11:21
32: 11:43
33: 12:35
34: 9:08 (0.72 on Garmin or 12:37 pace)