my last adventure found me up in the mountains above malibu. it was a great experience, and one that will hopefully help me figure out how to run through the discomfort and fatigue which have caused me so much difficulty in past events.
i got to the race check in around 5:30 am, got my number and goodie bag. the race starts at 6:30, so i have some time to work out the details and plan my strategy. a strategy that was comprised of running really slow for a really long time. 6:30 rolls around, and we are off, its a nice trail run, the first 3-4km (2-3 miles) was relatively uneventful, then came the beginnings of the promised climbs. this continued in a pretty consistent fashion for 5-8km (3-5 miles) which bore witness to me walking most of it (this was a strategic choice at this point, i figured there is a lot left in the day, so i will try to save a bit of my legs for later).
then there was a fun section along the ridgeline with some undulating hills and fun single track stuff. followed by a pretty good downhill which i am extremely fond of. i generally let gravity do the work, and just turn my legs over as quickly as possible. that joined up with a good climb lasting about 1 km (.7 miles) then was followed by a brutal downhill, very steep, and lasting 3-5km (2-3miles), then it got flat for a bit followed by some uphill switch backs for approximately 1.5 km (1mile), then it dropped into a parking lot, and the last 2 km (1.5 miles) was on fire road. that was pleasant. then it was time for round 2. that's when things got tough, i kept chugging along at a bit of a diminished pace until the start of the major climb, then i was reduced to a walk.
i would walk much of this, every so often mustering a bit of energy for a run on the flatter portions. at the crest, i enjoyed a bit of the downhill, but at a significantly slower clip than my general vigor with which i embrace the descents. at 32km (19 miles) my legs were ready to explode, but somehow i managed to keep them turning over and moving forward. at this point something strange happened, my legs were terribly tired, but seemed to resign themselves to a slow but steady shuffle somewhere between a walk and a run, this continued, speeding up slightly for the downhills and slowing to a walk for the climbs. then the last 4km (2.5 miles) i was able to dig deep and pick up the pace to a respectable run, picking off 4 places in the process. i was within my expected finish time 5:42:19 (i was hoping for between 5 and 6 hours), and had pushed through some of the worst exhaustion my legs have been subjected to.
though my pace was fairly moderate at 6:49 min/km (10:58 min/mile), i came through the marathon point within 10 minutes of my previous best for that distance (i ran a 4:30:12 marathon at lake placid - 6:24 min/km = 10:19 min/mile), and then tacked on another 5 miles in about 1 hour.
results can be found here:http://www.trailrunevents.com/bd/2007-results-50k.htm
here is an ariel view of the course: http://www.trailrunevents.com/images/google_earth_bulldog_loop.jpg
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