saturday was my opportunity to run long, with lots of climbing and some good scenery. I woke up early (it was dark out for some time after i got up), grabbed my bag of stuff, and headed east towards the mountains for the noble canyon 55k trail run. I showed up, gathered my entry swag, a duffle bag, t-shirt, hat, socks, and some other things which are still somewhere in my car. in addition to all this good stuff, they had breakfast, cantaloupe, bananas, water melon, breakfast bars, yogurt, juices, cereal and probably more that i've forgotten. i grabbed some yogurt, a banana, cereal milk, and juice. ate up, sat through the meeting/course description, filled up my water bottle, and then lined up for the start.
at 7:00 am things were under way, the first 1/2mile was on the road and brought us to the base of our 10mile climb from 2000ft up to nearly 6000ft. for nearly 2 miles, the trail was pretty narrow and i was content to settle in to my place in line at a nice liesurely pace, i figured it was good to take it easy as i had 5 or 6 hours of running to look forward to, and lots of climbing. when the trail opened up a little bit i started working my way up, still conscious of my pace and making an effort to keep it very easy. the first aid station of five (the provide food and liquids roughly every 5 miles) came sooner than anticipated, when i got there, it was very congested. since i had hardly touched my water, i decided i would be fine until mile 11 and the next aid station.
on top of that, i remembered to stuff some gels in my pockets in case i needed some calories before the next aid station. on the climb up, a runner i had seen at the 50k in august ran by and commented how we did this through much of the bulldog (august's 50k). i agreed and he continued to remind me that i had finished before him at the bulldog, but that wasn't going to happen this time. i wished him luck and thought to myself, my legs are tired this time, i won't be surprised if i finish behind him. we went back and forth until around 7 miles or so, then he dropped off the pace, and i didn't see him the rest of the day. the trail meandered through some of the best mountain biking in san diego county, working it's way up.
i sat in behind a couple runners for another couple miles before passing them on some switch backs. there were a couple steeper sections which i opted to walk up in hopes of keeping my legs semi fresh, as well as providing an easy pace for eating my gel. i reached the top (at least for now), and began my descent to the 2nd aid station, marking 11.3 miles behind me, and around 20 left. i stopped, refilled my water bottle and my have grabbed a banana, then off again in search of the 3rd aid station, this loop on the course would prove to be the most difficult for me. another gel, some salt tablets. there were no real hard climbs, but with 11+ miles behind me, and having worked my way up from 4000' to somewhere around 6000' my body was tiring.
so i alternated between walking and running, enjoying some of the views, and asking the ever popular: when did i think this was a good idea? after winding through the hills for some time and passing several groups of hikers, i came across a couple that was out watching the race, only a couple hundred yards to aid station 3. nice, that's half way, and it's pretty flat to downhill from there on. so my spirits lifted a bit, i picked up the pace, and as the yards past, i started asking if anybody had explained to them that 1/2 mile is more than a couple hundred yards. though they may have been right, it seemed closer to 1/2 mile than 2 or 300 yards.
at this station, more water, i went through the entire bottle in the last 5 miles (it was starting to warm up) and once again on my way. i decided to test out my motivator capsules (essentially caffeine and other stimulants intended to provide a little kick when you are tired). that only succeeded in making me dizzy and shaky. mm, those might take some time to get used to. hopefully it has something to do with the 6000' or so of altitude.
the next 5 miles back to the 2nd aid station (which also serves as the 4th) were slightly better than the previous 5. i was able to tag along with a couple different runners over the course. that helps the mileage go by a bit faster, but also tends to pick up the pace a bit, so drains me a bit. my 3rd and last gel was required to help maintain. there were also several sets of hikers, many of whom provided cheers and welcomed encouragement. a slight climb back up to the road, across the road, and an easy descent into aid station 4. some oranges, refill my water bottle, and try to muster the ambition for the remaining 11 miles.
all right, i'm off again. on the climb up before i get to enjoy the downhill, 4 mountain bikers came up and passed me, so i figured it was a good motivation to stick with them, i picked up the pace slightly and hung on. we conversed briefly: 'how long a run are you doing''31 miles or so''holy ----' then 1 of them lost his balance on the climb and fell, after seeing he was fine, i carried on. i wouldn't see them again for pretty close to 8 miles, which was nice (there are some really technical sections that only really good mountain bikers can cycle through). regardless, it was nice to be able to hold them off for so long. the run down was good, pretty mellow descents the only drawback was a fair amount of half buried rocks and uneven ground which made for difficult footing along most of the trail.
now i'm just trying to stay ahead of the mountain bikers and get to the final aid station (which also served as the 1st). i'm out of food, and running low on water, so i try to let the downhills go as quickly as i can without tripping. it took slightly longer than i expected to get to the last aid station. i grabbed several orange slices, a banana, and a couple gels to get me through the final miles. ok, only 5 miles left, you can fake 5 miles right (funny what goes through your mind when you are tired). the last 5 miles was pretty uneventful, some ups and downs and a bit of walking some of the ups, but pretty much just a shuffle that was somewhere between a jog and a walk.
this lasted until i recognized that i was within 1.5 miles or so, at which point i mustered my remaining energy and increased my pace to a respectable jog. once i got on the road i felt a slight relief. then the final turn into the parking lot, and roughly 0.1 miles left, finished, just under 6 hours, slightly slower than i hoped, but a good day.
on top of that, they had showers there, so i had an opportunity to rinse before i sat down to eat. i enjoyed some pasta salad, sandwiches, salad, drinks, m&ms. very tood stuffs. then it was off to pick up my registration for sunday's sprint triathlon.
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