Thursday, February 15, 2018

S.O.B.... What a great start to the year



        Is it really February already? That must mean I'm getting old (my birthday is this month), oh and its time to update my blog. It has certainly been a pretty good start to my year so far, lets get you caught up to speed.
      Happy New Years!! As I wake up from the inevitable hang over I check my phone realizing I have an email from Altra running, trying not to get too excited, its probably just another "thank you for applying to be an ambassador, but we don't need you" letter. I was shocked, elated to find a different letter welcoming me to the Altra Red Team! Yes I checked the email address a few times to make sure they sent it to the right person. Now don't get me wrong, I am not big on the thought of being an ambassador for companies as I'm not one to blast social media with product placement, but this is Altra, I apply every year for Altras Red Team. Why? Because I have been wearing Altra shoes for over 5 years now, I love them, I swear by them, I have run every hundred mile in them and I have never had an issue with premature wear, blisters or hot spots. I'm okay with representing a company I believe in, a company I already sing praises for. Altra is a company founded on helping runner prevent injuries, with zero drop and a foot shape toe box they have created a shoe that gets us running back the way nature attended us to. Seriously though, check out Altra shoes if you haven't yet, they will change your running for the better!

      I really try and take a break from running, cutting the volume and intensity back in November/December just in time for the holidays, but come the New Years I get myself back into base building. Hence the early year assessment race, also a good motivator to get my ass in gear, that race used to be the Bandit 50K, since its retirement two years ago (damn its been that long?) I have used Sean O Brien in its place. SOB 50K packs over 7000ft of gain along my favorite Backbone trail system with amazing views of Malibu and the ocean, throw in some hot weather and a great field of runners you got yourself one SOB of a challenge!
      Now I didn't have much of a block of training going into this SOB, only 3 weeks of some good quality running, but I felt good and I felt confident. All healed up from the hip and back issues I was having after Fat Dog, I was throwing down some solid times and climbing really well. I was genuinely excited to get back to racing after a long hiatus.

      Come race morning I headed out to Malibu Creek State Park by myself (thank you Des for watching the kiddos) and realized I forgot my coffee and smoothie I made the night before, great start. I made small talk and mingled around the start line to settle my nerves, freezing my ass off I lined up toward the front of the start line. It was a pretty uneventful start as I file into front chase pack, Kris Brown and Ryan Ghelfi take the lead out of the gate, I run at a comfortable enough pace to keep them in site. Mile 3 the climb really begins, the largest climb of the day at the start of the race, here is where the field finally sorts itself out, I think I was comfortably in 5th spot at this point and feeling good. Just enjoying the views and clipping off miles until Latigo Canyon Aid Station (mile10) where I got a glimpse of Oswaldo Hurtado.

     Oswaldo and I traded spots back and forth for several miles, he would take me on the climbs and I would pass him on the descents, rise and fall. Continued pushing each other through the turn around at Zuma (mile 16) and all the way to back to Kanan where Randy Miller gave me a high five, sorry you had to drop bro, come back next year even stronger! Onward to Latigo Aid Station again where the Carrion brothers filled me up, cooled me down and sent me on the way, somewhere after Latigo I pulled ahead of Oswaldo a little bit, although he was never lurking too far behind.

      Pushing hard and suffering I was able to continue to clip off some solid miles and flew back down the Backbone climb, splashing across the creek I hit "Little Chihuahua" where I was starting feeling comfortable with my 4th place position. Wrong! just as I start climbing up Chihuahua I see a green shirt ahead of me, 3rd place and he was walking! As he turns around and catches a glimpse of me, he starts running hard, I look behind me and see Oswaldo charging towards me! Oh Shit, the race is on now! Running with hope of a podium finish and scared of being passed, I push hard all the way to the finish line with out looking back. Finished 4th overall in a time of 4:36:40, just 15 seconds shy of 3rd place and 19 seconds ahead of 5th.
     Was a beautiful but hot day, mixing it up with some great competition on a tough course made for a epic race! Congrats to my brother Keith for his 100K finish and  congrats all the other finishers out there for getting in done in some tough conditions. Huge thank you to all the volunteers for being out there catering to our needs, thank you to Keira Henninger and everyone else involved in making such a well put on race. Thank you Altra, Naked Running Band and Running4ThoseWhoCant for making great gear that is vital in getting me through all my races. I cant always live up to my Quicksilver moniker but I will continue to keep trying, I will be back next year, till then a beer to celebrate and another trail to run..