Bandit 50K

 

      The Bandit 50K is and will always be (as long as Randy and Sarita keep it going) one of the highlight races I train for and look forward to every year. This race really holds a special place in my soul, maybe because it takes place on my hometown trails that I train on and love, or running with the hometown community of great people that show up every year. I will try and give my best recap for this race, I know I am not the best writer out there but I am going to give it my best shot.
       Leading up to this race I was what I would consider a little out of shape, well at least compared to last years Bandit 50K. The beginning of the year is always a little tough coming out of the holidays and such, but I was also faced with a lot of set backs that just compounded my lack of training at the beginning of this year. The first week of January I got really sick and at the same time I got hit with poison oak, while my body was to busy fighting off the cold it let the oak spread out of control, next thing I know I looked like a walking measles case! It was bad and I was out of commission for at least two weeks before I could start running again. Come end of January its off to Florida for a work related trip, ate huge meals, went to meetings, stayed up all night and drank lots of beer.. rinse and repeat for five full days. Needless to say my body was not very happy with the Florida diet, jet lag and lack of good running all week. Back to my regular running schedule right? wrong... Jury duty calls, yes I probably could have gotten out of it or ignored it like I have done so many times in the past, but I felt a slight twinge of civil duty biting at my ass. The plan was to go in for one day, read my book and relax till its time to head home for a run, wrong again.. I got chosen to be on a jury and wasted my time for three full days on a drunk driver that parked his car 50ft onto Mandalay Beach. Time to get back into training with a whole two weeks left till Bandit! Week 1: run my ass off all week, week 2: taper time, just a whole week of quality training before Bandit, needless to say I was not very confident going into the race. Enough excuses already, on to the race.

       I drove into Corganville at 6 the morning of the race to give myself plenty of time to mingle and get prepare to run. Parking this year was a half mile from the starting line and I had to walk back and forth twice, so I figured a two mile warm-up was fine. After a few pictures and well wishes I lined up at the starting line to embark on my journey through the Simi hills. The first mile of the race is a "warm up" lap around Corganville and most runner set a fast pace looking as good as they can for pictures as they run past Bandit village. After the warm up lap we hit the first and arguably the most difficult hill of the race, this is where the race really begins. The steep hill brings you up switch backs, underneath the freeway and up to Rocky Peak, I was situated nicely in the lead pack of runners going up this first hill along with three others.
    After we hit Rocky Peak the pack thinned out, its the two leaders chasing each other out front, then another runner and me fighting for third and forth place. There is not much relief from the uphill grind at all coming into Rocky Peak, its still up, up and away as we eventually hit the top of Rocky Peak. Next comes one of my favorite down hill single track and possibly my favorite part of the race, Chumash, I came out of the aid station at Chumash right behind third and chased him all the way down to the bottom where we ran a 1/2 mile road section together into Marr aid station (about mile 9 of the race). I leave the aid station before him and its UP we go again, this time up a single track known as Hot Dog Hill, its definitely a steep exposed climb and its starting to get hot, its a shorter climb than Rocky Peak and on the back side you get rewarded with another amazing single track down to Tapo Open Spaces. I don't see anyone during this whole section of mile 9-14, I guess I am sitting comfortably in third at this point. 1/2 a mile before the turn around at Tapo Open Spaces trail head I see first and second place runners coming the other direction (so I'm about a mile behind). I take some time at the aid station to fill up water take a gel and cool off, just as I am leaving in comes forth place, I've got work to do..

       Forth place catches back up to me real quick while running back through Tapo Open spaces and I trail him about 50-100ft behind all the way back up and over Hot Dog Hill, a fast downhill into Marr aid station. I fill up here, take another gel and leave the aid station well before the forth place runner this time. Running up Las Llajas is my least favorite part of the race, every one says "its flat, you can make up good time" Oh hell no its not flat, its a constant deceptive uphill the whole way and destroys me mentally and physically. However I do end up running most of this section with an occasional 30 second walk break, every time I turn around to look and see who's coming up behind me there is no one to be seen. 30K runners have now joined the 50K runners and are super supportive with words of encouragement. Shells!! Yikes F*#%ing Shells! anyone who has run this race knows exactly what I am talking about, Shells is steep and long, after running 25 miles Shells is where most runners fall apart. Its now getting super hot out, my legs are burning and I am running scared that someone is going to take 3rd place from me. I jog, I power hike, I jog, I power hike, over and over. There is 30K carnage all around me, people are walking and overheating everywhere. I hear "How far till the next aid station?" "I need more water" "More uphill?" But I still get "Good job!" "You rock" "Keep it up"... Trail runners kick ass! I never hear encouragement like this during road marathons, especially in the midst of suffering. Just when you smell death from dehydration all around you and you take your last sip of precious water, an American flag comes into view like a glorious monument atop Everest (okay just Shells). No its not a mirage its Roxy Rockit with popsicles in her hand asking which flavor you prefer! wow it doesn't get much better then that!
    After a sweaty hug of appreciation for Roxy, I jet off on a short 1 mile downhill with no 50Kers in view to the front or back of me. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing because I start to get comfortable with my 3rd place position and I don't feel I have to push the pace as hard. I run most of Rocky Peak back to the Corganville turn off with a few walk breaks, I guess I felt like I took more walk breaks and didn't push as hard as I did for No Name 50K or Bandit 50K last year. I had several runner assure me that I was 5 minutes behind 2nd place, at this point 5 minutes is too long to make up, so I didn't charge like I probably could have. Now down the finally descent into Corganville, I hate this descent, I will say it again I HATE THIS DESCENT, I find myself cursing Randy going down this descent every time. What cruel ahole puts this technical downhill at the end of a race with two miles to go? My legs are trashed and the downhill just shreds what's left of them. A fast last mile through Corganville (or at least what feels fast after 30 miles) and as I come around the bend I hear the crowd go nuts, 31 miles or not its time to look like I know what I am doing, cameras are taking picture and people are watching, Just a 31 mile stroll through the park right? Cross the finish line 3rd overall in 4:34:05.

    
     Hear is the part of the race report where I get all boring and cheesy, but don't stop reading now because we need to give credit where credit is due. I just want to take a moment to thank a few people and you (the reader) can be on your way.. and the Oscar goes to... Randy and Sarita Shoemaker for putting forth so much time, resources and dedication to make such an awesome race happen every year, you guys are truly the best RDs out there. None of this could be done without all the awesome volunteers who sacrifice there day to come out and mark the trails, clean up after us, feed hungry runner and cheer us on, it is appreciated! To the trail running community, each and every runner out there pushing there hardest to run through the brutal trails and heat while still have the good graces to offer kind words and help each other out. To Desirae for being an awesome wife, supporting my goals and putting up with my craziness, love you! Major props go out to my brother Keith for running his first 50K (your hooked now). Its over already but I cant wait to get out there next year, hopefully better trained and fully prepared to run a PR.. Till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run..

       
      
     

Ultra Balance

     Ultra fun? ultra regret? sometimes the balance between ultra running and trying to be an ultra father can be an ultra pain in the ass. The two things I love most in life are being a father and ultra running, they both bring me so much joy and I want to be the best at both that I can be. But you cant always have the best of both worlds, as my dad often sang to me "you cant always get what you want...". When it comes down to choosing between the two of course I put my family first. But is there a good way to have the best of both worlds, is there a good way to strike an ultra balance? I think so and although I am still working on getting that balance right I feel like I'm getting better at this trapeze balancing act called life.

      When getting in the large amount of mile required to train for a ultra event it is key to find time to run when it will have least effect on quality family time. First approach; two a days can really end up being a familiar friend, I often squeeze in two a days toward the beginning of my week because I don't have hours of free time to do long runs every day. Two a days while not as affective as long runs do a great job of training your legs to run through fatigue/tiredness required when training for an ultra event. I usually try a split my two a days into distinct workouts, for example I will run a speed session (treadmill or road) during the first run and then a hill workout (treadmill or trail) during my second run, these of course can be interchangeable. This not only breaks up the boredom associated with doing the same workout over and over again, but also helps train different muscle groups and strengths used in ultra running. I am lucky enough to have a job that grants me some flexibility in my lunch hours so I usually aim to run 45mins to an hour everyday at lunch, often at the gym (so I can take a shower afterwards) and sometimes on the roads (I can come back and change while applying liberal amounts of spray deodorant = hippy shower).
      Second approach; weekend longs runs are a staple in every ultra runners diet, weekend long runs are by far my favorite drug and is what got me to love running so much. I almost exclusively do my long runs out on the trails unless weather or injury decides otherwise. I accomplish my weekend long runs using a few different avenues; the first of which is waking up super early to get in the hours before the rest of the household wakes up. The second of which is waking up early every morning during the weekdays to get the kids ready for school, in return the spousal unit has agreed to let my have my weekend long runs. Sleeping in is a thing of the past!

      Another approach to balancing family and running, one I've only been partially successful with, is to include my family in with my running. Get your children to run at an early age, do they have a fun run available at your next running event? a 5K? The key is not to force running upon my family, running shouldn't be seen as a chore, its should be something they enjoy. My wife Desirae sometimes likes to run half marathons and go on hikes with me, so its definitely a bonus for my training getting her involved. My son CJ is big into sports and is really good at some of them but doesn't like to run as much as I had hoped he would, my other son Connor is in a wheelchair making it a little difficult for him to run. My family is very supportive of my running regardless and makes it to the finish line of almost all my races, they really are the best crew I could ask for. Hopefully with time CJ will gather more interest in running but until then I enjoy watching his love for playing sports. Another one of my goals this year is to push Connor in a wheelchair through a marathon/half marathon.

       That's pretty much the summary of how I get in runs without sacrificing quality family time, my ultra balance. I'm sure other runners have different approaches to the ultra balance, whatever works for them. The key is to put my family first, when all is said and done running is just a hobby for most us mortals, but family is my life, my job and my main source of happiness. There are many times I have had my running regimen put on halt/revised in the name of being a father and I'm okay with that. I just keep in mind there is always another day to run, another day to train and skipping a day or ten of running will not derail your success at an ultra race. No long run for me this weekend, I'm off to go enjoy my family before spending a week in Florida, till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run..

Year in Review and a Quick Outlook for 2015

     2014 is over already!? Boy does time fly! I really had such a phenomenal year both in running and in my life in general, I will go over a quick recap of the running I did in 2014 and give a quick outlook of what I'm aiming for in 2015.I will do my best to keep everything in chronological order but I'm really bad with remembering specific dates and such, so bear with me. Sorry this blog post is a little late due to end of the year illness and a bad case of poison oak (more of that in an upcoming post). So sit back, grab some spiked eggnog and enjoy my journey through 2014!

       January started off with me being sick, yeah happy New Years! I seem to get sick the same time every year, I bounced back from sickness super quick and got down to training for the Bandit 50K and more specifically Western States 100. Ever since I had found out I got into WS 100 through the lottery I had WS fever, it was my #1 priority all year. I also had a goal of going sub 5 at Bandit 50K so I did a lot of training on the Bandit course in January and February. I felt super good going into Bandit and everything went my way, I had a great race and ended up 3rd place overall and 1st in my age group at my hometown race in 4:33:50!

      After Bandit I took sometime to bump up my mileage and focused on WS training as much as I could. Two "hiccups" along the way felt very work related. Hiccup #1: When everyone at work knows your a runner they want you to represent the business name for them, my boss's rotary club puts on a 10K race through Westlake Village every year and he begged me to run it (cant say no to the boss man). Okay I don't really like short races but lets see how my speed work is coming along, I really didn't push it too hard and cruised into a 2nd place finish with a 39:15. Hiccup #2: Work decided on doing Corprate Games this year and of course I was nominated to run the 5K race, I found out that I'm really not too fast but still managed to bring home a bronze for my work in a time of 19:26.
       Next up Leona Divide 50 mile, after running this race the year prior I thought this would be a great race to train on for WS. The course ended getting altered from the previous year due to fire that burnt a good part of the course last year, yeah me, I get to run a lot more elevation (around 9500ft-10000ft gain) on this new course.  I was in top shape going into the race but had a foot issue  where the top of my foot would start throbbing at about 10 miles in (think it was a new shoe issue). Sure enough at mile 11 at a huge downhill section of the race my foot starts throbbing with pain, after many thoughts of just ending my race I went on and pushed through the pain. The pain finally got a little more tolerable around mile 20 and I ran a solid closing half of the race. Running 7 min/miles the last two miles of the race I came in 8th overall at a pretty competitive 50 miler with a time of 7:48:12.

        Road trip!! Brett (my good friend) and I decided that there would be no better way to train for WS then to train on the WS course itself. I highly recommend the WS training runs on Memorial weekend for not only WS runners but for everyone. What a great weekend of trail running, friends and beer. The first morning started with a 32 mile run through the canyon section of WS and was both humbling and gorgeous. After beers at the Auburn Ale House and a good night sleep it was on to 18 quad pounding miles through the Cal street section of the WS course. I met a lot of elite runners and got a good taste of what to expect race day, yes I'm going back this year for more.

        The time has come, the big dance has arrived! this is the moment I've been training up to for months and have been dreaming about for years, the Western States 100! Desirae and I headed up to Squaw a few days early to have some time to prepare for relax before the race, Squaw and the condo we rented were amazing. Desirae ran the Montrails 6K uphill challenge that takes you up to the top of Escarpment (the first 3.5 miles of the race) I was super proud of her! WS ended up being the highlight of my running career so far, everything about it was magical. I ended up having an amazing race and a life changing experience coming in 48th overall at the most competitive and first 100 mile race ever with a time of 21:14:23. Spent the next week in San Francisco recovering from WS where I even squeezed in a run through the beautiful Marin Headlands.

        After a few months recovery from WS I had an itch to test out my new found speed gained from training for WS and I usually run a marathon once a year, I really enjoy the certain type of pain associated with a marathon. I had a goal of qualifying for Boston even though I had no intention of running it this year, a 3:10 is what I needed in my age bracket. It was tough finding a marathon at this time of the year but I stumbled across the Ventura Marathon. Despite being a super boring and fairly low key marathon it was flat and fast. Even with the 2 min bathroom break at mile 10 I came in at 3:01:08 good enough for 24th overall and a BQ.

       The best ultra and highlight of my year was getting married to the love of my life Desirae and merging our two families into one. This event was akin to an ultra marathon in many ways, a relationship takes hard work, patients and persistence to make it to the end, even through marriage this ultra marriage never ends, its the longest ultra run ever! But I got the best reward for this unfinished ultra with two of the greatest boys I could ever ask for: CJ and Connor. We got married 10/10/2014 at the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach on a gorgeous day at the beach and I even manage to get in a run that morning to shake out the nerves. This day was by far the best highlight of my year and my life!

         That's it... enough running races this year, time for some recovery and getting back to enjoying the trails at my pace... or so I thought. I was eyeing The inaugural No Name 5030 for a few months and thought it would be awesome to race on the trails I run at a lot during my lunch time. After some poking and prodding from friends and family I finally pressed the registration button. I was not feeling top form at all coming into this race so I had zero expectation of doing good, I was just going to go out there and have fun. Well hell! fun it was, winning a race for the first time ever in a time of 4:17:16!

        Time for my pacing duties to come into play here as I paced Brett into a sub 24hr Javelina Jundred finish, I had a great time road tripping to Arizona and hanging out with Bretts crew/family. I got to run 30 miles through the desert starting as the sun went down and through the night, the desert at night is truly a magical place. Was proud of Brett as he hammered his way into a 22:46:43 finish!

        Community support is what I'm all about, what better way to support the local trail running scene and community then running the White Bull Winter Trail Series. A series of four races about 5 miles in length each turns out to be uphill speed work. It was a great series of races with a lot of good people and local runners, I had a chance to test myself on a lot of the climbs I will be encountering on the Bandit course this year. I won the first two races (Tapo Open Spaces and Long Canyon) and came in 2nd for the final two races (Marrland and Chumash) putting me squarely in first place position overall with a cumulative time of 2:27:20. 

• 02/16/2014, Bandit 50K, Time:4:33:50, 3rd overall, 1st age group
• 04/04/2014, Westlake 10K, Time: 39:15, 2nd overall, 1st age group  
• 04/16/2014, Corporate Games 5K, Time:19:26, 3rd overall, 2nd age group
• 04/26/2014, Leona Divide 50 mile, Time 7:48:12, 8th overall, 1st age group
• 05/24-25/2014, Western States Training Run
• 06/28/2014, Western States 100, Time: 21:14:23, 48th overall
• 09/07/2014, Ventura Marathon, Time: 3:01:08, 24th overall, 8th age group, BQ
• 10/26/2014, No Name 50K, Time:4:17:16, 1st overall, 1st age group
• 11/08; 11/15; 11/22; 12/06, White Bull Winter Trail Series, 1st Tapo Canyon, 1st Long Canyon, 2nd Hot Dog Hill, 2nd Chumash, 1st Overall

Ultrasignup Rank: 85.88%

http://2014story.strava.com/video/3834144?shared

Progress Summary Report for runinaround
Count: 445 Activities
Distance: 3,504.58 mi
Time: 524:16:29 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 304,033 ft
Avg Speed: 7.2 mph
Avg HR: --
Avg Run Cadence: --
Avg Bike Cadence: --
Calories: 234,932 C

     Here's to hoping 2015 is as successful if not more successful then 2014 was for me, as we roll forward into 2015 my main focus will on Angeles Crest 100. I will start the year off running my favorite 50K the Bandit and I hope to be able to podium again this year, although I have doubts about beating last years time. I have also signed up to run PCT 50 miler as a mandatory 50 miler for AC100 and as a good training run for said race, my goal is to run under 8 hours, if that's good enough for a podium finish, awesome, if not, no worries. I will definitely be going back to Western States Training camp this year with Brett and I will be pacing him during his WS 100 effort. I would like to traverse the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica mountains through the entire 68 miles as a fun run and training opportunity. As far as the rest of my racing/running schedule goes I will wait to see what adventures might come along and just play it by ear. I will definitely be writing up more race reports and random running blog posts throughout the year. So stay tuned and join me along the adventure that will be 2015, till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run..

• 02/15/2015 Bandit 50K
• 05/09/2015 PCT 50 Mile
• 05/23/2015 Western States Training
• 08/01/2015 Angeles Crest 100 Mile

 

The Holiday Taper

     "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me" Eggnog, beer, turkey, cookies, pie, ham... among many more other delightful food/drinks to enjoy! Ahh.. the holiday season, not only do we indulge in food/drinks we indulge in family, time off of work, school, shopping and staying up late to ring in the new year! Its festive, relaxing, joyful, chaotic, a sense of togetherness, family and wellbeing. Its my favorite time of the year, its seems as though the whole year crescendos into the last two months and cumulates into the holiday season, a well earned reward for all the hard work throughout the year.
      This time of year can also be a holiday from running, there are not many races taking place, most runners seem to be ramping down their mileage and/or cross training. Is this holiday taper out of necessity or is it our reward for all the hard work and training we have done throughout the year? For many (like me) its both, on one hand the holidays season necessitates more time with the family, vacationing, the kids are out of school and there is unfavorable running weather, all these factors play a part toward having to shift more time and energy away from running. On the other hand the body needs a break, you can only push so hard throughout the year racing and training till your body starts to rebel against you. All the accumulated miles, elevation gains, pushups, sit-ups and crunches start to take a toll on the body, the body needs a holiday too! Sometimes It just feels damn good to kick up the feet, grab a beer and watch some football!
     But the holiday taper can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes, most runners feel a sense of guilt, grumpiness, not measuring up in there fitness or a sense that something is wrong. When you run a certain amount of miles each week and attend to a fairly strict diet day after day, it becomes routine, its becomes a way of life, it feels good to work out and eat right. We sometimes crave running down a single track or killing the weights at the gym, it truly becomes an addiction of sorts. So ramping down the mileage or cross training for the holidays can be a difficult thing, Its taper madness! Add in all the holiday goodies that sabotage our diets we start to see our skinny ass running waistlines grow bigger and we start swearing at the bathroom scale.
     In the end a holiday taper from running is a good and for the most part enjoyable thing, we just need to trust in our prior training efforts and know that our bodies are in fact repairing themselves from the abuse we have been putting them through all year. We are also resetting our desire to run, a break recharges the desire to get out there and truly enjoy the run. We get so caught up in training our bodies to run at its maximum potential we need to step back and remind ourselves of why we enjoy running so much in the first place. Most will continue to run, but with less miles and not as high of an intensity, some may cross train with weights, on mountain bikes or by skiing down slopes, either way we need to go out there and get our bodies moving to keep them in shape during the holiday season. We also need to make a conscience effort to eat a balanced diet without getting down on ourselves for the occasional splurge on holiday goodies.
      In the end we deserve the holiday treats and we deserve to rest our bodies, we have worked hard for it! Now is a good time to catch up on other hobbies we have brushed aside, getting household project we been putting off done or to start catching up on all the recorded TV shows. Most of all we need to spend some quality time with the ones we love, after all that's what the holidays are really about. Come January when its time to slowly ramp up the training we can do so with a rejuvenated body and mind while getting prepared to crush another year of running, till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run...

White Bull Winter Trail Series #4 Chumash

     Bitter sweet! Race #4 of the White Bull Winter Trail Series, its the last race of the series, I am happy to be running Chumash but sad to be done with the race series. Chumash trail is one of my favorite trails in Simi Valley, it has great views, its technical is some parts but also be very runnable single track. Chumash trail hold a special place in my heart as its the trail that got me to fall in love with downhill running, its tremendously fun and fast! But in order to run this spectacular downhill you must first run up it, not an easy task by any means. The first two years of the White Bull trail series it rained on Chumash race day and made for an enjoyable mud run, this year it rained two days prior so the trail was sticky in some areas but definitely mud free, the trail was set up perfect for laying down some fast times.
     The morning of the race Desirae, Connor, CJ and I wake up early in attempt to make it to the race early as Desirae agreed to volunteer during the race. We didn't make it quite as early as we want and ended up having to park in front of Mr. Grinch's house, Mr. Grinch is know for being the cranky old man with nothing better to do but yell at all the runners and hikers that park at the trailhead. Being cold outside we decided to let the kids sit in the car and watch a movie while we get checked in, we lock the doors and set the alarm, the kids will be fine right? After I was done checking in I decide to go back and get the kids out of the car, I open the door and the alarm starts blaring! oops, Desirae has the car keys 200 yards up the trailhead, I start hearing "He's a mean one Mr. Grinch" in my head as I run and grab the keys, crisis avoided.
     As I wait for the race to start I chat it up with all my fellow runners and it get me to realize how lucky we are to live in such a great community with such great people and a fantastic trail system, we truly are blessed, I love Simi Valley! I feel blessed to live in a place I can feel safe raising my kids, all the friends I've met here and all the trails I've ran.We have fantastic neighbors who go out of the way to volunteer for there community, we have great weather year round and we have great schools. We have it all in Simi Valley, we even have Mr. Grinch to yell at us at trailheads, it all makes this community as great as it is! Anyways... back to the race report.
     We line up at the start line, no Melissa again but Jerome (the king of Chumash) is back this week after destroying me at Marrland during race #3. Off we go with Jerome taking up the lead and me holding securely in second place, it would stay this way for the race's entirety. Up up up we go, Chumash is 2.6 miles of climbing all the way to the top, the first mile of the trail being pretty steep and the second mile letting up only slightly, its definitely a lung burner. With Jerome in a solid lead knowing I cant catch up to him anymore and that I have no pressure from behind I fall into a steady pace, I don't push myself as hard as could/should because I have no incentive to do so, I enjoy the run and take in the views of my awesome hometown of Simi. At the turn around point where Chumash meets Rocky Peak I pick up a green bracelet laid out at the top to prove I actually got to the top, I catch my breath and get ready for my descent.
     Down down down we go, the first half mile down is fairly technical with lots of rocks I jump off of and dance around, the trail smooth's out some and I turn on the rocket burners! I just cant hold back on the Chumash downhill, its like a pieces of candy or a good beer, once you get a taste of it you just want more. The best thing about an out and back is you get to see a lot of the other runners you never get to see on loop trail, every runner I pass by going downhill has a positive comment or a word of encouragement and once again I realize how much I love this community. Time and trail fly by as I get to the last and steepest downhill portion of the race, you can see the finish line from here and hear everyone cheering you on to the finish. This just pushes me to run even faster as a fly across the finish line in 2nd place with a time of 41:23 and first overall in the series with a combined total time of 2:27:20!
     I just want to take a moment to thank a few people who made this race possible, Randy and Sarita Shoemaker for putting on the best races in Simi, all the volunteers who helped out and cheered us on. To Nutrishop for the support and bringing delicious drinks, Carbo Pro for the awesome products they donated to the winners and Simi Valley for providing us kick ass trails to run on. Desirae for pushing me to sign up for this race series and always being there to support me, love you! Connor and CJ for getting up early on Saturday mornings to cheer me on, you guys rock! As a legacy runner I will definitely be back next year for more great races, till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run...
  

 

 

 

 

White Bull Winter Trail Series Race #3: Marr land

      Charge! Let the White Bull loose.. Time for race #3 in the series. Out of all the races in this series Marr scares me the most, I run all trails in this series a lot and know what to expect, kind of a curse and a blessing. I can psych myself out knowing the torturous climbs and technical terrain coming up, but I can also employ strategies like saving my legs for certain climbs on the course or slow down for a fast turn coming up. Marr is deceptive because it starts out with a quarter mile of down/flat fire road but you can see to the top of the "mountain" your about to climb giving you a false sense of security. More on that later in the report.
      I show up to this race without my awesome support crew that is usually there to cheer me on although I see all the regulars and friends at the starting area. Another bonus running a trail series is that you run with most the same people each race with a few new faces sprinkled in so you develop continuing friendships and make new friends each time, who doesn't want more trail running friends? While I was chatting it up with some of the White Bull regulars, I failed to notice some of the new faces that showed up to run this race (oops bad start on my part) what I did notice is that Melissa never showed up to the starting line. Good news right? No! I wanted a challenge, someone to push me to run harder and Melissa was the only one close to me in the overall standings for White Bull, I could run easy now and still get first place overall, make me work for the win, I want to earn it.
     All the runners line up at the start and its off, charging down the hill like rabid White Bulls, I get to the start of the "mountain" that is nicknamed Hotdog Hill, wait who is this? a tall fit guy just darts off in front of the whole field, well crap this guy is in a completely different league! Okay don't be stupid Kenny just let him go I have someone else breathing down my shoulder to worry about; all of a sudden just like that I get past up by yet another new face. I'm in third now but I'm not going to let this one get away, so I stay hot on his heels the whole way up Hotdog Hill, he keeps looking back realizing exactly what's going on. Now the back side of Hotdog Hill is a super fun single track that I can normally fly down, the only problem is the guy in front of me is running slower than I want but I cant get past because the trail is too tight. No problem though, I know there is a steep ascent coming up so I will save my legs for the climb.
     Here is the part of the course that I think caught a lot of the runners by surprise, after all that climbing up Hotdog Hill you get a false sense of security that the worst is over with and for the most part you would be right, but a very steep albeit fairly short hill awaits to test your legs all over again. I could tell it caught the runner right in front of me by surprise when all of a sudden his very fast climbing ability slow to a crawl, ahh.. here is where I make my move. As I pass him we both say good job to each other with a tired smile, a mix of running and power hiking with my hands upon my knees I make it up the brutal ascent. All down hill from here! my favorite.. I kick it into high gear and float all the way down Hotdog Hill securely in second place. I really like Randy (the RD) but what a cruel guy he can be sometimes, who puts a very steep quarter mile ascent right at the finish line? You have to sprint up it and try to look your best (as your secretly suffering) because everyone is watching you climb it to the finish line! Across the finish line among many cheers with my bull horns up in second place with a time of 36:48! 3 races down 1 to go, here I come Chumash. Till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run!

No Name 5030

      Cheeseboro 5030! Yeah, an awesome looking 50K around the trails I train on regularly during my lunch hours! Two weeks later: No Name 5030, wait, what? Am I looking at the right race? Am I on the right website? An ultra race with no name? Yes, its right, same race; no matter what its called this race is going to be good. Although I was still unsure if I was going to run this race, I just got off of a 3:01 marathon effort with tons of speed work, my legs were dead and I also told Desirae I would not race anymore this year. Damn ultra races, its like someone dangling a carrot in front of my face, "sign up Kenny, you know you want to." The fact it was an inaugural race on familiar trails with a RD that I like (Erica Gratton), combined with several people including Desirae, Randy and Brett egging me on finally got me to hit the register button. No turning back now.
      This race was located in the Cheeseboro park area of Augora and Simi Valley hills upon mostly fire road. The map of the race is very confusing as it loops around several different trails, I had to study the map numerous times before I got the gist of it.

        There is a two lane road and a smaller parking lot at the Cheeseboro trail head, so the runner and spectators had to park 3 miles away at a park and be shuttled to the starting line. So I headed to the park early morning by myself with coffee, GUs and a handheld water bottle in tow, the parking and shuttle went smoothly. I had a soar throat for two days leading up to event, between the soar throat, lack of training leading up to the race and tired legs I set my expectations for my finishing times low. I just wanted to go out there and enjoy running on some of my favorite trails and let things fall as they will. Once again I got there way too early and had plenty of time to stand around in the cold and mingle with the other runners as we waited for the race to start. I saw Randy there making his ultra return so I chatted with him a bit and met a few other nervous runners.
       They 30K and 50K runners started the same time so we lined up together to get ready to run up a tight single track right from the start. I didn't want to get caught up in a conga line up the first hill so I lined up in the front to go out hard and hopefully run with the lead pack. Bingo, my plan works as a dart up the first hill (Modelo) in fourth place, the race stays this way for the first 6 miles or so. The first 7 -8 miles of the race is mostly climbing with a few relieving downhills along the way through Cheeseboro Canyon, Shepard's flat and Palo Commando trails, it helped to have run these trails numerous times and I knew what expect. At mile 5 coming into the second aid station it was nice to see Brett and Mark volunteering there and shouting encouraging/taunting words of advice, they never cease to make me smile, a great pick me up. I really enjoyed the section miles 7-9 as I pushed through the rolling trails of China Flats and Simi Peak, you could almost feel the history through there, I could imagine the farming, herding and mining that must of went on years ago.

         Boom! back down Palo Commando we go for the next several miles, as I roll into the mile 10 aid station (same as mile 5) more taunting words of encouragement as I'm told I am in 5 place overall. 10 Miles in 5th place, I'm okay with that and I start to think about how many of those in front of me are 30K runners? Another mile up the Dead Cow trail and its back down hill again to Shepard's Flat, I do my best to run a good clip in this section because I know a lot of climbing along the Cheeseboro Ridge trail is coming up. As I start climbing up Cheeseboro Ridge I come up to one of the runners ahead of me that told me he was a 30K runner and that I was first place 50K, first place? No way, awesome! But just as he told me that here comes another runner passing us up the hill, just like that I'm now second place 50K, well that excitement was short lived, time to do work.
         The other runner (Joseph from Santa Barbara) and I exchange places back and forth all way through Cheeseboro Ridge, he would pass me on the ascents and I would pass him back on the descents, this would end up being the theme throughout mile 28 of the race. At mile 18 aid station, I came in first but took some time replenishing my water reserves and munching on some banana slices at the buffet, Joseph left the aid station before me. Small amount of relief as we ran 1.5 miles along Cheeseboro Canyon trail, we ran together for a while and made small talk, as soon as we hit Cheeseboro Ridge trail again Joseph pulled ahead. At this point doubt of winning took hold in my head, it was only mile 20 and I was hurting, 11 more miles of this was going to be tough. After a mix of running with a occasional power hike up some of the ascents my legs started coming back to me, but I now had some time to make up as Joseph pulled a good lead on me. Just in time as we hit a nice descent down the back side of Cheeseboro Ridge into Shepards Flat and down through Cheeseboro Canyon, I was flying as I caught back up to Joseph at the mile 24 aid station.
      

         Argggh, up again! Over Ranch Center connector trail, then down the other side, Joseph and I back and forth. Pushing each other was a race of will power and drive, we were both determined and running hard, I love racing like this; a good challenge to push me way past my comfort zone, I wouldn't have finished nearly as fast if he wasn't racing me that hard. Up Doubletree, down Smoketree into mile 27, I could tell Joseph was hurting at this point and starting to fade, now its time to make my move. We head up Palo Cammando, the last big ascent and I actually pull ahead of Joseph, "Kenny, you can do this, push hard, embrace the hurt" I tell myself over and over again, apparently its working because Im running faster, I'm pulling ahead! Looking over my shoulder and I could see Joseph slipping further behind, down into Cheeseboro Canyon we go, I only stop for a second at mile 30 aid station to top off my water bottle. I'm running scared at this point, looking over my shoulder whenever I get a chance, its up the Modelo connector and a quick sprint down the Modelo trail to the finish line.
        

         I see Desirae, Connor and CJ as I cross the finish line, medal around my neck, high fives and hugs all around! I love that my family is so supportive and is always there to watch me cross the finish line, it really does mean a lot to me that they support my crazy ultra running addiction. First place overall in the 50K with a time of 4:17:16, my first ever win at an ultra event! I'm so used to coming in second and third at races my nickname became quicksilver, it was nice being quickgold for once.. Thanks to Erica Gratton for putting together such a great race, Brett and Mark Goldsmith for making me laugh, to all the volunteers for spoiling the runners and Joseph for pushing me to race hard. Special thanks to Desirae, Connor and CJ for being the best crew, fans and support team that I could ever ask for, love you guys! Till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run...