I'm finally back from a very exhausting trip. I first went down to San Francisco and hungout with a few friends. After indulging in some of the best Chinese food around and some superb seafood my trip continued up to Mt. Ashland for the hill climb they hold annually. I came to the race to break the "supposed" record of 1:42 held by a great marathoner. Back in the 80's he ran this time, but his time was unofficial so they don't exactly know how fast he ran. Kinda arbitrary. Nevertheless, a record attempt on the day of the race was totally out of the question. Looking to the sky you could see the haziness from the smoke of a nearby forest fire in the Rogue Valley in Ashland, Oregon. On top of that, the heat wave that has plagued the Northwest the past few weeks kept its streak alive making race day a smokey hot ball of fun.
Before the start I knew my closest competitor would Erik Skaggs, who is a well known Ultra-marathoner from Ashland. We have raced before at the Northwest Mountain Championships last year, which I won, but I knew this race would be different. Being that he is used to racing uber long distances he was ready for the long race, whereas, me coming off of a break and just getting back in good shape would not be ready to grind for two hours up a mountain! The race went out hard because we both wanted to give a record attempt an honest fight despite the blazing heat and smokey conditions. I ended up pulling away from Erik around 2 miles or so and continued to push towards the record. I had a few things I didn't like about this race. There were many long stretches without any directions to let you know you were still on the correct path. Being that there are all sorts of random trails twirling around this remote location of the race I was confused and this caused me to let off the gas a bit at times. Also, the water stops weren't very helpful. There were people sitting at the table, but not handing out water. I didn't understand the point of having people at the desk without handing water to the runners as they pass. So many times I had to stop to grab water. First time I have seen that happen in a race.
Most of the race I ran blind, in that there were no markers for distance at all! In a way this was pretty unique to the race so it wasn't that bad, but when you are going for a record its frustrating. I ended up winning the race in 1:47 with Erik at 1:51. I joked with him after the race that we had the best official times on this course (:
The course was pretty tough and had some mean climbs near the end. The final climb had everyone in a world of hurt. I walked most of the last portion of the race as it was pretty much a steep scramble uphill on loose rocks and sand. This last section was about 300-400 meters, but it took nearly 15 minutes to complete!
I had a few hours in between waiting for my ride and I got dropped off in the middle of the city. Got pretty tired, and I saw a few bums laying down so I thought I would follow suit and take a quick nap. I have always wanted to experience what it would be like to live as a bum for a while. Its interesting how resourceful bums are, really.
Over by pier 39. One of the most popular attractions for downtown San Francisco. Across the bay you can see the famous prison that was thought to be inescapable, known as "Alcatraz". You can also visit the stinky Walrus community. Make sure you bring something to plug your nose with if you ever go there
For more information and pictures of the race check out the page of my good friend and fellow trail runner Rich Bolt
Also here is the link to the news article from the local paper in Ashland:
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment