Mt. Diablo 50k

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Karalee: Well it was great that we got to run this together.
Me: Likewise, it just worked out perfectly today.
Karalee: I think I got first woman.
Me: Really, are you serious? (how can you be so oblivious:)
Karalee: uh-huh

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You know what I do best in ultras? Making friends. I always manage to make a friend(s) on the trails and I usually end up running my race with them. Until this year at Miwok, I have had no need of a pacer I've always found another racer to run with. However this year because of my focus on "racing" I haven't had the chance to be my usual social self, that was until Saturday.

On the Diablo 50k course you summit twice. On the way up the first time I was in a grumbly mood. It's one thing to pull back your effort because you're tired and worn out, it's another to go slow on purpose. Brian Wyatt goes by me, the urge to chase after him was overwhelming. "Training, training, training, it's only training", I yelled at myself - silently of course.

Day turned out to be warm but I didn't think it was hot enough. Soon as I completed my first summit I picked up the pace on the downhill, yup I started racing. Lucky for me however I came to my senses shortly after that, it was at this point that Karalee caught up with me on a downhill. I had said hello earlier and here she was descending fast
....crunch...crunch...crunch. The downhills on this race are for the most part fire road and steep enough on some parts that your toes get all smashed in the front of your shoes:) Going slow down these fire roads was just as much work as going fast. A good education though, I need to go slow on the downhills at WS. I ended up running with Karalee from that point forward, we stayed together for the rest of the race.

Seeing the finish only so you can go back out again for your second loop is kind of masochistic but not out of character for PCT runs. Seeing the faces of the 25k runners as you go back out is priceless. I was still feeling pretty good so there was no real draw to drop out or anything like that. Left late cause I lost my mp3 player (someone turned it in later), so I had to hustle up to catch up to Karalee. She had a sound game plan and the discipline to stick to it. Slow to the top for the second trip up then hustle but not go all out on the way down. It was a solid plan. Like I said in my previous post, hooking up with this runner was the smartest thing I did on the race. So that was it, we talked and ran, talked and ran. Ultra is such a social sport, on and off the trail. Got to the top with no major problems, hustled on the way down. On the way down we caught up with another runner who we've been trading places with, Dave Williams. Nice guy, after seeing him at Miwok and Ohlone I had to introduce myself. The three of us ran together for awhile until the last mile when Dave dropped back. Karalee and I crossed the line together at 7:14:06 with Karalee taking first woman.

My legs and body were sore coming in. I whined as much to Karalee. Huge kudos to her man, totally helped my race. I wish her the best at her next event, Ironman Coeur d'Alene!. Yup another triathlete. Snapped a picture of her holding her award with PCT's Wendell Doman (damn that corrupted memory card). Even got to meet her husband at the finish line. In turn I introduced her to Brian and Georgia.

So getting to the finish I see Brian chowing down at one of the picnic tables, just like in Ohlone 50k. But a bigger surprise was Georgia. Georgia was the gal that chased me for half the course on the Miwok 100k. That girl is another aggressive downhiller. She would gain on me on the downhils! ahaha. I had to run the uphills just to get away from her. That girl's gonna make an uphiller out of me...good stuff. Brian is going to be Georgia's pacer at WS. Anyway she was out doing her own training run and decided to meet up with us at the end. The weekend before she had done a double century on the bike (200-mile ride) and was feeling a bit tired this weekend. These people that I meet in this sport, they continually blow my mind. Yes Georgia, you should feel tired after a double century!

Tried out a couple of things and they worked for the most part. Tested out Carbo Pro. I got a sample from Olga during Miwok. Got my own batch to test Saturday and it was fine. Gave me a little bit of gas maybe but it didn't upset my stomach. I plan to switch to it during the hottest hours of Western States. The magic about Carbo Pro is that it doesn't have any taste, nice if you are sensitive to sweet drinks. I'm not all that sensitive but I did notice that I can't stomach sweetened drinks when it's hot. I also bought a camera pouch, tired of having the camera swinging in my shorts. For the most part it worked well, kind of tricky at times but not a problem. The camera however needs a new memory card.

So that's it. Stuck to my game plan with the help of a new friend, met up with old ones and had a grand old time. Felt like crap the next day but ya'll know that story already.