Santa Monica Mountains 50k

The weather forecast all week leading up to the race was 70% chance of rain on race day. So believing the weather-woman I packed my rain gear and drove out to La Jolla Canyon in Malibu for the race through the Santa Monica Mountains.

Driving along the PCH

I got there around 7:30am, pickup my bib, and went back to my car to get ready. The weather kept getting better and better. But I still wore the rain jacket just in case. We took a group photo a few minutes before the start of the race. The first start at 8:30am was just for the 30k and 50k.

My trail running friends

Orange Loop (La Jolla Canyon) - 1:39:23
I kept it slow from the beginning. There was a huge bottle neck early on, but I didn't mind because I just wanted to survive the 50k. It got hot really quickly wearing the rain jacket. I took it off and tied it around my waist, but it was so annoying. Eventually I tied it around my neck like I was a yuppy or wearing it as a Superman cape. I tried to make sure I didn't pass anybody. But there were a few times where runners moved aside and I was allowed to pass. I first rolled my left ankle on a muddy downhill area. I almost fell but I caught myself in time with one of my water bottles. I was able to run it off. 2 handhelds were too much for this race especially with the Powerade that I was drinking. I took my first salt tab about 1 hour in and 1 every 30 minutes. I rolled my left ankle again coming down a rocky area as I was almost to the La Jolla aid station. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and had the volunteer water down my drink. I thought about dropping out, but the adrenaline had me heading out on the pink loop. I dropped off my jacket before heading out.

Pink Loop to Sycamore Canyon aid station - 1:21:09
Everything was manageable until I reached the downhill part on the fire road. I was very demoralized as I could barely jog the downhill. Walking the downhills was not fun. I was hit with maybe 3 drops of rain. Thanks weather-woman. At the aid station I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and fill up one of my bottles with water. If I wasn't running, I might as well work on my biceps.

Pink Loop to La Jolla Canyon aid station - 1:31:43
I pretty much walked all of the uphills. I even stopped on the fire road for my friends to catch up. I had them go ahead of me so I could use them as rabbits. As we got to the top of Ray Miller, a group of about 5 runners were lost and found their way back. They told us that the ribbons were blown off to the wrong side of the road. I stopped to fix the ribbons. I then ran a little to catch up to my friends. From then on, I pretty much had them pace me to the La Jolla aid station. Along the way we were passed by the first place 50k finisher. And for good measure, I managed to roll my left ankle yet again when we were jogging down. I knew my day was definitely over.

DNF at 30k - 4:32:16

Humbled and hobbling into the aid station

Ultras are not for me! :/

I could've continued on and hiked the other 20k, but the ankles were shot to hell. I had a pretty good plan to survive the 50k, but I showed up in new shoes and rolled my good ankle too many times. My other trail shoes sucked and I wasn't about to run in the mud with them. I would've taken the time to break them in, but I just never thought we would be running in mud or rain. I may give ultras another try, but I'm thinking that I'd head back to running my favorite distance, the half marathon. After I train for a BQ, I'm going to give marathons a break and run shorter distances. Of course, I'll have to give my body some time to recover before I do any of that.

In this race, I learned that I can drink Powerade and skip the gels. I think for Vegas, I'll leave the handheld at home and just use the provided aid on the course along with my salt caps.