This was one of those spur of the moment bad ideas. The idea looked even worse as the weather forecast for the race just kept getting warmer and warmer. But what do you expect with a race in late August? I made the early drive out and got there a little after 5am. I parked at the corner of Las Virgenes Rd and Mulholland Highway and walked over to the Malibu Creek State Park to pick up my bib. Bib pickup started at 5:30am. I walked back to my car to get my stuff and rest a bit before heading back to the starting area.
Malibu Creek State Park at dark o'clock
The race
The 50k race started at 6:30am with a 9 hour time limit. I went into this race just planning to run one loop or 25k and to reassess from there. As they were making the last minute pre-race announcements, a friend from high school came up to me. I instantly recognized him even though we have not seen each other for about 20 years. What a weird place of all places to bump into each other. We ran the first couple of miles together before he took off since he's definitely a stronger runner and I'm still trying to build up my endurance. I took it pretty easy, stopping along the way to take pictures. I carried with me two handhelds, one with water and the other with an electrolyte drink.
Pre race announcements
Heading up Bulldog Road
Great views
Steep climb
Steep downhill
Above the clouds
Everything was going okay until I reached the Tapia aid station. This was when the cramps started to set in. I had been dumping more water on my head than I had been drinking. After leaving the aid station, I knew that I was having heat issues. I just kept dumping water on my head and walked a bit to cool down. As I made it into the next aid station, I was actually feeling better but I knew that I should drop out. I drank a bunch of water and went to the restroom. They filled up both handhelds for me and I just decided to head back out and hike the second loop.
Thought about dropping out at 25k
The carnage
Temperatures eventually got into the mid 90's. I arrived at the aid station with really bad leg cramps. I stayed there for a little bit taking in some extra salt tabs, bananas, and an electrolyte drink. The cramps subsided before I left the aid station. I thought I could just walk up to the next aid station. But at a little over 6 hours into the race, the legs locked up. I had to sit down. I found a shady area to sit. I just sat there drinking from my handheld. A short while later the sweepers came up to me. They forced or strongly urged me to get up and walk with them. So I got up and walked with them, but it was painful. I kept moving until both legs cramped up to the point where I was a statue but the muscles were twitching in pain. They had to carry me to the side of the road so that I could sit or more like lay down in some shade.
They then radioed in that they have a runner that can no longer move. They sent up a truck to pick us up. They drove us up to the next aid station where I was able to catch a ride with the volunteers back to the starting area. Once I was dropped off, my legs were working again.
In hindsight, I should not have tried to walk with the sweepers. Because if I could walk, I would've been walking and not sitting. I should've just told them to send somebody to come get me. There's something about my body and heat. It just shuts down after 6 hours. This was pretty much the same as Montaña de Oro back in 2009 except this time I had plenty of salt with me. I should probably work on cooling myself better the next time that I'm in a race with warm temperatures or just drop out like I had originally planned. Better yet, I should probably avoid running longer distances during the heat of the summer.
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