The trails of Montaña de Oro are very nice and full of beautiful scenery all around. But they are also not very easy. Unfortunately for me, I've always been injured or out-of-shape whenever I come here to run the 50k. Besides running or attempting to run, I love visiting the nearby Morro Bay. I used to come here on family trips when I was a kid. Nowadays, I come back here to eat and run. My favorite restaurant here is The Galley.
I took Friday off from work and drove up early in the morning to make it into Morro Bay to eat lunch. Along the way, I took a break at a Walmart Neighborhood Market. I've never seen one of these before. I bought some Pringles and some drinks before heading back on the road. I made good time and got there before the restaurant was open, so I drove to the Morro Rock first to take some pictures.
Morro Bay
Food
As soon as the restaurant was open, I went in to get a table. I was there so early, I had beaten even the senior citizens. I ordered a glass of the End Post cabernet sauvignon and the Surf and Turf, which was a bacon wrapped filet and a Maine lobster tail. Man, I would be perfectly content if this was my last meal on Earth! It was pretty much perfection.
End Post Cabernet
Surf and Turf, bacon wrapped filet and Maine lobster tail
Lodging
For some reason, I booked my hotel or more accurately a motel at the Motel 6 in Santa Maria which was about an hour away from the Montaña de Oro state park. So I drove down to Santa Maria to check in. They gave me a room in the back corner which was fine. The room was clean but I noticed a few important things. First, there were no towels. Second, I found some bullet casings as I was parking the car. Hmmm... maybe somebody went hunting nearby. :) Third, it was practically impossible to close the room door unless you slam it very hard which I only realized after getting ice and some towels and finding my door was ajar when I got back.
Motel 6
Pre race "preparation"
I laid out my race gear before starting on my drinks and the Pringles. I had been dealing with a bunch of crap lately, so I decided to drink some beers to help me not to think about them for even a short while. Also I know it'll make me feel like crap the next day so I would have a good reason to drop out of the race. With a rickety left leg, I knew that my chances of finishing the 50k was slim and none. But still I wanted to run on some softer surface to test the legs out. I will have to say that getting through a 6-pack of Union Jack was not easy, it was by far my biggest accomplishment for the weekend. It sure made it much easier to fall asleep.
Race gear
Union Jack
Pringles
All gone
Race day
Check-in started at 7am and the 50k race started at 8am, so I took a shower and got ready to head over to the race a little before 6am. I got to Spooner's Cove a little bit before 7am and parked in the little parking lot next to the start/finish area. I bumped into a few of my friends, exchanged pleasantries, picked up my bib, and went back to my car to take a quick cat nap. After gathering my stuff and using the restroom, I headed over to the starting area. Just in case, I had packed enough stuff in my pack for a 50k, but I wasn't holding my breath. 50k's are hard enough without injuries.
Interesting shower, reminded me of a Star Trek transporter
Race bib
Starting line
The race
The first couple of miles felt fine as the course was pretty flat at the beginning. The legs were starting to feel normal again. But the left leg still felt a bit awkward. When the climbing began, I could definitely tell that my lungs are still not there yet. I was breathing way too heavily even though I was only hiking. That was actually fine until I started feeling nauseated. I'm sure the Union Jacks had something to do with that... but I kept pushing forward as I had plan to do at the minimum one orange (Valencia Peak) loop. It took what seemed forever before I reached the Valencia Peak. I picked up a poker card and started eating a Stinger waffle before heading back down to complete the loop. That only made me even more nauseated. The poker card system was to prevent people from cheating or cutting the course.
Climbing
More climbing
Reached Valencia Peak
Since I was feeling pretty miserable, my left leg was getting pretty sore, and I could barely keep food down, I thought it would be wise to drop out and call it a day. The girls at the aid station kept encouraging me to get back out on the course and were not accepting any of my excuses until I mentioned that I was just returning from a tibial stress fracture. It took me almost 2 hours to cover that first loop and that was plenty for me on this day. There will be other races and one day, I will come back here and finish this damn race!
Dropping out
12k - 1:56:00 DNF
Post race
I hung around the finish for a little bit before driving home. Again I cannot mention enough that this place is an awesome place to run! Even though I dropped out so early, it was a good sign that my left leg was getting much better. DNF's are definitely not failures. You can learn a lot from any run... even the ones that end prematurely.
Finish line
Awesome place to run
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