Malibu Creek 25k

Super Butt and Thigh Workout/Hike-a-thon 25k recap...

So I signed up for this race because I knew a bunch of the people running it and I wanted to train for the hills that will be in the Pasadena marathon. This race was pretty brutal. It was definitely overkill and not what I had in mind for my hill training. The only other trail experience I've had was the Cheseboro half marathon in Agoura Hills. That was a cake walk compared to this race. I practice on pretty steep hills in my neighborhood, but nothing would have prepared me for miles and miles and miles of climbing. The first half of the "race" was almost pure hiking for me. Then the second half was a quad-thrashing downhill romp to the finish line.

I was able to hang with my faster friends at the very beginning stages. But once we hit the first big climb, I could not keep up. I also fumbled and dropped my shot bloks which I paid for later in the race. We even got to cross a creek... that made me feel like a real trail runner. You could tell that a good majority of the people did not enjoy it. I have no problem getting my shoes or feet wet while running. That's probably because I like running in the rain.

The next 10k was the hiking portion for me. When it wasn't too steep, I ran as much as I could handle. I had to hold off because my left Achilles was bothering me. I really had no choice. If I continue to push harder, I was running the risk of hurting my Achilles even further. So backing off and swallowing my pride was the smart thing to do. I was trying to be patient and waiting for the downhill portion. I also realized that if I want to keep doing trail runs, I need to invest in a handheld bottle. Time to stop being cheap and using regular water bottles. Friends have bought me 2 fuel belts but I do not like wearing them. If anyone wants them, let me know.

The next 5k or so was the sometimes scary downhill portion. I'm a pretty good downhill road runner, but trail running is very different. I could not get a rhythm due to uneven terrain. The quads were screaming before I could cover all of the 5k. Again I had to back off near the end because I needed to keep myself injury free so I can complete my long term goal of running at least 1 marathon a month for this year.

Next came a somewhat technical portion... lots of rock and puddle hopping for me. A frog even croaked at me when I ran by. That was cool. I felt like I was travelling through some place exotic. I was pretty much running solo at this point.

About 2 miles from the finish line I was starving and wishing I had stopped and picked up my shot bloks that I dropped early in the race. I also saw a lady riding a horse and was entertaining thoughts on how to get a ride to the finish line. People started passing me, but I didn't really care. Mentally I was done. I hate it when that happens. Mind pretty much said we're out of water... no shot bloks... we're walking. It wasn't until someone on a bike told me that it was just a dip and a left turn to the finish line that I started to think about trotting. Then I cross paths with my friends going back out for another loop. I was so glad that I was done and not going out for loop number 2! I finished in 3:05:21 according to my watch, but somehow they missed me crossing the finish line and put me down as unknown runner #2 at 3:06:22. That was weird because I wasn't moving very fast at that point. Also it did not take me a minute to cross the starting line. I had hoped to finish in under 3 hrs but that was close enough for me.