PCT 50 - 2017

I'm going to make these race reports a little shorter because I have a lot of races this month and I don't have the time to keep writing novels for each one. For those who don't like reading let me give you the highlights:

Highlights:
No Falls!!!

10:21 Finish :/ eh

Ultra Slam - COMPLETE

2 Rattle Snake sightings (yikes)

1 Asshole Runner (a Race Director no less!) who ran into me at the end when I was having trouble walking and yelled "GET OFF THE TRAIL, I SAID MOVE!"

1 Rubik's Cube Solve!

No snake bites!!

Hyponatremia and Dehydration 

I signed up for this race when it first opened up on New Year's Day 2017 for 2 reason: 1) It was the final race I needed to do to round out my SD "Ultra Slam", and 2) It sells out usually that same day. I don't ever sign up for races that far in advance, mainly because I can never be sure what my future will look like in the next 5 months. I could get injured, causing me to waste $150 by DNS-ing, or another race could pop up that I might want to do that is scheduled to happen the week or 2 before that race. Well, that happened with Lost Boys. I signed up for Lost Boys 50 knowing that I had PCT 50 two weeks after but I thought "fuck it", I'll just take one of the races easier. I was slightly concerned that it might not be enough recovery time but it turned out that, like last year, I recovered really REALLY well from Lost Boys so much so that I was able to knock out a 1:45-ish half marathon the Monday after. I feel like my recovery had a lot to do with how easily I approached the first half of the race and how relatively slow (10:00) my finishing time was. Also, the soft sand for the first 20 miles of the race helped ease the impact on my body. Combine all this with the Cryotherapy and Normatec I did the day before and the day after the race, I felt like Lost Boys was just another training run. So, going into PCT 50 I felt fresh, both physically and mentally ready. I could tell my recovery was going to be good because the day after Lost Boys I had already started fantasizing about PCT 50 and visualizing what that race would look like. Usually I don't want anything to do with running for the following week, but I knew mentally I guess, that my body would be okay. 

A good amount of the Trail Crashers were doing this race, even some (Julieanne) who had done Lost Boys with me 2 weeks ago, so I knew this would be a fun race. My concern with this race was just to finish out my Ultra Slam and whatever time that happened to be was okay with me. That being said, I figured a 9-hour or even sub-9-hour time would be possible to shoot for so I mentally hung that carrot in front of myself. Packet pickup was done last weekend at Milestone Running Store in North Park so Whitney and I, who I had convinced to sign up for the race the same time as I did because it would be a good training race for her SD100, were able to arrive a little closer to start time (6:00am) than we usually do. We arrived with about 15 minutes to the start which turned out to be barely enough time. It was approaching the mid-30's on the ride over so I was looking forward to how cold it would be. It was projected to be in the 40's in the morning and reach maybe a high of 65. It was a beautiful day with an inversion layer that we would rise up and over as we make our way towards the first Aid Station. I'd much prefer a high of 55 with lots of cloud coverage for performance sake but you cant beat how beautiful it was outside all day. Anything over 60 degrees F though, I melt. Today would turn out to be no different. 

As it got closer to 6am, we started gathering towards the start. I remembered my watch this time and was also going to run Strava on my phone simultaneously as a backup and put it in my pack. I asked the person behind me to kindly put my phone in the back pouch of my hydration pack, when I heard the RD counting down "5...4...3..." and I told the guy "Nevermind, thanks though" as I brought it forward to put into my handheld pouch. Ugh, I dropped it right on the blacktop face-down right before the dirt started. I picked it up, the screen was mainly black. "Great..." I thought. That turned out to be the last encounter I would have with that phone, unfortunately, as it turned out that the LCD had cracked and that would make repairs cost more than what the phone was worth to begin with. Regardless, time to go! Or... time to Conga... 

Mile 4.5-ish

I made the mistake of getting stuck in the middle of the pack when I know I'm a more.. audacious runner, even when I'm taking it easy. I was planning on doing 10 to 11-minute pace going uphill but because I got behind 55 people, it was looking to be more like 14-15-minute pace and walking. It probably did me better to walk a lot of that first half anyway but I should've been smarter and got at least in the top 20 if not top 10 at the start. Silly me. We got to Kitchen Creek Road and I started making moves to pass people and as we got to the first Aid Station I ran into "Boy Blue" Miguel Osuna who is planning on finishing SD 100 this year after getting swept last year. I pulled into the first Aid Station, took 3 salt pills, filled up on CarboPro and took off for the 7.8 mile climb up to Dale's Kitchen. I started catching some more people and eventually ran into Deb who was trucking along just fine. She always ends up catching me towards the end of races so I knew it wouldn't be the last time I would see her. Pulled into Dale's Kitchen and started to see some of the Early Starters who started the race at 5am. If you feel like you'll need more time than the 13.5 hour cutoff allows, you can start an hour earlier and relieve some of the pressure of having to chase cutoffs. I wasn't pushing too hard at this point and actually had the feeling that this could be a really easy finish if I keep it at this pace. I made my way through the woodsy Laguna single-track part of the PCT, my personal favorite, towards Todd's Cabin about 3.8 miles away.

As I was pulling towards Todd's Cabin, which I was familiar with because of SD 100, I saw someone run past the sign accidentally and hooted at them to come back as we had to go down to check-in to Todd's Cabin (about 0.10 miles down) and then come back up to continue. It seems like it would be easy to miss though as though there was a sign saying "Todd's Cabin", it wasn't readily apparent via flags or anything else that you had to turn there if you were running the race. Maybe some more runners missed this turn? Who knows. Anyways, I was in and out like a robbery at a California burger joint and onto the next Aid Station, Penny Pines, about 5.8 miles away. 

As I started the little 1-2 mile descent towards Penny Pines, I started running behind Tracy Dimino, who is a kickass runner. She kept saying I could pass but I was fine sticking with her at the pace she was doing downhill. We stuck together as we closed in towards Penny Pines and started seeing the front runners Igor Campos and the eventual winner Fern Blanco, who was having trouble with his hydration pack at that time. They were about 5.5 miles ahead of us at that point and they both seemed to be moving strong. I ended up losing Tracy at Penny Pines as she was literally in and out while I stayed and filled up some bottles and get some electrolyte pills. I saw Gloria (hi Gloria!), Matt Carol, Robert, Ricky, Becca, Anthony; it was a party! But, unfortunately couldn't stay long at that party so I took off toward the turnaround about 2.25 miles away. I asked Karen how many people had passed so far and she told me about 15, which put me in good position as I was feeling pretty strong. 

Heading towards Penny Pines 1

Headed towards turnaround

I took off towards the turn around and I swear to god, I saw this kid playing with a Rubik's Cube on the trail! He was hiking with some friends as they were backpacking and it seemed like he knew how to move it. I don't recommend cubing while on the trail as you could easily trip but it was pretty cool and random to see a cuber out there cubing on the trail. As I caught him on the way back, I was going to just pass him and keep going but I turned around and asked him if he could solve it, to which he replied "Yeah, in about 15 seconds or less," to which I was like "Can I see that cube?". I started walking with him and solving it, with my gloves still on from the morning, as he asked "Are you doing cross on left?" I knew at this point that this kid was actually a cuber and not just some kid with a Rubik's Cube and so I told him a little bit more about myself and as I finished it I handed it to him and continued to run on while also yelling back "I used to hold NAR (North American Record)" and he was like "What? Really? What's your name?" "Phillip Espinoza!" "I think I know that name". It's kinda funny that my two worlds happened to collide as they usually don't. It's funny, I used to be a name in the cubing world, kinda like a Sage Canaday, or Rob Krar, but these days I was more like a Timothy Olson or Anton Kupricka. My World Championship days of speedcubing were over and I had moved on, but I still try to incorporate it into my running occasionally. How funny that there just happened to be a cube on the trail for me to solve.

I continued on to Penny Pines as more people started making their way towards the turnaround. I had almost managed to catch up to Tracy when I saw her darting out of the Penny Pines Aid Station as I was coming in. I saw Eli, my buddy and pacer from SD 100, who was out there spectating and I had asked him on the way out if he wanted to pace me for the last 22 miles. He was tempted, really tempted I'm sure, but unfortunately he had other places to be that day. It was all good though as I quickly grabbed more CarboPro from my drop bags and tried to drink more and more water. I took off after a couple of minutes and made my way up the last little climb back towards Todd's Cabin.

Heading towards Todd's Cabin 2

This was mainly a walk, as the very, very beginnings of dehydration were starting to kick in and I started to feel a little tired. On the way back up I saw Julieann, Nartaya, then Whitney (who apparently wasn't have the best day) and then Nell, who looked like she was running with the sweeper (Jeri Ginsburg) behind her. As I topped the climb, I decided to pull over and finally pee, which took a good 60 seconds straight (boy, must've been holding back the whole day). I continued on, always saying hello and thank you to the many hikers we kept seeing throughout the day. I pulled into Todd's Cabin and at this point, people were starting to catch me for the first time of the day. I was starting to feel it and made attempts to keep drinking and took some electrolyte pills. Someone commented how much salt was on my clothes and asked if I was taking salt pills as it looked like I was losing a bunch of salt. "Yeah, it happens all the time to me, I'm a really salty sweater". I filled up some more and headed out, this time palpably drained as I started walking even the most gentle of climbs. Well, as soon as I made it to Dale's Kitchen, that would just be about 13 miles left until the finish. So I run-walked my way towards Dale's Kitchen as I pulled up to someone who I thought was Tracy. Was she having a bad day too? She said she didn't taper much for this race, could that be her? No, it was someone else, ah well. I pulled into Dale's, visible drained, but with only 13 miles to go, manly downhill, I knew I just had to get stuff in me and bite the bullet. I wasn't too responsive to the volunteers unfortunately, but I think they could tell I was having a hard time. Deb pulled into Dale's a little after I did, as I knew she would catch up to me. I grabbed some more stuff, a little caffeine from soda and the little coffee bars and headed out for the descent. She started out in front of me but then forgot to throw some stuff away so she turned around and ended up behind me, but only for a little while before I decided to let her pass. She was looking really strong at that point and I knew, if she stayed like that, she would finish really well.

As I was making the descent, people started passing me left and right. About 23 people would eventually pass me from Todd's Cabin to the finish. I started cramping up in my left hamstrings, but fortunately these cramps wouldn't stay for too long. It wasn't quite as bad as my Old Goat 50 experience but the cramps kept happening. As I made my way towards the final Aid Station at Fred's Canyon, I was relieved to know that there was only roughly 6 miles to the finish. I ate 2 hammer gels here and filled up on some Tailwind they had at the Aid Station and continued to drink water. More and more people were pulling up on me, but I continued on. A little after making the final tiny climb up to the ridgeline single-track, I started to run a little as it was gradually descending when all of a sudden I heard a large hiss and a loud rattle coming from the edge of the trail. Quicky, I slammed on the breaks almost inducing cramping all over my legs as I saw a rattle snake coiled up positioned to defend itself. "Shit-shit-shit!". I backed away, slowly. Rattle snakes aren't aggressive, but they will defend themselves, especially if you surprise them and catch them off-guard, as it seemed like I had. "Look, I don't want any trouble," I told the snake, backing away. There wasn't enough room for me to safely pass without coming within striking distance so I decided to wait a little. I looked at the right side of the trail and it seemed like there was enough embankment for me to climb up and over without disturbing the snake, who had all eyes on me like 2pac in the mid-90's. I also decided to wait until someone else pulled up as I remember hearing that it's the first person who wakes them up and the second person is the one that gets bit. Sean Nakamura was pulling up, running comfortably with a smile on his face when I tried to wave him down. He must've thought I was just waving for support like a spectator because he seemed to just keep smiling and running until he was just about in front of me. He took out a headphone (I think he had headphones) and I warned him of the rattle snake just ahead. We both climbed on the right side of the embankment as it still had all eyes on both of us now. We escaped and he thanked me for the warning as he ran ahead.

About a quarter mile further I was thinking, thank God that snake didn't bite me and thank God I still had enough energy to react appropriately instead of cramping up and falling over like a dweeb. Then, another loud rattle and a hiss as I saw another rattler on the side of the trail. "Fuck, are you serious?". I just decided to wait this one out, he didn't look too scared but I thought it best to just let him do his thangg. You do you, boo, I'll just be here chillin' until another runner comes along or until you move on like an Adele song. I waited 5 minutes, no runners were coming up. Meanwhile, Jake the Snake over here decides to cross the trail and go up the side of the embankment. I'm like cool, I'm just gonna... scootch... on... byy.... don't mind me... and I got away. Phew! 2 snake sightings is more than enough for me! I hope I don't see anymore before the finish. Onwards I go, as I make the mistake of trying the Muir Energy "Cashew Lemon" for the first time. Oh my god, I'm lucky I didn't puke everything up right then and there. Crikey, and that was only a taste!

I cross Kitchen Creek Road and make the final 3.7 mile descent towards the finish, at this point in a good amount of pain, barely walking it in. I thought, "Okay Phillip, this is going to be embarrassing, but you can walk this one in. You *might* be able to walk." At this point I was clearly struggling. This was supposed to be a fast finish as it was downhill from this point but I was barely able to walk without seizing up. Oh well, just, keep, walking. People kept passing me, as I stayed to the right of the trail as much as possible. Some people were nice and gave me pats on the back, telling me to keep going, some even stopped and asked if I needed anything. That's what I love about this sport; when someone is not having a good day, or is clearly in distress, we lend a helping hand when we can. The sportsmanship of the trail is one that is second to none in my opinion. As people kept pulling up and passing me, I would kindly let them. All was going okay, cramping was still happening, but I knew that barring a fall, I would be able to walk this one in at a 20-minute pace.

I hear a runner coming up behind me, running a decent pace, and I heard him mumbling something. I'm not sure if it was to himself or if I was supposed to hear. Either way, I knew he was coming so I moved to the right of the trail like I had for the other runners. Then, BOOM, he runs right into me, almost knocking me off the trail. "What the fuck!" I yell out of reaction "GET OFF THE TRAIL!" he yells back "I SAID MOVE!" as he continues to run on un-remorsefully. This was really upsetting and disappointing. This guy was part of the race. In trail running, especially on single track, the right of way is something that should be agreed upon. You do not assume someone else on the trail is supposed to give you the right of way, no matter what, that is my understanding. If there is a hiker in the way, you do NOT have the right to just plow through them. If there is a runner who is walking, you do NOT have the right to run over them. Race Directors always make a point to strongly encourage courteous attitudes towards everyone on the trail and to remember that we are SHARING the trail, that we do not own it just because we signed up for this race. This runner, seemed to have forgotten about that. He seemed to be unaware of how we're supposed to treat each other on the trail. And I get it, things happen on the trail, we might run into each other, I actually did on the way back, but we immediately apologized, asked if we were both good, and moved on. This guy was not apologetic in the least. You know the worst part about this? Apparently he's a race director himself. I can't imagine any of the Race Directors I know to EVER treat ANY one like this. Scott Mills? Scott Crellin? Brian Gonzales? Jennifer Henderson? Never. This guy is a race director. The extent to which I am disappointed is incredible. Regardless, I move on, hoping to catch him after I finish. He seemed to be nowhere in sight when I finished.

Shortly after that incident, my faith in the trail running community was restored when Jonathon Hunter came up behind me, stopped in front of me and asked if there was anything that I needed. I insisted that we were almost done and that I should be fine. I was really appreciative of him, and all the others who passed me up in that final mile who offered support or words of encouragement as they passed, or stopped to see if they could pull something out of their own pack that would help me. "I'm okay, thanks though, I really appreciate it", I would tell them.

As I pulled into the final 0.5 miles, I was just going to walk it in, and with the finish line in sight, I was going to do just that until Jamie Chatham pulled up behind me with his friends as they encouraged me to run it in. So I jogged it in, happy to have finished this race, in a time of 10:21. 

After the Finish. I was done son.

The cool part about these races is hanging out with the Trail Crashers and talking about the race as we wait for the rest of the Crashers and the rest of the finishers to pull in. I got some pizza, an ice cold pop, and relaxed. As I was talking to Tracy about how her race went, I started to get cramping in my abs, which is never a good sign. I went to go look for salt pills where they were serving pizza, and they didn't have any, but thought the EMT might have some. While they were getting the EMT over to where I was, my cramps were getting worse and starting to spread all over my body. I recognized this and knew what to do. I knew I needed to drink water and get salt pills in me. Someone who was serving food picked up a bottle of Endurolytes, unsure of what it was, as she tried to read the label, I said "Yes.. that's it..". The EMT however decided to withhold the pills from me and give me a full-length exam to make sure that giving me the pills wasn't going to make things worse. In between gasps of breaths, I tried to tell them I knew what I needed and that they needed to give me the salt pills, but they were still reluctant to give me them. When I get to this point, I'm hard to communicate with and not really that responsive, so it makes it seem as if there might be something more serious when in reality I'm just in a large amount of pain and trying to mitigate it. They finally gave me the salt pills as I snatched them and shoved 3 in my mouth washing it down with some water and coke. Within 30 seconds, I started breathing easier and "coming to". I proceeded to tell them how this happens to me usually and it's because I lose a great amount of salt in my sweat, which I really need to get checked out and have studies done on me. I thanked them for their help, and continued to relax as we waited for the rest of the Trail Crashers to come in. 

Salt Stains on Shirt

Not Normal, it was only in the 60's

Whitney came in just under the cutoff, and I was beyond happy to hear that she got the honorable DFL (Dead Fuckin' Last) spot. Most people wouldn't consider that a good thing but I consider the DFL person to be the most awesome as they were out there longer than anyone else that day, and they stuck with is, likely chasing cutoffs, to finish despite the challenges of the day.

All in all, it was another awesome day on the trails. Up next, Nanny Goat 24 hour in about 10 days! 

Lost Boys 50 Miler - 2017 - San Diego's Best Kept Secret

This race. Seriously, if you haven't done it, you need to. Not even kidding. The course, the community, the organizers, the volunteers. Everything about this race has the quality and coruscance of a hidden gem that can only be found in a race that starts in the desert and ends in the mountains. Having done this race 2 years in a row now, I have to say that it has become my favorite race in the San Diego Ultrarunning community. A point-to-point race that starts off in Pinyon Wash in the Anza-Borrego desert at 5am, under a still very starry night sky, has you traverse over the sandy desert floor, climbing over boulders and dry waterfalls as the Sun rises, gently washing over the landscape, exposing all the wildflowers that line your path. Mountains in the distance, soft sand beneath my feet, I was moving at an easy pace of 11:00-11:15 per mile, really trying to enjoy and take in the scenery. The winds this year had become virtually non-existent compared to last year's windstorm of a race. I took some time in the first 5 miles to glance back at the awesome sight of runners running through the dark in a line of headlamps in the middle of this awesome desert. My goal with this race was to have fun, and really enjoy the race, so that's what I focused on.

Trail Crashers w/ Race Director 4:45am

All my Trail Crasher friends were doing this one so I felt huge FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) having still been not signed up for the race the week before it was scheduled to take place. Luckily, I emailed the race director and a spot had opened up and so I jumped on the opportunity to do this race. With PCT 50 two weeks after Lost Boys 50, I wasn't sure if it was the best idea to sign up for a challenging race so close to my Ultra Slam-closing race. I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to live life and make more memories with friends, so I signed up and told myself I would just take the race easy so I would have stuff left for the next race.

The thing about this race is that it doesn't typically sell out, and usually only has about 60-70 people sign up. I'm not sure if that's because of the perceived difficulty of the course or if there is another reason I don't know about. Whatever it is, I'm glad that so few people sign up for this race. It really distills the quality of the people who do this race and I believe it really is an awesome group of people who choose to do this race.

My pacer, Leo, had just told me 2 days prior that he wasn't going to be able to pace me for the race. Having a job that requires a lot of manual labor, he ended up injuring his knee slightly after a bale of hay took a swing at it. "I'm barely able to walk bro", he messaged me. Hoping his injury wasn't going to knock him out of getting a 1:05 half marathon at Rock n' Roll this year, I wished him luck at his doctors appointment on Saturday and expressed that I was bummed that I wasn't going to be able to share those last 20 miles with him. Leo is not only a fast runner but he's also a blast to have as company on a run. He hasn't yet had the chance to explore the trails of Eastern San Diego so I was also looking forward to showing him how awesome the trails were out there. As it was though, I was not only left without a pacer but also without a crew and consequently without a way to get to the starting line in a point to point race. I decided to wake up at 1:30am (after not really getting much good sleep) and leave Escondido at 2:00am to get up to Cuyamaca Lake around 3:30am to see if 1) someone was leaving down to the desert start or 2) there was room on the shuttle that was leaving to the start from the Lake. I hadn't paid up to that point for the shuttle so I felt bad but I decided I would leave my name and number on the sign-in sheet so the RD could contact me and we could work out a payment afterwards. Luckily I ran into him at the start and he was cool about it as we made an arrangement to work it out via email. 30 minutes before race start, everyone was schmoozing, pictures were being taken, talks were being had about the Santa Ana winds predicted for the day. To give you an indication of how not-windy it was, I left my bib on the table on accident, went to the bathroom, came back and it was still there. That would have not been possible last year.

Registration Table 4:40am. Not windy at all.

We took off as Jonathon blasted off to the front at a 5k-pace like he usually does as Ricky casually followed along probably breathing solely through his nose. They would go on to lead the race together probably until mile 12 at which point Ricky would go on to create a gap so large that it would almost seem as if he was part of a different race entirely. 1 hour and 40 minutes would pass before the finish line would seen another finisher after Ricky. It probably had all the Aid Station volunteers scratching their head wondering where everyone else was. As these 2 were leading the way, I stuck at a more reasonable 11 minute pace as it was gradually uphill and in sand. The sand in the first 5 miles is very manageable and not that deep. The sand from miles 5-8 are the deepest you will encounter for the day. I mention this in my race report from last year but if you haven't done trail races before, and if you are coming from a road running background, this is NOT the race to start with. The boulders and the dry waterfalls at miles 5 and 8 respectively, will have you using your upper and lower body to climb up and over. I remember catching up to a woman who said she was thinking about waiting for someone to come help her climb up the waterfalls they were that steep/climby. After you make it through the waterfalls, you have one steep jeep road that everyone walks up, then you descend a little onto this wider dirt road that leads to mile 10 at which point you start descending and won't start any more real climbing until mile 23, the Oriflamme climb. At mile 12.5 I was happy to see Geezer (Larry) whose voice is always pleasant to hear, and I thanked the volunteers as I stuffed more CarboPro in my 21 oz handheld after filling it up and downing 21 oz of water.

I was making it a point to be really on top of my nutrition and hydration this entire race and it worked. I started off by drinking a good amount of water before the race and I took one salt pill right before the start with the plan to take a salt pill every 30 minutes of the race. Even though it wasn't too hot in the morning (62*F), I know that I have a tendency to sweat out all of my electrolytes in anything over 60*F. Having made the grave error to abstain from electrolyte pills until mile 19.5 in my last 50 miler, I made a note not to be as reckless in my next 50 lest I want to visit the PAIN! Cave of endless cramping again. I decided to try to stay on top of my electrolytes from the beginning and like clockwork I stuck to my plan. I would carry ziploc bags of 200 calories worth of CarboPro and put it in my handheld every hour and I would also carry about 40oz of water in my Orange Mud hydration pack (which, did you know they make bladder packs?). I would also occasionally take some calories from my Hammer Gel Flask to make it around 200-300 calories every hour with about 330mg of sodium's worth of salt pills. Let me tell you, THIS was the magic formula. I felt great the for most of the day because I stuck to this plan. It felt great to finally create a plan and stick to it AND for it to work out! All these other races, I was more or less winging it, having a general idea of the amount of calories I was taking in and I was taking in electrolytes occasionally, or maybe as much as they would have in Tailwind, but none of that seemed to be working for me. I had a series of "Almost-Wins" in 2 of the last 3 races I had and I made a note that Tailwind was the common denominator for both of those races so I would have to switch to a fuel source that was different, one that had complex carbs, and not fructose, as their main source of energy. I honestly believe it was all the sugar from Tailwind that caused my Gastro-Intestinal issues that took me out in those races. Now, it seemed, I had it figured out.

Blair Aid Station. Mile 18.

Pulling into Blair Aid Station, I grabbed some more CarboPro ziplocs from my drop bag, filled up on water, filled up my pack to 40 oz, then took off to Oriflamme. Around mile 19 I was pulling up on a guy, after passing about 6 people from the start of the race, when I realized I had to "lighten the load" on the side of the trail somewhere. Sorry for the unpleasant euphemism, readers, don't mean to punish those of you who spend enough time reading my race reports to get to this point. It's understood, however, that this is the way of the trail and the way of the sport. Unfortunately though, it caused the guy to pull away from me and as I crossed the highway I still wouldn't see him until the top of Mason Valley Truck Trail. I passed another guy (#7) who was wearing Ironman gear who said he was "enjoying" himself, taking pictures etc. Coming into the Oriflamme Aid Station, I was pulling up on another runner (#8) as I asked what position I am. Scott Mills, SD 100 RD, informed me that I was #9. So as I grabbed some watermelon and filled up my handheld, the guy took off and I shortly after him. "Top 10, alright!" I thought to myself. If I passed this guy, I would be top 8. He pulled off to the side, sitting down, looking like he was trying to tie his shoes as we exchanged affirmations during my passing. Cool, okay, time to work up this climb. I was able to run most of this mainly because there was no headwind like there was last year. As I climbed, I was able to see 2-3 other runners on the turns ahead of me. I was pulling up on Paul Chamberlain, a frequent racer and Chimera 100 advocate. He was feeling a little queazy and his legs a little tired, so he decided he was going to walk a good chunk of Oriflamme. On climbs like this, I always take time to walk and talk with friends for a little while as it helps "pass the climb", if you will. That's what doing these races is about anyway, in my opinion; spending time with awesome people and sharing these awesome experiences together. I told him I was going to pull away as I had never felt better during a 50 miler as I was feeling that day. Okay, now I'm top 7. I saw one more guy ahead of him who was also walking and I ran past him. Okay, now I'm top 6. Then I saw a good friend Jeff Miller and I decided to walk with him up the steeper part of the climb. He was testing out his hiking poles which he plans to use for Tahoe Rim Trail 100 later this year. He had told me before the race that he was glad I had signed up and that he had hoped to share some miles with me and so I took the opportunity to share the bulk of the last part of that climb with him. Once we got to the part where it flattened out, I told him I was going to run up all of Mason Valley Truck Trail. "Finish strong," he said, to which I responded "I'm probably going to see you before the race is over but thanks!".

Picture of Robert going up Oriflamme taken by Gloria

Man, I felt so good, I ran all the way up the (not-as-steep-but-still-a-climb) Mason Valley Truck Trail as I moved into 5th place. "Man this is nuts!" I thought, "Top 5? And I'm moving up on some people ahead of me soon." I pulled up around of the turns and passed someone near the top as they were walking and as I was running. Okay, now I'm top 4. Wait--is that Jonathon I see, walking with a friend? Oh my God, I'm going to be top 2. I continued running to the top and was 1/10th of a mile away from the guy who trailed behind Jonathon and another 1/10th of a mile behind Jonathon who decided to start running at this point. I remember making a stupid post on Facebook when I signed up for this race about "Running through fields with Fields" as I tagged Jonathon (whose last name is Fields) and I couldn't help but think how crazy it was that I was pulling up on him as we were running through some of the most awesome looking fields leading into Pedro Fages (mile 29) Aid Station. He pulled in about 45 seconds before I did and he didn't look good at all. He gave me a pat on the back silently as he grabbed his pacer and started a slow walk across Sunrise Highway and onto the trail. At this point I think he was still in 2nd. "Holy crap, 2nd place is within my grasp?" I couldn't believe it. I quickly changed my shoes from the 12 oz Adidas Response TR, which served me well in the sand and on the climbs, to the lighter Altra LonePeaks as it was now time to try and pick up some speed. I asked one of the volunteers to fill up my Hammer Gel flask, and oh my God -- I have deodorant in my drop back, oh thank God! I forgot 3 things in my half-awake haze this morning: 1) My GPS watch 2) My sunglasses and 3) deodorant. The 3rd thing you might think would have been the least significant but man, I smelt it and I dealt it that morning. I felt bad for the people running around me but I mean, it's not like I could do anything about it at that point, it's not like they have deodorant at Aid Stations or anything. Oh how thankful I was that I accidentally had it in my drop bag.

Here is my one error of the race that changed the last 20 miles: I forgot to pack more CarboPro ziplocs in this drop bag. I left with just 500 calories in my Gel Flask and 200 calories from my Guru Energy drink as I took off for the mile 36 Aid Station. I left the Aid Station, thanked the volunteers for all their help, then I stopped, turned around, and REALLY thanked the volunteers and told them how much I truly appreciated them being out there. They were freaking awesome. I cannot say it enough. I love volunteers. Each time I do these races I am reminded more and more why I love being a volunteer and why I love volunteers. I took off to try and catch Jonathon and apparently Victor, who had snuck past the Aid Station as I was prepping and took the #2 spot in front of Jonathon.

Then, not even a mile into the next segment, I see Jonathon coming towards me with his pacer as he swiped 4 fingers back and forth over his throat signaling he was done for the day. Not processing it as him dropping, I somehow thought he forgot something crucial at the last Aid Station and was simply going back to get it. Nope, it just wasn't his day. I stopped for about 30 seconds to both hear what was going on (stomach problems and congestion of the lungs) and to try and convince him to keep going, to maybe just take a break as he was still in a good position to finish the race. To no avail however, as he had made up his mind. SD100 was his main race for this year so he didn't want to jeopardize that race by forcing this one. It always sucks to see someone have to DNF especially if you know how much DNF's can suck. They haunt you, in a way. In this sport, a sport where we emphasize the "Never Give Up" mentality, it's always a hard thing when you realize you have to stop. You'll wake up the next day, and every day after thinking "I could've gone on. I should've gone on." and though you know it was the right choice to make at that moment, a part of you will always feel that regret of "I should have just kept going". Regardless, having DNF'd a couple of times, I've learned that you cannot be the judge of someone else's DNF. You just can't. I had to keep going though, as I was now in 3rd place and was not too far behind the 2nd place guy.

I finished my Guru and as I turned right onto the trail that leads to the Cold Stream Trail, I continued running as I saw 2nd place turning a corner. "I almost have him" I thought. Then, I fell. Damnit. I hit my right knee, landed also on my right elbow/arm, and just lied there as my phone flung off to the side of the trail and my flask popped up out of the front pocket of my pack. It felt so good to be lying down, I just lied there for 5 seconds before getting back up. I got back up and saw my knee bleeding as I started running again with a slight limp. "Great, there goes me catching 2nd," I thought. As I pulled into the West Mesa Loop Aid Station I asked how far ahead the guy in 2nd was. "About 5 minutes," one of the volunteers said. "What about Ricky, how'd he do? When did he come by here?". "Oh, he came by, like, an hour and a half ago. He might be almost finishing actually." Wow. Ricky had trained hardcore for this race and it was so crazy awesome to hear he was annihilating everyone today. I wasn't surprised at how far ahead he was. If you've ever run with him, you wouldn't be surprised either. But it was still one of those things, like damnnn. I thanked the volunteers again as I topped off my single handheld, neglected to fill up my pack (which maybe had 20 oz left), and took off to tackle Cuyamaca Peak, the last major climb of the day.

"Top 3, man I can't believe it, this is nuts". I was still in disbelief as to how good I was not only feeling but how good I was doing as well. The sun of the day was out in full blast though and if I have one weakness it's that. Last year, this part of the race was a perfect 38*F and covered with fog and clouds and as I result I finished the race stronger than I had started. This year however, the sun was out and though it was beautiful, it meant I was going to sweat a lot more than the hydration I brought would be able to counter. A lot of this part was power-hiking and ever-so occasionally running up to the top of Cuyamaca. As I turned left onto Burnt Pine Trail, I saw someone within 1/10th of a mile behind me pulling up. Crap. There's 4th place. He might catch me. Luckily, his climbing wasn't any stronger at that point in the race than mine. I got up to the Aid station womanned by Karen Hamilton and Jennifer Henderson as I desperately handed them my pack to fill up with water. I was dehydrated and I knew it. I filled up my water bottle and headed up the steep 0.5 paved road to the top of Cuyamaca Peak. As I neared the top, I saw 2nd place Victor. Oh my God, if I had felt better at this point I could've caught him. Not today, even though he was so close to me at mile 43.

This stretch always feels longer than it actually is. As I work my way back down, I see 4th place coming up. Crap. A little further down, to my surprise, I see Paul Chamberlain coming up! "Great comeback, Paul!".  Then a little behind him I see Jeff again. "Great job Jeff, I told you I'd see you again before the race was over!". He gave me a passionate high-five as he climbed up towards the peak. Not too far behind him was the guy in 7th place. All of these people I saw as I was coming down the paved road, they had all steadily crept up to be not that far behind me.

Given how bad I was starting to feel, I knew going down Conejos was going to be really slow. Last year I was going 9-minute pace down this thing, which, if you are familiar with how rocky and technical, is actually quite speedy. This trail though, is probably the most dangerous of the course. In fact, during the Cuyamaca 100k last year, Zach Bitter had split his head open going down this trail and ended up having to DNF. This year, not wanting to risk a finish, I decided I was going to go as slowly as I needed to and not do anything stupid that would have me falling and cramping/seizing up on all of these rocks. As I was old-man crawling down Conejos, I heard someone pulling up. It was the 4th place guy pulling into 3rd. "That's okay, he can have it," I thought to myself, "I'm not doing anything stupid right now". I knew now that Paul Chamberlain would soon after pull up and pass me going down Conejos. Sure enough, he came FLYING down that trail. I dunno how he did it, but he was moving pretty good. So I continued down onto Milk Ranch Road and up Middle Peak, the last climb of the day, knowing I might have a chance to catch 4th if I climb strong up this last peak.

I saw 4th place as I neared the top of the climb and started down Sugar Pine. I caught up with him as he asked "Do you know how much more we have left?". "About a mile," I responded, and he hung with me for a little while before eventually taking off to the finish. "I saw you running up that Mason Valley Trail, it was the most beautiful thing ever". "Haha thanks," I responded, and I watched him go down the slightly technical trail that remained of the race.

As I was pulling along the part of the trail that parallels the highway, I heard cheers and realized the 4th place person probably had just pulled in. Crossing the highway, I was really appreciative that the finish was within grasp. As I ran up the little bump of a hill to the finish line, I saw the timer read "9:59:56". I had no idea of the time that I was coming in, having had forgotten my watch, but I made a last ditch effort to make it sub-10. Couldn't quite do it. If I had known somehow as I pulled onto the trail that runs on the side Cuyamaca Lake, I would've sprinted full-force to make that happen. Oh well, I finished, and top 5 overall, at a race I wasn't even expecting to do until a week ago. Ricky, having come in almost 2 hours prior, was getting massaged down by his pacer Fern. 8:02 was his time, a new Course Record. 2nd place had come in 1 hour and 40 minutes after Ricky had. Unbelievable.

As always, I was happy and grateful to finish a race, and always appreciative of these experiences. I got to hang out with the Trail Crashers and watch as everyone else came in and indulge in post-race reflections and share our own unique experiences of the race. "Another notch in your belt," as Geezer put it after the race. "Always good to see you out there, Larry". "It's always good to be seen," he responds with a wink. Another good day out on the trails.

A HUGGEEEE THANK YOU to the Race Director Brian Gonzales and all the volunteers who took time out of their day to help us have an awesome one. Also, a HUGGEEE THANK YOU to Becca and Ricky for providing the Trail Crashers run group, a group to whom I owe a great chunk of my success in ultra trail running.

For more reference, check out my race report from last years race, with more pictars: http://phillipespinoza.blogspot.com/2016/05/lost-boys-50-mile-trail-run.html

Course Details:
Distance: 50 Miles
Ascent: 9,000 ft
Descent: 6,000~ ft
Lowest/Highest: 1,000ft/6,500ft
Terrain: 40% desert sand 10% rocky technical 30% smooth single track 20% truck trail
Cost: $166 (after Ultrasignup fee excluding $25 optional shuttle)
Average # of Participants: 66
Crew-friendly: Not really. Miles 18 and 30.
Pacer: After mile 30
Dropbags: Yes
Worth it?: Absolutely