2016 Pirate's Cove Inaugural 12-hour/24-hour Race

This was my first competing in a timed race and I'd have to say that I couldn't have had a better experience -- well, except if there was a burrito for me at the finish line. But seriously, I cannot recommend enough not only this kind of format of racing, but this race in particular. The Pirate's Cove 2016 inaugural race was at a perfect location for this kind of format, a 2.4-mile loop around beautiful Lake Cuyamaca. I love races in the Julian area because, having gone to school in Julian, I can't help but feel like these races are right in my backyard. That and there's a strong connection I feel to this area as it is the land that my ancestors used to inhabit. It helped to see the grinding holes in rocks near the side of the lake -- evidence that my people ground acorns and lived here. Obviously this is a beautiful place, and being right by a lake, it's not only good for a looped race but clearly good for setting up a village.

Whitney decided last minute to sign up for this race so we went up the night before and camped out literally feet from the start-finish line. We woke up around 6am and got ready for the start at 8am. There were, I'd say, about 40 people at this race, and every single one of them seemed awesome. Ultra runners usually are an awesome breed, but I think above that, there's something special about the kind of people who choose to do timed races. It was awesome to see some local big names -- Eric Clifton, The Jester Ed Ettinghausen (who actually planned to do another 24-hour race in San Jose literally the next day. I have no idea how he does it.) as well as the people in the Trail Crashers crew a local trail running group comprised of really awesome people.

We started at 8:00am and were prepared to end the day at 8:00pm. You probably couldn't pay the average person to do one activity that lasted 12 or 24 hours straight, but alas, that's what makes runners, specifically ultra runners, a special breed. Here we are not only willing to show up but willing to pay. Granted, this race was the biggest bang for your buck as far as races go. $85 gets you 12 hours and TONS of race goodies. They seriously spoiled us with a backpack, 2 mug holders, arm sleeves, a cool bottle opener, a hat and shirt, a flashlight and a free copy of trail runner magazine. $100 will get you all the same AND 12 hours more! Seriously, as far as race pricing goes you can't beat that!

The little hill before the aid station

But starting knowing that you'll be running (or walking) for the entire day is both exciting and mentally UGH. The halfway point for me would be 6 hours, which is different than distance races. But I made a distance goal for myself as well, just to give something to strive for. I aimed to hit at least 62.4 miles, which is slightly more than 100k. That would mean 26 laps around this beautiful lake! If I think of each lap as a mile, then it's just like a marathon! When I make it to 13 laps I'll be at the half marathon point. When I make it to 20 loops, I'll just have 6 more to go, which is basically nothing. These are games I played with myself during the race. But anything over 100k would be bonus.

Looking happy because I haven't fallen yet

I got to the actual 26.2 mile point around 4:25-ish and the 50k point around 5:10. At first, I told myself I would take a break every 20 miles, but I changed that in the race to taking a break at the 50k point. I took a break for 5 minutes then went on to finish my final 13 laps. It helped knowing that I had time to spare to make my personal distance goal.

One thing I also did to make the race fun and interesting is I thought it would be cool to take advantage of this loop format and solve a Rubik's Cube every lap as I came in before I went back out. I can't usually do this during an ultra because that would take too much planning and confusion for the race organizers and volunteers, but since this was the only aid station, and since it came around every 2.4 miles, I thought it would be pretty much perfect and and awesome way for the volunteers and organizers to be entertained while they devote their time to catering to our needs. There are some laps where I didn't solve a Rubik's Cube but I tried to as much as I can. I did this mainly for fun but it also became somewhat jokingly a way of making sure I was mentally aware in the later stages and also a way to gauge whether or not I was still having fun. If I stopped solving the cube, then things were probably getting nasty out there for me.

The first place person, Ricky Roane, was absolutely SMASHING both the 24-hour AND 12-hour competitors. He was first overall, there was a 12-hour guy behind him, and then there was me. I think I first got lapped by Ricky on mile 27, his mile 29, and he continued to lap me another 4-5 times for the rest of the time I was out there. The entire time he was out there, he didn't look fazed at all! I think one of the racers actually told him, "Can you just look tired?! For me?". He was seriously killing it all day and if his pace dropped nobody would be able to notice. He ended up getting a 100-mile PR of 17:40 I believe which is AWESOME. Great job dude.

Ricky Roane the guy who led 1st place for most of the race

The first place 12-hour person also was killing it. Chris must've lapped me 3-4 times I was out there. He ended up completing 69, almost 70 miles, in the 12 hours we raced.

As the day went on for me, I noticed I was sweating a bunch even though it wasn't hot at all. It stayed in the low to mid-60's but as I was telling some people out there, I cannot handle any weather over 60F. I thrive in colder temperatures. But I did a good job of staying hydrated thanks to the frequent aid stations at this race.

Come night time, I get a chance to practice some night running, which I don't do very often on trails. These trails were really uneven too so it allowed plenty of opportunity for tired legs to trip and bring you crashing to the ground. Which, of course, it wouldn't be a trail race without Phillip falling. I fell twice, maybe three times? Each time I fell, I hit kind of hard, but I thankfully didn't cramp up like I usually do when I fall in the later stages of racing. In a complete sense of relief that I didn't cramp up, I would lay there, on my back, either moaning or saying out loud "The stars are beautiful tonight!". Oh, I can't tell you, I've never been happier to fall in my life than being able to fall without my abdomen twisting in a million different un-relaxable knots.

I kept a pretty even pace for a while, until my pace started to drop to 12 minute miles after mile 50. I hit mile 50 at 8:57 into the race so I think that counts as a 50-mile PR? Pretty good for aiming to do longer. Once I hit 25 laps, it was awesome knowing I had one more lap. Whitney's family came out and it was cool seeing them at the starting line. They asked if I was cold because I was still wearing only the blue tanktop and shorts I was wearing the whole day. I responded with "This weather is PERFECT for me, I do better in cold!". I was actually so glad that it started getting cool around 3:00pm. I think it maybe got down to 45F? All I knew is I welcomed running in the cold.

Only on the last lap or two did I start walk running, and this was mainly because of Gastro Intestinal (GI) problems. I can't tell if it was because of the Gu's that I ate or the many bananas I ate, either way, my stomach was not having it. I kept having gas but when you run everything sloshes around so it just ends up becoming a really uncomfortable feeling. So every time that feeling came around I just walked until it went away in the form of, well, you know.

I had a chance to meet and run with Eric Clifton's wife who was out there the whole day, and I made a point to keep telling her how many laps I had left as I passed by. "8 more laps? Boy that's practically nothing!". She was super awesome and supportive. As were a lot of people I happened upon. That's why I love these races, everyone is just super awesome and super inspirational. Eric didn't seem to be having a good day, but I find it super awesome that an elite athlete like he was, still has the love for the sport to be doing it 20 years later. Most elite athletes just quit after a certain point, but he's still out there doing these races. This other lady, I believe her name was Julieann, who was part of the Trail Crashers group, was telling me about her arthritis in her knee, and how the cold actually makes it worse, but that now that she put her knee brace on life is good again and she plans to finish at least 100 miles. She talked about how she got arthritis, and her time spent in the military, I believe stationed in Korea. She was only 1 or 2 laps behind me, and she was doing the 24 hour race! Awesome people out there. And I couldn't help think every time I passed the Jester that he was going to finish at 8am, then hop on a plane to San Jose, and start another 24 hour race as soon as he got there! Unbelievable stuff.

So after having an awesome day, I was ready to hit my distance goal of 62.4 miles and I did so in 11:40, a new 100k PR! Right before I finished, I had Paul Jesse, the SD 50 RD, throw me my cube to solve before I cross the finish line. Boy, was that the slowest solve I did all day! My hands were pretty slow from the cold so I think it took about 25 seconds. Crossed the finish line and called it a day, mainly because you'd have to finish a whole lap in order to count the miles and I wouldn't have been able to finish 2.4 miles in 20 minutes at that point in the race.

So I finished, with legs in tact, still feeling mentally there and, not willing, but probably able to continue for another 38 miles. I decided to leave that for another day, to keep that thirst alive, and not entirely put out this candle that's still burning. I have a 24-hour race in less than a month so we'll see how I can pull off at that time-level.

Race Highlights:
2nd Place Overall - 12 hour
*Update: 3rd overall, after night 12-hour finisher did 62.4 mi 10 min faster than I did. Shouldn't have solved those Rubik's Cubes*
50 Mile PR - 8:57
100k PR - 11:40
Fell - 2 times

Why I Highly Recomend Timed Races:
1) THERE'S NO PRESSURE. You don't have to meet a certain distance, all you have to do is move for as long as you can up to the time that's specified. Many races have cutoffs which makes it mentally discouraging if you get told you can't finish because of time constraints. But no time constraints here!
2) YOU CANNOT DNF. Well, you can, but as long as you finish one lap (in this case it was 2.4 miles) then you are guaranteed a medal!
3) YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. Sometimes, in certain ultras, you'll find yourself alone in a long stretch of nothingness. In this kind of race, there is always someone around. This also means unfortunately, if you fall, yes, somebody did see that. But that just means there'll be someone to help you up!
4) AID STATIONS ARE ALWAYS NEAR. My first 100-mile race sucked because they had one aid station at 27 miles, then another aid station at mile 38. I ended up dropping at mile 52 because I lost 8 lbs of body weight and was severely dehydrated. With this kind of format, you are guaranteed plentiful access to not only hydration but awesome food!
5) BATHROOMS ARE ALWAYS NEAR. No need to rough it in the bushes! Not only was there a bathroom every 2.4 miles but at the 1.2 and 1.3 mile points there were porta potties, making it nearly impossible to have a situation where you'd have to find a bush.
6) YOU CAN'T GET LOST. Well, you can, but it's REALLY REALLY HARD to get lost in this loop format. And I mean REALLY.
7) Final reason:

All Photo Credit: Debbie Jett

Trail Running SD: Santa Margarita (Hidden) Trail - Fallbrook

Difficulty: 2/5 Moderate
Elevation Gain/Loss:700'/700'
Peak Elevation: 900

'

Address: Santa Margarita Preserve (should come up in Google Maps)
               37385 De Luz Rd, Fallbrook ,CA 92028

Directions: Take the 15 North exit Mission Rd. take a left then right onto E. Mission Rd. keep going for about 5 miles then take a right on N. Pico Ave. This road goes down a grade and turns into a narrow winding 2-lane road. There's a split, stay left onto De Luz Rd. where you will immediately take a right into a dirt parking lot where you will enter the Santa Margarita Preserve. Park hours are from 8:00-4:30 I believe.

This trail is a combination of deep and moderate sand along the creekside, to regular socal trail firmness. In other words, you'd be okay with minimalist trail shoes as there are not too much boulders or rocks that you have to climb on or run down. Enter at the western entrance where the bulletin board is and continue running for about 0.5 miles until you are forced to cross the creek.

The creek in January 2016 was running full because of recent rains but I'm sure it can vary during drier seasons. Cross the creek and make your way running back south until you see what looks like a closed off trail. This is the beginning of the trail that goes up about 700' to the power line pole. It's not too well maintained but you can tell that people have made an effort to make somewhat of a discernible trail. My advice is to wear calf sleeves or running pants so you don't get as scraped up as I did. Also, this trail, as it stands now, is only recommended if you are comfortable with forging through brush and being able to find your way back down. It is easy for beginner's to get lost, even though it's not that far up, it's not a family friendly trail I would say as it is kind of "hidden". You basically have to work to find where the trail(s) is(are).

Once you get up about 0.5 miles there's a little lookout to the east but the trail continues up a little bit, then makes a descent. This is important: At the bottom of the descent you're going to make a sharp left turn up a grade. This is going to be an obvious left, meaning you can't miss it. Keep going up that grade and it will take you up to the top of these hills. As you can see in my app report, it took me a while to do this hike mainly because I kept trying to distinguish between trails that were hiked before and therefore doable (as evidenced by footprints) and trails that kind of dead-ended because of lack of maintenance. Anyways, you should be able to make your way up to the top of these hills pretty easy. My plan is go come back out this way and do some trail maintenance so as to make this trail runnable.

Conclusion: All in all, I'd say this is a good trail to go exploring and it has good potential to be an easy run if the trail gets proper maintenance. The sand adds a little extra challenge and it's overall really peaceful with very few people (always a plus in my book). If you're looking for a short 4 mile run or a place where you can do 3 different hikes in one day for a total of 10 miles, this is a good place in Fallbrook that is really feels like a hidden gem.

San Diego 50 Mile Trail Run

The San Diego 50 Mile Trail Run was my first "official" 50 miler and I specify that because I have covered the distance in one other race that was not a 50 miler (my first 100 mile DNF at 52.4) and also in 2013 when I first got into ultra running and was obsessed with just Forest Gumping it and seeing how far I could just "up and go" for no particular reason. So I knew I could cover the distance but I had never signed up for an official 50 mile race and trained for it. I spent about 3 solid months training for this 50 miler with weekly mileage between 70-100. I actually tapered for this race (something I rarely do) so you know it was serious. My goal was ambitious -- sub-8 hours -- but I always find I do best when my ambitions are high. Time-centered goals are not nearly as important to me in ultra running as distance is but having a time goal gives me something to aim for in my training. That's not to say I didn't take my time goal seriously, I did. I covered the entire course in different chunks during my 3 months training, and in the months prior as well. I did a 25 mile 'out' course preview run on December 6, self-supported with drop bags and gallons at miles 10 and 20 in a time of 3:45, which I felt put me in pretty good shape to hit my sub-8 goal. So given this context, and the fact that I decided to go on a last minute 'race-weight' cut resulting in a 10 lb race day drop, I felt like I could even try to aim for a goal of 7:30 EFT or faster (that's a 9:00min/mile pace) on race day.

So on race day, we arrived at the starting line at around 5:50am. Race starts at 6:30am so time to try and lighten the load and get in the bathroom line. Last thing I'd want is to have to go on these highly populated trails in the middle of a well-attended race on a busy MLK Day weekend, where hikers and mountain bikers appear en masse. So we get everything ready, then we smudged ourselves with sage and got ready to head towards the starting line (Whitney was also doing this race which she did her first 50 on last year). I left the sage on top of my car and apparently according to Gretchen, our crew captain, someone stole it. Wth seriously? Anyways, trying to focus our thoughts on good thoughts and safety for the day, we headed towards the starting line as I got rid of my long sleeve 2nd layer in the warm 46 degree weather. I decided to get up towards the front in an attempt to avoid the bottle neck effect of the first 0.25 miles of the trails that slows you to a walk, you know what I'm talking about -- when they yell "GO!" as you all proceed to walk slowly in a single file line down the single-track trail, very anti-climactic. I actually got a chance to meet Eric Clifton which was pretty cool, one of the benefits of trying to start in front. He surprisingly knew my last name so I thought that was cool. Really cool seeming guy, very non-assuming for all his accomplishments (Badwater winner back in the 90's and set the course record for that time). I feel like the modern generation of hoka-wearing ultra runners might not recognize him or the name so the fact that I came up to him like a fanboy asking "Are you Eric Clifton?" might have been a surprise to him from someone so young. Well, we would see each other twice later on in the race but now it was time to focus. "3, 2, 1 GO!". I took off at 7:00 pace, again, just to get ahead of everyone and slow down at the wider straight-away area 0.25 miles down the way. I'm not trying to be THAT GUY who starts off all fast just to burn out quick. I was trying to be strategic about this. So when I got to the straight-away I let about 10-12 people pass me as I slowed down to an 8:35 pace. I decided that I would try to keep 8:30 as my pace for as long as I could.

Miles 0-10: Everything was going well as I was trying to keep a headcount of the people who passed me by. The guy who went off ahead of me first had long hair and a beard like me and he was moving at that 7:00 pace I dropped not too long ago. I had no idea who he was but thought he would likely burn out at that pace. Well, he turned out to be the eventual winner and broke the course record in probably a low 6-hour time (results haven't been posted yet). Eric Clifton followed a little behind him, as he passed I offered a "good job" as I always do to people who pass me and he returned it with a "stay strong". Important words to remember towards the latter miles of the race. There was a girl or two that were part of the top 10 and they seemed to be moving pretty fast as well. As I was moving along at my 8:30ish pace I ran behind the female winner from last year Neela (knew her name from the results but didn't realize it was her until mile 21 when I ended up catching up to her). The terrain is really comfortable for most of this course, I was actually going to wear my Altra Superior's simply because this is a very non-technical non-rocky course and it had rained recently which made some areas a little softer. I decided to go with my Altra Lone Peak 2.5's (which I'm positive was the shoe of the day because everyone and their trail-running mom was wearing them out there). They did well and my feet were the last thing hurting me after 50. It's all smooth sailing, green dewy grass, beautiful trails, until mile 4ish where the less steep side of Raptor Ridge begins its ascent. Ran up in a low 9:00 pace which I was shocked at but it's not too crazy of a climb, not as bad as the other side anyhow. My descent was quick. I'd say too quick, as that seemed to be my one downfall of the day. I was taking the descents way too quickly. Might've been a sub-7 pace down the windy ridge because with a stop to refill my handheld (my only source of hydration for the day, forgoing the hydration pack for less weight to haul) I still pulled a 7:30 mile for mile 6. Anyways, back to trying to average 8:30ish. smooth, slightly cold sailing until mile 10 which I arrived at in 1:25. Wizzed on through the aid station only stopping to get CarboPro refill and a gel then taking off.

Miles 10-15: Smooth sailing, a camera man who was trying to use a flashing device as well as the beginning of what would be a large amount of early-starters (started at 5:30am so they could make the cutoff) are really the only things I encountered here. Some rocky slightly technical bits around mile 7.5 but nothing too bad. Some gullies that you have to watch out for if you aren't comfortable with sudden and steep descents and ascents of about 10 feet or so. I arrived at mile 15 feeling freaking AMAZING like "when is this race going to start?". Refilled and again didn't stay for long, biting my banana with peel before moving on.

Miles 15-20: Again, I got too caught up in the downhill portion around mile 18. It's just so enticing to bomb down the hill so I was pulling a low-7:00 pace, which I would later regret. I saw Eric Clifton around this time and exchanged a "good job, Eric" again. Ran pretty strong up the slight hill after the bridge pulling into the 20 mile aid station feeling like a million bucks. 2:50 race time. At this point I told Gretchen to have my hydration pack handy in case I decided I needed it for the next 10 miles, but I decided at that point that my handheld was doing a good enough job. Again, refill and gels and takeoff.

Miles 20-30: The next 5 miles felt really comfortable, even with those annoying switchbacks at mile 22. The descent down to Lusardi Creek, again, I might have taken a little too hard. 8:00 pace, which doesn't seem fast but at this point it's pretty ballsy and stupid. The creek crossing: I knew, having trained on this course before and having tackled this creek a couple of times, that my technique was just going to be to charge through it. My feet would enjoy the cold refreshing water and my LP's would hopefully drain pretty well. Well, the former held true and the LP's dried out eventually, but not as quick as I thought they would. Oh well, up the final little climbs before the 24.25 mile aid station and then the turnaround. Right before the creek crossing though, as soon as I entered the creek trail loop off of Artesian Rd, I saw the frontrunner looking how I looked like at mile 10. He just smiled and waved looking really unfazed for covering 27 miles in 3:20. Wow, I thought. He's no joke gonna win this by a long shot.

At the turnaround point for me however, is when I started to "feel it", whatever "it" was. I got there around 3:34 race time which was on track to be EFT (estimated finish time) of, like, fast, 7:15, and I thought "damn, that's fast, but it's okay you feel alright...". I stopped by the 24.25 AS to refill and get another gel or 2 and went back down to cross the creek again, same "THIS IS SPARTA" style as before. I could have a little more tact on my creek crossings but who cares? Neela caught back up to me and the Artesian Rd descent at mile 27 brought to my attention the fact that I was starting to cramp a little and pace was starting to slow a bit. No worries. She asked how I felt and I said "starting to feel it" which was responded to with an "uh oh" as she pulled off ahead where she would beat me to mile 30. I think I was 6th or 7th at this point, I can't remember. Anyways, tried to catch her down those annoying switchbacks but mountain bikers insisted on plaguing the trails today, including these narrow winding switchbacks. Really? You can't walk your bike up these things? Mile 29 is when my hammy started to twinge and I didn't have any salt pills. Damnit! Make it to 30 and down about 5 or 6 of those babies. My pace was down to high-9:00 on flats at this point. Got to mile 30 AS, and as I predicted I ran into Whitney who was at her mile 20. A couple of weeks before the race I told her, "I'm probably going to run into you at my mile 30 and your mile 20. I was impressed with my guesstimating abilities being so spot on. I made a break for the salt pills without the same pep as I had entered mile 20 with and instead, with more GTFO MY WAY face. I shunted my hand in the salt pills Styrofoam container at which point Gretchen crew captain and Whitney both knew that "uh oh" this wasn't a good sign. "Yeah, I'm feeling it". I stayed at mile 30 a little longer than what I wanted to maybe 3 minutes this time. I downed the majority of a Monster Energy Drink (which I never usually drink) and ate half a banana pb sandwich in hopes that the gradual climb for the next 5 miles wouldn't kill my dreams of achieving my goal. I knew that whatever happened, it was going to be rough.

Miles 30-35: I was right. It was rough. I was starting to feel the effects of my quads being shot and so couldn't really bomb any downhills and uphills became a 12:00 minute pace. Shit. There goes my sub-7:30 time. Oh well, focus, sub-8:00 was your original goal, just get that and it'll be good. Well, lucky for me, time goals for ultra running never really played a large role in why I love the sport. But it's still disappointing to see your goal slipping away as you dredge yourself up this 3% grade. At mile 35 I pulled in over an hour since the last aid station. Yikes. Lydia was there though! That cheered me up, and though I was struggling and coming to terms with the fact that I was not going to meet my goal, it was nice having Crew Captain Gretchen and Lydia there to offer me support and updates on how the 1st place guy came here about an hour ago. "Well, I'm still going to finish, but it's not going to be pretty, but hopefully still a respectable time". Off I went after 5 minutes of hanging out and recuperating.

Miles 35-40: Ugh, what a drag! 13 minute miles?? You gotta be kidding me. Oh well, this is what I knew ultra running to be! None of this fast stuff! I know 13 minute miles! I know 15, and 20 minute miles! These are what ultras are made of! But jeebus, this is where I started run/walking. Mile 40 came up before I even knew it, thanks to my familiarity with the course and my acceptance of my fate.

Miles 40-50: In my original plan, I was supposed to get to mile 40 around 6 hours, maybe sooner. I'm pretty sure I got there in 6:30. Ugh. I stayed for a while at this one, biding my energy for the final 10 and Raptor Ridge. My quads were officially shot at this point. To give you an idea, it's like the day after leg day, if you did a leg day the day after leg day. It hurt more to walk than run but I couldn't run for too long before getting too fatigued and having to resort to the more painful "brisk" walking. Before I left mile 40 though, I saw Eric Clifton pull up to the AS. He had his signature colorful tights on, from decades prior, with some interesting non-trail looking shoes that looked like they could've been from the 80's themselves. It was as if he was trying to make a statement like "Fuck Altra, fuck Hoka, I'm wearing this shit, y'ain't need all that gimmicky crap". He stopped only briefly, getting a drink and telling me "C'mon Phillip let's go". How cool it would've been to run in the last 10 miles with this guy? If only I had the energy. Well, he motivated me to quit wallowing and procrastinating and so I took off. If that's what you wanna call it anyhow. I "shuffled" off.

This is where my pace started to drop to 14 minutes, then 15 minutes. Ay vey (I'm not Jewish, that just seemed like an apt expression). More shuffling as I couldn't lift my leg past a 150 degree angle. The shorter your stride is the less eccentric contraction I think, and so that's how my body adjusted, which is why 15 minute paces happen. A lot of people have been passing me at this point so when someone came along it was always like, internally: "oh, hey der" and externally: "good job, you're moving great keep it up". One guy actually started walk-running with me saying "I might as well suffer with you" to which I responded "Oh no, don't let me slow you down". At first, he took a more modest approach insisting that this was the pace he was doing anyway. Then after awhile, and I don't blame him for this, he just continued running. Good job, man, hope you finished strong.

Made it to the final aid station at mile 44.3. It was awesome to see Gloria King at an aid station, a local SD ultra runner who I met at a training 50k race in Santa Monica in December. She seemed super concerned about my condition, and in such a motherly way too, trying to feed me a banana or an orange. I just took some Gatorade, topped off my handheld with some, grabbed some gels and made my way up Raptor to crawl a 23 minute mile up and partway over. It was bad, and I mean BAD. Getting up was bad enough, but I was trying to avoiding thinking about how bad going DOWN was going to be. Well, I got to the top so it was time to find out. AHHHH AH AH Oo AH. OW, OH SHIT MY QUAD IS CRAMPING I NEED TO GET ON FLAT GROUND BECAUSE MY MUSCLES ARE IN CONSTANT ACTIVATION FIGHTING GRAVITY KEEPING ME UPRIGHT. SHIT THERE IS NO FLAT GROUND. DO I FALL? THE REST OF MY BODY WILL CRAMP AND SEIZE UP FOR SURE IF I DO. Okay Phillip, calm down and just see I you can stand. Okay, okay, breathe. Oh my GOD this is killing me! I won't be able to get down this damn hill! Okay, try walking backwards? SHIT! NO OW OWW! Okay, just take it slow as hell. I barely made it down. But I made it and the hard part was over. Now to just keep shuffling.

And that I did, pretty much all the way to the 50 mile point. I was back to averaging 15 minutes per mile, so I'd be done in an hour, awesome! Pulling up to the finish line, I made some last minute friends, and someone last minute passed me. You go, Glen Coco. You go. But the coolest thing is I saw my little niece lilly and my sister and Lydia at the finish. How cool! "STRILLIS!" I called and she looked at me like "hey, I know who that is!". I was so happy to be done even though I was nowhere near my goal time. My actual finish time was 9:17 I believe, which is pretty damn good for messing up pretty damn bad. Crew Captain Gretchen was supposed to throw me a Rubik's Cube before I crossed the finish line so I could solve it in 15 seconds in what I hope to be my signature move at races from now on, but she had to attend to Whitney at mile 40 so the message got lost in translation to other crew members. It's all good though. What a great day, and we got to crew Whitney afterwards too as she came in under 13 hours after almost dropping out at mile 40, then deciding that if she could walk the rest, she could finish, who cares about "running" anyhow?

Ya know, when you hit those lows during a race, and it happens especially during long races, I often find myself asking "Why the fuck do I do this again?". There's never really a good answer, but looking back at how awesome the days usually are, especially if I don't fall, I think the answer is in the stories. Eyaay ehan race director(s) and volunteers for making this awesome day possible.