Race Report - Diablo 50 Mile Endurance Run and Adventures in Yosemite

I have myself a running hangover. This is what happens when you run in 30+ degree temperatures for 50 miles, evidently. I feel like I’ve been on a 3 day drinking bender, got in a bar room brawl and had the boots taken to me. Seriously. The Diablo 50 Mile Endurance Run 2009 edition was hot-as-hell, oh-so-pretty, tough, challenging and fun! The things I do for fun these days, I tell you. My perspective is seriously warped!

Keith and I have just returned from 6 days in California, where our visit was two-fold. Double the pleasure and double the fun! First, we got to visit Meghan in Yosemite. Second, we got to do that little runny-run on Mount Diablo. Before you get the race report, I have to torture you with the holiday report...but I’ll give you the Readers Digest Condensed Version.

Pre-Diablo, we got to enjoy two short but sweet days in Yosemite, at an amazing time of year. On Thursday, we played tourist and visited everything that we could in the Yosemite Valley. We were on our feet all day walking and enjoying the sights. The waterfalls are huge this time of year and there was water coming off of just about everything. It was simply awesome.

Friday, we got to spend some quality time with Meghan. We drove to Hetch Hetchy for a picnic and a walk and explored some crazy scenic back roads in the area. More incredible scenery and good times-good times!

Meghan is loving life in Yosemite and is recovering from a 2nd place finish at Marathon des Sables. It was awesome to share stories of recent travels and ponder new adventures. Meghan is my National Park sista'!! She fully understands and appreciates the joys of living in such a special place. That Meghan is a lucky and remarkable girl. Thanks for a great visit!

Race Report - Diablo 50 Mile Endurance Run 2009 - Fun in the Sun

Now on to the race goodies. This was my second effort at Diablo. You can read last year's report here. Last year, I ran this event as my first-ever 50 Miler with and ear to ear grin and enjoyed every moment. In particular, I appreciated and enjoyed the challenge of this course, the scenery, the steep climbs and descents, the people and the super-fantastic race directors Sarah and Wendell. This year, I couldn't stay away and brought my honey along for the fun. Keith has been building his mileage and confidence gradually over the past year and was stoked to be running his first trail marathon on this tough and challenging course. We got there early enough to enjoy the pre-race vibe and hang out with friends Doone and Tim Watson of Calgary and Glen and Tanya Meeth of Auburn. We spotted Gretchen ready to rock with red braids bouncing and found Danni who Keith ran with. The ultra world is a small world and I love it for that!

At 7:00AM, the air was already warm and I knew the toughest challenge of the day would be dealing with the heat. Especially when you're a Canadian girl who runs on snow packed trails. My only goals were to enjoy the trails, take some photos and have a good time. On a hot day, I throw all goals and expectations out the window. Really, running 50 miles is challenging enough on a given day, but running 50 miles with 13,340 feet of elevation gain on a stinkin' hot day? Just try and make it to the finish line in one piece. That's the goal!

The race starts by climbing all of the way to the top of Mount Diablo. It's a great climb and a most enjoyable way to start the day. The views are fantastic, the single track is sweet and the flowers on this particular day where gorgeous. It's also a nice way to start the day because you are pretty much forced to start slow due to the horse trail of people climbing along with you.

It's also sociable! I followed the backside of Jennifer Ray up towards the summit. Jennifer mentioned she was the race director of the Skyline 50k, which runs on the first weekend of August. You could tell she was enjoying her day.

Jennifer enjoys the singletrack.

It was a beautiful morning on the mountain and by the time I reached the top 2 hours later, it was already hot!
We enjoyed some great single track off the back side of Diablo, before it joined up with the double-track from hell and started going steeply downward.

I had fun running with Beat from Berkeley, who took some pictures of me in my happy place. Just rolling along on the double track, before the killer descent. Thanks, Beat!

Shortly after, the course gets so steep that the trail disappears out of view. And so begins the quad thrashing descent that appears so early in this race.

After the killer downhill, you head off on a 5 mile loop through some nice rolling ranch country. It was heating up out there and I stopped to soak my jersey in the lovely little creek at the bottom, before heading back into the exposed hillside and into the direct sun.

Coming back towards the aid station, Doone and Tim came running by which confused my sun afflicted brain, as they had been running ahead of me all day. It turns out they were going the wrong way out of the aid station, but it took me a few minutes to figure that out. By the time I made this realization, it was too late and they had disappeared down the hill. I felt so bad for not stopping them!

The section into Rock City was a bit of a blur and I found myself alone for most of it. That was alright with me, as I was enjoying cruising through the woods on some fun single track. I left Rock City alone and continued into the shady woods feeling strong, smooth and smiling. I got my camera ready as we descended further and further into the woods, wondering when I would see the front runners. When the leader appeared, I was stoked to see it was Beverly Anderson-Abbs leading the charge and she was flying! I gave her a huge cheer of: "Woooooohoo! Go Bev! You're a stud!" It broke her concentration, but it made her smile!

Next came this guy, who most definitely appreciated my cheering. It was Rob Cain, Age 55 from Ashland Oregon, motoring along. Hot damn. 55? Rob, you are the man! What a great race he ran! Please let me run like this in 5 years and 10 years. I want to be them. Healthy, strong and kicking-ass for many years to come.

Then there was Alan Abbs, just cruising along, doing his thing. I heard that Bev and Alan had been busy the previous day, directing their own event the Sunsweet Tehama Wildflowers 50k in Red Bluff. It looks like a great event in a very pretty place. But damn, if I ever directed a race, I'm pretty confident I would be sleeping in the next day. Possibly with a hangover.

O.K. Here is me in the woods. Do you notice the difference?

And here is Rick Gaston, who ran a great race on this day. I realized when I saw this photo that we have something in common: we both have ridiculously muscular legs. Except his are brown.

I also found Donald on the trails and introduced myself along route. I asked him this profound question: Are you Donald!?! I have been a fan of Donald's blog for awhile and always appreciate his great writing and sense of humour. This is the photo I got of him:

The trail really did descend into an inferno of heat on this section. I ran into Paul Charteris at possibly the hottest point on the course, as I was walking back up the hill.

Then there was Glen and Tanya Meeth....

...and the lovely Danni!! We didn't get enough quality time this weekend, so we are going to join forces and go to Western States Camp in May. I am so looking forward to it!

When we emerged from the shade of the forest and hit Rock City, I put away the camera and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. We were fully exposed to the sunshine in all of its' mid-afternoon glory and I found myself gearing down to make the climb up to Juniper. I was slowing down and seemed to be stuck in neutral.

Me So Hot!!

I tag teamed with this guy on the climb and we entertained each other as we climbed slowly up to the summit. He said he had been curled up in the bushes in the shade for awhile, before I joined him. He had scared a few hikers who were frightened with his sweaty, delirious appearance, complete with taped nipples. So funny. Does anyone know this guy? He was entertaining as hell! Somewhere on this stretch, Doone caught up to me and passed me and I was so happy to see her. Right next to the Juniper aid station, she saw a family having a picnic which she mistakenly thought was the aid station. Evidently, she almost dug into their picnic before realizing the error of her ways!

Summit #2 - Phew.

Summit Aid Station, Leslie and Doone taking a breather.

Incidentally, does this woman look 52 years old? We shared many great stories over the weekend. My favorite was hearing about Doone's experience at the Boston Marathon in 1978, which she ran in cut-off jean shorts. She's awesome.

While I was dawdling up top, Doone got a head start and it took me a looooong time to catch up with her. The hardest part of this course by far is the last 8 miles, with the majority going downhill. Now I would consider myself a good downhiller, but this descent was relentless and humbling. It really hurt, but at least I had gravity taking me closer to the finish line. I would almost slow to a crawl on the flat sections and Doone would catch me on these sections. When the terrain finally mellowed out, we ran the last few kilometres together. I was so glad for the company and we finished it up together which was a great ending to a fantastic day on the trails of Mount Diablo. The wild turkeys were there to greet us near the finish line, which was an extra bonus at the end of a long, hot and crazy day in the sunshine.

I had a great day! Everything about it was enjoyable. I did surprisingly well with the heat and I think my strategy of soaking my shirt, head and hat whenever I could paid huge dividends. It kept my core temperature down and my head cool. The big surprise was my finishing time, I had gone a whole lot faster than last year and improved by 50 minutes! That was a bonus to an already fun day.

Keith, really had a great run and enjoyed all aspects of his day. I was thrilled to see the look of excitement he had in his eyes when he was talking about his experience: the pleasures of the trails, the scenery and the people that he met along the way. Thanks to Sara and Wendell for another fantastic race in a very special place!