Race 09-99 Whiskeytown 50k

October 24, 2009
50km - 1st-30 - 4:43:10

For the second year in a row I made the trip up to the Redding, CA area to run the Whiskeytown 50k. Since it’s a 4 hour drive it’s almost imperative to stay overnight. Ron G. and I carpooled together. Ron won the race the previous 2 years but wasn’t feeling 100% healthy this year. We stayed overnight in a Howard Johnson Express in Redding for only $60 total.

It was my first time staying anywhere overnight with Ron and it turned out to be easy as he went to bed as soon as we got to the hotel and apparently gets up in the morning ready to go straight for the car. I opted for a wakeup shower and then spent 7 minutes looking for a pair of socks I had in my hand before I took a shower. I didn’t find them so we left in order not to be late. With the exception of missing an exit and driving an extra 3 miles we made it there uneventfully with enough time to get ready at the race. I used this time to find the socks I was missing but then decided not to race in them because I liked the ones I was wearing.

Ron decided as late as possible (i.e. as the race was beginning) to change from the 50k to the 30k. Since we couldn’t get a third Excelsior team member to make the trip this didn’t affect team scoring. I took an immediate lead and I didn’t know Ron had switched so I was wondering how long it would take him to go by me. I wasn’t feeling 100% because I had been running an ultra every weekend for several weeks, including a couple 50 milers. Ron had finished 15 minutes in front of me last year and I was thinking it would be a successful race if I could keep that distance.

The first mile is on the road but then we immediately hit a fire road and it’s trails for quite a long way. We went up a good size hill and then back down toward the lake to the first aid station. As I was leaving the aid station I saw a pair of legs from the knee down approaching (I think it was Ron – the 30k is an out and back over the first 15k of the 50k race). This was the last time I saw a person for a while.

The course is a double lollipop. We run to a Y shaped intersection, run 2 different loops, then run back to the start/finish. The first loop goes out and uphill to the left, then comes back from the same direction. There is a stretch of road on this loop. The second loop goes out to the right and near the end hooks up with the first loop so we again come back from the left. There is an aid station at the Y intersection as well as in the middle of each of the loops.
I ran the uphill from the first aid station to the second and took the left to keep going uphill. I was real curious as to when Ron would go by. I almost ran the whole way up but near the top there is a very steep section and I felt like I might pay for it so I walked a short stretch. I ran down the other side to the road and ran fast on the short road section to the aid station. On my way out of the aid station another runner (not Ron) got there from the opposite direction. I thought he was lost so I didn’t think I was in danger of losing the lead Turns out he only missed a short turn although it turned out he missed a turn just before the aid station so he was right on my heels.
I left the aid station and tried to cross the river. They had a rope to hold onto although the volunteers told us we were free to find another way if we wanted. I held the rope the whole way and that was the only thing that kept me from falling in as I slipped in an awkward way and it’s a good thing I was able to hold up my body weight. The river wasn’t too deep but it was moving a little and the area is full of rocks. I pushed on through the river and as I ran the dry land (and easier but scenic terrain) to the Y intersection I thought I might have a chance to hold on for the win.

They were very excited to see me at the aid station and I took some time to get the food I wanted. The next stretch was long steep fire road downhill. It was the kind of hill that a more daring runner with a quicker leg turnover would fly down. I approached it a little conservatively not wanted to beat up my legs. The second place runner closed within eyesight. I could see him a couple hundred yards in back of me. I figured he was a much better downhill runner which might not work out given the last part from the Y intersection to the end is mostly downhill so I planned on moving fast up the hill after the next aid station.

I came to a right turn followed by a short out and back before hitting a small loop with an aid station on it. As I was on the small loop after the aid station I looked across the meadow and saw a couple other runners. I hoped second place was in there. When I got through the short out and back (way back) I asked a volunteer who was there giving directions how far and back second place was and she said 4 minutes. I was gaining and planned on continuing up the next hill which contained over a dozen river/stream crossings.

The river crossing section is the most distinctive part of the course. At the first major crossing I slipped on a wet rock and fell sideways getting the entire right side of my body submerged in the river. From there I decided not to try to stay dry which sped up my crossing time since I no longer was concerned with balancing on the rocks. The section is also difficult because the trail is very hard to see and a few of the crossings are diagonal with the exit out of the river a bit farther up than the entrance in. I lost 3 minutes on one of these as I overshot the trail by maybe 40 yards and had to backtrack. Since, despite that, I didn’t see 2nd place I figured I was still gaining ground.

I got back on track and continued up the river with the only other notable event being a huge salamander looking thing that I almost stepped on. It was brown, about 7 inches long, and had what looked like a small fin down the length of its back. I tried to find a picture of one online and could not find anything, although a (large) salamander is the closest I could find.

I spend little time at the Y aid station and got going down the long gradual hill toward the last aid station and ultimately the finish. I would have liked to run faster but the terrain was a little rocky (with soft pine forest dirt in some sections) and my feet were a little sore. I made decent time to the last aid station which is about 5k from the end but really started to slow down. I walked up the last uphill but could see no one was close so I just tried to get to the road where I turned it on to the finish.

My finish time was 4:43:10 which was an improvement over last year’s 4:51:58 so I was very happy with that. It was at that time I learned Ron had run the 30k and eventually second place came in around 4:59. The second guy said he pulled a hamstring at the bottom of the big hill he almost caught me. It’s too bad that happened, but one of the reasons I went slowly there was to prevent injury. The food after was very good although someone had put M&Ms in the skittles bag and vice versa so I had to eat the one at a time (the mixing food thing – some things I just can’t mix). Last year soaked my legs in the lake up to my waist but this year it was a big colder so I only got in knee deep.

The ride back was good – I got to see Mt. Shasta (the south side) for the first time. It’s tall and gray and reminded me of Pikes Peak. I was surprised not to see any snow on it although I only got as glimpse because I was driving. I did see a lot of snow to the east on a volcano that must have been in Lassen Park. We stopped on the way home at the Olive Pit at my request. It’s a store with many locally grown products. The jar I got last year only lasted a couple months so this time I bought 2 big jars of beer style olives. Ron was happy that they had burgers. We made it back to SF around 6:30 that night, plenty of time to get a good night’s rest before Sunday’s DSE race.