How long does it take to recover from a 100 miler?

The French Trail, which was missed today due to the weather.

How long is a piece of string? Well, all I know is that three weeks isn't enough for me to be back to 100%, although I did feel fairly good yesterday doing a marathon pace 5k within a longer run.

However, today I thought I'd see how my legs felt post RR100 by running the PCTR Redwood Park 50k. Not racing, but instead getting in a decent-paced long run with all the benefits of aid stations, organization and an incentive to get out of bed earlier than if I'd tried to do it all on my own.

So I lined up with everyone else in the 50k, 30k and 20k races (the 10k option starts off in a different direction but the three longer races followed the same loops as the 50k) in the cold and clear skies. There was a winter storm overnight, but the snow was restricted to higher altitudes than the 500-1,500ft elevations of the race, so we just had mud and a slight course alteration during the middle 10k loop.

But even a minute into the race I could feel my legs weren't fresh at all. So I decided to see how it felt and not go too fast, but just enjoy the scenery (which is great through Redwood Park). Seemed like a good idea until I got caught up running in a small pack and accidentally went through the end of the first 20k lap in 50k CR pace.

Over the middle 10k loop (before the repeated 20k loop to finish) I slid around in the mud, especially on the climbs, and found myself running completely on my own. I felt a lethargy in my legs which was obviously a hangover from the 100-miler and it wasn't dissipating. And even though I could run at a decent speed it didn't seem like a good idea to wreck my body with an ultra. 

So instead, at the end of that loop I decided to call it a day and just have a decent 30k run and allow my body to recover much more effectively. I think it did about 2:17 for that distance, which was a few minutes ahead of the 30k winner and the rest of the 50k runners, so wasn't exactly the easy jog I'd planned on anyway.

A DNF is never positive, but I'd not aimed to race anyway and the whole point was to get a training run in. Whether that's 30k or 50k, it had to be dictated by the good old 'listening to the body' tactic. A shame, but I learnt my lesson after racing too soon after Western States and hope I can have more intelligent recovery now and avoid the overtraining I ended up with last year...mind you, I need to run a reasonably fast marathon next week in Napa then Way Too Cool a week later at full effort. Will have to play that all by ear.

Today was a good day for a trail run and the full results will be posted here soon: http://www.pctrailruns.com/event.aspx?dtid=4646

Some thoughts on race tactics

The photo shows Cavin Woodward at the London end of the London to Brighton route in 1975, the year he won the race in 5hrs 12min 7 secs (52miles 1172 yds). This was one of his 12 Brighton finishes spanning the years 1971 to 1998.

I've always been a firm believer that the best pacing for a race up to a 100k is a negative split (second half quicker than the first half), assuming the course has equally hard halves. But I doubt there's many 100 mile races run with anyone getting a negative split, so what's the best tactic? And should it vary depending on whether you're trying to win or to beat the cut-offs? I'm not sure I have any answer, but here's some of my thoughts, prompted by a very unusual article I read.

Well, I was shown this article on a 100-mile track race in 1975 and it certainly made me think again: http://www.ultralegends.com/the-tipton-100-miles/.

In the race described, Cavin Woodward (who unfortunately passed away in early 2010) set the world best time at that point for 100 miles in 11:38, but it's the way he did it that amazed me. He ran 2:31 for the marathon, 3:01 for 50k, a world best for 50 miles (4:58) and a world best for 100k (6:25)! That would have been fast enough to win the World Championship 100k most years nowadays...easily. And he held on to break the 100 mile record in a top class field where five other guys broke 13 hours. That just sounds like the craziest race I've ever heard of. I mean, imagine if Geoff Roes had got to half way in last year's Western States in 6 hours then held on for the 15:07 course record ("CR"), since that's about the equivalent.

So I wondered whether Cavin Woodward has any lessons for others or if his time was a combination of him being mentally like granite as well as maybe a bit lucky that it didn't all go wrong. Should people just go out hard and assume that the pace will drop off? This is the opposite of the standard advice of going out easy (since the pace will still tend to drop off).

I'd guess that anyone, even at the elite end, who tries to replicate Cavin's tactics would probably not finish their 100 miler or would crawl in near the back of the field. But perhaps going out a bit harder than might seem sensible is actually the best idea for the elite runners (although slower runners are likely to be less well trained and so not have such high levels of endurance to pull this off, in general)?

I say this after having had some emails going back and forth with Eric Clifton, the man whose 15-year old RR100 record I was fortunate enough to break. Eric is well known for being an all-or-nothing runner with many, many CRs which still stand and even told me that he didn't like winning unless he also ran as fast as he thought was possible. As Eric said to me, referring to pacing purely for a win instead of a fast time:

"I have had many, many people tell me 'how you can win [Western States]' and they can't get that is not the way I want to win WS. It would be a hollow victory to me."

I like his mentality and it was this type of tactic which made the 2010 WS race so enthralling. Anton Krupicka and Kilian Journet hammered away at each other for 80 miles before the more evenly paced Geoff Roes overtook for the win (and CR). I'm sure Eric liked the front running, although nobody could say Geoff wasn't motoring too.

So, for those hyper competitive races with hard fought CRs, sometimes it takes this kind of all out effort to push to a new level. But not always...Russian Oleg Kharitonov holds the current world best for a road/track 100 miler (11:28) and he ran evenly (splits of 5:37/5:51). And I'm happy with my even pacing, which has paid off in the shorter ultras and also did at RR100. I don't think I'll be changing it any time soon, except maybe as a one-off experiment at some point, just for fun.

One last thought is to consider the tactics of the legendary Bruce Fordyce, who won Comrades an unprecedented nine times and still holds the world's best time at 50 miles (4:50). He always went off at his own pace and was often a long way behind the leaders, only to come through near the end of the race as the hares slowed. I don't have a quote to hand, but he was known for advising runners at Comrades that if they went out too fast, they'd pay for it later and run a slower overall time. In particular, he said that for every minute a runner goes ahead of their optimal even(ish) pace at half way, they'd lose several minutes in the second half.

I've read Bruce's book and his attitude of running his own race and ignoring the competition is the way I prefer to run. He believed that if he runs his best race personally then it was up to the other runners to beat him. If they started faster and held on, then they deserved the win, but he wouldn't be closer to them if he matched their early moves.

Crazy week but back to normality

It's been a week since Rocky Raccoon and I've had a so many positive messages from runners that it's blown me away. Without being too gushy, I've been further impressed by how ultrarunning is such a friendly and supportive sport, without a lot of the attitude many sports have.

I'm back to running again, although only a gentle jog today to check out the state of the legs. Surprisingly it felt ok, but I'll be taking it very easy for another week to make sure I get plenty of recovery.

I'll need it with so many big races ahead and 2011 looks like being a great year for the Brits in ultrarunning. At the very least, we should expect some huge results from Nick Clark (4th at Western States and winner of Wasatch 100 last year, plus more) and Jez Bragg (winning the 2010 UTMB restart even with some injury problems early in the year) on the men's side. And from Lizzie Hawker (has won most stuff) and Ellie Greenwood (ditto) on the women's side.

I've got plenty of races lined up as training runs, but the fields will be fast at Way Too Cool 50k and American River 50 mile so those are worth a crack at racing. They'll also be great for preparation for Comrades, which is the main target. And the whole time from now until Western States (only four weeks after Comrades) will be about getting in plenty of vertical to make sure the rest of the mountain-dwelling field don't make me eat too much of their dust. It'll be difficult to be fully recovered from Comrades, and I wasn't last year, but it's easier to recover from the up run than the down run and I've had an extra year of learning what works for me and how to train and taper.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the comments on the blog and the messages. Hopefully see everyone out on the trails soon.

Rocky Raccoon 100 Course Record

I've had a bit of time to digest the race on Saturday and it still seems very surreal. I'm guessing that my normal blog readership of me and my Mum (actually, I know she doesn't even read it) may be slightly higher for this write up. I've just been blown away by the huge amount of coverage and attention I've received since I finished, from autographing shoes at the finish line (no, really) to having more activity on my Facebook page in a day than in a normal year.

And it seems all that much stranger to me because this wasn't meant to be a big deal. It was just me returning to the place where I tried to run my first 100 last year. I don't like DNFing or having a bad race, so had to come back to retry, even though the reason last year was a December injury that wiped out virtually all running in December and January. I only got back to training again a week before that race, largely thanks to Mark DeJohn (http://www.activebend.com/index.html) in Bend, OR, fixing me very quickly. But virtually no mileage for two months meant I only went to the race because everything was prepaid.

This year I was fit and fairly well rested, but I entered months ago and didn't see any super speedy guys entered at the same time. So my aim had been to train for the Phoenix marathon in mid-January to improve speed and then use this race as a start to the ultra season. That changed about 10 days before the race when a who's who of US ultrarunning (see http://karlmeltzer.com/2011/01/rocky-raccoon-odds/ to get an idea) suddenly signed up to turn it into one of the most competitive looking 100s of the year. Given there's not many chances to race a several famous ultrarunners on the same day, it seemed like a good idea to give it my best shot and see how I could do.

I won't go into too much detail about anything other than the race because Bryon Powell at irunfar interviewed me very thoroughly to give background to anyone who I haven't met and who is interested - http://www.irunfar.com/2011/02/ian-sharman-post-2011-rocky-raccoon-100-interview.html. irunfar also provided great live coverage via Twitter which (to my surprise) kept some of my friends back in the UK up into the wee hours. There's also a great race report for the entire event on irunfar at http://www.irunfar.com/2011/02/ian-sharman-destroys-rocky-raccoon-100-course-record.html and my pacers were lightning quick in writing up their story on there too - http://www.irunfar.com/2011/02/ian-sharmans-pacerscrew-report-on-his-rocky-raccoon-100-win.html.

As I said, it's all been a bit crazy since I finished and everyone suddenly seems to want to know how someone they hadn't heard of beat a 15-year course record. So, here's my take on the race, which was immaculately organized by Joe Prusaitis and his team.

Apart from the buzz about the big names attending the race, the main topic of discussion in the days before the race was the winter storm which was freezing Texas and even parts of Mexico. In the end, I think about 200 runners out of 600-700 across the 50-mile and 100-mile events didn't turn up and many just weren't able to travel thanks to flight delays.

Luckily I flew from San Jose, CA, where it was February heat wave time, but Houston airport was still suffering some delays. I wondered whether the elite field would be thinned out and I think it was for the women, but not the men. And even at the car hire I met a runner who I offered a lift to. We chatted and he mentioned he was doing the 50-mile and eventually we got round to names and I found out he was Todd Braje, a member of the US 100k team who I'd heard of. He also went on to smash the 6h01m CR in 5h41m (according to my memories from after the race) or 5h48m (from an unofficial posting I saw online). I'd like to say we swapped tips for breaking the records, but we mainly chatted about 100ks and how this would be a good opening ultra to start the season.

I met up with a friend from the UK, James Elson, at the Motel 6 in Huntsville. He's running a lot this year (RR, Umstead, Comrades and the Grand Slam) after finishing Badwater last year. Then we headed to packet pick-up, the pre-race meal and a chance for me to meet my Texas-based pacers, Paul and Meredith Terranova. I'd only met Paul once before, at the 50k TNFEC in San Francisco where we raced around each other for 1st and 2nd, so it had been great to get his offer to crew and pace for me at RR. And I'd not met Meredith before, so was pleased to see that she was totally focused and excited about the race. Probably a lot more focused and with more of a plan and strategy than I had.

Meredith told us that the course looked in great shape, although the wooden bridges were icy, then James and I ate and both got early nights while Meredith helped mark the course. I'd tried to gradually adjust my body clock for the previous few days so that a 2am (Pacific Time) alarm for a 6am (Central Time) start wouldn't leave me like a zombie on the start line. I envied the east coasters who'd been able to fly in since that would be almost a lie-in.

Race morning was cold, and was no higher than 25 degrees F even by the time we started, so I had to scrape ice off the hire car and had multiple layers on with hat and gloves. Even Anton Krupicka (the favorite for most people) wouldn't be doing his trademark topless running in this weather. Although I'd have been impressed if he had.

At 5:58am I was at the start line in Huntsville State Park, surrounded by ultra legends (all of whom were taller than me, by a large margin in Scott Jurek's case). They all knew each other well while I was looking forward to jogging with them for, hopefully, a long time and getting a chance to chat to them.

The gun went off and Zach Gingerich flew off into the pitch black and out of sight with Norman Decelles (who later dropped at 40 miles). I settled into a pack of about six, which included Scott, Anton, Hal Koerner, Mike Wolfe and Karl Meltzer. For a while it also included the women's winner, Liza Howard, although I think she backed off slightly when she recognized a couple of the guys.

The course involves five 20-mile loops with several sections that have two-way traffic, particularly the first and last few miles of each lap. Aid stations are spaced so it's usually 3-4 miles between them, but with a 6-mile loop out and back to the DamNation station. Each is well stocked with everything you need, so I opted to not really use any of my own food but just force myself to eat and take a gel almost every time I hit a station.

The first time we reached DamNation was 6.2 miles in and it was still dark. The guys around me stopped for a drink then Anton jumped into the bushes for a break while I was left on my own. This wasn't the (rather vague) plan. I'd expected Zach and Anton to probably go off at the front and set the pace, but I was in 3rd on my own and running around 7:45/mile. I purposefully left the Garmin at home so that I wouldn't try to adjust my pace to hit any kind of target. Instead I opted to run purely by how I felt and go at a pace that was comfortable but not too slow. At this point, that meant sub 8-minute miling, which was below CR pace (which was 7:57/mile).

I wasn't too concerned to be on my own but hoped they'd catch up soon since I could hear them around 30 seconds back, talking and occasionally hooting loudly. Instead, it got light and I caught up to Norman and ran with him for a few miles, including a nasty ankle twist that was close to ending my race. I concentrated a bit harder after that since it's well known as a rooty course that can easily trip a runner up. He was in just shorts and T-shirt and his hands were painfully cold, especially holding the block of ice that had been his water supply. My hydration pack had also frozen, so I was reduced to only drinking every few miles at the aid stations. But the forecast had said that it should go above freezing by around 10am, which should be mid-way through loop two...kind of a long time to run with almost no liquids being taken on board. We ran into the last aid station of the loop together, at 15.6 miles but he stayed longer than me and I was on my own again.

Luckily my crew were on the ball at the end of the loop they offered me a handheld water bottle while I asked them to thaw out my backpack in case I wanted it later. It was still too cold to strip down much, but I felt comfortable so was happy to keep wearing multiple layers.

Thanks to the out-and-back section into Dogwood (the start/finish aid station), I saw that Zach was about six minutes ahead (2h23m for his loop) and that a huge pack of maybe eight guys was right behind me by around a minute.

Loop two was uneventful and I was feeling very relaxed. At DamNation it was exactly 26.2 miles and I think my time was around 3h13m. That sounded a bit fast for a 100 miler, but I decided to stay with the same comfortable pace and not judge it on the times or splits (that was the point of not using the Garmin). What did surprise me was that I was told that Zach was about a minute ahead, which meant I'd closed five minutes in six miles. I didn't think I'd sped up that much, so presumed he'd slowed down.

I found out around 50k (31 miles) into the race, when I caught him and ran alongside for a while. Like everyone else in the sport, he was really down-to-earth and I asked him how he thought Umstead (where he ran 13h23m last year) compared to RR. He said it was a little harder, which Hal Koerner contradicted when I spoke to him at the end of the race. Maybe I'll run it one day to find out.

Zach seemed to be struggling slightly and so I gradually pulled away (not intentionally) by around 34 miles to take the lead. It was also starting to warm up a little, but only enough for me to loosen my clothing rather than take off another layer at the end of the loop. This made me think more about hydration and the next time I saw Meredith, at 35.6 miles, I took the 10 oz water bottle she offered me. I'd not really drunk much to this point and hadn't sweated much either due to the cold, but as it warmed up, I wouldn't be able to get away with not drinking more.

I heard later from my crew that Zach was having stomach issues and that showed since he was still in 2nd but was five minutes back at 40 miles, with me going through in 4h54m. Hal and Anton were together 10 minutes behind me, closely followed by several others, but the big pack had broken up.

At this point I was just enjoying the sunny day and the trails were a joy to run on. I didn't think too much about the fact I was leading or that I still had 60 miles to go. All that mattered was getting to the next aid station and making sure I kept drinking and eating. I'd refill the bottle at every opportunity, always with whatever sports drink was on offer. And while it was being refilled by volunteers, I'd eat as much as I could and drink a couple of cups of whatever was lying around.

Lap three was warmer and I felt fine as I went through 50 miles in just under 6h10m. I knew I hadn't slowed down and that my race was going well, but I could only hope that I'd last out the final laps without anything going wrong. And the list of potential problems that could wipe out a huge lead was long: dehydration, overhydration, stomach problems, muscle cramps, tripping on the roots, general fatigue etc. By no means did I feel like I had the race sewn up, even when I went through 60 miles in 7h23m with an increased lead of 18 minutes over Anton and Hal. I wasn't even thinking about anything like that, just about getting to the next aid station feeling ok and repeating.

Paul joined me for the fourth loop, which meant I got to run with someone for the first time in about a marathon. For hours I'd been passing people in both directions and it was helpful to have someone fresh to help call out to people, to say hi, to encourage them etc. The lap went smoothly for the most part and I was down to just shorts and T-shirt from the point he joined me. One urgent stomach problem caused a quick jump into the bushes, but it wasn't chronic and I was able to run freely straight away.

I'd told Paul that I didn't want to risk anything by running too hard and that 8-minute miling would be perfect for a 2h40m loop (following splits so far of 2h29m/2h25m/2h29m). That would have left just under three hours for the last loop to break 13 hours and be well under the CR of 13h16m. It seemed possible, but with no guarantees.

For a few miles I told Paul I'd have to talk less, particularly over some of the small inclines. But I came out the other side and finished the loop feeling strong and picking up the pace to hit 80 miles in 9h58m for a 2h35m loop. The first thing I said to Meredith was that I'd just like to take it easy and not risk blowing up or tripping, since I had three hours to break 13, just as I hoped. I think I may also have said that I'd be very happy with it being an 80-mile race and that sub 10 for that was a good achievement for the day. Unfortunately, there're no accolades for running mainly a good race and I still had potentially the hardest bit ahead.

Meredith was so easy to run with, just like Paul, letting me dictate pace and chatting away to take my mind off things. I had to stop and jump in the bushes early on, but felt fine immediately afterwards again. Then she nipped off for a bathroom stop after about four miles and arranged to meet me further along the trail since she knows it so well from racing and pacing at RR many, many times (as I only found out afterwards, Paul and she had paced winners for the past four years at RR).

I was still waiting for something bad to happen and saving my mental energy for dealing with it, but things kept going well. Along the lap, I was able to keep up a good pace and our target was to get to the final aid station at 95.6 miles before it got dark so that we could pick up headlamps from Paul. We easily made it and now I was willing to accept that I'd probably win. All I had to do was not trip on a root in the dark.

So, as we got to maybe three miles from the finish, we decided it was time for the lights. I looked down into my hands to adjust it and put it round my head and immediately tripped at full speed. Luckily I naturally rolled and was up again almost in one fluid motion. That had been a very close one and I became much more alert to avoid ruining everything in the last miles. However, the fall seemed to upset my stomach again and I had to jump into the bushes one last time (I hoped).

My lamp was kind of pathetic and Meredith's floodlight from behind me casted a shadow of my body, even though my lamp was aimed straight at the shadow. We managed to run in a formation so that her lamp lit my path better (as well as most of the forest). Even in the dark, I'd say we were able to keep up some pace, but it's so difficult to tell.

As we went into the final mile, then final half mile, we sped up. I knew it was all easy paths underfoot and the adrenaline was pumping. It wasn't just going to be below 13 hours, but well below and much faster than I would ever have anticipated.

The final straight towards the finish lights was gradual acceleration up to virtually a sprint. This was either flashy and a perfect finish to a day that went flawlessly or the chance to fall head-over-heels at full speed with everyone watching. But I didn't trip this time and crossed the mat in 12:44:33, slicing almost five hours off my best and only 100 mile time.

Meredith and Paul had done such a great job of keeping me going and making sure I had everything I needed to hand. And the volunteers, RD and weather had all made it enjoyable and excellent conditions for people to run their best.

I lay in the finish tent with my feet raised, trying to eat and drink while having people come up to me to congratulate me. I had no appetite, especially for anything sweet, but forced myself to eat and drink, especially the cheeseburger (which was good). It was almost anticlimactic since I'd been bracing myself to deal with issues for hours and nothing major had happened to screw up my race.

Then Anton came in and I remember seeing his face upside down (since I was lying down with elevated feet) and he may have said 'You bastard!' in a friendly way or I may have made that up while the blood was rushing to my head. He'd gone faster than his previous win, but just outside the old CR, getting 13:18:52 (results here - http://www.ultralive.net/rr100/webcast.php). I was just relieved he didn't catch me. Hal came in seven minutes later and I found myself sitting down with those boys plus Scott Jurek at the finish, having a beer. This is when it really seemed surreal - I expected to come in and see them sat there having won and me just being yet another person who finished behind them. It was a lot of fun and an honor to meet them all. Not sure there's been a 100-miler on trails with so many fast times before.

There was some talk of my time being a 100 mile world best, but the magic of Google quickly turned that into a lie, since Jonas Buud of Sweden ran 12:32 in 2010 in a trail race in Sweden. Whether it was an easier course or not is irrelevant, it was still not a road or track course, so at least his record has been better publicized now. I should get a chance to race him at Comrades in June and the 100k World Championships (where he's the current silver medallist) in September.

I went back in the morning to see some of the runners finishing around 28 hours and it just brought home what a great sport this is and how much emotion and camaraderie it brings out in people. I heard there was also some kind of big game down in Dallas a few hours later, but I was on a plane during that and didn't really want to watch the commercials or Christina Aguilera's bad memory anyway.

Photos below, plus my favorite one is here on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=501968859657&set=a.501968079657.285390.814289657 Looks like I'll be needing a beard to be taken seriously in this sport.

Photos courtesy of Paul and Meredith Terranova (am looking for the shots people took of the three of us if anyone has any)

Another swift pitstop

Done. Time for the first place pottery



I've looked worse

Congratrulations to all the finishers and those who had to drop too. Hope the injuries and soreness fade to leave memories as good as mine.

Build-up to Rocky Raccoon 100 and TNF sponsorship

Firstly, I'm going to switch to American English for the blog from now on since I have to get used to it now I've been in the States for almost 18 months and use it every day at work.

The last couple of weeks have been eventful and I'm now honored (already it creeps in) to be the latest addition to The North Face's athlete team. I'm hoping I can live up to their standards since they have a top class roster of ultrarunners around the world (http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/brand/running), several of whom I've had the pleasure to meet at races.

Two of their athletes who I haven't met yet (except for a couple of words exchanged during Western States) will be racing at Rocky Raccoon at the weekend in an unusually competitive line-up. That's Hal Koerner (double WS winner) and Mike Wolfe (2nd at the UTMB restart in 2010 and Big Horn 100 CR holder). All I need to fit in now is for the kit to arrive in the post...oh, and to run really fast.

The men's race has enough talent to put the 13:16 CR at risk on the easy five loops of trails, with these guys still supposedly all running (I don't know of any DNS issues yet and have probably missed some other fast guys in the list):

Anton Krupicka (loads of CRs and the craziest training schedule around)
Zach Gingerich (13:23 in a 100 miler last year plus winner of the Badwater 135 and Arrowhead 135 in 2010)
Scott Jurek (has won just about everything major in ultra trail running...lots of times)
Hal Koerner (already mentioned)
Karl Meltzer (seems to run a 100-miler before breakfast and has won a lot of them)
Mike Wolfe (already mentioned)
Michael Arnstein (a 2:28 marathoner and 2nd in the JFK 50 a couple of years ago in a fast time)

So it should be a great contest and I expect them to go out hard. It'll be cool to meet so many guys who I regularly read about in running magazines and to, hopefully, give them a run for their money.

The current winter storm across the middle and eastern States seems to have frozen up Huntsville, TX, too, so I'm not sure what the course will be like. The latest forecast shows it going above freezing for race day and may even be pleasant, but the ground may be frozen, muddy or both. Still no idea what I'll need to wear on my shoes or in general.

But at least I'm turning up to the start line completely uninjured, fairly well rested and with some decent speed from recent training and racing. The only problem with all that is that I've been training for marathons and was using this race as a kick-start to my ultra training. However, with such a great field it'd be a shame to not race them. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine for the first 26 miles, anyway.

I think there'll be live updates online, either via the website (http://www.tejastrails.com/Rocky.html) or maybe on Facebook or elsewhere. We all have timing chips, so I'd guess that positions and times will be available as we go through at the end of each 20-mile lap. Kick-off is 6am, Texas time (Central Time Zone, i.e. two hours ahead of the west coast and six behind the UK).

PCTR Pacifica 21k

View of Pacifica from 1/3 of the way up

Pacifica and San Francisco in the background

Really lucky today with amazing weather again for a PCTR race. No rain in the preceding week and bright sun with temperatures up to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit by the finish (in January! I knew there was a reason I came to California).

I opted for the half marathon, not sure how I'd feel after racing hard last weekend, and felt surprisingly good. It's a fairly tough course, with over a 1,600ft climb up Mt Montara, then back, followed by two smaller climbs of about 400ft and 800ft. There were also 30k, 50k and 9k (without the mountain) options, but the other courses basically involved duplicating parts of the 21k route, so I got to see everything

My aim was to try to avoid walking at all and to hammer the downhills, given I've had a chance to start hill training, but still have a long way to go. And I'd been challenged to a race by Will Gotthardt, so expected him to lead on each climb, then to play catch-up on each downhill.

Instead, I was in a pack of four (including Will and Leigh Schmitt, and Leigh was running the 50k) to the top of the mountain then ran on my own for the last bit of the climb and back down. There were dust-free views for miles out to see and towards San Francisco, although I was starting to feel the climb by the point these got really spectacular. Luckily, I have some photos from hiking there a few weeks ago.

After that I really went for it on the downhill and felt good on the funnelled single track which was still full of people on the way up. After that the track got wider for a really fast running surface and I went about as fast as I ever have, comfortably running sub 5-minute mile pace (never thought I'd be able to say that...even if it was downhill) and getting closer to 4:30s nearer the bottom. This made it hard on the thighs for the switchbacks given each involved braking completely to do a 180, but I didn't have 50k to pace for, so it was worth the effort.

Then the 400ft climb came along, which I'd expected to be easier, yet I ended up walking several times even though it wasn't steep. The first climb had sapped my uphill fitness. I cruised down the other side to catch my breath and dreaded the final ascent ahead.

Luckily I could see a fair way back on the course when I started that last hill and couldn't see Will, so I thought I'd be safe as long as I didn't walk too much. In the end I did jog most of it at a crawl, but still had to walk many times for short sections. Not because it was steep, just because climbing is still feeling very hard, but hopefully runs like this will change that soon.

The last two hills didn't have the vistas for miles and miles, but were still in pretty sections of parkland. And the final downhill was wide enough track to race at a high intensity (10 minutes for the last two miles...technically a PB, especially given the switchbacks taking pace off every now and then), passing 9k runners, some of whom I'm sure I scared the crap out of  (especially the ones with earphones).

I'd hoped to get somewhere close to the CR of 1:32, which would have required some sensational downhilling to make up for the time I lose on each climb. So 1:34:52 was a real confidence booster. Will came in in 1:40 and Leigh won the 50k (I think...but haven't seen confirmation), with fellow PCTR Team member Caren Spore breaking yet another CR in the 30k.

I think my flat and downhill running is better than ever, so if I can just sort out the uphill stuff with a few months of intensive training then I reckon I could be in for a great season. It'll also make these races so much more enjoyable - currently I'm struggling so much uphill that it feels much less fun than it should...or did last summer.

But overall a great day out in the Bay Area and lots of people to meet at the finish. Michael Popov (PCTR management) was there looking ridiculously fresh for 1 week after the HURT 100 in Hawaii and he had nothing but good things to say about that race. So it just confirmed that I want to enter the lottery for that beast for 2012. It'll even keep my wife happy to have an excuse to go to Hawaii again :)

Angel Island 8k then the Phoenix marathon

2011 has started well so far. The first thing was a trip to Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay with Amy. I opted for the shortest distance in the PCTR race there as part of a taper before the Phoenix marathon on the following weekend. The PCTR 8k was excellent and there were plenty of others running the 16k and 25k races, which started just before.

Really glad I showed up to this, since it's beautiful and we were really lucky to get perfect weather, even if it was a bit cold. It's basically an 800ft climb then an 800ft descent and had great views along most of the way (although I only really enjoyed them after the race). I wanted to see if I could run uphill yet and found that I can't really, but at least I didn't have to walk, just go slowly. And I almost managed to get the course record, so that would have been a nice bonus, but maybe that's something for next year since I missed it by four seconds, running 33:17. And since I've mentioned it, I have an excuse to include some photos of it, since I don't have any from the next race.

Then I continued the taper with the aim of breaking 2:30 at Phoenix, something that I've wanted to do for a while but I haven't managed to turn up to a marathon start line feeling fresh for ages (all these races may have something to do with it...).

The conditions were almost perfect in Phoenix - not hot and maybe just a bit too much wind, although it was calm really. I started off at 2:30 pace (5:43/mile) but after 2 miles of trying that, I could see I didn't have it in me on the day. Just not enough pace yet.

I got into a pack after a few miles and tried to draft as much as possible, especially as they pushed the pace up. Somehow I stayed with them as they started clocking miles splits bang on 2:30 pace and at halfway (1:15:43, although the mat was maybe 100m before the half way sign and basically next to the 13 mile marker) I wondered how long I could stick with them, thinking every extra mile was money in the bank. Given I'm generally good at not dropping much speed even when exhausted, this seemed like a better plan than trying to do an even pace to the end. But very soon afterwards the pack broke up and I found myself pushing on with just one other guy, Matthew, who was a bit older but seemed very steady and strong. Again I just wanted to hang off his coat-tails for as long as possible, but he slowed too, so I had to go it alone for the remaining 11 miles or so.

I'd altered my target from 2:30 since I'd really put in a hard effort to halfway and couldn't see how I'd do the second half even faster. Instead, I wanted to get as far below 2:35 as possible, so kept slogging away at a high intensity. In the last few miles I kept going through stronger and weaker patches and was caught at around 22 miles by a masters runner, who seemed very comfortable.

I kept on his shoulder, hanging on once again (this is not a fun tactic at all and I'd much rather feel good myself and push the pace, but it worked this time round) until the final mile when we turned a corner, he went wide and I decided to sprint on to the finish alone and try to out-pace him.

Luckily for me, he'd tired himself trying to drop me so I broke free and could see one more guy ahead, who seemed way too far away to be catchable. But by 26 miles I got to him then flashed past without him reacting, which surprised me. I later looked up his result and he'd run the first half in 1:11, so had bonked badly to let me catch up.

I was exhausted, but was on for my second fastest time so didn't want to give in at all, particularly with two guys only feet behind. Then the finish was a big relief, and the other two finished just seconds behind after a great battle for positions (the 1:11 guy just stayed ahead of the masters guy). And as another surprise I was in the top 10, with a respectable 7th in 2:33:34 (four minutes behind 6th, who ran the time I wanted - 2:29).

The biggest positive was that I didn't give up, so it was a great training run, both physically and mentally, for the ultra season. But now I need to find another marathon in the Autumn to race for a personal best.

The marathon was part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, but was better than the San Jose half marathon, just. Still overly expensive and with several issues (listed below), which seem to apply to all their races, but there aren't many fast courses to choose from in January and this was fairly close to home, plus Gebrselassie got the half marathon WR here a few years ago.

These are the simple things they could do to improve it:

1. Accurate mile marking - although the total distance was correct, some mile markers were well off, like the even paced miles I did at the start which gave me a 6:30 mile followed by a 5:00 mile off their markers.
2. When there's tens of thousands of runners, corrals are great, but what's the point when the times aren't verified? As I picked up my number, an overweight lady also picked up her number which started her in the first pen. Odds are she wasn't running a sub 3h marathon (or sub 5h judging by her size).
3. The bands along the course are generally bad and the speakers are so loud that as you run past you're blasted off the street - I can't see how this is appealing to many people (at least not after experiencing it).

But I did like the expo this time round since there were plenty of freebies and great running celebs. I got Meb Keflegzighi's autograph and any chance to meet world class elites is always a pleasure. Then I even bumped into Blue, who ran the 2009 Tahoe Triple and is the RD for the Malibu marathon, which he was promoting.

I doubt I'll return to these R 'n' R races since they aren't good value for money, but I had a good time pushing myself and enjoyed meeting people before, during and after the race. It was also interesting to see Josh Cox go for the 50k WR by running the marathon then on to a track to finish off the distance. He already had the American Record at 2:47 but he broke that and just missed the WR by seven seconds, in 2:43:45, after winning the marathon too. Wonder if he'll give Comrades another go after it not going to plan for him last year.

Heading over to Angel Island

View of the Golden Gate Bridge



Downtown San Francisco and Alcatraz



SF and Alcatraz again

View NW of the island - Tiburon and Marin County

Nice trail for a run

The ferry port on the island

2010 was fun

Now I've run my last race for the year, I thought I'd quickly sum up some of the highlights.

Last weekend I was meant to run the PCTR Rodeo Beach 50k, but about halfway through (when walking up yet another hill), I realised that my legs just weren't trained well enough for the hills and finishing would have just left me a bit crippled during the week. So I stopped at 30k having got some good flat and downhill practice in and having realised that zero hill training outside of races is a bad idea and will be remedied.

So, what were the best bits of 2010 (I'm going to exclude my wedding and stick to races or the list would be too long, too personal and even less interesting for anyone except myself)?

Well, it was basically a successful year. The main target was to break 6h at Comrades, and 6h01m may seem like a failure, but I ran near to a perfect race on the day and am very happy with how I kept shifting to a higher gear to finish strongly. I want to keep a streak going there for as long as possible since I love it, so it's a shame it takes about 40 hours to get to.

My next biggest highlight would be the number of really enjoyable runs I had, with several great events that felt easy and had me smiling the whole way through (not even a hint of a grimace). In particular, Two Oceans, Boston and Miwok spring to mind.

One thing I didn't expect on moving to the Bay Area was to find a gem of a race series in the Pacific Coast Trail Runs. These always have a great atmosphere for beginners to elites, as well as showcasing some spectacular scenery. I've been able to meet the local running community through these runs and I definitely like it.

There are too many other races to mention, but Western States was the other main event for the year. It was both a great experience and slightly overhyped but there's no doubt that the battle at the front of the men's race was something which will go down in history. I'm really looking forward to running it in 2011, possibly even more than 2010, especially now I know what I'm letting myself in for.

I've got a lot of great memories from 2010 on the trails and roads so I hope 2011 can live up to it. Unless I get injured, it should. A few other recommendations for ultrarunners are below, since these produced moments which brought home what a cool sport ultrarunning is:

1. Do some kind of Fat/Mad/Bad Ass race in the New Year. There are loads around and are so relaxed and so a perfect way to start 2011.

2. Finishing up the Eiffel Tower made the Eco Trail de Paris really worth entering. I think there'll be plenty of Serpie vests at the 2011 version.

3. Run one of the South African major ultras at some point in your life. Two Oceans is prettier and has the bonus of a trip to beautiful Cape Town, but Comrades is the daddy. Bigger, harder, older and basically more epic. I'm so glad I got to do both this year, however, it's too far to fit them both in every year so I'll have to wait for another chance to run Two Oceans again. And when I do, I'll be really excited about it. There's something special about a country that venerates ultrarunning above shorter distances.

4. Do a triple marathon or other multi-day race since there's no better way to get an instant 'we're all in it together' atmosphere. In the UK, the VOTwo events are perfect (Jurassic Coast and Atlantic Coast come highly recommended). But the best one has to be the Transalpine 8-dayer (and so I'd love to try the Trans Rockies 6-dayer too) and I'm gutted to have missed it this year. Luckily for Californians, Tahoe has options with PCTR organising some new stuff (including a 2-dayer) as well as the classic Tahoe triple on the roads. Or there's the numerous Marathon des Sables-type events in deserts around the world. But in general, these are some of the best events around and don't need to break the bank (except the desert races).

5. Run in the Marin Headlands. There are so many races there and many are extremely competitive, especially Miwok 100k and TNF Endurance Challenge Championship 50-miler. PCTR has loads of runs there too, and these have the benefit of not requiring lotteries to enter (like Miwok) and not always being in December (like TNFEC). On a clear day, there's probably nowhere I'd rather do a training run and even in the rain, it's hard not to smile even on the umpteenth huge hill.

Merry Christmas and good luck in 2011 with whatever your running goals are.

Honolulu marathon

It may be tropical, but it's still Christmas.

The start line.

Fireworks go off at the gun.

Heading back and seeing all the runners heading out.

Just a quick update now I'm (unfortunately) back from Hawaii and a great few days of relaxation. The Honolulu marathon was fun, although the 5am start was a bit earlier than I'd have liked. But when you consider the heat, even in December, it certainly makes it easier to have the first 90 minutes in the dark. And sunrises in races are always one of the best features possible.

I arrived the day before and once I started looking at the course in a bit more detail, realised it's a huge race, often with over 30,000 entrants, making it one of the ten largest marathons in the world in most years. This year there were around 25,000 runners according to the local paper.

So with that many people and no seeding pens, it was a free-for-all at the start. I managed to get within about 100 feet of the start line and it reminded me of what big city marathons feel like for 99% of the runners - a huge scrum. Most race these days have seeding pens and make you prove your past times to stop people pretending to be a lot faster than they are, but not Honolulu. London, New York and other massive races have seemed much smaller than this did, because I got to start almost on the start line and among people who run off at speed.

So it was a different experience to be forced to walk a bit for the first quarter of a mile and to keep jumping on the kerb to pass people who were jogging slowly. It wasn't really hot, but it was humid, so I was sweating heavily even before the gun went off. However, I didn't mind the humidity or slow start since this was my equivalent to the standard 'long, slow run'. I don't really believe in that type of training run, so my version is a marathon at 85-90% of race pace. Slow enough to feel fairly easy, but fast enough that it has some training benefits specific to marathons and ultras other than just purely logging miles.

I'd originally planned to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest Santa (2h55m) since I set this a couple of years ago straight after running the Marathon des Sables and someone had beaten it the following year, both records set at the London marathon. But the Honolulu marathon organisers weren't willing to provide the minimal evidence requirements, so I binned that idea.

I still felt like the 2h55m time was about right, especially after a hard run the previous week at TNF 50k. So that's the speed I kept to over the first few miles, making sure I took photos whenever anything looked photo-worthy. Just after mile four, the course went past our hotel and I gave Amy a kiss when I spotted her in the crowd (spectating at 5:30am on her holiday :)). Then I jogged off and just enjoyed the sights along Waikiki Beach and the Diamond Head crater.

The elite guys and girls were chasing a $40,000 first prize and were professionals, including the fastest marathoner of the year (Patrick Macau who ran a 2h04m at Rotterdam) who was acting as the rabbit for several fellow Kenyans with PBs well below 2h10m. Behind them, the field was spread out thinly and the masses were well back, further than usual for a road marathon. I'm guessing this is partly due to the conditions and partly because this is an obvious choice for those wanting to take it a bit easier and enjoy their vacation instead of feeling wrecked for the week after the race.

After about ten miles I could only see a handful of people ahead or behind, which I hadn't expected. I hit halfway in 1h26m as the horizon just started to light up, and considered that to be fine given the rising temperatures would make the second half harder, no matter how slowly I ran.

Around 14 miles I saw a group of Kenyans coming back the other way on the return leg. Behind them, I saw very few people until I hit the turnaround at 16-17 miles. By now the sun had just come up and it was undoubtedly pretty. The course isn't as beautiful as I'd hoped due to lots of roads with little view except the mountains in the background. Sections are very scenic, especially around Diamond Head, but the main entertainment for the second half was seeing all the runners coming in the other direction. I usually like this as it gives a better sense of the scale of the race and everybody gets to cheer for everyone else.

The last miles felt fine and I cruised down the finish straight feeling like I could have kept going a lot longer. I finished in 2h53m01s and my legs felt better over the next few days than at any long race since around May, which I take to be an encouraging sign. I almost caused a crash at the finish since I stopped a foot from the end to take a photo of the clock, but didn't realise there was a wheelchair athlete bearing down on me. I had to jump out his way, as can be seen in the last couple of seconds of this video: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=60089&BIB=7920&S=230&PWD

You can just see the wheelchair guy who swerved round me - sorry!

I'd say the conditions, especially the humidity, but also the headwind until the turnaround, add about ten minutes to the time, so I feel like I probably ran a 2h45m effort, which is a harder run than I'd planned. The winner ran 2h15m and only two other guys (both Kenyans) broke 2h20m. Somehow I was 32nd overall, while that sort of time in a similar-sized race would normally be lucky to be near the top 500. So that was a pleasant surprise. And in true Hawaii (i.e. IronMan) fashion, the results were split into elites and 5-year age groups. I came 2nd in my age group of 30-34, which just goes to show how age groups make no sense, especially when they apply to the under 40s.

I enjoyed the race, but enjoyed the whole trip more. The race was generally well organised, but the main improvement would be to have some sort of seeding to avoid the walker/joggers from getting trampled on the start line. Not sure I'd do it again, but I will do another race in Hawaii one day. Maybe even the IronMan, if I can ever be motivated to train for two other sports.

The biggest racing memories I'll have from the trip will be the sunrise runs along Waikiki Beach and the fact that I found out I was lucky in both the Way Too Cool and Miwok lotteries, so I get the opportunity to enjoy both of those in 2011.

North Face Challenge Final 50k - San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge on the drive to the race the night before.

Yesterday was a fun race and certainly lived up to its billing as the most competitive trail 50 miler around (possibly ever?). I only saw it from the perspective of the 50k, which meant I had an extra two hours in bed and got to see all the leaders come in. I'd hoped to really focus on this race and run the main event, but training over the last few months has involved being overtrained and not spending much time at all on trails, so dropping down to the 50k was the only sensible option. Not ideal to miss such an enjoyable and exciting challenge, but there's always next year.

Great races all around with full 50-mile results here: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=47613 and 50k results here: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=47614 There was also a marathon and the following day had several shorter races, making for a huge event.

I won't go through the full details of the longer race, but it was wet and muddy with around 10,000-11,000ft of climb over the Marin Headlands and with almost the first two hours in the pre-dawn darkness. Not too cold, but some wind, especially on the higher points. It was won impressively by Miguel Heras of Spain in 6h47m for the men and Anna Frost of New Zealand in 7h45m for the ladies. So many top runners turned up and a whole load of other great racers were entered but had to DNS. irunfar covered the race with plenty of interviews and analysis at http://www.irunfar.com/2010/12/the-north-face-endurance-challenge-championship-results.html

Anyway, I can describe the 50k better, given that's what I ran. It covered most of the same course, starting at 7am, just after sunrise. I've seen most of the course before in recent races (Miwok 100k, Headlands 50 miler and the Stinson Beach 50k...and that's just races I've run, never mind all the others around there which I've had to put on my 'to do' list instead). The number of races is a good indication of how perfect those trails are for runners and the photos below show some views when it's not overcast or muddy (afraid I didn't take my camera for this one).

The trails actually started with a mile on the road so everyone charged off at a fast pace. Then it went straight uphill for the first climb (see the profile below). I led until a couple of minutes into this hill, determined to run this whole race hard, as a substitute for the 50 miler, but I was forced to walk/jog up the hill due to a lack of hill training recently and heavy legs so the leaders were out of sight when I started going downhill on the other side. They all looked like strong climbers so I realised that if I was going to have any chance, I'd have to make up for my weak-feeling legs and poor climbing by hammering the downhills and going hard on the flats too. But at least my legs were well-trained for those types of running, so I considered that there was a chance I could stay in touch with them. Although I aimed to use the tactics that led to the adage that trail races are 'won on the uphills and lost on the downhills', it seemed possible...hopefully.

At the start of the day, I'd thought that breaking four hours would be possible if my legs hadn't lost too much of the climbing training from the build-up to Western States. But with the time I was bound to lose from power-walking so much, I now had no idea what to aim for and could only focus on the man in front.

The climbs through to the Muir Beach checkpoint at 8.2 miles were relatively small so I managed to catch up to second on a particularly muddy descent since he didn't seem to have trail shoes on. Then I came through the aid station just behind first and had a couple of miles of chatting with him on a flatter section. His name was Paul Terranova and he'd flown in from Texas so even the 50k was drawing in competitors from all over.

Then we reached the bottom of the biggest climb, a 1,500ft ascent to Pantoll then to Bootjack aid station at 14.0 miles. I told him to overtake me as I'd be climbing slowly, and he gradually pulled ahead until he went out of sight again. By the time I got to the aid station he was two minutes ahead, so I hoped that I'd at least get within view on the slightly more technical trails down to the Old Inn aid station at 19.1 miles (actually 20.1 miles on the Garmin, which tends to underestimate by about 1-5% on these types of trails). Luckily, I was able to catch him almost immediately, finding myself really enjoying jumping over the rocks and roots through the forest. This is always the best part of trail racing for me, not just because it's the fastest, but because galloping over rocks and roots is pure fun.

I could tell that the rest of the race was likely to be a game of leap-frog with Paul going ahead on the climbs and me catching up on the downhills. And that's how it was for the next few miles. However, he looked so strong on each climb that he wasn't visible almost immediately after he'd pass me. So I had to stick to the aim of racing each downhill like I was in a much shorter race. But with two thirds of the race completed, it seemed to be working and my legs weren't feeling bad from the extra pounding from the higher effort level. Looking back, it's amusing how I went from feeling completely confident in winning when I reached the bottom of a hill to having no hope again when I got passed much quicker than I expected on the next ascent.

One thing I had heard about this race series is that the course markings are not always the best and many fast runners had had their races derailed by getting lost. So far I'd not had a problem but there had been occasional turns where it had been ambiguous, so I had to keep my focus and concentrate at each junction to not miss anything.

After the longest flat section of the race to get back to Muir Beach, I couldn't see Paul behind and knew I'd be going back up the really slippery, muddy hill which had been difficult enough to run down originally. Even if I'd felt able to run uphill, it was like walking on banana skins so I was crawling up. But I don't see how anyone else would go much faster unless they'd opted for really spiky trail shoes.

There were just two big climbs left to the finish, a 900ft one up then down to Tennessee Valley, followed by a 600ft one up to the final checkpoint. Both of these were slow powerwalks with little running, but it was a surprise to not be overtaken on either. I still focused on running the downhills as fast as I could and was happy to be able to maintain around my 5k pace without it feeling bad (however, that's not the case a day later...). From the last aid station I remembered that it was only 2.7 miles to the finish, all of it downhill then a flat last mile. So it looked like this 50k course would be a bit over a mile long on the Garmin, meaning maybe a little more than that due to it's typical error from experience.

The day was still overcast but it wasn't raining at this point and the trail was wider and very easy to run down. I was looking forward to finishing and to having had a successful day, but there was a final twist to come. After over two miles from the final aid station I could see the road which the race had started on, but the route back to it had a sign blocking the way with a large 'X' and stating 'Wrong Way'. So I didn't turn back on towards the road and kept going on the same route as before, looking out for the route to the finish line.

The trail split into two with course markings for every one of the race distances, but with pink arrows showing 'Marathon Loop 1' and 'Marathon Loop 2' as my only options. Neither of these sounded like a finish line but Loop 2 was perhaps the marathon route to the finish and it just hadn't been marked properly (I'd expected more ambiguity so this didn't definitely mean it wasn't the right way). But the trail then started winding uphill and each corner just revealed more trail heading upwards. Eventually I decided that I must have missed the proper turning and started running back. I should have finished ages before this so thought I must have lost first place and wasn't in a good mood. From higher up I saw the Loop 1-2 split and saw Paul choose Loop 2 as well, then I saw a race official sprinting after him so knew that I was around a quarter of a mile behind him and that it was unlikely I'd catch him.

He turned at the 'Wrong Turn' sign, so must have been told to ignore it by the race official and I followed, very glad I'd doubled back on myself. But I was exhausted and frustrated to have probably lost at the the due to bad trail marking. Since the 50k was likely to be the first race of the day to finish, we were the only two to get past this point before a race official made sure everyone else was directed correctly. Would have been a real shame if the 50-mile leaders (who came though not long after) had faced this issue as the major prize money ($10,000 for first) should not be decided by mistakes which aren't the fault of the runners.

Using the magic of the information on my Garmin, I saw that I'd run an extra 2.7 miles due to missing this turn and estimate that Paul probably went a quarter of a mile down the wrong route to add half a mile to his distance. So we hit the road with both of us looking fatigued and he now only had a 50m lead. After putting so much energy in I wasn't going to give up without a fight, but I'd been mentally drained by the thought of losing my lead and having much more running left than expected. I really hoped he didn't have a strong sprint left and I caught him relatively quickly, expecting him to react and try to drop me.

That last half mile was very hard since I went all out but had nothing left in the fuel tank for a sprint. When I turned the last corner and saw the finish line I barely had any adrenaline left to become elated, but I knew I'd just managed to hold on to the lead. 4h48m was way slower than I'd hoped for and the erroneous course marking took the sheen off the day to some extent, but only slightly. However, it didn't change the positions at all, just making the gaps between runners much, much smaller, so no harm was done.

Soon after Paul and I finished, Miguel Heras came through for the 50-mile win and I was surprised since I didn't recognise him (although I had heard the name). I don't think I was the only one, given that anyone who's an unknown quantity (i.e hasn't raced anything major in the US before) tends to be off most people's radar. Both he and fellow Spaniard Kilian Journet (his training buddy and Salomon team-mate, I believe) prove that having a beard and long hair isn't essential for ultra trail success. That's lucky for me since I couldn't grow a decent beard even if I wanted to (and my wife might divorce me if I did, anyway).

It was fun to get to watch the results of the main event unfold and the post-event celebrations were well-organised with a strong sense of occasion and plenty of food and drink. I enjoyed talking to loads of runners, many of whom I'd heard of but not met before. Plus there were several of my new PCTR team-mates in the 50-miler, so it was a great opportunity to meet them too. They all had strong runs too, so were generally happy with how it had unfolded, even if their positions were lower than in an average race due to the ridiculously fast field.

I can't wait until next year to do the main event and there is undoubtedly a great buzz surrounding it. Plus it's good that it's only two weeks to go until I get another opportunity to run around these great trails again, at the PCTR Rodeo Beach 50k. Am looking forward to seeing plenty of friendly faces there and maybe some sunnier skies.