[Most photos courtesy of the race photographers]
I've entered the Western States lottery the past several years, and each time so far I've come away with my next goal - to find another qualifying race. I'd like to run Western someday, but in the meantime I'm having fun trying different races on the qualifier list. It helps solidify the training schedule and yearly goals. Who knows what will happen after I eventually (hopefully) complete that race? Wander aimlessly around the world perhaps.
For now, we're wandering with purpose :)
The Bay Area has quite a number of qualifying races, it was almost hard to pick one. In the end I decided for the least amount of driving, leading me to the Quicksilver 100K on the south side of San Jose. This turned out to be a great choice, not just for the race but for all the excellent training opportunities this spring. The Almaden/Sierra Azul parks have a bunch of great trails, wonderful views, and a lot of good uphills. I decided to cover all of the 100K trails before the race, starting from different places - and carrying multiple bottles of water at a time. Excellent workouts.
It was also really good that I ran the last 20 miles of the race not long before race day. This section has fewer big climbs but a lot of little ones, many turns, and a trip past the start and finish lines along the way. Knowing what was in store was super helpful.
Especially because of the 16 hour time limit (for Western States qualifying) - not at all a "gimme" for the amount of climbing on this course. The good part was that the trails are mostly fast and runnable. You just have to keep on climbing up and then keep on running down.
Oh, and then it got warm. Not Texas warm. Just a lot of sunshine and temps in the 80's for a few hours. Something to control for. And appreciate the trees whenever the trail went under them.
But first! It was nice and cool - with a 4:30 am start, it better be! I'm pretty sure all of us runners were hoping to get as far as possible in the early morning hours.
John dropped me off at the start (thank you John!) and snapped a couple photos. Jacket off, gearing up (and sporting a fuzzy hat to keep my head warm for the final couple minutes):
Lots of tiny reflectors on everyone's gear and clothing:
The first long climb was great, getting warmed up and feeling good without having to push too hard. We did a little loop around an old cemetery and got a nice greeting from the race director. It was getting light while crossing over to the first aid station, and they helpfully collected headlamps there to return to us after the race.
I love the Woods Trail through the trees, winding in and out and around and over creeks, and then with views of Mount Umunhum and the early morning lights of San Jose. So pretty!
I filled a Spiz at the next aid station and dropped down the steep Limekiln Trail - but it's not as steep as the other option, so I wasn't complaining. One runner questioned whether we were going the right way, yep, this is definitely the way down.
We crossed Priest Rock Trail (which we'd soon be climbing up) and into the second loop of the figure-8, still dropping down, down, all the way to Lexington Reservoir. Big one!
I went pretty quickly through the aid station and started the next climb with a different set of runners around me. One asked me, "What's in the bag?" referring to the Spiz baggie I was carrying, and I thought he said "It's in the bag" meaning "we got this" - it seemed a little early to be calling a victory, but we got that sorted out and the Spiz explained and it was a funny little conversation to pass the time.
The top of this climb is so noteworthy it goes by the name of "Dogmeat" - yep, silly steep and you can see it coming half a mile away. This photo doesn't do it justice (actually I think the steepest part is back behind me) - but it does show the gentle clouds trying to come over the ridge from the ocean behind us. Too bad they didn't make it very far. A perfectly lovely sunny day for us!
I set up a pace sheet with 16 and 15.5 hour targets, and I was happy to get ahead of the pace early and then maintain better than 4 mph through the big hills of the middle section. The run down to Kennedy Road was long and it started to feel warm - actually, I was still feeling OK but I could tell that the race leaders climbing back up the hill were feeling the effects. Not so much looking forward to turning around and coming back up this myself!
Good job! Way to go! The whole pack pretty much gets to greet everyone on this very long descent and climb back up. The road was plenty wide, lots of room for all of us and a few non-race hikers as well.
Hi Chihping! I recognized him from previous races, and once again he was taking pictures - fun to find a copy of the one he took of me. Thank you!
Quick turnaround at Kennedy (with the time limit I was motivated to be fast through the aid stations), might as well get started on the climb back up. I was still moving well, not quite as zippy as the previous climb but still keeping a reasonable uphill speed. The rollers at the top were endless, and that's even knowing that section fairly well from training and a previous race (Mt Um 50K). Finally, the Woods Road aid station - and the halfway point, yay!
I think it took me about 7 hours to get there, nice leeway for the second half in the upcoming warm afternoon. Still, I had to make sure nothing went too wrong, this was important.
Running down from the 3000' high point, I finally reached the shady section again, very nice. It was great to relax for a bit, gather myself together and flow through the curvy trail without hurrying. Lots left to do, this was a good section to allow myself to recover.
Nice camera work, with Mt Um in the background:
Back into Almaden park for a convoluted zigzag exploration of the many trails. I knew this part pretty well and the course was well marked, so I wasn't worried about making the turns - time for the iPod! Podcasts, wonderful podcasts.
That was a good distraction on the long downhill to the starting line parking lot, through the next aid station. Ice in the bottle, much thanks for that!
The field was getting spread out by this point. I'd see a runner here and there, mostly passing them as I was still moving strong. I would start wilting eventually from the heat but hadn't gotten to that point quite yet.
Urgh, those stupid little steep downhills on the trail between Hacienda and Mockingbird, I am not a fan. On my best days I still haven't figured out how to run down them, and at 40+ miles into the race I was definitely resorting to picking my way down. At least I knew to expect it.
A race photographer was walking uphill, at least he didn't catch me in one of the more difficult parts, but I'm pretty sure I'm not bounding down the hill here:
Ha! This photo makes me laugh - "please sir, some ice water?" The volunteers were so, so great, filling my bottle and helping me with water for the Spiz.
The next 17.5 mile loop was a tour of Almaden trails, out to the far end and returning to the finish line. It was an exercise in patience, maintenance, dealing with the 85+ degree heat, and keeping things under control. Various muscles tried to decide if they might want to cramp, and I kept having to convince them that, no, they didn't want that. My right knee occasionally tweaked just a tad, a reminder to pay attention to my footing and keep my posture straight so my IT band would be happy. My stomach started questioning the need to drink anything else, but at least it wasn't sloshy, just slightly nauseous from the heat. On the plus side, not a whisper from the PF in my right foot, so yay for that.
Up to the Bull Run aid station via several mining sites, good switchbacks for a less intense climb. Then a little loop to Catherine Tunnel where I found a shaded picnic table to sit for a minute and drink some Spiz and admire the view of San Jose. OK, back to work.
I saw a few different runners along the next couple trails, some picking up a second wind to run past me. No worries, I had time in the bank and somehow was still keeping the 4 mph pace even though it didn't feel like it. The tree cover along the New Almaden Trail was much appreciated, thank you shade.
Down to McAbee aid station at mile 54. I saw another female runner and had to really focus on ignoring the idea of competing with anyone at this point. We passed each other a couple times and I was like "please speed up or slow down, I just can't have this right now", at least those were the words in my head. I tried to smile at her, hopefully it came across as friendly. Finally I stopped to drink some Spiz and she powered up the next climb ahead of me.
Good, because my climbing legs were just... about... shot. Excellent timing, only one long gentle climb past the Guadalupe Reservoir. Oh right, then there's this steep bit to get back to the Mine Hill Trail, I forgot about that. That was a bit of a challenge. Come on legs, you got this.
I stopped very briefly at the final aid station 3 miles from the finish to top off my bottle with ice, then it was off to the races. Not really, but it was a nice downhill run for over a mile. I was running with a guy who turned out to be someone I'd met at a race or two in the past. We had a fun chat about various races and training runs on the way down the hill.
One last steep little climb and one last steep descent - I wasn't looking forward to them, but since I wasn't in a hurry (thank goodness!) they weren't too bad. However, I did get passed by a woman right at the very end. Did I care? I tried not to. Does 13th vs. 14th place female really matter? Even if she is in my age group? Which, by the way, is apparently quite the competitive age group around here. 7 of the top 10 women were 40-49. I guess there's a reason to look forward to turning 50...
Hi John! I'm almost done!
14:36 and well under the 16-hour Western States qualifying time. Excellent, and I think I'm glad that's done.
Chihping and Kent were happy to pose with me at the finish line, thanks guys!
