I flew down late Thursday night, arriving into LAX at midnight, got picked up by Cat, crew person extrodinaire, and made the drive up to Ventura where we arrived at the hotel by 3am. Bruce Grant, a friend and ultra runner from Vancouver, was already long asleep in his room so we just came in quietly and crashed. Friday was a very relaxed race check-in, lunch and some course briefings up in Ojai. The Patagonia running team was there in full force and entertained us with a song and all kinds of strange awards were handed out. This is one of the strangest and most fun events that I have ever been to. Only a few of us are really there to race, most people are there because it's such a fun weekend. Bruce, Cat and I spent the afternoon at the Ojai Coffee Roasting Co (surpise surprise) just hanging out and relaxing. I fell asleep in the back of Cat's pathfinder at 9pm that night.Much to my dislike, it was a 2:15am wake-up call and to the race start line by 3am. I had originally been slated for a 5am start-time but due to a recent hip flexor flare up in the days prior, I wanted that little bit of extra time in case I had to walk more then I expected. Some people had started as early as 2pm prior the day before and then there was 6pm, 9pm, 12pm midnight, 3am, 5am and then even a 10am for speedsters like Karl Meltzer who would annihilate the course. My goal was to see how far into the course I could get before Karl and Justin Engle caught me.
There was 6 or 7 runners in my start time. We instantly began the long trail that climbed up to the ridge. Roch Horton led the climb and I just sat on his heels, settling into things. As we neared the top, I took the lead and that was the last time I got to run with a group of people. I was on my own, in my own world for the remainder of the race.The race profile was really unique as well. There is one long ridge that we kept running up to and then descending off of again. Picture a spider. We would run a single track trail up (climbs that took anywhere from 1.5 to 2hrs) to a aid station on the ridge, then descend back down another trail (lasting anywhere from 45mins to 1hr) to another aid station/crew at the bottom. It was a great format because you'd constantly see other runners going the opposite direction. It helped to know exactly where you were in terms of placement. It also kept me extremely motivated to try to catch the runners who had earlier start times. Bruce had started at 12am and I was on a mission to find him on the trail :)
I was having the best race that I've ever had which actually amazed and surprised me. I attribute this to the strong base that was built from training and racing in Costa Rica at the TCC end of January. My heart rate was so low and my power walking was strong. The hip flexor issue didn't make a peep, I was eating and drinking continuously, Cat had my check-points down to 3mins and I was just in that euphoric "runners zone". As I came in, Cat had my smoothie ready (ha - I had even brought my small bullet blender down with me on the plane) which was a water/rice milk base with Vega, Udo's Oil, banana's and fruit. I'd leave the aid station with my re-fill of nuun and a turkey/avocado/red pepper wrap in my hand.
Now, I have to be honest, since returning home from Costa Rica and launching the new studio, I hadn't run for more then 1hr at at time. Long work days just wasn't allowing it. I did spend the past 1 month doing a great deal of biking. Teaching 5-6 spin classes a week plus being up in the Lab on the compu-trainer kept building my endurance without the impact of any running. It seemed to have work but I think that the sudden increase in cycling caused the hip flexor flare up (shortened range of motion from running) so perhaps once I hit the trails at C2M, it was able to stretch and lengthen again and made it better? Hmmm.
As the day passed, I just kept moving hard. We had gusts of snow up on the ridge and periods of rain. With each ascent and descent, I put a little more time on Hannah, the second place female, who I later found out had won this years Hurt 100. I was motivated to keep moving. I found Bruce and Howard at an aid station up on the ridge but had to just keep pushing onwards. As night fell and it got dark, the rain began to increase, the fog set-in and it was blowing pretty good up high. I didn't care though. At my last check-point at Gridle Creek where I saw Cat, I grabbed my Salomon Minim rain pants (thank god I put those in last minute) and my jacket (which I had just Nikwaxed 2 weeks prior, this worked like a charm), put my earphones in, my head down and charged onwards. I started to make my way back to Gridle top, a long climb to the aid station. I didn't care how cold I was or how much rain was falling. I was going to that finish line and I planned to be there in 3hrs. I arrived at the CP tent only to be told by Chris, the RD, that the race was now CANCELED due to the bad weather, hypothermic racers etc and I was to head back down the same trail I just took up. AHHHHHHHHH I couldn't believe it but rather then argue, I knew that was the end so I embarked on a very slow descent back to the bottom, taking with me some volunteers and other racers who weren't feeling so well.
As I walked, I pondered what had just happened. Here I was, having a great race, enjoying every step, had put 1hr on Hannah and was on track for breaking the womens course record. I felt awesome! I had 18 more miles to go and that would have been it! I had done all the hard work, there was simply a ridge run to the next CP and then a 1hr descent to the finish line. Devastated is not even a word that explains.
So with 82miles completed, I got some sleep in Cat's truck again until about 8am. We then hit up the Coffee Co one more time before making the drive back to LA. The rain continued to pour all day, never letting up. California got hit with a massive amount of water in a 24hr period, something I don't think they are too used to. However, those of us hailing from the great lands of BC, know all about this rain and so it felt pretty normal. Dress appropriately, wear the right shoes (oh yes, I raced in the Salomon Speedcross and it was ideal) and you will be just fine.
Reflecting back now though, my C2M experience was fabulous. It was fun, the volunteers were awesome, the shwag bags terrific, aid station food well stocked with options, unreal trails and the spirit of trail running was alive! A great weekend away, I highly recommend.
Disappointed I didn't get my belt buckle but none-the-less, had 82miles of fantastic running on a rainy March weekend. I got to spend some time with my good friends Bob + Jennifer, co-founder of Impossible2Possible on the Sunday night. Thanks to Cat for all your hard work once again and giving up a weekend to spend with me in Ojai.
It's now full force ahead as I join my fellow Salomon athletes in May for a trip to Australia to race at the NorthFace 100km.
