TNF 50

When most college kids have a birthday they celebrate by getting drunk with their friends. Well, I celebrate by running 50 miles with my friends. But not just any 50 miles - these were the most competitive 50 miles of my life and they took place in the beautiful Marin headlands north of San Francisco. This was the second birthday in a row that I've spent running hard in Northern California, and I am confident that they have been the best birthdays of my life. I'm doing what I love with a lot of cool people - why would I want anything else?

The intensity of that race was something I've never experienced before. For at least ten miles the front pack consisted of a ridiculous number of people all jostling and competing to stay on the trail and keep up. I was among the front because my goal from the beginning was to stay with the leaders as long as possible. Actually, my goal was to stay with Geoff as long as possible, since the leaders in the beginning of any race are almost certain to go too fast. I knew Geoff would race fast and smart and would therefore be the person to follow. And he's a cool guy to talk with, which makes the miles go by easier.

By the climb up to Pantoll, which is roughly miles 13-19, the front pack had consolidated into a group of Geoff, Michael Owen, Matt Flaherty, Dave Mackey, myself and a few other runners who I didn't know. Some Salomon guys were with us, and I think they were Thomas Lorblanchet and Miguel Heras. We all ran together up the mellow switchbacks and talked the whole way. Directly behind us were long lines of strong runners all working to keep us in sight, and by the top many of them had caught up. So we came into Bootjack aid station the first time in a pretty large pack. But some people stopped in the aid station, which allowed those of us with crews to get a little bit ahead. Thus from mile 19 emerged about six runners all moving very fast together and separated from the next group by a buffer of about a minute.

Dave, Geoff, Matt, myself, Lorblanchet and Heras all kept a super strong pace on the out and back section. This part is very high and exposed along the side of a hill, with fantastic views of the beach below. Here we encountered some rain for the first time, and a pretty steady amount of wind. But we kept moving really fast. Coming back was probably one of my least favorite sections of the course, the only reason being that we have to pass a lot of people on a very small trail on a very steep hillside. Everybody went out of their way to accomodate us in the front, for which I'm super thankful, but it's still not an easy task, and a few times I slipped off the trail a bit and had to stagger back into place. From the end of the out and back to the Stinson Beach aid station is a very long downhill, and this gave my legs a chance to rest while still keeping a good pace going. Heras and others fell back a bit at this point, which left Dave, Geoff and I together in the front.

At the aid station some people paused to fill their bottles, but mine was still mostly full so I just kept moving through with Geoff. But right out of the aid he stopped to pee and all of a sudden I was leading the race. I had a moment of mental panic before regrouping and just telling myself to run my own race and let them catch back up in time. But as I got further and further away I noticed that nobody was catching up, and my confidence grew. The trail at this time climbed about 1800 feet up Steep Ravine with steps, log bridges and a ten foot ladder. Best of all, this whole climb passes through a Redwood forest. About fifteen minutes later Geoff caught me but didn't pass, and we talked for the rest of the climb. At the top we say Topher and Kim Gaylord and several other friends all cheering us on, and this was a major morale booster. Geoff and I emerged into Pantoll and cruised the extra mile or so to Bootjack aid station feeling pretty good in the front.

By this point I hadn't eaten since the out and back section, which was about ten miles back. So on the descent (the whole course was either a climb or descent. From Bootjack we ran way down, then a little up, then down more, and then way up, and then way down again. Then we only had two more big climbs to complete) I ate two gels to recover, but I still began feeling pretty tired. On the downhills I felt invincible, but climbing had become a nearly agonizing chore. Geoff led the way and I managed to keep up for several more miles, but on a small climb before Muir Beach aid station he finally pulled a little ahead of me. But what really did me in was the climb out of Muir Beach, which is something like 900 feet and STEEP. It was also muddy, but that's no excuse for the fact that I was just completely trashed from 40 miles of hard racing and couldn't move fast enough. I ran most of it, but the pace was pathetic, and included more walking than I'm willing to admit. As I finally crawled over the top and attempted to revive some kind of downhill stride, Miguel Heras came charging past me. He was in the zone and absolutely flying - I could hardly believe he was in the same race. "Well, there goes $4000," I thought, "Maybe I can maintain my $1000." But it was not to be. A little further down towards the final aid station Dave Mackey cruised past me with a word of encouragement, and disappeared.

From this point on I just worked to maintain my position. From Tennessee Valley aid station to the finish is about five miles, with 1.3 of easy uphill and the rest either down or flat. As embarrassing as this is, I totally walked at least half of the final climb, and ate two gels and drank lots of water. I was absolutely finished. From the top I just tapped into the autopilot I've developed from running so many long races, and managed to squeeze in a finish just over seven hours, utterly tapped. It was a good feeling, and a good finish. And congratulations to everyone ahead of me: you all ran incredibly well and deserved what you earned. Especially Miguel Heras, who fell off the pace in the middle but managed to come back at the end for a truly amazing victory.

I am in no way disappointed in myself for this weekend. The race was a good learning experience and taught me a lot of things about running up front, eating enough, training right and being smart. I'm also happy to know that I have the ability to compete at the highest level of the sport, which gives me a lot of confidence for the future. The North Face 50 is a really stellar race not only for the terrain and aesthetic beauty of the course, but also for the incredible amount of talent that is drawn by the prize money. Granted, $10,000 would have been a really kickass birthday present, but I learned a lot more about how to compete by getting fourth than I would have with a win. And to make things really great, just about everybody I know was there to celebrate with me. Even my parents managed to make the race on their way to Hawaii, which was really special. This weekend wouldn't have been what it was without the people.

I'll be back to Marin soon enough for another try.