13.1 miles, 2:48 moving time, 2,740 ft elevation. Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa National Park, the Santa Monica Mountains.
This was my first race of the year. It was great. I had a great time. Felt pretty good on course and personal PR by 25 minutes.
The fun started early with a van ride to the Boney Mountain. Left at 5.45am. Lynda, Bill, Danny, Ben, Bryan, Amy, Bob, Luis and I rode in the van. GT, Henry met us at the Parking area, at the shopping center in the swanky suburbs of Newbury Park. We picked up our bibs and chips and then a short bus ride to the starting/finishing line. Beautiful dawn at the starting line, misty with a cool breeze. There was a bag drop off so we could stay bundled up until the start time. There were plenty of port-o-potties and real potties at the start line. Trail runs have a cool vibe. Trail runners are the Subaru crowd compared to the Lexus/Toyota of crowds at Surf City. Brennan, the race director is cool. I said ‘hi’. Robbie is another Pasadena Pacer friend, he was actually wearing a shirt today.
This race is brutally hard. Tough long climbs and scary fast descents. The terrain used to be beautiful, but a couple years ago a wildfire burnt everything out. Now it’s just the burnt stumps. Rains have rutted out some of the trails. Watch out! I wore a camelback for hydration, the water was few and far between. There was a fortuitous potty and water stop at mile 6, just before the long long climb. I saw horse on the trail too.
My friends Paul and Bill placed in their AGs. Ben is recovering from a foot issue. So he was run-walking. So, although I technically smoked him today, it was more like kicking him while he was down. I smoked Lynda today fair and square, payback for November’s Revel Canyon disaster.
After everyone came in, we had a luxurious breakfast at Side St. Cafe. I had a wonderful Strawberry Waffle Combo (eggs over medium, bacon mostly crisp), lots of water and coffee. We drove back and traffic wasn’t that bad. Super fun day.
choose happiness 