Miwok 100K Race Report
TL;DR It was an incredible race, best views ever, ran way faster than I expected, but with a weak-### ##### finish (weak-donkey cat). And over an hour spent in aid stations, combined. Got to run with a famous dude for a bit, and many times through the race I thought about how many times
@SFBayDuck's feet tread on the very same dirt I was.
Prologue
This one starts back in Nov 2019. Went out for a morning run up north, slipped on some ice, hit my head, and when I got to the office got cocky and entered the lottery for a race
@SFBayDuck had lots of good things to say about: Miwok.
A month or two later, I'm notified that I "won" the lottery.
And then COVID.
Fast forward to 2022. I have a successful Bandera 100K under my belt, and this re-scheduled Miwok is in front of me. I debate bothering with it (since one 100K in a year feels like plenty), but
@SFBayDuck tells me to DBAP and run it. So I book an AirBnB, flights, and here we go.
Race Day
Get up at 0330. Had all my gear and drop bags ready/packed the night before. Poop. Bagel. Beet juice. Coke Zero. Jump in the car. 20 minutes from Muir Beach to Stinson Beach. Park. Walk to the start, and wait.
Tried to do EVERYTHING the same way I did with Bandera. Same taper, same pre-race food, same gear (including having to buy another vest since I left mine up north), same routines.
Temps ~10C/50F. Forecast strong winds as the day progressed. Some light mist in the am, but likely to be sunny most of the day.
Goal was to enjoy the run/sights and beat cutoff (15h30m).
0500, in the dark, things kick off.
Start to Muir Beach Aid (0-13K/8mi)
Massive conga line, in the dark, up 380m/1,200' of gain. Made me long for the staggered start we had at Bandera. But at least it's keeping my pace down, when I otherwise would probably be going faster than I should. Get to the top of the first climb, and greeted by the sounds of bagpipes, just as first light was coming up over the eastern horizon. Pretty sweet.
Then a big downhill, with another conga line. 6:00/km (9:40/mi) pace. Slower than I would like, again, but probably for the best.
Hit the first aid station, Muir Beach. As I'm entering it off the boardwalk, a runner in front of me says "Hey, Dean!" and looks back at me with "Do you know who that was?". I'm like
, and the runner says "the king of ultrarunning, Dean [so-and-so, I forgot his last name moments after]." I respond with "Oh, I'm pretty new to this, I don't know everyone in the sport."
So that's that, and I enter the aid station. Fill my flasks, three oreos, and off I go.
Muir Beach to Tennessee Valley (21K/13mi point)
Left Muir Beach 6 minutes ahead of my plan.
Uneventful run to TV.
TV was hoppin. Crews and bags were allowed here. I had neither. Flasks, oreos, and a good poop. Knew that was coming, glad to get it over with early, and hopefully the only one (it was).
Cell phone service was ####, but I figured out that I could write texts, send them, and they would get transmitted when I finally got a signal on the course (usually up high). So I texted updates to
@gianmarco and my wife, and got back on the trail.
TV to Bridge View (30K/19mi point)
Left TV 22 minutes earlier than plan.
I was running easy, but faster than the paces I had planned. I was passing lots of people and almost never getting passed. But I noticed that I was passing people I had already passed. Some twice. Meaning I was spending too much time in the aid stations.
As I was running, I see this "Dean" guy up in front of me, and I slowly catch up to him. As I'm passing, I tell him that I'm floored by how beautiful the course is, and we strike up a conversation. He tells me about how his legs are shot from running a 100-miler in Patagonia a week prior (BMF!). We talk about me being from Calgary, and him running the 50K street ultra the first time it was held there. "During the ro-DAY-o", he says. Heh, "ro-dee-o", I say, and then say "Stampede".
We chat some more, he tells me about some of the other ultras he has run, and how he appreciates hearing from runners who haven't run in Marin before, like me. He's lived there for ~20 years and loves it.
After a bit more chatting we hit a hill and I finally say "I'm Brian", and he's "I'm Dean", and I thank him for the chat and get back to my faster pace.
Through this section of the run, I'm still feeling great. Keeping up with my hydration (aid stations had GU, unfortunately, and not TailWind, but it was OK). Only three Oreos at each station. I get a text from
@bushdocda with some cheering and that brings a smile to my face.
During the race, I'm continually amazed by the ever-impressive views. With the sun coming up over the eastern horizon, the San Francisco Bay views, the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, the hills of the area, it was all incredible.
I'm not shy about stopping to take photos. I feel good, and my #1 goal was to enjoy this race. So I'm going to take it all in. My pace was fine, so if people passed me as I stopped, so be it.
I even text a photo of the bridge to my wife and Gian.
Bridge View to TV (42K/26mi point)
Left Bridge View 29 minutes ahead of plan. I didn't do the precise math at that point, I just knew that I was ahead of plan. I kept my pace sheet in my pocket, but didn't spend a ton of time doing analytics during my run. Just that I was ahead of schedule.
Another easy, uneventful section. Another thing I tried to repeat (from my successful Bandera run) was to just "run to the next aid station". Forget the 100K. "It's only 10K to the next aid. Run that." Sure, my watch was reading "Lap 42, average pace, blah blah blah" in my headset, but I didn't
hear "42K", I just heard "42" and "I need to get to "43" for the next aid station. Worked great.
Once again, I passed some runners another time. Feels like 3 times in some cases.
Got to the part where you "must walk" through the horse stables, but it was short, and a nice break just before the aid station.
TV to Muir Beach (49K/30mi point)
At TV, I again fill my flasks and chomp some Oreos. I look at my pace sheet and this time the calculation is right in front of me. I'm ONE HOUR ahead of plan. WTF? Did I break something in my spreadsheet?
Before the race, I told my wife that she should meet me at Muir at noon, per my plan. She wanted to be "absolutely sure" she didn't miss me, so she planned to be there an hour early. But I was already an hour ahead of plan at TV, an potentially even more by the time I got to Muir. I could miss her.
No signal on my phone. Thankfully a volunteer had a signal, and texted my wife that I could be early. My wife responded right away, and that settled me. Good stuff.
Left TV one hour ahead of pace.
On this section, I started to notice my knee and calf on my right leg barking at me during the downhills. Not a good sign. It got progressively worse, and while it wasn't a huge deal, I was worried for what the rest of the race might hold.
Muir Beach to Cardiac (68K/42mi point)
My wife met me at Muir and it was a real treat. While she waited for me at the station, she watched what other crews were doing. By the time I got there, she was a pro! Changed my shirt, grabbed my portable battery (to recharge my headset, watch, and phone on the course), popped 2x Naproxen (same as during Bandera), flask refills, and oreos. Took WAY too long here, which was a real theme for the day.
Left Muir 46 minutes ahead of pace. Clearly blew a ton of time at the aid station.
This was another big climbing section, and once again I passed many of the runners I had already passed.
Knee and calf responded well to the Naproxen.
Cardiac to Bolinas (68K/42mi point)
Left Cardiac 54 minutes ahead of pace. Building some time back.
This part of the run is mostly in beautiful forest. Gigantic trees, cool temps. Super-soft trail. It was so peaceful.
Bolinas to Randall (79K/49mi point)
At Bolinas my watch was down to 5% so I had to charge it while running. And for any of you who have a Garmin watch, you probably know that it can't be charged on your wrist. Plus, my charger never makes great contact with the watch. So I spend way too much time trying to get the charger/watch combo secure enough in my vest to be confident it will charge while I'm running. Way too much time.
Leave Bolinas 56 minutes ahead of plan.
More forest, pass more of the same runners, then a big downhill to Randall. Legs feel good, and no sign of that knee/calf pain I had earlier in the day.
Randall to Bolinas (89K/56mi point)
Randall was another drop/crew station. I had a bag here, but really didn't need it, other than to drop the charging cable for my watch and headset.
Left Randall 1h12m ahead of plan.
Big climb here, but it's what I'm good at. Pass a handful of runners. Like most of the day, I don't get passed on the trail. I get passed at the aid stations.
Bolinas to Finish (the home stretch!)
Left Bolinas 1h31m ahead of plan.
It was in this section I really let myself down. My legs were starting to fatigue, and I (for the first time ever) was developing a blister on my right heel. Wah wah wah.
This section starts in the (awesome) forest, then open meadow singletrack, and finishes with a steep and somewhat technical downhill.
Much of the forest section is uphill, and I hike that. Run the short downhills. Then I hit the open meadow and start walking a bunch of very runnable sections. My legs hurt, I'm tired, and I'm well ahead of pace. So why bother? Wah wah wah. Further, my wife is going to meet me at the finish, and if I finish early then she'll be disappointed (much like most of our relationship). I get passed, and passed again. Then I hit the last 3K technical downhill, and other runners are bombing down, and I'm walking. Between here and the finish, I lose 10 or 15 spots in rank. About 1K out, I can hear the finish line cheers, and that gives me some zip to run most of that last 1K. Not very fast, and I still get passed a couple of times, but I run.
Then I hit the finish stretch. Lots of people there to cheer me, even though I'm nobody to them. My wife isn't there, because the Uber couldn't find her in Muir Beach (despite Google having precisely-accurate location on the address
).
Cross the finish line, get my medal, and head for the buffet. Mr. Lactose Intolerant takes a huge helping of mac & cheese (paid for that all night) and grabs a chair. Then head for the car, back to Muir Beach, where my wife meets me at the top of the stairs down to our AirBnB and helps me to the room.
- 14:05:02 (about an hour faster than plan)
- 120/342 overall
- 92/238 among men
- 32/87 AG
- 82 DNFs
- 1h13m spent in aid stations -- WTAF???
So right now I'm waiting for my (delayed) flight with a pretty nasty blister (should have listened to my wife who asked if I wanted to change socks at Muir) and sore legs. But otherwise in decent shape, and thinking about how I need to up my aid station game if I want to improve my overall times and rank.
Doh
