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| Yeah, we made it :) and had Blackrocks Brewery's 51k to celebrate |
Back in December, I believe, I signed up for the 50 k. Note to self: always check elevation profiles
before signing up for a race. I knew it
would be tough; I just wasn’t prepared for how tough.
We left Torreon at around noon on Friday. Benny was doing the 100 k, Grace and I the 50 k
and Jen, Abraham and Fabiola (who I hadn’t met before) the 29 k. We arrived at packet pick up and it was
experience in itself. First we got in
line to get our folio, then we got in line to turn in our signed medical
release from a Doctor, then we got in line to get our chip and bib and finally
we got in line to have our equipment checked.
The required equipment included hydration pack, whistle, phone,
emergency blanket (those post-race wraps they give you so you can retain heat –
they are smaller than a pack of cigarettes) and a head lamp. The expo was pretty decent and I bought a
pair of compression leg sleeves that say Mexico – I could have spent a lot of
money if I had been so inclined.
After that we went to the pre-race (non-mandatory) briefing
and I think it was a waste of time. He talked way too fast for me to follow
everything. It lasted 45 minutes and
Grace condensed it to 2 minutes for us.
The bottom line was that the course was well marked and you needed to
follow the markings (I had understood that).
We then headed to our Airbnb that we rented, got settled in,
ate and got ready for the morning. We
were in bed by 10. Benny (100 k) had to
start at 6 so the plan was to leave at 5:15.
I slept for shit – not sure why, but I couldn’t sleep. It was restful, I just didn’t sleep. Of course I did fall asleep soundly around
3 am so when my alarm went off at 4:20 I was aroused form a deep sleep. I had prepared the night before and bought
coffee to go so all I had to do is microwave my coffee and I was happy. I had a banana and a granola bar and was ready to
hit the road. The nice thing about
getting to the start early is that there is plenty of time to try to take a
shit – no easy way to say that, but when running trail races it is an issue –
and on this race in the first 20 k there was nowhere to do it.
We (Grace & I) started promptly at 7 am. Let’s just get this out of the way now – this
race was tough. There was nothing easy
about it. They changed the course this
year and the race director said it was much harder – holy shit but it was
tough. The 50 k had (per my Garmin) had
8,847 feet (2,586 m) of elevation gain and the race was run between 8,478 feet (2,584 m) and 11,414 feet (3,479 m) above sea level. We had three climbs. The first was approx. 800 m in the first 14 km – surprisingly this was the easiest. At km 39 we entered what I thought was hell – for the next 3 km we would climb. Yeah, we would climb, it was relentless. The killer came at km 39. We had just done a descent through what looks like a dry riverbed that must be amazing during the rainy season. We came to the aid station at km 39 thinking, one last easy climb – yeah, right. In 1.58 km we climbed 305 m – that 1.58 km was the hardest (and slowest) that I have ever done. Besides being dead, it was steep. From there it was a coast downhill to the finish, albeit on legs that refused to cooperate. I’ve talked ad nauseam about the difficulty of this race and neglected one of the most important things – the views were phenomenal– the mountains, the vistas and the wild flowers.
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| Early Morning Climb |
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| What goes up must come down - but we had more to go up |
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| Views were spectacular |
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| and of course - no post is complete without pictures of flowers |
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| The wildflowers were stunningly beautiful - and no shortage of them either |
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| At km 36 (more or less) we had a fun descent down what I can only presume is a raging river at times. |
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| Just before km 39 aid station and the climb that followed |
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| My friend Daniel and I |
One of the highlights came at km 45. I approached an unofficial aid station
(complete with beer) and one of the people there looked at me and said,
“Roger?” I looked at him with this, ‘who
the fuck are you look’ and he said, “Facebook” and I responded with,
“Daniel?” Yes, it was him – I had
connected with him through the Trail and Utra group on Facebook 2 ½ years ago after
I had asked a question, and he responded.
He lives in Monterrey and one of us had sent out a friend request and so
we were Facebook friends who had never met – but we followed each other. It goes to show you that both the trail/ultra
world is small indeed and that social media does have positive aspects. We talked for maybe 5 minutes before I
continued (and no, as tempting as it was I didn’t have a beer). I do hope to connect with him again.
The other highlight came at the end of the race. The race was held at Montereal which is a
resort. I ran into 2 students at packet
pickup. Gabriel is a student I had my
first year that I’m close to – he volunteers for Summits a local group who puts
on local trail races. Anyway I had maybe
500 m left (the last 750 m was on the road) and his family drives by and they
yell out to me. Next thing I see is the
car stop and out jumps Gabriel and his dad.
Now I have to say that at this point I was walking, the last 750 m was
uphill. Needless to say I ran the rest
of the way in with them to the chute. They
are awesome people and it was special.
I have neglected to talk about the best part of the race –
the people. I lost count of how many
people I talked to – all were curious about where I was from and were super
friendly. After the race people I had
met during the race would come up to me and talk to me. Mexicans in general are extremely friendly
and don’t hold my country against me – Mexican trail runners take that to new
heights.
I woke up early this morning and went in search of food and coffee. I found a restaurant and ordered
and then instantly, the place filled up
with runners – many that recognized me from yesterday, and they stopped to talk
to me. One of the guys I ran with for
several kilometers sat at the table next to me. When I think of
everything about this race, running in general and personal goals, spending
time with friends, beautiful country etc. the thing that stands out the most is
the awesome people. Mexico is a
beautiful country with beautiful people.
I woke up early this morning and went in search of food and coffee. I found a restaurant and ordered
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| The guy next to me I ran with for several kilometers - the picture was from the next day after breakfast |
And now for the rest of the story: after I finished the only
one out there was Benny. We hung around
for probably 2 hours and then headed back to town to shower and eat. Afterwards we went to bed. We got up around 2 am to head back to watch
Benny finish – I think he finished around 3 am.
It was awesome seeing him finish - I can't imagine running 100 k on that course.
He waited for some of the guys he ran with to finish – I slept in the
car.
This was an awesome race, toughest thing I’ve ever done but I am so freaking happy. At breakfast today (when everyone got up) all we did is talk running – what an awesome community I am fortunate to be part of.
Takeaways:
1) If I’m paying attention I can stay hydrated – did a good job
2) Fueling – I struggle to eat food at altitude – think I might try Tailwind
3) I need to try out my trekking poles – I think they would have helped
4) Eat well the week before the race, I ate like shit the last week – not smart
5) Do everything the week before to be well rested.
1) If I’m paying attention I can stay hydrated – did a good job
2) Fueling – I struggle to eat food at altitude – think I might try Tailwind
3) I need to try out my trekking poles – I think they would have helped
4) Eat well the week before the race, I ate like shit the last week – not smart
5) Do everything the week before to be well rested.
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