Pacific Coast Trail Runs: Montana de Oro 25K

Feb 13, 2011




"...red skies in the morn' sailors bewarned" On the way to MdO

 I had originally signed up for the 50K.  BUT, on New Years Eve I went out for a 50 minute tempo run.  At the turn around I decided to pick it up and three minutes into the return trip my left calf knotted up in a hurry and nearly brought me to my knees.  Since then I have been battling to find a consistent running program.  Most of the time getting less than 40 miles in a week.  Bad timing.  I digress.  So today I decided to run the 25K thinking a three hour run would be way better than a seven.

The morning was really cool until the sun started hitting us. Cool, rather than cold, means a slight onshore breeze with the temperature a muggy 40 degrees.  As the sun came up the temperature did too.



Luis Escobar

 I arrived early for some reason.  I think I just wanted time to let my body warm up and do its thing before this shin dig got going.  At 7:30am I checked in and met up with friends, acquaintances and spoke to some new people.  I saw Luis Escobar, our local running legend and all around good guy, talking to just about everybody.
 He was there to photograph the runners.  Good!! PCTR hasn't historically had good photographers here, so having Luis is a special kind of thing because he is good.  I got to talk to him for a little bit.  It's always cool to get to chum it up with peoples before an event, otherwise you are doing something you love to do with people who share an interest...by yourself.  How friken boring would that be?  I ran into Thomas Reiss a couple minutes after talking to Luis.  Thomas is a pretty fast runner.  Clearly the fastest out here today.  Fast enough to be sponsored by La Sportiva.  He's a good guy and totally human.  Meaning he is dealing with some issues the rest of us deal with so he is running the 25k today too.  Usually he runs the 50K and smokes it. We separated with about half hour before the start.  Time to go get ready, warm up and do whatever else my body tells me I need.


Thomas Reiss



I found a little trail up from where I parked and started my warm up.  As much as I was thinking about the upcoming run, I was more concerned with my left calf giving me a wake up.  20 minutes later I was warmed up, had a little sweat going and started to jog to the start line.  No problem with the calf...so far.  I arrived to the start in time for the RD's speach and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.  As it turns out these were the only ones I took minus a crrrraappy view shot from the top of Valencia. 



Race Director Sarah. 5 years running PCTR Events, never met her.



Time to go.  No gun...megaphone horn.  We were off.  I know I am not the fastest one on the course, not even top 10,  I am a mid packer...and I like it.  Anyway, I decided to get near the front and roll with the quicker people for a little while.  Mostly because very early in the race everyone has to cross a small footbridge and the further back you are the longer you wait to get into the bottle neck.  I went through somewhere in the first 15 people.  Then we headed down the Bluff Trail.  An easy, flat start to the race.  I felt good a was getting caught up in the flow of things.  Then I got inside my head and decided to slow down and find my own rhythm and stop thinking about who is passing me.  Though I did take note.

Leaving Bluff Trail we turned left onto Pecho V. Road and then right onto Rattlesnake Trail we were finally getting into some climbing.  I had never been this far up front before.  It was kinda weird looking back down the hill at the snake of people making their way through the trails.  The first climb was short, maybe half a mile on an easy grade so I kept pace.  Luis Escobar was camped out at the top, cool photo op!  I had my eyes closed...boooo!

Going up Rattlesnake Trail (photo Luis Escobar)

The trail evened out and then narrowed and headed into a ravine.  The pace kept up, then the climbing started up again.  Easy single track up.  This is where I thought I would save my legs.  Some of the spots were a little steep for me so I power hiked them and then worked into a run again.  A quick right onto the Badger Trail and we were heading up a gradual climb.  I tried to maintain an even pace and made my way up, then down a little bump and onto a traversing single track that compelled you to speed up.  This was short lived and then we were on our way up.  Valencia Trail is a longish single track heading up to the 1340ish foot Valencia Peak.  More or less the most sought after peak at MdO just because of its beauty and challenge.  I slowed down a bit and settled into a good pace of power hiking.  I got passed a lot.  People were running harder than I like to in the early parts.  One guy in particular had a green shirt on.  I would hang out with him for most of the race.  Then a couple passed me and then a few others.  Valencia Trail moves easily up the center of an offshoot of the peak and then gets steep.  We rolled the about half a mile easier part before making our way around the peak.  As the trail steepend I caught up to a lady and I got stuck behind her as she was huffin' and puffin but not letting me by.  With about 75 yards of the top I had enough and ran it, passed her and a few others, got to the top, snapped a photo and then made my way down.



Gratuitus Valencia Peak Shot.  Gorgeous Day!

 I found a smoothie pace that turned out fast enough to catch up with a group of people and so a 8 to 10 person train got started.  At the Oats Peak junction I stopped to pee.  I glanced at my watch, 59 minutes..that's the fastest I had ever made it up.  Cool, I felt good.  I cruised down the rest of the way, picking up the train again half way down.  We all bombed into the aid station at about the same time.  I filled my pack quickly and left..the fastest I had ever shot through an aid station.  I was on a roll.

Bombin' down Oats Peak I think (photo, Luis Escobar)

The next section, Hazard Peak is a lot more runnable than Valencia. The pitch is gradual and peaks out a few hundred feet lower.  Its gradual nature suckers you in and basically dares you to run.  The next dirt road , Islay Creek Road, is a service road out to an old barn and starts the second part.  I hit the dirt at 80 minutes and made my way over the 3 miles as it rolled and climbed. I was definitely going faster than I did last year.  And no calf problem.  Once again I settled into a good steady pace and ran/hiked my way to the the next part at a nine minute pace, eventually I arrived at the one real climb on the second loop, Barranca Trail.   I was hoping to get to the top of Barrancha at 2 hours even.  At the same time I remembered last year this s.o.b. trail chewed me up and spit me out.  I just didn't know it until I was heading down Hazard Peak, I bonked.  So this year I promised myself to stay even and just have a strong and smart climb.  So I did.  Hey look!!! green shirt guy, then the copuple passed me again.  They must have doddled at the aid.  Oh man they're running up this thing.  Bye.  As I worked my way up I could see I was catching quite a few people that passed me going up Valencia.  I kept my hike pace and drew them in one at a time.  I hit the top at 2h 5min.  Feeling Good!! Now it's a quick shot down.  I moved through the short switchbacks pretty quick and was about to turn on East Boundary Trail when I suddenly noticed it wasn't where it used to be.  Was es das? Wo haben die Spur gehen?  Oh well lets go with it.  Somebody moved it and it was going North instead of West.  The new part moved real smooth and instead of going up a steep little saddle we went around it.  It made the trail longer but also made it a lot more runnable.  This is where people started slooooowing down.  And this is where I kept pace...(I can feel myself getting smarter by the second).  So people were walking and I was passing.  The new trail was awesome, rolling woopties with a gentle incline then one steep section.  The top was short lived.  I was on a mission.  Ahead of me on the was down I could see 6 people lined up.  I picked it up and rode the downhill like I should.  I kept thinking to myself how good I felt compared to last year on this spot.  Because last year I was toasted and crapped out on the downhill.  Yep I said it!! I had to walk part of the downhill.  Granted, it is another year of running and learning.  So what!  This is now and I was cruisin'.  And just like that, the people who were passing me goin' up Barranca were behind me with a couple miles to go.  At the last mile mark the trail starts to even out and is relatively flat.  That's where I caught up to the couple.  They offered me to pass...I thought about it and then told them I would rather just get pulled in by them.  The girl was in front and picken' up the pace...kinda.  She seemed like she was on a mission.  After the turn to parallel Pecho Valley Road, Luis Escobar was snapping off more shots.  Great spot!

Hazard Peak Trail, going down quick (photo Luis Escobar)

After that I felt like picking it up again.  I went (attempted togo) around a car thinking it would be faster...but it slowed me down again.  Shit! I wanted to get around these two.  No time now...one last single track then 50 yards on the road to home.  I did it and I will admit it.  I passed them with 25 yards to go.  I wanted to come in below 2h 50 minutes.  So i did. 2 hours 49 minutes 26 seconds, a half an hour quicker than last year on a longer run and good enough for ninth place.  Someone on FB reported it as 16.8 miles with 3,800 feet of elevation.  That's good.

I stuck around for a while afterword.  Met up with Thomas to hear about his modest tale of a blistering 2:07.  Holy Crap!!  Talked to a few other folks, ate some soup then I headed to the recovery station...otherwise known as the ocean.  A perfect 55 degrees of moving water.  I stood in the waves up to my waste for 15 minutes.  Felt so good after that I thought about running again.  No time, gotta go.

I did well with hydration and eating.  Kept calories up and didn't cramp.  Calf felt good.  I don't know what I did but I plan to keep it up.  Maybe I can start running more that 3 times a week!