I went, I raced!
Miwok 100km Race Report
I took a friends advice to head down to San Francisco and to do the Miwok 100km despite the sinus infection that had me couch ridden in the weeks previous. I was feeling great by the time the weekend rolled along, I just mentally wasn’t feeling ready because I had missed some key weeks of training. Anyway, with Badwater in mind, it seemed like the right thing to go and do. 100km in the sun is still better than running 100km in Squamish rain. I packed my bags and off I went.
We arrived early Friday morning into San Fran. After checking into the hotel (which by the way was hosting a whips & chains conference – very entertaining!) we did some tourist wandering around by Fisherman’s Wharf. This was nice to just take it all in and stretch the legs. After a big dinner and a bloated stomach (wheat allergy – geez Jen, when will you learn), it was off to bed!
4am the alarm went off and by 5:45am, although rushed and late to the start line, we were off. The sun was coming up over the Golden Gate Bridge as we began our first of many climbs of the day. I had a comfortable pace going and was sitting nicely between Kami Semich and Bev Anderson-Abbs, 2 of the top runners in the USA. At 22k, we hit a steep descent and all of a sudden, I noticed my shoe was loose. Strange I thought, my salomon’s never come undone! I looked down and it was surreal – my shoe lace had broken right off! Salomon uses this quick pull system which I absolutely love. You never have to tighten the shoe once they are done up! Panicked and rushed, I jimmied it together, prayed that it would hold and set off towards the next aid station at about 30km. I had no idea if that was the end of my race!
As the kilometers passed by, the shoe held and so I got to keep running. I decided that as long as I could maintain good running technique, I would keep going. If I had to alter my running style, foot strike or anything else, then I would pull out, no question. I wasn’t about to risk an injury because of running form. I pretty much ran from 30km – 70km on my own. Miwok is probably the most stunningly beautiful race course that I have ever raced on. It’s super flowy, very hilly and great views of the ocean and big-treed forests. The weather was hot but not unbearable! I loved it!
At 70km, I got passed by the woman who would later on take 3rd. She had a pacer with her and they were moving really well. I ended up picking up an ultra runner who was volunteering for the race, Chris Garcia. He was my saving grace, keeping me motivated to run the down-hills and get me to the last aid station – my quads were shot! Thanks Chris! My watch tells me that we did over 16,000ft of climbing - sweet!
I hit the last aid station, downed a mouthful of coke, grabbed some H2O melon and off I went, up the last big climb of the race. Power hiking was key here – thank you adventure racing! Usually it’s the ups that you dread but not in this case. I knew that it was all downhill (and paved at that) to the finish back at the beach. I could see the finish line, hear the people but wow, I just couldn’t throw my body into another gear. My legs were so done. All I could do was focus on not falling flat on my face. At 10hrs01mins, I crossed the line! YEAH! I finished 1st in my category (20-29) and 4th overall for females. I was happy with that, all things considering and taking into account that my race could have been over with the shoe disaster.
In the end, I finished 4th for women but managed to win my age group (20-29). I finished 21st out of 318 racer total. I'll take it....
What a day of running! Check out the
RACE RESULTS to see how everyone did. Super star runner Dave Mackey set a new CR, coming in with a sub 8hr time. He was moving! Kami Semick won the women’s race. It was great for me to finally have a chance to go up against these wicked women runners. Next time, I’m bringing my A game! Congrats to all the local runners from Squamish & Vancouver who headed down for this (Cheryl Beatty, Gary Robbins, Ryne Melcher, Wade Repta, Dom Repta)! It was tons of fun to race and celebrate and sight see San Fran with you.
Saturday night post race was painful. After a good Thai food dinner and a few beers, my stomach was upset and my hip flexors killing. I got very little sleep that night. Sunday we hobbled around San Fran and of all cities in the world, I think we picked the hilliest one!