Race Report: PCTR Sycamore Canyon - 30K

I'm going to keep this report relatively short since it's wasn't much to write home about. In short from a performance standpoint, it was a not a good race for me. I finished in something like 3:3X when I secretly held out hope of running a sub-3 hour time. What was I basing this on? Not a whole lot apparently. But the day itself turned out great and I still got to enjoy running through one of the most beautiful parks during my favorite time of the year to run.



My race morning started with a 45 minute or so drive up the coastline to Sycamore Canyon. When I got to the start, it was a bit windy and cold with plenty of cloud cover above us. I quickly saw several familiar faces so we kind of shot the shit while I went through my pre-race prep.





The next thing I knew, it was a couple of minutes til the start of the 30/50K runners and a little while later, we were off! I went out fairly fast and tucked in with the 2nd group of runners while keeping the leaders in our sights. About a mile in, we began our first climb up switchback roads and it slowly became evident that today was not going to be my day.


The incomparable Ray Miller Trail (photo by Stuart)

The days leading up to this race, I've been suffering from some kind of upper respiratory cold/congestion thing. Guess I was naive to think it wasn't going to bother me. I had a hard time regulating my breathing from the onset and within a couple of minutes into my first climb, I was getting light-headed while feeling like someone had a heavy boot planted firmly on my chest. One by one, runners started passing me and by the time I reached the aid station #1 (~10K in), I contemplated dropping out. Hate making excuses but it's what happened out there.


The very beautiful La Jolla Valley (photo by Stuart)

After successfully talking myself into plodding on, I decided to just finish the darn thing no matter how long it took me. I still had problems breathing for the first 10 miles or so and took several walk breaks. Little by little, the tight chest feeling went away and my breathing started to feel better but the legs were starting to feel beat up now. I shortened my stride up a bit and just took it easy the rest of the way in and finally managed to finish. Then, as per usual, I lingered around the finish, talked to my friends while eating chili and cheering folks in.

Special shout out to my buddy Josh for taking 2nd overall in the 30K and to power couple Kristin and Colin, for finishing their first ultra while prepping for the Comrades Marathon on May 30th.


Kristin and Colin at the finish of their 1st official 50K!

Major kudos to race director and friend Sarah by the way for pulling off her first race without her partner (she is now sole owner). As always the organization, the markings, and the post-race party were all top notch. It's no secret that I love PCTR races and so I always look forward to either racing or volunteering any time they come down to So Cal.

All in all, it was a great day. Like I said, I was disappointed in my time but wouldn't change the experience for the world. Besides, it's nice to get humbled every now and again :)