Monday, June 05, 2006

Quicksilver 50 mile race

Almaden Quicksilver Park,
San Jose, CA

May 13th 2006
Time: 12 hr 20mins

After HK 50 last year, I had wished to do American River 50 but due to some family emergency I was out of town fighting a different kind of race. In that race I was mainly the crew member, my brother was the racer and Dr Thompson was the race director. After a 30 mile long run with the big-sur gang, I decided to do miwok 100k, but race registration closed early so the next choice was local race Quicksilver 50.

Training:

Mental:
Muir beach 50k and Woodlands 50k were very good training runs, mainly because of the tough weather conditions, which proved to be a good training ground for my attitude during the race.

Physical:
Since most of march/april I was in Detroit with my brother, I couldnt run much, but managed to do couple of 20-30 mile runs, and did some back to back runs whenever my little nephew permitted.

Pre-race dinner:
Arun and Soumya jee hosted a sumptuous pasta dinner for me and Rajeev. Arun was ready to do his first ultra.

Race day story:
Got a good night sleep, I was ready to go to race at 4am. In 2005, myself and Rajeev had done a 50k here and we got a 6hour overcast weather so we had very pleasant memories of the race. But May 13th didn’t seem that way.









(carol, myself, arun, rajeev)

Met some of our ultra-running friends: wini, carol, yuki and chiphing at the start, the race started promptly at 6am and myself, Rajeev and Arun settled into a steady pace, walking ALL the hills, after about 3 miles, I went ahead and followed my steady pace keeping in mind the first cut-off of 7 hr 50 mins at 50k, which I thought should be easy. My goal for this race was to do in 12 hrs.

Miles 6.6-9
This stretch was through the covered trails on new almaden trail, very pleasant running through and spent most of the time talking to fellow runner Jim Yee who was attempting for this first WS 100 mile race. Reached mile 9 aid station in 2:05 hr, Stevens creek striders managed Dam overlook aid station and were very supportive of runner needs, soon saw Rajeev running towards the aid station.

Miles 9-19
From this point we followed Randall trail to mine hill trail and back to dam overlook. Soon started feeling the heat of the day, which was hitting about 80's. Towards the end of this section we had a long downhill, most scenic part of the course.











(winding mine hill trail)










(Dam overlook)

Miles 19-23
We pass through Dam overlook for the 2nd time and follow gaudulupe trail for another 4.5 mile loop, ran with Wini for sometime, she is a amazing runner, going steady and smooth all the time. No one would tell she had done miwok 100k a week back. so had Rajeev, he was doing his 3rd long distance race in 3 consecutive saturdays.












 (Wini Jebian: maintaining a steady pace)
Mile 23.3: 27
I continued ahead of Rajeev, was feeling great at this point, met Roger at this point who had done 25 k. He mentioned. “just a marathon more to go” I wasn’t sure if it was good news. Run towards Englishtown was unevent full, but the aid-station volunteers were very cheerful and pepped me up for next 4 mile tough section.









(With yuki at Dam Overlook , he was trainging for WS)

Mile 27- mile 31.3
Toughest part of the course, rolling hills, uncovered trails and peak time of the day made this a tough run, reached the finish point and saw Anu cheering and she was all set to run with me, but asked her to wait for Rajeev, who seemed to have some quad pain.
I took 5 mins off and had my ensure, clif bloks, and cap filled with ice to cool my body(excellent idea by famida and aid station volunteer) that kept me going for next few miles. At this point I was well ahead of cutoff by 30 mins.

Mile 31.3-35.3
This section started out with a constant climb I was doing ok, still fresh from the aid-station re-fueling but was not aware of the heat ahead and how I will feel later, met arun on one of the climbs, unfortunately he had twisted his ankle early and walked the last 12 miles in the race. That’s the spirit which pulls you across any ultra.










 (Arun: Proud first ultra finisher)









(Friends and family patiently waiting)

Soon I came across the rolling section of hacienda and my ensure had not kicked-in, I was out of gas in this section, so ended up walking even the downhills and eventually lost all my buffer.

Miles 35.3- 37.3
From this point the race to beat the clock started, its not fun to run when you are trying to make cutoffs, as you don’t get to enjoy the course but just are conscious of time. But that’s the part of being a back of the pack runner and sometimes that makes Ultra's interesting because finish is not granted .

I Re-fueled, filled my cap with ice and set out for a 2 mile run within 30 mins, that wasn’t too bad, until sweeper Steve Jensen who manages Ultra repository www.run100s.com joined me, that’s the time I realized I was last place and I had to keep moving and was close to missing the cut-off

Steve said, "give your best shot"

I picked up my pace and met the next cutoff with 5 mins to spare. At the aid station there were 3 others fighting the cutoffs, myself, Allison cook and wini jebian.

As we passed the aid station RD Janice said, we have 2 hr 5 mins to cover next 8 miles, and we are just on the bubble.

Miles 37.3 – 41
That meant next 4 miles uphill had to be covered in 1 hr 5 mins, At this point I wasn’t sure if I will make the cutoff but was sure, will run till 45 mile point and I may have to drop. This was predominantly a uphill section. Saw a rattle snake basking in the sun. After abt 1 hr I was expecting turnaround, soon saw Carol followed by Wini who encouraged me and said

"you can make the cutoff, keep moving".

It is humbling to see her so strong 40 miles into the race. I made to top in 1:10 mins and had about 55 mins for next 4 miles of downhill. my pessimistic side prepared me for drop out, various thoughts consoling myself came in. but I was feeling good and was ready to run the next 4 miles as hard as I can.

Miles 41- mile 45.2
With the goal infront of me clear I was set into a steady pace, listening to some peppy hindi music, miles flew by fast and I reached aid station right in time, at this point

Janice said ” sorry we have to take you out”, what… I think the cutoff is 11:30hr and I still have 90 seconds, Janice confirmed and said yes I can continue and I was most thrilled, As if I set a new world record J, inspite of being the last runner :). It reminded me of Lance's book Every Second counts, which was the case , from the past 12 miles I pushed and saved 90 secs to make the cutoff. I tried to call rush but signal was weak.

Miles 45.2 - Finish
Next 4.5 miles were the most blissful, knowing the fact that I didn’t have anymore cutoffs and I was sure to complete this race. Later I found out lady behind me missed the cutoff by a min, that’s very unfortunate, but
Race officials have to draw a line somewhere.

Last mile I met Wini again, by this time Pradeep and Rush had hiked the last mile to run with me. I was thrilled to see them and could sense the finish running down the virl Norton trail, soon I could see the parking lot and entered the last 100 meters of dirt section and I crossed the finish line dead LAST in 12 hour 20 mins. At finish Anurag and Aparna were waiting for me, thanks friends it means a lot to me.

I couldn’t make the 12 hr goal I had set, but I was fortunate and pleased enough to make all the cutoffs and enjoy this 50 mile journey. All the time my brother's struggle with his health kept me motivated, he is my hero and I am thankful to my body and health which supported me in such distances.

my hero of the day:
Wini Jebian she did miwok 100k and Quicksilver 50 miler back to back and won her age group at quicksilver at age 62.

All pictures courtesy Rajeev
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Sunday, June 04, 2006

4 years of Running

Nisene marks marathon
Date: June 3rd, 2006
Time: 4:48

Nisene marks holds a special place for me as I did my first 5k on June 4th 2002 with my friend Kaveesh.

Bit of background on my first 5k:
After our 2nd Hike at Pinnacle national monument in may 2002, myself and Kaveesh decided we should increase our endurance to participate in multi-sport events like Mark Burnett's Eco Challenge which was our dream Event, with little bit of googling we found Nisene marks hosting a 5k run and we decided to train for this event referring to training schedule listed by Hal Higdon.

Vicky joined us on the race day, I still remember asking vicky "whats the chance of us coming in top 10", seeing other runners vicky instantly replied "none" :).

Not knowing the art of pacing we started out too fast and were able to run as our heartbeats permitted. finally we completed in 29:30.

Brief history of 4 yrs:
2002:
After our first race, we moved on to 10k's for the next one year.

2003:
This has been the turning point in my life as a runner, joined Asha Marathon training program and my Long beach blog summarizes my training experience.

2004-2006:
From road races moved onto trail races, which seems more rewarding than running a marathon, I got to see lot of scenic places like Marin headlands, Skyline open space reserve, Wunderlich state park, Almaden state park and American river bike path in Auburn.

At present Ultra-marathoning has attracted me as opposed to adventure racing which was my initial goal, due to time constraints and other priorities in life I have given up on my eco challenge dream but would like to do a 100 mile adventure race some day..

Expedition Adventure racing like Primal Quest seems like a distant dream, but I am fortunate enough to have found running and wish to keep running for the rest of my life..

I wish to thank all my running buddies for this wonderful 4 yrs of life as a runner and wishing them many more. Most importantly I want to thank Rashmi who has been there for all my runs/races and supported me through my crazy passion for outdoor adventures. Coach Rajeev Patel has been a constant source of inspiration, coaching and mentoring. Padma/Kiran are the most dedicated running buddies, together with them I ventured into world of Ultra-running.

Nisene marks Race Report:

This is the 3rd time padma/kiran and myself were running this course and were familiar with every turn and hills. The entire run is on a trail in nisene marks forest and almost the entire course is covered by redwood trees, which makes run a very pleasant irrespective of the weather. My goal for this race was run most of the hills and if possible do within 5 hr, which I thought would be possible considering my previous times.

Race director Carol permitted me to start early due to my other commitments after run.

Miles 1-6
I started 30 mins early the first 4 miles are flat before entering the fire road trails which gives enough time to warm up before hitting the hills, then we gradually climb before hitting a small steep section. At mile 6 we had 2nd aid station, the volunteers were just setting up.





Miled 6-9:
This is my favorite section as most of it is very gradual climb totally covered and occasionally you can see a stream flowing by 1000ft below, at sand point aid station volunteer Warren asked " you re














alone today? where's your buddy" I was pleasantly surprized he remembered myself and kiran running the same course last year, thanks to all volunteer's who make such organized races a pleasure. Sand point has the best view of aptos village from 1500ft.

Miles 9-13.1
After the aid station we get another steep section between 10-11, which I moslty walked followed by another runnable section, throughout I was listenting to my IPod, which makes solo runs enjoyable.

Since I was consious about time, I was happy to reach top at 2:36 in past I had taken around 2:45, I realized could do the next 13.1 in 2:10 since most of it is downhill.

Miles-13.1-20
These miles passed very quickly as the entire section was gradual downhill so I was running at a easy pace enjoying my music. weather was getting slightly humid. At mile 14 I met Kiran, who was crusing on the uphill and after his 50k at Carmel Valley, at mile 15 met Padma, who seemed be sore from her previous run and was chugging along the hill.. and said "The run is tough, but will keep doing it slowly"

Miles- 20-26
At this point I had 6 miles to run in 60 mins to make the finish line in 4:45, Again since most of the course was downhill could do the next 4 miles in 40 mins, but last 2 miles couldnt run at 10min pace, I wanted one shot of coke, but the aid station were out of it, but some peppy music pulled me through and finished in 4:48. At the finish I had memories of most of my interesting runs over the past 4 yrs and was very happy to complete this journey without any injuries so far.
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