One down... many to go.

Well race #1 of my 2008 season is in the books... and it was tough.


Let's start with Saturday. In my last post I said that I was blowing off the Boulevard Road Race and I did, but I still put in a big day on the bike. Friday night we celebrated Beth's b-day down in Pacific Beach so that made for a late start to the day on Saturday. I finally got on the mountain bike around 10 and got in 3:10 with a lot of climbing (over 5,000ft!). Then I met Beth back at my place and we hit the roads. I got in a total of 5:38 on the bike and felt great all the way through. I made sure I ate constantly on the bike so I could stayed fueled up and optimize my recovery for the trail race on Sunday.

Sunday morning at the race.

Sunday we were up early to rain. Yep... rain in San Diego. We made it to the race early checked and tried to stay warm and dry. 5 minutes into my warm-up I knew it was going to be a tough 15k. The trails were really muddy and the rain/drizzle wasn't stopping. A lot of pros showed up for the race. The Endurance Sports Awards were Saturday night so there were some fast mofo's in town. Conrad Stoltz, Sam Mcglone, Heather Fuhr and a some other guys and girls I didn't recognize. There were also a lot of of other local fast runners out there including newly turned pro Mac Brown (he gave me some props on his blog).

First race in the 30+ AG!


Getting ready in the truck trying to stay dry.


The course was super muddy and the first mile was like running on a slip and slide. Through the first mile and into the first climb I was in the top 10. I started to make my move on the tougher climbs and was quickly in 2nd place. At mile 3, at the top of a super steep climb I caught and passed the leader and then bombed the descent to open up a gap. I kept pushing on the climbs and then running wide-open on the downhills.

When I got to the the infamous 1000 Steps I was all alone and could not see anybody else... anywhere. I power walked the steps with my hands on my knees. This was actually faster than trying to run because they were so steep. When I reached the top I looked back and the 2nd place guy was just hitting the base so I knew I had a big, unexpected lead and the rest of the race was pretty much downhill. So I just put in cruise control and kept the pace high.

I was able keep my lead and was having a blast running on the rocky single track and creek crossings. With 1.5 miles to go I reached a "T" intersection and was told to go right when I should have went left. After a mile down the road I new something wasn't right and doubled back. Once I got back on course I had run and extra mile and was way out of contention. Bummer.

I trucked on to the finish where I heard them say Conrad had won the race. I didn't even see him on the course. I was bummed at first because it would have been my first overall win of any kind and to beat Conrad Stoltz in any kind of race would have been awesome. I got over it quick because I was just so stoked with how I ran and that it actually felt pretty easy considering the course and the week of training I had put in. I definitely love off road racing and can't wait to give it another crack. Stand alone trail races are definitely in my future.

Beth also had a killer race but we didn't stick around for the results. It was still raining and we were muddy and cold.

here's some date from the race... nice high HR!
9.73 miles (1 mile off course)
2311ft of elevation gain
1:12:19
avg HR: 186
max HR: 202


Have a good one and check the new blog Beth and I have started. It will chronicle out cooking, eating, and drinking (not too much of this anymore... the season is underway!) adventures. Vo2 Maxxed (thanks the name Jeff!)