What A Great Race

We ran the Oriflamme 50K Saturday March 20th and there were nothing but great results. Pictured above from left to right is Josh, Jim, myself and Dan. The four of us planned on finishing anywhere from 7 to 8 hours. We all ended up doing better, a lot better. This was Jim's first ultra and Dan's second. I was using this race as a training run for the San Diego 100.

John Martinez and myself

The Oriflamme is a new race and I must say John "El Cubano" Martinez did a perfect job as always. Thank you for such a great race John. And of course there is no race without those wonderful volunteers out there for us crazy folks. Thank you all!

The day started cold but then again I'm always cold. Due to it being cold I didn't get to mingle much before the race but I made up for it afterwards. I walked up to the start as John was on his 2 minute count down and just then Jim was walking out of the out house. We said our goodlucks and 5-4-3-2-1 and we're off at a blazing 2 MPH walk. When you have 80-100 runners on single track trail it bottle necks at first. The first 5 miles are all single track and there was a ton of traffic. As you see below we almost look like a cult walking to the top of a ridge.

Right before I got to to the Mason Valley Truck Trail Jeff caught up to me and we worked our way through the traffic. Once we got to to the truck trail Jim was a good 1/4 mile ahead. Knowing that we'd have to climb back up the canyon we took full advantage of the down hills and put the pedal down. Once Jeff and I finally caught up to Jim, Dan had caught up to us. The four of us, the three J's and Dan, took it easy on this flat section before we headed down the canyon.

The flat section before we go down. From left to right: Dan, Jeff and Jim.

We once again put that pedal down, to the best of our ability, as soon as the downhills came. The road leading down isn't your average gravel road as you can see below.


Unfortunately we ran into a runner that had twisted his ankle pretty bad. That's when we met Gretchen who was giving this poor guy some advice and pain relievers. We believe she told him to be a man and run it off. No, I'm just playing. She was being a typical ultra runner and taking time from her race to assist another runner.

Front to back: Zhi and Dave
We made it down to the first aid station where I saw some familiar faces. A few guys I work with were volunteering there. It's always nice to see familiar faces and aid stations. We were in and out and back on the trail in no time. From the first aid station to the next one, is a flat 5 mile section. Two problems with this section, your in the hot sun and at times it's like quick sand. At this point it's still the 3 J's (Jim, Jeff, myself and Dan). We met up with Gretchen and Rebecca and headed to the next aid station. Dan and I learned a lesson on this section. Lesson being don't take your eyes off the trail while taking pictures. We both ended up into some bushes.

San Diego Bad Rats Aid Station

The next aid station was loaded with rats, the San Diego Bad Rats. It only took me my first ultra to notice that anyone representing the Bad Rats is fast as hell. Not only did they take the day off from racing to assist us, they also made sure you were in and out and on your way. Thank you Bad Rats and everyone else at aid station #2.



Blair Valley: Jim, Dan and Jeff with his family.
The next section, Blair Valley, was mostly flat and sandy as we headed from aid station #2 to the turn around. John had stickers for us at the turn around and depending what sticker you grabbed, you could have won a prize. I just grabbed the first one I saw, a monkey. I'll spoil the ending... I didn't win a prize but Dan did. He got a pair of Dirty Girl Gaiters. The turn around is when my legs started feeling tired. Maybe it's the fact that we got down there a little after 2 1/2 hours of running. Which isn't fast for most but for me it was. Dan, Jim and Jeff were looking great at this point and we were headed back to the Bad Rats station. I refilled my backpack with some water, took some pictures and we were headed back to the Oriflamme Canyon. Jeff was no longer with us but we finally found Josh. We lost one J and picked up another J.

Front to back: Josh, Dan and Jim

This would be the last I would see of Dan and Jim until the finish. Josh and I went up ahead and I was feeling great. So good that I ended up running ahead on my own. This is where I was surprised to see Doc (Dr. Runco). I found out he was fighting the flu all week and was feeling nauseous. He still finished with what I would call a good time.

Aid station #1 on the way back






Once leaving this aid station it's all uphill for a good 5 miles. I got to take some good pictures and work on my walking. I was able to run (walk) with Josh for a good portion of this section. That made the time and miles go by faster. But at this point you just look forward to finishing.

One of my last looks at Oriflamme Canyon

Once up and out of Oriflamme we have another 2 miles on the Mason Valley Truck Trail until we hit the PCT. Along this part I ran with Sean. I was trying to learn as much as I could from Sean about 100 milers. He gave me some great advice. Once we hit the PCT he was off toward the finish. I had to slow down my pace because my stomach turned on me. Now I was really ready to get to that finish line.

Sean heading towards the finish

Around mile 25 I noticed I had a shot to actually finish in under 6 hours. I dug deep and pushed myself all the way to the finish. When I crossed the Sunrise Highway I knew I could do it. Once I saw those tents I had enough in me to sprint to the finish.

I did it! I finished in 5 hours and 56 minutes. Although I started the day thinking 7-8 hours I somehow got under 6. Jim and Dan both finished their first 50K's and they did a great job. I want to thank all the volunteers and John because we know without them there would be no race. I also have to thank my wonderful wife for putting up with all my long training days.

I did want to take it easy since it was a training run for the San Diego 100 miler but I'm glad I pushed myself. I now have more confidence going ahead. My goal for the 100 miler is to finish. Even if I finish in 30 hours I'll still be ecstatic. But the most important thing is that I raise awareness and money for the Wounded Warrior Project. There are 2 links on the side of this blog to get to my personal donation page. I'll also include one right here that you can copy and paste:

http://WWPProudSupporter.kintera.org/rookietrailrunner

Thank you all and until next time, Happy Running!
Jerry "El Tigre" England