My buddy Payro -- my running/training partner in arms -- has been in town the past two weeks and yesterday he ran a 50 mile race through a good portion of Marin County (Sausalito to Bolinas and back through the broadside of Mount Tam). We generally do these epic sorts of races together and it was a bit weird for him to be out there without me. That being said, I wasn't nearly fit enough to be running at that distance/difficulty level.
So, for the first time ever I was reduced to being a crew member and yet I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. I was out there for about 11 hours in total driving from spot to spot, setting up mini camp, filling water bottles, and getting in my own run(s) when I could (12 plus miles in total) but all in all it was super good fun and it was very rewarding to be out there helping a friend. Definitely an enjoyable way to spend a day.
Payro absolutely killed this course and finished in 10 hours, 26 minutes; nearly 45 minutes ahead of what he predicted. Some of this was attributable to Coach Phil (who we share as coach), but most of the credit goes to good, hard training on Payro's part. Anyway, all in all it was a super fun day all around.
Today, we woke up late (actually, he woke up late. I woke up and went biking), had some breakfast and in celebration of the 10,000 calories that he burned yesterday, we cruised out to Bolinas for beers and Oysters.
I was thinking about this today; if I had to pick a place, today, to retire, I'd without question pick Bolinas. In my opinion, it's close to Utopia. The residents evidently agree, which is probably a good reason why you will never find a road sign directing you to Bolinas. You kind of have to know where you are going. Payro and I were talking and family, etc. etc aside I really need four things in life to be content: my trail shoes, mountain bike, road bike and a surf board.
1 comment:
Just a few comments to make here for Howard and the other blog readers:
- Howard was indeed a great crew; he had everything I needed when I needed it. It made the race a lot easier knowing that he'd be meeting me. We've run enough races together now to know what the other needs and when they need it. It took one worry completely away from me. All I worried about was the 8,200 feet of climb and descent, which proved challenging but doable.
- It was a pretty much a perfect race - no stomach issues, no bonking, no tough mental stretches, great weather, and I ran a negative split (faster the second half than the first, which is a bit odd in an ultra). But I passed many people in that second half, which was fun.
- Thanks to great coaching from Phil Cutti (introduced to me by Howard), I not only did well in the race, but I am recovering better than I could imagine. Two days after the race, and only minor soreness and aches. Howard's comment? "You didn't go hard enough". Which may be true, but I am also using this as a hard training run for a 100 miler in November, if the timing and training works out right.
So, long comment, but big thanks to Howard for letting me crash at his place for a long weekend, and then giving up a beautiful day for crewing. Also thanks to Phil and my family who came out to cheer - that stuff makes a difference.
CP
Post a Comment