Austin Violette and Bill Finkbeiner Finish the Race
Originally I had hoped to run this race in about 9 hours, but when it became clear that it was going to be extremely hot (93 degrees), I adjusted my estimated time of arrival to about 10 hours.
Runners at the Start, Mount Peavine in the Background
I finished in 10:03, 10th place overall (4th in my AG) out of approximately 80 or 90 starters. Only about half of the starters actually finished the race. Eric Skaden came in first place, Sean Meissner came in third, and Tim Twietmeyer came in fourth place. Other finishers include Gretchen and Sigurd Asp (Tahoe Triple), it was great to see you guys again.
After leaving the prerace briefing, we all had some fear about the course markings, but other than a small third-of-a-mile detour at the very beginning of the race, everything was very well marked and easy to find. The volunteers were awesome and came running to mist the runners off with cool water. I ate lots of refreshing watermelon slices and soaked myself at every aid station.
Grass Valley's Donn Zea Brings it Home
I ran some parts of the last 11 miles with Auburn's Matt Lambert, which was a lot of fun. All in all, I was quite pleased with the result and, apart from a few bad patches, with how good I felt during and after the race. It was a very tough run, but I was able to keep a pretty good overall pace despite the heat.
Tim Twietmeyer (4th in 9:05) and Other Runners Relax After the Race
The course has more than 9,200 feet of ascent and more than 9,200 feet of descent. Most fun: the 5-mile downhill from mile 28 to mile 33, literally flying down the single track. Least fun: Turning around and going back up for a brutal, 6-mile stretch with over 3000' of elevation gain and running out of water with over a mile left to go to the next aid station.
Sweet Singletrack!
Congratulations to 16-year old Austin Violette, who finished his first 50-mile race in just over 12 hours. Way to go, Austin! Not sure if he could have picked a much harder course (elevation+altitude+heat).
Austin and I at the End of the Day, With the Race Course in the Background
Reno's Chris Badolato looked us up at the finish line and after the race he took us to the river to get the legs iced in cold water. Chris had traded places with Austin and me, and he had won the Animal Save 5K run in Grass Valley in 17:03 earlier that day (Great job).
Garmin Forerunner Details: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=5705285
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6 comments:
Great to see you at the race, Peter. Nice runnin' in tough conditions. I fully agree on the best and worst parts! I didn't realize the person you drove there with was 16 year old Austin...man, what a stud! And for him to finish with legendary Bill F is pretty awesome!
I just looked at your Garmin data and I think I like the elevation gain/loss on that better than what the website says.
Great job, and way to crank out the report fast (I've got the busy week problem too).
Glad to know you finished well in the SS50M. Congrats!
What a scenic course! Just too far for Bay Area runners like me :-(
Chihping
Great job Peter, it was definitely a tough day. I ran briefly with Austin, but I didn't realize he was so young. Pass on my huge congrats and respect to him...you are right, he could hardly have picked a tougher day and course for a first 50!
peter - very nice run in some pretty crazy conditions. i guess that windy training run we did really paid off for you :-)
cheers - alan
Great job, Peter. It sounds like you guys had some tough conditions but you held together well!
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