So the 101 yesterday at Clear Lake was my longest race to date, and I had a great experience.
First, I met a bunch of neat people; don’t know if they post here since I’m pretty new to the forum, but hi to Dominic and Alaina and Rudy and Hillary etc. etc. anyway. I wanted to find the Slowtwitch contingent Sunday morning but some last-minute details with my bike prevented me from saying hi. Looking through some pics, though, my hunch was right that the mysterious fellow out on the course was a ST spotter. Hi Monty!
Second, the volunteer and spectator support, as noted elsewhere, was SPECTACULAR. Best-supported race I’ve ever been to. Huge props to all the volunteers, CHP, Lakeport PD, Lake County Sheriffs, etc. Many of the volunteers, especially on the run course, went far above and beyond what most would do. And to see spectators here and there all along the course was really cool too. What a supportive community…still can’t quite believe it.
And third, the race itself: there was more wind on the bike than I expected that early in the morning, but it was reasonably flat anyway. The out-and-back portion of the lap along Scotts Valley Road was awesome. Windy but flat road, great scenery, and some shade here and there.
I’m kind of stunned that many people never took the time to check out the run course beforehand. I heard quite a few people commenting after the race how surprised they were by the run course. I’m just really glad that I took the time to familiarize myself with the imminent pain…
Near disaster in T1. The changing tents were chaos, and somebody else ended up with my helmet, which was in my gear bag. A helpful volunteer located it at the other end of the transition area… Bike was uneventful after that. I had some blisters pop up around mile 11 of the run, but fortunately, I only felt them until about mile 14 when my legs started to hurt. I ended up about 200 calories short of my planned intake, but I never felt like I was behind. My run pace dropped off a bit on the second lap, but I never walked. I ended up coming in at 7:34, well ahead of my 7:50 goal time, so I’m super happy with my preparation and my performance.
Oh yeah, and my quads are pulverized.
All in all, many more thanks to the race administration, volunteers, and Lakeport itself. I had a blast meeting a bunch of cool people and raced well, so I’ll call it a gold star day!
this is the one negative comment i heard more than once, that the run, pretty hilly, featured some fairly steep descents that were quad-breakers. i suspect they may change the run course next year to take those out.
Thanks Dan. Sounds like a good excuse to me! While I was ready to chalk my quads up to “long race,” their relative condition compared to the rest o’ me indicates otherwise. Rest o’ me is fine…
Awesome job out there! Congrats on crushing your goal and having a great race on your longest distance yet! What a great race!! It was nice meeting you and I hope we can race the 101 again (maybe with an easier run course?)!
Awesome job out there! Congrats on crushing your goal and having a great race on your longest distance yet! What a great race!! It was nice meeting you and I hope we can race the 101 again (maybe with an easier run course?)!
Thanks! Fo sho. Texas?
A detail I forgot:
Coming down the last hill (Boggs to 20th hairpin), I came up on a guy pretty quick and offered some words of encouragement. We chatted for no more than 30 seconds, and I told him to “make it hurt so good.” At those words, he freakin’ took off, and in the last mile and a half, put 1:30 on me.
As it turns out (we didn’t have our ages on our calves as is customary), he was in my age group and took 1st in the AG.
I certainly don’t regret offering up the magic words, as he clearly had it in him. I do, however, find it a little ironic and mostly funny…
My only alternative would have been to never talk to anybody out on course all day and be all serious and cranky, and that’s just not my style. Makes me very glad that I was out there to race against myself first and everyone else second; otherwise I’d probably be pretty pissed.
Congrats Patrick for turning it on at the end! Certainly impressed me!
this is the one negative comment i heard more than once, that the run, pretty hilly, featured some fairly steep descents that were quad-breakers. i suspect they may change the run course next year to take those out.
sounds like you planned it well. congrats.
Races aren’t allowed to have tough run courses anymore? I was under the impression that my body was supposed to hurt after a long race.