Wow... Ultra runners are whack.. They are in a World all their own.. I had no idea what I was thinking when I signed up for this race that was 3 weeks after the LA 26.2.. I suffered thru that race with bronchitis and just terrible race organization.. With the heat,(only about 70 but still ugly) the hills in the first 7 miles, and being ill, LA tore me up. My legs were trash after pushing for a 5:12 finish time.

When I recovered from that race I knew that the 50K offered a better course, much better weather and no crowds. There were (3) races going on at the same time so you just picked what distance you wanted to run.. 50K, 50 miles, or 100K.. Jump-off time was 0630 for everyone to a grey, overcast, cool morning. (83) total racers toed the line for the start after a very friendly pep talk from the RD..

We started right on time and quickly spread out along the course. There were (2) aide stations, one on each side of the lake and thank God for the dirt trail along side the blacktop path.. I stayed to my 7 - 1 walk breaks and felt pretty good after the first (2) loops.. I felt I had a 26.2 PR in me so I pushed for it. I hit that at 4:54 and was very happy and took an extra few minutes to just stop. BIG mistake....Big, HUGE....

It took almost 5 min to get that sock back down the throat of my evil twin to shut her up, casue she kept yelling at me to STOP! I slowed down to a dead-man shuffle and really tried but just had a hard time getting going again. With a couple of miles to go I knew I was in trouble when a race-walker passed me.. Then a 65 year old woman passed me, and to top it off a 70 year old ex-Marine just cruized right on by.. But, that was OK.. I had the finish line in sight and crossed it and was very satisfied. The ex-Marine gave me a high five and others were happy for the ultra "newbie".

This is a fun, well-supported local race with great volunteers. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to go that extra "5" miles. I guess you know you have been running waaaay too long when you have perfected mouth breathing to overcome the stench in a ripe public port-a-potty.. ;)-

Nothing... I enjoyed this race in a sick sort of way....

Switching between the warm kiddy pool, the jacuzzi, then the main pool at the Jewish Community Center about 5 times, really helped my legs..


nothing... the pace was just right for the first one..


It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. To push past the extra 5 miles beyond the 26.2 distance is all mental. If you can do a 26.2, you can do a 50K.. Give one a try... When it was all over, I was 38/52 for the 50K finishers, 9/19 for the women and I took my age group.. Couldn't have asked for more..

Well, maybe that the race-walker would have tripped, just a little, so I could have finished ahead of him? Maybe next time???