Paul, Ted and I drove up to Big Bear on Sat. We brought mountain bikes up for a Saturday afternoon ride before Sunday's race. I found a nice, supposedly easy family ride in my mountain biking guide just past Running Springs and we discovered that the book was outdated and the fire road had been paved. It turned out to be a nice climb and Ted showed off his prowess in the saddle as he easily pedaled up the hill. Paul, not being much of a cyclist, brought along a Wal-Mart special that had seen better days or more likely decades. Paul had the seat down as far as it could go so he had his knees pointing way out. He looked like an adult riding a tricycle until Ted and I convinced him to raise the seat about 4 inches. Later on the downhill, Paul showed off his bike handling skills by taking his own picture cruising downhill at 20 mph, right hand on the brakes, left hand holding his camera. I was riding behind him praying that he wouldn't crash and watching his back wheel wobble, knowing that he had practically no brake pads left. Paul survived that escapade but lost his $12 Ralph’s sun glasses. After the ride we drove into Big Bear to the Motel 6 and checked in.
Race morning started early. I was awakened by Paul at 5:15 as he repacked his baggage and packed up his sleeping bag. Apparently he couldn't sleep so he decided we deserved the same fate. I got out of bed at 5:30 and we left for the start at 6:15 while Ted stayed back hike 4 miles to a fast food breakfast joint and then catch up on his sleep. We met up with the OCTR crew at the start. We had around ten entrants between the 15 and 33 mile races. Our race went off in waves starting at 7:30 and Paul was in the 2nd wave and I was in the 5th and final wave. The course started with a nice long climb under the shade of a pine forest and dumped us out at 3.8 miles onto a fire road for a gradual decent of 500 fee before heading into another long climb out in the sun. The temps warmed up from 45 at the start to low 70's. At the top of the climb, we entered a long meandering single-track on a soft groomed trail with no rocks and I picked up my pace. This was one of the nicest trail sections I've run on in a while. It looped down and eventually led us back to the first section we had travelled for the final 3.8 miles downhill. On this last section, I really noticed the rocks and roots that didn't affect me much on the climb. I focused all my attention on lifting my feet and I managed to get down without taking a header. Paul's running partner, Jennifer, wasn't so lucky, she fell and broke her finger after Paul distracted her with his camera. I saw a few other bloody knees and arms back at the finish. Trail running can be a contact sport at times. I caught up to Paul and pased him around the 12 mile mark. He ran a great race considering that he'd just finished the Shadow of the Giants 50k the prior Saturday. Although the race starts at 6,700 feet and rises to 8,000 feet, I didn
't feel it too much bit then again I wasn't racing all out.
I ran a good chunk of the race with Laurie from Long Beach, a prospective new member for the OC Trail runners. It was her first trail race and she finished well up in her age group. Laurie kept me entertained with her tales about her road runner friends that she drove up with and all of their boring talk about their races and times. I plead guilty as charged.
Paul won a nice sweatshirt in the raffle and I still had a hard time convincing him that it was a net gain weekend for him since he was really struggling to accept the loss of his cheap sun glasses. He must have searched through his plentiful gear three or four times searching for those glasses. We also came home with those beautiful finisher's plates. I almost forgot to mention that I fit all my weekend gear into a backpack and Paul showed up with a full backpack and a large duffle bag full of stuff. I have no idea what he had in his bags but they were stuffed full. He also was kind enough to bring a cooler of drinks, 1 large bag of chips, 1 large bag of pretzels, 1 extra large tray of Oreo cookies and a few apples for sharing. In addition, for his own nourishment, he brought along a bag full of assorted power and energy bars. The man enjoys his food.
Race morning started early. I was awakened by Paul at 5:15 as he repacked his baggage and packed up his sleeping bag. Apparently he couldn't sleep so he decided we deserved the same fate. I got out of bed at 5:30 and we left for the start at 6:15 while Ted stayed back hike 4 miles to a fast food breakfast joint and then catch up on his sleep. We met up with the OCTR crew at the start. We had around ten entrants between the 15 and 33 mile races. Our race went off in waves starting at 7:30 and Paul was in the 2nd wave and I was in the 5th and final wave. The course started with a nice long climb under the shade of a pine forest and dumped us out at 3.8 miles onto a fire road for a gradual decent of 500 fee before heading into another long climb out in the sun. The temps warmed up from 45 at the start to low 70's. At the top of the climb, we entered a long meandering single-track on a soft groomed trail with no rocks and I picked up my pace. This was one of the nicest trail sections I've run on in a while. It looped down and eventually led us back to the first section we had travelled for the final 3.8 miles downhill. On this last section, I really noticed the rocks and roots that didn't affect me much on the climb. I focused all my attention on lifting my feet and I managed to get down without taking a header. Paul's running partner, Jennifer, wasn't so lucky, she fell and broke her finger after Paul distracted her with his camera. I saw a few other bloody knees and arms back at the finish. Trail running can be a contact sport at times. I caught up to Paul and pased him around the 12 mile mark. He ran a great race considering that he'd just finished the Shadow of the Giants 50k the prior Saturday. Although the race starts at 6,700 feet and rises to 8,000 feet, I didn
't feel it too much bit then again I wasn't racing all out.I ran a good chunk of the race with Laurie from Long Beach, a prospective new member for the OC Trail runners. It was her first trail race and she finished well up in her age group. Laurie kept me entertained with her tales about her road runner friends that she drove up with and all of their boring talk about their races and times. I plead guilty as charged.
Paul won a nice sweatshirt in the raffle and I still had a hard time convincing him that it was a net gain weekend for him since he was really struggling to accept the loss of his cheap sun glasses. He must have searched through his plentiful gear three or four times searching for those glasses. We also came home with those beautiful finisher's plates. I almost forgot to mention that I fit all my weekend gear into a backpack and Paul showed up with a full backpack and a large duffle bag full of stuff. I have no idea what he had in his bags but they were stuffed full. He also was kind enough to bring a cooler of drinks, 1 large bag of chips, 1 large bag of pretzels, 1 extra large tray of Oreo cookies and a few apples for sharing. In addition, for his own nourishment, he brought along a bag full of assorted power and energy bars. The man enjoys his food.
