San Diego 50
Not having grown up in one place, San Diego is the closest thing I have to a home town. I lived here for 27 years, went to college and graduate school, surfed from La Jolla to Oceanside, bought a home or three, got married and divorced and married again, and had both kids born here,. It's only fitting that my first "real" ultramarathon should also be in San Diego.
Technically, an ultramarathon is any distance over a regular 26.2 mile marathon. I've even heard of a 27 mile "world's shortest ultramarathon". I ran the Jungfrau marathon, which took as much time as one and a half marathons with all its mountain climbing. I also ran a couple of official 50 km races, with 4,000 to 7,000 ft of climbing. Yet, I didn't feel like doing just an extra 4 miles really counts as an "ultra" marathon. The San Diego 50 would fit the bill.
Compared to my prior ultramarathons, the San Diego looked like a piece of cake. Just 5,000 ft of gain with no major climbs. And held in January, so heat should not be an issue.
Mid-westerners take note, January in San Diego can be warm. The morning started off cool but by mid-day, I'm sure it was 75F. There is pretty much zero shade on this course, too, so I'm sure I came home bronzed from all that sun exposure.
The course starts in a farming community east of Escondido, not far from the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, or whatever they are calling it these days. The farms are quite beautiful, more than I could have expected. Our group trot up the double wide trail, and the single track up our lone "mountain" was uneventful. The trail then followed the San Diego river, flat as a pancake as it headed into the city. A brief section on paves trails to the aid station and we were back on wide double track trails along Lake Hodges.
This section of the trail is scenic, by some standards anyway. At least it wasn't urban. The rolling trails weren't much of a problem and I soon reached the 20 mile A/S ahead of schedule. My brother had just arrived when I got there.
It was the next section down a canyon and then up to the turnaround (it's an out-and-back course) where fatigue and injury set in. I hurt my ankle on a descent and that slowed me the rest of the way.
By the time I met my brother again at the same, now mile 30, aid station, I sat down for a 20 minute break. In retrospect, way too long.
The rollers along the lake were by now debilitating. Each was short, no more than 20 ft, but steeper on my tired legs than the first time around on fresh legs.
The heat was relenting since mile 20. Not a spot of shade. Seeing a creek, I dunked my bandana in the creek. OK, it was cool, but stinky. I don't know if it's really dirty or just the plants down there. I will never do that again.
I will do the San Diego 50 again some day, though. It may not be the most beautiful course around, but it's scenic enough, and the few hills and runnable course will make for a better outing the next time around when I'm better prepared. And I'm now a "real " ultra runner!
Technically, an ultramarathon is any distance over a regular 26.2 mile marathon. I've even heard of a 27 mile "world's shortest ultramarathon". I ran the Jungfrau marathon, which took as much time as one and a half marathons with all its mountain climbing. I also ran a couple of official 50 km races, with 4,000 to 7,000 ft of climbing. Yet, I didn't feel like doing just an extra 4 miles really counts as an "ultra" marathon. The San Diego 50 would fit the bill.
Compared to my prior ultramarathons, the San Diego looked like a piece of cake. Just 5,000 ft of gain with no major climbs. And held in January, so heat should not be an issue.
Mid-westerners take note, January in San Diego can be warm. The morning started off cool but by mid-day, I'm sure it was 75F. There is pretty much zero shade on this course, too, so I'm sure I came home bronzed from all that sun exposure.
The course starts in a farming community east of Escondido, not far from the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, or whatever they are calling it these days. The farms are quite beautiful, more than I could have expected. Our group trot up the double wide trail, and the single track up our lone "mountain" was uneventful. The trail then followed the San Diego river, flat as a pancake as it headed into the city. A brief section on paves trails to the aid station and we were back on wide double track trails along Lake Hodges.
This section of the trail is scenic, by some standards anyway. At least it wasn't urban. The rolling trails weren't much of a problem and I soon reached the 20 mile A/S ahead of schedule. My brother had just arrived when I got there.
It was the next section down a canyon and then up to the turnaround (it's an out-and-back course) where fatigue and injury set in. I hurt my ankle on a descent and that slowed me the rest of the way.
By the time I met my brother again at the same, now mile 30, aid station, I sat down for a 20 minute break. In retrospect, way too long.
The rollers along the lake were by now debilitating. Each was short, no more than 20 ft, but steeper on my tired legs than the first time around on fresh legs.
The heat was relenting since mile 20. Not a spot of shade. Seeing a creek, I dunked my bandana in the creek. OK, it was cool, but stinky. I don't know if it's really dirty or just the plants down there. I will never do that again.
I will do the San Diego 50 again some day, though. It may not be the most beautiful course around, but it's scenic enough, and the few hills and runnable course will make for a better outing the next time around when I'm better prepared. And I'm now a "real " ultra runner!
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