Quicksilver 100k.
Shortly after finishing just my second 50 mile run, I was waiting to volunteer at our big local race, the Quicksilver 100k. Without much warning, I got a late invite off the waiting list to run the stupid race with just 10 days notice! Being the idiot I am, of course I accepted.
10 days, before I run 62 miles and 13,000+ ft of climbing. And up the infamous Dog Meat, a section I'd purposely avoided. But it would provide me an unexpected Western States qualifier.
By chance, I ran into the Ginger Runner, Ethan Newberry at our local Starbucks. I couldn't tell him much about the course, except that the section named "Dead Kennedy Rollers" was not section of nice gentle rollers but a series of steep 15-20% grade up and down hills - a timely reward after climbing 4 miles and 2,000+ ft up Dog Meat.
The course start was very informal, almost like a Fat Ass run. Greg, our local RD, just guided us to a point before he decided it was "good enough" to start. The run starts at 4:30 AM, dark enough that Greg warned us to stay in groups to guard against mountain lions. Great.
Steep climbs start from the get-go, giving us time to warm our legs. And a lap around a cemetery, to warm out spirits. Speaking of warming up, May is an infamously warm time for running in San Jose., but somehow we lucked into a foggy morning. Fog into the cemetery, fog into the San Cristobal mine, and fog up Bald Mountain. And still more climbing, up Woods Rd to the highest point on the course to the Kennedy Trail A/S, above the fog, if only for a few minutes.
After the summit, there is a 5 mile long descent down Limekiln trail, and a very brief quarter mile paved section to the next trailhead, followed by 6 miles of uphill. Do we ever get a flat section to run? The sun came out for good while I was climbing Dog Meat. Fortunately, this course isn't 100% in the sun, just half, but that's more than enough for me.
The next steep downhill section did a number on my knees forcing me to take a 5-minute stretching break on Woods Rd coming down. It's 6 miles from Kennedy A/S to Hicks, and 4 of those are flat. The first virtually flat section we had but long, nonetheless. The descent from Hicks to Hacienda is technical, shaded and fun, but that innocent looking section to Mockingbird is chock full of short, very steep, exposed fire roads.
The climb up to Bull Run is not as bad as it looks on paper. At least it's mostly shaded. The trails get intricate though, and I saw but somehow missed the rock scramble. OK, Greg, I'm admitting this in public now. I didn't do 100% of the course.The remainder of the course in the official Almaden Park is reasonably easy. The first 10 miles or so are single track, the remainder on fire roads, but for me at least, the sun was setting and the air was cooling off.
Nearing the finish, I notice that people are either fast finishers, or like me, they capitulate. With just 3 miles to go, and over an hour to go to make the 16-HR Western States qualifier cutoff, I let off the gas. I also had digestive issues at this point - something I hadn't experienced in either of my previous 50 miler attempts. I had stopped eating after mile 53, and was running low on blood sugar. Still, I made the cutoff at 15:35, and that's all that mattered. Brutal course, satisfactory finish.
10 days, before I run 62 miles and 13,000+ ft of climbing. And up the infamous Dog Meat, a section I'd purposely avoided. But it would provide me an unexpected Western States qualifier.
By chance, I ran into the Ginger Runner, Ethan Newberry at our local Starbucks. I couldn't tell him much about the course, except that the section named "Dead Kennedy Rollers" was not section of nice gentle rollers but a series of steep 15-20% grade up and down hills - a timely reward after climbing 4 miles and 2,000+ ft up Dog Meat.
The course start was very informal, almost like a Fat Ass run. Greg, our local RD, just guided us to a point before he decided it was "good enough" to start. The run starts at 4:30 AM, dark enough that Greg warned us to stay in groups to guard against mountain lions. Great.
Steep climbs start from the get-go, giving us time to warm our legs. And a lap around a cemetery, to warm out spirits. Speaking of warming up, May is an infamously warm time for running in San Jose., but somehow we lucked into a foggy morning. Fog into the cemetery, fog into the San Cristobal mine, and fog up Bald Mountain. And still more climbing, up Woods Rd to the highest point on the course to the Kennedy Trail A/S, above the fog, if only for a few minutes.
After the summit, there is a 5 mile long descent down Limekiln trail, and a very brief quarter mile paved section to the next trailhead, followed by 6 miles of uphill. Do we ever get a flat section to run? The sun came out for good while I was climbing Dog Meat. Fortunately, this course isn't 100% in the sun, just half, but that's more than enough for me.
The next steep downhill section did a number on my knees forcing me to take a 5-minute stretching break on Woods Rd coming down. It's 6 miles from Kennedy A/S to Hicks, and 4 of those are flat. The first virtually flat section we had but long, nonetheless. The descent from Hicks to Hacienda is technical, shaded and fun, but that innocent looking section to Mockingbird is chock full of short, very steep, exposed fire roads.
The climb up to Bull Run is not as bad as it looks on paper. At least it's mostly shaded. The trails get intricate though, and I saw but somehow missed the rock scramble. OK, Greg, I'm admitting this in public now. I didn't do 100% of the course.The remainder of the course in the official Almaden Park is reasonably easy. The first 10 miles or so are single track, the remainder on fire roads, but for me at least, the sun was setting and the air was cooling off.
Nearing the finish, I notice that people are either fast finishers, or like me, they capitulate. With just 3 miles to go, and over an hour to go to make the 16-HR Western States qualifier cutoff, I let off the gas. I also had digestive issues at this point - something I hadn't experienced in either of my previous 50 miler attempts. I had stopped eating after mile 53, and was running low on blood sugar. Still, I made the cutoff at 15:35, and that's all that mattered. Brutal course, satisfactory finish.
The Best Quicksilver 100k video. I'm sure you've seen it.
There's room for running in there somewhere.
Dog Meat
And these "rollers" come after Dog Meat
My daughter pacing me into Mockingbird A/S.
Comments
Post a Comment