Back On The Ranch 12 Hour Run

The “Back On The Ranch Trail Run” on Saturday, October 5 was my first opportunity to gauge where I am at with speed endurance. It was my first “A” race of the year and my first chance to push my new training mentality of practicing and preparing to race, as opposed to training to finish, or as I’ve been saying: play to win, rather than play not to lose.

To start off, I am so grateful to Luis Escobar and the incredible people he has around him and the passion and care that he puts into his races. The “Allwedoisrun” and “Borntorun” family is such a blessing to count myself a member of, and I love running into old friends and connecting with new passionate runners on the course. A few friendly faces were Manly working support and, of course, Michelle, Bobby, Amy and Todd who are staples at almost every event Luis puts on. There were also Sebastian and Madisyn, two runners about 13 years old who were there as celebrity guests and to run the 12 hour race along with dozens of other younger athletes as a part of the 100 Mile Club which aims at getting youth to a higher fitness level, especially with running.

I started my day at 3:00am in Los Angeles and packed up my gear, took a shower, and poured two large coffee cups for the drive to Santa Maria which takes about 3 and a half hours during the daylight hours, but I found out only takes 2 hours and 15 minutes in the middle of the night. I left at 3:45 and arrived at the ranch at 6:00am sharp. I of course parked in the grass right next to the other campers and tents and went to go check in. After check in, I asked the best place to set up my cooler and was told the ideal spot and that it really doesn’t matter, the only rule for the weekend was park anywhere except just not on the grass… I quickly went and dropped off my supplies and re-parked my car in the open gravel area.

At around 7:00am Luis mentioned that it just doesn’t feel right to have a Born to Run event without a beer mile to kick it off. I quickly debated and decided to myself that if I ran the mile at about the same pace I was planning on running the race that it shouldn’t affect my performance at all and the fact that it is Coors or PBR as the beer selection it’s pretty much like just hydrating with water pre-race. I decided to tell Luis that if he was serious I could pull a “Clemens” and complete a 15 – 20 minute beer mile. Luis found two others who did a relay beer mile (each drink two and then when they run their lap they have to push the other one in a wheelchair). The race was on. The first lap was nose to nose with the relay team, but that was the last of it. On lap two I quickly took the lead and never looked back. I ended up running my fastest beer mile ever in 11:28 and won the race winning a wrestling mask and a signature plastic toy shovel from Patrick Sweeney who also supplied the event with Pickle Juice which is surprisingly incredible and refreshing during a race.

There were a number of middle school runners and a few incredible groups most notably the 100 Mile Club. The founder (Kara Lubin) gave a quick presentation and talked about how this organization has infused a growing fervor to the young running community. Luis kicked off the race in usual fashion with us raising our right hands and swearing, “If I get lost, injured or die, it’s my own damn fault” a line made famous by the late Caballo Blanco. Luis also made a point to tell us to look off into the fields at the migrant workers and remember that these are individual people just like us. If you watch them closely, you’ll see some of them running just like you are to the trucks as they are transporting the strawberries. Luis pointed out that if you see them walking to the trucks those guys are getting paid by the hour, the ones that are running are getting paid by the basket.

We started the race approximately 10 minutes past 8am and we were off. I started the first few laps with a guy Jon that I had just met who was doing the 24-hour race, and the following weekend was planning on completing another 100 mile. He couldn’t turn down the opportunity it was only a $50 entrance fee, that’s like 50 cents a mile.

My goals for the day was to hit at least 50 miles and, if possible, complete a double marathon at 52.4 miles. In the true spirit of racing the course as opposed to playing it safe and just putting in the miles, I started out pretty fast and was knocking out 10 – 11 minute miles for the first half marathon. For a fleeting moment I actually had it in my mind that I might be able to hit the 100K mark (62 miles) in the 12 hours. That dream quickly faded as the heat started to pour on and my energy started to drop as well as my pace. I stayed pretty consistent figuring out which sections of the course made the most sense to walk and when to move back into a jog. I ran into half a dozen incredible people on the course that I had the opportunity to chat with. Names I remember are Emilia, Becky, Samantha, John, and Tommy. The company of new friends was nice amidst the repetitive laps.

At the 4-hour mark we all switched directions which gave us a chance to see every person as you shift to a seemingly new course. I must say that the starting direction felt like it had much more downhill and the reverse direction had a lot of gradual climbing. I know it’s not rational but that’s how it was. I managed to hit the marathon mark right at 5:30 which was about 1:30pm and right in the heat of the day. I was drinking an incredible amount of water and was being extremely vigilant at taking multiple salt tabs, drinking pickle juice and drinking Cokes to get the excessive sugar that is for me helpful in these events. My pace was slowing, but I was able to keep it consistent right around 16-minute miles which isn’t fast but is respectable for this long of an event.

I had started to think that I might have gone out too quickly and that maybe the heat was too much for me but around 3pm as we were closing in on the direction change at the 8 hour mark and then I could feel my energy start to pick up and my times started to drop into the 14 – 15 minute per mile range without any increase in effort.

At the direction change I started getting into a nice rhythm and now that I was back on the mostly downhill course, I was feeling pretty confident in being able to finish out the last third strong. Early on in the race I had some tightening of both my calves and feeling a little pounded out in my feet, but as the race went on these things subsided. Also, during the heat of the day, I was struggling with the start of a headache which I’m sure was heat induced but as long as I kept my speed slow it kept it at bay. In terms of food for the day I mainly ate bananas, potato chips, pancakes, a breakfast burrito, cream cheese wrapped in salami, apple sauce, Coke, Scratch nutrition, pickle juice, a grilled cheese sandwich, a tri tip sandwich, and some Doritos.

I decided to start picking up the pace the last two hours if my energy held up which would move me from covering 50 or 51 miles up to the stretch goal of 52.4. As the sun began to set over the beautiful course, I could feel my energy continue to rise along with it. Over 10 hours into the course I was running strong, my body felt incredible and this was by far the best I’ve ever felt at over 40 miles into a running event. I settled into a rhythm where I was hitting between high 13 and low 14-minute miles and walking the hills and certain sections and probably running about 70% of the miles. I calculated out the laps and I was going to finish with 39 laps and have about 6 minutes to spare. My official distance was going to be right at 52 miles, but I would just keep running until the 12-hour mark and finish up on my watch at 52.5. I was calculating the amount of liquid I had taken in during the day and after realizing I was drinking a bottle a lap during the heat, I’m pretty sure I took in close to 6 gallons of water… At 8.34 pounds per gallon that is approximately 50 pounds of liquids in one day! I feel that the years of ultra-training have really helped me to feel when I require more sodium, potassium, sugar, or just normal calories to keep going. I’ve been having issues in this recent year with calf cramping, and I’ve been associating it with undertraining but after this event I’m almost certain it is more closely related to low sodium/potassium levels.

The final hour was so much fun. I borrowed a flashlight as the sun went down and ran into another runner, Alexander who was struggling with not being able to eat food for the last few hours, so his speed was tapering off to the point where I was a good pacer for him. We ran together for almost 4 laps and when I walked, he walked. When I started jogging, he joined as well. It was good to have company in the dark and was a good time of fellowship. As we entered into the second to last lap, he began to pick up his pace so I told him to go ahead and run ahead and I’d see him at the end. I made it to the finish line one for what was going to be the final lap and told the timekeeper I was going to run out the last few minutes on my watch but that was my last official lap and their response was, “you still have 16 minutes” reminding me we had started the course a bit later than I had calculated.

That one statement was enough for my body to drop an incredible number of endorphins into my system, and I was off. I quickly began my bonus lap and felt as fresh as if I had just began running. My last few laps had been approximately 19 minutes so I would need to cut off about 3 minutes per mile to make the final cut off. I ran close to 90% of the final lap and in the middle of that mile I clicked on my Garmin, and I was right at 11-minute miles, so I was fairly confident I had it. The last half mile I picked up the pace and just felt stronger as I accelerated to the finish. As I reached the finish line at close to a sprint my body felt renewed and I crossed the line and did a quick celebration as my final lap was completed in just under 14 minutes, and I covered over 53.25 miles in 12 hours a new personal record (PR)!!! This was an incredible way to kick off my training year, and I’ll consider my first of four “A” races a resounding success. On to more adventures soon.