Old Goats Report

It was a good weekend.

And we're off!
photo by Elissa Price

photo by Lynne Cao

Got to intermittently yell up at Dom and run with Jesse for the first 20 miles.  These guys are both good friends and I don't think I've ever spent this many miles racing with a buddy so close, good times.

Jesse & I running together... like the Solomon guys.
photo by Ivan Buznik

I wasn't feeling too hot the first 20 miles.  Probably had to do with Dom going out faster than I felt comfortable running, my legs felt heavy, and I just felt kind of sleepy.  I told Jesse, I'm just gonna hibernate until mile 25 or so.  After running through Blue Jay Campground around mile 21 I woke up a little bit and got moving.

photo by Gary Wang

Legs felt better and for the first time all day I wanted to go run Dom down.  I passed him just before the Trabucco Aid Station.  Filled up my bottle and headed down the fun, rocky single track towards Holy Jim AS.  Ran into Jon Clark out snapping pictures and encouraging all of us in the race.  Great seeing you out there Jon!

Pushed it pretty hard up the 7 mile climb to Santiago Peak.  Could have used an extra water bottle as I used up all my water.  Felt faint and dry heaved a bit near the top, but felt a lot better after turning around for a couple miles of easy decent.  Passed by Jesse and then Dom on this out and back section and calculated that I had about 15 minutes on them.  Sweet.

I was a little too comfortable with my lead and didn't push it quite as hard as I could have.  I didn't want to cramp, or fall, or do anything to jeopardize my lead, so I ran the last 13 conservatively.  Still slid in a couple minutes quicker than I did last year.  My Wolfpack brethren finished in 2nd place, then the Unicorn.

photo by Chandra Farnham

Once again, Steve Harvey put on a flawless event.  Great aid stations, and tons of them, packed with awesome volunteers dishing out all kinds of aid station fare.  Not only does he, his wife Ann and other family and friends put on a solid event, he's a good guy.  Thanks for everything Steve!  Love the swag this year: hat, shirt, coffee mug, winners gift certificate for a hand made leather belt, and Vanessa Run's new book.

Post race I got to put my feet up, drink soda, beer, eat hamburgers right off the grill, hang with a bunch of good friends on a warm sunny day up in the mountains.  Does it get any better?

The day after I got to help Katie (above far right) celebrate the big 3-0, by taking a short hike with a bunch of friends up to skull rock in the Santa Monica Mtns. to watch the sun set as we looked down on Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean.   I'm lucky to have a bunch of awesome friends =)

Next up:

ZANE GREY 50M!