Wanderers Go Coast To Coast
To run Toughest Trail Races

by Wanderers West Coast Correspondent Steve Carnage

On Sunday, March 4th, I tackled the Montana de Oro 12K trail race.  I've run workouts on these trails, and they are NOT easy (or for those runners with a fear of heights - see pictures).  As is customary, I'll start with my reasons for a poor performance:

1. overweight,
2. no speed workouts,
3. no races in 8 months,
4. I was sick all week and only ran 2 days.

The race begins easily enough, with a 2 mile section on a trail along the bluffs overlooking the ocean (see the picture below).  But eventually you do need to get to the top of Valencia Peak (1,347 ft. - you can see it in the background).  One indication of the toughness of this race is that the 12K course record was 1:06:13 - about an 8:55 pace.  The day was perfect; clear and sunny, mid-50's at the start.  My race was not.

While the motto of the PC Trail Runs is "Runs that aren't races in Beautiful Places", a lot of people in this race must not have been aware of this.  A few eager runners started out at what looked to be a 5K pace from the start.  I began running with one of my old college cross-country teammates.  Tom and I went out at a good pace, but with a sense of dread of the uphills that begin at 2 miles and end at the top at about 5.5 miles (giving a long 2 mile downhill to the finish). Besides the uphills, the trails morph from wide, well-packed gravel to rocky, single-track.

The first section of the climb is a wide fire road.  Here Tom exhibited his superior conditioning by easily pulling away - leaving me to face the 3 mile climb alone.  Even though I haven't done any fast training or races, my body didn't mind the fast pace for the first couple of miles.  However, once we reached the hills, I was immediately notified I would no longer be running "comfortably".  Or fast.  Or even running all the time.

The second climb starts gradually. The first two switchbacks even allow you to run at a good pace.  Switchbacks number 3, 4, 5, and 6 force you to adjust your thinking and pace.  It was somewhere in here I went into survival mode and ended up walking for the first time.  This worried me, because in all my training runs on these trails I had been able to maintain at least a jog on all but the steepest trails.  It also worried me because I knew the next climb was about 2 miles long and included the above mentioned steepest trails.

I began the 3rd climb struggling so much I mentally decided to stay straight on the trail and finish with the 8K runners instead of turning right and finishing the 12K.  This is important because the 8K runners have a net climb of about 800', while the 12K climbs about 1,650'.  The Valencia Peak trail climbs about 850' in the next mile.  So I was prepared in my mind to forego the last climb.  However, at the intersection, my body turned right, onto Valencia Peak trail.  I could hear my mind screaming in protest and demanding we turn around and go back.  Unfortunately for my mind, it was trapped in my body, which decided to go on.

My memories of the last climb is vague.  I remember a lot of walking up steep, rocky trails and feeble attempts to move in a running-like motion.  The views from these trails really are beautiful, as you can see from the pictures I took when my daughter and I hiked up in the fall.  The only thing I remember from the race is the trail itself.  The last switchbacks to the peak are made more hazardous because of the turn-around at the peak.  For about a mile, you're forced to share a single-track trail at 1,300 feet.

In my training I viewed the last stretch of downhill (almost 2 miles) as a chance to make up some time lost on the uphill sections.  At this point in the race however, my quads were shot and refused to participate in any fast-type running, and the rocky trail was not easy to run fast downhill (very similar to the Wissahickon).  There were also two long sections with railroad ties across the trail to prevent erosion, which created terraces with 1 to 2 foot steps to leap down.  My mantra down the hills was "Don't kill yourself - don't kill yourself."

I succeeded with the not-killing-myself part, and I ended up finishing 7th in the 12K.  My time was slow - the first and last 2 mile stretches helped me get my per mile pace under 10:00.  The first-place runner broke the course record by more than 11 minutes (about 7:21 per mile average), but he was the only runner to finish in under an hour.  My friend Tom finished fourth.  I think my illness last week did hurt my performance, but now I have a goal for next year.  And some very sore quads.

Steve Carney WW Left Coast Correspondent

Event Photos

Valencia Peak, all 1,347 feet of it!

Appearances can be deceiving. This looks like paradise, but it really is the road to hell!!

View from the top. Look out quads, it's all downhill from here.

Another view from the top.

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