Kodiak 100K

I ran the Kodiak 100K in Big Bear, California in August. Prior to moving to the desert, the Kodiak ultras were not really on my radar. I'd heard of them but never had interest in running them. I can't remember why, but whatever reason I might have had (the name makes you think Alaska, not SoCal?) was dumb, because the race is great.

This year in ultra distances they offered 100K and 100 miles. I wanted to save a bit of my legs for the Mogollon Monster in September, so I wasn't interested in the full 100 miles. I was excited to sign up for what is basically the "local" race, or the closest ultra to my house of which I'm aware, in mountains that I can see from my front yard. I also signed up with my one local running buddy, though he eventually did not feel confidently prepared and withdrew, and Nano actually signed up last minute as a final adventure before he went off to the Himalaya.

The pre-race set up was fine, though I would have preferred if there were race morning check in. The race gets financial support from the town, and maybe that's a stipulation, since obviously it makes more people pay to stay locally if they can't check in on race morning. However, as a quasi-local, it would have been nice to just get up early and drive up, rather than staying at our friend's cabin, which isn't all that much closer to the start than our house. So basically I did way too much driving on windy roads to get checked in and get to the start. If I had it to do over again, I'd just drive up by myself and stealth camp somewhere the night before--there's plenty of National Forest land.

After slow second halves at Black Hills and Canyons, I wanted to give a slow start a try. (It works for Yuch!) So I took it easy from the start--meaning I saw Nano at the start and then never again. So no 9- or 10-minute miles at the start; my second mile took almost 17 minutes. 

I really just wanted to feel good the whole day, despite the heat. I took my time at aid stations, forcing myself to eat a lot and drink lots of icy Gatorade. I was very happy that they had plenty of ice and that the sports drink was Gatorade, not gross fancy Tailwind. There's a big climb out of Siberia Creek at mile 22, and I passed several people there, but didn't feel like I was pushing it too hard. Cold watermelon at the aid station at the top on Rim of the World highway was so good it brought tears to my eyes. 

A long stretch from mile 30-40 was hot and exposed, but the aid station did a good job of warning us, so I drank a lot of icy beverages and felt like I handled it well. I screwed up at the mile 40 aid station though--I just drank the warm Gatorade that I'd put in my drop bag rather than getting icy beverages from the aid station. I also changed from my more maximally cushioned Hoka Challengers to Brooks Cascadias. They obviously have less cushion, but I figured they were fresh and a change of shoes and socks would be better. Warm beverages and less shoe cushion were two dumb ideas, and I went from 13 minute miles to 15+ minute miles for the next while. 

It was soon getting dark and I slowed down a bit more. I got more annoyed than usual by other runners turning their lights on before it's actually dark, especially the new Kogalla Ra lamp that's just insanely bright. I'll probably end up getting one myself eventually, but I've never enjoyed it when other runners near me turn on lights early. Maybe it's a hiker thing, or maybe I have better than average night vision, or maybe this is a self-inflicted time penalty because if I sucked it up and turned on my light earlier I'd see better and I could run faster, but regardless, unless it's actually dark out, I don't like turning on my light, and don't like when other runners' lights come along and mess with my night vision. 

Finally I got to the second-to-last aid station. I was a little confused about how much was left, since from this aid station there was an out-and-back/lollipop before the finish. With that resolved, I just kept moving and finished in 17 hours and 40 minutes. (All the aid stations had big signs indicating current mileage, mileage to next aid station, and an elevation profile of the distance to the next aid; this was excellent and I commend the RD for it.)

No, I definitely did not have even splits. But maybe they were closer to even than they would have been if I'd gone hard at the start? Hard to say. My main takeaway is that the course is beautiful and I highly recommend it. I have been a few places on the course previously--some is on the PCT, some I saw on my 2009 made up alternate to the PCT (Siberia Creek, after I did the San Bernardino Divide peaks) and some I saw when we were based in Crestline and I just goofed around on a run outside Big Bear. Putting those all together and having unexpected "Oh, I've been here before" moments (without having run the entire race before) was fun. 

The 100K course goes 3/4 of the way around Big Bear Lake, and the 100 mile course is a full loop. I really think the course is spectacular, and I recommend it. I don't remember the San Diego 100 course all that well, but I do remember Angeles Crest, and I think that Kodiak might be the best course of all three of them. My only suggestion for improvement would be for the RD to have duct tape and markers available for drop bag labeling in the morning, in case people forget to do it at home.