Sean O'Brien 100K: Yep

I ran the Sean O'Brien 100K in Malibu Saturday. Mistakes were made, but I finished.

I haven't been training a lot in the last two months since my PR at CIM, and I'm mostly fine with that. It was nice to get my Western States qualifier out of the way early in the year, and it was nice to go to LA and see friends I haven't seen in a while. ("What!? You have an 11-year old kid? Wow, guess I really haven't seen you in a while.")

Anyway, the race was nice enough. It's got an 5:00AM start, which is good for getting the second climb in before the heat of the day, even though it made it for an early wake-up and cold start line. 

 

Malibu Morning

The course was shortened slightly due to some recent trail damage, so it ended up being under 59 miles. I felt fine, if not exactly fast, through the first 50K. I was on roughly a 12-hour pace and counted something like ~25 runners ahead of me on out and back sections. I thought I'd likely slow down in the second half and end up around 14 hours. I guess that's kind of what happened, I just didn't expect it to be so painful. From around mile 34 every uphill mile consistently took me more than 15 minutes. There was a long drop down that passed us by the M*A*S*H filming site in Malibu Creek State Park, and I got a little kick out of that since there were a couple years as a kid that I really liked that show, and once upon a time I lived in the city it was supposedly set in, but it definitely wasn't enough to get me back up the 1,700 feet climb to mile 50 very quickly. 

 

When I got there my feet were killing me. There was a creek crossing only two miles into the race, but my shoes had dried completely, and I'd changed socks, but still the bottoms of my feet were painful. By this point the Hoka Challengers I was wearing had over 500 miles on them, and I think it was silly of me to wear them on a day this long. I believe I'm on my third pair. I've gotten over 700 miles out of a pair, and they're probably my favorite shoe for their versatility and durability. However, those Malibu dirt roads (the Backbone Trail) often seem more like sandstone covered in dust than dirt, so the pounding really got to me. I tried a few minutes of mindful running, focusing on my breathing, or paying attention to all the sensations in my body, but mostly I listed to a fantasy novel, Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, to distract myself. Unfortunately I barely spoke to any other runners the entire day, so that didn't help pass the time.

Obviously, I kept going and finished. A few people passed me on the last descent, which is usually when I would shine, but not today. I managed to convince myself that the cutoff might be 15 hours, even though my logical mind knew it was 17 hours, so I wasn't completely moping my way to the finish, and did manage to bring it in under 15. 

 

I've for sure had slower 100Ks, but I've had faster too. It is what it is. I should wear newer shoes and remember to re-apply anti-chafing lubricant halfway through the day--I was definitely sweaty, salty, and a little chafe-y by the end. I should also put more drink tabs in my pack or drop bag in case they don't have enough ginger ale at aid stations. 

Would I recommend the race? Sure, it gets a passing grade for a 100K. It's pretty enough, though it is mostly (and in the 2022 iteration, 100%) an out and back. (Would a point-to-point end-to-end of the 67-mile Backbone Trail not be more interesting, even if not a round number and logistically more difficult?) I think the aid stations didn't have enough ginger ale, and were more snacks than substantive food. This was more set up to the standard I expect for a 50K and I really would've enjoyed something hot 50 miles in.

It was pretty. I didn't run quite as fast as I wanted to. I had fun. The end.