Malibu Creek 25k Race Report

I had signed up for Malibu Creek 25K just a couple weeks ago and was excited to have my 1st long event of the year. Luck be it, that I was sick all week, sick enough that I was home from work Monday and Tuesday. Since I was already registered I was still going to go and see what my body could handle. Keep in mind I tried running on Thursday evening and made it a not so far 2miles before calling it quits, because there was nothing in me. "oh well if nothing else this will be another great training run."

Left San Diego after 10pm on Friday night and crashed at Elan's place in Santa Monica for the night, Eric and Elan, were up in Mammoth skiing for the weekend. By the time I was in bed asleep it was after 1am, my alarm was set for 7am, so I was fine with a good 6 hours of sleep. Ha, jokes on me, I woke up wide awake at 5:20am, tried to go to go back to sleep but it never happened. Sweet, a 15mile trail run, with a sick body and 4 hours of sleep.

Stopped at Starbucks for some much need coffee and headed to Malibu Creek State Park. Got there right at 8 as planned. Grabbed my bib and finished getting ready in the warmth of my car. The sun was already shining and not a cloud in the sky...it's going to be a beautiful day! Turned on my new toy (Garmin 910X-more about that later) and discovered my heartrate was 116bpm, agh, not good and I had only drank 1/4 cup coffee. I should have realized that was a sign as to what was to come.

The 50k and 25k started together at 8:30, one loop for 25k and 2 loops for 50k. There were about 120 runners or so. My goal for the first 3 miles, take it real easy, no faster then 10min/mile, knowing the climbing would start soon after mile 2 and continue until mile 9ish. That was about where I was I think. The first 2 miles were super fun some rolling hills and a creek crossing. At 2.5 miles or so is when the real stuff started. Immediately I lost my energy around mile 3, the climbing started and I felt like I was breathing at 10,000 feet. So I just pretended this congestion/illness I had was like pseudo elevation training and went with it.

By mile 3 everyone had spread out already, so it was just me and the trails. It was gorgeous out there. I felt like there wasn't a soul around. Eventually I caught up to a small group of 3 runners and a few others passed from behind and reminded me I wasn't alone at all. Sometimes you wonder what happened to everyone...at least I do.

Mile 4.9 almost stepped on a baby rattlesnake. He was blended right in with the dirt and so small i didn't see him, but I did see him stick his tongue out at me. That woke me up and kept me on alert for a while.

On mile 5 I met Kang from Lake Tahoe. He was very energetic and picked me up a bit. He said "Today is my birthday I am 59. I am from Lake Tahoe. I started a running club there with 300 members now, I brought 11 with me" and the conversation continued. Kang was running the 50k and shortly took off up the hill. I was hoping to catch him later to take a picture with him, but didn't see him again. Sorry no pic of Kang.

Its all uphill!!! Look there's Kang, in the rear, guess I did get a pic of him, well his back at least.

Shortly after that, Kate, caught up with me. We chatted for a bit and exchanged names so we could look each other up on facebook later. Kate wanted to hook me up with some of her running friends and coach from the So Cal Coyotes. Kate was also running the 50k and after about 20 minutes of chatting she went on as I was slowly moving along. I wish I would have had it in me to stay with Kate, we would have made the time go by quickly. I did find Kate on facebook later and guess what? We have the same birthday!!!!!!! So cool.

Then it was time to bring the camara out and take some pics of the wonderful view

Breathtaking!!!

And then some rock climbing

That's Kate right in front of me, I asked her: Are we going over that? Yep we are!

Eventually the uphill became downhill, but my legs were so shot I couldn't even run downhill at a decent speed.

The course ran through the area where the TV series M.A.S.H. was filmed. Here's a shot of one of the medic trucks.

The last 2 miles were pretty difficult for me but: I MADE IT!!! Eventually. 15miles 3:24:59. I am not going to be hard on myself so I will say nothing of my performance. But I will say, I got a lot of work to do.

This is what the course elevation looked like. 3212ft of elevation gain.

Nutriton notes:
prerace: berrie smoothie 300 cal
              mojo bar 150cal
       450cal

race: 3 larabars (1/2 bar 100cal every 30-40min)
        1/2 cup coke
         1.5L grape ultima
      700ish cal

I have to say there is nothing better then warm coke on a trail run. My tummy did make a funny slushing sound for about 15min after drinking the coke though. But nutrition wise I stayed on track, ate all my nutrition and drank all my fluid. No GI issues.

Yummy post race nutrition:

Warm coke and pickles.

I also drank about 5 cupfuls of pickle juice too...gotta replenish my salt somehow.

Overall beautiful, challanging course. Well organized and ran event. Would definately come out again. Thanks PCTR.