Twin Peaks 50

Twin Peaks 50

Or

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The day started out as any other race, but on this race I met a friend from NorCal he was wearing his Goruck G2. He has been very excited about this race and with me just getting over an injury I told him not to wait up for me as I’ll be slow. He said his goal was 10hrs. Then I realized he had no idea what this course was like so I told him not to go out too hard. He decided to start with me rather than run ahead.
We were running pretty well,, ahead of schedule until the aid station at the bottom of horse thief canyon(about mile 15) when suddenly he stopped talking and slowed down. He was complaining of a headache and cramping. I checked with him he seemed to have had food/electrolytes and water. Then he mentioned his bag was kinda heavy so I asked what he could dump. He said he had a lot of water.. which was true he was carrying 5 big smartwater bottles(33oz each)
I was a bit shocked,  but dumped out 3 of them and made him carry the other 2 where he could get to them easier. Then gave him some Tylenol for his headache. After a while the headache seemed to go away, but the cramps didn’t. we walked slowly to the top of Santiago stopping for his cramps along the way. At the top of Santiago he started to sit down but I made him get up and get moving. As we walked down the hill (he couldn’t run) we talked and he decided to shorten it to the 50k. After dropping him off at the 50k turn off, I picked up the pace and ran to the next aid station.  I was already about 1 hour behind the time I needed to make cutoffs, but I felt strong and knew I could make it up.
The next aid station was about 5 miles away and by the time I got there I had already made up 20minutes of it. I was doing well but I still had horsethief canyon to climb. My goal was not to make time, but not to lose it either as this is a nasty long hill. As I got about halfway up it, there was a chopper flying all over the place, above me, below me. He seemed to be searching for something. When I got to the top I could see him sitting on the road off to the left. I was hoping no one was hurt, and it was Mtn SAR training or something, but when I got to the top of Horsethief  it was obvious something was wrong. There were firetrucks everywhere. I was able to get through the aid station before it closed. However, as I was running down the road I found the helicopter blocking the road. There was no way I was going to be allowed to go around it. As I waited for the helicopter to take off the aid station captain of the last aid station came up and told me my race was over and took my number.. damn
I was sitting there chatting to an EMT waiting for the patient to go by to the helicopter and cleaning some scratches on my hand with wet wipes when he offered to clean them. I figured why not im just standing here, couldn’t hurt to have some alcohol ran across it.. 5 minutes later I’m answering questions with big gauze mitts on wondering WTF… IT wasn’t more than a small trail rash, not even bleeding anymore (I had fallen on some rocks around 7:30 am no big deaL).
I rode down with Steve and enjoyed some good conversation while the sun set and realized even with all the crap that happened, I had a good time and want to do it again next year.

Lessons Learned:
1)   If running with someone else, you have to make sure they have what they need, especially if its their first race. He would have enjoyed the race more with proper gear/nutrition and we would have maintained a much better pace. When running with another runner, especially someone you know, its important to realize you have some level of responsibility for them. I just don’t have the personality to say F you im out of here

2)   Don’t tell EMT its ok to do anything, it became a big todo when I was really fine.

Good Things:
1)            Im definitely not injured anymore. I had no problems with  my calf and im ready to dive back into training. No more taking it easy

2)            I was much stronger in the second half, I know if the unfortunate events didn’t occur I would have finished the 50 pretty strong.

3)            Its amazing out there, I need to train more out there.