Sunday, May 31, 2009

Ohlone 50k

So I put on my Wildcats this morning and ended up running Ohlone. A girl just can't say no to a tough run, well at least I can't say no. And, I am so fucking glad that I ran it. Ummm and climbing legs were no problem, obviously. Although I do have to say, I walked probably all the hills or as Mark Tanaka said, bounded. The crazy part of the whole day was my time. Get this, last night I am listening to my tape from the 80's that has me visualize my race. At some point the tape says you see yourself coming through the finish with the exact time on the clock that you predicted. I instantly thought 5:05 and then thought, fuck that seems fast. But that is the number I kept seeing. So what time did I run today, ummm basically a 5:05 (5:04.36). Is that not fucking crazy?! Another course record too... whoohoo!

Anyway back to the race. Damn is that course beautiful. I love the cows. I love the crazy trees. I love the hills. Unfortunately I ran a good majority of the race alone, just me, my body, and breath. I just tried to enjoy every step and I was happy when I saw that Mark was close behind and walking the hills occasionally too. Did I mention this race has lots of climbing? Yup it does, but that made me happy. After Rose Peak, I thought most the climbing was done, but I failed to remember some climbs. At some point Troy Howard caught back up to me and told me the next woman was a few minutes back. It was Prudence L'Heureux who finished right behind me... amazing race Prudence!!! Ok, other details, I peed my pants again. I only had about 4 miles left, so I thought what the fuck. At least this time I had on my Sugoi shorts instead of a pair of cotton shorts. They dried much quicker. Ummm... I felt happy the whole race and I really just enjoyed myself. I took a nice dip in Lake Del Valle when I finished. I had a great veggie burger (no not more turkey Gary) and got to talk with folks. Fellow La Sportiva teamates represented, Leor Pantilat won in 4:29 and Mark Tanaka ran a 5:09! Fuck yeah!

See sometimes you just have to put on the running shoes, go out there, and just see what happens. By the way thanks Larry for a wonderful race and also for introducing yourself at the aid station. Also thanks to all the volunteers, you were all super friendly.


(Picture courtesy of Jean Pommier)

10 comments:

Devon said...

Congrats girl! You are such a (fucking) rockstar! I know what you mean about visualizing the time you wanting and then running it- I did that at TRT and managed to set the CR by 21 minutes! Good on you!! Awesome....

I did fall out laughing about peeing on yourself....

Nicola Gildersleeve said...

I had the same experience today in regards to not feeling it all week and then going and having the legs to rock out come race day. Nice work! Is it hard to pee your pants while running?

Buzz said...

Yes, I'd like technical details please (personal blogs are good for this ;-) ... can you pee while actually running? I have to stop.

David Ray said...

Good one, Caitlin! Congrats on another CR. Do you practice the "pee your pants" technique on training runs? I'm just wondering. :)

Scott Dunlap said...

Maybe the Depends people can make a special race short for you. ;-)

Congrats on another fantastic finish, and yet another 1-1 for La Sportiva!

SD

Dave - Atlanta Trails said...

way to kick ass once again! Congrats!

Victoria said...

Funny comment by Scott...

I love that course, too. I think it's beautiful pretty much all the way through. Congratulations on a marvelous race!

Jean Pommier said...

Amazing performance, Caitlin! Seeing you at WTC, Miwok and last Sunday, you make ultra running look so easy, you rock! Looking forward to seeing you again on the trails,

Jean.
Farther Faster

PS- Forgot to ask on Sunday: are you joining us at States?

wcaitlin said...

Buzz, I do pee while I am running (well, I've actually only done it twice). I tried in my first 50k as I just wanted to see if I could. It took a lot of time to figure out how to do it, but the second time around it was simple. So David, in response to your question, no I don't practice. I stop when I am out training :). And Scott, I think you are on to something!

Luis Velasquez said...

hOLY SHIT... you are a rockstar Caitlin... you don't cease to amaze me.. wow.. :)

guess the foot is all well now..