The G Running Diary

Cool Was Hot: 3/16/04

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So here's a thing. If you want to have fun with nice people, convince them to be ultrarunners so you get to spend the whole day with them. I feel like that about Karen and most recently Nevin. Under what other circumstances could you make someone endure almost 7 hours of your company? And, as it turned out, for the Way Too Cool 50K we got to hang out even more. Nevin and his wife Rebecca generously offered their vacation home as a place to stay the night before the race. They are extremely hospitable. We had a great traditional pasta dinner with salad and (a little) wine and talked a lot about the run and running things. We got up early enough to have a pancake breakfast (yeah) and get our stuff together. The road back to highway 80 went by quickly and we were in Cool in no time. It was already packed and we had to park way down the road.

My only worry was that we might spend too much time saying hi to everyone we knew. We didn't have that much time until the start. Greg announced that there was a bathroom behind every tree, for those of us who didn't want to wait in the portapottie line. That is pretty different from a road marathon, where the rules are that you are supposed to wait in line, even during the race. So then we were off, and I dumped my jacket in my car as we ran by. So Don was committed to running with Nevin, I was running with Karen, and Steve Jaber and his wife Karen were tagging along with us. We were quite the talkative group. We would split up and get back together again. It was kind of cool.

The course is beautiful. Last year, when I ran it for the first time, I wondered what all the fuss was about, why this race was so popular. Well, these trails are some of the nicest around, and you get these great canyon views with the river below and the tree-covered mountains around you. The trails are mostly very runnable, with a couple nasty but short hills thrown in to keep things interesting. Oh, they are not really nasty. I had a great time throughout the day. Even when I fell down, I thought that was funny. I did a sideways slip where I went up in the air and came down hard. It was cartoon like, with enough witnesses to make it worthwhile. I am so used to falling I just carried on. I wouldn't want to hold anyone up.

By the end of the run, Don and Nevin had gone ahead, then Karen and I were finishing together, and Steve and Karen came in a little later. I was happy for everyone. The finish comes up really fast in this race. I think that's because the last aid station is less than two miles from the finish. Karen said, "Is that it?" when we saw the finish. I wonder if she wanted to run more? She will have her chance at the American River 50 Mile in a few weeks.

After finishing, Don and I hung out for a while, talking with other people. As we gradually made our way to our car, Steve and Karen were having a little picnic at their minivan and offered us sandwiches and goodies. We stayed to talk and eat. Eventually we headed out, feeling like the last ones to leave the party. Of course, I have to mention the food we had on the way home... Popeyes Chicken!