Bakersfield Marathon

Published November 17, 2019

Early rise, check-out. No post-race hotel shower, not part of today’s equation. CSUB parking before 6. Same-day registration, easy straight forward. Baseball cap swag. Nice, Bakersfield. Definite keeper. Marathon’s 4th year. Lotta community support, well organized. Pacers. Big show from the pistachio industry. No talk of hills.

Day 2. Last night late. Diverted south to San Bernardino, crisscrossed America on empty farm roads thru isolated migrant towns. No public restrooms, grocery stores. No fast food. High-priced fuel & date-expired snacks. Apologies, Mexican brothers. Not the American dream we promised. Chin up; it gets better. We’re not all wall-building war mongers.

Lined with the 4:30 pack. Lil’ faster than planned but ironically, knew the pacer. Ran together & we finisher-posed with Carolyn in Santa Rosa, 2016. Small world.

Nice shake-out after Vegas. 9 miles of city street then diverted thru historic ‘Old Town’. Shopkeeper digs, trapper cabin, bank, old jail. Classy perk, unexpected & FREE 😊

Aid Station sat Mile 11. Not Las Vegas heat but I warmed with the day temps. Dizzy, unsteady. Came unexpected/out of the blue. End of the road? Nope; given a couple mustard packets – California MIRACLE. 6 years marathoning & never knew. Walked, took in fluids. Picked up pace & kept on truckin’. Mile 12. Mile 13. Half-way mat.

THREE MILES of HILL. Long grinder. up, UP & kept climbing. Bakersfield Community College – top of Bakersfield. Another mustard packet. Attitude upbeat, surprisingly all good. Started taking in scenery.

Caught the 4:50 pacer at mile 17. You never late-race catch the pacer. Kept pushing. Kept thinkin’ he was right behind me. Planned a short walk at 24. Skipped it. Again at 25. Just kept moving.

Re-entered Cal State-Bakersfield, mile 26. Folks cheering near the Finish – SPRINTED the last two-tenths. Crazy happy me. Hung close (3 minutes) & thanked my 4:50 friend for the late-game push.

Post-race burritos & beer if you’re a boozer. 4-hour drive ahead. Crossing the Mohave 🌵

2 days, 2 states, 2 marathons, 2 medals. Nah, it’s not Triple 8 but great training experience. Nevada & California join Oregon & Arizona, the ‘5’ Club. FIVE marathon finishes in each. big GRIN.

Early feasting next weekend. Thanksgiving Thursday flying trans-Pacific.

Life GOAL realized – SUPER excited! My 7 Continent FINISH in Osaka, Japan 🇯🇵

Congratulations on Finishing the Bakersfield Marathon!

Sun November 17, 2019

Bakersfield, CA US 93311

K R Haga Marathon Louisville, CO BIB#1328 CHIP TIME 4:47:36.6

10K: 1:00:13

13.1: 2:17:30

30K: 3:25:55

FINISH: 4:47:36.6

: California START

: 2 days, 2 states, 2 medals

: medal LOVE 🎸

: HOUR faster than Vegas

Las Vegas-Bakersfield, Day 2

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Pacific/Desert | Leave a comment

Las Vegas High Roller 26.2

Published November 16, 2019

Post 50 miles (6 days ago) thought I’d need a walker. Wednesday/Thursday back at it. Body’s an amazing tool. Pair of 5-mile runs, easy 10:30/min pace. Calendar read: taper, rest & relax.

Mind: Triple 8 obsessed. Since posting last week, it all became very real. Work mates, run mates, family. It’s new, it’s BIG, so folks are talkin’. And so were… the head demons. It’s impossible…

Last-minute full-price completely-unplanned DOUBLE MARATHON weekend. Nip dat in the bud. $100 flight to Vegas & a $60 rental car. Best Western budget sleeps, two tanks of high-priced unleaded. Marathoning Vegas on Saturday, California Sunday morning. Gonna out-crazy the head crazies. Confidence boost. Windshield or the bug. Extra thankful, Thanksgiving dinner 🦃

Late Friday flight (post-work, 2019 PTO/come n gone). Enterprise pick-up. 5-hour sleeps, predawn showered & run ready. Registration table for a 6am Start. Desert cold… give that an hour 😉

Inaugural race. Eight 5K laps plus a short loop – 26.2 miles. Day’s course: Exposed bike path along Interstate 215, Vegas’ Western Beltway Trail. Not super scenic; desert & empty office buildings.

Day’s course support? Absolutely FIRST-CLASS. Water, electrolytes, foods salty & sweet – both ends of the short out-n-back. Grade INCLINE mile-half out, downhill glide on our return.

One ‘hill’ – 16 times. BIG bridge, BIG climb. Fast became the scheduled ‘walk break’ after Lap 1. Push, push, push to the Bridge. Walk UP. Quarter-mile to the turnaround, quarter-mile return. UP again (Bridge return). Downhill relief, back to the Start. And repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Really good energy. Lotta high fives. Super awesomeness about lap races – ya see familiar faces.

Hot & ugly by Lap 6. Tagged a LA runner most of 7, all the last loop. 5 hours in the desert (so, of course)… Challenged him to a sprint finish & got my butt kicked! Little did I know, was the difference between 3^rd & 4^th place. Dude killed it. Very well deserved.

Medal, hotel shower – & on the road (4 hours west). Day 2: CALIFORNIA 🌞

Las Vegas High Roller 26.2

1 Erik Thys M Bib 63 Las Vegas, NV 9:57min/mi 4:20:31

2 Mark Hudspeth M Bib 52 Maryville, TN 12:36min/mi 5:30:19

3 Daniel Del Castill M Bib 104 Norwalk, CA 13:08min/mi 5:43:58

4 K R HAGA M Bib 116 Louisville, CO 13:09min/mi 5:44:24

: predawn & desert cold

: Western Beltway Trail

: 4th place 🏅

: 8 laps & a loop

Las Vegas-Bakersfield, Day 1

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Pacific/Desert | Leave a comment

Tunnel Hill 50

Published November 9, 2019

FINALLY!

After 2 fails, FIFTY miles. Belt bucket reward. Finally, a real ultrarunner.

Previous history, lessons learned. Never summer, never at night. High elevation & rugged trail, those stay at Bighorn. Tunnel Hill conditions: FLAT towpath, low 40’s. Crewed. And Sis. Mile 1, Mile 51. Registered 10 days ago. Wonder Twin powers, ACTIVATE!

Friday touchdown. Sis’ hometown, St Louis. Hertz rental. Sis’ digs 10am. Quick errand at the university. Cap-n-gown pickup. Masters degree complete. Family of overachievers. Well done Sis!

Hour lunch with niece, nephew…and Stephen. (Delta flight from New Hampshire, just landed.) Double-stuff’d the family SUV. Luggage rack, food, headlamps & lawn chairs. Next stop: Vienna. 6pm packet deadline. Tunnel Hill, Illinois. Me, Sis, Paul & Stephen. Hawaii crew reunion 🌺

Hilo-to-Volcano, Sis’ only 50K. NEW Garmin territory, the BIG badge: 50 MILES.

Early Saturday start, pre-dawn & dark. Notta lotta talk. SHOWTIME. Put up or shut up. Beanie, gloves, hydration pack. Double-layered & shorts. No wind/rain. Nervous. Pretty much perfect.

Sis & I opted for the Early Start. 7am with the 100 milers. Bunched beginning. Sunrise 🌄

Lotta folks on a single-track trail. 3 miles of walk/jog/quick bursts ’round the chatters. Place where USA elites set the world ‘trail’ record. Still, it’s a 100 miles. All these folks around me. WOW!

Two separate out-n-backs. Bowtie design. We’d see Vienna twice, end of each marathon. Run a marathon, walk a marathon. Day strategy: Maintain a 17-minute walk pace & we finish in 12 hours.

Mile 14. Sis’ run pal Nathan joined our crew. Introduced to the BEST LONG-DISTANCE food fuel EVER – Flamin’ Hot Nacho Cheese DORITOS. In real life – no, no I couldn’t. Mile 26. Mile 40. Mile 47. FOOD of the GODS! Steady, even pace. All focus on Vienna – first marathon DONE. New shoes, new layers. Stretch out the legs, back. Upbeat words. Snacks. Encouragement.

Surprisingly quiet in Vienna – not OUR CREW. Y-M-C-A. Best of the 1970’s BLARING on a portable BOSE. Dance PARTY. Shoe change, two dry shirts and… DORITOS! Yeh, yeh 20 minutes lost. Same buckle, first-place, one-hundredth place. All part of the plan. I’ve NEVER FINISHED 50. Mind refresh, body stretch’d/longer. Go, go, go! BEST CREW EVER! See y’all in 10 miles!

Second half. Step, step, step. Forward movement. Counting Aid Stations, not miles. Section where our Possum Holler past was retold/relieved again. Appears neither of us were fans of the family outhouse. Bee swarms, butt-cold Decembers (literally). LOL>

Costume change at 36. Daylight goes fast this side of solstice. Pants, headlamp, Captain America jacket. Two mile out-n-back, crew again at 40. Mentally, crossing the LAST out-n-back timing mat. YES! Everything seems doable. Impossible, possible. FORTY miles. Longest EVER, EVER.

Next longest? 7-mile stretch to our final Aid Station. Dark. Pitch-black dark. Notta lotta runners. Notta lotta chatter. Sharp headlamp flicks into the woods – Sis’ stories about eyes glaring back, all too real. Hands cold. Eyes forward. Quiet determined focus.

Walker. Gender disguised, cloaked in winter gear. Pained face/broken body. Look away.

If ever you owe a sibling a Simon Pearce crystal bowl… this is it.

Counting out miles remaining (47/crew station Aid). Tough stretch. Sis’ watch now dead, mine still plugging along. Mile 47. Mile 48. Just one-mile difference; realization today’s 50 was just an estimate. Porta-potty stop, in tandem. Hips tight, brain drain. It was a long 8 miles in the dark.

BEST CREW EVER? Paul & Stephen hiked in. Mile 48 on, going back WITH us. New stories, new material. Sibling 50-mile FINISH. 100% this is going to happen.

Bright lights, Christmas lit, muted sounds. Could feel our FINISH a mile out.

12:47:20. Not your normal pacer, nor your average Sis. TWO belt buckles. Ran/walked/slogged together, the ENTIRE 50 mile course. New PR – for BOTH of us. 2019 forever memory ❤️