Diez Vista 50k

I had heard so many good things about this race that I was chomping at the bit, really excited to give this one a go.  With the Chuckanut under my belt, I wasn’t too green going in and knew of the sort of tolerance required to get through another one of these ultras. It was a warm sunny day in the forecast and I was looking forward to an adventure.  I woke up at 5am, ate my normal breakfast and took the 60 minute drive out to Sasamat Lake.  The lake is pretty cool, and the beach down there is pretty popular to Vancouverites for day trips in the summer.  When I got there around 630am, it was deserted as I sipped on my coffee and made my way to the registration table.

The beginning of the race was pretty mellow, a group of runners, gently finding their legs and settling into a pace that would have to be sustained for some, in excess of 6 hours. A slow loop of the lake lead to the first climb of the race, a slow and steady ascent mixed with some run walking turned into some hiking switchbacks as we climbed to 560m to reach the Diez Vista trail.  I have hiked this trail previously and also raced a 5 peaks race on it so I was familiar with the climb, the run along the ridge and the decent.  Without having run the entire course before I figured that this would be the difficult part and wanted to pace modestly through this section so I could finish strongly.  However the trail was too much fun and I found myself flying along the downhill sections pulling all sorts of stunts to try and avoid obstacles.

In one section, a downed tree crossed the path of the trail.  Observing the 2 runners in front of me, the first dodged the tree to the left and the second decided to jump it, side vault style.  Being fit and feeling spritely, I decided that I must also vault this tree in the same fashion and approached it quickly, planted my hands on it and jumped to swing my legs over. Good technique, poor execution as my feet never cleared the tree and I took a nice tumble head over heels over tree over trail.  I quickly looked up to wave at the front runners to let them know I was ok, but alas, they were too fast and all I saw was their legs kicking up the dirt way down the trail.  I did a good job of bloodying up my knees, but was able to settle back in pretty quickly and finished the decent solo.

Climbing - Looking Strong

Aid station 2 was uneventful, I had heard good things about the volunteers at this race so stopped to chat and have a cup of water before I was off again, on some flats now, feeling pretty good, only about 10k in and already had some battle scars.  I ended up running the next rolling section of trails with another runner and the constant chatter was a great distraction and we probably covered off another 10k or so at a relaxed pace passing the time with some interesting conversations.

I traded up pace buddies when a bloke called Adam caught up to us.  Adam does some leading with the mountain madness clinics so we chatted about that for a while and we quickly rolled into aid #3 and the drop bags.  I started off the race with an undershirt, and long sleeve shirt and gloves and was relieved to be able to drop them all in my bag and change into a clean t shirt.  I also topped up my camelback grabbed a handful of chips and was off pretty quickly.

The course took us along another lake before spitting up out on an old gravel road and a bit of a climb where I spent the next hour or so jostling positions with 2 other runners.  One guy was running everything, the other, a girl who was run walking and then me a mixture of both.  It was amusing to see how we all had a different approach to this section of the course and that we were all covering the same ground in the same time.  It was on this section, about half way through that I knew I was in a bit of trouble.  No cramps this time, but blisters were a problem.  On the bottom of my feet, the worst possible place for a blister when running.  I had resigned to the fact that this was how it was going to be now and that the rest of the race was going to be a battle with my feet and it was.

It was also a battle with the terrain, and as I knew there was another climb or 2, I had no idea the extent of the climbing and was back to hiking switch backs as I began the climb on the out and back section in the last half of the course.  This is where I slowed a lot and I knew that the group of 4 or 5 runners ahead of me were building a gap, I was on my own, and hurting. My pain was sidelined as the lead guys started to come past on the out and back. Garry Robbins was first and he was just booting it. It’s pretty impressive to see someone moving that quickly over the terrain that has you battling just to move slowly over yourself. I kept my eyes peeled for peeled for Mike Palichuk and was happy to be able to tell him he was coming in 6^th as he sped by. I tired counting off the other runners so I could find my place, but lost count pretty easily.

Fun in the Forest

The climbing was tough, but short and sharp downhill was equally as demanding of my feet and I rolled quite painfully into the aid station at the turnaround point.  I spent a bit of time here, chugging water, eating melon and grabbed another handful of chips as I turned around to head back.  The lady a the aid station informed me that I was in the top 1/4 about 22nd place which was quite inspiring, and I managed to get myself moving again with a couple of other blokes who had caught me up.

I began the climb back and caught up to the runner ahead, Dave, and picked up on some chit chat.  Dave has been running ultras for 11 years and was pretty familiar with the DV course, so I picked his brain for details on the rest of the race and he was spot on with his information, he did a great job of pulling me up the hill and motivating me to bomb back down the other side and I had a renewed energy pacing and chatting with him.  I really do enjoy the highs and lows you get to experience on ultra runs and I love running with new likeminded people.

Dave left me at the next aid station but had done a good job of dragging me for about an hour.  I spent a good 5 minutes at the aid station, this time obsessed with oranges, and after downing about 8 quarters, another lovely aid station attendant peeled a whole orange for me and set me on my way.  Dave had warned me of another climb, but this one was brutal, back to hiking and on tired legs and sore blistered feet, I actually slowed to a pace that got me passed before I got to the top.  The way back down was no more pleasant and the rocky decline was hell on my blistered soles.  I am sure that the feeling I had running back down that rocky creek bed would match that of one doing his first untrained fire walk.

This part of the run was really quite lonely, I was in pain, and a bit discouraged and upset that my pain and discomfort took away from the spectacular scenery and mellow environment of the creek I was running down and then the rolling green roads of the descent from there.  As I drew closer to the lake I could sense that it was almost over, the path around the lake was slow and I had a bit of a chuckle when I came across a staircase that was the final climb before the 100m dash to the finish.  As I reached the top of the stairs I saw the time at about 5:56 and knew that I had done a good job to get in under 6 hours.

Finish!

The reception was amazing, I had turned up to the race by myself but the support along the way and at the finish had left me feeling like I was there with 50 friends.  The volunteers were still smiling and offering up all the good things like water, fresh fruit and there were even burgers on the BBQ.  WICKED.  I hobbled down to the lake and managed a measly 2 minutes in the cold water, trying to reduce the swelling in my legs.

All in all, DV lived up to the hype.  I found the course extremely challenging, and very rewarding.  Perhaps I went out a bit too hard initially and could have saved some more for the end, but my legs weren’t that bad, it was the blisters that were slowing me down.  I need to figure that one out.

I finished under 6 hours (official times not yet posted) and in the top 1/4 I think which something to be proud of.  I met some good people en route, the sun was shining, people smiling, and I collected a few battle scars, ate some chips, drank some coke and had an amazing day in the beautiful trails of BC.  I’ll be back for this one next year, a little bit wiser and hopefully a whole lot faster.

Diez Vista 50k 2009