The Northface Endurance Challenge 50 mile

The Northface Endurance Challenge 50 mile

My story begins on Friday December 6th when I receive a call from Antonio.  "Hey Antonio, happy birthday my friend, how are you?  Well not good, I just can't make my A race and well... Chris is picking up my packet as we speak.  I'm sorry to hear that but you were expecting this right.  Well yes.  However, the guy who was buying my bib isn't going to do it either so if you want it its yours."  Let the journey begin.  I packed my bags and arrived at my Mom's at 7pm and was in bed by 8pm with my alarm set for 2:45 AM.    

That morning, if you'd call 2:45 AM morning,  I woke up and ate Sourdough with Almond butter, a banana, Coffee, water and blue berries.  My go to breakfast for easy digestion.  I also borrowed a Garmin to plug in my destination as navigating through San Francisco from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate can be rather distracting when I'm trying to quite the mind and wrap my brain around the day ahead.   Sure it was last minute but I'm always down for a fully catered training day.  The only worry I had was being sick all last week with a cough I did not train all week so optimistically lets just call that my taper, right?  

I arrived at the Golden Gate Recreational Park and as a 50 mile participant I was allowed to park just down the road from the event.  Less stressful for sure than having to park and jump on a shuttle.  Race morning and I still had to track down Chris for the bib.  Chris was staying in one of the hostile's close to the race start but due to no reception in the park that's all the detail I could get from a single text.  I trusted he would be there so literally that's all I was going on.  At the race start, I looked around and noticed a half dozen buildings so for my warm up run I ran to each one, poked my head in and yelled good morning Chris.  A few good mornings were returned, none of which were from Chris.  So I went back to the start, figuring he had to cross the start line and that is where I found him, 5 minutes before gun time.  I grabbed the bib and was officially in the race.

For gear, I did not know what to expect other than it could rain.  I also did not use the drop bags nor did  I have anyone else there so I had to plan for worst case scenario.  Therefore, I wore my Patagonia Gor-tex rain jacket over my dry wick Pearl sleeveless wicking shirt along with shorts and compression.  Later in the race, I tied the the jacket around my waist and did not use it again until the post Finish line cold shakes.

The aid stations offered ample food.  I carried my northface bottle with pockets and filled it with Cliff Shot Electrolyte all day.  In the pockets, I stuffed two gels to consume between each aid station.  However, some sections of the park did not allow gel wrappers due to litter so for those sections I used cliff bars instead for calories.  At each aid station I ate 1/4 P&J and 1/2 banana.  All in all, my nutrition was dialed and did not have one bit of stomach aches or fatigue which is awesome.

If you picture the Golden Gate Bridge, north of it is the Marin Headlands.   If you look at it on the map, its the green park that follows the coast line through Mount Tamalpais.  The northern turn around point is Stinson beach.  The highlight of this entire landscape is Muir Wood which can be describes as rain forest or garden of eden like.

The course breaks down as follows.  From the start at Golden Gate Park the first leg is the Bobcat loop where views of Marin and Sausalito can be seen from the ridge line.  Next up, is Tennessee Valley to Muir beach with vast views of the Pacific Ocean.   From Muir beach to Cardiac was on trails of the great Mount Tamalpais.  Cardiac led to McKennan Guilch which was the mile 28 turn around point.  McKenna Guilch back to Stitson beach included a lot of fun downhill track.  Stitson beach to Cardiac was the most beautiful trail I've ever experienced through the Muir Woods where Webb creek is like doing a race through the garden of eden.  Heading back through Muir beach, Tennessee Valley, Alta and Golden Gate is a march where the legs are spent and the mind has the drive to make it home.

A couple highlights of the race include meeting up with Armando for the first half of the race.  Armando is in his 50's and was crushing it.  He shared two lessons, one was very personal and it felt good to be there for him as he shared his story with me.  The other was tips he learned from Oswaldo Lopez, an elite who he has been training with.   Let me tell you its working for him, he held the pace for the entire race and I wished him well at McKenna Gulch turn around where put a gap on me.  My other highlight was joining a group on the way back.  The group included two other Ironman Tahoe refugee's who called this their redemption race.  The group also included a New York guy in my age who just completed boston.

That day was muddy.  One the downhill sections I was running fast and the mud just took me out in spectacular way. I completely landed on my ass and slid toward everyone in front of me as if I was on a water slide ready to take them out like bowling pins.  Not only did I wipe out once but a second time I was navigating a switch back and completely took a fall to land on my left side.  The mud sections were brutally difficult to navigate and I was drenched in mud, water and dirt.  Part of each aid station included water and I grabbed the jug to rinse off it was that muddy.

Over all, what an epic experience to get a last minute call and be able to experience something like this in life at a moment notice.  Running in the elements, you become aware of your surroundings & truly embrace them, much more than from a far.  The perseverance to finish after the legs are spent are character building.  Yes its a struggle but as the race photos depict, I bet you will see me smiling from ear to ear.  What I learn from these events is true self-reliance where no one else can do it for you and its a moment to check in with your true self to pull it off.  Yes there was mud and rain and elements and after the fall I literally tasted the dirt but I continued to make the most of what lies ahead to complete another incredible journey.

My friends like to call my quotes Hickey'ism's so here are two I thought about today:
There is no substitute for hard work - Thomas Edison
If you are going through hell, keep going - Winston Churchhill

While I was out there, I though about working hard in my training to be able to celebrate with an even faster pace next time.  I also though about the route to finish is to keep going, run where you can and walk where you can't but to always put in that relentless forward motion. The body will only go where the mid will push.  Each race for me is a path of looking within and becoming even more aware of who we are.

Time: 11:38:49

See you in 2015,

Hickey