North Face Challenge 50 Mile Trail Race

The idea for running the North Face Challenge 50 Mile came about from my desire to find a race in sunny California during the rainy season in Victoria, BC. So looking on the web, it came down to running the Mount Tam 50K or the 50 Mile endurance challenge. I decided on the 50 miles for more of a challenge. I also managed to convince four friends to join me in one of our usual spontaneous event planning episodes late at night via Facebook messenger.  Within hours we were registered and flights and hotel booked. We were now committed as the flights and registration were not refundable.  Four of us (Andrew, Lisa, Kent and me) had registered for the 50 mile and Charlene had wanted the 50 k, but as it was full had to register for the marathon and go on a wait list for the 50 km.

I was relying a lot on my base running, as I only had nine weeks from registering to actually running the race. This really gives about six weeks of building distance and then three weeks taper.

We flew down on Delta from Victoria to San Francisco and settled into our room at the Hyatt Centric hotel near Fisherman's Wharf on Thursday evening. Friday we had the day to get our race gear, relax and get ready to race.

Saturday November 18, 2017.  2:00 am - Time to get up, dress in our racing gear and eat breakfast. With sunny weather and temperatures up to 18 degrees, we dressed for summer running. Shorts, Marino wool short-sleeve shirt, buff on my head to keep the sun off, sunscreen on.  I had my UD hydration vest mainly to hold my two 600 ml bottles, just over a half litre of fresh water and my Tailwind nutrition. This was measured out in 300 cal packages. One package per bottle, and two bottles per 3 hours running.  Assuming worse case scenario of 14 hours (race cut off time), I carried 2,800 calories of Tailwind nutrition. I had some small peanut butter and chocolate cups and chocolate coffee beans as treats for when I hit a low. Also I carried salt tabs and a spice drink to combat muscle cramps later in the race.

At 3:00 am we left the room (all except Charlene who's race didn't start for another four hours), walked a block to the corner of Bay and Columbus and caught the No. 91 night bus at 3:10 am to take us the 2 km to Marina Middle School.  From here, the race had shuttle buses taking runners to the start line in Sausalito at Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy grounds, or just behind in the football fields. We were not too reassured when our driver pulled over after turning off Highway 101 and asked "does anybody know the way"?   Oh, great - we're lost at 4:00 am looking for the start line.  She found it and we were safely deposited at the start.

Start line in Sausalito at 5 am

It was fricken freezing in Sausalito. Frost on the ground. It was a good 10 degree or more cooler than San Francisco.  The organisers had placed heat lmaps around the field, so after dropping our bags for the aid stations and finish line, we all crowded around the heat lamps and got to know runners from elsewhere.   We had an hour to the start but it passed fairly fast.

Of the four of us, only three of us were starting the race. Andrew had wisely decided to not start due to an injury, and instead was volunteering at Tennessee Valley Aid Station from 6 am to 1 pm. So we would see him there later in the day.

First loop to Bobcat Aid Station - about 5:45 am

So what was my race plan? Well, going into this, with a 14 hour cut-off, I had no idea what to expect in terms of whether or not I could do it given the short training cycle. The race profile had nine hills with a total of 3200 metres of elevation gain.  I've done that kind of elevation before so the elevation didn't bother me. So my plan was to stay ahead of the cut off's at Cardiac and Tennessee Valley by going through the other checkpoints ahead of a pre-defined time I had created. I worked this out based on the climbs and descents as a worst case. I obviously wanted to go faster but not much faster. With an ultra there's always the challenge of knowing whether you're going out too fast, two slow or just right. It's a mind game.  I always think you can't go too slow at the start so long as you beat cut-offs. so my goal was to finish, run strong, and have fun and enjoy the race.

Start to Tennessee Valley Aid Station ( 0 to 22 km)
Unlike ultra's I'm used too, the aid stations on the NFC are spaced more like a road race. There were 13 aid stations. As I was carrying three hours of nutrition and water, I did not plan to stop at all of them.

Miwok trail

At 5 am Wave 1 set off - the elites. I was in Wave 4 and we left 4 minutes behind them and immediately started the 4 km climb to Alta Aid Station up the Pacheco Fire Rd. This double track was fairly gentle, but the crowd of runners keep the pace down, which was fine with me. Adrenaline at the start makes me go too fast anyway - so anything to slow me down is good.  We climbed in the dark, and I was grateful for all the night running training and experience we had.  Passing through Alta we hit a 4 km downhill and opened up down here. Passing through Bobcat Aid Station, we called out our number and then went right to begin the 4 km climb back up to Alta.

Dawn was just breaking as we climbed up here, and the low sunlight start to light up the top of the hills. As we neared the top, like a scene out of a Steven Spielberg movie, a meteorite streaked through the star-spangled sky and down behind the hill. Silent and inspiring. Back at Alta we got to do the loop again, this time in daylight. Runners had stopped here to take pictures of the views over the bay towards San Francisco and the white lights on the Oakland-Bay Bridge.  After getting our bibs marked to prove this was our second pass through Alta, for a second time we ran fast down the smooth trail to Bobcat Aid Station.

At this time I was running with Lisa. And at this time I realised I needed to tend to a hot spot on my right middle toe. I had taped some of my toes to reduce chance of blisters, but the tape was rubbing an adjacent toe. I had to fix that as I still had 60 km of very hilly terrain to run. I didn't want to stop, so figured I'd be okay until I got to Tennessee Valley where I had planned to stop anyway. I had placed a change of shoes and socks at Tennessee Valley in case my feet were sore or needed a break.

At Bobcat, this time we turned left and began a long climb on the double-track Miwok Trail along a ridge with views on both sides. There were no trees. The trails are totally exposed and provide fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. At the top a sharp left, we joined the 50 km runners coming up directly from the start area, and ran down the Marincello Trail into Tennessee Valley Aid Station. Andrew was there guiding runner around a gate and we got a hug.

I arrived at Tennessee Valley 2 hours 40 minutes from the start.

I had dropped my extra layer at Tennessee Valley Aid Station. It was freezing in the valley..
You can see frost on the ground.  

Tennessee Valley Aid Station to Cardiac Aid Station (22 km to 37 km)
It was freezing at Tennessee Valley. It was certainly much warmer on the hills than in the valleys, but Tennessee Valley was the worst. There was frost on the ground and my fingers were freezing. I didn't expect that and I had not packed any gloves.  I filled up my nutrition, drank three cups of fresh water and bandaged my toe.  As I was getting my nutrition ready I looked around to tell Lisa I was ready to leave. She had disappeared. I saw her running out of the aid station. Dam! Trying to drop me already. I left and set a pace that slowly gain on her and caught up just before the next big climb. Another part of my race plan was not to let Lisa drop me!  She said she wasn't trying to drop me, it was too cold to wait.....  hummm. sure. :)

Tennessee Valley from coastal Trail

The climb up and over to Muir Beach was not too bad. The views were beautiful and we were able to run/walk the climb. Lisa got ahead of me on the down hill into Muir Beach, but I caught her on the flat heading into Muir Beach Aid Station. I didn't stop at Muir Beach, just called out my number to check-in and kept going onto the road for a short distance, then onto single track trail. Lisa caught up to me before we crossed the highway again and began a ridiculous switchback climb on Heather Trail that took us up to Cardiac View trail.

Steep descent into Muir Beach

The ridiculous switchback trail - the start of the 6 km climb to Cardiac Aid Station

By now I was dying to pee. This is good and bad. Good because it means I'm well hydrated. Bad because it means I need to stop to pee and Lisa will get ahead of me. I found a tree and stopped.

We climbed for over 6 km until we hit Cardiac Aid Station. I caught up with Lisa before the aid station.

I arrived at Cardiac Aid Station 4 hours, 51 minutes from the start.

Cardiac Aid Station to Old Inn Aid Station (37 km to 59 km)
I refuelled at Cardiac and took on some Coca Cola. I hate coca cola normally but I crave it in a race. Then kept moving. The trails climbed into a forest then ran along the fall line alternating between wide open bluffs and shaded forests with streams. After climbing to our highest point of 500 metres, we then began a relentless down hill to sea-level at Stinson Beach. The trail here was fairly technical so was not a fast down hill. Lisa is faster on this than me and she got ahead of me and out of sight for most of the down hill run. I caught up again at Stinson Beach. A short stretch on road then we turned on to Dipsea Trail and a short up hill to Stinson Beach Aid Station.

Cardiac Aid Station at 450 metres ASL

After a short stop to drink three cups of fresh cold drink water, we continued on Dipsea Trail as it ascended, steeply at times, back to Cardiac Aid Station. The views of this trail were fantastic.

Passing through Cardiac Hill Aid Station a second time (more fresh water as the day was getting warm), the trail descended steeply. Another technical trail and I lost Lisa on this. At this point I thought I would be running the rest of the race alone.  I ran strong but did not want to trip on the roots or slippery wooden decks and knew I wouldn't be able to catch her on the down hill.  Once at the bottom, the trail climbed and it was here I caught up to Lisa.

Trail from Cardiac to Stinson Beach

For some reason this trail through the redwoods on the edge of Muir Woods National Monument, seemed to go on forever.  We were well past were we thought the aid station should have been when we dropped onto a road. The volunteer showed us the trail across the road and cheerfully told us only one more mile to the aid station. A mile?!  It should have been a mile back.

Dipsea trail climbing back to Cardiac Aid Station

We finally entered Old Inn Aid Station 8 hours, 30 minutes after the start.

Old Inn Aid Station to Tennessee Valley Aid Station (59 km to 69 km)
I don't remember much of Old Inn Aid Station. I quickly reloaded my hydration and fuel and was on my way. A short but steep climb, which I cursed every step because it shouldn't have been there, then all down hill or flat to Muir Beach. There was some significant road running here, which made me think that we were detoured due to a closed trail as this road was not in the turn-by-turn directions in the course guide.

We rejoined the trail on what looked like a make-shift trail connector full of slippery mud. I loved it. The flat run to on single track to Muir Beach was fairly fast and uneventful.

View from Coastal Trail climbing out of Muir Beach

I made a quick stop at Muir Beach to drink fresh water, then climbed up and over to Tennessee Valley.  I was feeling strong. I had no lows throughout this race. No muscle cramps in the legs to deal with. Though I was cautious when transitioning from hill climbing to down hill running to let the legs adjust before running them down the hill. By now I was not looking forward to the down hills as the steepness made it painful on the quads and feet. Up hills were fine - a fast hike.

We entered Tennessee Valley 10 hours after leaving the start line.

Tennessee Valley to the Finish Line (69 km to 83 km)
A quick water stop then Lisa and I began the last climb up to Alta Aid Station.  We ran walked the hill. Passed through Alta Aid Station and then on single track down to the Golden Gate Bridge. Once on the bridge, we had 5 km to go to the finish line; three of those were on the bridge.  As we left the bridge and had one mile to go, we decided to finish together. We crossed the finish line 11 hours, 48 minutes after the start.

SCA Trail from Alta Aid Station to Golden Gate Bridge

Not a terribly fast race but a race I enjoyed throughout. At the start of some of the climbs later in the race I got emotional. I think it was just adrenaline from running and when I stop and started hiking it hds nowhere to go so came out as emotion. I felt like I managed nutrition and my body well for the distance. I had no lows. Never once felt like I could not finish. Had no gut issues. No muscle cramps. Never felt tired. Sure I ached in places and had to tell myself to run, especially on the Old Inn section, but that is par for the course in ultras. Everything worked the way it should.

I loved the North Face Challenge.  And San Francisco is a fantastic host city. We hung around the finish line for an hour or so. Unfortunately, and the only complaint I have, is the food trucks had run out of most of the hot food, leaving me with a raw tuna salad (which was delicious). After a race, where I had burned almost 9000 calories, I wanted a hot juicy burger and beer. As it was i settled for tuna salad and beer.

We got the shuttle bus back to Marina Middle School, and then caught the No. 30 trolley bus back to the hotel. We went to a pub for dinner, burger and beer. Then crashed early.

The day after the race we walked Fisherman's Wharf, and then rode the powell-Mason Cablecar line to Union Square, walked through Chinatown at night, had dinner there in a local Chinese restaurant, walked through Little Italy, and had a beer in a Irish pub. A great way to end the trip to San Francisco.

Thanks to Kent Ainscough (10 hours, 20 minutes), Lisa Fehr (11 hours, 48 minutes), Charlene Waldner (marathon in 4 hours, 29 minutes and won her age category), and Andrew (DNS but volunteered at Tennessee Aid Station, cheered us on and walked (ran?) 25km on the trails).  You guys made the trip awesome!  Thank You. And thank you to all of the volunteers on the course. You kept us safe and on course and we could not have done it without you.

Does this need a caption? On the 3 km long Golden Gate Bridge

At the Finish Line at Crissy Field

Finish Line