Best of San Diego 100 miler 2021

Best of San Diego 100 miler race report 2021

TL:DR version. I ran the Best of San Diego 100 miler and tied for 1st place with Ray Sanchez in a time of 23 hours 9 minutes.

I ran the Best of San Diego (BOSD100) 100 miler on 11/20/21. The race is considered a FAT ASS run. FAT ASS is the name given to runs that are frequented by experienced runners and characterized by the phrase "No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps." The race director Ed Wang makes it clear that this is, in fact, FAT ASS when you sign up.

Background.

In 2016, I was running through the jungles of South-Eastern China during the Mt. Gaoligong 100 miler. I was around 85 miles into the race and was looking for the sun to rise. My headlamp was flashing low battery, and I had no spare battery. The sun was supposed to have risen 10 minutes earlier, but I found myself in a deep valley with thick foliage above me. No light was penetrating. And minutes later, I was in darkness. I got out my cellphone and started using the flashlight on it to continue on the trail. This was extremely difficult. Out of the darkness came Ray Sanchez. Bounding down the trail with his super bright light and he shepherded me out of that darkness, and we ran the rest of the race together. Since that race, Ray and I have raced together quite a few times and have done the Badwater Salton Sea team race twice together. Two weeks ago, while we were 75 miles into Badwater Salton Sea, he told me that he was running this 100 miler in San Diego, and I should join him. No races sound good at mile 75, but when the race was over, I checked it out and found that my schedule was free. I checked the webpage, and registration was closed. So I sent out my feelers. My friend Phillip, who lives in San Diego and has run the race before, sent me the race director’s number, and just like that, I was signed up for it. Ten days to train. 

Ed provides you with a list of files for your watches or devices with the maps ready to go. I uploaded the gpx to my garmin Fenix pro 6x and uploaded a gpx to Gaia GPS app on my phone as a backup. I read multiple race reports that Ed provided. I also zoomed in on google maps and followed the course looking for places I could buy food and drinks. Then I made a detailed list of what was available at certain mileage checkpoints. For instance, at mile 41, there is a 7-11 right before a big climb. Ed also provided turn-by-turn instructions with even more detail, such as what side of the road to be on and if there were water fountains and bathrooms. At the end of all my research, I felt confident that I would be okay. The challenge, it seemed, was that from mile 50 to 100, there were no businesses to buy food and drink. Ed did allow 1 small dropbag for his water station at miles 50 and 75. So I built a dropbag with enough calories to get me through the last 50 miles, mixed with cold-weather gear and batteries for my devices.

The race starts near Torrey Pines, and there are multiple hotels within walking distance (1.5 miles) from the start. I stayed at the Marriott, and it was pretty nice. I woke up at 3 am and started my morning race routine, breakfast, coffee, lube, etc. I met Ray Sanchez at 4:15 am (he stayed at the Hampton Inn across the street), and we walked the 1.5 miles to the start. It was a perfect little warm-up. In typical FAT ASS fashion, the startline was just an unassuming street corner near Torrey Pines. I signed a waiver promising I wouldn’t sue, put on a wristband with my number on it (I was #20), and took a group picture. I loaded the course on my watch, and at 5 am Ed said without any fanfare, “Go.”

With that, we all took off jogging down the dark road towards the ocean. Ray and I had planned to run together, but both agreed that if one of us had a rough day that the other one would continue on. The first 40ish miles are relatively flat and mostly through the city, and we planned to run it very easily at a 10/min mile pace. Very similar to what we had done at Badwater Salton Sea two weeks earlier. The weather was mild. I had brought gloves and a windbreaker but took them both off before the race started. It was humid and sticky, which is typical for early morning beach runs. We ran along the coast for the first 26 miles or so. There were some breathtaking spots. The bird rocks of La Jolla, the Sunset Cliffs, the Midway Aircraft Carrier, and Embarcadero trail along the water. Running along the California coastline always makes me happy. The only challenge was keeping our pace under control. For the most part, we kept it under control. At mile 13, we came to Ed’s first “water aid station.” It was a full blown aid station. I ate watermelon and potatoes dipped in salt. He had a ton of different foods. Well, this changes everything. As we continued running, Ray and I began reformulating our race plan. Knowing that the water spots along the course were going to have calories and drinks changed our overall thoughts on tackling the course. We had no navigational issues going through that first 26 miles. It is easy to stay on course. There are several gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores, coffee shops, etc., along the way. If you wanted to stop, you would not have a hard time finding something open. When you hit the convention center, you turn left and start heading inland. Goodbye ocean, hello hills. Running through the Gas Lamp District, you make your way to Balboa Park. Dodging tourists, you run past all the beautiful architecturally impressive museums before dropping into a Cactus botanical garden. Excellent little downhill trail section that was fun to run. You then head back uphill and find the third aid station at mile 31. We were doing pretty good with pace, finishing the first 50k in 5 hours 25 minutes. We still felt strong and were in good spirits. As we headed inland, the temperatures were getting a bit warmer, but we had good cloud coverage to keep the real heat of the sun off of us. Ed warned us that this section was often people’s least favorite section because of the heavy traffic and stoplights on University street. This was the city heights neighborhood, and as advertised, it was a busier section of the city. Ray and I got pretty lucky with green lights and walk signs and didn’t have to wait that often to cross the street. At mile 36, I stopped at a gas station and got some potato chips and a red bull. We then had a decent uphill climb for several miles as we headed toward the Cowles Mountain (not a mountain) trailhead. At mile 41, I stopped at 7-11 and bought some water. We had nine more miles until the next aid station and still had to run up and over the highest point in San Diego. Cowles mountain trailhead was busy. A lot of San Diego influencers wearing yoga pants and crop tops were taking selfies and posing along the trail. Look at me; I'm hiking, I’m so rugged. Please like my picture. I think the trail was only like a mile and a half to the top. Mostly runnable with flat switchbacks, although there were a couple of steep rocky sections that were better hiked. Ray and I made it to the top easily. The top was packed with people, and we rapidly descended down the backside. This section is a steep downhill. Almost so steep that it’s not fun to run, but then it breaks off into a technical single track for a couple of miles. This type of trail is my wheelhouse, and my legs still felt fresh, so I bombed down it. Ray hit a bit of a low here, but in typical Ray fashion, he just put his head down and kept grinding. At the mile 50 aid station, we took a little bit more time to put ourselves back together. I ate a lot of calories and used our drop bags. 

Although there were small sections of trail before mile 50, this is the start of the majority of the trail system. The first couple of miles were fairly flat as we made our way toward the hill system that we would be exploring for the next several hours. The gpx file came in very handy here because the trail is constantly bifurcating, and there are a lot of side trails everywhere. The first climb was quite brutal. Steep and technical it was not runnable, so Ray and I shifted into hiking mode and powered up it. It never really felt like it ended, though. Every time you’d get to the “top,” you’d drop down another quarter mile and start climbing again. It was warm, and we were both sweating quite profusely. Technical but mostly runnable, it was a grind for many miles. The beauty made up for the pain as we found ourselves surrounded by hills in all directions, and it was hard to believe that we had started running through the urban mix of San Diego. The sun was starting to set, and the light was illuminating the clouds in my favorite way. A cool breeze would occasionally hit us, and our sweat started to dry up, and we started to feel better. Eventually, we came to a nice downhill bomb that woke up our legs, and we powered down it at a good clip. The sun set on us, and we switched to our headlamps. We then found ourselves on another climb, although not as bad as the first one. That led to a very nice single track back to the road. As we ran down the road, my friend Phillip met us and ran us in the last mile to the mile 62 aid station. It was good to see him, and I chatted him up. If you’ve ever run with me, you’ll know that I don’t shut up. At the aid station, I ate a bunch of potatoes, some pretzels, and a Red Bull. The next 13 miles was on the Avocado trail, which appears to be a bridal trail that snakes through really nice neighborhoods. There are a couple of short road sections in which you basically just run to the next section of the trail. At one point, there is an important turn you make off the main trail onto a single track that takes you down into a canopied section. It’s easy to miss, but Ed outlines it in his notes. Ray and I were moving with a purpose, but I wouldn’t say we were blazing through with speed. As we got closer to Lake Hodges, it started to get colder. Not cold enough for any additional layers, but it was brisk. We couldn’t see the lake because it was so dark but knew it was close. At mile 75, we reached another aid station. Ed had some hot vegan congee in an instapot made up of rice and mung bean paste. It was incredible. You know, when it’s dark and cold during an ultra, and someone offers you a hot carb-filled deliciousness, it’s game-changing. Before I was vegan, I used to love a hot grilled cheese or quesadilla. The next section was sold to us as mostly downhill that followed the lake to the next aid station. We were given some instructions about a trail by the dam that we needed to look for, and we were off. This was the hardest section for me. It started off easy enough. A rolling fire road along the lake. We had no issues until it turned into a technical double track that twisted and rolled for miles. This section ate my legs up. I couldn’t get into a rhythm, and my legs were burning. The train was starting to come off the rails.  When we got to the dam, we couldn’t understand what Ed had been talking about, and we got super lost. We ended up taking a trail that took us to stairs that took us down under the dam. We found ourselves in a rock cave with a gate. Thankfully the gate had a padlock on it; otherwise, I think we would have tried to go through it. As we turned around to head up a million stairs back to the trail, we were greeted by hundreds of yellow bat eyes staring at us from the top of the cave. When we got to the top, we rechecked our map and discovered that the trail we were supposed to be on was about 150’ above us. I looked up and saw that there was a pathway of class 3 rocks that would take us to the trail. So with 83 miles on our legs, I convinced Ray it would be a good idea to climb up this cliff of rocks to get the trail. Ray was not happy but did it. I do have a good video of him getting to the top. We made it, and no one died or got injured. We continued down the trail. Shortly afterward, we were greeted by a security guard standing on the trail telling us that we were trespassing and to get off the trail and get on the road. Apparently, the trails in San Diego were closed at night. Ed had warned us about this, but it was pretty surreal at the time. After running on the road another mile, we reentered the trail system and found ourselves presented with a couple more big climbs before reaching the mile 89 aid station. At mile 85, I was starting to fall asleep. I had to pull out my emergency Red Bull and wake myself up. I had been really struggling, but the infusion of caffeine and carbs brought me back to life and well gave me wings. Ray had started to hallucinate mildly. I remember telling him it was too early for that, and he needed to eat more. The climbs probably weren’t that big, but with sore legs, they felt significant. There was also a small creek crossing that was challenging. Ray fell into the water. Your balance is compromised at this point in the race. Mile 89 was the last aid station before the finish. Ed had hot vegan rice and sweet potato soup, and I ate two bowls. It was incredible. The last 11 miles is a pretty easy downhill road and trail. I wish I could tell you that Ray and I killed this section, but the truth is we were in full grind mode. Pushing it hard as we could, and we were running 14-minute miles. We struggled, we laughed, we relentlessly pushed forward, knowing the end was soon. I started to hallucinate. We got a bonus mile as we did get lost a few times, and over 100 miles, it added up. As we ran down the road to the finish, we saw Ed standing on the same corner we started from. We ran up to him, and he casually said, “finish.” And just like that, our adventure was over. Big Thanks to Ed Wang for all his hard work. Thanks to Ray Sanchez for 100 miles of adventuring. I hope everyone that reads this puts this on their radar as a race to run. Smile, or you're doing it wrong.

Footnote on Red Bull. I am not an energy drink kind of guy. I don’t drink them in my daily life, but during ultramarathons, they are my fuel. I find that they have a perfect mix of caffeine and carbohydrates. The short story is while racing a 100 miler in China; I was super jet-lagged. It was only 10 pm, and I was falling asleep. And then, for the first time in my life, I actually fell asleep while running. I started to fall forward, and my knees hit my chest, waking me up. It’s a surreal experience waking up and realizing that you were in the middle of China running an ultramarathon. Around this time, my buddy Jarod Fetteroff passed me. I told him about my struggles, and he suggested I try a Red Bull. They were at all the aid stations! It changed my race and I’ve never looked back.