My left ankle has been a bit stiff since the run last week. Maybe I rolled it somewhere, possibly on the corrugated, hard packed surface between Big Bear and Bort Meadow. Just to be safe, decided to redo the Down By The Bay 50K. I supposed there was some laziness too, since designing new routes without repetition is a fair bit of work. The wind advisory that’s been around for the past couple of days ended at 5am, so the morning was pretty calm. Here’s my Strava activity:

Bay Watch 50K

Decided to go completely broke this time, not even carrying water with me. Just the car key and the iPhone. Felt so much lighter without the vest, 1 liter of Tailwind, salt pills, gels, pro-bars, Garmin inReach, the whole enchilada! My alarm was at 5am, but by 5:30am there was already some light. Parked a little before 6:00am and started the run just in time for the sunrise.

After the first two loops, peeled off my arm sleeves and chucked the iPhone in the car too. The first 22 miles were solid, consistent with a 7:45 min/mile to 8:00 min/mile pace. It didn’t feel like a struggle and kept up the pace, with the cool morning helping a lot. Every time I passed the car, I would take a swig of Tailwind with one gel at the start of each 9-mile lap. I probably spent a little too much time at the car at mile 22. The next stretch was a bit slower with some walking too.

At one point it looked like I could make 4:30, but just couldn’t keep the pace. Tried to keep shuffling the last 4 miles and made it back to the car at 4:36, which is a PR for this distance! My wife came out with our dog to meet me at the finish line, which was super cool!

I’m happy that my ankle held up throughout the run. So that was ultra #20 for the year and so far so good. On to the next one in a week. Trying to see if I can time the Supermoon rise on the 26th!