My 100th ultra, and my A-race for the year, the inaugural Bay Area 100M finally happened this past weekend! This race has been taking up so much of my mental bandwidth (and my family’s?) for the past several months with training runs, buildup races (Mt. Diablo 50K, Marin Ultra Challenge 50M, Quicksilver 100K), nutrition and logistics planning. I’m glad I not only made it to the Bay Area 100M start without any niggles, but ended up finishing my first official 100 miler in 27:34 and 3rd in AG! That’s with a 18K vert, to boot! Huge thanks to my crew-angel-wifey Kammy 😇 who brought me back from the dead at mile 35, and my sons Niles & Navin for taking turns to pace me the last third of the race 🥹! Here’s my Strava activity:

Bay Area 100M – The Prep

I’ll post another blog on the gory details of the planning and logistics that went into this race, but I had my nutrition dialed in (so I thought) with a combination of Tailwind high carbs, CarbsFuel and LiquidGU left in gear bags at Wildcat Canyon (mile 15), Chabot Staging (mile 56.6) and Bort Meadow (miles 68, 83 and 97.5). Kammy was to meet me at Valle Vista (mile 35) and Last Trampas (mile 46). I was going to run with just a FitBelt and a handheld through mile 35 and then switch to a vest with an ice bandana to handle the exposed afternoon heat.

So plan A, maybe plan B and as life does what life does, you get punched in the mouth and have to figure it out! Maybe, maybe that is the appeal of running ultras – that you have to be open minded, watch, listen, learn and adapt as the race unfolds, ‘cos you never know.

Bay Area 100M – The Bonk

Kammy and I spent the night at Berkeley and I was happy to get about 6 hours of sleep, which is rare the night before a race. I made it to the start line around 4:30am – saw Orly, Moy, Brianna there. The stadium lit in the fog was magical. Popped a CarbsFuel before the start, we took off along Prospect St and then the steep climb up towards Grizzly Peak. I felt free and light with just the FitBelt and the handheld with Tailwind. Kept the HR between zone 3 to low zone 4 and made good progress – picked up a GU at Grizzly Peak, one more at Inspiration (saw Joseph along the way – met him during the training run) and pulled into Wildcat in 2:40.

Grabbed a visor and a Kool Tie and was quickly on my way again. One more Tailwind reload at Steam Trains (mile 25) and noticed I was feeling a little a little queasy by Sibley (mile 29). The sun was out now, I felt a little warm (ohai Natalia!), and somewhere around Pinehurst, a gag reflex kicked in and I hurled it all out, twice. Well, dang – was it something I ate last night?

Bay Area 100M – The Burp

Even though I was 45+ minutes ahead of the 24h finish pace (was aspiring for it), I slow walked into Valle Vista (mile 35), exhausted and mentally done. Told Kammy to text the boys not to leave home yet, ‘cos I was gonna likely drop right here. I kept saying that every 5 or 10 minutes, while she made me sit and doused me in ice water and kept handing me coke, patiently encouraging me. I felt depressed & guilty, for letting team K2N2 down and I couldn’t see myself venture out into the heat and climb up Las Trampas, let alone cover the next 65 miles. This went on for an hour+, until I burped. I got up, used the restroom and suddenly felt like a fog had just lifted.

And then it clicked. I’d been on Tailwind and gels all morning, I hadn’t drank any water, so I was dehydrated, thirsty, warm and hence the GI stress! Okay, plan B then. Stay off Tailwind for now, switch to coke & ice in the soft flask, but continue on the gels. Kammy said she was gonna meet me at Rancho Laguna just to make sure I was ok, but as I ventured out a mile from the aid station, texted her to stick to plan and meet me at Las Trampas.

That was one hell of an exposed climb, but this time I was ready. Ice bandana, lots of ice in the hydration pack, iced coke in the flask, hell yeah, 90 frickin’ degrees, bring it on! Kammy had gone out and gotten a bag of ice, a lemonade and a quesadilla (I’d requested for it) and cheered me into the aid station 😍. I was in high spirits – there was a live stream I got pulled into, and I was talking trash having a good time. Thanks William Dai for watching the stream and texting me realtime! Took my time here to eat, hydrate, reload coke & gels and out I went knowing the really hard part of the course was behind me.

Bay Area 100M – The Bounce Back

Thank you Betsy for recognizing me and helping me out at Ripley Ridge. Had a very brief stop at Chabot Staging (mile 56.6) to chuck the ice bandana & visor, grab the headlamps and reload gels from the gear bag. I was excited to see Niles and Navin at the Chabot Marina. Took a spill right before reaching the lake trail, but shook it off. Hugged them both, changed clothes, wiped down with Tecnu (oh yeah, plenty of PO on that descent) and Navin took over the pacing. It was nice to have clean dry clothes on, as it was starting to get chilly and the wind was picking up by the lake.

I watched the sunset with him as we headed towards Clyde (mile 60.8) – quesadillas and cup noodles, a starlit sky, grunting up the hills matching the sounds of the eucalyptus in the wind, quietude in the redwoods, a banana slug crossing, star-wars-themed aid station, owl hooting, another spill in the dark, crossing paths with Moy & Maya, then Brianna, until at around 3am we were back to Bort Meadows.

Bay Area 100M – The Finish

Niles was waiting and ready with just 2 hours of sleep, and I was too gun shy after the two falls to try and run – so walk we did. Saw Saurabh pacing his friend, steady climb up to Marciel, sharing long stretches of quiet moments, more cup noodles, coke, gels, fresh bobcat scat, watching the city lights, birds waking up, headlamp lights dissolving with the morning light, watching the sunrise. We were mostly on our own, past the golf course, up to Marciel again, then working our way down Redtail Trail until we pulled into Bort Meadows again in 26:35. Navin had reparked the car, waiting for us, also snoozing for just a couple of hours. I couldn’t have made it through the night without these two!

A quick change of shirt, shed the vest and up we went towards the finish, all smiles. Goats grazing by the trail, the technical single track in the middle of Skyline Blvd, the right turn at the light into the school – this was it. Ran the 300m on the track shoulder to shoulder, high on euphoria, happy to finish and pulled into the finish at 27:34 and 3rd in AG.

Adam Ray was there, having conceived this 100-miler many years ago and finally materializing it. So was Mark Hauber (we met at Lake Sonoma 50M many moons ago), who came out to hug me and made sure I was ok. It takes a village and a village it took. I’m still in a state of disbelief processing it all. Not exactly sure how I made it through it all, but every bit of nudge, every bit of help pulled me along. That was something else.

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ps: I’ve always joked that ultras are eating and drinking competition with some running thrown in. My approx tally at the end was 5x Tailwind high carbs, 14x CarbsFuel, 5x GU, 16x LiquidGU, almost 3L of coke, cups of warm broth, bunch of quesadilla quarters and some cup noodles! 😅

pps: Out of the 160 something runners, looks like 60 dropped out! Las Trampas in the mid-afternoon sun is definitely something to reckon with, I suppose.

ppps: Article from The Oaklandside on Bay Area 100M, with candids of Niles, Navin & I at the finish line!