Mt. Diablo is one of those Bay Area peaks that’s ever looming over the horizon. I ran my very first trail half marathon here back in 2012 and since then, been in love with this mountain, even camped out there near the summit a few times (Juniper campground has amazing views!). My wife and I have been supporting Save Mount Diablo for many years now, a non-profit whose mission is to preserve, defend, restore, educate and enjoy this gorgeous mountain with many endemic flora and fauna. Diablo 50K is a grand tour of this mountain and quite the brutiful run, nearly 8,000ft of gain/loss packed into 25 miles or so. Here’s my Strava activity:

Diablo 50K

I had just gotten back from a different continent on Wed afternoon and was still pretty badly jet-lagged. And the past two weeks had been mostly running in flatland, with little to no elevation. I was kinda hoping that the Marin Ultra Challenge 50M experience would stay with my legs for two weeks and they’d remember how to climb hills! Got there a little early and saw the moonset at the start line. Saw Brian Mulholand and Jack Hsueh at the start line – Brian and I first met when we ran the Diablo Half Marathon in 2012 and since then been bumping into each other at various races.

The early miles, as always, went by easy in the coolness of the morning and fresh legs. There were a bunch of creek crossings early on and tried not to get my socks wet this early in the race! A short turnaround at the Little Pine aid and continued on. These little out and backs would give the runners many opportunities to see and cheer each other all day long.

I was keeping an eye out for various wildflowers and pretty soon after the start saw Globe Lillies, Common Vetches, Painbrushes, Black Sages. But I guess it’s been warm the last few weeks and there weren’t as many this time of the year as in the past.

Another brief stop at Rock City aid station and kept going. I was in a group of 4 or 5 runners, running together at about the same pace – little banter, little chatting. One more out and back along Curry Canyon road and got to the Curry Point aid at mile 13 in about 2:40. The couple of times I’ve been a sweeper for the first half of the 50K, I’ve made it past this aid, hung a left and descended down to the start. The second half of the 50k was all net new for me, and boy those were steep and exposed.

While I was thankful that big chunks of the Summit Trail were shaded, it was steep! Just steady climbing and as I approached the top, saw Jack Hsueh bombing down, looking strong. I’ve been dealing with a stomach bug of sorts (maybe airport food?) had to take a bio break at the top. Loaded up on fruits, gels, they even had popsicles!

Worked back down and headed towards North Peak, another gnarly, gnarly climb. I saw runners moving down sideways trying not to slide in the gravelly trails. We had to pick up a sticker at the top as proof, that we survived this climb?!! This peaked looked very familiar. I recalled that I’d been here long time ago with my younger son and his friend. We’d camped out at Juniper campground and hiked around the summit.

The downhill towards Bald Ridge was also very technical, steep falls on the right, narrow trails, loose rocks, roots and stumps, it was slow going. It was getting warm and I was having a hard time pushing down gels – tried to live off of Rocktane, which in hindsight was stupid. They weren’t giving me enough calories. As we reached Meridian Ridge Road, the aid folks had hiked down from Juniper aid and left a bunch of water gallon jugs there. Very thankful! Somewhere here on the (finally runnable) downhill, a swallowtail butterfly fluttered around me giving me company. One last climb (or so I thought) to Juniper campground.

I really should’ve gotten in more calories, but maybe it was the heat or I wasn’t thinking straight – more fruits and rocktane, doused myself with ice and began the long downhill to Burma. The first 3 miles were perhaps runnable, but then it got so steep, my toes were hitting the front of my shoe. Was starting to wonder if I was gonna lose my toe nails! These were hard miles, but again in hindsight, I was dipping into serious calorie deficit. Once I got to Burma aid, I figured just another 4 miles and I can maybe push, but another bad idea. More exposed firetrails and climbs. Had to pop in a salt chewable to not cramping. Surprisingly I only remember taking two, maybe three salt chewables during the whole run! Finally made it to the shaded section with creek crossings. Screw the wet socks, I just wanted to finish at this point. Shuffle, shuffle, splash, trudge and crossed the finish line in 7:18 and 5th in age group!

I was quite depleted when I crossed the finish – took me 30 minutes to down a coke and push down small bits of the bbq beans and potatoes to get my sugar level back. At the Marin Ultra Challenge 50M, we were lucky to be in shaded trails during the hottest part of the day. Also over there, the GU liquid energy from the aid stations went down a lot better than the regular gels. As I write this a few days after, my legs are just fine – just fatigue and some soreness, but I’ve got to get better on pushing those calories down, somehow. Especially as I stare down at the upcoming Quicksilver 100K and Bay Area 100M – it will be warm, ok hot, on similar exposed firetrails. More tweaking and strategizing necessary.