Sunrise in McCloud on race morning
It was approaching 10:00 PM when I exited the 5 Freeway and found myself traveling along a dark, winding road through rural Siskiyou County. I admired the tall pine trees that lined both sides of the road, but all I could see in front of me beyond the beams of my bright headlights was blackness. This remote road would eventually lead me to my destination of McCloud, California. Even though I had been on the road for the last five and a half hours, I hardly felt tired. A sense of excitement was coursing through my veins. I was happy to be up here. This is a really beautiful part of California, an area that I feel is somewhat of a hidden gem within the Golden State. Definitely a pretty awesome place to run an ultra. I was stoked for tomorrow morning's Great Shasta Rail Trail 50K. It was going to be great to get back out there in nature once again for another ultramarathon journey and test my physical and psychological strength. And man, did I have my work cut out for me this time. Compared to some other races I've done, the course was going to be relatively flat and gentle. But the high temperature was forecasted to be 104 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty damn hot. Not an ideal temperature for a race, especially for someone like me who fares better running in cold weather. If I had a choice between doing a race in 100 degree weather vs. 10 degree weather, I'd take the 10 degrees, no questions asked. But on race day, all I can do is play the cards I'm dealt and make the best of it. Attitude is everything. If the forecast for tomorrow was accurate, this would be the hottest ultramarathon I've ever run. My weakness for running in heat would be tested like never before, but I was up for the challenge.
When I rolled into McCloud shortly after 10:15 PM, the town was quiet. I turned off highway 89, where I found a liquor store, a gas station, and a restaurant, all of which were closed for the night. I drove past what looked like a community center, and I saw a door open to the building with a bar inside. I slowed down and noticed about six or seven people at the bar. I thought it would be fun to go in for a few minutes, have a beer, and chat with some locals before turning in for the night, so I parked my car nearby and walked over. When I got there, I saw an older guy standing outside having a cigarette. "Hey, is this place still open, or are they getting ready to close down for the night?" I inquired. This guy looked like the kind of guy you'd see as an extra in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. He had the rugged, country guy image, like he'd been living in McCloud for decades. He seemed intrigued by my presence and exhaled smoke as he answered me. "Well, it'll probably be open for a little while longer, but it's only for veterans." I noticed a sign on the building and it dawned on me that this was the American Legion Hall of McCloud. "Ah, okay, cool. I'm not a veteran, but hats off to you guys, thanks for serving" I said with a smile. I started to walk back towards my car when the guy spoke again. "You know what? Come on in. I'll sign you in as a guest. Just be respectful." I thought that really cool of him to do that. Here I was, just this guy in his late thirties who rolled into this small town from Silicon Valley wearing sandals, sweatpants, a "Keep Tahoe Blue" T-shirt, and a backwards baseball hat, with no military service to speak of. The guy could have easily turned me away, but he didn't. His kind gesture gave me a good feeling inside.
I spent the next forty-five minutes chatting with local men and women who served our country. The guy who signed me in had served in Vietnam, along with most of the other folks inside. The only other guys in there who were even close to my age where the members of the band who were playing earlier in the evening. I had a good time sipping my Pabst Blue Ribbon and having cool conversations. Everyone was in awe of what I was going to be doing the next morning. Needless to say, they had a lot of questions. "How long will that take? Where is this happening? Will you be able to rest? It's going to be 104 degrees tomorrow, you're going to run thirty-one miles?!". The older folks exchanged some different opinions with each other on the current politics of the United States. Siskiyou County, although mostly Republican, has a pretty sizable Democrat leaning population. Having disagreements over our country's current policies was a pretty normal thing, according to the bartender. The nice thing about it was it didn't get nasty. I admired the fact that these guys could have these conversations without being insulting and hateful towards each other. There will be a whole other blog post on this topic at some point, but for now, we'll focus on the Great Shasta Rail Trail 50K. How did the race go? Well, I finished. The heat took a lot out of me, but I made it to the finish line within the cut off time. That's how it went physically. Psychologically, it felt exhilarating. After I left the American Legion Hall, I parked my car on a residential street in McCloud near a school. I folded down my back seats, rolled out my sleeping pad and sleeping bag, and got a fairly decent night's sleep in the back of my car. The next morning I was up at 5:00 AM. The first rays of sunlight were lighting up the eastern skyline, and I admired the view as I stood outside and brushed my teeth. The faint sunlight was lighting up the slopes of Mount Shasta which towered over McCloud to the North. As I made the twenty minute drive to the start line, I felt excited and ready, but very at peace. Even though it was for a short time before I had to go to bed, I had a good time hanging with the locals the night before. Also the last text that Sam and I exchanged before I fell asleep was that she and Aidan loved me and were wishing me good luck. It's always good to have my head in the right place before an ultra.
American Legion Hall where the guys invited me to have a beer
The ride to the start line was a straight shot east on highway 89 for several miles before I made a left onto a remote road and drove about another mile before the start line came into view. The Bartle trailhead entrance to the Great Shasta Rail Trail was decked out with two porta-potties and a couple of canvas tents. Only a few cars were there, and I was one of the first runners to arrive. This was the first year this event was being held and we were looking at a pretty small crowd. There were going to be eight other people running the 50K with me, six people running the 30K, and about forty people running the 10K. The 10K course would be a 5K out and back, and the 30K and 50K courses would follow an out and back one way and a shorter out and back the other way. I liked the idea of having a smaller more intimate race because I felt like I could get to know the race staff, volunteers, and other runners better. I asked Jen, the race director, how she was feeling as I collected my race bib and finisher's shirt. She was going on one hour of sleep. Being a race director is a lot of work, even for a small event. All of the logistics and coordinating can be very draining, especially when people have families to care for and full time jobs. It's always important to show thanks and gratitude to race directors. They go through a lot to make these events happen. During that first year, most ultramarathons essentially operate at a loss or they're a financial break even at best. Assuming the race occurs annually, it usually takes a couple of years for the race to build momentum before race directors are making any kind of profit. They mostly do it because they love the sport, not so much for the financial benefit.
The small crowd of 30K and 50K runners gathered in a circle while Jen gave us a pre-race briefing. The 10K wouldn't be starting for another hour, so for now it was just the fifteen or so of us. The 50K runners would be heading out with the 30K runners on the same path, we would turn around at the aid station at the twelve and a half mile mark, make our way back here, then do the 10K out and back in the other direction. The weather felt nice at the moment, a cool 57 degrees, with a sunny, cloudless sky. But it was going to get brutally hot. The forecast was still triple digit heat, it hadn't changed since yesterday. Not that I expected it to change, but I was kind of hoping that by some miracle, the weather forecast from yesterday would be way off and it would actually only be 85 degrees today. Dream on. I didn't, however, allow the intimidating weather forecast to break my spirit. I had good vibes in my head and I was enjoying this mini weekend running trip to McCloud so far. However hot the weather would be today, I would embrace the conditions. I really had no other choice except for a DNS (Did Not Start), which wasn't an option. I would simply do my best today and enjoy every minute of this adventure that I could. With two minutes left until the start of the race, I ran over to my car, took my shirt off, and showered myself with sunscreen. We gathered in front of the trail entrance and Christy, one of the aid station captains, counted backwards from ten. When she reached zero, she sounded a toy siren over a megaphone, and the race was on. I clapped my hands in excitement, and us runners dashed down the trail, into the wild.
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