Twin Peaks 50 Miler (er… 53ish Miler)

When the Twin Peaks 50 Miler website warned of 17,000 feet of climbing, they were not kidding.

5:00 am yesterday morning marked the start of the Twin Peaks 50 Mile Endurance run (though the actual distance is closer to 53 miles). The only other course I had to compare this to was the Headlands 50 miler which was 7,000 feet less of climbing and it still completely destroyed me. I went into the start of this race cautiously, careful to save my quads for the 10 mile stretch of downhill I would face at the end which can easily result in broken bones if your muscles are fatigued and your reflexes aren’t sharp. Yes, this was going to be a long day of slow climbs and my only strategy was to stay positive and expect it to hurt.

The first climb went up for about 7 miles before we got to a more rolling pattern. The fire roads were in bad shape with crevices sometimes a couple of feet deep. I noted that I would be running down this same path at the end of the race and in the dark. I fell twice just running up the hill so I knew that I’d have to be particularly aware at night on the way down.

10 or so miles in we reached an aid station before descending down a steep single track which seemed to be entirely loose rolling rock. Right off the bat I was loosing my footing, rolling my ankles, slip sliding down the switchbacks and using all the balance I had not to go tumbling over the edge. It was the first time in my running career that I actually was a little frightened of falling. I’m an all out downhill runner and I don’t like to hold back, but in order to not launch myself over the side of the mountain, my running technique needed to be adjusted.

Andy Kumeda, Catra Corbett, Linda Mcfadden, Craig Slagel, Erin Chavin

At mile 14.5 we hit the Holy Jim aid station for the first of two times. This is where my drop bag was. In an effort not to spend too long at aid stations, I grabbed a pb&j, refilled my camelbak with water and hit the trails, completely forgetting to re-stock on food, so I was off on a 7.5 mile climb with only a chia mix to eat. But I’ll tell you what, if all you have to eat are chia seeds, you aren’t too bad off.

I felt stronger on the ascent up to Santiago Peak than I had felt all morning and I used this momentum to increase my speed a little and begin to break away. We got high enough in this climb to reach snow! At the top of Santiago Peak I stocked my camelbak with a handful of Oreos and took a pb&j in each hand and started running down the mountain. For the first time all day I felt like I was running naturally. The single track I hit was a little rough, but I was feeling more confident in my footing and less scared without a drop-off to worry about. At the end of the single track I took a wrong turn and climbed up the fire road for about a mile before being turned around. Almost every runner I talked to made this same wrong turn.

Chowing down on chia!

I continued the downhill to Holy Jim (mile 30) to pick up my pacer Garrett. At this point I took a dip in the creek in an attempt to ice my quads before scaling up the rocky single track I had nearly tumbled down earlier in the day. The icy creek definitely helped my quads. I felt refreshed going into our next climb. This was the hottest part of the day and I passed a couple of runners sitting in the shade cooling off and resting, which I hate to say, made me feel like the race was over for them. The only instruction I gave Garrett was not to let me sit down. It’s all over when you sit down.

Me, Brian Kroggman and his pacer Bev Jones Carpenter

foreground - Bev Jones Carpenter, Brian Krogmann, background - myself, my pacer Garrett Hamilton

This 4 mile climb lasted at least an hour and a half. After topping off our water at the top, we headed down the fire road to the Indian Truck aid station before climbing to the top of Santiago Peak for the 2nd time. At the aid station I tried to get clarity on where to turn and how to come back down the mountains, but the volunteers actually didn’t know what to tell me. The race was a little confusing and some of the turns were not marked well and on top of that, most of the volunteers didn’t have knowledge of the course either. I was carrying the course directions from the website on me but this was completely useless unless you knew the names of all the trails. I did not. I ended up figuring out the rest of the course by asking a veteran runner of the race. I figured now that I knew how to get back down, I wouldn’t get lost again and i could just relax and enjoy the rest of the run.

Snow on the way up to Santiago Peak

After hitting Santiago Peak for the 2nd time, there is about a 10 mile run down to the finish. Garrett and I got about 4 miles into this before finally needing to turn on our headlamps. Garrett ran next to me, letting me lead the way and set the pace but providing me with more light from his headlamp and flashlight so that I wouldn’t fall into the crevices. This was the strongest running I did all day.

Finally we got to the base of the fire road and reached a point where you could turn, or go straight. I remembered having to turn left at the beginning of the race so I lead Garrett and I down to the right. I still don’t know exactly what happened but now we spent about 20 minutes being completely lost. Most of this is a blur to me, except that I remember being so upset that I started to dry heave and cry while Garrett calmly just told me to turn around and keep running. After two attempts and some bad directions we found our way down the rest of the hill and into the finish area.

I finished with 14:20 (goal was 14:15) only 1 minute slower than Headlands 50 miler, but with an added 3 miles and 7,000 feet of more climbing. Turns out I also placed 2nd overall for women. Not a bad run.

More importantly I got to spend the whole day with friends, running, enjoying the views, and just being grateful that I have the ability to do what I do.

Video Recap!