Sarah's turn again...

[thr3ee]

Way to go Beat! That is simply incredible! You are a true 100-miler stud. And, just think, you were actually considering skipping this race after Headlands

-Steve

[Pacific Coast Trail Runs]

They had a high finisher rate this year

Um...maybe HIGHER is what you meant to write! Only 14 finishers out of ~30 this year - you are AMAZING, Beat!!

Sarah

[ultrajegi]

Hi Guys!

I think all of you guys could do this, too, given a little luck (which I had) and the proper preparation. Compared to CCC:

- less technical. Pretty much everything is very runnable (if you feel like it). There is nothing like the trail from hell or the rope section in there. tree blowdown can be an issue, but it got all cleared this year.
- There are actually relatively few trail junctions, so while you do need to pay close attention and maybe study your map for a while when you hit one, it's not like you have to do this constantly. There are practically no false trails except for one area (around a campground). However, People started to make really dumb mistakes towards the end though because of fatigue ... that is an issue
- a bit long, as I said
- the deep dust and ruts are tedious, but actually not too bad. However: if you have the wrong shoes and/or no gaiters, your socks will be eaten up. My velocities and your gaiters did a good job on keeping the dust out, some others had pretty bad blisters and extremely dusty socks.
- Mostly you get a long climb, some time on a ridge, and a pretty straightforward descent, and then some rolling stuff.
- The climbs seem harder than CCC though, and you carry a lot more weight.
- Weather can be all over the place, I think it's similar in variability to CCC
- The second half of Plain is easier than the first, while in CCC it's arguably the other way around.

In summary, if you held Plain with proper aid stations and course markings and cut off the 6-8 extra miles, you'd get a course slightly easier than CCC in my opinion.

Overall this race is a real kick, and it will take you outside your comfort zone, pretty much like your first hundred did (well, not for Wendell, he's done way more crazy things). I can only recommend it

Beat

[Jon]

Great job Beat!

[Pacific Coast Trail Runs]

I'm not sure that I could do it, actually - even if I didn't get off course, what's your sense about pace? I mean, I wonder if a lot of people dropped because of the 21, 29, and 36 hour cut-offs. Did you get a sense of that out there?

How many ounces of water were you carrying between creeks? Would you carry less next time?

It sounds really wild and fun and beautiful...but I still don't think it's 'my kind' of thing - I think it focuses on all my worst skills.

Again, GREAT job finishing such a very, very challenging event, Beat!!

Sarah

[ultrajegi]

Hi Sarah,

Yeah I think most of the people starting at the race are pretty strong to begin with, me being one of the weaker starters in terms of speed. That said, I don't think that alone is important here. I ran with that swiss guy I met who had some serious stomach issues for most of the race, and we were going really quite slowly for a large part of the race (I stuck with him and his friend til the finish, not that I could have gone much faster anyways), and we had plenty of time to spare. We also stopped numerous times to fix feet, eat, etc. In terms of time pressure, HURT felt way worse to me.

One thing I would recommend if you were to try it is to do it with someone together, and stay with them. It can get quite lonely out there otherwise, they can prevent you from making mistakes, and from what you told me being all alone is not too much fun for you anyways.

I'd definitely carry less water depending on the conditions. In a very dry year, you have to be careful, as there are a bunch of water sources that are unreliable. Also not all water sources are flowing well. Generally I would probably do ok with 20-30 ounces less on average. I usually carrried between 50-80 ounces, except for the climb to signal peak, where I had 160 (and used 130 easily - really depends how slowly one goes up that hill).

Anyways, my race entry for next year's Plain will be in the mail tomorrow morning ...

If you (or anyone else) decide to go, I'll be happy to give you all the relevant key info that's needed to finish this race. I think for Wendell it's would be an easy finish.

Beat

[Pacific Coast Trail Runs]

Actually, I much prefer to be alone, particularly at night. But I realize that Plain is one where I'd have to plan to do the whole thing with someone - and I said as much to Wendell today.

But I also said that I don't think that I'll do it, because it just doesn't make a lot of sense for me - going to a race that isn't 'right up my alley' and at which I'd have to run with someone the whole time - whereas it makes GREAT sense for Wendell to do Plain!!

Hey, maybe his app will be in the mail right along with yours!!

Thanks for the info, Beat!!


Sarah