Malibu Canyon 50k race report

Malibu Canyon started of well. I drove up the night before and stayed at my sister in laws house. It's a 3 hour drive from my house so I decided going the night before would be smart. I am a terrible tired driver so I just avoid it now. I stayed with her the night before and then only had an hour drive in the morning. I arrived at 6:30 am and that gave me plenty of time to get ready in my car and check in. Everything was very well organized . I really like my tech shirt and I also got some socks. Gotta love swag :). The weather was that perfect morning running cold weather. You can stand being outside with out really needing a jacket. The sky was a clear blue. The sun was shinning really bright but it was still chilly.

Over 100 people gathered at the start and then just like that it was ready set go. I really liked the small group of runners that gathered it felt like a small race. Everyone said hi and good morning. many people asked if this was your first 50k.  I saw a friend I admire from San Diego Karen. When I ran the San Diego 100 back in June I remember some lady at mile 70 something at some aid station held my face and told me I was going to make it and that I just needed to keep going. I will always remember that because it was at that moment that I believed I was going to make it. Karen was that lady and while I was running I put the two together. Those volunteers at the aid stations can make all the difference in the world. God Bless all of them. 

There was 2 big ass hills. The 50k had 5900 elevation gain. There was tons of climbing but as you can see it was not rocky so it was really nice.There was only 18 percent single track. 74 percent dirt road and a little bit of asphalt.
 I have friend Jeff Hooker who I  is a really great power hiker and runner . He does it so well and I have watched him and he has walked me through his style so I practiced as much as I could . It was the perfect place to practice practice, practice. I honestly do not think you can ever practice power hiking enough. 

 I really enjoyed myself. It was so pretty and as I was running it dawned on me that in 2010 I had run this course and failed. This is the same course as the Bull Dog 50k and because I failed (DNF) at this once I felt really good about how much better I did this time. I am telling you this never gets old. The picture is of Malibu Canyons and I could see the most insanely huge houses from the trail.

This part of the run was short but it felt very Patagonia. It looks warm in this picture but it was cool.

My shameless #runningselfie

I made a  new friend and it turns out we have run other races together but we never met.

 I finished at 7hours and 15 minutes and 8th in my age group. They had aid stations every 5 to 8 miles and everyone was friendly. I filled up with water got some chips and I was golden.

My legs look so skinny in this picture. They are actually really big and buff (JK)…
 Once again I had a wonderful time met new people and heard some great stories. The race director was really nice and friendly. If I could change anything it would to not drive home the night of he race and I wore the wrong shoes for sure. I love the mini adventures in my life that running theses races provides for me. Thank you for reading. G