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Epiphany Ultras 2001 Report: Bob Runyan

O v e r v i e w

The Epiphany Ultra, otherwise known as John Medinger's Birthday Run, was run 
on Saturday in Redwood and Lake Chabot Regional Parks.  The parks are in the 
hills behind Oakland California.  There were three options for the race: 

50 miles, double 12.5-mile out and back
50 kilometers, single 12.5-mile out and back and 3-or-so-mile out and back
25 miles, single 12.5-mile out and back

There's an aid station at Bort Meadows, 6.5 miles from the start.  The runners 
pass this at 6.5, 18.5, 31.5, and 43.5 miles.  The race is free.

Given that I was undertrained and overweight, I decided to do the full 50 
miles.  This would be my first 50 miler.

P r e p a r a t i o n

To get ready for the race I cut back my mileage significantly.  Actually, 
moving from Reno to Yuba County, California caused most of the mileage loss 
(and weight gain).  During the three months before the race I averaged only 
30 miles a week with only one run over 20 miles.  Three weeks before the race 
I ran 50 K on the half mile trail I made in my yard.  That run went very 
easily, with just a little discomfort and no soreness the next day.

R a c e   D a y

I arrived at the start of the race with only about 10 minutes to spare and 
found the last parking space at the Skyline Gate entrance to Redwood Regional 
Park.  Lots of runners were milling around.  I didn't immediately recognize 
anyone, so I just got my stuff together and headed to the start.  There I 
found Chuck Wilson, whom I'd met at last year's Western States training 
weekend.  Chuck was going to be going easy as he was nursing a knee injury 
and hadn't done any real training during the last few months.  I decided to 
run with Chuck for the first 6 miles or so.  He was familiar with the course 
and would be going at a nice slow pace.

John Medinger said a few words at the start and then we all headed down the 
stream trail into the Redwoods.  The weather was pretty close to perfect: 
maybe high 30's and clear.  During the day the temperature probably got to 
the mid-60's or so.

T o   L a k e   C h a b o t

The first part of the course is almost all downhill to Redwood Road.  The 
trail took a few detours where work was being done on the trail.  I'd end up 
missing one of the detours later on one the way back.

Once we got down near Redwood Road the trail started heading steeply up and 
to the west.  We didn't see any other runners.  I asked Chuck if he was sure 
we were on course.  He said he thought we were.  After a mile or so we were 
still heading up and in what seemed like the wrong direction.  Now Chuck 
realized that we were in the wrong place so we retraced our steps.  It took 
almost 10 minutes to get back to Redwood Road running mostly downhill, so we 
figured we'd lost at least 20 minutes.  Seems the trail we were on was part 
of another ultra that Chuck had run.  Oh well, I enjoyed listening to Chuck 
tell about Wasatch and other runs he'd done.

Once back on Redwood Road we ran about a quarter to a half mile on pavement 
and then headed up a long steep uphill grade.  This brought us to the 
ridgetop.  Here we had a nice long downhill to Bort Meadow aid station.  I 
notice that my legs were feeling a bit tired and that they had some little 
aches and pains in the back.  I usually don't get that until I've been out 
for 15 or 20 miles so I got a bit concerned.  We reached the well-stocked 
Bort Meadow aid station and filled up on food and drinks, signed Tropical 
John's birthday picture and were off again.

I pulled ahead of Chuck several times on the way to Lake Chabot only to have 
to wait again at a trail crossing because I wasn't sure which way to go.  I 
carried the map provided on the website but it didn't show all the turns 
(the text description that accompanied the map did though, I think, but I 
didn't bring that).  The leaders zipped by on their way back as we decended 
to Lake Chabot.  The air was hazy over the lake which gave the whole scene a 
bit of a surreal look.  Across the dam and on toward the turnaround ...  
Finally, a couple of pink ribbons marked the turnaround spot on the bike 
trail around the lake.  I hit it in 2:34.

I did a bit of math and figured that if I subracted the 20 or more minutes 
we'd lost with our detour, that I'd done the first 12.5 miles in around 2:10 
or 2:15.  If I kept that up then I'd finish in under 9 hours.  I realized 

that against all of my efforts, I'd gone out too fast.  Oh well, continue on ...

B a c k   t o   S k y l i n e   G a t e

The way back was slower.  Much of it was a very gradual uphill, which I 
decided to walk.  At Bort Meadow aid station I saw Stan Jensen, whom I 
recognized but had never met.  I was surprised to see him since he was well 
ahead of me when we passed before the turnaround.  Apparently he'd spent a 
good deal of time at the aid station.  I caught Stan going up the hill and we 
walked together for a mile or so.  He was doing the 50K.  I told Stan that I 
was thinking I might try to do the Angeles Crest 100 this year.  He gave me 
lots of great advice.  Too bad I didn't have a notepad or tape recorder along.

I left Stan and pushed on, eventually catching up with Cattra Corbett and 
here friend Julie.  Cattra told the story of her Ohlone 100 adventure.  Wow.

The three of us eventually reached a trail junction in the redwoods where we 
could go down and to the left toward some trail detour signs or up and to the 
right on a nice fire roads.  We chose to go to the right.  Eventually we 
reached the Skyline Gate parking lot ... but from the wrong direction!  I 
don't how much extra distance we did but maybe it was a half a mile.

Cattra and Julie had also done a two-mile detour on the way out and were 
planning to turn around a before the turnaround on the second trip.  I said 
that sounded like a good idea.

Once we arrived I walked over to my car and changed my shoes and socks.  The 
time was around 12:30.  It had taken 2:40 to do the second leg.

T o w a r d   L a k e   C h a b o t   A g a i n

I headed down the trail into the redwood again.  About a half mile down I 
realized that I'd forgotten my flashlight.  I had intended to grab it when I 
reached my car.  Sunset was supposed to be at 5:15 PM, so if I slowed down 
too much I'd be running in the dark.

That was the bad news.  The good news was that I was feeling better.  All the 
pain in my legs was gone.  The pain never returned the whole race (though it's 
caught up with me now in the days after).  I hooked up with a guy named Pierre 
and we headed pretty fast down the trail.  On the way down we saw Stan on his 
way back up.  He said, "Hi Bob, slow down and take care of those quads."  I 
knew he was right, but I was feeling good and kept pushing until we hit some 
slight uphills, which I walked.  Pierre kept going.  

Now I began to think about the idea of turning around a mile early.  After 
mulling it for a while I decided not to.  I wanted to make sure I covered the 
whole course, even though I'd probably end up dead last in the dark.

At Bort Meadow they had a half-eaten birthday cake for John Medinger, nicely 
decorated with a wave and a surfer.  The aid station staff recommended the 
cake, but I stuck to the boiled potatoes and salt along with a handful of M&Ms.

While at the aid station the lead 50 mile runner came in.  Man, he must have 
been moving!  He was 12 miles ahead of me: 43.5 miles to my 31.5 (well, 34 
counting the extra miles).  I was impressed.  On the was down to Lake Chabot 
I saw the other 50 mile runners on their way back.  The last two I saw were 
John Medinger and David Kim.  They had to be at least 40-50 minutes ahead 
of me.  That meant they were running pretty fast this year compared to results 
I'd looked at from previous years.  I'd guess they must have eventually 
finished under 10 hours.

I reached the turnaround in 7:48.  Someone had taken down the pink ribbons 
that marked the turnaround, but I recognized the spot.  The third leg had 
taken 2:34.

O n   t o   t h e   F i n i s h

On the way back I knew that if I didn't see Cattra and Julie soon after the 
turnaround then they would have taken the early turnaround.  So it turned out.  
I would be dead last in my first 50 miler!  Oh well, I still felt pretty good: 
no aches or pains, but my stride was shortening and I was walking more.  About 
half-way back to the aid station I had a disturbing thought.  If someone had 
pulled the turnaround markers, maybe the aid station had closed up shop too.  
I wasn't too worried because I had plenty of food and drink to seem me 
through.  Still, an aid station would be nice ... Not to worry, I eventually 
saw the aid station in the distance and even got a little cheer from the 
remain aid station folks as I ambled in (they were probably thankful they 
didn't have to wait any longer!).  They asked if I was the last runner and I 
told them that I certainly was unless someone was off course when I went 
by them. Apparently Cattra and Julie had left the aid station not too 
long before.  The sun was getting pretty low, so I headed out.  Once I got 
into the redwoods the remaining twilight did little good.  I had to walk to 
avoid tripping over things.  Still, I was doing fine and managed to make it 
all the way back without taking any more wrong turns.

Finally I saw some lights from the parking lot.  I reached the finish in 
10:42:30.  Nobody was there and the clipboard for recording results wasn't 
there either.  Oh well, I walked to my car and got ready to drive back to 
friends' house in Walnut Creek.  Before I climbed in though, Julie hailed me 
from her car.  She and Cattra had finished just a few minutes before and 
they were concerned that I had gotten lost.  Well no, not this time.

A f t e r m a t h

Most painful parts of the experience have been after the race.  Driving the 
25 minutes to Walnut Creek was painful, as my right leg really didn't want 
to be stationary with the foot stuck to the gas pedal.  Feet held up fine.  
Quads are quite sore, as Stan predicted.  All in all, I enjoyed the experience.  
Only thing I could ask for would be less haze on race day.  Can you arrange 
for that next year, John?

Thanks to John Medinger for organizing the race and thanks to the aid 
station volunteers!

--
Bob Runyan
Loma Rica, Yuba County, CA