Dustin's Happy Fun Adventures: Leona Divide 50k

This was it. The true transition from the triathlon world to hitting the dirt hard. After some serious running all over the hills and dirt of Southern California the Maesto Steve said this would be a good first ultra.

Looking at my homemade elevation chart...it looked hard ... I can now confirm it was not easy.

This would also be my birthday run. I was glad to be joined by the wife and father in law. We started with a short 2 hour drive to race headquarters for a tasty pre race dinner. I met some cool peeps - a lot who already knew Steve. We then took off to our cozy but scary hotel in Palmdale.

Race morning went by in a blur.

Once we left the car things got intense. The starting line was actually in the parking lot and I took off to the bottom at about the 1 minute to start announcement. I saw Evan and Brandon who are both very fast -compared to me... and a couple other guys that I had met at some of the Pacific Coast Trail run events. That relaxed me a bit. I remember a guy beating on a bell and yelling stuff and then shortly after we all took off running in a very slow manner often called walking. It was a bit crowded at the start. Once we hit the first turn out of the parking lot people took off. I stayed calm and remained in the middle of the pack and pretty much finished in the middle of the pack. I realized I suck at uphills and like to drink coke during races. Also I think people with their short shorts look funny. The best new thing to me in the ultra world are the aid stations. It's totally a buffet out there! I think I like this ultra stuff.

50k - 6:36:36 - 12:45 mpm

Sunrise on the trail