I finished my first ever Mt Wilson Trail Race and loving it!!!

I am so happy today because I completed the Mt Wilson trail race and I did a lot better than I thought. For those of you who don't know where Mt Wilson is... Mt Wilson is the mountain north of Pasadena where all those antennas stick out. Mt Wilson is the first 'big' mountain I ever hike. It is 15 miles round trip with 4500ft of gain. I guess I consider a hike 'big' if it has over 4000ft of gain.

So for the last few years I am constantly amazed by how people run up on the Mt Wilson Trail. I think the trail is very steep and I don't know how people do it. I have a lot of respect for those people because I can only dream doing something like that.

Fast forward a few years. I graduated from the Wilderness Travel Course and I am now a Sierra Club rated leader. Yet the thought of running the Mt Wilson Trail is still too insane for me. All these uphill... how can people do it???

Well things started to change in Sept 2007 as I joined Team In Training. I started training for the Los Angeles Marathon and I started running on the trail. I was like... wow... I can actually run on the trail. I do think that running downhill is bad for you but I like the thrill of running on trail.

So few months ago I registered for the 100th Anniversary of the Mt Wilson Trail Race. The current version of the trail race doesn't actually go all the way to the top. The exact course has changed over the years due to trail damage caused by erosion, earthquakes and fire. But the current trail is approximately 8.6 miles in length and has an elevation gain over 2100 feet with the turn around point at Orchard Camp.

I started training for this race soon after I finished the LA Marathon. I ran sections of the trail and my body was holding up... well sort of. Since I hiked the trail numerous time I have a very good sense of where I can run and where I should just hike. I am nervous, excited, and ready. I don't really care about my marathon time but I really want to do well on this race.

Then the Sierra Madre Fire came. Our Sierra Madre was burning!!! When I found out the Wilson Trail was burned I was devastated. Luckly the fire was under control after a few days.
So a few days after the Mt Wilson Trail Race Committee rescheduled the race to June 7, 2008... 6 days after my San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon *_* I wasn't too thrill because I wanted more time to recover from Rock N Roll. But hey... at least the race didn't get cancel!!!

Wanting to recover for the trail race. I did everything I can think of. I started off by drinking the muscle recovery stuff that big time hiker likes Mars Bonfire uses after my marathon. I then went on a 2 hours massage on monday... which is very painful. I told her I just finished a marathon and I have another race this sat. I told her the massage doesn't have to be comfortable, it just has to work!

Game Day

I started out running and my legs started to get tight so I started to hike. I got to 1st water and took pictures with Sarah.

Sierra Madre SAR Sarah Hess

I then continue up to Orchard Camp and I got there 1 hr 16 mins into the race. I was surprised with my progress. I took some pictures and I started to run downhill. I was running at a very good pace until I hit the 1st water again. I guess by then my leg are getting tired. I slow down because I know if I don't slow down I may push myself too hard and fall off the cliff. My left foot also started to bother so I just go very slow. I made it down to the trail, walk the uphill on the street and then started the final descent. I was kind of tired but I was abled to pick up my pace. I spirit the last 200 feets or so and got a good finish.

After Thoughts

Well I am happy that I did well. I think I own this to my hiking friends and Team In Training. Without them I wouldn't be able to do what I did today. Well I have been running for cancer so today I ran for my hiking friends. I could of do a lot better but I am just glad to finish... espeically since I finished a marathon 6 days ago and that this is my first time. I'll try to cut at least 10 minutes next time. We'll see what happen.