March 12, 2005
Back up to Cool for another iteration of Way Too Cool.
The temperature was unusually warm for March. I expect that the weather is going to be 40s or 50s, but it was mid-60s at the start.
With such warm weather, there was the expectation that the trails would be dry, but they were just as muddy as ever. I guess a little bit of a hot spell following a rainstorm?
I am doing a little better with the cramping. I only cramped once, and that was because I stumbled on rocks and roots. Hitching myself backwards allowed me to not fall, but caused me to cramp.
I continued with my plan to walk on any section preceding a major hill (I believe in the 2004 post I visited this issue). I managed my best Ball Bearing Hill result ever (0.7M/ 700′ elevation gain) of 13:40.
Overall, however, my time was slower than last year (each year slower than the last). I happened to notice in the results how the age groups are separated out, and suddenly, I felt like it was unfair.
Usually, my biggest beef is on the top end. In the Sheriff’s races, the top age group is 55+. To me, this seems unfair to make 70 year-olds compete with 55 year-olds, because there can be a drop-off between age 55 and 70.
My age group at Way Too Cool is Male 34 & under! I guess this is kind of like the 55+… except that there are not a lot of 89 year-olds competing, and conversely, there are few minors in this race, either.
The reason behind this sorting, at this point, is that there are few non-Masters competing in ultramarathons… though the trend seems to be changing, and there are younger and younger competitors.
I did do a comparison to my time in the M34&U and what it would have been in the M35-39 age group – 28th in the younger group, and 48th in the older group. OK, OK… I’ll take the Male 34 and Under!
ultratallultrarunner 