Rancho San Juan 50km Run for fun avoid the Gun

I had been looking forward to the Rancho San Juan 50km for over a month.
 I never  bothered to check where the course actually was and nor was I excited to go trail running, knowing damn well that running 50km would set my recovery from injury back a few steps.

Why was I so excited?

(I'll never get tired of posting this pic)
 It was a Luis Escobar event!
I was excited to see my illegitimate running family.

A few days before the race I figured out where it was and that the race was on Sunday not Saturday and that there was a 5km and 10km on Saturday.

"Oh really"

:)

Also unbeknownst to me I was to host a beer mile at 4:30 that afternoon?

"No problemo"

I arrived early Friday afternoon. Almost immediately Luis race director extraordinaire dragged me out to help mark the course.  Luis is a good dude, he works hard to make sure everyone has a good time and I was more than happy to help
"Just don't take a sip of his beer when you think he's not looking."

I believe I have taken more incriminating pictures of Luis than anyone else.  He whines to me every time I post one yet for some reason he continues to be the perfect muse.
(I think he secretly likes it)
:)

 He sure picked a pretty spot to have this race.

After settling in my friends started to arrive

It was good to see some familiar faces

We partied well into the night.

Time for the 5km

I woke up still a bit buzzed from the night before but was ready to in few minutes.  I was the only one besides Luis who  new the course since I helped mark it.   It was very hilly muddy and not well marked.

 (Ha! Ha!)

Knowing that I felt obligated to go out fast and lead the way.

I slipped on my Thirty48 calf compression sleeves

Use: PAT15   

for 15%off

And decided to try out out an experimental pair of super light Luna Sandals.  

I love trying new stuff on race day

:)

The course was about a 1.7 mile a out and back on rolling hills with more decent on the way out.  I went out fast (it was cold outside) and before my body had time tom warm up I was alone.  At the  3/4 of mile mark a few friends offered me a beer.

Hmm? I had a long day ahead of me

"How bout on the 10km instead?

By the turn around point my lead was pretty much insurmountable. My sandals which started off being very light  were caked with at least 1 lb of mud on each one. 

It felt good to run hard and I cruised in easily for the win!

About 40 minutes after I finished the 5k it was time for the 10k

Same strategy as before go out fast and hold on.  I was excited to see that Luis was running and was hoping he put some pressure on me?

But like the race before after the first mile (maybe less) I was alone.  At the 4 mile mark I ran into 

 The Clemens Bros, 

(that's Chris Clemens later in the day)

They offered me a Budweiser..

It is the King of Beers and I was thirsty and I did have a beer mile coming up later in the day so a little practice might be a good idea?

With a clear view that nobody was sneaking up behind me i took about 10 seconds to pound the beer.

BELCH! 

off and running 

2nd win of the day

Life is Good!

I kept hearing Bangs! (not really) while I was running  I guess Luis was trying to take me down but the dude was so far back he would have needed a sniper riffle.

This blog post needs less of me and more pretty girls!

 Way to go Michelle

 Good job Crista.

And
Maria? Thanks for sharing your Quinceanera with us.
:)

Well it looks like got the pretty girl part out of the way how bout I ad some cute kids.
Bring on the kids race

Even Kid's must take the oath 

"If I get hurt lost or die It' my own (omitting the Damn) fault"

Winner gets the Skull
(Mom will be so excited)

Congratulations

 And congrats to this little girl for being so darn cute.

Is it time for the beer mile?
Not yet first we must Ball Race.

This is what a real ball race looks like.
Complete set of photos from a a real ball race last December
Maybe Ill write about it someday?

This is what we looked like.

The most authentic thing about the race was that I got bit by the Famous Ghost dog of the Sierra Madre

2013 Born to Run
It's become tradition that "Guadajuko" bites someone.

Somehow I managed to make it into the championship race.
 Probably my favorite moment of theRancho San Juan Running debauchery was captured right here.

Any pics that you see with me in them I probably stole from Michelle Evans
thank you Michelle.

 At the turnaround point I got my ball stuck under a big red tank (you can see in the back of the first 2 pics) This should have eliminated any chance of me winning? I almost gave up, but instead I abandoned my strategy of short controlled topspin kicks and started kicking my ball as far as I could.
I didn't think I was going to win but until its over you never know? I was closing the gap quickly. With about 100 feet to go I gave my ball one last kick, a perfect one at that straight over the finish line (but ball and runner must cross the line to win) At that point I was so far behind the leader never sensed me coming. He was dribbling his ball the last thirty feet as I sprinted, closing the gap from 70 feet to 60 feet, to 40 feet, to 10 feet. It's gonna be photo a finish.

 I won by less than one foot I was told.
3rd win of the day.

No rest for the weary 15 mins later came the beer mile
I quickly went out and marked the course before coming back to swear everybody in..

 "I can Drink more than I think I can!"
"I will be drunker than I think I am!"
I will not puke!"
"Amen!"

 At the last second I ditched my sandals (stupid mistake).  From the get go my drinking was off (it's been that way for awhile now)  The dude on the far right  whom I barely edged out in the ball race was there to win.

Maybe I can learn somthing?
Tip the head back, open the throat, and raise both elbows to open the chest cavity.
(It looks like a winning strategy to me.)

Behind after beer one I tried to make it up in the run but on the first 1/4 mile I bruised my heel pretty good..
Beer 2 didn't go down any faster but the race wasn't out of reach I tried hard but neither my running or drinking were as fast as I wanted.  The other dude let up a little bit but unlike the ball race I couldn't close the gap.
I still finished in under 7 mins in a distant 2nd place.

 Luis wear do you hide all those bees?

Congrats my friends
(Nice Shovels!)

 Time to party.

 A little butt grinding never hurt nobody.

 Tyler and I were a bit gassy so we got relegated to the Hula Hoop section away from the ladies.
(it really is a good way to air out!)

  With Tyler and I out of the picture Whiskey Jerry got all the chicks.
And
everyone lived happily ever after.

Whoops I forgot there was also a 50km

Here's the start

 Here's me jogging with some friends

 And
 here's Whiskey Jerry  telling me this blog post is way to long.
so with out further ado.

THE END
See you in May at the 2014 Born to Run extravaganza