Tough Enough 2008

Vignettes:

 Warm day--warmer than the last three, which resulted in one short hospitalization and one runner pulled by his teammates, but nothing too serious. The hospitalized runner returned to the finish for the barbeque. Two parts:
--Someone from Alisal Ranch was yelling at the runners milling around outside his gate. Too many people, too many cars, what the hell did they think, etc. When the ambulance arrived for the dehydrated runner, he retired. (Without apology, apparently.)
--Steve Harding didn't want to let his teammates down and ran despite a stomach flu. At one point, part-way through a leg, Steve was a little loopy from illness and dehydration. He was convinced he could keep going but Becky and Tara, medical professionals both, overruled him. Imagined negotiation: "I can keep going! We don't want to be DQ'd! I can do it!" Followed by, "No."

 The hasher's team's last-place (and proud) leg-7 runner arranged a 911 "retrieval" call for three elderly women, in their eighties, who'd somehow managed to get their Honda Civic stuck out on West Camino Cielo. (The same team knocked back a beer at every handoff--yes, they had a designated driver--and finished, hasher-style, in reasonably magnificent red-sequined drag.)

 Teage was fantastic, and his support crew was great. He changed shoes at the junction of Refugio and Hwy 246, and when he started again, he had the ultrarunner's pained walk. (He had run a difficult 55 miles at that point.) And then it changed to a stiff, shuffling jog; and then it changed to a run. It may not seem like much, but to those who can feel that shuffle in their bodies, a small beautiful thing to see. One of his supporters had driven ahead and was jumping up and down and cheering! This was a long way in. It was fun to see his crew spraying him with champagne. Both the women's (current) CR and the men's were set the same year, so it's hard not to speculate that it was a cool-weather year. This year wasn't terrible, but it was far from optimal, making Teage's run all the more impressive.

 Late rains made the course green and lined with lupin, California poppies, mustard, ceanothus, and daisies.

 Paul and Kathy Shields did an amazing job feeding the crowd. That's too banal a word. It was relaxed, elegant, and delicious. More like a barbeque at their home than a post-race buffet. Paul ran the race, too.

 Scott Young ran the solo with cramps the entire way, uphill, downhill, didn't matter. Ultra runners know that it can be bad and then get better, so Scott kept going, thinking his muscles might free up. They didn't, but he finished.

 Thanks to shuttle volunteers Simone Kleinschmidt and Pete Lawson, and to race shirt maven Cooper Atkinson. (And continued thanks to Megan Miley for the nice design.)

 Dauntless improvisation award to Racing Flatz, who had one car and lost it on E. Camino Cielo. (Nothing like a deep pool of transmission fluid under your car.) But with support from other teams and some on-course chauffeuring by race co-director Cooper they finished the race in fine style. Mother/daughter team, too.

 "It seemed like a good idea when we were only talking about it" award to Hairy Nairy, who mountain-biked the entire course (four bikes, swapped according to whose turn it was to run). "Wasn't it hard to run, too?" "It was great to run. I couldn't wait to get off the @#$% bike."

 Geoff Gray has agreed to direct trash talking for next year's event.

 Lots of cool team shirts: Ventura Vixens, Fugawi, Pirates, Racing Flatz, Burritos, Spicy Girls, Elite Rehab, We Aaarrrggghhh!

 The race director thanks the the Fugawi and the Pirates (We Aaarrrggghhh!) for generously giving him one of their shirts. In unrelated news, there were a record number of DQ's this year, resulting in a one-two finish for the Fugawi and We Aaarrrggghhh!

 Families. Not only were there lots of siblings on teams, but wives and husbands, parents and kids were all over the place at the finish. (One of the girls, wanting to help, managed to whack a finishing runner on the head with a clipboard as he crossed the line. He was fine, and she wasn't traumatized.) Sweet to see so many runners walking around with a kid on hip or holding a child's hand.

The RD thanks the participants for having a great time.

<>And finally, an uncommon course map

Finish order

Ultra