Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace - Squaw

Daha once birkac kere kostugum Miwok100k yarisindan iki gun once baslayan bogaz agrisi, her tur pastili, corbayi, cayi denememe ragmen iyice kotulesmisti. Ustune ustluk son gece bir de atesim cikmisti. Yine de sabahin 5inde Stinson sahilindeki baslangic noktasina gittim, olur da yaris basladiktan birkac saat sonra kendimi iyi hissedersem diye. Baya zorladim ama inisli cikisli parkurda 25 mil/5 saat kostuktan sonra gittikce kotulesen bogazim yuzunden dogru durust birsey yiyemiyordum ve cok gucsuz hissediyordum. Yarisi o noktada birakmak zorunda kaldim. Daha once kostugum bir yaris oldugu icin cok fazla uzuldugumu soyleyemem. Esasinda cok hastaydim, oyle ki kendime gelmem bir 10 gun surdu. Ama bu yaris icin baya iyi antreman yapmistim,  bosa gitmemesi icin de ne zamandir aklimda olan ve birkac hafta sonra yapilacak Squaw kayak merkezindeki Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace’i dusunmeye basladim, ve genelde bu islerde yaptigim gibi son dakikada kararimi verdim. Cuma ogleden sonra yola cikip 3-4 saat uzakliktaki Tahoe’ya geldim. Direk Squaw’a gidip kaydimi yaptirip yaris paketimi aldim ve yaris toplantisina katildim. Bu sene cok fazla kar yagdigi icin dagda hala cok onemli miktarda kar bulunmaktaydi. Bir dolu yere sabit hat cekilmisti. Yaris organizatorleri herkesi kar konusunda surekli uyariyordu oyle ki parkurn %70i yeryer dize kadar kar icinde kosulacakti. Yaris sirasinda kayak yapanlara da dikkat etmemiz gerekiyordu cunku kayak sezonu daha kapanmamisti! (bu kis cok kar yagdi). California’nin unlu dag kosucularinin da cogu oradaydi, bircogu zaten o bolgede yasiyor ve antreman yapiyor. Bir de hem kar uyarisi yapildi hem de asiri sicak uyarisi! Enteresan bir gun olacagi belliydi. Ertesi sabah 7de yaris basladi. Ilk kisim nispeten az egimli ve agaclarin arasindan geciyordu ama daha sonra parkur diklesti. Ya cok dik inisler ya da cok dik cikislar vardi (Sadece 200 m kadar olan tek duz alan da Squaw’in zirvesindeki plato idi!). Birkac dere gecisinden sonra ayaklarim tamamen islak ve camur icindeydi, kar’in basladigi noktaya o sekilde ulastik. Kar icinde kosarken bir ara ayak parmaklarim tamamen uyusmustu, dogru durust hissetmiyordum, ayni anda da inanilmaz bir sekilde sicaklamis durumdaydim oyle ki yardim noktalarinda yanimdaki bandananin icine buz koyup boynuma doluyordum. Kosullar ayni anda hem kis hem de yaz idi! Uzerine bir de irtifa eklenince gercekten baya zorlayici bir yaris oldu. Ama inanilmaz guzel manzaralar esliginde. Cok guzel bir dagda cok harika bir yaristi dogrusu. Bitiste madalyami aldiktan sonra daha yeni Everest’e oksijensiz tirmanmis olan ve Tahoe’da yasayan Adrian Ballinger ile karsilastim. Yaristan ve daglardan konustuk, sonbahardaki antreman ve tirmanis planlarindan beni haberdar edecek, boyle tecrubeli insanlardan ogrenilecek cok sey var. Yaris sonrasi da Avustralya, Kanada, Yeni Zellanda, Kolombiyali arkadas grubumla harika bir yemek yedik. Ertesi sabah sicaga ve kalabaliga kalmamak icin sabah saat 5te yola ciktim, 8de San francisco’da evimdeydim. Yaris sonuclarina bakarken yas grubumda 3. oldugumu da ogrendikten sonra keyifle butun gun dinlendim. Harika bir haftasonu olmustu. Yarisin kisa ve uzun videolarini asagida gorebilirsiniz. Fotograflarin bazilarina da Broken Arrow Skyrace facebook sayfasindan bakabilirsiniz.

I got a really bad sore throat right before this year’s Miwok100k race – which I had run a few times in the past. Although I tried all kinds of remedies, it didn’t get any better and I started to get fever on top of it. Still though, I made my way to the start at 5am at Stinson beach thinking perhaps I'd feel better in a few hours into the race. I didn’t. I pushed it and was able to run only 25 miles/5 hours up and down on the trails. I couldn’t eat much due to my throat and felt very weak. I had to quit at that point and I really didn’t feel bad for quitting since I was feeling very sick. And also I had run that race before. It took me almost 10 days to fully recover. Since I trained for it and was in good shape already, I started to look for a new race. I was thinking about the Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace at Squaw ski resort for some time and decided to do it at the last minute. I drove to Tahoe in 4 hours Friday afternoon directly to Squaw to register and to get my race packet. At the race briefing, we were told that there was a lot of snow on the mountain and they placed fixed lines at some spots. It snowed a lot this year and apparently 70% of the course was still covered in snow. And the ski season was still on so that meant there would be skiers on the course as well. So there were warnings about snow and also about the heat since it was going to be a very hot day too! Plus some of the famous trail runners in California were at the race. It was shaping up to be a very interesting day. The next morning the race started at 7am. The first sections were relatively smooth through some trees and then we hit the super steep ups and downs (as a matter of fact, the only flat section of the course was the small plateau on the summit of Squaw!) After a few creek crossings, my feet were completely wet and covered with mud when we hit the snow line. After a while, my feet was so cold and numb and my head was having a heat stroke such that at the aid stations I’d put ice in my bandana and put it around my neck: winter and summer at the same time. And the elevation on top of that made it very challenging. But the views were fantastic. It was a great mountain race overall. After picking up my finishers medal, I did chat a little bit Adrian Ballanger, who just got back from climbing Everest without oxygen. He lives in Tahoe and will keep me posted about training runs and climbs – there is so much to learn from people like him. Post-race dinner was great with friends from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Colombia. To ovoid the heat and the traffic, I left at 5am the next morning and was back in San Francisco by 8am. When I checked the race website, I found out that I was 3rd in my age category! Then I rested at home peacefully and happy! It was a great weekend. Some of the race photos can be seen from the Broken Arrow Skyrace facebook page.