Cirque Du Griffith Park 24 Hour (sorta but not really) 2019

When the 24 hour event was added to this year’s Cirque Du Griffith Park I knew I was going to sign up for it. Of course, I signed up for it back in December with every intention of completing the 24 hours. Well, life happened and training wasn’t my main focus, so going into the race, I adjusted my sails and threw out all expectations.

When I arrived to Griffith Park two things were apparent: 1) There were a lot more participants, and 2) The sky was clear and blue, and the sun was shining. Of all days!

For the month of June we had our ever-present “June gloom.” Days were filled with cloudy gloomy skies and cool misty foggy mornings. On some days, the sun would come out later in the day and some days, it didn’t.

On this day, the sun came out with its arms opened wide, ready to greet us with a hot sweaty hug.

I settled in to where my gear would be stashed for the day, and started getting to know my neighbors for the day. To my right were Raquel and Cesar and to my left was another lovely couple (whom I forgot to get their names) and then to their left, was Marisol whom I spoke to about our Leona Divide experience last year. That’s one of the beauties of trail running. The community is smaller and we see each other at many of the same races.

When it was time to start, race director Nancy called us over to give us some instructions and then we were off.

Once I crossed the timing mat for the first time, I needed to remind myself I had no expectations. I definitely didn’t want to get ahead of myself in the first few minutes and start planning my goals for the day.

Goals probably should’ve been made when I was training for the race, and I hadn’t fully trained for this race, at least not to go a full 24 hours.

All I knew is, once I reached 12 miles, it’d be the longest distance I would’ve covered in the past 8 months. I’ve basically been tapering since last October’s Javelina Jundred 100K and my longest run since then has been 11 miles.

I only wanted to stay out there for as long as my body wanted me to and have as much fun as I could, sharing the miles, smiles, and the time with a few people I know. I wasn’t going to place any added stress to reach a certain mileage.

After 5 loops I sat down for the first time to fuel up with some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Coca-Cola.

The thing with timed races is the lure of the chair can be so enticing. After a while you practically need a crowbar to pry you from your restful comfortable seat, and having the heat out certainly didn’t make it easy to leave the shade.

The summer heat was definitely out, after not showing up when it was supposed to. I mean, on the first day of summer we had rain! Why couldn’t we have that day instead?! Because someone had to go and upset the weather Gods (it was probably me) and they blessed us with this hot sunshine.

I wasn’t quite ready for it, but ice in that bandana is a glorious wondrous thing!

Each loop consisted of walking and chatting with folks like Stephanie, Jim, Mitch, Pamela, Randy who told me he read my blog post on last year’s race. Thanks Randy! And Jacette.

During my solitary moments I thought about life and about my Dad. I knew he was there with me. I figured he would be since we looped around a golf course and if there was anything that my Dad loved was golf.

At one point I had turned a corner on a loop and saw something on the path. I’ve crossed that spot several times that day already and I know for a fact it wasn’t there before. It was a golf ball smack dab in front of me.

My first thought was: Thanks Dad for the sign telling me you’re here with me!

My second thought was: I wonder if I should keep this golf ball?

My third thought was: My gosh I have so many of his golf balls, I don’t need another one.

I picked it up and tossed it back onto the side of the golf course so no runner would come barreling down the path and roll an ankle in case they didn’t see it.

When I reached 30-ish miles I left the course to get my night gear – my headlamp, sweatshirt, blanket (there was a possibility I could be sleeping in the park that night).

I was tired and my dogs were starting to bark, but I knew I could keep going after I rested and refueled. The sun was dipping down and pretty soon nighttime would be coming around, but I was prepared for the dark and chilly temps that I expected, probably moreso than that heat.

After changing clothes, I grabbed my Dad’s iPod and set out for my next loop. My Dad loved music and all kinds of it, but this was hard to do. Sometimes when I have a tough moment in a race those tears will sneak up on me, but this time they hit me hard. I reckon I’ll have many more of these moments for the rest of my life, but it was nice to hear what was on his playlist.

During this loop, my left pinky toe started hurting. I stopped and wiggled my foot and toes around and it felt like that pinky toe was snagged on my shoe. I figured that hot spot I felt earlier formed a blister.

After two loops in, I noticed my feet were moving around a bit in my shoes so I retied them a little tighter. Well, I must’ve tied them too tight and my feet weren’t too happy by the time I reached the 12th loop so I quickly loosened them up again. Next year, I’ll definitely take advantage of Nancy’s blister care treatment if I need it.

When I got back to the finish area, I decided to use the restroom. As I set my things on my chair Jacette came over and asked me if I would like some company for my next lap. I said “Sure!”

“Do you have a headlamp?” she asked.

“Oh yes I have one with me,” I replied.

The sun was setting and I knew it’d get dark on this loop. There was a slight chance we could finish this loop without it, but we were probably a 10- 15 minute walk away to the timing mat/finish line area when I decided it was time we needed it.

I turned it on and there was a slight problem – it didn’t turn on! Oh my gosh, my headlamp was dead! Argh! We pressed and pressed buttons and nothing, nada, no juice.

“I think this is a sign from the Universe that I should stop.”

Oh we laughed, but yeah I did take it as a sign that I should call it a day.

Perhaps I could use the light from my phone but that would most likely power it down, or borrow an extra headlamp if someone had an extra one lying around. But I honestly didn’t want to borrow someone’s headlamp in fear something would happen to it and voilà, I’m responsible for it. Thank you anyway Martine.

So I finished my final loop (which I didn’t know was to be my final loop) chatting with Jacette. Thank you Jacette!

When I crossed the finish line for the final time after some 13-ish hours and 14 loops, I saw race director Nancy standing near the timing screen, and I told her my day was done. She said “oh look, you’ve done 36 miles!” Actually no, I didn’t.

The miles on the screen indicated the miles you would’ve completed had you continued going on the next loop. They don’t tell you the miles you’ve just finished.

Apparently due to the addition of the 24 Hour event this year, they couldn’t have the screen show real mileage time. At this year’s race I had to do a little bit more math.

Officially, I completed 34 miles because each loop consisted of 2.43 miles (and not the 2.5 like last year). My Garmin and Strava had 2.5 and 2.45 and a friend of mine told me they had each loop vary from 2.55 to 2.44. I think it all depended on where you were running and walking along the path.

This year I had the same amount of loops, but with one less mile to account for it. I was okay with that. In fact, I was okay with ALL of it! I was so grateful to be out there and it didn’t matter what my body did this day. I just wanted it do something. Anything! And it was such a fun day walking and talking and cheering on friends. I really do enjoy this race.

When I stopped my race, I sat in my chair and talked to my neighbor Raquel who was taking a break and I pondered what I wanted to do next. Do I stay and sleep in the park? Or do I go home, shower, and sleep in my bed? I know, tough questions.

If we finished our race after 10:30PM and wanted to go home, technically we couldn’t. We would’ve been forced to sleep in the park because the gates closed at that time and there is no in, or out, afterwards. However, on this particular day, I was told the gates wouldn’t be closed at that time. Woohoo! Thank you Martine!

I rested for a bit, and then after Nancy came around telling everyone if they have small dogs and children to be aware the coyotes come out, I decided to pack up and go home. Coyotes did come out. In fact, around 3PM that afternoon I saw one walking on the golf course.

As I was driving home it dawned on me… I could go back! I could shower, sleep, and get back out there early in the morning to do more laps! I may have stopped, but the clock is still going and doesn’t know I’ve stopped!

But walking was a different matter.

My feet were telling me they weren’t too happy. Actually it was my left foot.

So I made a decision. I was going to assess my feet and IF they’re up for going back, I will. It was ugly. The giant dark red blister on my left pinky toe was ugly. And I didn’t even realize I had it! Actually I didn’t realize it was that bad.

So I made another decision – IF I wake up early, and IF my body is up for it, I’ll go back. Yeah, that didn’t happen. My body was done and I was good with this. I woke up early and went to go get a coffee.

Later that Sunday afternoon I kept thinking about my headlamp because I couldn’t understand how the battery died so quickly. A few weeks back I was doing an evening trail run and since I didn’t know when I’d finish, I fully charged it as a precaution in case I needed it. However, I finished the run and didn’t need to use it.

The morning of the race I had fully charged the headlamp again, making sure it was charging that very morning, so I felt baffled.

I figured I’ll go to REI and replace it, but then I looked at it closely and realized something.

Okay this is what happens when you don’t use your headlamp for 8 months and you completely forget something – ummm, you forget you locked it! Doh! Seriously? Yes, I’m afraid so.

I had a little laugh about that, and then I was bummed out because I knew I could’ve continued!! But then a millisecond later I said, nah I’m good. And I was.

 

Thank you for reading!

Thank you to race director Nancy Shura-Dervin, and to all the volunteers who had a hand in making this day happen! And thank you to my race neighbors and to all the friends I shared some chats, laughs, and mileage with.