- The Malibu Creek trail run was in Malibu Creek State Park just outside Los Angeles. The route ran through areas used in the filming of the television show M*A*S*H. The run was organized by Pacific Coast Trail Runs offered 8K, 25K and 50K distances. The 50 K was 2 loops of the 25K course. The 25K look had total climbing elevation gain of 2970 feet.
- I came into this run after taking almost 2-month break from regular training after the last Austin Marathon. Having done the longest run of 10 miles on flat trail in the previous month, I knew going in I was not in the best of shape, so I had no expectations. This was a run I signed up for to jump start my return to training for the Rogue Trail Series. My plan was to push the hills starting out hard, burn out early, fall into zombie death march mode towards the end, and then look forward to the soreness that would follow the next day which would remind me that I did not sit on my butt the next day.
- At the start line, I took a place near the back of the pack. The first half mile was on park road, which gave some time for the crowd to thin and fit into pace order. By the time we entered single track, I was not too fast or too slow for most the people around me. I passed a couple of people on the first small climb. There was one knee deep stream to cross and then the 1st aid station 4 kilometers in. I grabbed some sugar candy and then started the 1st real climb of the run. I alternated running and walking as I tried to keep forward momentum to the top which was reached around the 12km mark. Then there was a little reprieve from hills as we ran along a dirt road at the top of the ridge.
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 fter a bit, we started climbing again. After passing through a section damaged by fire a couple of years The dirt road gave way to sandstone. Then we were up and over an interesting sandstone peak just before reaching the 2nd and last aid station.
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 p until this point, I had been surrounded by other back-of-the-packers. After the aid station I did not see anyone until the last 2 miles. We went up over the last high point, and then it was several miles of down hill. After a few miles the downhill flattened out for the final 5K. The route passed a couple of rusted out army vehicles, which I guess signified the area where MASH was filmed. A mile later the route hit some more popular hiking trails for the last 1.5 miles where trails were filled with hikers. I was not quite in death march mode, but I was starting to fade in the last mile. Made it to the finish where they were serving some chili and soup.
- After a stop at the campground showers, I drove back to L.A. I grabbed lunch at Rosco’s Fried Chicken & Waffles, which made for a tasty combination after this run. Then I went straight to the airport for my flight home. I was a bit sore the next day, but in a good way.
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