Over The Hill Track Club (OTHTC) 50k Race Report

Great bag of goodies for a $60 entry fee

I was interested in this race from the time I found it. It seemed an acceptable level of difficulty, it was not too far from home, and it was only $60. I tried to convince Brady to accompany me, but with his travel schedule, he was more interested in a weekend at home.

For the first time ever, I drove to a race alone. After a beautiful trip to Ridgecrest, pizza with friends, and a fitful night of sleep, I made my way to the start. It was in the parking lot of the local community college. It was cold, but not unbearable. The views of the mountains and sunrise were beautiful.

We set off at 7:00 from the college. My legs felt a little heavy in the first couple of miles, but I was able to run with my friend Laura and that kept my mind off of it. Soon I was comfortable and enjoying the view.

Laura and I leap-frogged some and the race went pretty well until about mile 12. At that point I really noticed the wind. It kicked in with a vengeance. Unfortunately, we were climbing a rather long hill right into a headwind. The wind was so strong I had to hold my hat to keep from losing it. The gusts burned my eyes and the sand slammed on my skin. It was terrible! I was never so thankful to reach the top of a hill and turn to the right. I hoped the wind would take a break, but that didn’t happen. Even without it being a headwind, it was so strong it was hard to run comfortably. I walked more than I had wanted and all but gave up on a PR.

The aid stations were plentiful and well stocked. The volunteers were obviously not runners (they didn’t really offer much in the way of assistance or support, just the food that was on the table), but they were nice.

I saw a few other friends, spent some miles meeting new ones, and adjusting my time goal as my pace slowed with each mile.

The only way I can describe the affects of the wind was that it felt like I was being pushed from multiple directions. Most of the time it was a head wind, but even when it blowing other directions, was always there. It beat me up. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to make it without walking most of the race after mile 20. My average pace continued to rise.

About mile 24 came the game changer. I ran into Raul Santana. Raul is an amazing runner. He is a multiple 100 mile finisher and ran the Summer 7 with us. He has left me in the dust on more than one occasion. He ran the Death Valley Marathon the day before OTHTC, so he was feeling the wind as well. He had been walking, but told me I was inspiring him to push and run again. We ran/walked several more miles in the wind. Wind blowing so hard I had to strain to hear him talk. Wind so hard it was hurting my ears. Wind so hard it felt like we were running under water. It was crazy.

At about mile 28 we found 2 beautiful things, a downhill portion of trail and a break from the wind. Raul kept running ahead of me and then he would walk until I caught up. As soon as I got close, he would run again, not allowing me to walk. It was hard, but we had 2 sub 11 minute miles (miles 28 and 29) and finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. We made a short stop at the final aid station, grabbed some fruit, and made our way to the finish. 

The finish at 6:28:06 included a 23 minute PR for the 50k distance! Somehow, even though I wasn’t sure I could even finish, even though I struggled mightily with the weather, a PR. I was so sore, so dirty, so tired. So proud. Thanks Raul!

I suggest the OTHTC 50k for either the ultra fanatic or the newbie. It was a beautiful area, well ran event, and a very reasonable price.