The Point Mugu Trail Races take place in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains, at the southern terminus of the Backbone Trail. I live 30 minutes from the trailhead at Ray Miller Trail so this is very much a local race for me.
I had a different mindset going into this, my first race of the year – have fun and just keep moving.
My training build up for this race wasn’t a whole lot. I’ve been running/walking less but have been doing more full body exercises of the last months. I’ve been on the exercise bike, doing hard work around the house like busting up a walkway, and lifting light weights.
Race Morning
I had a very casual morning. I got up just an hour before my usual work wakeup time. I had my coffee, watch a tiny bit of TV and gathered my race gear in one place. After my gold standard second bm of the morning, I was off. The weather channel had the day being moderate but I had a feeling, and was right, that it would be hotter than that.
I got to checking tent with plenty of time, not like the last race where my bib was accidentally given to another runner. I stuffed the new my race shirt into my pack, said Hi to Dick from New Basin Blues and then filmed the start of the Half Marathon race.
After 30 minutes, it was finally race time.
I got to the back of the pack and then the race was off. I quickly ended up towards the back of the marching line for the first quarter mile. I can usually run the first bit of the Ray Miller Trail but I was breathing hard early on. The last race I did here, I checked my heart rate whenever I felt like I was maxing out my effort and it was super low, which meant it was wrong. Since then, I bought a heart rate strap that goes around my upper arm.
This time my I was huffing and puffing and checked my heart rate and it was super low again. Something was off. I checked again and it climbed bit by bit. That made sense. Then I started a big climb and my heart rate got to 200! What was going on?
When my heart rate got to 235 I figured out that the new heart rate monitor must have shifted my Garmin’s display. I had been looking at elevation gain.
A bit more up the mountain I was leap frogging with a couple and after a bit I heard one of the runners behind me say “Go ahead and pass us if you like.” The runner behind her replied, “It’s OK, I’m the sweeper.”
I’ve had some trouble racing when I have a sweeper on my heels. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a race once the sweeper gets behind me. So when the couple passed me up, I was at the back of the pack. This was a 10K so there would be no long death march this time but I did what I could to ignore the sweeper.
At one point the sweeper asked if she should hang back so I didn’t feel like she was coming up on me and I told her no offense but I’m doing what I can do to ignore her and pressed on.
Before the race I checked out the 50 year old age group and thought that if one person stayed home and I beat one more that I could podium. But I was in the back of the pack so it didn’t really matter and I just wanted to finish strong.
I got to the end of the Ray Miller Trail and started on Overlook when a cheering volunteer warned that I should hold onto my hat because of the wind. I know a lot of people who have lost hats up there so I held on tight. This portion is a big downhill section but the headwind was so bad that the couple ahead of me and I were power hiking agains the wind
I hit the turnaround at the bench near the Fireline Trail and I was glad that there were other runners from the half marathon so I didn’t have to keep the sweepers footsteps in mind as pushed back up the hill. The wind was now a tailwind but it didn’t help that much. I partially filled a water bottle as I reached the aid station near the Ray Miller trail and headed off for the downhill, the sweeper was back again and we both pulled over on the single track every time a faster half marathon runner needed to pass.
We finally got to the big downhill portion and worked my way to catch the couple ahead of me. There is one section where this a little bit of a climb and in previous races I’ve jetted up that section and that’s where I passed the couple for the last time. I kept a steady pace, looking at my heart rate and checking in with my body.
Somewhere along the way I had tweaked my ankle or maybe it was from an accumulation of sharp turns. It wasn’t a major injury and I could have kept a strong run pace but it was compromised enough that if I had to make another sharp turn it could have been weak enough that it could buckle and take a tumble. I really didn’t want that to happen and if it meant that I got caught again by the couple after slowing down then so be it.
In case you’re wondering, some folks see a DFL (Dead F**g Last) finish as a badge of honor but I was trying to avoid that if possible. That was the last shred of “goal” that I had left at this point and that was OK. In terms of my overall time, I mistakenly kept comparing it in my head to the Tough Mugu times but forgot to factor in that the Tough Mugu is a shorter race by a mile or so. It was OK. I was enjoying the day and kept pushing as safely as I could.
The rest of the descent was uneventful and I finally made my way to the last turn of the downhill and made my way to the finish line.
My final time was 2 hours 4 minutes, which was 12 minutes slower than my 2024 Point Mugu Trail Race so no PR.
I want to give a big thanks to Daniel and Tina from SoCal Trail and to all the great volunteers who cheered on, took photos, and put together a great race. I really appreciate the shorter distance races that they put on and I’m looking forward to my next race, the Boney Mountain Trail Race, 7K.
After the race at the beer garden, I chatted with a couple of runners about my age who are from Orange County and we were all in similar places in that we’re running just to keep our bodies moving and at least today things like place and times were just numbers. We all enjoyed the day and the amazing weather and sights.
In a few days I’ll be volunteering at the Leona Divide race. That should be an epic day. Look for me at the Sawmill aid station.
What’s next on your race calendar?