Holcomb Valley Recap

Holcomb valley 15 mile trail race.

I had originally signed up for the 33mile race, but at the last minute, changed my mind to race the 15mile option. I am happy I did.

After running the Shadow of the Giants, I thought it would be wise to not overdo it and run a good solid race with the 15mile option. Between the shadow of the giants and Holcomb I only ran once. I went to big bear on Saturday, and stayed at a local hotel. Other club members from the OCTRAIL club also stayed at the same hotel. I felt well rested going into the race.

Race morning, I set the alarm for 5am, and went to the local am/pm for a hot cup of coffee. Wow I did not realize how cold it was outside, I had the shakes… I noticed there no cloud cover, which told me that will be very clear and hot.

I arrived at the race site, and chatted with the other runners that were doing the 33mile race. 30min later our 15 mile race started. This was my first trail race where they put us in waves. I was of course in the last wave. The race course was very rocky or technical at the start which reminded me of one of my local training runs at Modjeska canyon trail.

At the 4 or 5mile mark it opened up onto a smooth rolling fire road. I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I tried to maintain a constant pace throughout, I noticed plenty of free range horses out on the field and I forgot where I was for a while. The course was well marked if you follow the arrows. Towards the end I realized I could break my 3hr goal. I couldn’t open into full stride going down a rocky single track, just too risky. I was using this lady way ahead to help me pace myself in…Then I passed here, BUT now I was in the front with about 1/2mile left I was lost track of the arrows and orange ribbons. Going into the parking lot of the finish I was supposed to make a hard right, well I went straight. They lady I passed said I was going the wrong way, at this point I was way off track. I finished at 3:01, now knowing the course next year, I should shatter that time. This particular race was very well supported with volunteers and post race goodies. I recommend this race to anyone considering do a short trail race in the mountains.