American River 50 Adventures

Saturday, David ran the American River 50. It is a famous ultra-marathon race (in certain circles) and it goes through our back yard here in Folsom. The race is limited to 850 people each year, so it is a good sized race. It starts about 20 miles down river from us at Sac State and follows the bike trail up river, past Folsom, and around the northwest shore of Folsom Lake. Just past Folsom, the course turns into single track horse trail and follows the lake shore and American River Canyon to Auburn, CA. The race is mostly flat during the first half of the race, but gets hilly around the lake in the second half. The final three and a half miles are a 900 foot climb out of the canyon to an overlook in Auburn.

Here is David at the start, looking sleepy. The race starts at 6AM, about 45 minutes before sunrise.

David was running ahead of pace, so we missed him at all but the last aid station. Here are the kids running on the trails around Rattlesnake Bar, about 10 miles from the finish.

More kids running. It is beautifully green here right now with the rain and spring weather.

Here is a pretty purple flower along the trail while we waited for David. There were lots of black butterflies with little blue and white spots fluttering in the grass and flowers.

And of course, the California Poppies were out!

Sarah and Lily at Rattlesnake Bar.

David came in to Rattlesnake Bar aid station at about 11:50am, ten minutes ahead of his plan. He said afterward he was trying to bank minutes for the big climb the last three miles.

At all the aid stations, a voluneer grabs your water bottle and fills it up while you stop by the food table.

David's friend, Rich Christensen paced the last ten miles. Rich has run the St. George marathon a couple of times. Their kids also do the running club with Sarah and Alex.

Here is Alex, in desperate need of an aid station himself!

We found a good restaurant in Auburn that had something for everyone. Lily liked her fries, and Alex cheered up once he got some food in his tummy.

Here is David "sprinting" into the finish. There's a big party atmosphere at the finish, with music on loud speakers and balloons. It makes it tempting for all the spectators to run it the next year (if you are someone who is easily tempted).

David's chip time was 7:30:55. Which is right on pace. He was glad he saved up some time for the last hill.

Alex and Lily ran along to meet David after the finish.

Here is Dave with Rich, his pacer, just after the finish.

There is a talk from President Uchtdorf about a man that went on a cruise, but because he didn't have much money, he didn't go to any of the banquets, or dances, or parties on the cruise. He spent most of his time in has small room, eating food out of cans and looking out his small window. At the end of the cruise, he learned that all of these things were complimentary and he had missed out on a good portion of the cruise. Well, similarly, David came to the realization at the end of the AR50 the that massages are complimentary! Here he is, finally relaxing!