Going into the race on 5th May 2024 I was reasonably confident of around 2:15 HM finish. Based on the ankle/pain runs on 25th and 29th April ,in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree respectively, it became apparent that running the FM would be downright stupid. The head and the heart differed on the two remaining options of the three summarised here .The rational decision would have been to DNS. However, I made the emotional decision of changing the race category to HM.
Despite the long driving (SFO to Laka Tahoe to Eureka via the Shasta-Trinity National Forest) and lack of sufficient sleep I was eager to run the HM specially after collecting the bib and driving through the course on 4th afternoon. the main anxiety was the cold and possibly damp weather - it rained all Saturday(4th) with the forecast for Sunday morning being more promising albeit with temperature in the high single digit Celsius. The other concern was to get to the parking lot comfortably early as the organisers had warned of very slow traffic after getting off the high way (101 S in my case). On learning from our Airbnb host that another guest staying in the studio room was also running I contacted him to see if we could carpool. However as he was running the FM it did not workout.
Went to sleep at 10:45 Pm and woke up at 5:20. Decided to wear a full sleeves shirt on top of the half sleeves for the run. After toying with decided not to wear gloves which turned out to be a wrong one specially during the walk back to the start line when the hands became really cold. A, R and I left at about 6:40 and exited 101 S at about 7:20. As expected there was a bumper to bumper traffic from the exit to the parking lot. Nevertheless , made it to the parking lot by 8:05 and reached the start area by 8:15. After using the portaloo and warming up a bit removed the windsheeter. Though a bit too cold for my liking I expected to feel quite comfortable after a couple of Kms of running.
Started the race much faster than I have been doing off late - the course was rolling hills with an overpass in Km 2. Ran the 1st and 2nd Km in 5:31 an 5:54 respectively. While it was nice to run among the lovely , giant redwood trees the cold, wet weather was quite a dampner. I slowed down in the 3rd Km as I sensed that the heel was going to be quite stressed by the end of the HM. Just as I completed the 3rd Km(in 6:14) my right calf had a very severe pull. I had to move to the side and literally stop - there was excruciating pain. After a few secs I limped a Km to the 1st aid station hoping to get some relief with a muscle spray or gel. Disappointingly, the volunteer there was very unhelpful and the medical kit they had was pathetic - a bandaid and some pain killer tablets - that is it. No muscle relief spray or gel. At that point it was clear to me that my race was over specially as more than 50% of the vacationw as ahead including lot of travel within Peru. With a heavy heart I reconciled myself to a the 3rd DNF of my career (the others by in my first ever FM attempt in Pune in Dec 2002 and Bangalore Ultra 2015 ) So I wanted to get back to the start line and get some medical help at the earliest. Again all the volunteer could suggest was that I walk back slowly. Perhaps, I could not convey the seriousness of my injury because I myself was not aware of it. And my brain also did not fucntion properly. Ideally I should have insisted on an ambulance being called to take me back. Instead I willed myself to slowly walk back the 4Kms - it took about an hour to do so. Close to the finish line I saw A and R coming out of founder's grove. Shockingly the medical tent at the finish line was also pathetic without any spray or gel. After icing the calf for a few minutes A convinced a forest officer to drop me in the parking lot in his vehicle. We headed back soon after reaching the airbnb around 11:45am disappointed, weary and worried about the injury.
Managed the next 3 days with a hiking stick and with minimal walking. However, the swelling in the ankle/heel area and the calf increased quite a bit by the time we reached NYC on 8th morning. So after agonising and going back and forth for 48 hrs we made the painful decision of returning to Bangalore cutting short our holiday by 2 weeks . Cancelling the much anticiapted Peru trip left me feeling quite miserable. The ortho consiltation on 15th (the day we landed back in Bangalore) showed a tear in the achilles tendona s well as muscle calf and also a blood clot(DVT) in the calf. So in hindsight it was the right decision to return when we did.
With the treatment I am undergoing and complete rest hoping to be back on my feet by May end . All going well looking to commence running short distances slowly from July after building some strength back to the damaged heels and calf!!
