The Run Up To Santiago Peak

Last week I was set to go for my longest trail run to date, a 24mi round trip run to Santiago Peak. It is the highest point in Orange County with an elevation of 5,689 feet. I was meeting other runners from the Orange County Trail Runners Group at the Maple Springs Visitor Center, which is somewhere around 1,800-1,850ft in elevation, so this was going to be a 3,800ft climb. And descent! The run was put together by Lauren at the Orange County Trail Runner's site. Ultimately, 6 of us showed up.

Camelbak 18x 100oz
Hydration Pack

Not knowing how long it would take for the run, I decided to take plenty of water and nutrition with me. I have a Camelbak XCT hydration pack (discussed here) that holds 70oz of water and a little bit of food in the side pockets, but not much else. I knew there would be no water available on this run, so I decided to get a Camelbak 18x hydration pack. I'd been looking for an excuse and this run was it! It holds 100oz of water and has the same side pouches, but it has extra storage in the back. Closed, as shown at right, it has 13.5 liters of capacity. If you unzip the center zipper, it the storage area expands to a cavernous 18 liters. I kept it closed and still put an insulated bag with two 11oz Zico coconut waters, a small ice pack and several energy bars. Given the temperature on the day I ran, I took about 30oz too much water with me, but when it comes to water, better safe than sorry! This pack is definitely my go-to pack for longer runs, especially in the summer.

I also had this idea that as long as I was going 24 miles, could I throw in another 6 in there and do an even 30? To do this I was planning to run three extra miles on the back of the mountain, then turn around and run 15 back to the car.

We started off at about 6:15am, which is still dark. It wasn't until 6:30 that there was enough light to see around you. Fortunately, the first three miles is on asphalt because I didn't bring my light with me. Had it been trail, I'd have just stood around for a while until the sun came up.

Ed and Kurt at about the 4mi mark.

 The road eventually turned into trail and we began the real ascent. This is a fire road used by local authorities and utility companies maintaining the array of radio towers at the peak. Most vehicles could make the drive, but only at about 10-15 miles per hour. The dirt parts are the best in my opinion. I wore my Vibram Five Finger KSO Treks for this journey. They have a decent tread pattern, but absolutely no rock protection. To keep the road from washing they periodically dump gravel or larger fist-sized rocks to hold everything in place. Good for tires, not so much for my feet. I ran on all but the largest rocks. While I can run on the larger rocks, it just isn't as much fun and I wind up paying for it later.

Matt and Kurt as the sun comes up
and hits the peak in the background.

At roughly the 4 mile mark, I stopped to take a few pics. Kurt and I had led the pack early on, though it wasn't a speed contest at all. In fact, I had no illusions I'd be dead last as we descended. Downhill isn't where I get speed. It never has been. Matt wasn't far behind and we got some pictures of him too.

The other three runners, Lauren and two other ladies were further back, so we pressed on ahead to the peak.

Matt and Kurt started to pull away in the next mile or so. I considered keeping up, but my 30 mile goal lingered in the back of my mind and I decided energy conservation was better, so I let them go on ahead.

Fun part of the trail

The image to the left is the kind of trail I prefer for long distances. It isn't pure dirt, but not too rocky either. There is plenty of area for me to find good footing without stepping on too many rocks. This too is why I have started to like trail running. I've easily done over 4,000 miles in the last 2.5 years of running on roads and on all 4,000 miles, my legs to the exact same thing over and over and over. With trails, you have to adjust, take the occasional shorter stride. I cannot remember what book I read this in, but it holds true. When navigating a trail, if you can make the same distance over an obstacle in two or three steps, always go for three. Much less chance of injury that way.

Somewhere in the 6-7 mile range

As I made my way up, I was feeling pretty good about going for 30 miles. The grade wasn't that bad and there was no speed here, I didn't ever resort to walking due to being tired, just in a few cases where the rocks were more than I wanted to deal with. My food and water were in good shape too.

Ice!

The more I climbed though, the cooler it got, even with the sun coming up. Normally, I can run in temps as low as 30 degrees and my hands will warm up within 15-20 minutes and start sweating at 20-25 minutes. That is on the road though where I am running faster and also know exactly what is ahead. I was in unknown territory on this trail though and was keeping my pace down to save energy. Then my hands started to get cold. At about the 8 mile mark, I ran into this large puddle on the left. That's right - ice! It was melting but I also knew the temps up here were lower than they were just 30 minutes ago. It wasn't my imagination. I picked up my pace to get my blood circulating and after about 10 minutes I was warm. Well, warmer.

More rock than I wanted to deal with
and it would get worse in places.

The higher up I got, the more likely there was to be rocks. You don't ever want to come crashing down on these with your feet no matter what kind of shoe you wear. If you have classic trail shoes, you are likely to sprain an ankle or worse as your foot hits at an odd angle. With the Five Fingers though, your foot just wraps around it. No permanent damage, but it still doesn't feel great, and if you do that a few hundred times, you'll really start to feel it a few hours into one of these runs.

In the picture on the right, there was still enough room for me to maneuver between the larger rocks, but in some places there wasn't, so I'd walk that until it cleared up a bit. I probably walked a 1-1.5 miles in total due to the rocks, which in a run this long isn't too bad. Very few people run 100% of a trail run unless it is really short or a level dirt path. The walking parts gave me an opportunity to eat as well.

Santaigo Peak!

This picture is probably about three miles from the peak, though likely less than a mile as the crow files.

This was right at the peak. The Maple Springs Visitor Center isn't listed for some reason though. Bedford Road must be the asphalt part of the trail and being 3-3.5mi, that puts me 12 miles from where I started, which matches what my GPS watch says. Matt and Kurt were here and waiting on the ladies to make it up. I told them I was feeling pretty good and was going to start my descent on the other side and try and get in that extra 6 miles. What a dumb idea.

The problem was this was headed down to Holy Jim trail. This grade was steeper and a heck of a lot rockier. I only made it down 2 miles when I decided that was enough and I turned around. By the time I got back to the top, everyone had met up and left. It easily took me an hour to go those 4 miles, and it is hard to believe any of that distance qualified as "running" but that is my story and I am sticking to it. The run down was much slower. My feet were getting sore and after 6 hours, I was just wanting to get this done.

Ultimately, I went just over 28 miles in just over 8 hours. If you do the math, the time sucks. I felt good about the outing though and know I can do better on a second try now that I know what lays ahead. I am also getting a new pair of Five Fingers called Spyridons that have a nylon mesh that provides a rock-block effect. While the tread should be better than my KSO Treks, the key is that mesh. I'll have to test it out on some rocky trails around the house. I most likely won't do Santiago Peak this year again, but I am definitely going to do it in the near future.

You can see more pics that Lauren took as she and the rest of the group took the more sensible 24 mile route. I've also uploaded more of my pics to my Smugmug account.

I am glad I've added trails to my running routine. These are much more enjoyable to me than having to deal with traffic lights, women pushing strollers 3 wide covering the entire sidewalk, dog owners that think it is "cute" when Fluffy tries to get close and sniff my legs as I try to maintain distance, and the monotony of the concrete and asphalt.