Calico Ghost Town Trail 30K/50K

What a gorgeous Sunday for a trail race in the Southern CA desert.  As Psalm 118:24 says "This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it!".  After weeks of unusually wet and cold weather here in Southern CA, the past week has been utterly amazing.  We had temperatures of 75 at the beaches this week and even up to 80 inland.  It was welcomed as we needed the trails to dry up because they become mini-rivers when it rains. The historic Calico Ghost Town is just a bit outside of Barstow and near Fort Irwin, CA. It sits in the high desert at about 2500 ft elevation. It's a very interesting place, having been dedicated to be preserved by Walter Knott, creator of Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. The race itself is put on by Discovery Trails and is done to support the ongoing efforts to maintain and preserve the town and the surrounding trails and natural landscapes in the area. In fact, 100% of the effort to put on the race is by volunteer to maximize the amount given back to the town.

The race kicked off bright and early at 7am for me and about 240 of my closest friends.  Its a split race in that there are two simultaneous races going on at the same time, both 30K and 50K distances.
Trying to recover from a nasty head cold I opted for the 30K and it was a blast.  For those who don't have a calculator that's roughly 19 miles; per my Garmin it came out at 19.2 miles.  I went in with no expectations and just planned to enjoy the day, meet some new people, and find out whether I could finish with a stuffed up head and occasional cough.  I met some great people along the way - shout out to Eric, John (Nice 2nd place division finish), Dave, and Moshe who I hung out with after the finish waiting for the results to be posted and talking about why we do these crazy things.

Turns out I had an OK day with a 15th place overall finish and 5th in the 40-49 age group division.  Amazing thing about Trail Ultras, the fastest guys are in the 40-49 age group and in this race that included the overall winner.  My time was 3 hrs 8 min per the Garmin or a 9:48 per mile pace, which wasn't too bad considering the trail included over 2900 ft of vertical climbing and a great deal of it soft sand which makes for tough going.


In the end it's always about the great people you meet and the common connections you find and if your fortunate, you get the opportunity to help someone out or offer a prayer in time of need.

Keep Training and God Bless!!!