Bulldog 50K

West Coast fun!!! The company I work for was good enough to send me to the west coast for a week long bit of training and as luck would have it there was an ultra about 60 miles from the training location. I signed up without really giving it much thought (a gift of mine) and proceeded to under prepare.

The Bulldog 50K is run in Malibu Creek State Park just a few miles from Malibu and the Pacific Ocean, the location where the TV series MASH was filmed. I flew out on Friday and got off the plane at LAX and was struck with the exciting and terrifing thought that I don't know one single person in the state of California. From LAX to my hotel in Calabasas, CA was your typical 5 lane highway Friday afternoon drive...I decided traffic was either heavy, heavier, heaviest or standstill, but I made it without incident. I settled into the room and then drove to find the race start location and then continued into Malibu. The road wound along steep rock faces and canyons before opening into a jaw dropping view of the Pacific Ocean and intersecting the Pacific Coast Highway. I quickly found that sitting at a green light looking at the view was not a good way to win driving compliments. A little drive along the coast and then back to Calabasas to get some supplies and hang out for the evening.

The next morning was fog covered going to the park so I was glad I had located it the evening prior, temperatures were in the mid 60°'s with light ocean breezes. The race started and ran through the old MASH filming area and slowly climbed to the top of Bulldog Mountain.

It remained overcast and very pleasent for the almost all of the first loop, but the sun burned through the clouds and it became very hot very quickly. Each 15.5 mile loop contained about 3800' of elevation gain for a total just short of 8000'. The second time around was a tough go on the climb, but offered a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

The aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers great although there was a 5.9 mile gap between the top of the mountain aid station and the valley aid station. The other runners were great also, I guess shared suffering gives you something to talk about. I had hoped to finish around 6 hours, not knowing how the elevation gain, travel and being under prepared would all add up. I finished in 6:23 and under the circumstances was pretty pleased. The winning time was 3:58 and change by a 45 year old freak of nature, I am way impressed.

This is an ultra that I would give two thumbs up and I aim to do it again, but be better prepared and work in a lot more hill training. Just a bit of closing information, driving across Los Angeles on a Saturday afternoon following a 50K is an adventure in and of itself. Happy trails.