Orange Curtain dress rehearsal at Aliso Creek

My long training run this Sunday became my 3rd ultra after Mt-Disappointment and Ridgecrest. It was a self-supported 40-miler at Aliso Creek Bikeway with 7 fully-stocked aid stations :-)

I parked at our “usual” place of El Toro and Marguerite on Aliso Creek Bikeway and was running multiple out-and-back 10K’s – pretty much Orange-Curtain style. The course is pretty flat with a very modest elevation gain/loss. Although there is a dirt trail by the side of the paved road it is too rocky and felt even worse than the paved surface.

Soundtrack:
ERA II – Interview with iMichelle – Interview with Scott Jurek – Interview with iMichelle again :) – Louis Gerstner's elephants – Phantom of the Opera

Distance: 40 miles / 64.4 km
Net time: 6:58:49
Average pace: 10:28 min/mile
Rest time: 24:18 (Gatorade refills, bathroom breaks, etc.)
Overall time: 7:23:11

This is my distance PR so far: my longest races were all 50K, and the longest training run did not exceed 27 miles.

This was a great dress rehearsal before my Orange Curtain 100K in February. It was not an easy run, but it feels like unless something unexpected happens before or during OC100K, I should be able to do it under 13-hour cut-off time.

My aid station:
This is what I looked like after these 40 miles:
My Garmin's readings:

Aliso Creek Bikeway

Thanks to Greg, I found today a perfect place to run at when it is wet and raining. Yup, we also have this “problem” sometimes here is Sothern California, where in general it never rains :)

Aliso Creek Bikeway starts at the Cook's Corner and goes all the way to Awma Rd and Also/Wood Canyon in Laguna Niguel.

One of the best places to park is a small parking lot right off El Toro and Marguerite, at the Saddleback Church. I was supposed to meet Greg there this morning but did not find the parking lot at first and missed him. So I ran following his footprints and met him after he turned back.


Greg ended up running all the way from this parking lot to the roundabout at the gate of Aliso/Wood, which is 23 miles out and back. I did not run this far and ended up doing only 18 miles today.

The course is spectacular, as most of it goes along a side of a small river with a lot of trees and vegetation growing around it. In most of the cases you have an option of either running on a paved road (mostly asphalt) or a dirt trail running right by it.

The course is pretty flat with almost no ups and downs, except that when you run from Lake Forest to Laguna Niguel most of it is a slight downhill, which means you are running uphill on your way.