The 2025 Cuyamaca 100K: Eight Years On

The annual practice of securing a western states qualifier is not easy in New Mexico. The nearest race to us is Black Canyon, about a 6.5 hour drive. I’ve done it a few times, but it’s almost just as easy to fly somewhere. This year, I chose to return to the Cuyamaca 100k in the San Diego area. This was my seventh qualifying race since running Western States itself in 2018. It was my first Western States qualifier in 2017 -- a race that led to my improbable selection for the 2018 Western States 100 when I was just 20 years old. I chose this race because it’s familiar; I like the course, and it’s a qualifier that is not too difficult, relatively speaking. The race has 8,500 feet of climbing over 100k. It is quite hot some years, but this was not one of them. We were lucky to have a high temperature in the 70s. 

At the beginning of the race it was actually quite cold. I regretted not having gloves in the first few miles, but it was eventually comfortable. I ran the first 8 miles at a nice clip. I knew I would slow down, but that seemed unavoidable. At the first aid station I saw my crew members Will and Henry, caught up with them for a few seconds, and then carried on. 

The next section was brief — we were all still relaxed and mostly just chatting. I stopped for a couple minutes at the second aid station to prepare for the next section of the course—undoubtedly the hardest. We climbed up to the high point on the course, Cuyamaca peak, with a mixture of running and walking. At the top (mile 22), there is a nice satisfaction in knowing that you’ve done significantly more than half of the elevation gain in the entire race. The descent off the peak is challenging, rocky, and technical, but since I’ve done this race before, it didn’t rattle me too much as I had anticipated that to be a slow section. It did cross my mind that the first loop would be much quicker had we done it in reverse. Just an idea for the RD :)

I went quickly through the mile 27 aid station (tiki hut themed), to complete the first loop. Back at the campground, I got what I needed from Will and Henry and braced myself for the second loop. In the past, the second loop had always wrecked me. Granted, it was much hotter for the previous renditions of the race I’ve done, and the next section was totally exposed. It’s a really pretty meadow, but it’s a steep climb to reach it, and a gentle climb through the meadow itself, and without shade, it can be pretty rough. I actually felt decent in this stretch, but I got passed by quite a few people, so I guess I wasn’t running as well as I thought. Still, I was content with the forward progress. I was walking many of the uphills, but still running all flats and downhills. It was a pace I could live with. 

I did start to suffer from my little toes… they were getting blistered, and I stopped at one point to try to lance one of the blisters. Every step was quite painful, but for some reason, the pain eventually subsided. I’ve experienced this before; I’m not sure why the foot pain just goes away, but this time it did for some reason. A week later, my little toes are still a bit messed up, but such is life. I feel like I did constantly experience grit in my shoes. I really need to give that whole gaiter thing a try.

There’s always a relief in getting to that point where you can run with a pacer. Here, that was mile 43. Will jumped in with me and he and I caught up as we made our way to the mile 50 aid station. Again, I was still able to run flat sections, downhill sections, and gentle uphills, which felt like a major win. It was also occurring to me just how much more daylight I had at this point in the race than in the previous races I’d done. The first time I ran the race, the sun was setting right as I entered the mile 50 aid station. The second time, it set between there and the next aid station. This time, I’d be through the final aid station before it set.

Entering sunrise aid station -- mile 50

The pace was good, and Will and I enjoyed the dusk on the PCT while we made our way to the final aid station. There, Will took a shot of tequila (I was offered one but declined), and we took on the final small climb before the descent toward the finish. We hiked, chatted with some folks, and kept on. It hurt, but it wasn’t intolerable. When we reached the 1 mile to go sign, I knew we had it in the bag. I finished in 13:31, a significant improvement over the 14:40 and 15:10 runs I’d done in the past. 

In general, it was a great day and I’m happy to have finished. As usual, I felt pretty awful in the hotel after the race. People always ask me if I sleep super well after an ultra—nope! My body aches and it is impossible to get comfortable. That being said, I probably was slightly less destroyed than I have been in the past, so I’ll take it. 

This was my eighth qualifier and seventh since I last ran Western States. I suspect pretty soon I’ll get another shot at it!