You learn the most from races where you make mistakes. Knickerbocker was my 3rd race of 2026. Before that, I had two great races at Fort Ord and at Redtail Ridge (PODIUM!). This one, I crossed the line feeling defeated. I made a few mistakes. But, with the benefit of hindsight I’m actually pretty stoked with my performance. Let me walk you through it.

Race morning

We had cancelled our hotel room for Friday night because both Kelly and I were working late on Friday. We woke up at 4:30AM on Saturday, had breakfast and were in the car by 5:15. Made it to the start line by 7:30 for our 8:30 start. Kelly left for her course monitoring duties at 7:45; and I started my warmup. 10 minute jog, final bathroom stop and my pre-race caffeine gel (rocket fuel!).

Race start was a bit too fast

I felt good at the start line. I started at the front of the field, and the start was fast. The first time I checked my watch my HR was already up to 170, not normal being less than 5 minutes into a downhill race. I slowed down a bit and got passed by a few runners, that was fine. After about 2 miles, I was running somewhat by myself.

Made it to no-hands aid station feeling good, but I was already sweating a ton. I filled my Skratch and my ice bandana. It cost me some time to fill the ice bandana and I got questioned by the people at the aid station about the early icing, but it was a great idea. We hit the training hill climb and my HR was up to 170 again. It felt sustainable and I kept going.

Got passed by a lady who was running up training hill, kudos to her. I kept eyes on her and a runner in front of her. I couldn’t get closer, but they were not too far ahead. I was still sweating a ton. So much that at the top of training hill, I actually wrung out my hat. It was soaked!

The heat was sneaking up on me

Hit the knickerbocker aid station. I filled my skratch again, and also filled my spare water bottle to spray myself. We hit a nice flowy downhill, and I was surprised to not see the other 2 runners. I hit the gas a bit more, and was trying to catch up to them. I knew there was a nice climb coming up, that I was able to run last year.

I did get what I was hoping for: I saw both runners and one other runner ahead of me; and I got close to them. Let’s call it about 100-200 feet. I was hyping myself up that I could get all three on the climb.

Hard no.

The climb, that in my head was supposed to be easy, felt so freaking hard. Did I misremember running up it last year? The lady sped off in the distance, never to be seen again, but I kept my eyes on the two guys in front of me. We were almost stride for stride, when I saw them breaking for a powerhike, 5 seconds later when I got to that spot, I also had to powerhike. When I saw them starting to run in front of me, I also managed to be able to run.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight and data, I know what happened on that climb. I got beat by the heat. Even though I was sweating and I was wet, my heart rate data clearly tells the story that I was running too hot.

At the knickerbocker aid station (2nd time) I let the volunteers take care of me. Filling my water and skratch bottle. Filling my ice Bandana. And giving me a cold sponge to the back.

I wanted to have my emergency caffeine gel here, but I couldn’t find it. Turns out, it fell out of my pack and was in the trunk of the car. It wouldn’t have made a big difference I think, but the extra boost would have been nice.

I felt revived coming out of that aid station. And, I managed to catch one of the guys that I was chasing on that earlier climb. I wasted a bit too much energy passing him, and a mile later he caught up to me again. We chatted two minutes, and he said “you’re a strong descender, there’s a nice descent coming up. Go get it!”.

Which I did. I felt great on the descent. I sprayed myself a couple times with my water bottle. I drank Skratch.

Came to no-hands aid station again, and repeated what I did at Knickerbocker. Ice Bandana, Skratch and water.

It’s all uphill from here

From there, it was 4 miles to the finish, mostly uphill.

And the moment the first 3% climb started, I felt it. I negotiated myself into a run, but it was a shuffle. Steeper climbs I had to hike. These miles were also very exposed and hot. I had my spray bottle with me, but it turned into an impromptu water bottle for drinking as well as my Skratch was getting empty faster than I had planned.

The one good thing about these miles was that there were half marathon runners on there, so I had some hares to chase. But the course was brutal. My god, those final climbs, on pavement, in the sun were no fun. I managed to finish in 3:30:39.

Reflecting

That finish was 43 seconds slower than last year. Looking at the moving time, I was actually 30 seconds faster. Which means, just taking care of myself cost me 1 min 13. I can absolutely live with that.

What’s harder to live with is that I lost all of my time - and then some - in the final 4 miles. I had a look at both Strava files, and it seems I ran the final 4 miles 8 minutes slower than last year.

Lesson learnt: respect the heat. Even with ice and a spray bottle to keep myself cool, the heat still gets to me. I should have realised this earlier. As early as no hands, when I was sweating so much. I should have used the descent coming out of knickerbocker to recover and try and cool down.

Oh another lesson that I’ve learnt in the past, but it was a good repetition: race your own race unless you’re in the final couple of miles. I started chasing runners that I had no business chasing. I pushed my pace too high for no good reason. That’s likely also why my legs couldn’t carry me up that final hill as fast as they managed last year.