31 miles, 9 Taco Bell items and the hot sun? Napa trio brings underground ultrarun to North Bay

For the area’s many elite runners, distance races can be as much about fueling and hydration strategies as they are about mileage build-up and training plans.

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On race day, athletes dial in the amount of carbohydrates they are taking in via gels and sports drinks and they plan to the moment when said fueling must occur to optimize performance in a race setting. Nothing is left to chance.

The Napa Taco Bell 30K/50K is not that race.

Imagine, if you will, asking a crowd of runners not to stretch and limber up before the starter gun fires, but to take down a soft taco with seasoned beef and set out on an all-day run.

The idea is painfully (literally) simple. In order to be considered not a finisher but a “survivor” of the 50K event, one must run the approximately three miles between Napa’s two Taco Bell restaurants, eating a food item at nine of the 10 stops over a total of 31 miles.

Wait, there’s more.

While racers are allowed to pick and choose from the menu what might sit best in their gastrointestinal tract, there are two required food items. By stop No. 4, runners must have consumed at least one Chalupa Supreme or one Crunchwrap Supreme. By stop No. 8 (which is approximately 24 miles in) runners must have consumed at least one Burrito Supreme (think seasoned beef, onions, sour cream, cheese, beans, lettuce and red sauce) or one Nachos Bell Grande (same ingredients, just add chips).

Runners are asked to literally have receipts – in the form of wrappers from their orders.

As a journalist, I usually have many questions.

On this story it all boils down to just one. Why?

“We said, ‘Let’s plan something kind of silly, kind of dumb, and pretty fun and see what happens,” said Ryan Melendez, 31, of Vallejo.

Melendez is one of the three co-conspirators putting on the inaugural Napa Taco Bell 50K. He’s joined by Alec Villagomez, 30, of Napa and Jamie O’Sullivan, 49, of Napa. All three are elite runners with athletic resumes full of short, medium and long races. All three are training for the Javelina Jundred in October, a race so long it spans two days, not one.

But nary a one of them have done any mileage carrying a belly full of Chalupa.

“I think just the volume of food is going to be tough,” Villagomez said. “I think having a running stomach that is somewhat delicate, I’m worried about the volume of things I’m going to put in it. But there comes a kind of Zen moment and you have to be uncomfortable in a run and accept it.”

But distance runners are nothing if not optimistic folk. How could you lace up and run 50 kilometers (31 miles) and not hold a hopeful outlook? Hopeful that this pain will pass, that the next step will bring something better, that the finish line must be close?

So Villagomez said he’s banking on camaraderie and good cheer among his fellow runners to lift him in moments when the cheese and sour cream hit.

“In this race the discomfort will be a bloated stomach,” he said. “It’s going to be a hot day, the Taco Bell aspect, but I think it will be a lively atmosphere.”

See what I mean about optimistic?

Melendez, Villagomez and O’Sullivan  — they go by Larry, Curly & Moe on some social media sign-up pages — did not invent this mayhem, but they loved the sound of it so much they decided to bring it to Napa where all three are active in the running community.

Call it a franchising effort.

“We all love Taco Bell and we all love running,” Villagomez said. “We have never tried the two together but we assume it would all go together. And then we’d see if we could get anybody to join us.”

So far, they have lured about 40 runners into their web.

The event started in Colorado. In October, the ninth running of the Denver Taco Bell 50K will be held. There, it’s a sweeping loop of the metro area with almost exactly the same rules as those adopted by the crew in Napa: 31 miles, nine stops, required items and bonuses if you can take down 2 liters of Mountain Dew Baja Blast and/or slather all items in Diablo sauce (and take a Diablo sauce shooter at the finish line).

Not familiar with the Baja Blast? Me neither, but I found this description on the interwebs: “Tastes like the back end of a Slurpee.”

What you are not allowed to imbibe? Pepto-Bismol, Alka-Seltzer and the like. This race is au naturel.

But pacers are allowed “for moral support and holding your hair if you must eject a Gordita.”

So popular has this adventure proven to be that sister events have popped up in Washington, D.C. and in the Twin Cities and in Southern California.

So why not Napa?

One “problem” (but what are ultra runners if not on-the-fly problem-solvers) was that the city only has two Taco Bell restaurants. So a sweeping loop route was out of the question.

But Melendez, Villagomez and O’Sullivan measured the distance between the Soscol Road Bell and the one on Jefferson Street. It was almost exactly a 5K (3.1 miles) between the two and runners could be funneled onto the Napa Valley Vine Trail for the majority of their miles.

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But because the organizers don’t want runners with wobbly legs and wobblier stomachs out on the city streets all night, there is a 10-hour time limit for finishing and anyone on the course after 7 p.m. must wear a headlamp.

“Actually this is where there is a soft side to all of us,” O’Sullivan said. “We didn’t want anyone on the Vine Trail after 8 p.m. and we wanted a 10-hour cutoff.”

O’Sullivan was tasked with letting Taco Bell know of their plans. There is zero affiliation with the restaurants but organizers hope it might be considered a boon for business on a Saturday. Still, O’Sullivan wanted to cover their bases and be respectful.

“I don’t want anybody to be an unintentional victim, I don’t want anybody to be overworked,” he said. “This is going to be busy.”

So he set up a meeting with one of the managers. By O’Sullivan’s telling, what followed was in line with the whimsical feel of the event.

“I showed up with the waiver and the rules and the flier and she said, ‘I thought you were kidding,’” he said. “I was like, ‘No, I’m quite serious.’”

I showed up at said Taco Bell to confirm this story but did not hear back from the manager by my deadline.

Melendez, Villagomez and O’Sullivan might seem diabolical for staging such an event – they even planned a late 10 a.m. start to make sure it would be extra hot out there. But they are generous.

There is no fee for entry, just the cost of perhaps losing a sliver of dignity. They are also working out a Dine and Donate plan for each of the Taco Bells with funds going to the two elementary schools closest to the restaurants.

“This is our community,” O’Sullivan said. “We don’t want to create any negativity around this event.”

Plus, he figures that the back and forth nature of the route will mean less a crush of runners than a steady flow of customers. The route also means that athletes will see each other out there, be able to root each other on and offer support. And that is what the trio of organizers are going for.

“There is a saying, if you want to run fast, run by yourself, but if you want to run far, run with others,” Melendez said. “It’s community. For long endurance events, it’s very supportive and just great… definitely the community being able to share suffering experiences with yourself is really big.”

And Melendez, Villagomez and O’Sullivan say they already have a slew of folks signed up to volunteer on the course and outside the restaurants. They will be checking less for scofflaws (when I asked about the potential for cheating, O’Sullivan was appalled at the idea: “It’s totally honor system. That is one of the things we will tell the runners, ‘Are you really going to cheat on this? What is wrong with you?’”) than making sure runners are carrying water and standing upright.

“All of our volunteers are runners,” Villagomez said.

There are plans for a “vibe station” with music and good cheer for a needed morale boost when the build up of seasoned beef might get one down.

Organizers plan to have medals at the finish line for all survivors. To that end, there is a sign-up deadline on July 15.

But very clearly, completing this “race” isn’t about hanging a medal around your neck. It’s about something next-level, Villagomez said.

“We are hoping that everyone shows up and has a good time,” he said. “Anyone who shows up do the Taco Bell 50 is a champion of the heart.”

And of the gut.

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or [email protected]. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.

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