Mt Tam 30k Trail Race 2015 by InsideTrail.com

Graphic: Inside Trail Racing

InsideTrail.com held it's annual Mt Tam Trail Run  in mid November and I signed up for the 30k as a fitness test en route to a spring marathon PR attempt. I took Friday off work and made a day out of our trip to Stinson by stopping off at cool places to have fun with the kids. I rented the Sandpiper Cottage for the weekend in Stinson Beach and loved it. I got a good nights rest and had a home cooked breakfast when I woke up and everything I needed to have a great race morning was with me at the cottage. No rushing around, no early morning driving, no chance of forgetting any gear. I walked 100 yards out of my front door and arrived just after 8am to the start line feeling pumped and ready to take on this challenge.

Gear Review: Saucony Xodus GTX 4.0 trail running shoe

The Xodus has been my go to trail shoe for 3 consecutive purchases. I did two pair of the Xodus 3.0 and now I have put several hundred miles on my Xodus GTX 4.0. This is the first time I have bought the more expensive GTX (Gore-Tex) model and I have only ran in rainy conditions once or twice so perhaps I don't really need the GTX feature. It does add weight via the added "booty" inside and the added overlays. The other thing that the Gore-Tex does is work. My feet stayed dry, all of the reviews I read said their feet stayed dry so if you're running in wet weather this shoe will keep you dry. The shoe pays a price for that GTX feature. It comes in at a hefty 11.9oz!!! but I suspect some of that is due to all of the protection this shoe offers beyond just the weatherproofing.

First off this shoe has a Vibram outsole with a very aggressive lug pattern. The protection and grip that this affords you in dry weather is exceptional but in wet weather the rubber starts to get a bit slippery. I've never had mud cake up the tread pattern or rocks wedge into the tread but the slippery aspect is a bit of a let down. This shoe also has a rock plate that runs the length of the shoe and it works! Roots, rocks or whatever you step on is not going to bruise the soft underside of your foot in this shoe. To lock your foot down to this bed Saucony has incorporated it's Pro Lock system that goes over the midfoot area to help lock the foot down to the shoe and give it that glove like feel. This is super important in my opinion when your bombing down technical single track. The shoe laces are those stretchy kind that I know nothing about other than they do not come untied. To back that up this shoe offers a lace garage on the tongue and to further protect you from trail debris this shoe has a gusseted tongue and gaiter loops at the toe and heel of the shoe. This shoe is the Hummer SUV of trail shoes. Most of the reviews I have read all agree that the weight of this shoe is less than stellar so that will take some getting use to for you but beyond that I have no reservations in recommending this shoe.

 I like the fit and feel of this shoe. It has a 4mm heel drop with plenty of cushion and protection for even the gnarliest of trails. The low heel drop is not the same on this shoe as it is on a minimalist shoe because the stack height is substantially different. 26mm at the heel and 22mm at the forefoot!!! When I said this shoe was the SUV of trail shoes I wasn't kidding. It's big and heavy but it works in all regards. Dry feet, protected feet, laces that stay tied and a lace garage on a gusseted tongue. You can not complain about this shoe other than it's heavy and I slipped out a little bit on some trail debris when it was misty out. I highly recommend this shoe although I may not go for the GTX model simply because I don't have a ton of wet run days or river crossings but if you do, by all means, get this shoe.

Gear Review: Saucony Ride 7

 The reviews I read when this shoe was brand new on the market were astounding. Trusted sites were saying this was the best version of an already great shoe. I read it was lighter with more cushion and could take a pounding for 500 miles. This sounded exactly like what I wanted for my fall/ winter marathon training and racing. Now that I have put 200+ miles on this shoe and I have done five 20+ mile runs on them I think I have my mind made up on these. In my opinion they are "uuuhhhhhh whatever". In other words I have nothing bad to say about them but for some reason I don't love them or feel the need to dump praise all over them. I am just middle of the road neutral on this shoe.

 Lets look at the stats that are being heralded as stellar by the shoe reviewers out there. First the weight of the shoe has been reduced from previous versions down to 9.3oz. That's great but 9.3 is not super light in my opinion. 10oz is where shoes start to get heavy and sub 9oz is where they start to get light. This shoe at 9.3oz is just okay. I will admit that when I first put them on they felt light and cushy and I was really impressed but as time went on I realized they didn't feel much lighter or much softer than my Saucony Xodus trail shoe. In reality they are lighter by about 2 oz! The second most praised aspect of this shoe is that it has been lowered down to an 8mm drop. That's great for people who are trying to work their way down to a more minimalist shoe. I highly encourage people to get out of the standard 12mm drop by starting with an 8mm and then going to 4mm and then to a zero drop. I'm running in 4mm or less 99% of the time and for me to go back to an 8mm was surprisingly strange. I did not realize just how different this higher heel would feel after an hour out on the road. Don't get me wrong. It's not a horrible feeling just different then what I am used to. One thing is for certain. When you shorten your Achilles tendon by raising your heel you risk Achilles tendinitis when you return to the lower heel height. So I'm not doing myself any favors by running often in this shoe, so I don't. I've owned the shoe since October and I barely have 200 miles on them.

 To sum it up, most of the reviews you will read on this shoe will convince you that it is a really great shoe and it is for some people but perhaps not me. It was Runner's World Magazine's Editors Choice award winner for whatever that is worth. I like the shoe. I don't love it. It's nice to rotate this in every once in awhile and if my legs feel beat up this is a good recovery shoe. I will probably explore other shoes in the future so buying a second pair is not on my radar for this model.

Brazen's (Almost) New Years Eve Half Marathon 2014 race review

Brazen always does 2 New Years events every year. One on New Years day and one just a few days earlier. This year I ran the (Almost) New Years Eve event on December 27th over the holiday break. I have ran this race before and this years event was a stark contrast to my last time running this event back in 2012 and in more ways than one.

 For starters the weather could not have been better. It was cold in the morning. Colder than I thought it would be but not as cold as 2012. I stepped outside at 6:30 in the morning in a pair of tights and a long sleeve shirt and knew within a second that I was way under dressed. I returned to the warmth of my house and emerged with a Nike Combat base layer shirt that is made for cold weather running and I put on an Asics 1/2 zip with thumb holes in the wrists so that my hands were mostly covered. This was much more appropriate for the 32º temperature outside. It warmed up within the first few miles and I eventually tied the 1/2 zip around my waist. For most of the race it was perfect running weather. This was not the case in 2012 when it was again cold but also misty/ rainy. I wore a rain jacket in 2012 and stayed fairly dry (except for the sweat sauna inside my jacket) but remained frozen to the core for the entire race. Keep that in mind when you sign up for this one!

California International Marathon 2014 race review from a first time runner.

 I don't run alot of road races but for that very reason I felt like testing my marathon PR (3:46) in a BIG way. I got the idea back in the late summer that a road race would shake things up and reinvigorate my training. When deciding on which marathon to run I always favor a new course over a re-do and since San Fran and Napa have already been done CIM is the next logical choice. CIM is synonymous with Boston Qualifying and I figured why waste the opportunity. If your going to run it you might as well go for the BQ which is 3:15:00 for 40 year old men. Chopping a half hour off my PR is probably unrealistic but that's my style. Go big or go home. That 2 month training cycle did not go well due to health issues and I went into the race clearly under trained so my plan was to just rely on my grit and expierence. I planned to line up in the 3:15 pace group, hit the 7:15 pace and hang on until I passed the finish line or passed out.

Rocky Ridge Ultra Half Marathon Championship 2014 race report

Starting arch for the Rocky Ridge

Brazen Racing's Rocky Ridge Championship was held on Saturday, October 4th  at the Las Trampas Wilderness on the outskirts of San Ramon. Up for grabs was $1,000 for 1st Place, $500 for 2nd place and $250 for 3rd place. Rocky Ridge is also the Championship Race for the Ultra Half Marathon Series that has been taking place all year long. The podium in the series also has $1,000, $500 & $250 cash prizes and if you are lucky enough to take a podium on the day and in the final series standings you walk with both checks! That makes it a possible $2k payday for the top 4 guys in the series Nick Scalfone, Harlan Lopez (+3:43), Lon Freeman (+3:53) & Selvin Henriquez (+4:53). Three of these four will definitely walk with the Ultra Series money but they will most certainly be challenged for the regular championship money by the top talent that always shows up. Guys like Leor Pantilat, Galen Burrel, Alex Varner & Sergio Reyes show up on race day and set course records not to mention earning a nice payday!

Hilarious picture from Not THAT Lucas's blog

#45 rockin the devil horns

 One of the first articles I ever wrote (and it shows) was on the Rocky Ridge 2012, my first exposure to the race. The course is widely accepted as the most difficult half marathon in all of the Bay Area with 4,000 feet of climbing and a slightly longer 13.7 miles. When I ran this race I could not believe it was as difficult as it was. I distinctly remember being under educated on the course elevation profile so that when the third big climb of the day came late in the race I did an insane giggle as I walked up the massive incline ahead of me all the while thinking about the sadistic mind of the person who designed this route. Since writing that article I've written about a lot of tough courses on this blog because I have an affinity for them but this race stands in a league of it's own. This race is the mile for mile toughest race in the Bay Area.

 The course record is held by Team Nike Trail Elite runner Alex Varner at 1:33:27. My first and only time running this course yielded a 2:46:40 which was 9th in my age group. I'm hoping to beat that time but I have my doubts going into the race because of the extreme weather differences. In 2012 it was very cool, foggy, misty and almost rainy at the top of the ridge. Today is likely to break heat records at the forecasted 95°.

I arrived at the race at 7am. There is not a lot of parking available at Las Trampas so if you have kids like me you will want to get there early. If its all the same to you then park near the corner of Bollinger Canyon & Crow Canyon and take the shuttle. Bib pick up was quick & easy but the porto potty lines were long. For a race of this magnitude I would suggest a few more. My wife, toddler son and our tiny Maltese Billy all came along this morning to cheer me on. They got themselves set up with chairs and toys and such as I made my way over to the starting corral. After a roaring rendition of Happy Birthday for Frank the Tank on his 80th birthday we got a few race announcements of the usual sort from Sam and the countdown commenced.

I started in the mid pack with the goal of running very conservatively for the first flat section so that I could run the first big climb rather than walk it like I know most will. My plan worked and about half way up that first big beast runners started walking and I passed on by. It was a tough climb but not so bad that it wasn't worth the energy expense. On the other side you have a quick drop and a rise and then it is all down hill (sort of ) for the next 4 miles or so. My downhill seemed to be in good condition, lucky for me. Sometimes you can't take all that body weight loading up on your quad so you lean back and slow down. But if your legs feel solid like petrified tree stumps then you can mash downhill at wicked speeds so long as you don't out run your feet and eat rocks. I flew past aid station #1 around the 3 mile mark and kept up a fairly decent pace all the way to the bottom of this downhill stretch where aid station #2 was setup.

 I did a quick bottle refill and grabbed a GU since I had already eaten the Sports Beans I had brought. I did a slow jog out of that aid station as I tore the GU package open and took a taste. Immediately my stomach went sour so I put my refuel plans on hold. Some of the steepest sections of the course are here between miles 6 and 8.5. Most of it can not be run and as you climb higher and higher into the sky the trail turns steeper and steeper until forward motion becomes really tough. About half way up this climb I took a big squeeze of that GU pack I had been holding and my stomach protested even louder than before. I spit out the GU and tried like hell not to vomit. I didn't let loose but I did start weaving back and forth like a drunk and for a moment I thought I might pass out. The sun was blasting down on us by this point and I was in a bad place. This is where I started to see people standing and sitting on the side of the trail looking absolutely vacant and well overcooked. I was about to be one of them. Passers-by would ask the weary "you okay?" and inevitably they would half-heartedly murmur "all good" or something like that but I never saw them rejoin the hiking procession up the hill. Accept one particularly fit looking female who had been killing it all day long. She passed me by early in the race and was cranking out some energy the last time I saw her. Now she's on the side of the trail looking like death. I passed by and asked if her and the guy next to her were okay and she immediately fell in line behind me as the guy stayed put and answered "all good!" in a much to cheerful voice. This particular section has a double top summit that will break your spirit. When you finally break over what you think is the summit and start heading downhill it doesn't last much more than a quarter mile or so and then turns back uphill sharply. This is just heartbreaking but the upside is that the climb is only 1/2 mile long and then the real descent starts. I felt better in my stomach by the time I got to the top and I could not wait to get to a trash can to throw away that GU packet.

 The downhill between 8.5 miles and 9.5 miles is some of the steepest quad shredding descents of the day. Too bad I couldn't let my legs go like earlier.  They were just to beat up and so I had to do a shuffling hopping kind of gait to get down the hill. At the bottom is a short rolling hill section that ends at an aid station.

I quickly refilled my bottles at this aid station but decided not to grab any more sugar products. This aid station marks the beginning of the long paved path to the top of rocky ridge. From points all along the bottom of this very steep incline you can see your final destination way off in the distance with tiny little people marching along high into the sky. I was absolutely sure their was no way I was going to be able to walk up this hill. Nobody had the legs to run it and most people, myself included struggled just to slowly walk to the top of this ridge. One creative fellow walked a zig zag pattern back & forth on the paved path to lessen the steepness of the climb even though he increased his distance by a mile or more. When you finally reach that tiny place way up in the sky that you've been aiming at for the past half hour, the course levels off and you stay up on that ridge for about a mile and a half. This is the most welcome relief I have ever felt in a race. It is not exactly flat but the hills are manageable up there and around half way across the ridge, just after the 11 mile marker is the final aid station.

I came into this last aid station running on fumes. It is 2.7 miles to the finish and almost all downhill from here. I refilled my bottles and took a big sponge on the head and walked out of this aid station with another runner I had seen many times throughout the year, Jason Ngai. I met Jason at Wildcat and ever since then I have noticed that we always finish relatively close to one another. He has won a few and I have won a few. Now we are in the finale walking out of the last aid station together and neither of us look like we want to run up this little hill we were starting out on. Once we crested that hill the race was on. I opened up my stride on the downhill and gained ground on the few runners I could see up ahead of me. The course had another brief but steep uphill that most seemed to be walking. I didn't walk it. My strategy was to push hard and see who followed. Nobody ran up with me and I got right on the heels of two other guys in front of me. The course turned down sharply and I hammered it the best I could to gain some distance on the group behind me. When the course turned up again it was sharp and once again we were all forced to walk. I reached the top still holding my lead on the few guys I had just passed. It was all downhill from here but I was exhausted. I had nothing left. I tried running scared knowing that quite a few guys were just a few seconds behind but I couldn't do it. My quads couldn't take the massive pounding that would be required on a steep hill like this. I had to shuffle and break down the hill and yet try to go as fast as possible. Just as the hill began to bottom out I heard a runner say to me "Come on lets run it in!!!" Immediately I got hit with a surge of adrenaline that resulted in the fastest 50 yard sprint I have ever run and just edging out the mystery voice runner. We high five'd and both said "That was awesome!!!" as we came through the back end of the finish area. That surge of energy flipped my stomach and I aimed for the fence line immediately. I lost what little I had in me and then within a few minutes felt fine enough to go find my family.

 Just when I spun around my wife and son were coming up to congratulate me on such  a dramatic finish. I made my way over to a chair my wife had set up and within a few minutes I chatted with the mystery runner who turned out to be Steve Long. Steve said he had been tracking me for a while and "was able to pass all of those guys but you. I could have passed you at the finish but that didn't seem right so I warned you." That was super cool of him and I told him so. He certainly didn't have to warn me and I think it speaks volumes about the trail community when runners show each other some sportsmanship like this. My wife was kind enough to grab me an It's It ice cream sandwich and a water bottle refill. So I sat and regathered my marbles for a bit as I waited for the results pages to be updated on the display boards.

My finishing time was 3:00:22. Almost 14 minutes slower than my 2012 time. Overall I finished 72nd out of 198 finishers. That is 13th in my age group out of 33. The overall winner was David Roche at 1:39:51 which gave me a time back of 1:20:30. Even though I did not beat my 2012 time and I finished well behind the winner I somehow managed to move up in the Series Final Standings from 31st place to 24th out of 68 finishers. Not exactly the results I hoped for but given the effort I put into all of this I am happy just to have finished as well as I did. I don't know if I'm going to do this again in 2015 (the season starts this Saturday with the Tarantula Run) as I have my eyes set on a few road marathons and perhaps a step up to the 50 mile? Not sure about that one yet. 

Drag-N-Fly half marathon race report 2014

Brazen Racing has some interestingly named races that all tie into their respective event site in one way or another. Drag-N-Fly's connection to the event remains a mystery to me. I heard one person say it was meant to describe the course where you drag your ass up one side and fly down the other side. Over and over again. My wife saw a few Dragonfly's out on the course and thought that might be it. Perhaps. But I think they got creative with the initials D.N.F. because they knew the course was crazy.
 This race is said to have 3000' ft of elevation gain over 13.5 miles worth of very exposed trails during the bay areas warmest time of year. I know people who have attempted this race without really being aware of how tough it was and ended up dropping. In 2012, just a week before I started SFTrails.com, my wife and I ran this race unaware of it's difficult reputation. I remember finishing in 2:33:00 and being absolutely trashed. Ever since then I have spoke of  it as a"top 5 toughest races I have ever run" and that includes 50k's and marathons.

Race Report: Trail Hog Half Marathon 2014

Brazen Racing's Trail Hog Half Marathon was this past weekend on Saturday the 6th. This race is held at the Joseph D Grant County Park which is situated at the foot of Mt Hamilton in East San Jose. To get to this park you need to leave a little early because the drive is very curvy through narrow, hilly roads that tend to be foggy in the morning. GPS and Google will tell you to take Quimby Rd to get there. Don't do it, instead opt for Alum Rock Ave and Mt Hamilton Rd. It is a bit longer but it is more drive-able and more scenic.

 This race was #6 for me in the Brazen Racing Ultra Half Marathon Series. You only need to run 5 to get into the championship race but running more than 5 is to your advantage because Brazen is only calculating your 5 BEST times to determine your place in the standings. I ran this race for that very purpose, let me explain.

Sasquatch Racing and the Bobcat Blitz of 2014

Sasquatch Racing

Sasquatch Racing is relatively new on the trail running scene in the Bay Area having only been in business since 2013. This past weekend (8/3/14) I finally got a chance to run in one of their events, the Bobcat Blitz at Huddart Park in Woodside. This opportunity presented itself when a mutual aquaintance of mine introduced me to co-founder Matt Forsman under the pretense that I might be able to help Sasquatch Racing get the word out about a mid-peninsula trail race. I love my trails in the peninsula and I want many more races to be held over here so I jumped on board with this promotion right away. The difficult part about promoting this event was that I had never ran with Sasquatch before and so I had no way of knowing what to say about them. If I write a bunch of nonsense and hype and then come race day it is a disorganized mess I'm going to look a bit foolish. The other aspect that made this a difficult race to promote was that I got the introduction to Matt via a Facebook message out of the blue that I just happen to be reading while I was leaving town for 2 weeks vacation. I wouldn't be able (or willing) to do much until my return in early July which will leave me about 3 or 4 weeks to get the word out.

Bad Bass 2014 race recap

Race #5 for me in Brazen Racings Ultra Half Series was the Bad Bass at Lake Chabot in sunny Castro Valley this past Saturday. Up to this point I am in 41st place in the series with an average time back of 57:40. That means I am finishing these races, on average, 57 minutes behind the 1st place finisher. I would like to bring that down (obviously) and this race might be the one to do that with. I say that because of all of the races in the series so far I think this one is the most runnable with the least amount of steep vert. My goal for this race is sub 2 hour for 2 reasons. First of all that time will only be about 30 minutes behind the leader based on previous race results. My second reason is because I ran this course on New Years Eve 2012 and got a 2:03:00, just missing the highly coveted sub 2 hour mark. I want revenge on that shortcoming!

My journey to and through the Lynch Canyon Trail Run 2014.

Me finishing the Lynch Canyon Half in 2013 

My review of the race last year described the course in pretty good detail so this year I thought I would spend more time on the journey and less on the course detail in my reviewing of the 2014 event.

I was a bit worried coming into this race. I had written a few articles about how I was aiming to beat last years 2:16:00 but I wasn't sure I could really pull it off. I had taken a lot of time off from running through the winter and had only picked it back up in February. I started back by concentrating on the half marathon distance because training for the longer stuff takes more time then I have to give.

Diablo Trails Challenge Race Review 2014

The drive from Redwood City started at 7am. The destination was the Castle Rock Park just south of Walnut Creek in the east bay. That would be the starting line of the 2014 Save Mount Diablo Trail Challenge. I made a wrong turn in Walnut Creek onto Walnut Blvd, I was looking for Walnut Avenue. That set me back on my arrival time which should have been 8am but now looked like 8:15 at best. That will leave 15 minutes to get my bib and get ready to run at the 8:30 start time. When I finally got within a mile of the park I noticed all of these runners parking at the high school. The traffic was grid locked but I was determined to get through to the park. When we got there we were told the parking lots were full so we had to turn around and drive back to the high school where a shuttle would pick us up and bring us back to the park. I jumped out of the car, told my wife to do the shuttle and I started off in the direction of the crowd flow. Moments later a guy came jogging by and my worried mind told me that under the circumstances I had better start jogging to the bib pick up too. I was certain the race start would be delayed. With all of the people back at the high school and that long line of cars piled up waiting to be told to turn around there was no way Brazen could start this race in the next 10 minutes. My light warm up jogging covered about a half mile from the parking lot to the sign in booth. I got through the line, pinned on my bib and noticed a crowd starting to form near the start. Sure enough the pre-race announcements started and this race was about to get underway. I called my wife to see if she made it to the shuttle yet and she had not! She too figured the race would have to delay the start. I told her not to worry about it, I would see her at the finish because the race was going to start any minute. I'm dying to know how many, if any, runners missed the start of the half due to this parking situation. I certainly would have if I had either went to the shuttle parking lot as instructed or if I had walked to the sign-in booth not realizing it was a half mile down the road. I got lucky with some key decisions. How many others were not so lucky? If you know of any I would love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Badger Cove race report 2014

Badger Cove is part of the "Ultra Series"

This is race number 4  out of 13 in Brazen Racing's Ultra Half Series. When I realized that 10 races' remained and 5 were required to qualify for the championship race I felt like I needed to get going on this 2014 goal. Ever since running the Drag-N-Fly half and  Rocky Ridge half in 2012 I have wanted to take a crack at the series. Not that I have a chance at a podium but just for the challenge of the runs and to find out how well I could do over a cumulative series. I'm hoping to finish in the top 10 of the series. What is an Ultra Half Marathon? According to the Brazen website its a little longer than 13.1 miles but according to the website "What really makes them "ultra", however is the serious ascents and descents and variety of tough trails you have to run to finish them." Sounds perfect to me!

Kings Mountain Half Marathon race report 2014

So I made a last minute decision on Friday night to jump into the King's Mountain Half Marathon on Saturday the 1st. It was my wife's idea and it was a good one that I gladly accepted. She originally wanted to run the 5 mile race at this event while the baby and I cheered her on but other matters prevented her from being able to so she suggested I go run the half instead while she tended to her other commitments. I couldn't say no.

I was up at 7am and on the road by 8am. The race was scheduled to start at 9am in Huddart Park located in Woodside just west of Hwy 280. I live fairly close to Woodside so I got their pretty quick. Parking was easy. Registration ($55) was quick & easy and by 8:30 I was good to go. I did a few strides and some light stretching as I checked out the competition. It looked like some really fast guys showed up and I got pumped. My plan was to shoot out with the lead pack and then see who had the climbing legs on the way up.

Just shy of 2000' of gain on this course

Most companies that hold races at Huddart Park have a loop course that starts at the Werder Shelter, drops down the windy,single track Bay Trail and then meets up with Richards Road Trail. Envirosports is the only company that starts from the Meadows Picnic Area and immediately starts out on Richards Road Trail and their course is an exact out and back. The significance of this is that Richards Road trail is a wide fire road that is just short of a mile with mildly rolling hills. That means the race will start and end fast like a road run.




This bridge marks the start of the climb

The race started just as I thought, fast and furious. I settled into 3rd place and immediately knew that I could not keep this pace with the hill climb that was coming. Once the course turns skyward at around the 1 mile mark it does not really let up until you reach the aid station at the halfway point, 1800' ft above you. Some of the climbing is steep and some of it is a bit more manageable but after a few miles of climbing it really doesn't matter. You're just in a low grinder gear gutting it out. I eased up on the throttle in anticipation of this climb. One right after another people kept passing me by. I was certain that they would be walking up these hills while I cruised on by with my conserved energy. I was back to 10th place or so by the time we started climbing and never passed anyone on the way up! I was racing against a pack of Mountain Goats in disguise! I kept moving forward and I kept slipping places. I never walked a single step on these hills because I kept thinking I would pass those that flamed out. Problem was that they never even sputtered.

Kings Mountain Rd aid station turn around

Being an out and back course I started counting the people as they came back down the mountain. By the time I hit the aid station turn around I was, by my count, in 47th place! I immediately knew that these fools had burned everything out on the way up and that I would be crushing them on the way down. There is no way that they are both, fast on the uphill and fast on the downhill. Those are two completely different skill sets and I was ready to capitalize on my downhill speed. I spent 3 seconds at the aid station and headed back out immediately. I turned downward and let my legs go and settled into a 7:30- 8:00 minute pace. I was flying down super fast as far as I was concerned and yet I never caught anyone. In fact 3 people passed me. I could see, at certain points on the course, that the 10 places ahead of me were all separated by just a few seconds. I could see those racers in front of me flip flop places and I could see a racer or two behind me that was gaining ground.


We bottomed out onto Richards Rd Trail and reality hit me hard. I no longer had gravity working to my benefit and my legs were really beat up and tired. Others had to have this same shocking awakening, right? I bared down and pushed the pace as best I could. I kept turning up the heat until I passed a guy that use to be way ahead of me. He was the guy that was leaving the aid station when I was coming in at the top of the mountain. I kept getting glimpses of him from time to time during the previous downhill fury. Around the next corner I came up on two guys that were running out of gas rapidly. I passed them with just a few seconds of trail left to go and we all burst out into the meadows one right behind the other. The finish line was at the top of the hill where registration was this morning and people all up and down the hill started cheering for one of the guys behind me. I dug deep and pushed hard up that hill thinking that the cheering crowd was motivating the guys behind me. I literally ran through the finish and collapsed on a big log just off to the side of the course. I did not get passed so the 3 places I lost going downhill were reclaimed in the last mile. I finished 47th out of 118 overall and 6th in my age group at 1:56:15. The results can be seen here. Congratulations to Kevin Reese for the overall win at 1:30:34 and Hailey Manning as 1st female (4th overall) at 1:33:09

One thing that surprised me was that I achieved my sub 2 hour goal for 2014. I set this goal because a sub 2 hour half on the road has become the norm for me so I wanted that to be my norm for the trail half's as well. Even the really hard ones that have 3000' of elevation gain on them. This race had close to 2000' ft of gain so I did not expect to go under 2 hours. I thought it would be just over the mark with something like a 2:05:00. I was super happy with today's performance. I ran a very similar race out here last August and was almost 10 minutes slower on that day. That is an incredible improvement in my book!

Envirosports does not do Bay Area trail runs exclusively. They also put on swim events all over the country and even a couple triathlons and a duathlon. They are not as flashy as some event organizers. They have no start/finish line arch, no clock at the finish that I could see, no chip timing, no finishers medal and the food offerings are sufficient rather than decadent. I would love to have all of those "extras" at this race but will certainly live without them and continue to run this course simply for the course. Of all of the half marathon courses that run at Huddart Park, this is by far the best in my opinion. My wife might race in next weekends Angel Island event and if she does I will report back if it was as "no frills" as this event was.

Fort Ord Half Marathon report

Inside Trail Racing put on another great event this passed weekend, Feb 1st, down in Monterey. The big deal of the day was the Ordinance 100k that got started at 5am. That's a bit much for me. I was there too run the half marathon.
 If you look at a map of the Monterey peninsula you will see Fort Ord National Monument is due east of Monterey and south of that location is Laguna Seca recreation area, the place where we started and finished the race. Pre-race announcements got under way at about 8:20 and this is where we informed that the course was somewhere around 13.5 miles long with about 2100 ft of elevation gain. The extra little bit was no big deal to me and the elevation gain sounded like it was on the low side for most of the halfs I have run. Don't be fooled by this. The hill climbing is no joke in this race.

Skyline to the Sea Marathon Review 2013

Saratoga Gap Parking Lot

What a perfect morning for a race. The sun was out bright and early burning off the fog as I made my way down Hwy 35 heading towards the Saratoga Gap. My wife and son were in the car with me and we talked about where they could possibly park to see me along the course. The course does have a few road crossings and passes through Big Basin Redwoods State Park so those would probably be her best option for catching a glimpse of me as I ran by. The parking lot at the corner of Hwy 9 & 35 was the start area of this race. Most people parked at the finish line area and took the shuttle bus up to the start. This was not an option for me. The finish line where the buses were lined up would add at least an hour to my morning and I was waking up at 6am as it was. Those buses were late to arrive at the starting area so by the time everyone unloaded and got their race bib, it was apparent that the race would not start on time. I hung out chatting with my wife and few 50k runners to pass the time and before we knew it we were gathering up for our pre-race announcements. A little more time was given to the racers who were desperately trying to get through the long restroom lines but within 10 minutes or so we were heading over to the start line which is a short walk away from the Saratoga Gap parking lot.

Race Review: Berkley Trail Adventure 35k

Inside Trail Racing held their Berkeley Trail Adventure event this past Saturday the 28th at Tilden Regional Park in the hills above Berkeley. The event consisted of a 10k, half marathon, 35k and 50k. Sidenote: Have you ever noticed that outside of the Bay Area the 35k event is almost unheard of but around here it is almost a standard? Anyway, that was the distance for me on this race day, the 35k. It has been over a year and a half since I last ran this race distance and in that time I think I improved as a runner. My best time for this distance was 4:12:00 set on a course in Huddart Park with 3000' of elevation gain. This race in Tilden Park has 4600'of elevation gain so in theory it should take me longer but since I have improved I'm hoping to set a new PR!

Crystal Springs Trail Run Half Marathon review

Coastal Trail Runs 8/10/13

Once again Coastal Trail Runs has put on another outstanding event and because of that reputation an outstanding field of competitors showed up to race. I showed up at about 8:15am for our 9am race. The line to get my bib was short and sweet and the line to get into the restroom was non-existent so with those two details out of the way I was free to do a few strides on the grassy hill of the start line while waiting for the time to pass. I noticed 3 or 4 guys hanging around and figured they would be at the front of the pack where I planned to be. I ran into a guy I had previously done a few weekend runs with and knowing his ability I counted him in the top ranks as well. The race announcements and course instructions were delivered at 5 minutes to 9:00 and all 128 of us were off and running at exactly the top of the hour.

Western States 100 mile endurance run 2013

 

When it comes to ultra running the WSER 100 is the "Boston Marathon" of the genre. This is the oldest 100 mile race in the United States and it draws the best of the best. If running had a Super Bowl this would be it. This years event is being run as I sit and type this on my laptop. The runners got started at 5am in Olympic Valley at Squaw in Tahoe and the elites will be in Auburn, CA by about 8pm tonight crossing the finish line on the high school track. This race will launch the winner into the stratosphere of ultra running. Sponsors will come out of the wood work and race directors will fly you to their races all over the world.

 

My journey to and through the Way Too Cool 50k

Way Too Cool 50k 2013

 The Way Too Cool 50k was held on March 9 in Auburn, CA, "The Endurance Capital of the World". To get into this very popular race you need to register for the lottery in December and within a few weeks they draw the names and if chosen your credit card will be charged and you're in. Apparently this race is so popular that the current race director, Julie Fingar, had to implement the lottery system because the race was selling out within minutes of opening the registration. I signed up to run the Napa Valley Marathon earlier in the year and when this came around I threw my hat in the ring figuring I wouldn't get chosen anyway. Well I did get chosen and my excitement to be running with some of the sports best quickly subsided when I remembered that Napa was a week prior! I flip flopped back & forth on which one to train for? Which one to race for a PR and which one to "just enjoy the atmosphere"?