The Tick Trailblaze is just a few weeks away!

raceroster.com/events/2015/4381/the-tick-trailblaze-5k10khalf-and-family-friendly-1k/?aff=ZM2GM
Click this link and use code SFTRAILS to get a discounted entry!!!

The Tick Trailblaze 5K/10K/Half (and Family Friendly 1K)

WHEN: SUNDAY, 8/2/15, Half Marathon starts at 9:15, 10K starts at 9:30, Family Friendly 1K & 5K starts @ 9:45
WHERE: 1100 KINGS  MOUNTAIN ROAD, HUDDART PARK, WOODSIDE, CA. 94062
COST: 5K-$35-$50, 10K-$45-$60, HALF-$75-$90

Participant Perks

All participants receive a pre-race warmup from Sweat Republic SF, epic views, awesome trails, adventure, a shot at winning the ARM sponsored ‘Silver Shoe Challenge‘, fuel from Powerbar at aid stations, post-run beverages from Hint Water, SOS Rehydrate, beers from a local microbrewery, Crunch Culture Yogurt, snacks from Mamma Chia, peanut butter pretzels, M&Ms, post-run massage from PSOAS Massage/Bodywork, and more!
We’ll even have a band playing music at the end of the race to round out this family friendly trail party!
Family Friendly 1K runners receive a Tick Trail Blaze woodallion and a Sasquatch Racing Buff.
5K/10K runners receive a Tick Trail Blaze woodallion and a Tick Trail Blaze technical shirt.
Half Marathon runners receive a Tick Trail Blaze medal (that doubles as a bottle opener) and a Tick Trail Blaze technical shirt.
Take a peek at the medals (Half marathoners) and woodallions (1K/5K/10K runners)….


Why is a Tick the event mascot?
We’re very fortunate to have The Bay Area Lyme Foundation as our race series sponsor. The Bay Area Lyme Foundation is committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure.
Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne illness in the US.  It is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected backlegged tick. Most infections are caused by the nymphal form of the tick. These immature ticks are the size of a small poppy seed, allowing them to easily escape discovery.
Never done one of our races before? Check out the following video to get an idea of the awesome trails, epic views, and excellent people you will experience on race day!

TACKLE THE TRAILBLAZE!

Tune Up Run(s):

-The Tick Trailblaze Preview Run on 7/18 @ 10AM at Huddart Park in Woodside, CA.

Race Bib/Shirt Pickup Events:

TBD @ A Runner’s Mind (3575 Sacramento St.) in San Francisco, CA
TBD @ A Runner’s Mind(1111 Howard Ave.) in Burlingame, CA

Parking Procedures

There is a reasonable amount of parking at Huddart Park in Woodside. Bring cash to pay for parking. Please plan to arrive 30-45 minutes in advance to also guarantee a parking spot. Carpooling is recommended.

5k Run

5K COURSE MAP & ELEVATION CHART

10k Run

10K COURSE MAP & ELEVATION CHART

Half Marathon Run

HALF COURSE MAP & ELEVATION CHART

 

I'm making a come back and you're coming with me!

I've had a long lay off lately. That tends to happen from time to time when work and family get hectic for me. I thinkI have a handle on things now so I'm officially announcing my comeback and I'm looking for those of you who also want to get back on track. I got $10 bucks off for the first 10 people who want to race the Tick Trail Blaze with me in August. Doesn't matter if you want the 5k or the Half, the discount will apply. I'm feeling way out of shape so I'm going for the 10k and I'm aiming for sub 1 hour. At Huddart Park thats a pretty good goal! This race also includes a 'treasure hunt' that gives all runners a chance to win a ton of cool prizes (free race entries, Sasquatch Racing hoodies, a YEAR'S WORTH OF KETTLE CHIPS!!!, and more).Here's the details of the race and that discount code.

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.

Sasquatch Racing: The Bay Areas newest race event organizer is coming to Huddart Park.

Register Here

Sasquatch Racing, founded by Matt Forsman and Charles Lantz is the Bay Area's newest trail racing event organizer and they are coming to Huddart Park in Woodside on August 3rd with the Bobcat Blitz. I'm getting pumped to run this race because over the years I have run races in Huddart Park with Pacific Coast Trail Runs, Inside Trail Racing, Nor Cal, Envirosports, Coastal Trail Runs and probably a few others I'm forgetting. Everyone and their cousin puts on a race at Huddart because its a beautiful park with plenty of parking, playgrounds and picnic tables. Each company offers the 5k, 10k and Half distance and they all use a similar but slightly different route to get it done. The 13.1 that I will be running is most similar to Inside Trail Racings course with the only difference coming at the very end of the race.

Check out the new trail race in Huddart Park!

Sunday, Aug.3 2014

The Lowdown on the Bobcat Blitz 5K/10K/Half Marathon

WHEN: SUNDAY, 8/3/14
WHERE: 1100 KINGS  MOUNTAIN ROAD, HUDDART PARK, WOODSIDE, CA. 94062
COST: 5K-$25-$35, 10K-$40-$50, HALF-$60-$75

Use the discount code SFTRAILS and save some $$$.

All participants receive a Bobcat Blitz technical tee, pre/mid-race fuel from Powerbar, post-run beverages courtesy of Zico Coconut Water & Red Hook Brewery. Peanut butter filled pretzels, mandarin oranges, bagels, and additional snacks will be provided as post-race. You’ll also receive post-race massage courtesy of PSOAS Massage/Bodywork.

Half marathoners get an awesome Bobcat Blitz medal that doubles as a bottle opener (for the aforementioned Red Hook)

Register Here

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.

Trail racing in the Bay Area for March 2014

Badger Cove is part of the Brazen Ultra Half Series

14 races (maybe 15???) to choose from in the month of March. That's 5 more than last month and a sure sign that spring is on it's way. I have finally made up my mind on what type of running I want to do in 2014. I've decided to run the required 5 races plus the finale in Brazen Racing's Ultra Half Series. The series is 13 races and a finale but to be considered a finalist in the series you only need to run 5 of the 13 and then run the finale. Sounds like a fun challenge! The series has already ran 3 races which leave 10 to choose from so I better get on the stick and start running some of these races. Race #1 for me will be March's Badger Cove on the 15th. I might jump into the Woodside Half a few weeks earlier just because I love Huddart Park. Most people will probably run the Marin Ultra Challenge on the 15th so if you think you want in on that race I would suggest signing up early. This month has a couple ultra distance races and a couple marathons to choose from so not only are we getting more races but along with that we are getting more distances to choose from which is awesome! Check it out......

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.

August Trail Racing in the Bay Area

 If you look up the origin of the word August you will see that it is an ancient word meaning "awesome running choices", no kidding. We have several races that I would love to run this month including the sold out Tamalpa Headlands 50k. I might show up to that one anyway just to cheer on the elite runners. I have committed to the Crystal Springs Trail run on the 10th and now I am doing a rock, paper, scissors thing with myself to see what other event I can run in August. We have every distance imaginable to choose from this month including 100 miles, 50 miles and some odd ball distances like 6k, 12k, 18k, 25k, 30k. We even have a 100 yd dash for the youngsters and a 5 yd "diaper dash" for the crawlers!!! Every weekend has a race for you this month but the weekend of the 3rd/4th is stacked and so is the weekend of the 24th/25th. Choose wisely!

July trail races in the Bay Area

 We are blessed again to have quite a few trail events to choose from in the month of July. Not as many as in June but that was almost too many to choose from! Sunday the 7th and Sunday the 28th do not have any events as far as I can see but every other weekend day does. Especially the 6th, 13th & 20th. Take a look at the upcoming races for the month of July and get registered before they sell out.

Thornewood Open Space Preserve: The easiest hike you've never taken.

Small enough to never get lost, flat enough for all abilities.

Just off Highway 84 on the outskirts of Woodside, otherwise known as La Honda Rd, there is a little known preserve named Thornewood. Its not very large with only two trails running through it and neither trail is very long. I live rather close to this area and never stopped in to check this place out until today. I know this preserve to be small with only a couple trails so when Im out this way I will choose Huddart Park, Wunderlich Park or Windy Hill OSP instead. All 3 are very close and all 3 are much larger with many more route choices to choose from.

Upcoming races for the weekend of 3/2 & 3/3

 3 more great trail races are scheduled for this coming weekend and they are all on Saturday. No Sunday trail races for this weekend. Woodside runs are always a favorite of mine and I am quite disappointed that I'm not able to run it this weekends Huddart Park offering. The King's Mountain Half is a great run put on by a great organization and it is currently the course that holds my trail half PR!!! I think I will plot out next years late winter races a little more carefully. In any case, If you're not running the Napa Valley Marathon (like me) you may want to register for one of these 3 upcoming races....

"The Great Up & Over": My latest long route

This is a hill climbers dream come true. 23 miles up, over and back across the Santa Cruz mountains via Huddart Park and the Purissma Open Space Preserve. The idea for the run should be credited to Trailstompers.com where they call this a "Super Loop". After reading there description of the route I was not at all confident in running it because the site basiclly says pick a Huddart route from this page and a Purissma route from that page and combine the routes at Skyline Dr. I took the general idea and came up with "The Great Up & Over".

DNF @ The Woodside Ramble 50k



Woodside Ramble 50k results

What a terrible feeling this business of quiting brings. I did what I had to do but REALLY wish I could have hung on. I looked forward to this race for several months knowing it was going to be;

1) in my back yard on trails I'm familiar with

2) easy to get to, so sleeping in is a possibility

3) the least amount of elevation gain of any of the previous ultras I have done by about 1000' ft.

 With all of this in my favor I really thought a sub 7 hour time was possible. To do this I would need to run at least 1:15 per mile faster than previous efforts.

Mid-Peninsula Parks and their trails get no respect!

Welcome to my first blog post! I think it is only proper to make my first post an expansion of the blog title and description. First, an introduction. My name is Jonathan. I'm a married 38 year old trail runner. That is to say that I run more trails then roads. Most people who claim to be trail runners are emphatically just that and love to go on and on about how the roads are terrible and road racing is boring. That is not me. I am not opposed to running roads or road races. I just prefer the beauty , solitude and challenge of trail running. Especially over long distances for hours on end. To me it feels adventurous. I have run a lot of road races because I have found some of the events are absolutely fabulous like the SF Marathon or the US Half Marathon but given the choice I will always prefer trail running and the community vibe of trail racing.

My favorite places to run are in the mid-peninsula area of the San Francisco Bay Area. Specifically I run Huddart Park or Wunderlich County Park almost daily. If I'm not stomping these trails then I can be found running Water Dog Lake Park, Edgewood County Park, or Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. That's just a few of the awesome parks I have within 10 or 15 minutes of where I live. I have run almost every other park in the bay area, at least the major ones, and can honestly say I think the trails and the views in the mid-peninsula are every bit as spectacular as those found elsewhere. I realize that in the Marin Headlands you get the Golden Gate Bridge and that's unrivaled. Nothing can compete with its majestic grandeur. Besides that one iconic landmark I can't think of another that warrants any special mention. You can mention the sweeping views of San Francisco but in the mid-peninsula you get sweeping views from South San Jose to South San Francisco with the Mission Hills in the background.

I think most people gravitate to the Marin Headlands because the Dipsea trail and Miwok trail have become synonymous with trail running. People come from all around to run those iconic trails and the world famous races that are held on them. Ditto for the Mt Diablo area to the east and it's multiple write ups in various running magazines. I know that a lot of races are held up there but I think just as many are held in Huddart Park and the surrounding trails just to the south. I have run in the mid-peninsula with PCTR, Inside Trail, Coastal Trail and Norcal AR. All races were well attended, aid stations were not too far apart and the park facilities were clean and well kept when compared to other park facilities.



View from Hickory Oaks Trail in Long Ridge OSP

The major difference between the mid-peninsula and south bay trails versus all of the other trail systems in the North Bay and East Bay is the redwood trees. Berkeley has some, Muir woods has more but the best in my opinion are on the west slope of the Santa Cruz mountains in El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve, Pescadero Creek County Park & Big Basin Redwoods State Park. These are huge trees covering acres of land that has many, many trails to choose from. I have recently run a 24.5 mile route that took me through Pearson- Arastradero Preserve into the Palo Alto Foothills Park, through Los Trancos Open Space Preserve, Montebello Open Space Preserve and across the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. Where else can you run from trail to trail and from park to park and cover such a huge portion of the bay area?

My love of trail running runs deep and my bias towards the mid-peninsula is obvious. I will write about all things trail running, especially that which is bay area centric but if you notice all my posted routes and stories are from the mid-peninsula trail system you will know why.

See you in the woods.

Jonathan

P.S.
Here is one of my favorite routes from Rob at BayTrailrunners.com .... Ole Buckeye