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.

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!

Upcoming trail races in the Bay Area for the weekend of 4/27 & 4/28



This weekend the vast majority of runners will probably be running the Big Sur Marathon. That road race is a major event that draws people from all over to run it. The Leona Divide ultra is taking place down south as well so that's going to draw the runners away from the Bay Area too. For those reasons I thought we wouldn't really have a lot of trail races to choose from but we do! Four great races are spread all over the Bay Area and every distance from 1.5mi to 50mi is available this weekend including the odd 18.8 mile race in Los Gatos. So, if by chance you aren't running one of the big name races, come on out and get a little dirt under your feet at one of these local races.

 

Upcoming races for the weekend of 2/23 & 2/24



The weather has been nice lately and I've been able to get out on the trails a lot more lately. I think I'm getting a touch of spring fever with this lucky streak of great weather. I find myself getting excited about my upcoming trail races and then I start researching what races are coming up for this article and I get even more excited because great races are poppin up more and more as we cruise through the end of our winter. Three excellent choices for the weekend of 2/23 & 2/24 are coming up and between the three you have every distance choice from 5 mile to 50k and every ability level from the novice Vasona Lake 5 mile to the experienced Montara 50k.