November 2015 Trail Racing Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area

See the complete 2015 calendar here

A few months ago I regarded November as a light month for races. I had about 10 on my list and that's half as many races as almost any other month. As November drew closer I searched for any trail runs I may have missed. I found 3 more races to add to the calendar giving us a total of 13 races to choose from in November. Theirs quite a bit of diversity to choose from including a few Thanksgiving themed trail runs like the brand new Gobble Wobble in El Sobrante.

Christmas themed runs in the Bay Area 2013

Christmas time is another unique time for the sport of running. Just like Thanksgiving, runners come out of the wood work to run and volunteer at the many, many runs offered all over the Bay Area. Our sport is cool that way. We raise a ton of money for charity and we dress up in whacky costumes. We have 15 runs available to us this year including costume runs an ugly sweater run (lol) and even an underwear run! Join in the fun and support our local charities by running or volunteering at one of the following holiday themed races.

2014 calendar here

Attention Trail Runners: We need your help with a very worthy cause.

If you are from the south bay or are an avid trail runner chances are you have heard of TCTRuns.com (Troys California Trail Runs) because of their massively popular races that are held down that way. TCT holds races all over Northern California but a good portion of those runs are located in the greater San Jose area parks. TCT has a race coming up next month being held at the Almaden Quicksilver Park that is appropriately named "Well Water for Africa Adventure Race". In road racing it is very common for races to benefit designated charities but you don't see that as much in the trail racing and this is our chance to run one for a cause.

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!

Canyon View & Eagle View Loop in the Sunol Wilderness (10.5 miles)

Panoramic view from the Cerro Este Overlook at the Sunol Regional Wilderness

 The Sunol Regional Wilderness is one of the best parks in the Bay Area for spectacular views and endless exploration. I say exploration for 2 reasons. The first being that everywhere you look there are rocks to climb and boulders to hop on. Small caves are here and there and tiny unnamed trails shoot off in all directions. The second reason is because the only place you can find most of the trails is on the parks website. I looked on Alltrails.com, Everytrail.com and of course Google Maps and could only find a few trails partially mapped out. Because of this I would suggest printing out the official park map and highlighting this route before heading into this super sized park.

Trail Races in December around the Bay Area 2013

We have a lot of really great races taking place in the Bay Area in December. The downside is that; as of this posting quite a few of the events are sold out because they are just that popular. I've listed them all in this article and I have included all of the "Santa Runs" that I previously posted in an article here, which are not all trail runs. I may be a little biased in saying this, because it is in my back yard, but we have two opportunities to run in Huddart County Park this month. If you have never made the trip to Woodside (just outside of Redwood City) to do any runs.......  this is a must in my opinion. We truly are blessed to have runnable weather in the month of December. Most of the rest of the country is knee deep in cross training already and we are still racing! How awesome is that. Take a look at the calendar below and get out there and support our cold weather running scene.

Thanksgiving Themed Runs in the Bay Area 2013

It's officially the holiday season as far as Im concerned. Halloween is the kick off and New Years is the wrap up. Food is always an issue this time of year. It seems like the best desserts are served and the most delicious dinner parties happen this time of year and it is hard to be health conscious about it all. Thank goodness for the holiday races. If you, like me, are looking to offset the Thanksgiving Day (weekend) feastapalooza or if you want to support the less fortunate and give back to the Bay Area Community sign up for (or volunteer at) one of these turkey themed events!

November trail racing in the Bay Area for 2013

My new race calendar format has arrived. This is actually Cathryn's idea. She is the author of the blog  My Hearts Content. She suggested that I list the races by the weekend rather than by the company putting on the event. Why I didn't think of this is beyond me. People don't sign up for races solely based on who is holding the event.  This is the first month I have implemented her advice so think of what weekend day you have free, scan down the list until you get to that day and sign up for the race that sounds best to you.

Mid Peninsula Runners

Come join us for the Mid Peninsula Runners group free run tonight at 5:30 @ Dethrone Base Camp in Burlingame on California Ave. Tonight were gonna talk about the importance of cadence! Join the discussion.

Free Group Run in Burlingame

The free group run on Tuesday 2/19/13 is NOT cancelled due to rain. Managment has assured me that if we get rained out they will provide a FREE workout for all that showed up to run.

Join us at 5:30 at the Dethrone Base Camp @ 261 California Dr - Burlingame, CA - RAIN or SHINE

See you there,
Jonathan

Racing through the Christmas Season

The Christmas season is the season for traditions. No other holiday brings out more traditions than Christmas. From when to put up & take down the tree and the lights outside, if you put them up outside that is, to where you spend Christmas Eve and every other little detail you can think of; we all have our very own personal way of navigating the holidays. My wife and I have a few traditions we have developed over the years. The tree goes up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Black Friday must be observed! Not for shopping per se but for being out in the energy of the season. Union Square in downtown San Francisco is a day trip that happens every year as well. We do a little shopping, have a coffee while looking at the tree and the ice skaters and then we end the evening at the top of Macy's at the Cheesecake Factory overlooking the city having dinner. This is our every Christmas date night.

Bay Area Thanksgiving Runs

If you are looking to offset the Thanksgiving Day (weekend) feastapalooza or if you want to support the less fortunate and give back to the Bay Area Community sign up for or volunteer at one of these turkey themed events!
(For 2014 calendar click here.)

Featured Route: The 26.5 Trail/ Road/ Trail

26.5 Trail/ Road/ Trail

This route takes you through 3 of my favorite parks. Edgewood, Huddart & Wunderlich all in the Redwood City & Woodside area of the mid-peninsula. The run starts at Edgewood County Park just off HWY 280 on Edgewood Rd. Take the trail named after the park up and over the big hill. You will cross a few trails but stay the course until you see a sign pointing Edgewood trail to the right. Here is where you have a choice. Take the right, follow it down to and across Canada Rd where you will join up with Crystal Springs trail which will dump out onto Raymundo Dr. or stay left on the Service Rd as it is now reffered to until you come to Clarkia Trail which will dump you out on Canada Rd. You will need to go left until you get to Runnymede Rd on your right and follow that until it turns into Raymundo Dr. Either choice takes you to the same place. I prefer to take the right but the risk is that when you get to Crystal Springs Trail in this area it may be closed off due to construction. If so just stay on Canada Rd, run past the Clarkia Trail entrance on your left until you get to Runnymede Rd on your right.

Entrance to Huddart Park off Raymundo Dr.

At the dead end of Raymundo Dr. you will see an entrance into Huddart Park. Follow that down to the bottom where it becomes Crystal Springs Trail. Stay on Crystal Springs Trail. You will cross many trails and be given many choices. To avoid confusion always take the uphill choice and you will eventualy make it to the top of Huddart Park's boundary which is Skyline Rd (Hwy 35). On your way up around mile 7.5 you will pass through the Toyon Day Camp area where you could refill a water bottle of use the restroom.
At the top you want to follow Summit Springs Trail and Skyline trail to the left for about a mile until you see Chinaquapin Trail on your left. Do not go left but instead look for the continuation of Skyline Trail to your right. Its obscured a little and if you run past it moving straight forward you will be on the Archery Fire Rd and you dont want that. Making that right turn onto Skyline Trail you will run for just a minute or two and be dumped out onto Kings Mountain Rd.

Visit Newton Running to learn more about how to improve your running. Great articles about natural running

Crossing the street you will be entering the only public trail in the Teague Hill Open Space Preserve and it lasts for about a mile where you will unceremoniously exit Teague Hill and enter private land that is managed by Cal Water, I think. This trail stretching between Huddart and Wunderlich Park is the Bay Area Ridge Trail. So named because eventually it will circumnavigate the entire Bay Area but at this point is incredibly segmented and unrunnable. Take note that this is a rolling stretch that has some decent climbs but none of its unrunnable. You really only have this one trail to choose from so no need to worry about getting lost. Eventually the trail will dump out at almost the 15 mile mark on to a private road called Bear Gulch Rd.

Crossing the street you will be entering Wunderlich County Park. Turn left onto Alambique trail and follow it mostly downhill for 4.5 miles or so until you get to the parking lot of Wunderlich Park. This is your next chance to use a restroom or refill a water bottle.

Exit the park onto Woodside Rd and follow that until you get to the corner of Canada Rd and Woodside. Be careful on this road as it is narrow and filled with cars and motorcycles that love to test its curves. When you get to Canada Rd at about mile 23 you will find Roberts Market, an excellent place to grab a cold bottle of water or a protein bar.

Clarkia Trail in Edgewood Couty Park

Turn left onto Canada Rd and run it all the way back to the Clarkia Trail entrance to Edgewood Park which will be on your right. This entrance if you are not familiar can be a bit obscured. I drove down this road for years not knowing a trail entrance was there. Clarkia trail is a climb back up the hill of Edgewood Park. At about mile 25 you will be climbing up on the Service Rd which will complete your hill climbing for the most part. Turn left onto the Serpentine Loop Trail and follow it until it forks. Take the right fork, Sylvan Loop Trail will take you almost down to the parking lot. It does turn left and head back up into the park so be aware that at the end of the run you should stay to the right and follow Sylvan Way Trail down the last stretch to the parking lot where you will find drinking fountains and restrooms.

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