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Done One: Race Report Pirate's Cove 8k

My first Pacific Coast Trail Run!
The sea was angry that day my friends.




We had plans to stay in Berkeley Friday night for some music at Freight and Salvage, so I was really excited to see that there was a trail run Saturday morning taking off from Rodeo Beach. Added to my excitement was the weather report that called for 30mph wind, rain, hail, lightning, and general mayhem.



Combine that with this elevation profile:






READY
The 30k and 50k took off at 8:30 in pouring down rain and lightning striking out over the ocean (it was kind of scary beautiful), the 20k at 8:45, and then the 8k crowd took off at 9:00. There were some instructions about colored ribbons and turns that I couldn't really hear and then 3...2...1...

get goin
The climb was pretty brutal. And steep. And hard. I remembered really liking this trail about a month ago on a  sunny day hike when I was all, look how pretty it is up here, wow, STAIRS! FUN! 

This time, there were a few more bad words going through my mind. Especially when I saw the stairs again and this time had to halfway pull myself up them with the railing because my legs were tree trunks by this point. 

The rain had let up, and despite the agony, I wasn't having a bad time. I was actually having a perfect time. 

When I made it to the top I took a second to do a 360 and take in the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge, and then it was all downhill...in the mud...with the flowing water...and good luck trying to slow yourself down. 

There were a few moves I was relying on to get me downhill in one piece:
The Twinkle Toe: Your feet are stepping as fast as they possibly can and as lightly as they possibly can sometimes forward, sometimes sideways, because you don't want to do the less reliable One Foot Roller Skate where one surely reliable step you take turns into a five foot skid. Then there is the Kamikaze that is used when you know you are going way too fast for your own good but have no way of stopping so you actually hurdle yourself toward the side of the trail with a big leap and start doing the Pinball by immediately bouncing off toward the other side and go back and forth until you get it under control. What are your trail running moves??

The steep downhill got less steep and much better footing. The kind where you just open up, let loose, and fly. Where your legs are turning over like wheels. Gravity is doing the work and it's almost effortless (except for the pounding on the quads). 

Pretty soon, it was back to sea level and Bunker Road was in sight. Then it was about a half mile back to the beach and the finish line. 
I love you, flat ground. 

This is how I smile when I am ecstatic, but my lips are numb. 

You can find the results HERE


Thanks PCTR, I'll be back for more.

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