Climbs and Crossings

In spring of 2013 I ran Way Too Cool, a 50k with under 5,000 ft in elevation gain in 6:39:34. In spring of 2014 I ran it in 6:39:28...six seconds faster. How dumb is that. What had I actually been doing with my life to make zero progress in the time span of a year.  This past December of 2014 I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge, a more challenging 50k course in the Marin Headlands with about 7,000 ft in elevation gain with a goal time of 7 hours. I finished feeling good in 7:00:40.  I have one goal for 2015. I want to train smarter and run faster. Rather than do the Way Too Cool 50k/American River 50m NorCal spring combo this year, I got into the Lake Sonoma 50 miler, and the Marin Ultra Challenge fell during the right weekend in my training plan.  I was shooting for six and a half hours. It would be a 50k PR, and 30 minutes faster than I had run three months previously out on these trails. I wanted out of whatever rut my running had ...

Valparaiso, Indiana somewhere around 1996 or 97...could be 98: I'm in the car with Laur, maybe Trish, and Josh and his friend Valerie. We are probably on our way to Night Owl because our friends have a Ska band. Valerie is in the back, and I'm turned around to look at her while she starts talking about how she's been to California and all she wants to do is go back because it's the best place she's ever been. This is the first time I've ever heard of Santa Cruz, the first time I've heard someone talk about having been to California, and I'm trying to imagine everything she's describing while at the same time secretly wishing that someday I'll get to see the Pacific Ocean, too.  Clockwise from the top left in Indiana: Trish, me, Valerie, and Laur. In Indiana. INDIANA. I think about that moment in the car all those years ago and a bunch others like it when I'm experiencing something beautiful and amazing that I could never have ever im...

On my way up to the turnaround point at the north peak of Montara Mountain, I looked up to see  Caitlin Smith  cruising back down. Well, there goes my chance for an age group win today, I thought. (that's a joke) Someone should hire me to write course descriptions.  Inside Trail celebrated its one year anniversary with a return to Pacifica, the site of their inaugural event. Last year I ran the half marathon distance, but this year my training for Way Too Cool called for an 18 miler. The past few trail races I've run have had a good amount of climbing, but for the most part, the entire second half has been downhill. I was super excited to challenge my legs to some late in the race uphill. (spoiler alert: legs were not super excited to accept the challenge) I'm very familiar and comfortable with the first loop up the mountain. It's the longest and highest climb, but it's also the first three miles of the race when everybody's legs are fresh and rarin...

It was rainy and windy and cool. It was the very first event that Inside Trail Racing was putting on. A lot of people were watching, waiting, to see how this would turn out....  Well a bunch of us showed up in Pacifica and found a well organized, all around nicely organized and friendly run put together.  BUTT SHOT The course was tough. Really tough. The first loop was a major climb, and up at the top of the mountain the wind gusts were unbelievable before the downhill back to the start/finish for the aid station. Setting back out for the pink loop I may have mistakenly convinced myself it was going to be easier than the first loop. It wasn't. We climbed and climbed for what seemed like forever. At one point I asked a woman behind me "is there a TOP to this?" She said no.  This is what makes it all worth it. I showed up to race, but my legs didn't. I'm going to blame it on the fact that I wasn't quite recovered from running a back to back half marat...