Climbs and Crossings

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...

I don't know about you, but that was pretty much the longest summer of my life. After coming off a successful Big Sur Marathon, the  Skyline to the Sea 50k  back on June 10th led to an injury that kept me away from running for the rest of the summer. During that time I rode the highs and lows of life without running. Ok mostly lows. The only high I can come up with is the sleeping in on Sunday mornings. Oh, and no poison oak was good too. I'm not saying I was in a funk, but I was in a funk. A week or so later was an awesome concert at the Mountain Winery. I didn't get to run the 31 miles on my 31st birthday in July like I had planned, but I still got to do a little light hiking and was grateful for that. Pacifica is my jam. Then in August we made our annual pilgrimage to Hermosa Beach where I couldn't take no running for an answer. I did a lot of bike riding, which was great, but normally I start the day with a run on the beach. It might have been too so...

Normally after a race I can't wait for the race results to be posted online. At this point I'd just be happy with an explanation of what the heck just happened. Also, I want my money back. We drove to Santa Cruz on Saturday to spend the night since it was a good 2 hour drive, and I had come down with a cold in a bad way. Fever, runny nose, all of that stuff. I managed a half day at work and we hit the road. All I wanted to do was sleep. So that's what I did. In the car and in the room...later on we ventured out for dinner. We found a great Irish Pub in downtown Santa Cruz. Rosie McCann's. Red wine kills cold germs, right? And Ghirardelli chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream definitely kills cold germs.  Back at the room I checked my email, where I found the usual day before the race email from PCTR linking to race day instructions. The 29 and 50k were taking off at 8:30 and the 21k at 8:40. Bib pickup ended at 8:15. (I was going to also link here to t...

WHEEE! I'm running the creek crossing,  but really I hoped this would be "so congested" that I would "have to" run through the creek. You know,  because running through the creek would just be the "smarter" option. So actually I'm a little disappointed right now even though I'm having the time of my life. I really just wanted to splash through that water.   Highstepper.  Going downhill is a controlled fall. This race finally convinced me to admit I'm a strong downhill runner. The uphill, on the other hand might be an opportunity for improvement.  Dipsea was an amazing and unique race experience, but it was also one of the most beautiful trails I've run. Ever. TRUE. 

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 ...

High on my list of dream runs is the  Dipsea . I've been a little fixated ever since first reading about it and it's history and discouraged because it's extremely difficult to get into. 1500 people are allowed to run. A large number of runners from the previous year's race are pre-qualified for entry the following year. 500 entries are first come first serve, and the remaining slots are filled by auction, lottery, bribing and begging. The only way to enter is to download the application from the website the day it is released and mail it in, which means the closer you live to Mill Valley, the faster your application gets there. Also, more than double the number of people enter than there is room for. And here's the description of the course from the website, dipsea.org: It begins in downtown Mill Valley with a sprint down Throckmorton to the Old Mill Park, then up three flights of stairs as tall as a fifty-story building, and up some more through an old horse ranc...