Climbs and Crossings

Chapter 1 - RACE REPORT My 4:30am last Saturday and every Saturday.     8 hours of work later, I was shoving Gu and tape into my gear bag in a frenzy so that we could blow town and head for the ocean. Allison came with us because she's NEVER BEEN TO PACIFICA. I know, right? There was a slight detour to REI in San Francisco before we made our way down the coast to Rockaway Beach. I just started watching Lost and I'm on season 5 so I pretty much have a whole different perspective when looking out at the ocean. Shenanigans ensued during the evening. I've discovered Vine and took way too many videos, but I was in bed by ten...thirty...ish to be up in the morning for the 8am start of Coastal's Montara Mountain half marathon. The lot at the park filled early, so everyone coming in was directed to park along the streets- the neighborhood streets, like sleepy Sunday morning neighborhood streets. Streets with houses full of people that in no way expected to wa...

I'm not sure what we all did at jury duty before Twitter... A couple weeks ago I sat in a room serving my civic duty with 200 people for three hours and was excused because the courts did not require my service. What I didn't know was that one or more of those 200 people was sharing their gross sick germs with me.  When my fever finally broke and my antibiotics were done, I had missed the trail marathon I was supposed to run and totally disrupted a key week in my training cycle, so naturally I panicked. Despite the fact that I hadn't really eaten anything let alone moved off the couch for 8 days, I thought it was important to get in a 20 miler, so yesterday GeNene and Allison and I took off for Lake Chabot! Ready to crush it.  I took off and went about seven miles out of the way, or as I like to think of it exploring and adventuring, before getting back to a trail I knew. My out of the way included lots of hills, a creek crossing, a parking lot with ...

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...

A light mist was falling as I wound my way up King's Mountain Road to Huddart Park last Saturday morning. Running again in Woodside, the race company was different, but the course was exactly the same with an out and back added to make it a half marathon. My plan was to run steady and conservative on the first half of uphill and then cruise on the downhill. The start is downhill across a wide open field to the start of the trail. Within a hundred yards there is a sharp turn around a fence that brings the pack to a dead stop as we funnel out down the single track. I knew I was running the first mile fast, but I like to think of it as taking advantage of the early downhills...plus it was fun. I flew, and then I began the long 5ish mile climb. About a third of the way up my legs decided they were done. Like DONE. I felt like I was crawling. The week before I had plowed uphill steadily feeling strong, but now, my legs felt like cement blocks. Finally reaching the top after a final ...

My training week consisted of a silent foggy Christmas morning run plus a handful of 5 and 6 mile runs. Nothing exciting to report. On Sunday, I finally got some trail time at the PCTR Woodside 17k. Yes, you read that correctly. Pacific Coast Trail Runs has been resurrected and is alive and well under new ownership! John and Maureen Brooks announced they were taking the reigns in August, and I think this post by John on the PCTR Facebook page sums up their vision:  It’s a dream come true for me to combine my work experience with my passion of endurance sports. I absolutely love the endurance community. Maybe some of you can relate to this: I really only race to be close to people like you. Endurance athletes are amazing people! We debated for weeks of whether to keep the name of PCTR or to rebuild from scratch. PCTR has a strong, 12-year legacy that was tarnished in the last 7 months before closing. One of the most important factors in retaining the name was reading the ye...

I'm sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket sipping a glass of pinot noir. Outside it's raining and the winds are gusting upwards of 40 mph making me glad I got my run in earlier this morning. About every 15 seconds I'm looking up from the laptop at the trees outside the windows waiting for something to happen. 4 years ago... Judging from the amount of time I'm spending staring out the windows, this post will likely take roughly 4 hours to compose. On with it. Monday was a rest day. Just work and a needed rest day. Tuesday after work I did a 4 mile tempo run and some core work. Wednesday I got in 5 miles before going to work in the evening to do inventory. Thursday I ran 4 miles after work racing the sunset. I've been feeling a cold coming on for a few days and I'm overdue because I generally get sick once a year. Everyone around me has been sick over the past couple of months. I interact with hundreds of people on a daily basis, but so far I...

By the time midnight rolled around on December 8th, 1,360 people had entered the lottery for the Way Too Cool 50k wanting one of 900 spots available...much better odds over last year when there were only 500 spots! Race lotteries generally turn me into a ball of anxiety because my life feels like it's hanging in suspended animation until I know for sure whether I'm in or out. Lucky for me, it was only about 24 hours until I'd learned I snagged an entry this year. Huzzah! My infiltration into the California trail running scene has come along pretty recently. I have a couple years under my belt and only one ultramarathon (barely). It amazes me that I live somewhere that almost any weekend of the year I can drive an hour or two and find a trail race. I could be flying down switchbacks smelling Eucalyptus or climbing endlessly up a mountain and look back over my shoulder at the Golden Gate Bridge. I can be wading across rivers and stomping through streams beneath enormous Red...