Mountains and Feet: March 2013

While 50 mile races might be considers more "badass", 50K runs are sure a heck of a lot more enjoyable in many aspects. They don't take a whole day to do, they don't take a whole week to recover from and they don't make you want to swear them off when you are done. Last week, I participated in the Rodeo Valley Trail Run. Richard Byler, a fellow podiatry student, and I had been considering doing a trail race together for quite some time. We debated back and forth between doing the 30K(18.6miles) or the 50K(30.1miles). Richard was starting to see the awesomeness of distance trail running and made the mistake of saying he would join me in whatever distance I wanted. That settled it.

Pre-race pic.

I had run much of the course a few years earlier solo and unassisted along with riding my bike to and from the Embarcadero BART (Bay Area Transit System) station in SF (20miles RT) and it MURDERED ME! Might as well try it again, minus the self support and bike ride.

Dork hat and the other runners at the starting line.

Race day was beautiful! There was clear skies above settled fog down in the bottom. There were over 100 participants for the 30 & 50K at the start line. Richard was convinced that we needed to start out slow, not something that I have ever been able to do. When the gun went off, we ran together for about 10 minutes and I couldn't take it and had to leave him, that being the last I saw of him until 4 minutes after I crossed the finish line. I started out feeling a bit Meh, not bad, but not awesome. Climbing up out of the fog on the ridge provided some beautiful views of the mountains to the north, bay to east, ocean to the west and city of SF to the south. The route also had us run above the cliffs at Pirate's Cove. Gorgeous! Overall I had a pretty good run. I finished strong with a time of 5:16. The final 2 miles of the course have you coming down a rather steep face in and out of old military bunkers and tunnels into the valley and it really gets you amped running down hill and being able to see the finish line and hear the cow bells. Kimber was waiting at the finish line to document the event and provide moral support. Richard came through just 4 minutes behind me, finishing strong at 5:20.

Some dude, beating me on the single track.

Looking North up the coast.

I like the 50K trail distance. It still hurts enough to make you feel like you worked for something and you get to finish strong. I placed 19th/78 finishers and got 9th in my age division(30-39). Richard placed 24th overall and 7th in his age division. It was a good day.