BK and I are doing the 18K and DW and JD are doing the 10K. We all start at the bottom of the ampitheater and run up to start the race and everyone starts at once. We take off and head back towards the Rock Springs parking lot and onto Ridgecrest Blvd. On the Alpine Dam loop bike ride, this stretch of road is known as the Seven Sisters because of the rolling hills. When coming from the other direction on the bike ride, this is a series of rising rolling hills, but on this run in the reverse direction, it’s downhill.

I quickly find myself towards the front of the mass start. I quickly find some pace booty to follow. She’s fairly tall, has long legs, and a teal colored long sleeve tech shirt. It’s very windy and I’m questioning my choice of clothing. I really wish I at least had my gloves. The runners sort themselves out. My pace booty is faster than me on the uphill, but I’m faster on the downhill so she stays in range. The 10K runners turn off onto the trail at about mile 2 and we continue onward. There are just a handful of us strung out on the road. We have some gorgeous views to both the left (the ocean) and right (Marin, the bay) since we are on a ridge after all. We hit the first aid station at mile 2.35 and I slug down a cup of Gatorade. We continue onward. A guy passes me. Before mile 4, we finally turn off the road and onto the trail.

Trail running in general can be tricky, but this stretch is doubly so because the trail is single track, it’s not heavily travelled so the grass is overgrown and you almost can’t see the trail at times, and lastly, it’s not level and we have a downward slant from left to right down to the ocean for a good stretch of this trail. I don’t own trail running shoes, so running shoes don’t quite provide the lateral stability that would be ideal so footing is tricky, esp. on the loose and crumbling sections of the narrow, slanted trail. A couple times, I almost fall off the trail, but I just keep running forward and fortunately correct and balance myself.

I keep up with the guy ahead of me, who keeps up with the woman ahead of him (my former pace booty) who in turn is keeping up with a guy in a maroon jacket. We’re steadily climbing uphill. We all continue this way for awhile and I’m content to sit back a bit and conserve my energy and strength. At mile 4.5 we briefly exit the trail and back onto the road to hit the aid station (the same one on the way out, but this time in the other direction). The volunteers call out to the woman that she is the first woman in the race. She stops for Gatorade, the guy in front of me doesn’t, and I stop for Gatorade. So, when we rejoin the trail, it’s the guy in the maroon jacket, the other guy, my pace booty, and me.

We continue like this going over washes and in and out of forested areas. Some places we have to go around fallen trees or duck under branches. Typical for trail running. After another mile and a half and at this point I’m finally feeling warmed up and it seems like everyone else is slowing. At mile 6, I ask the woman if I can pass her, which she kindly obliges and I soon catch up to the other guy and he let’s me pass as well. I pick up the pace and leave those two far behind. I have the maroon jacket in my sights, but I can’t close the gap.

At about mile 7, my legs are starting to feel weary. I don’t know if it’s my pace, this course, residual fatigue from my race last weekend or what, but I’m thinking that the rest of the race is going to feel long. We start to catch up with the slowest of the 10K runners. So, I keep running on the trail, but not knowing if I can catch the maroon jacket. It seems like his lead has increased. I do know though that it will all come down to the set of switchbacks at the end which can allow you to either gain a lot of time or lose a lot of time depending on whether you can run it or have to walk it. I don’t know which I’ll be.

As we continue along, we also have to navigate past groups of hikers (sometimes 10+ at a whack) since these are trails after all. I keep cranking and I eventually reach the aid station at mile 10. I see the maroon jacket ahead of me. I slug down some Gatorade and now it’s time for the switchbacks. These switchbacks climb 500 ft. in about ¾ mile, all within the last mile of the race. Last year, I walked most of this. This time, I started out running (if you can call it that at this point). I hit a steeper section and the maroon jacket is already walking and I resign myself to walking for a bit too.

I cut around the switchback and I begin running again. I can’t see the maroon jacket. I keep running and keep passing 10K runners. The maroon jacket is walking. I keep running. I slowly close the gap. Eventually, I catch up to him and I’m about to pass him when he starts running. He sees me and stops and let’s me pass and wishes me a good run to the finish. Emotionally, I’m feeling good, but physically, I’m spent. There’s still more climbing before the final flattish stretch to the end. There are so many 10K runners to pass. I catch up to some guy in an orange shirt. He’s going faster than most, but I’m not sure if he’s an 18K racer or not. I catch up to him and he suddenly kicks it in gear and takes off. I am right behind him, but as we approach the final stretch, I can’t close that gap and we run in to the grove for the finish and I’m 5 sec. behind him.


Time: 1:23:52
Rank: 9/130 OA, 4/?? M35-39 (AG rankings were misgrouped)
Per my Garmin, the actual distance was 10.12 miles.

This was my strongest finish yet at one of these trail runs and I’m slowly creeping up with my OA and AG rankings, so that’s kinda cool.