Ragnar Relay – San Francisco to Napa Valley

Leg	Mileage	Difficulty	Pace	Road Kills
#2	2.7 mi	Easy	6:55 min/mi	7
#14	4.7 mi	Moderate	7:50 min/mi	3
#26	8.3 mi	Very Hard	7:50 min/mi	24

31 hours, 36 legs, 194 miles

For those that don’t know what Ragnar is, there are currently fifteen relays offered across the US, from Cape Cod to Huntington Beach, the Keys to the Northwest Passage. All of the races are about 200 miles, and made up of teams of 12 (or 6 if you’re an Ultra team) runners. Each runner runs 3 legs, averaging 17 miles total over 30 or so hours. For the Napa race, we start just below the Golden Gate Bridge, make our way up the coast to wind our way through Napa Valley, and end in Calistoga.

The race itself was a lot of fun. Thirty hours stuck in an aromatic van with six people, shuttling from place to place, supporting each other, running, competing, and having fun. Kim, Kerri, Kelli, Cyndi, Harry… thank you for making it a great fun time. Amy, thanks for organizing the whole thing! And Jenn, Kathy, Anthony, Chris, and Joshua… thanks for being my barely-seen partners in van 2. Seventeen miles wasn’t really enough to justify there days of race time, and if I do this again, I think I’ll do it on an ultra team, but it was definitely a whole lot of fun.

Logistics, Logistics, Logistics

The main thing about this race, is that so much of your time is spent on logistics. With three to five mile runs, you’re spending the first few minutes of each exchange trying to let the last runner stretch, relax, and settle down, then rushing out to the next exchange to make sure the next runner is in place before the current runner finishes.

On the longer runs, the same thing, except we get the chance to stop a couple miles in to the run, check on the runner, then move ahead to do the same another mile or two down the road.

On the breaks between vans, it’s just enough time to get a bit of food, rest for a couple hours, then it’s right back to the course to start again. I guess that’s why one of their event shirts says “Run Drive Sleep? Repeat”

Van #1 — the better van

Better runners? Better attitude? No, really, I’m just talking about the better legs. Morning start, including the Golden Gate Bridge. Evening runs — meaning we get a chance to sleep at night. And then morning runs — we get to skip the 100+ degree heat.

My three legs were as follows: Leg #2 – 2.7 miles from the end of the Golden Gate Bridge quickly downhill into Salinas, and faster than my normal 5k pace! -206 feet in less than three miles… brilliant. Leg #14 – 4.7 miles of generally flat roads, with one large hill in the middle in Petaluma, starting in the early evening and finishing at dusk, pacing low 7s except for the hill at 9s. Leg #26 – 8.3 miles of moderately hilly roads along Highway 12 in Sonoma at 7am on Saturday.

A Slab of Lab or a Smear of Deer?

Road Kills are a new idea to me, and from my research, specific to this type of long-distance relay. Road kills are essentially a count of how many people you pass along the race. Could you do this on a normal race? No way — I mean, I passed over 7,000 people on my first Disneyland Half, so there’s no way to count that. But on a race with around 400 teams, spread out across 15 different start waves, and intentionally ungrouped, then counting your kills becomes possible.

So race leg one, just under three miles, and I pass seven people. Leg two, low sevens except for a single hill, and just under six miles… and I pass three people? By that time, I knew that single digit kill counts was pretty normal, but I figured with a good pace, three seemed too low. So going into my long segment on Saturday morning, I didn’t have too much hope for a great number. Yet I passed twenty-four people on that leg!

The great part about kills, though, isn’t passing people, it’s the ability for small goals to push you faster. A person a few hundred feet ahead? Time to pick up the pace. A group ahead… gold mine! Sub-7s? Mid-to-low 7s? There’s no question that having some intermediate goals helped keep me energy going, even on the third day while running on two and a half hours of sleep.

August 5, 2012April 21, 2023

California Kids Triathlon

If you’ve read my blog post on PEKT, you could almost skip this blog, because this race was near identical. Similar results from the kids, similar (or the same) course, and a good time had by… most. Once again, the race was great, the organization was fantastic, and as a family, it was a great experience. Going out to a race sure beats plopping ourselves in front of the TV, or iPad, and I hope we get to do it many, many more times.

If you don’t train, can you expect to get better?

Most of the kids have been gone since a few days after the last triathlon, and came back just two days before this one, so did they have a chance to train, and improve?
Not really. So expectations coming into this triathlon were about the same as last time: just go out, have fun, and finish the race. And for most of us, that’s exactly what happened.

Race morning arrives, and hits JT and Jordan the hardest, by far. They’ve been used to staying up well past midnight in Utah, and now it’s 5am and they have to be up and ready to go. Add in some post travel issues for JT, and he’s definitely not in the best shape to race.

No breakfast (though I had made a late night run for bananas, bagels, and oranges… he just chose not to eat), an aching stomach… I don’t envy him a bit. He says he’s fine, but I know what exercising on an entirely fuel-deprived body is like… not fun.

For the rest of the kids, the race was a much more positive experience. Jordan has since expressed that, not only does she like triathlons, but that is her sport of choice for the upcoming year.

Damon and Tripp both had a great time, and both improved their times and their comfort with doing the triathlon. It also helped immensely having the Bardinis there with lunch on hand, in order to keep the flow of the day much more fluid.

So what’s next for the world of family triathlons? Who knows. If we can get the kids out to practice, I’d love to do more, but I don’t want to go from race to race without anything in between. JT and Jordan still haven’t gotten a chance to decompress from Oklahoma and Utah (they went straight to band camp after the race), and the other two are a bit young for any real training regiments, so time will tell what the next race will be like.

But I do know one thing, this won’t be our last triathlon.

Oh, and one more thing, the results:

	Swim+T1	Bike	T2+Run	Overall	Place
Jordan	8:56.40	19:44.24	10:55.69	39:36.33	22/23
Damon	4:43.95	12:40.89	5:21.50	22:46.34	47/84
Tripp	6:32.43	30:18.81	4:15.64	41:06.88	84/84

July 29, 2012April 21, 2023

Blood Sweat and Beers – Auburn Trail 10.5mi

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
36/57	143/427	01:49:29	10:26 min/mi

When a race is radically different than anything you’ve ran before, how do you tell if you did well? That’s what’s been running through my mind since seeing my results of the Fleet Feet Blood Sweat and Beers trail run. I mean, I’ve done trail runs before, but nothing with this kind of elevation profile. Thankfully, data analysis is what I do.

The Results

10:26 pace. Ten… twenty… six. For me, that’s awful. I felt good on the run, felt like I accomplished a decent run and decent pace. But mid 10s? I’ve only done that bad when I bonked hard. So why the bad pace, or was this normal? Fortunately, as a local run by Fleet Feet, there’s plenty of opportunity to compare myself to others.

Of the 112 runners I could find that ran both, I was 25th in my Shamrock’n time. For BSB, I was 28th — pretty consistent. 46 ran faster on Shamrock’n than BSB, 66 slower, so I’m in the majority there. And the average difference was ~10 minutes, so my 1 minute delta is also pretty in-line, in fact, a bit better than expected. So if I use comparative analysis as a measure of success, than I did pretty well. That makes me feel better.

Race Summary

Hills, hills, and more hills. Every racer seemed to complain about the big hill at the end, but take a look at the elevation profile. The end is no different than the entire rest of the race… it’s just at mile 10. There are certainly worse runs, but 10-12% grades through a large portion of the course meant that there was a lot of climbing. In fact, at one point, I was jogging behind someone walking up the hill, and realized that I wasn’t closing any distance on him. And I’m jogging, why? Yeah, at that point, I started walking some of the worst hills.

The people along the course were very friendly. I ran along side two runners through most of the race, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, but generally nearby, and got to talk to them quite a bit about the run. I also ran alongside a few other people, and each time, it was great. There was a lot of encouragement to be had, a lot of people enjoying the tough course, and generally a sense, not of race competitiveness, but of social encouragement and engagement. I loved it!

Diane and Tripp, and Robert and Terri came out to see the race, though they missed the start by a few minutes. It was great, though, afterwards having family to see. As well, Micki (former TBF), Paul (from Carmichael Running Club), and a lot of other runners were there at the end to chat with, talk to, and commiserate with over the free beers provided by Hoppy Brewing Company. I mean, the race was named Blood Sweat and Beers, right?

June 3, 2012April 21, 2023

Positive Energy Kids Triathlon

Introduction to Tris for the whole fam

Though I ended up with a bib (the best I’ve ever gotten) and medal (also the best), I can’t say that this was really my race. Given the name, the Positive Energy Kids Triathlon, it was obviously a race geared towards kids. However, with Parent/Child divisions, Diane and I participated with Damon and Tripp, while Jordan and JT went out on their own.

So let me start by saying, this race lives up to its name. It’s about having a good time, teaching kids about racing, and making everything fun for all the athletes. There are a lot of upsides to the race, the only downside being the wave start times (JT – 8am, Jordan – 8:55am, Tripp and Damon – 11:30am), a large split and a long day.

JT’s Race

I think JT came in with the highest hopes, the most enthusiasm, and left with the most disappointment. More on that in a moment, but let’s start with pre-race preparation. JT has been forced to bike on Mark’s old mountain bike for the past year, so coming up to the race, it was time to get him a newer bike. Our goal was to find a nice road hybrid, but with how small he is, that wasn’t a financially feasible option, so we went for second best: a really light, small framed mountain bike by Trek. The bike is great, and he rode it for tens of miles leading up to the race, preparing himself to kick butt on the bike segment.

I think for both of the older two, the biggest anxiety came from the swim, so JT also spent a lot of time at Grandma’s swimming laps, getting himself sure that he could complete the whole swim competitively. And a mile run? Cake. So coming in, he was ready to be a competitor, and enjoy himself.

So it’s race day, and swim time, and he’s ready to go! JT did a couple warm-up laps, and then a couple times across the pool as they figured out where the start was from. Alas, with a hundred yards already complete, when it came time to swim, JT started

out too strong, got fifty yards in, and had already depleted his swim ability. He’d completed the whole distance (150 yards), just not during the race. This is where the “Positive Energy” comes in in PEKT. He wasn’t DQ’d, he was just asked to come out with the final swimmer, and went to compete in the rest of the race.

The rest of the race went great, and JT was pretty positive coming out. But over the next few weeks, its obvious that the DNF in the swim has hit him emotionally, and he seems less excited about doing another race. Guess we just need to make sure he competes again and gets over it!

Jordan’s Race

Of all of the kids, Jordan is the most experienced racer. Though this was her first tri, she’s done enough runs to have race day nerves abated. She was cool, calm, patient, and ready to start long before the race began.

Jordan had several friends competing, and they took top spots in the race. For Jordan, finishing fast has never been the goal, just having fun, and doing great… and that she did. Just under six minutes on the swim (75 yards, plus T1), twelve and a half on the bike (2 miles), and a seven minutes on the run (half mile, plus T2). She came in 14th out of the 19 competitors in her age group, and came out with plenty of energy to keep having fun, and the desire to keep racing more and more!

Tripp and Damon

Diane and I accompanied Tripp and Damon on their races. 25 yards in the pool (once across), a mile on the bike, and a quarter mile on the run. I was, and am, proud of our little guys for doing this race! Tripp, at two years old, was the youngest racer on the field. And Damon biked so fast, Mom couldn’t keep up with him running. Damon had a smile on the whole race, and Tripp hasn’t stopped talked about his “Tri-apple-on” since.

I can’t talk too much about Damon and Diane’s race, other than Damon’s competitive go-go-go spirit through the whole thing, and the smile I see on every picture we have of the race. That, and the fact that he just barely was out of training wheels, but raced hard on the bike… hard enough to blow past Diane’s running capability. But being the one accompanying Tripp, there are plenty of adventures on the race that bring me smiles.

Like JT, Tripp came in without a bike that could get him racing. The race directors are pretty lenient on everything, but tricycles are not an option. So two days before the race, Tripp got a new bike with training wheels. A day before the race, he was practicing non-stop at the park. And by race day, he was wheeling along, mostly on his own.

Tripp and Damon both rocked the swim, with no help needed, and a drive to reach the other side. Damon was out fast on the bike, and Tripp was pretty ready to go by the time we reached the Bike Start. He did pretty good on his own, but about half way through the bike ride (29 minutes is a long time for a 2 year old), every bench was calling his name, and every playground was the place he wanted to be. But finding

the arrows on the ground made for a path he could follow to the end, and other than his inability to make it on the uphills alone, he did great.

Both boys finished up fantastically, and though Tripp and I were the last ones across the finish line (they actually started tearing it down before someone told them we were still out on the course), we actually had two other families with longer times than ours! (41 for us, 47 and 49 for the slowest finishers). And Damon’s 23 minutes was fantastic!

I can’t recommend enough this race for families. We’ll be out again in early August to race it again for the California Kids Triathlon (same course, same group). This time, we’ll do even better!

March 11, 2012April 24, 2023

Shamrock’n Half Marathon – Year Seven

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
63/274	560/5373	01:48:10	8:15 min/mi

People I Passed: 3,210
People Who Passed Me: 16

The Race

Let me start with the differences between this year and last. Last year, I started training about a week ahead of time, with just a couple of small runs. This year, I’d run a half marathon the week before! Last year, I ran alone. This year, I ran the first 12 miles with Harry. Last year, I expected to do horribly. This year…. I still expected that, though hopefully better than last year. Last year, I ran my third-to-worst time for a half. This year, I was right in the middle of my results.

I’ve blogged before about the route, so I don’t need to cover that, other than confirming that I do like it. The one thing I can talk about in this blog is the difference in jogging with Harry through the first twelve miles. Harry had definitely out-trained me… as usual for the last few years. However, since we had been running together for the prior month, we were in a good position to run together for the first part of the race. It’s not unusual for us to run the first several miles together, or one of my best races had us running 11 miles together, then splitting for a final push. This time, we ran our longest distance together in any race; twelve miles.

We had a very solid start, and kept it up well. We were almost late to the start, so were some of the last ones to cross the start line, and thus we made good time, and passed a lot of people as we kept a steady pace. The advantage to running together is that, when one of you starts to flag in energy, the other can keep you going, and Harry definitely did this in the first half of the race. By the second half of the race, our roles were reversed. I don’t think Harry has really pushed himself at the end of the race with the mentality of “I only need to push for this much further…” So at the half way point, I’m talking about us being half way there. At mile 10, it’s about having only 3 miles to go, and visualizing the quick warm-up runs we do to see how little there is left to go. At mile twelve, Harry didn’t have anything left to continue winning the mental game, and I took off. Little did he know that, if he had stayed with me (and probably could have!), he’d have gotten a PR. But he stayed strong, and so did I, and we both came in with good times for us.

It was a great run and race, and my most social half marathon ever. I really look forward to doing one like this again!

March 10, 2012April 22, 2023

TBF Racing – Lost Trail Half Marathon

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
2/6	24/93	02:01:32	9:16 min/mi

My Second Place Win

Other than the small USAA 5k race, I’ve never podiumed on a race before. Did I deserve to get there? No, not really. My age group was one of the worst represented at the race, but do I care? Not at the moment. I enjoyed my moment on the stand, I love the plaque, and I’d be grateful to make it up on a podium again! Had I been female, my time would have gotten me 4th place. Had I been 40-49, eighth place, 50-59, seventh place. 30-39… second place!

The Course, or the Ever-Improving-Mark-Shaw

I have to take a moment to speak on this race versus my last TBF trail half marathon. The first time that TBF did a half on the Granite Beach trails, I think the race was short about a quarter to a half mile. I look at the resulting times between the two races, and the statistics point to the very same belief; the average time was about ten minutes faster, and the number of people in the 1:30s was astoundingly high. Now take this race: my GPS still shows it short, but it’s also not very accurate, the times seem appropriate, and the GPS versus the stated distance were well within the accuracy bounds. I think Mark has done a great job improving the course, both for accuracy, and for having a pretty even lobe on the south side of the beach (about half the race) and the north side. So Mark Shaw, well done sir.

My Mental See-Saw

So now to how the race went for me. I’m still under-trained, and so I struggled more with this race than I should have. But I also learned a few things about myself and my racing that I think I should put down in my blog. First of all, thinking you’re right behind someone can be a great motivation to speed up! At about mile eight, I was told that I was within spitting distance of Bill. I know he’s in much better shape than I am, and he blew away my time last year at Shamrock’n, so the idea of catching up with him was very appealing. I felt I had enough left in me, so I picked up my pace by about a minute per mile, and flew by several of my competitors. It felt great! Unfortunately, the speed-up did not leave enough in me for the hill that was at mile ten, so I lost my momentum there, and didn’t really gain it back. Oh well, “A” for effort!

Most of my time in the back half of the race was a struggle between two conflicting mindsets. One told me that I just needed to relax, let gravity do most of the work, and make my way to the end. The other was the drive to push myself faster to keep under two hours. I’ve never done a half in more than two hours, so when I reached mile eight, with five to go, and realized that I was an hour and a quarter into the race, I knew I had to get down below nine minute miles consistently (including hills) in order to do the last five in 45 minutes. So off I went, and I learned something. Gluts are great for climbing hills!

In the past, I’ve always used my hips and quads to lift my legs when ascending. However, as they were pretty beat down by that point, I discovered that instead of pulling my legs up with my quads, I could push my legs up with my gluts. This whole new muscle set really allowed me to go for the last half of the race, and brought me a new found set of muscles that I could interchange with others for extra speed. w00t!

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it in under two, so I was quite a bit disappointed in what I did. But when I saw some runners that I highly respect, and know are better than me, come in behind me, and then when I got to stand on the podium, I was no longer quite as disappointed in my time. I still finished in the top third of the race (25.8%), and with the “trail penalty,” would still have what I would consider a respectable time, I just wish I hadn’t broken the two hour mark. Oh well, next time!

February 18, 2012April 22, 2023

TBF Racing – Escape from Folsom 10.5-mile Trail Run

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
5/9	36/108	01:40:38	9:35 min/mi

Or shall I say… trail jog? I went back and looked at my time from running the Granite Bay Half Marathon in 2009, which was essentially this same course. My pace then? Just shy of 9s. My pace today? Just shy of 10s! So I’ve slowed down a minute… not a great accomplishment for two years. I’m disappointed in retrospect, but I’m just getting back into running after essentially two years off, so I guess I shouldn’t compare myself to what I could do after a couple years of pretty constant running.

Pre-Race

Since I’m not treating this as a “race” per se, but just as a training run prior to Shamrock’n, I haven’t been careful about tapering. Today, that backfired. About thirty minutes in a horse stance last night, and my quads and gluts were not in shape for the amount of climbing in this race. After the massive hill around mile two, on every hill thereafter (and there are lots!), I’d slow down more than normal, and take longer to recover than I’d wish. Oh well, karate was fun!

The trails at Granite Beach on Folsom Lake are beautiful, and the weather looked like it would rain, but instead was cooperatively perfect: chilly enough to keep from actively sweating, without shivering or feeling cold. In fact, I started the race with gloves, but took them off three miles in and never put them back on.

The Run

The course is essentially constant hills on single track the whole way. Trees over more than 90% of the course, winding, rocky… great non-technical MTB track, which also makes it a great trail running location. Fast and steep climbs, long slogs, flat areas, sand, and more. This time, I had to walk part of the big hill at mile 2, but I didn’t walk any other time. At mile three, Harry once again separated from me, this time to take over a minute between us by the end!

Around mile five or six, I stopped feeling like my legs and body were near their limit, and finally kicked into a nice run. It’s surprising that I don’t see that same result in my GPS, it looks like I slowed way down around there, but the feeling was a lot more steady. I had one person ahead of me, and one behind, and we kept pace together pretty well. Having energy back near the end, I kicked it up to a more “me” pace for the last mile, and finished the race strong.

I’m sore. My gluts hurt, as do my legs, and I definitely worked hard to make this run happen. However, that’s the point, right? I actually ran three times the week before this race, and hopefully will be keeping up a more rigorous training schedule. Karate twice a week, running two to three times a week… back to health and fitness, and fun.

And thanks again, Harry, for the encouragement to get out and race! I’ve been enjoying this, and look forward to a lot more through the year!

February 5, 2012April 22, 2023

TBF Racing – Gumby 10k Trail Run

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
5/14	35/142	00:57:37	9:10 min/mi

Racing Again…

It’s been almost a year since my last race. Thinking ahead, Harry convinced me (without a lot of arm-twisting), to do the new TBF winter trail run series. It’s bi-weekly, starting with a 10k run, then a 10 miler, and lastly a half marathon.

The challenge on this race wasn’t my only four miles of running in the previous month. Nor was it the fact that this was a trail run. I mean, I did four miles prior to Shamrock’n last year, and did fine. The big challenge was that I had to catch a flight to Anaheim at 1pm for work, so I had to finish quickly, and get home and shower! Of course, I was packed already in case I had to drive straight for the airport, but that’s just being smart.

The Race

All in all, I wouldn’t call this a race for me. The main reason that I’m doing it is that the distances and dates are set perfectly to have myself at least a little more ready for Shamrock’n than last year. So my low 9s, which would have been marginal to poor on a real race day (8-8:10s + 0:30 for trail handicap), was just fine for a good training run. And my results aren’t so bad.

One of the best parts of the race was getting to mile 4.5 or so, and telling Harry to go ahead! He replied with a soft “no,” which I convinced him to change by saying that he needed enough of a lead on me so that I couldn’t beat him in a sprint-off at the end. I stayed within sight of him for the last miles, and only finished about 40 seconds behind him, but regardless, congratulations Harry for beating me at a race!

March 22, 2011April 24, 2023

Shamrock’n — the Shirt Collection Grows

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
85/258	701/4663	01:52:45	8:36 min/mi

Pre-Race

I was amazed, looking back at my collection of Shamrock’n shirts. Four that I deserve (and one that I got out of the FF cheap training shirt bin). Is this really my fifth year running the race? Well, 2008 was my last marathon, 2009 IM AZ, 2010 was my rest year, and now it’s 2011. So this makes Shamrock’n #5. I was entirely untrained (just 80 or so miles run the whole year!), and completely expecting a >2 hour finish, but it was nice to kick off the year with the race that started me running.

The Race

I don’t really need to put a lot of detail in here. I wasn’t trained, so my run was just blech, I did fine for the first eight miles, and hit my first wall in a half at mile eight, but it wasn’t my worst time, and I felt good for the first half, so I still came in with 8:30s or so… better than I deserved.

One of the things to note on the race this year, is the new route. I heard a lot of complaints at how boring the route was, but those folks haven’t done anything like Ave of the Vines. The new route, going through downtown and out to the trail and Discover Park, had a lot of variety to keep the scenery changing. I preferred this route to the others, and thought it a great improvement from the “there and back” in West Sac.

A note… it’s now December, and I’m just realizing that this blog never got published. I’ve just signed up for Shamrock’n 2012, and look forward to doing this same course again!

December 25, 2010April 24, 2023

It’s a Family Affair

Poinsettas to all, and to all a good night!

This year, the family (with encouragement from my lovely wife), decided to return to a place of previous enjoyment for Diane, and participate in a Christmas morning run up in Meadow Vista, CA — the Cool Yule Jingle Jog. Everyone participated, even Tripp (passively).

The run, put together by running legend Gordon Ainsleigh, starts in a large park, makes its first leg up the roads (and uphill with about 200 feet of climb), then follows a canal for the second leg, and traverses back to the park for the third leg. It’s a beautiful route, and a great way to spend a Christmas morn.

JT, Jordan, and I started the run together, and by the first long hill, it was obvious that, though Jordan had spent the most time running recently, she wasn’t ready for altitude nor hills. Six minutes in, and already Jordan had to walk (at her last 5k, she made it all the way without walking once!) JT kept going, even though he was in old vans and jeans, and I sped up to let him know he could keep going, as long as he kept other runners in sight, while I accompanied Jordan through the rest of the run.

I count seventeen times that we slowed to a walk, so when we arrived at the finish line at 43 minutes, JT had beaten us with a 35 minute time! JT came in 11th overall in the run, and I think really enjoyed what he accomplished. Jordan and I finished with 13:20s as an average pace through the 3.35 miles. I took advantage of the long hill at the end to do some faster running, and otherwise enjoyed spending time, encouraging Jordan, and enjoying the cool mountain air.

I left the older two kids at the park with all of the adult participants, and ran back to meet Diane. A mile back, and I found her, just about to hit the big final hill. I was there to offer support in carrying Tripp, but as I expected, Diane wanted the pride of being able to carry Tripp the entire way. Damon seemed to be in a great mood, and Diane was doing great, so I walked with them in, only turning around to run the hill one more time.

In the end, I think we all had a great time, and it definitely was a rewarding and wonderful way to spend a Christmas morning!