Big Sur International Marathon

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
122/285	997/3429	04:10:00	9:32 min/mi

Registration

I can’t start a blog about Big Sur without starting at the beginning, with registration. Getting in to BSIM is difficult at all times, often voted as the best destination marathon, many more people want to run Big Sur than are allowed to.

The 2015 registration process was split into five stages. Four traditional signups across different times of the day and days of the week, ostensibly to create some equity across regions, work schedules, and time zones, and one lottery. On the first traditional signup, Harry, Joy, and I were all at our desks, frantically hitting refresh to try and get in. Within four seconds, the seats were sold, and Harry successfully got into the race, but Joy and I didn’t. The next three were similar situations, one I tried to do remotely via phone as I was in San Francisco at a work event, one I missed due to being out with the family, and one I had a similar situation as the first. Joy successfully registered in the next three rounds, but I was left to the luck of the lottery. Fortunately for me, I was successful in getting into the race with the lottery, so all three of us who were training for the race were able to get in. Yay!

Training

Out of my three previous marathons, I had a variety of training, from constant and consistent, to severe under-training. My undertrained races proved that by mile fifteen or twenty, I would be cramping and underperforming. Knowing this race to be one of the most difficult to complete, I knew I couldn’t scrape by, but would have to be amazingly consistent in my pre-race work. If you’ve read my blogs leading up to this, you know that I completed a lot of races leading up to this, enough to help ensure success. Yet, just racing would not be enough: I should be running 30 miles a week at minimum. And yet, I didn’t. Life, as always, as well as a lack of training partners running at lunch (kids keep me from early morning training), meant that I was very consistent in my long runs, yet barely if ever ran my weekday runs. What I learned from this training is that, enough cross-training and enough distance building means that I can complete a run by just building up my long distance training, but I can’t get any faster or better without adding in the base work during the week: hills, track work, and mileage. My training wasn’t good, but it was enough to do a consistent and full marathon instead of a half marathon plus some walking. I didn’t run the whole thing like my PR, but nor did I find myself unable to run the last few miles, either.

The Bus Ride

Over five percent of Big Sur’s budget goes to buses. That’s over $150k, for bus rentals. Why? Because how do you get over 8,000 to the start when the roads are closed, the parking lots are where you stand to prep the start, and there are no hotels nearby? You bus all of them, one way, in one shot. 185 buses taking 8,000 people from fourteen locations to eight different start zones. So at the buses, by 4am, to hit the starting venue by 5:30am and have the race course cleared for the starting gun at 6:45am.

The Beauty

This is the first race that I have ever done where runners, and not the type who go in a pack and celebrate running as a big social event (and there’s nothing wrong with that), but the real runners stopped to get out their phones and take a picture. Anyone who didn’t, either didn’t have a case that could carry their phone, was drop-a-phone-phobic, was blind, had already run it several times, or had no sense of beauty. When else do you get to actually exist, not behind windows, but out in the clear along the PCH for four beautiful hours?

The route begins at its namesake, in Big Sur State Park, and winds its way up a closed-to-traffic Highway 1, finishing in Carmel. Between the iconic Bixby Bridge, the ocean views along the whole route, and the top of Hurricane Point, there is practically no point which isn’t awesome in its beauty. And while one friend of mine said that his PR is on Big Sur, I followed the advise of the rest of my running friends and took advantage of the scenery to make this a race I truly enjoyed, not just ran. And yes, I took some selfies, too.

The Race

As you can tell by the rest of this blog, the race itself wasn’t as big of a goal as the venue; however, out of the three marathons I’ve done so far, only the first was truly successful. The second and third were plagued by undertraining and cramping, and so my goal was to do a good race, even if not my best. Running the whole course with a 9:32 pace, I’d consider successful for that goal.

The first ten miles, leading up to heartbreak hill, I kept a pretty relaxed pace of low 9s, running with both Harry and Joy for the first few, and keeping my heart rate in zone two. A quick pit stop before the big hill, and I was heading up to catch up with Harry. The whole way up the hill, my mind was on relaxed and easy running, and I averaged 10s all the way up, though my heart rate jumped up into the 170s to get to the top. I had been warned not to blow out my quads on the downhills, so I kept my same mid-9s pace on the way down.

By the next few hills, I still kept up the same mantra, relaxed on the way up, slow on the way down. Not long thereafter, I caught back up with Harry, and we were running together again. Then, we got to the the first big hill after mile 22 in the Carmel Highlands, and things changed for me. To quote the race organizers: “Just the mention of the Highlands strikes fear into the hearts of Big Sur vets. It is a series of short steep hills made all the more brutal by the sharp cant of the road which wreaks havoc on tired quads and tender ankles.” About half way up the hill, I began to feel like I might cramp up, and I know from my previous races that once I reached that point, there would be no turning back. I said “good luck” to Harry and began walking up the hill. I reached the summit, and said “screw it” to my plan of backing off on the way down. I knew, if I was going to do decently, and be walking up the hills, I’d have to make up time downwards, and if I was going to cramp, I needed to take advantage of every opportunity I could. So up the hill I went at low 9s for the first half, 15s for the second half, and I came down in the 7s and 8s. Shortly thereafter, I shocked Harry by catching back up with him. “Never thought you’d see me again, did you?” “No” was the honest reply.

Harry and I paced each other through the easier sections, and I kept up my walk/run up and down the hills, and we kept going this way till around mile 25. Then, looking at my watch, I had a realization. The last time Harry and I did a big run together was a couple years ago at Shamrock’n, and when we got near the end, he fell back and I pushed it in to the finish. Had he known that he was going to be eleven seconds off his PR, that would have been enough motivation to push it into the finish. So knowing his marathon PR, and looking at the time, I realized that if instead of pulling back as we both felt like doing, we just pushed a little harder, Harry would PR in Big Sur! My fastest mile on the race was mile 24 (assisted by a nice long downhill), and my final mile was in about eight minutes. I had enough left in me to push a bit harder than Harry into the end, so I came in front of Harry, but he got a PR! Harry finished in 4:10:06, beating his 4:10:52 PR, and I finished in 4:10 even. The end result was a race I did about spot-on to expectations, and enjoyed tremendously.

Final Thoughts

Anyone planning on doing more than a marathon to check off that tick on their bucket list should plan on doing Big Sur. There’s a reason that it sells out so fast, and is consistently featured in magazines and top race lists, it’s worth every bit of training to go run this course. And while I may not do it again, I’m extremely happy that I did it.

March 15, 2015April 20, 2023

Shamrock’n Half Marathon – Eighth Time’s the Charm

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
47/390	244/6467	01:39:06	7:38 min/mi

PR! PR! PR!

TL;DR? This post can be summarized with “I GOT MY FIRST PR SINCE 2008!”

Past the excitement of this statement, underlies a large amount of elements coming together unexpectedly to me getting a PR on a race I only expected to treat as a “B” race. And honestly, there’s no way that this would have happened without my training for Big Sur, my half marathon the weekend prior, and encouragement from Mai Tran, a karateka friend.

The Race

I don’t need to talk about Shamrock’n… again. The race is one that I’ve run every year except the last, and that’s only because I was living in London and not Sacramento. It was my first race, it’s the race I’ve done even in years when I’m not running, and it’s a race that I hope to continue for many years to come. It’s close to home, a fun course, big enough to have a lot of energy, and yet not Disneyland or Nike big. Half marathons are still the perfect distance for me; I don’t need to train much if I don’t want to, yet I can still pull off a great run if I put a month or two of work in.

Thus, coming into the race this year, it’s not that Shamrock’n was a goal race, that’s Big Sur. Neither of my BSIM training partners, Harry or Joy, were running it with me, but there is never a year when I don’t run into folk form STC, TBF, work, or other places that helps add to the fun of the race for me, and this year was no exception. I had been looking out for a few people that I knew were running the race, but beyond one coworker, I was at the start line before I found any of the key individuals, and that was Mai. Mai had invited me to go on a couple of training runs with her this season, but as she is an early morning runner, versus my preference for lunch time, I never did run with her. Yet once I hit the corral, I found her getting ready to start.

Not content with my typical mid-pack starting position (I do like to track the “I passed XX people” stat), Mai grabbed my wrist and pulled us nearer the front of the corral. After the guns had gone off, I went to start my normal “ease-into-it” pace, but Mai had different plans. I like to start about 30 seconds behind my goal pace for the first half mile or mile, then ease up a bit as I get my stride. Mai, on the other hand, started us out at 7:30s. Not to be beat already by someone who’s generally my pace, I kept up with her for a rapid start.

What happened next was not what I expected. By mile three, our pace had picked up to 7:24, and I was still feeling pretty good. Mai began to flag a bit (and I do mean just a bit), and so at that point, I had the choice of slowing down from what I was doing, or going on at what could be a PR pace for me. I bid Mai farewell in mile three, and kept going strong. We had started about behind the 1:45 pacing group, and had caught up with them by then, but I decided to keep up the pace I was making and to keep running.

At about the half way point, I caught up with the 1:40 pace group. Now, I knew 1:40 would get me a PR, as 1:41:34 was my Disneyland ’08 time, so catching up with that group was a big blessing; I could cut my pace down to theirs (a nice 10 second relief), and still make it in for a PR. Through the next six miles, I mostly kept up with the group, dropping behind a couple of times and picking it back up when I had a moment or three of rest (and by rest, I mean running an 8min/mi for a few seconds). My HR had climbed from the high 170s into the mid 180s, and I knew I was pushing about as much as I could, but I had a goal I could achieve, and that was enough to push me. By the last mile, the pace group was about 50 yards in front of me, but a last minute sprint put me just behind them, and my final result was a 1:39:06, over two minutes faster than my last half marathon PR.

Thus, a little early encouragement, an attitude of yes I can, and a group to run alongside and pace myself with brought me to a new PR just ahead of my big race. Woot!

March 7, 2015April 24, 2023

2015 Lost Trail Half Marathon

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
7/11	32/105	02:06:16	9:38 min/mi

The Race

The best part about racing with TBF is the history I have with the group. Two years of twenty-hour weekends running the events, and to come back as a racer feels comfortable. I know the people, I know the organization, and even if eighty percent of the volunteers are new to me, it still feels like the same group I spend so much time with. So coming into this race, I didn’t come with the idea of winning, or even treating it as an A or B race, it was just a fun event, on a course that’s outside of my usual training routes, with some extra organization and support that makes it a more fun venue.

Since I’ve run this course (or similar) twice in the past, I knew what to expect, and I knew not to work too hard at any point since the hills run through the entire route, so I took off easy, didn’t work too hard, and enjoyed chatting with a few people when I could. I expected to breeze through the hills since I had done a decent amount of hill training in prep for Big Sur, but I will say that they were harder than I remembered. I’m not training quite as much as I should for the upcoming marathon, and to make this post short, I’m not entirely satisfied with what my performance means for April, but I was just a couple minutes slower than my last time on this course (2012) and felt okay, just not great. It definitely met its goal of a much more interesting training run for this short-weekend training day. I just hope this means I won’t do poorly next week at Shamrock’n.

March 17, 2013April 20, 2023

Shamrock’n Half Marathon – Take 7

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
74/382	477/6190	01:45:04.8	8:01 min/mi

Oops, this is number seven, not eight

One thing I like about this race is that, well, it feels like home. Shamrock’n was my first race ever, and even in the last couple years of not racing, I’ve still continued to do it every year; even if training for it meant a couple of runs ahead of time, and nothing

more. On my bib, I wrote “Shamrock’n #8”, but I realized before it started that it really was only #7… Oops! Oh well, Sharpie to the rescue.

This year, thanks to CIM, I was a lot better trained. Harry and Joy had been doing more running than I had, but I had joined them on a sixteen mile run starting up Costco hill, as well as a few other runs. So while I only did 10 runs in the two and a half months leading up to Shamrock’n, they averaged 7 miles each. I was pretty sporadic, though: two runs one week, zero the next, two the following, then zero, then three… you get the picture. Harry, on the other hand, is back into marathon prep, and is pretty solid in his training. As usual, I went into this fully expecting to be beaten again… as did he.

Race day

So packet pickup done, race day comes. I have been working to cheapen up on my running: gatorade is free at work, so why am I buying Gu (or actually, Raspberry Hammer Gel)? That said, I spent a month’s worth of Gu money downgrading my water bottle. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Camelbak, but I’ve watched coworkers switch to the smaller ones for shorter runs, and I was hoping to carry less weight on my arms. Harry and Joy had both decided to try this marathon solely on supplied hydration, but I’m too much of a wimp to go that far. I bought myself Nathan’s little bottle. Enough to get me from stop to stop.

So after dropping off my bag with my STC buddies, we were off to the start just as the gun was going off, just like last year. While I believe that is not a way for me to get a PR, for that every second counts at this point, I wasn’t going for a PR this year… that was Harry’s job. I was just hoping to stay social through the start, and maybe the first half or quarter mile, then start picking up the pace after the warm-up.

The rest of the race went pretty normally. The small bottle worked great. Using the race fuel was plenty sufficient, though looking back, I guess Nuun doesn’t have any carbohydrates, so I really only fueled up with my single Gu

packet? Guess I should check closer next time! My performance wasn’t stellar, but wasn’t bad either, coming in fourth of my thirteen road halfs. The better news is that Harry broke his PR (which he missed by only seconds last year), so the main goal of the race was a success! On sadder news, I still beat Harry, even though he out-trained me. Coming into mile twelve, he had to pace back for a bit, and I wasn’t willing to give up anything at that point. We were still within shouting distance, as he responded to my call-out of mile 13! Oh, and starting at the back of the wave, I get to use my favorite statistic again… I passed 4,939 people on the run, in a field of 6,190!

December 2, 2012April 24, 2023

California International Marathon – CIM 2012

Div Place	Place	Time	Pace
331/445	4088/6496	04:45:12	10:56 min/m

The Race – A Timeline View

I’ve decided to try something a little different with my blog this time. Instead of a long, textual experience, I figured a timeline with what was happening and going through my head would be a bit more fun, as well as give a better view of what my pace and everything was like.

Wakeup, morning breakfast of a bagel and some PowerAde, followed by a Clif bar later. Get the morning prep done, and off to Harry’s at 4:45.	-3:15
			-2:00	Arrive at Harry’s, have a chance for some discussion on last-minute plans, get ready for the morning, and head off by 5:20 to the bus stop.

Bus stop at the Convention Center, grab the second to last bus, with only 6 people on board. Didn’t realize until I checked later that the busses were only supposed to run 5-5:30. The walk to the stop was pleasant; light rain, moderate temperature. The bus drive to Folsom was insane, the bus was being blown across lanes by the intense wind, rain made visibility tough, and we could hear chatter from other drivers getting lost.	-1:15

			-0:30	Getting ready to race. Final stop at the zillions of port-o-johns (they stretched for over a hundred yards), and to get the sweats bag dropped off. It’s so windy and rainy, people are hanging out in the busses. I’m so frazzled by the insane weather, I forget to finish tying my shoes, and forget to take off one layer under my jacket. Oh, and I left my garbage bags (make-shift rain gear) at home, so I guess I’m wearing my actual rain jacket.

Race start! Over seven thousand runners, ready to go. Seems like very few people dropped out due to rain. (6496 official finishers)	Go!


	9:03		Mile 1	Dodge bags all mile long. Seems like half the runners decided to ditch the rain gear for the run.

Eek! Shoe untied. That’s what I get for being out in the rain not 100% prepared. Ditch Harry, tie it, then try and find him as I catch up.
	8:30		Mile 2

				Shoe number two goes out, shoe one is too loose. Ditch Harry again, tie both, then lose Harry for over a mile. Our plan to find him doesn’t work, as I pass him apparently, then slow down on hill to find him again.
	7:39		Mile 3


	8:22		Mile 4

Left shoe’s too tight. Stop one last time, this time at a water stop and adjust. The top of my left foot feels like it’s bruising, and I can’t go on with it like it is. Ow!
	8:43		Mile 5

				Definitely not running my best. Race times are usually 8s, I’m closer to 9s. A bit tired through the hills, but it could be the rain and wind doing it, too. Ah well, no PR definitely (but I didn’t expect it due to the weather and training).
	8:55		Mile 6


	8:38		Mile 7


Into old Fair Oaks, Harry is definitely doing better than I am, a bit more energy, and bit better performance. I guess training well pays off, eh? My knee has been hurting me for a mile now, enough that dropping out is at front of mind if it doesn’t take more than a mile or two to go away. Foot still hurts too.	9:07		Mile 8


	8:52		Mile 9


	8:45		Mile 10


	9:04		Mile 11	See you Harry. Good luck on your run. Glad we could run this far together, and I’m happy to see you feeling confident enough to take off.

Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Thanks for braving the weather to come out and see me. Nice job weather-proofing the SLR, I hope it survived okay.
	9:44		Mile 12


	9:29		Mile 13	And hello to the rest of my family. Stop and walk to give hugs to everyone, even though I’m soaked. Still too cold and wet to give up any clothes, so it’s just a quick hug and hello, then back off to the run. The kids have already seen me DNF once. Now that the foot and knee pain are tolerable, I’m not backing down. Estimated finish: 4:15-4:30


1:58:46 – my second worst half marathon time. Definitely not doing great this run. As long as I’m not doing well, might as well stop at the port-o-john to make this more comfortable.	10:13		Mile 14


	10:19		Mile 15


	10:33		Mile 16

Time to start kicking in to a walk/jog. Things are starting to hurt, and I feel the same cramping coming on that I had at mile 15 on my training. Guess it wasn’t just electrolyte issues, just a matter of under-training.
	12:19		Mile 17


	12:24		Mile 18

				Definitely getting very slow. Run till I feel the cramps come on, walk till I feel them go away. Watching pace groups go by, and estimate about a best-case 4:30 finish.
	12:30	Mile 19


	12:49	Mile 20

At least I have lots of company. Loads of runners are now in the same walk/jog boat I’m in.
	14:56	Mile 21

			Thanks for the beer!
	13:22	Mile 22

Nothing will change from this point on. Just keep up the miles, track the mini goals (Watt/Fulton/Howe, check!) and find my way to the finish… eventually. I hurt, but not enough to stop.
	12:22	Mile 23


	13:12	Mile 24
			Quarter pint of Guinness? Don’t mind if I do! Bonn Lair always has a group of supporters there to keep runners content. Harry even had a full pint when he realized he wouldn’t hit four hours.

	13:23	Mile 25


	13:05	Mile 26


Official Finish: 4:45:12		.2	Official Pace: 10:56 … ugh!

September 15, 2012April 21, 2023

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.

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!