My First Ragnar - Tahoe Trails

Team Uter Zorker

Race Report: July 28, 2013

I have not run with a race team since high school, and I was never very good at it, due to my slowness and my love of just casual running. You know the casual runner, the runners who cut the trail, who stop to look at the scenery, those who take stretch breaks, those who step aside and tell everyone to pass them on the left. I have no need for speed - I want to prolong my afternoon in the sun. 

However, when I got e-mail spam from Ragnar, advertising their new trail running series in my own backyard, I was curious - Can I run with a relay team 25 years after my failed running career in high school? It was tempting, since I love a good trail run, and signing up with an organization that will monitor your routes at 3 am on the mountain would give me a run I would never do on my own, due to my fear of breaking an ankle in the dark and no one finding my body for five years.

Also, this run would give me a small taste into what my ultra runner friends do. You know, your friends who run those 100 mile races in the Sierra Nevada (yeah, some of my running buddies have done Western States, damn them), up and down mountains, all day, all night. I envy them, and dream of running their races. But I will never join their ranks -  I am just too lazy. I love to run and run (almost) every day. But I don't enjoy pain as much as they do. My current limit is 6 hours of slowness. I have topped out at 26.2 miles. After that I am ready for some tri-tip and a Coke. But this Ragnar would give me a chance to taste their world without actually doing it. I would still have to put in some tough training, on trail, in altitude. But nothing over my magic miles of 26.2.

I asked some of my running buddies if they wanted to put together a team. Nope, no one wanted to pay money to run on Tahoe trails, since you can do it for free any day of the week. Why would you pay? I argued that you pay so that you can get eaten by a bear at 3 am on the backside of the mountain, and a rescue crew would be on stand-by to come get your bones within 24 hours. You are paying for safety. But it looked like if I was going to do this, I would have to find a pick-up team. I would be running as a team with total strangers who have no idea, except what I tell them, as to what kind of runner I am. And vice versus. I would have to get out of my solo mentality, and care about helping seven other runners. The dynamics of an unknown team can make or break an experience like this; it is not just about the trails and the weather, but the attitudes and spirits of eight people. It could be a ship of fools, or a car of idiots, or a trail of runners! 

I found my team through Ragnar's Facebook. I think we were well vetted. This team was made up of middle aged, laid back professionals, who did not care about times or pace. Half the team had run together before, and the other half were other pick-up runners. Ages (appeared) to be between 50 and 30. I ended up being the second oldest runner in the mix, but in the same physical shape as our average runner. I was concerned about this more than I should have been, however, since my hip surgery in 2005, I know that I cannot run fast, ever. I have endurance and stamina (insert perverse joke here), but speed makes my rebuild hip scream in pain, and I end up unable to walk, much less run, for weeks afterward. And I like walking, much less running. Not that I was ever fast anyway.

So I joined a pick-up team.

The Double Dipsea

My toenail is about to fall off. I would take a picture and show you, however, I painted my toenails orange and don't feel like finding a camera.

Those of you who run trails and mountains know the hassle of the black toenail. This one, the left big toe, is due to The Double Dipsea.

The Double Dipsea is a 15 mile ordeal, set in Marin County, CA. This trail race starts at Stinson Beach,   famous for being part of the Red Triangle, a breeding ground the The Great White Shark. And a great boogie board beach here in NorCal.

The race takes you from sea level through a series of rolling hills, with the top elevation being Cardiac Hill, elevation 1360. Doesn't sound that hard, right? Wrong. The challenge of this race is that it is a roller coaster on Mt. Tamelpias. You run up 600 feet, then down 100 feet, then back up another 500, then down to sea level, then back up 760 feet, then down again, and repeat, for four hours. Black toe is guaranteed.

Along the trail route, you will encounter rattle snakes, slick wooden stairs, dodgy tourists unaware that this is a race route, small cliff faces, heat, and more stairs. You will also have amazing vistas of the Pacific Ocean, Meir Woods, plum trees, and tons of single track, technical goodness.

I am ready to hit the trail!

Mile 2 and mile 14, since the Double Dipsea is an out and back route.

SNAKES!!!

Here in Northern California, we have snakes. As a trail runner, you will definately encounter snakes. This last weekend, I saw 4 snakes, and almost stepped on the last one. On a previous run, I had to remove from the trail a 4 foot snake that was drunk on sunshine (with a large stick). (Why did I manually remove the snake? Well, it was laying across the path and refused to move, even when poked with a stick. Mountain bikes would have wiped out and squished it if someone didn't remove it. Or another runner would have stepped on it. It was very drunk on sunshine, and very large. This was not a single track, but a fire trail, and the snake spanned the whole thing.) (Snakes love to look like sticks and get drunk on sunshine on our running trails.) (Then we step on them.)

Common California snakes include the following:

Gophersnake - I see these the most. Little cuties that slither away. Brown and spotty.
Coachwhip - I don't think I have seen these, yet.
Sharp-tailed snake - These are apparently common in NorCal, but in junk and wood piles. Not the common trail snake. Never seen one.
King snake - I have seen these out in Point Reyes trails. And porbably misidentified them on other trails.
Racer snake - Statistically, some of the snakes I call gartersnakes were probably racer snakes.
Striped Racer/whipsnake - this is the snake I almost stepped on. I screamed like a baby and studder jumped over it, since I saw that I would step on it while in mid-air.
Ring necked snakes - I have never seen one of these
Western Rattlesnakes - Yes, these poisonous guys are everywhere. I have seen one on Matt Davis. My best friend's dog got bitten by one on the nose. My old boss used to kill them hiding under his car at home in the hills. (Use a shovel). There are lots of them in NorCal. They like to hide under cars, picnic tables, rocks, and like to sun themselves in the middle of the day on trails. Do not step on them.
Gartersnakes - I have seen tons of these little guys. Cute and snakey. They are usually brown or reddish with a yellow stripe on the side. Harmless. Unless you are on a mountian bike. Then think of them as crunchy slugs.

Here is a snake on the trail I am running tomorrow:

http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/2013/06/18/hero-dog-saves-marin-hiker-from-rattlesnake/

Bay to Breakers May 19, 2013

This year's Bay to Breakers is now complete and was one of the best I have experienced. Not so much because of the SFO race organization (there have been better years when there still was a Footstock afterparty at the polo fields), but because my running club, the RATS - Run Around Town Sundays, participated in full!

Me and my running partner Richard founded the club in January of this year. We spend time and care putting the club together, and with our literal sweat and tears, we are now 80+ members strong, with a core group of 25 that show up regularly. Our club is unique in that we focus on both beginners and advanced runners, with the emphasis on fun, not speed. With fun being the biggest priority, we can accomodate all ages, abilities, and those with injuries. I, myself, had major hip surgery and will never run faster than 11 minute miles, and often will run slower. When founding the club, one of our stated goals was to get a group to run the B2B - Success!!!

If you are not familiar with B2B, it is a San Francisco tradition, 102 years old, a 12K foot race run from the Bay (under the Bay bridge) to the Breakers (Ocean Beach). There are real runners (winners from Ethiopia this year) who execute this race in 35 minutes, there are joggers (like myself) who run this in 1:30:00, and there are walkers in crazy costumes (taking up to 4.5 hours).

As you can see, our club was 17 runners strong (not all are in the photos), in our adorable club tee shirt, some with ears and tails and tutus. After the race we all had beers at the Beach Chalet. Six of us then "Salmoned" the race route back to the beginning, making this a 15 mile run. With the beer break, I would call this a Ragnar Race training day, two back-to-back 7.5 mile runs in the same day! As the last photo demonstrates, we look pretty fresh after 15 miles!

New trail shoes

So I needed new trail shoes for the summer season. I wanted to get fancy, try something high tech. I ordered the new Pearl Izumi EM Trail N1 on Zappos, in size 10. When they arrived it was obvious they were way too long, to big. So I returned/exchanged them for a half size smaller, 9.5. I test drove those puppies on a 12 mile trail run on Grizzly Peak. Bad news. They suck.

The shoes are too heavy and too narrow. The tread is fine, but the soles are way thick. I cannot feel the trail. They Are being promoted as minimal, but IMHO these are not minimal. I never blister on this trail, and my feet were very blistered with these shoes.

I returned/exchanged them for another pair of New Balance MT110. No blisters! Wide enough for my Hobbit sized feet!


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Bay To Breakers and RATS

My running club, Run Around Town Sundays (RATS) will be running this May 19th Bay To Breakers sporting our new club tee shirts!




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Grizzly Peak Half Marathon

This Sunday April 7, 2013, I will be running the Grizzly Peak Half Marathon.

The Grizzly Peak race is composed of five different races to choose from: 10K, Half Marathon, 30K, Full Marathon and a 50K. The race course for all five races overlap each other in loops around Tilden Park, the East Bay park above the Berkeley Hills. As demonstrated in the picture, there are panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. This is a beautiful route, and one of my regular training run areas.

The highest elevation, the peak itself is only 1,400 feet. Of coarse, with this race, there will be rolling hills, many, many rolling hills. The Half Marathon will have 3,850 in elevation gain, 63% single track, 35% dirt road, 2% asphalt - a proper trail run/race.

The race offers aid stations every 6 miles, and a race day tee shirt! The race will probably sell out!

My brother and sister-in-law will be joining me in this race. After the race we are having rabbit stew! Noms!