Race Director for Marin Monster 10k

My first gig as a race director:


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Location:Albany, CA

DNFed the Big Basin 50K

My first adult DNF was this Sunday at the Big Basin 50K. This race starts at Castle Rock in the Santa Cruz mountains, and follows the Skyline to Sea trail. This is one of my favorite Bay Area trails. This trail is where I saw my first mountain lion, and have been covered in ticks. This is an epic trail, with foggy rolling hills, waterfalls, and redwood trees. However, on June 8, 2014, this trail was sun baked and 91 degrees. Around mile 16 I dropped out due to sunstroke, or heat exhaustion. I had sausage fingers and dizziness. I could not eat or fuel.

I felt great for the first ten miles. And my friends working the aid station at mile 8 said I looked better than many. But then everything fell apart. The sun baked my head, and I felt dizzy. I walked for miles and miles, until the mile 16 aid station. At that point I took a 30 minute break to see if the dizzy spell would go away. It did not. A volunteer gave me a lift to the finish line, where I met up with my crew, and joined the volunteers at the finish line, handing out awards. I hydrated and got rest, and felt pretty good three hours later. Yes, disappointing. But I run for fun, not for torture. If it ain't fun, why bother? And I got the Double Dipsea in two weeks. I don't need to fall off a cliff because I am dizzy and too stupid to stop running.

Apparently, I was not the only one who dropped this race. The aid stations ran out of water at some point and stopped allowing runners to do the 50K loop, forcing runners to only run the marathon. Too damn hot!

H3 26.6

May 31, 2014 - the first San Francisco Hash Marathon. Here are some sober moments on trail:













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Location:SFO

Marathon toes

Finished Big Sur marathon two weeks ago. It was much harder than I anticipated. And I got bad toes again. Yes, I bought bigger shoes. I am just prone to black toes.




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Big Sur Marathon 4/27/2014

This race ate me for lunch. I train on the CA coast, so it was not the hills that did it. What did it was a combo of factors. Not enough sleep, an injury to my right hip three weeks before the race, and never finding a pace. This last  factor I partially blame to the new trend/fashion on coarse to LOUDLY set your watch/iPhone/timer to chirp every 30 second so that the runner can switch from running to walking. This race, in the mid and back of the pack was dominated by those who are practicing LOUDLY the Galloway method, with the assistance of a digital alarm. I never got the chance to just hear my footfall or the rolling waves, just incessant CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP. Now that headphones are banned, I hope the next thing banned are LOUD TIMERS. My time was 5:35:35. Meh, my average. I am slow. But now that I am in my 40's, that pavement hurts the lower back. I am chewed up.

The race was beautiful, and the organization impeccable. This is a perfect road race. Yes, it lives up to the bucket list hype. Do this run.

 Insiders secret: Book at the HI-Monterey for a bed. $27 a night for a bed, plus free parking, free breakfast, free post-marathon homemade BBQ, free shower after the race. And 1.4 miles from the shuttle bus pick-up to the Start Line. There were about 10 runners who were smart and booked there. The HI-Monterey wants to specialize in marathon booking next year. And I think I was the only USA citizen who thought of this option. The hostel was full of international runners. Locals got suckered into spending hundreds at the tourist trap hotels. It's great for the parking alone. the City of Monterey was towing cars everywhere! The hostel has their own very large and free parking lot. And they are very liberal - you can leave your car there after you check out, and do tourist, post-run activities.

April 5 - Grizzly Peak

April 5th - ran Grizzly Peak half marathon, in 3:20:00 appx. Very muddy and hazardous conditions.

Andrea ran the marathon and cam in 1st place for her age division and 3rd overall females.

It was a good day!


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WTC race report

I never wrote a WTC race report. TL:DR version = I ran my first 50k. Had a great time; will run more in the future. However, my husband ended up in the ER within hours of me finishing the race for an unrelated medical condition. He could have died. My 50k was overshadowed by the scare of losing my husband. I ran strong and did well. But it's just another dumb race that is just a stupid hobby. WTC is a great course, and not very hard. Highly recommend. Will run again.


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