Runalong

The Dipsea is a famous and popular 7.1 mile race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach each June. It includes nearly 2500 feet of ascending and descending and is so steep that there are 676 steps built into the trail. The Quad Dipsea, as you might guess, goes there and back and there and back. Having run 20 miles, including a 6 mile race, on Thursday, I wasn't out for a fast time, just to get some good hill training in before my upcoming 100 miler in January. Before the race Dave Combs asked me what my expectations were and I answered, "Have a good time, take some pictures, finish in under six hours." At this race I met all my goals! (You can see the official results here).

I finished in 5:55, putting me safely in the top third of entrants, and had a fun and enjoyable, almost even easy, day. My split times for the four legs of the race were 90-90-89-86. My Quads were sore on Sunday and Monday, but not too bad, indicating that I should be able to handle HURT's 24,000 feet of descent in 8 weeks.

Someone took a video of runners crossing the river: pretty boring unless you know some of these folks, but that's me stopping to take a picture at 7:23 into the video. The picture I took is just below. Yes, at mile 2 I was already seven minutes behind the leader, Eric Skaggs, who finished the race in less than four hours (eight minutes per mile average!)- amazing considering how slow the stairs are- both up and down.