doubledipsea.com
Finally, a trail race; I have been meaning to get onto something with significant elevation ever since the Big Sur. 2010, the year started off busy with the Om Run, so didn't get much by way of training.
When I started looking and found the Dipsea - it was already too late to register.
So double-dipsea it had to be :); the elevation chart looked intimidating, 4300' net elevation.
Training is key, started about 6 weeks ago. that was mostly true except for the stairs - all 900+ of them.
The race starts on a foggy Stinson Beach and immediately there is a climb to "Insult Hill ".
The thing about the race is there are shortcuts and early on found a group of former runners, so just followed them for the first mile. What goes up must come down and that was joy to go down on; I surprised myself on the descent, passing some of the earlier handicap runners in the process.
In sequence the points along the way,
- Insult Hill, el:600'
- Stepp Ravine, el:520'
- Swoop Hollow
- Cardiac Hill, el:1360'
- Hogsback Rise
- Dynamite Hill
- Muir Creek, el: 130'
- Suicide Hill, el: 440'
- Windy Gap, el: 760'
- 671 steps down to Mill Valley turnaround
The turnaround point was when everything slowed down for me. The steps were just brutal on the knees. And after Muir Creek, I felt like the cramps would get the better of me. Slowed down and walked for a substantial portion up to Cardiac Hill. Sachin came up with cramps too and so we both walked for a bit more.
The awesome volunteers all along were the backbone of the race. Made a challenging run very do-able. Got a taste of the special treats, like PB cliff bar, potato chips that I had heard of on trail runs.
Close to 4hours after the start, Sachin and I made it back to beach. It was great race, that will require a lot more disciplined elevation training.
The handicap system makes for a very interesting mix - since we started in the penultimate group, within the first mile the faster scratch runners were passing us.
Around mile 4.5, I saw the 68-year old Melody Schulz, who came in 2nd in the Dipsea 2010 - she was running up the stairs.
Very happy to have done it; a unique experience for sure.
MK Balaji pointed out the slowness of my run, "the first runner came back an hour and a half ago, where were you?". He did wonder aloud in the morning, "what again is the point of driving 2 hours early saturday? to run in the hills !"
