2004 Quad Dipsea
This 28.4 mile race is a double out-and-back from a redwood forest park in
Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.
Each tof the four 7.1 mile trips has two climbs, a 700 footer from Mill
valley, then down, then a 1400 foot baby, before heading down to the beach.
There's a total of 9200' of climb.
So far it sounds almost pedestrian, but it's quite a bit more interesting.
There are a total of 2600 steps in the race, something I'd never had to deal
with. There aren't any long step sections of trail around here in L.A. so I
just did a few long runs on 11% grades, alternating ups and downs every
couple of miles to simulate the actual course.
As usual, I researched prior years' splits, and most people died pretty hard
on the last two legs. I decided to set a goal of 5:30 based on a woman I
met who finished a few minutes ahead of me on a recent 50 mile race, and who
ran this race last year.
So I set my sights on finishing the first leg in 1:20 - 1:24, and/or put
myself in about 80th place at the first turnaround at the beach. If things
worked out, I'd finish about 35-40th overall.
It had rained throughout the night, but the Lord giveth us a sunny day.
Unfortunately, he taketh away with a somewhat muddy course.
I positioned myself about a third of the way back at the start, and shuffled
off to the first set of stairs. The first climb is mostly steps, with maybe
3/8 mile of paved streets. So I walked up the steps with the crowd, trying
to jostle myself in about 80th place. After reaching the first crest, it
was time to go downhill...more steps! Of course, the whipper-snappers (I'm
53) blasted by me, but I was content to run as fast as I could without
endangering myself. There were probably only 2 miles of downhill on each
leg where I could stretch my stride out without worrying about a faceplant.
Otherwise pace was limited by climbing or the evil triumvirate of mud,
rocks, and roots.
There's never a dull moment on this course -- I thought I'd get bored with
it, but it kept my attention all the way. First you had the steps -- going
down steep, slick stone steps in a dark redwood and fern grotto with 3 or 4
runners breathing down your neck really focuses the mind! Going up was an
exercise in going as fast as I could without leg burn. I learned that
"four-wheeling", using the palms of both hands to push down on the knee
while climbing steps is a real improvement on just striding up
Then there were the muddy downhills with roots and rocks. Finally, the most
enjoyable and runnable part of the course, a 1.5 mile run down to the beach,
with sparkling views of the crystal sea.
At the first turn-around, I counted the runners heading back to see if I had
paced myself properly, and counted 84 runners ahead of me. My time was
1:22, right on target. Now it was a game of maintaining this pace for the
remaining three legs, and hopefully passing lots of folks the rest of the
way. I was pretty successful at passing folks, but slowed about 15 minutes
in the last 14 miles, anyway. I should have gone out a couple of minutes
slower.
It was a bit frustrating because I would typically outclimb folks on the
uphills and steps, and move ahead on the runnable downs, but I'd have folks
(mostly youngsters) blasting by on the technical downhills (which were 30%
of the course). My podiatrist was right: the first thing that goes is
downhill speed.
Coming out of the last turn around for the final 7.1 mile trip back to the
finish I felt strong, passing people effortlessly on the uphills. Then came
the inevitable challenges: first, my medial quad cramped (while I was
feeling great!). I immediately drank all the gu2o I had, and popped a
Succeed tab. I went reeeeaaalll slow for a few minutes on the steps, and
like magic, the cramps stopped. But I needed more water, and there was at
least 20 minutes until the next aid station.
Right about then, a guy I was catching on an uphill started squirting out
his go2o! I said "STOP! Can I drink that?" And he gave it to me and I
gratefully drank 3/4 of a bottle in about a minute, and popped another
Succeed. That vanquished cramps for the rest of the run. That was a close
call.
Next, with about 4 miles to go, the inside of my ankles started really
hurting on every step of downhill. I'd sprained both ankles in May, but
they hadn't given me any trouble recently. Well, the ankle gods came back
with a vengeance -- this part of the course was a narrow single track with a
"V" profile, which was perfectly suited to hurt my not-totally-healed
ankles. Pain makes cowards of us all. So I lost 4-5 minutes until,
somewhat miraculously, they stopped hurting after 20-30 minutes.
I was able to finish the race pretty strongly. I was able to run all the
uphills but the steps. I had the satisfaction of passing younger runners on
the uphills, then looked on helplessly as they blasted by me down slippery
steps and downhill mud.
I finished tired, but not spent -- being mostly limited by treacherous
downhills and slick steps, and possibly by being a mite too conservative on
the climbs and runnable descents.
I finished in 5:44, off my 5:30 goal, and my last split (affected by cramps
and ankles) was 11 minutes slower than my first. Nevertheless, I had worked
my way up from 85th at 7 miles to 54th out of about 230 starters. I
finished 5th out of about 30 50+ men. As usual in the bay area, a very
strong field. The top 20% of the 50 year olds were at least 35:00 10k
runners in their prime. The 2nd and 3rd place runners in the Angeles Crest
100 miler finished 6th and 11th respectively.
Despite the difficulty, I loved the course. Redwood forests, fern grottos,
spectacular views, quaint stone steps, wide open, "sound of music"
downhills, how can I complain?
-- Dan