I know what you guys are going to say about this.
I really should blamed that Coastal Trail Running Club which made this race too attractive , the river crossing part was so tempting that I even changed the distance from 10k to half marathon.
How could I miss that! It's trail running + river crossing we are talking about here.
Even though I just finished a half marathon race last weekend 460 miles away. Haha..
San Lorenzo River, it was located in Harvey West Park, Santa Cruz. It took us 40 mins
to get here, not very far from where I lived. Another good place to visit in the future.
Because of this river-crossing, I was thinking
for days about how was I going to pass the river smoothly without getting my running shoes wet, and getting my feet injured in the water. Initially, I planned to pass the river barefooted. But since I had my Nathan backpack, I should be able to carry a flip-flop.
However, the night before the race day, out of no where, I changed my mind again and decided to bring my Crocs with me by using my running belt.
As you could see in the picture, I had my Nathan running backpack plus the Crocs on my belt. As it turned out, I was over-concerned ! I was the only one who brought extra shoes for the race, kind of sissy ?
Race started.
As soon as the race started, my legs gave me the sign of fatigue right away.
My calf were so tight that I ran only about 4 miles, I felt like I was going to cramp already.
Therefore I kept trying to distract myself and paid my attention to the girls in front of me...
The distraction trick was kind of working, but somehow she started to walk on the first
hill of the route, well, I had to say good-bye to my little helper.
I can hardly catch my breath , but running in the red wood forest was so amazing. It made
you feel like you were in a "Zan" state , forgot all the trouble and just blended yourself into the forest. But, still, my legs was hurting me ....
Finally, the first downhill was ahead of me, I could even smell the river .. within seconds,
I was on a small beach, and ready to crossed the river.
So, I chose a rock to sit on, and started to take off my shoes. Runner 1, 2 jumped into
the water non-stop.
Then, I took out my Crocs and tied my running shoes around my neck. Runner 3, 4
jumped in the water non-stop.
I took out my camera, and started to walked slowly into the river. Runner 5, 6
arrived and walked right behind me. They were still in their running shoes.
After I crossed the river, I took out my towel , wiped my feet clean, and changed
my running shoes back. Runner 5, 6 passed me, and runner 7, 8, 9 just crossed the river.
Anyway, I was finally ready to go, more people were coming ..
Crossed the river.
other river-crossing pics.
The river-crossing part was so..so..cool, thank God I didn't run the 10K, or I would be
too bored to death. The water was deeper than it was described on the website, I was all wet from waist down, include my ipod !! Because the music suddenly stopped when I was half way cross the river. But it felt very good ~~~~
I can't remember when was I last time in the river like this.
I finally made it to the turn around point and was not dare to stop, cause I didn't want to lose the momentum.
My legs were shaking and started to getting heavier as I tried to step forward...
Yi abandoned me after we crossed the river on our way back, somehow he just could climb the uphill
non-stop while I could only try to walk to keep up. However, the big difference from my previous races was, I didn't let anyone pass me this time. Just kept pushing myself, ran if I could, walk while I still could but never stopped and rested. I believed I even passed one guy on my way to finish line !!
Anyway, another great and fun race was collected.
Finally, finished time : 2:31:00
Some great runners were worth mentioned and showed my respect. A group of people who were
in their 50's ran the 50KM race and finished the race in 8:25:20 !!! Wow ~~~~
New personal record: 1:46:45
Overall standing: 670/13573
Man Age Group(35-39) : 75/668
Man Age(38) : 16
First of all, I needed to say "thank you" to : Jason and Janice, Allen and Ellen
and especial thanks to Paul who woke up at 3:00am and came with us at 4:00am.
It took unusual courage and will to do that...
The decision of making this long trip seemed to a distant past. I couldn't hardly remember.
Well, we did it anyway.
The Rock N Roll race series was always my favorite, it had the best race service
among all the races I've ever joined. Yes, best service meant a lot of free food
and free beer for runner !!
So, here I was, 460 miles from home, and of course, I always carried extra bag with me in the race, ready for the post-race snacks and drinks.
Unlike the Rock N Roll San Jose, the arrangement in San Diego was a little complicated. Everyone (runner and family) was encouraged to park the car in Qualcomm stadium, and runner would take the shuttle to the starting line. Family would take Trolley train first, then take another shuttle to the finish line. That's why we needed to get up at 3:00am....
At first, I was really worried that my wife would need to take Allison to go all the trouble
by themselves to get to the finish line. Thank to Paul, who was willing to go with us
on the race day that I felt so relieved they could make it without any problem.
It made me feel a little bit guilty that we had to wake up the kid at 3:00am just for
her father's pleasure ...
Qualcomm Stadium, all the runners were lined up for shuttle
Just got off the bus
The starting line was in Balboa Park, there were more than 20,000 people for this race,
I could only say WOW, when I saw the countless people resting around the
starting line area, I had to be very careful not to step on the people on the ground!!
Starting Line rest area
people lined up waiting for massage
pre race massage ?? No kidding !! Wouldn't you fall asleep for that ?? I would, if I had one.
I preferred post race massage instead, but there was none.
People started to gather in the corral area.
taking off!!The fun began, let's rock and roll....
The people-boost took effect again. Somehow, when a lot of people ran together,
there was a invisible force to push you faster. My first 5 miles splits was around
7:45 min/mile, and I was not feeling too fast at all. Maybe it was the distraction or
something else. It was about 45 sec faster than my training speed.
Well, I had to admit, the speed was manageable, but couldn't say comfortable.
I could barely remember we ran into the downtown, and passed some museums, and parks.
All I remembered was I kept watching my speed, and controlled my running form.
The coolest part of this route was, we could actually run on the highway !!
We were running on high way
we were caught up by full marathoner lead group
The routes for full and half marathon were merged in here, this was the first time
I could personally see the lead elite runners this close !! Some crazy idea suddenly
came into my mind, I tried to catch up their speed, to see how fast they actually were.
Well ... as you could expect, it was very frustrated, it was like I was driving my Subaru and racing with a Lotus..
The Lotus kept going further, and I was still in the starting line, totally different league.
7 miles, still on the high way
After we got off the high way, around mile 10, I hit the "wall". It was kind of feeling that
suddenly all my energy was drained away. Usually, my GU power should take effect, because
in the race, I took one around mile 4, and the second one around mile 9.
My legs were so heavy, and I was panting heavily, feeling exhausted. The little devil started
to talk : You needed to stop, took a walk, no big deal ..
I hated this feeling, it was awful , but on the other hand, it was not a stranger to me.
Somehow, I just needed to let go my mind, and got it over with, and kept running, running.
Hey, where the hell was the beautiful view the official website promised me ?
It was mile 12 already, all I could see was gray sky, cars, and running people.
Mile 13, I was so exhausted and dragging myself. I didn't even notice my wife and Paul
were right beside me , taking this photo.
Springing to the finish line.
finish line looking back.
taking the trolley train back to stadium
on the train
Another Rock N Roll was collected !!!
Summary:
I found that my regular training distance was too short, it could carry me to the
finish line, but can't sustain my initial pace long enough. The speed after mile 10 was
terrible, it dropped to 8:50 ~ 9:00 min/mile.
I was a little disappointed about the race route, especially the half marathon, there was no beautiful view at all. It seemed all the best parts were in full marathon route.
In fact, they changed the route this year, last year's route was circling the mission bay
and passing two cross ocean bridges!!
Well, it gave me the reason to train for marathon again. Should I ?
Windy Hill Open Space was located in Portola Valley,
if you started from San Jose, took HWY 280 North, exit on Alpine Rd, headed south.
Turned right on Portola Rd, drived for about 1 miles, there was a small sign said :
"Windy Hill Open Space Reserve" , turned a shape left would be the parking log.
parking lot
It was a beautiful day when we arrived, unlike last time, pouring rain, dark cloud and we
were forced to retreate. As usual, we chose a biggest route to explore it. Here was our plan:
1. Ridge Trail
2. Eagle Trail
3. Razorback Ridge Trail
4. Lost Trail
5. Annerversity Trail
6. Spring Ridge Trail
7. Back to parking lot
starting point
On the Ridge Trail
The Ridge Trail was a slow asending dirt trail, very good for the warm up our legs and adjusted
the pace. However the sign was a little unclear, we didn't even know we were on the
Eagle Trail already, and the end of the Eagle Trail was the Alpine Rd. And we were totally
lost the direction, no sign, no people. On the left out of the Eagle Trail, there was an
entrance looked like a trail head. As far as I remembered, it was called Alpine Trail.
It was not even on the map !! All of sudden, I saw a lady jogging by, and I called her asap.
She said we should run along the Alpine Rd and turned right on a bridge. Wow..we were lucky,
it was really difficult to find for a first timer.
Yi was on the Eagle Trail
Alpine Rd was pretty narrow here
The bridge we made a right turn
After we crossed the bridge, the trail head for the Razorback Ridge Trail was on the right
hand side of the road, still, no sign, we just wild guessed, and we were right !!
Yi lead the run
Now, the fun part begain , it was a continuous 2.5 miles uphill, just like its name,
the trail was single track, zig-zagging into the oak forest, we were like two mountain lions,
quietly cruising through our territory. The only sounds was the sound of our gasping,
and crashing of the fallen leaf under our foot.
Some unknown blue flowers on the trail side.
A big log
We could have made it to the top, if I didn't call Yi to take the picture.
top of the Razorback Ridge Trail, it was HWY 35
Somehow we missed the sign of the Lost Trail, and continued another 0.4 mile to the
entrance on the HWY 35. So we had to turn back and found the Lost Trail.
On the Lost Trail, the trail started to break out of the wood, we could see the whole
valley on the right side of the trail.
On the Lost Trail
Valley view
Gradually, the high grass replaced the oak trees on the trial, I guessed we must have reached the tree line. The scene started to change, everything was so clear out here. We almost forgot
the pain and tireness on the Razorback Ridge Trail, and caught some breath while enjoying the view. The grass was so tall that we could totally disappear while running into the trail.
It's another hightlight to me in this place. Very special experience...
Yi was disappeared in the trail
The tall grass
Then, we reached another entrance on the HWY35 of the reserve.
Another HWY35 entrace
We didn't know there was a summit view until we got here, just a little detour from
Annerversity Trail, there was a summit view waiting for us.How could we missed this..
No second thought, we headed to the summit to collect another good moment.
The summit was ahead.
Yi and some hikers
The summit view
Another peak of the park.
We were taking the Spring Ridge Trail down.
The Spring Ridge Trail was a fast and wide open downhill. By the time of our desending, the sun was up high and big. We saw a lot of hikers taking uphill from here, it's good we made a right choice not to climb from here. However, it was just beautiful, nothing more...
Summary:
Distance: 10.6 miles
Time: 1:57:27
Elevation Gain : 2027 ft
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So far, I think it's the top 3 open space reserves we've ever been. Hopefully, we could
come back here soon..but wait, there are still a lot more for us to explore !!
