Dirty Dozen turns ten!

In 2010, when the Brazen Brain Trust (BBT for short) decided that spending a whole day at Point Pinole was a good idea, Mrs Notthat and I rolled our eyes and said no. (That first year, they did not offer the "Dirty" distances like they do now. They did have the twelve and six hour options and teams like now though - we could have done that easily.)

Some race details

Simplified course map. 

The basic idea of the race is that you run as many of the big loops as you can in six or twelve hours. For the last hour, you get to run the small loop. (Partially run loops don't count, so you really don't want to be caught out on the course when the horn blows.)

That runner was that close to finishing a little loop when the horn sounded.

The length of the loop made it easy to add 5K and 10K races that run near the end of the six and twelve hour races. Some run both, and even add a Dirty race to a timed race just to get the bonus shirt and medal.

NotThat history at this race

I've mostly regretted skipping that first race since there is a lot of glory in being able to say you've participated every year. (OK, "a lot of glory" might be a bit strong, but for many of us, it's actually "a LOT of glory.") I've been to all nine events since then, and Mrs Notthat has been to eight.

Mrs Notthat has run the twelve hour solo twice, the twelve hour as a two-person team twice, and the Dirty races (5K and/or 10K) four times.

Six times I've run the twelve hour solo (once taking advantage of the rule that you really only have to complete one lap since my knee was a total wreck). Twice I've run one or both Dirty races.

The thing I had never done was run as a team, so that's what Mrs Notthat and I did as Team NotThoseLucas.

One thing I've done twice now is signing up for a twelve hour race but showing up late - getting there at 7 AM means leaving home at about 5:30 AM, and in my old age, that's not as much fun as it sounds. Showing up late means you likely won't win (ha ha ha), but you can still get as many laps done as possible.

Note: If you decide to do this, do NOT cross the timing mat under the arch when you start your first lap. Stay away from the arch and start your first lap a few yards from there. Your first lap will have an absurd time since it is based on the race's 7 AM start time.

Race expectations

I'm not in great shape, and I had no idea how my body would deal with running a lap, then sitting around eating and visiting while Mrs Notthat ran a lap. Mrs Notthat has not run more than a 10K for well over a year - it was unknown how many laps she would be able to get with her body able to do a bit of recovery after each lap.

Realistically, I figured three laps for her (just under ten miles - her longest distance in over a year) and I would try to get four laps (basically a Half Marathon).

I underestimated Mrs Notthat by a fair amount - if it hadn't gotten windy and cool towards the end we might still be there running laps. (No we wouldn't.)

This chart sounded like a good idea when I put it together, but it's not easy to work out. That's the races Mrs Notthat has run since 2015. 138 of them. Click it to see it bigger, but I'm not sure that will really help.

The race (finally)

The race officially started at 7 AM, but we arrived a bit after 9 AM.

Picture by Yloy (not her real name, but close!). 

We had one bib on a belt that we had to pass off between each other. (The results do not reflect who ran which lap, so for bragging rights, you have to keep track of that yourself.)

Mrs Notthat ran the first lap, starting around 9:31, and since we started late, she got the credit for the longest lap (3:16:43!) - in real life that was almost for sure the fastest lap for our team.

From there, we alternated turns.

Running along the shoreline.

Running through the trees.

The aid station.

The final ridge - you can see the arch, you can hear the music, you can smell the BBQ.

We have done many events on these trails, so we know them pretty well. If you are pretty sure running multiple loops will drive you crazy, this may be the course for you. There is a lot of variety - open exposed areas, densely forested areas, some minor hills (about 150 feet of climbing per loop), and mostly dirt/gravel trails with a bit of pavement, just because.

"Which way do I go Yllom and Nhoj, not your real names?" This is a tough gig to volunteer at since it lasts so long and has just enough complexity to make it interesting.

"Which way do I go?" Finishing a lap. It could get interesting when there were people finishing a Dirty race, a big loop, and a small loop - you needed to know which of those applied to you.

"What took you so long?" Passing the bib off to Mrs Notthat in the race's festival area. There were so many tents and awnings this year!

It was mostly sunny, but breezy, especially later in the afternoon. The cool breeze was not much of an issue when you were running, but when you were standing around waiting for your next turn, it could really cool you off and make you a bit chilled.

"Oh, you've done a race with a blowup arch? Cute." The scary thing is that I'm fairly certain that Brazen has several more arches they could set up. 

In the above picture, the farthest away arch was for the Dirty 5K/10K runners, the red one was for the big loop runners, and the blue one was for the little loop runners. Next year I'm expecting an arch for the BBQ line. Maybe another for the porta-potties.

Meanwhile, out on the course…

Mrs Notthat and Refinnej (not her real name) powering through a lap. Picture by Brazen paparazzi.

Clocky (his/her/its real name) sporting tight tights and inspiring runners out on the course.

Wait, what?

There were a number of "inspirational" signs along the course that were updated regularly. Weirdly, the NotThats were mentioned on one, and it took me a while to work out what it was saying (think a spelling-challenged "Luke").

"Hi there Nerak and Eibbed, not your real names!" Sisters, who live in wildly different parts of the country, talking about sister things on the trail. 

"Of course I'm ready for another lap! I've had hours to rest while you were out there!" Mrs Notthat thrived in this format.

Let's wrap this up

And that's about it. We started about two and a half hours late, and made up for that by leaving an hour and a half early (the cool breeze became an enthusiastic cold wind in the afternoon).

Runners in the timed events got a nice hoodie and a medal that doubles as a coaster.

I got my loose goal of a Half Marathon worth of loops (four), but the real star was Mrs Notthat who somehow ended up with five loops, nearly 17 miles! Looking at that chart from early on, you can see that this was the first time she had gone beyond the Half distance since early 2015! Being able to recover a bit after each loop really helped her go so much farther than I had expected. As a team, we came really close to the 50K distance, but held on to last place in the two-person teams with a firm death grip.

I'm not convinced I like the team format - it's great for socializing, and it's nice to get extended breaks, but restarting the legs got tougher for each lap.

An interesting thing about this race is that you would think, over the course of twelve hours, you would often see the other runners. In actuality though, because it's a fairly long loop, you can end up not seeing some runners at all, and that's one thing the team approach helps since you are spectating a lot of the time.

In any case, it was a blast and a lot of fun to catch up to so many friends, as well as watching the proper runners really pushing it to win their races. (A fun thing - the overall top finishers in the twelve hour solo event were women, each pushing the other to get one more lap done! The winner managed a bit over 66 miles! Wildly impressive!)

That's it - move along…