Weekend off my eye

When I finished the Urban Cow Half Marathon last Sunday, I took a deep breath and looked forward to the following weekend, when I, for the first time in seven straight weekends, would not be doing a race.

And then Einre (not his real name) started telling me about the Golden Hills Marathon. About the great trails. About the really long cutoff time. And I laughed. "Not me buddy! I'm sitting home and watching football!"

But then I went to the race website. And I started thinking about how this really was a great-sounding race. And I was suckered in.

There are actually two races - a 50 miler that starts in the dark at 6:30 AM at Lake Chabot and heads up to Tilden Park in Berkeley, only to turn around and head back; and a Full Marathon that starts at 9 AM in Berkeley and follows mostly the same trails as the 50 mile race back to Lake Chabot.

Since the Marathon was a point-to-point race, we parked at the finish line and rode a bus to the start line. It took nearly an hour to get up there. It is NOT true that Einre started up a rousing chorus of "One Hundred Packets of GU on the Wall."

Einre getting bibbed up. It was pretty cool up in Tilden Park while we waited for the race to start. Not that he noticed.

Our start is the 50 miler's turnaround. They will have gone 26 miles by this time.

A porta-pottie picture!

The course had a LOT of these sorts of inspirational signs.

The trails were a mix of fire roads and lots of fun single-track. And there were plenty of hills if that is your thing.

And a LOT of dogs! I loved all of them out running around. This guy paced me for a bit before realizing that I was going too slow to be worth pacing.

The Marathoners were blessed with the bonus of going on the French Trail. If you've ever wondered where the saying "Pardon my French" came from, just go spend a bit of time on this trail. Lots of climbing, lots of roots and rocks - just plain some of the best single-track around. But it nearly killed me. I was really dragging by this point. And my French was freely flowing.

And then I saw these guys. I thought about stealing one of them, but then thought better of it since I didn't have my cowboy hat with me. (Llamaboy hat?)

There were a couple of trees that lost the battle with gravity and chose to block the trail. Almost nobody gave up and turned around.

This bit of trail really puzzled me - why was a perfectly good looking bit of trail being detoured around? I found out later that many of the 50 milers were attacked by a swarm of wasps from a nest here on their way out. It's good to not be first sometimes!

The aid stations were plentiful, well stocked, and universally awesome! They cheered, they watered, they fed - they did everything they could to make this a perfect race. The graveyard was a new twist though (and as the Brazen Rabbit noted, that guy in the middle should have had a bib on - he certainly looked more perky than I felt at this point).

Finally - Lake Chabot! And the finish line (eventually).

I saw this and thought, Mrs Notthat isn't here, but it was possible that the Brazen Rabbit might be there waiting for me to finish (or more likely "drop-dead"). Both her and Nad (not his real name) were doing the 50 miles and I had seen them a long time ago looking absurdly perky as they were heading to the 50 mile turnaround, and assumed they had both blown past me while I was "pardoning my French" while struggling up a hill or two on That Trail.

I freaked out the finish line guy and the photographer when I stopped just before finishing so that I could take this picture. (The time is for the 50 milers - subtract 2:30 to get my Marathon time.)

And it turned out there really was a drop dead gorgeous person waiting for me - Yrrek (not her real name)! Neither the Brazen Rabbit or Nad had come in yet, so the two of us did a lot of cheering as runner after runner came streaking in. The BR made her appearance well before the magical 11:00 time (faster than 11:00 means you qualify for the Western States 100).

I was tired, not feeling well, and barely functioning at this point. The Brazen Rabbit was ready for another lap.

Both Nad and Einre finished a bit later. Swapping post-race stories is a lot of fun after a tough race. I was surprised by how many people were still hanging around, although there was a LOT of great food (the homemade soup was stunning!) waiting for us.

Nad and the unstoppable RJ (not his real name either) swapping their own post-race stories.

The swag was pretty amazing for this race - a great Patagonia shirt, Moeben arm sleeves (you got to pick the style you wanted), a wine glass, an issue of Trail Runner magazine, some other misc stuff, and a nice bag to carry it all in. Note the lack of a medal - a lot of these types of races know that these kinds of runners do a lot of events and appreciate getting useful stuff (which is why coasters are popular). The 50 milers also got a very nice Patagonia jacket.

This was a stunningly great race. Everything about it was well done, from the excellent course marking, fun aid stations, and great finish line experience to the great post-race food. The weather was ideal and the trails were perfect after the rain we had earlier (it was nice to not have to deal with dusty trails). The rain did cause a slight course change, and I'm hoping next year to get to see that other trail.

So I didn't get the weekend off. In fact, I ended up doing the DSE Polo Fields 5K the next day. Next weekend is the Redwood City Half Marathon, followed by my nemesis - the Brazen Rocky Ridge Half Marathon.

Likely I will be polishing up my French for that last one.

That's it - move along...

PS: You can see a lot more pictures I took here.

Cowbells! And more cow-based puns than you ever imagined...

We had to make a choice.

There was a Half Marathon in San Jose that would be a lot of fun with bands sprinkled around the course. When I was a cheerleader there last year I realized that Mrs Notthat would love the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

But there was also this Urban Cow Half Marathon in Sacramento ("A Race Like No Udder!") that would be a lot of fun with bands sprinkled around the course. Even though I had never been a cheerleader at this race, I knew Mrs Notthat and The Boy would both love it. (Mrs Notthat because it was much cheaper and still had the element of music along the course, and The Boy because it meant he could see his sweetie, The Big Wind.)

The thing that swung the decision firmly in the direction of Sacramento were the cowbell finisher medals. How can any race compete with that?

On Saturday afternoon we headed up to Sacramento to pick up our bibs, shirts, and timing chips for the next day's race, then headed north to Marysville (motto: "We know it looks like Kansas, but trust is, you really are still in California") to stay with The Big Wind and her family.

TBW works at a shelter where a few weeks earlier, someone had left a herd of very fresh kittens on their doorstep. So TBW ended up keeping them at her place so she could bottle feed them and get them to an adoptable age. Yes - the kittens were absurdly cute and I am stunned we didn't end up with one or four riding back home with us.

The next morning we all headed to downtown Sacramento. It turns out there were about 4000 other people that thought a cowbell medal sounded like a good idea. The plan was for Mrs Notthat, The Boy, and I to do the Half Marathon while The Big Wind would do the 5K. This changed a bit when The Boy started having stomach issues and sadly (wink wink, nudge nudge) had to do the 5K with TBW.

The obligatory porta pottie-picture. There were a lot of these along the course, and early on, they all had lines like this.

One of the bands along the course. There were probably 5 official bands plus a few unofficial ones - they were all fun though.

We spent a lot of time wandering through neighborhoods, and I loved how many people were out in their driveway cheering us on.

I love the "Caution Watch For Pole" sign in the middle of this picture. The course was all on pavement, although there was a nice stretch along the river where you could run beside the pavement on dirt if you so chose. (I so chose.)

We were told that at one point we would be passing close to the state capital building. This wasn't it.

I completely missed the capital building, but fortunately Ultra Woof had her camera, and since she is a better tourist than me, got this picture of it. How in the world could I have missed this? (I overheard a LOT of people saying they too had missed it. You had to look the opposite way you were running to see it, which is why so many missed it.)

It was nearly impossible to miss the many cow-based cheerleaders along the course though.

There was one short out-and-back stretch and I had hoped to see Mrs Notthat there. She didn't start with me since she spent a LOT of quality time in the porta-pottie line at the start area. Here she was though, just a few minutes behind me.

A side note: As you can see it was sunny. Sunny + Sacramento = HOT. Usually. But not on this day - the weather was perfect for this race.

My favorite stretch of the trail, along the river with optional dirt to run on.

This was a first for me - an arch telling you that you still had half a mile to go. (Sporting one of the many cow puns along the course.)

A surprise to us was that Yram (not her real name and needing a fun nickname) also did the race and turned in a great time.

A total non-surprise was that Einre (not his real name and also in need of a nickname) did the race and finished with a smile on his face.

And then of course there was Ultra Woof (does not need a nickname), with her superior tourist abilities (I stole four pictures from her) and amazing talent for adding stress to the beginning of a race.

The happy owners of new cowbell medals. After a fine meal at an upscale burger joint, we headed back to Marysville to drop off The Big Wind and pick up our bags and such.

And give The Boy one last chance to bottle feed a kitten. THEY WERE SO CUTE!!!

So, how did it go? I was happy. Both Mrs and I set PRs with our times. (Not that the USA Olympic Committee should be taking notice. Yet.) I bought a bonus cowbell to give to Weird Haired Mom who was unable to come to the race. (It was embarrassingly hard to hand it over though.) I loved the finish line area - it sounded like a huge herd of cows wandering around a field with all the clanging cowbells.

The race was a blast. The course was fun, there were lots of water stations (no food on the course though), and it seemed like everyone in Sacramento was either in the race or standing on the side cheering. The only negative was that they had no Half shirts in my size or the next size down - I had to settle for a 5K shirt. (Seriously, I can't complain too much - I've already gotten about 30 shirts from races so far this year and my closet deserves a break.)

Maybe next year we will try the San Jose Rock and Roll race. Or maybe we need to get a second cowbell medal.

You can never have too much cowbell. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

That's it - Moooove along...

PS: You can see a lot more pictures here.

Getting piggy with the Trail Hog

On Saturday, over 300 runners braved the wild pig infested hills of Joseph D Grant Park outside of San Jose for Brazen's Trail Hog race.

Here is the finisher medal and the vision each of us carried out there of what to be on the lookout for.

(By the way, this may be their best finisher medal ever.) About a year and a half ago, a group of us lead by Coach Luap (not his real name) did an infamous hike in this park, and I actually managed to get a picture of real trail hogs. Not quite as fierce looking, but close enough. So I knew they existed.

This time I saw no trail hogs out there - only miles and miles of fun trails with moderate hills sprinkled in just to change things up. Sections of the course were pretty exposed, and it would get a bit warm, but with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees, it wasn't all that bad.

Most of the trails were fire roads that dodged in between nice shade trees and open fields. Mrs Notthat and Ultra Woof are enjoying the shade above. (They would get cranky if I pointed the camera at them while going up a hill - running for the camera is a rule, and doing that while going uphill is not fair. There were a LOT of wonderful Brazen photographers out there, but a lot of them were on uphill sections. However, I think they shaved a couple of minutes off my time by forcing me to run more than I would have if they hadn't been there.)

Lots of the trail looked like this. There were nice views of the surrounding hills, including Mt Hamilton, as you wandered around the course.

There was a great stretch of single-track in the second loop on the Half course.

There was a bit of climbing in that single-track stretch though.

I look like I am toast and ready for the finish line. Except this was taken before we had even reached mile 2. The course started with a hill that warmed you up quickly.

Mrs Notthat was perky all the way through this race and ended up getting 2nd place in her age group.

The Boy, as usual, took off and was way ahead of us. We heard from Weird Haired Mom though that he had started dragging at about mile 7. Then a random runner named Eicats (not her real name) caught up to him and told him to get his butt in gear. And he did. Both he and Eicats ended up winning their age groups (he beat me by nearly 20 minutes).

WHM and Ultra Woof both did the Hiker Half start. Well sort of. WHM was actually there for the 7:30 start, while the GPS-challenged Ultra Woof was touring the wilds of southern San Jose looking for this park. UW ended up catching up to WHM near the end and they finished together, with more piggy pink than anyone had bargained for.

Look, if the Brazen Rabbit writes "BACK" on the trail, who are they to ignore it (with a bit of attitude to boot).

The front of the neutral-colored shirt (HA!). I love the small race logo over the heart.

And the large one on the back.

This was a great race - a bit harder than I had expected (only a bit over 1700 feet of elevation, but for some reason it felt like a lot more); it would have been a lot worse if it had been just a day earlier though, when temperatures were 20 degrees higher.

And here's a cool thing - WHM and Ultra Woof met up with Htenaj (not her real name) at the Half Moon Bay Marathon Expo, with WHM and UW still sporting their Trail Hog bibs and medals.

Where they met runner extraordinaire Scott Jurek, who is now the proud owner of Ultra Woof's Trail Hog medal! Scott surely got a bit nervous will all this pink - he was impressed that they had done a Half in the morning and then driven to the expo. (UW is doing the HMB Marathon today.)

And that's about it. Next on the Brazen schedule is one of my arch-enemies - Rocky Ridge. Oh my. Next on my race schedule though is the flat Urban Cow Half Marathon in Sacramento - cowbell medals are really tough to pass up.

That's it - move along...

PS: You can see more of my pictures here.