Quicksilver 25K and the Double Dipsea Course

I have had a very busy last two weekends. On Saturday May 8, I ran the Quicksilver 25K Trail Race in San Jose with the team. It was a challenging course of about 15 miles, but I knocked it out pretty well and actually had a decent time. At the beginning of the season, I remember that I ran only a 21K race and I was a lot slower. I can really tell that I am getting stronger on the trails. At a lot of the trail races, you don't get a lot of schwag as you do at the road races, but this particular race was apparently the exception. I got a really great, black, technical half-zip pullover with embroidery on the chest and I also got a medal too. Yes, everyone that finishes get the same medal, but it was a really nice one. Plus, I got a kick out of passing several men in fairly good shape during the last miles on the downhill - so I deserve it!!

Last weekend on May 15, the team met in Mill Valley to run the Dipsea trail. Now, if you are not from this area, you may not now that this trail is known for it 1000's of stairs and difficulty. Once a year, there is a Dipsea race that starts at Stinson Beach and ends in Mill Valley. Only very elite runners get into this race of about 7 miles. Well leave it to my hard core training team, we actually ran a DOUBLE Dispea meaning that we started out in Mill Valley, ran and tagged Stinson Beach and then returned to Mill Valley. Starting from Mill Valley, you begin the run with about 700 steps leading up. Throughout the rest of the course there are more stairs and steep climbs. We even had to cross a stream by walking across a log laying over the water. We got in a total of close to 14 miles and it was a lot of fun.

I can't even believe I ran this course and I was not ever sore! Nope, my quads didn't even feel it afterwards or the next day. I think if I had done this run about 4-5 months ago, I would have to have been hospitalized - ha ha.

I know I keep saying this, but it's really getting serious now. Darn if I am not running a Marathon (26.2 miles) as a TRAINING run this weekend. It is a trail marathon which means it will require a lot more climbing and stamina than a road marathon. Wish me luck!!