Double Dipsea Race in Marin

Last weekend was the Double Dipsea Race which begins at Stinson Beach. This is a slightly, uhmmmm, GRUELING race that begins at sea level and includes over 4000 feet of climbing......lots of climbing and rooty, rocky and rough terrain including lots of steps (uneven and either wood or stone along the course) which is very challenging. I feel that my definition of challenging is a bit different to anyone else's after all these weeks of training, but in anyone's estimation this is a difficult and challenging race. Once you travel the approx 7 miles to Mill Valley, you basically turn around and then run the course in reverse. The kicker is that from Mill Valley, you have to climb three staircases of approximately 671 stairs to even get back to running once again.

At the beginning of the race, my first thought was "uh oh" as I took off my legs felt like wooden poles. However, after about 4 miles, thankfully, they seemed to give up and finally wake up and do what they were supposed to do. I had a good race overall and felt great afterwards, but I wish I had been able to get off to a good start. An interesting aspect of this race is that they have handicaps for age and sex. therefore, I got a 24 minute headstart over the "scratch" runners which were men 39 and under. I am not really sure that the handicap really did me that much good since I used it all up in the first 4 miles due to my wooden legs, but all the same, I finished right in the middle of my age group so I was happy.