On Friday, August 31, in the dark parking lot at Muir Beach,
many groups of beachgoers were packing up their cars in order to get out of
there by 9:00, the posted closing time of the lot. I was hoping to find someone there who was
involved with the race the next morning – maybe someone else just looking to
crash for the night in the parking lot which was, after all, the starting
location for the race. The word I got
was that they close the gate at 9:00 and if your car is still in there, you’re
just stuck there until the morning. Well,
that was perfect then. So I made room
and laid down in the Corolla to get some sleep.
As I try to fall asleep, I hear a chirping kind of noise. When I sit up and look out the window, I
observe a couple of skunks scavenging around the parking lot, and a little
coyote trotting by.
I had just fallen asleep when I was awoken by a knock on the
window, a bright flashlight, and the word “police”. Turns out I was misinformed about my lodging
option. I did laugh, though, as I
wondered what the police officer might have been thinking was going on in that
car. I assume he was hoping for
something a little more exciting.
Anyways, the race turned out to be very small, but most
excellent. I had never run on trails
like this before – huge hills and cliffs right next to the ocean and San
Francisco Bay. It was beautiful. These hills were lots of fun to run on – they
are what we would call mountains in Maryland.
I kept thinking about the course as an amped up version of the HAT Run
back home. Both probably have similar
profiles, with lots of up and down, up and down. Except these ups and downs were much bigger,
and the views were of the Pacific Ocean and SF Bay instead of the Susquehanna.
I was still on the very gradual trend back to normal
running, so I was there to just have a good time and enjoy this beautiful new
setting. I found myself feeling quite
good and strong on the climbs, and barreling nicely downhill, all the time
feeling relaxed and within my comfort zone.
The most incredible part of the course was somewhere around
mile 10, probably, when the trail took me to the bay side of the park. I ran downhill for a few minutes with a view
of the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco skyline
straight ahead. The cloud layer was
still covering the top of the bridge. It
was one of the most inspiring man-made views I think I have ever seen.
I reached a bit of a low-energy lull at about mile 23, but
after the next aid station I snapped out of it and continued to feel pretty
good the rest of the way. Overall, I
felt pretty excellent the whole morning.
The race ends with the biggest climb of the course, which we ran up
twice, followed by a nice steep downhill for another 2 miles or so back down to
Muir Beach. I finished nice and strong
and still felt good. I really had a
blast and was loving every mile of the race.
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| Turning into the finish - Thanks CTR! |
This race definitely helped raise my confidence about being
able to increase my training a little more and hopefully have some semblance of preparation by the time Cuyamaca 100k rolled around.
I had heard of Muir Beach several times before, probably
mostly from following along or reading about the North Face 50 miler that
happens in that area in December every year.
I remembered that Muir Beach was one of the aid stations at that
event. In fact, while we were running
this race, I crossed paths with a fellow on the trails running with a measuring
wheel – I later learned that he was measuring for the TNF50 route. Anyway, a week or two ago I put my name in
for the waitlist for TNF50, because I would LOVE any opportunity to go run
those trails again. Stunning, challenging and fun.
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