2012 Practice Dipsea 6.8M

Practice Dipsea 6.8M – April 29th 2012 

Mill Valley, CA
Run: 1:07:36 ( 9:56 per mile avg)

First run in 1905, the Dipsea is the oldest trail race in America. The 7.4 mile course from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach is considered to be one of the most beautiful courses in the world, but this beauty comes at a price. The trail includes uneven footing, single-track footpaths, and almost invariably steep terrain, featuring about 4,000-foot (1219 m) elevation gain and loss over the course. The uniqueness of the Dipsea Race course owes largely to the opportunity for competitors to choose from any of several alternate routes on diverging and converging trails, adding a competitive premium for strategy, experience, and familiarity with the course.

It's very competitive to get into this race, and for the first time I actually got in. Once you get in, you can guarantee an entry for the following year by finishing top 750 out of 1500 people. There is a catch though. Some competitors get head starts. For a 31-37 year old male, first time runner, I will be starting the race 51 minutes after the first person starts. I did some math and it looks like based on historical results I will need to get a 1:13:00 to earn a spot for next year. And just out of curiosity if i wanted to get top 3 OA ( first time runners ) I would likely need sub 58:00.
I guess I should start training. 

I flew up to SF to see my parents and was originally planning on doing a solo practice run on the course but my dad saw that DSE runners was putting on a "Practice Dipsea" race. Perfect. I showed up the morning of with my racing flats, signed up and gave it a go.

I ended up 10th place out of 126 athletes which was solid performance for running the Dipsea the first time. 

Click here see this race in Strava.

Below is a breakdown of my splits.  

2012 Mix1 / LB Tri / Crossfit 5150 Kit

I am super stoked how this came out. Thanks to Champion System for helping put the design together, and thanks to Mix1, LB Tri Club, and Crossfit 5150 for the support. I can't wait to race in this.

2012 Seal Beach 10k

Seal Beach 10k – April 21st 2012 

Seal Beach, CA
Run: 38:16 ( 6:10 per mile avg)

My goal was to try and hold a 6:03 pace and finish with a 37:30. I have been practicing running right at my LT threshold pace during my weekly Busters 5 Mile Group Run's, and this was the final test to see if I could do it for a full 10k and subsequently at Wildflower in 2 weeks.

Unfortunately things didn't go as planned. I was anxious the entire night before and couldn't get to sleep until around midnight. When i woke up at 5am to eat I felt "off".  I was hoping this feeling would go away as it came closer to race time.

The gun went off and I had to duck and weave through the crowd to find some running room. things opened up at the 5k turnaround point and I found two runners that were holding the same pace as me. We were all hoping for a sub 38 min. We stayed together up until the start of mile 4.5 where things started to fall apart. My pace dropped to my half marathon pace, and I felt like CRAP. One of the guys pulled ahead, and the other one dropped back even further.  I was running by myself. Around mile 5.5 one of the guys i was talking to at the start of the race came up behind me, and motivated me to push a little harder. I was able to pick my pace back up for the last bit of the race, but it was almost impossible because we had to run around all the 5k walkers that were finishing around the same time.

Not the best performance, but I did PR for my 10k, ended up 12th out of 1846 athletes, and finished 6th in my AG. 

Click here see this race in Strava.

Below is a breakdown of my splits.  

2012 Hollywood Half Marathon

Hollywood Half Marathon – April 7th 2012 

Hollywood, CA
Run: 1:26:04 ( 6:31 per mile avg)

My goal was to try and hold a 6:30 pace the whole time and finish with a 1:25:00. However this was a bit of a  guess since this was my first Half Marathon in 4 years, and my third ever.  

The start was pretty sketchy. There were A LOT of people that didn't belong in the "elite" wave. Heck I didn't belong in the elite wave, but looking around I knew that all the people around me were going to slow me down. The gun went off and as we ran out of the start the chute got skinnier and skinnier. There were at least two fast runners that fell during this funneling process trying to get position and dodge the slow runners. The next 2 1/2 miles were a pretty steep downhill. I tried to keep my pace as fast as I could stand without killing my shins and knees for the rest of the race. Approx 6:00 pace. The next 8 miles were all flat, and I found two great running buddies named Hannah Briggs and Morgan Putnam who I ended up running the entire race with. With our group of three we kept our pace slightly below 6:30 for the entire flat section. We were all feeling good at this point in the race, but were really thirsty. I think they might have forgot about water stations on this part of the course. Our cheerful attitudes turned to faces of determination as we hit the Cahuenga Blvd W Climb at mile 12. It was a 1.7 mile doozy. Our group of three formed a little V formation led by Hannah and charged up the hill. I think this was the only part of the race that we actually passed people. According to Strava we climbed 384 feet with an ave grade of 4.4% and a max grade of 8.3%. At the top of the hill it leveled off for the last 1/2 mile and we all sprinted to the finish line. I was pleasantly surprised I had enough energy left in me for a 5:20 pace. I was exhausted. It felt good to finish.


Thanks to Hannah & Morgan for helping push me throughout the race. Thanks to Mix1 for the Protein drinks at the finish line. Nothing like 2 chocolate mix1's to help me recover after burning 1800 calories on a race. I was very pleased with my performance. I ended up 44th out of 6033 athletes, and finished 9th in my AG. I feel like I have come a long way from my first Half Marathon in 2006 when I finished completely exhausted in 2 hours and 16 minutes.

Click here see this race in Strava.

Below is a breakdown of my splits.