jon, greg and i got up way too early on sunday morning to go run around the golden gate national recreation area in very, very, very cold (for california) weather.
this race was pretty big for me, as it was the first event since i got doored on my bike and was completely sidelined for 2 months. i felt great starting out, even ran most of the way up the first hill!
note: the elevation chart is stretched for time, each white line represents a mile so you can’t really see how steep those bastards were…
let’s talk about the hills in this race: there are three hills and they’re pretty freaking big. you’ve done around 2200 ft. of elevation gain after climbing them all and the down slope of the second hill is basically too steep and gravelly to run safely, it’s more of a stutter-step-shuffle-scramble-slide thing all the way down.
it was while going up that second hill that i realized there was no shame in taking walk breaks on these tiny mountains, otherwise i’d burn out so fast i’d tack an extra hour on to my finish time. every time you crest one of those horrible hills, you’re rewarded with a new, stunning view of northern california, from the farallons and napa, to oakland and the peninsula. loads of people were stopping to take pictures, you can find some by searching instagram and twitter for #ecschampionship.
i surprised myself and finished in 2:19:21, about 10 minutes ahead of what i was hoping for. the race was very well organized, had a good vibe all around and i will definitely sign up (and train WAY harder) for it next year.
bonus: the shirt graphic is probably the best-looking one i’ve gotten so far:
