Tag Archives: running

Running a Trail Race in Italy: The Montanaro Trail in Tuscany

Tuscany Views

I’m going to give it away from the beginning. Our first international race; our first DNF. It doesn’t feel great to admit it, but it was most definitely the right thing to do, and I would not have given up the experience for the world.

Elevation Profile

DD had to do it. He had to find a race in Italy, and not just any race: some mountain trail ultra in a small town in Tuscany where the website was/ is entirely in Italian. Thanks to the wonders of the Google translate Chrome plugin, we were able to muddle through the posted information and various directions. I tried hard not to look too closely at the Elevation Profile.

We couldn’t find any information in English, apart from the aggregator website that listed trail ultras in Europe – where DD first found the link. We did stumble upon 2 videos (here, and here) past participants had taken of the race. Looking over past participant lists indicated that all the last names were pretty much Italian. We might possibly be the first native-English speakers who would be running in this race.

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Brazen’s Dirty Dozen (or, trotting in a loop for 47 miles)…

9 July 2016. 13 large loops, 4 small loops. Official distance: 46.21 miles

Untitled

How to begin talking about my first ultra, our first 50k, our first 40-miler, and definitely our first time running a race around a loop, within a set period? Now, nearly 2 weeks months later, it seems kind of blurry and far away, taken over by our John Muir Trail preparations and actual trip.

I’d always wanted to participate in this event, having heard of the all-day fun, the camaraderie, and craziness.

The Brazen Dirty Dozen is a time, not distance-delimited race. Runners have the option of choosing between 6 hours or 12 hours, and running for as long/ as far as they can within those set times. There are hardly any requirements. One can run long for as long as they wish, and rest for as little as they wish. Some folks use it to run a set distance – say – a half marathon, or a full marathon. Many of the 12-hour folks definitely gun for 50 miles.

The course consists of a 3.37-mile loop in Point Pinole park in Richmond. During the last hour of the 6 or 12, a small loop near the start/finish area of .67 miles opens up so runners have a better chance of completing more miles rather than being stuck out in the middle of the larger loop when the clock runs out.

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Thirty Miles in the Marin Headlands

Looking back from the SCA Trail

Sunday, 5 June 2016. A 25-mile loop in the Marin Headlands, and a little more.

DD’s latest obsession has been exploring the intersection of hiking and ultra-running, for which lines definitely begin to blur as distances become longer. To that end, he’s been training and speculating on how he might be able to complete a 50-mile race while primarily hiking (since most humans do hike the uphills during races) and jogging/ running the downhills and flats.

In his sights (though he has not yet signed up for it), is Pacific Coast Trail Run’s Marin Headlands Hundred race, which offers distances of a marathon, and 50, 75, and 100 miles.

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Brazen Racing’s Drag-N-Fly Half Marathon

Brazen Drag N Fly Half

I had spaced out.

With all the excitement of our summer backpacking and camping trips, I had forgotten that the Brazen Ultra Half Championship Series requires you to run at least five of their toughest halfs, but I had only done four! That was why I found myself signing up for Drag-N-Fly, in the remote and somewhat exotic depths of the East Bay – Antioch, and on a week that promised soaring hot temperatures over the weekend.

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Brazen Badger Cove Half Marathon

Brazen Badger Cove Half Marathon

This year I’m attempting to complete Brazen Racing’s Ultra Half Marathon challenge – complete five (out of 13) of their most challenging half marathons (some are dubbed “ultras” because they run longer than the standard 13.1 miles) – and receive bragging rights and a special Ultra Coaster for your trouble and effort. Continue reading

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The Hyatt Regency Sacramento – CIM 2012 Hotel

Double Room

As I mentioned in my CIM 2012 race report, I chose the Hyatt Regency Sacramento for a number of reasons as our hotel for the night before the race.

The Pros: Convenience

  • 3 blocks from the finish line
  • No 2-night requirement
  • Late checkout – 1pm – without an additional fee (ok if you plan on finishing the marathon within this timeframe)
  • Restaurant on-site
  • Parking on-site
  • Free wifi
  • CIM Bus pickup at 5am and 5:15am

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California International Marathon 2012: Epic Effusions

Epic Coaster of a Medal

Epic Coaster of a Medal

This will no doubt be just another of the hundreds of blogposts that will be filed about this day, but I need to get this down since:

  • CIM 2012 was my first-ever marathon.
  • 2012 will be remembered as the year of the epic rainstorm.

Warning. This is waaay too long for to be of interest to anyone except myself, really, but – for what it’s worth…

On Friday, though I was still checking the weather every couple of hours, hoping beyond hope for some change, I was pretty much resigned. Yes folks, all indicators pointed to a deluge of not-insignificant proportions in the beginning, middle and most likely by the end of the marathon.

So that was that. My goal – of finishing anywhere from 4-4:15 — did not change drastically because of it. I figured that I’d start running, and adjust goals from there. Having never run a marathon before, and certainly, having never run long in pouring rain before, left lots of things up in the air. I kept telling myself that ultimately, the true goal was to finish, and finish strong. A good time would be icing on the cake. Also, beating Oprah would be icing on the cake. 🙂 Continue reading

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CIM 2012 Weekend

Wow, it’s truly been a while. The last time I posted I was just starting training for my first marathon, ever, and that was back in September, when I managed to run 46 miles in a week – my highest mileage week ever (even during the “peak” of my cycle). I achieved this 46-mile week was only because I started Labor Day Monday with running the Zombie Runner/ Zoom Running Lake Vasona Half Marathon in Los Gatos.

Now, I find myself 2 days before my first-ever 26.2.

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It’s been a while – 16 mile milestone

Highest mileage week, yet!

It’s been a while… but before I get sucked up into other matters yet again, I need to get this down to help with future training.

16 miles is the longest run I’ve logged yet, ever, and it went surprisingly well. I attribute its success to a number of factors.

The Day Before

Though I woke up early (6:45am) to take the car in for service, I snuck in a nap around mid-day. I also bought a pastry and soymilk chai and had somewhat of a breakfast on the walk home from the dealership. For lunch I ate an ear of fresh corn and the leftover Santouka miso ramen which still had a goodly amount of noodles. Perhaps my body was trying to tell me something but I was constantly hungry and snacked a bit throughout the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime, when we had some Bun-Cha Rice Noodle Salad and Vietnamese meatballs for dinner. Bedtime at 10:30pm. Continue reading

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New Running Shoes

 

His and Hers Brooks Cascadia 7s

Like the noob I was, I started running in old, old way-too-small Sauconys – a fairly little-used pair that had seen some Lindy Hop partner dancing and perhaps some hip-hop choreography over the past 8(?) years. As I neared the completion of our Couch to 5K program, I decided to invest in some new shoes – the Saucony Shadow 6000 that didn’t seem too expensive, at the same shoe size I had always worn (6). I did manage to read some articles that indicated I should be ordering running shoes that were at least a half-size larger (to give your feet room), but chose, out of vanity (I like my small feet!) to ignore that advice. Continue reading

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