At the beginning of August I had gone on a trail run with some trail friends. One of them mentioned that the Headlands Hundred race had other distances besides the hundred miler. In fact, they have a 75 mile race, a 50 mile race AND a marathon. My friend was doing the marathon. It got my brain thinking (which is trouble, I know).
Even though I have been road training lately, I really miss the trails from time to time. Trails just provide a sense of adventure, some recovery for your body and ultimately, depending on the distances (and how you run them), are way easier.
So when I got home I looked up the race and started planning. I texted Stonegate to see if she was game for this. She had been mentioning that she wanted to get something on calendar recently so why not?
Turns out she was and the rest was history. For the month of August, I continued on my road CIM training way, barely stepping foot on the trails for more than a few miles. I knew from the get-go this marathon would be just a fun adventure on the trails for me. As it turns out, Stonegate didn’t do much training either! HA!
I am used to spontaneously running marathons on a whim with little to no training. She is not. She got her first dose of it this weekend and rocked it.
In typical Trailmomma and Stonegate style, we worried about the parking situation at the start. So, we were pretty much like the third car in the lot when we arrived at 5:45 am in the pitch blackness. We sat and waited a bit before heading down to get our race bibs and check in.
The start/finish area was insane. It was literally just steps from the ocean.
I got to see so many people I knew at the start. I had a few friends doing the 50 mile distance and throughout the course we would pass each other and give support.
The ultra distances started 5 minutes ahead of us and we also had to run an extra 1.2 miles around the parking area before hitting the trails to make up some distance. It was fun cheering on the ultra peeps as they took off.
As we were standing there, Stonegate noticed that her outfit some what clashed in terms of patterns and colors. haha I thought she looked great.
Finally we were off and running. Like I said above, we had to run a little ways up the road/path and then turn around before hitting the trail and then … it was instant climbing.
900 feet straight up. Some people ran more people hiked. We did a combination of both and then eventually settled into a good hike.
The views were amazing. I kept pulling out my phone to take photos realizing we were not even at the top of the first mountain yet.
Finally we made it to the top and we weren’t the only ones in awe stopping to take photos.
From the beginning, Stonegate and I decided this race was all about adventure and fun. We planned to stick together and enjoy the day.
Literally the course went up and down up and down. Very little flat sections.
Stonegate and I would just and run and talk and talk. At one point I met a girl named Paulette who is from my Oiselle racing team! It was so nice to meet her and chat for a bit. She’s running her first 50k in October.
At one point I realized we were not nearly as far into the race as I had thought and that I probably should start fueling and hydrating a little better. I was thoroughly engaged in the views that I was neglecting what I needed to do. Even though we weren’t “racing” it is important with all these intense climbs, to continue fueling well.
I took a page from Pigeon‘s playbook and brought some of the Peanut’s apple sauces from Costco with me. However, I threw them into the freezer the night before and put them in my pack frozen.
I pulled one out afraid it would be warm and it wasn’t! It was fully defrosted but still amazingly cold. I downed one instantly and I have to say, I REALLY liked this. A lot. Normally this kind of texture is not my thing … but these were great. They have 45 calories, about 8 grams of sugar and 12 grams of carbs. They are kind of like Gu (with about half the calories so keep that in mind) but they offer a great rush of sugar before you have to begin any kind of climb. They are also very easy on the stomach.
After running up and around this crazy foggy mountain with amazing views of the ocean below … we entered what we called the rain forest!
It was actually dripping some drops on us at times. We couldn’t help but squeal at the insanity of how beautiful this course was.
But after a few miles in the “forest” you are quickly dumped back out onto a trail with crazy views again.
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And of course more climbing…
There were times when we felt like we were on the edge of a cliff. Like above, there is nothing to the right of that trail except down down down.
I must mention that the wind on the these precarious trails was definitely starting to pick up. Poor Stonegate’s nose started to run from time to time … I just happened to take a selfie and accidentally caught her in full blow … it was pretty hilarious.
And when I say the wind picked up … I am talking about 30 mph winds while we were trying to run on this cliff that was open on both sides! In a few spots there was little guide rope that I think was there to prevent people from literally blowing off the mountain.
Finally we get dumped onto some pavement right in the middle of a crazy tourist attraction. I am talking hundreds of people standing there watching you come out of this trail wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts while they are bundled head to toe because they are about to go across the Golden Gate Bridge.
We have to run down this long long LONG road that basically has us run UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge. YES! The freaking Golden Gate!? It was crazy.
I kept taking a bunch of photos and Stonegate kept telling me that there would be better views … so down we ran. There was an aid-station at the bottom, this would be mile 19 of the race.
Stonegate seemed pretty anxious to get to the aid-station. She wanted to get some fuel in her fast. I just kept telling people, “LOOK! Look at that view!!” 🙂 I was beside myself. I kept thinking Vans would absolutely love this and I also kept thinking, “Um, the further we go down means the harder the up later.”
We passed Oiselle teammate Erin here as well. She was out crewing her boyfriend Seth. Erin is also an insanely talented runner. She’s also incredibly sweet. Even though she was out crewing for Seth, we got to see her at every aid-station and it really gave us a boost of energy. We’d stop and chat with her for a bit at every aid-station, clearly not rushing through the race. 🙂 Seth and I used to work together many years ago (pre-Squeaker) and he now owns The Ranch Athletics in Loomis. This was his first 50 and he was battling some hurdles but looked great every time I saw him. Another bonus to this course is that I got to see him and give him a high-five a few times throughout the race. He looked good each time!
Stonegate and I got our fill at this aid-station and then made the grueling hike back under the bridge and back up to the trail head. It didn’t seem to take that long to get back up as it had to get down to the bottom.
Now, now we were on our way home. 7 miles to go until the finish! But first we had to go back through that crazy windy section again.
Another bonus in this race is that the 50 milers when they go out on their second loop of the same course, they do it in reverse, so we get to see all the front runners coming in. Everyone was so supportive and nice. We only had 7 miles to go and they were on mile 32 out of 50 (I think I did that math right … haha).
The return, once you go back up a few of the big hills, is mostly downhill to the finish.
Stonegate and I just ran and ran and ran. All the runners coming in the opposite way would cheer for us and us for them. We’d pass quite a few runners too and we’d always give them some encouragement. I was feeling good and excited to get to the finish but I still felt strong, which was a great feeling to have.
The last mile is along the coastline. It is flat and on a nice little trail with the ocean to our left and a road to our right. Along this route we saw Seth heading out on his second loop and he looked great and was smiling. Erin was running with him too.
The ending was sort of anti-climatic though, no big hoopla going on. No one really announcing your name which is fine, because really, there were 3 other races still going on.
We crossed the finish line and received all our awesome schwag and our medal. We grabbed a few things to eat, said hello to a few people. Chatted with Erin again thanking her and her friend Monica profusely for being such an unexpected shining light on our day.
Overall it was a great day. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I felt great, I fueled well. I really enjoyed the frozen apple sauce packets. The company with Stonegate was fantastic. We laughed, we joked and we had a great time.
I also got to meet and see a few of my new Oiselle Volee team mates!
After the race, Stonegate and I returned to Mill Valley’s house where we were spoiled with a shower and a nice hot lunch. We are truly lucky to have Mill Valley be so gracious as to let us crash at her house the night before the race and to let us shower before our long drive home.
When I got home, I celebrated with an old marathon tradition of mine … champagne!
This race was my 10th marathon. I had not planned for it to be that way. CIM in December was supposed to be my big day (and it still will be I hope) but it was nice to have my 10th be on these amazing trails.
It was a memorable day for sure. I won’t forget my 10th marathon now. Fun, adventure, laughter and views that could blow the mind?! What more could a girl ask for?
Thanks Stonegate for joining me! This may be one of those races we run again … it was that fun. 🙂
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
