Really happy with how my Golden Gate Dirty 30 race went yesterday. At this race, you could choose the time you start based on the time you expect to finish. Since I was shooting for a 6:18-6:30 I started at 8am which meant I was with the really fast peeps! We all started off pretty fast considering we immediately started going up a decent sized climb. After a couple miles I decided if I were going to have a good day I just needed to do my own thing and slow it down a bit up the climbs....which meant I let a lot of people pass me. I think I may have been last in that group, as I passed the first aid station without stopping, I looked back and couldn’t see anyone behind me.
At one of the intersections, a woman told me I was in 10th place but I tried not to be concerned with it and just did my thing. The course was so pretty so I made sure that I enjoyed the trail time! It was also a really rocky course so it took a lot of concentration not to fall. At this point, I was in my groove and started passing people that were in the 7 hour start time and then some that started with me at 8am. I passed a couple girls that I thought started at my time which meant I was moving up in the field. As I passed one woman that had started with me, I told her to come with me and I asked where she was from, what she was training for....we ran the sketchy section together and all the way to the 17mile checkpoint. I was in and out of there in about a minute. I looked for her before leaving and was going to see if she still wanted to come with me and continue to share some miles but I didn’t see her and didn’t want to waste time so I just took off. On my way out I saw Courtney Dauwalter cheering folks on and got a high five from her.
We immediately hit another climb so I made sure to eat my nutrition (M&M’s) on the way up since I didn’t really spend much time at the aid station. It felt good to pass people on the uphills and even better to reel them in on the downhills. I love downhill running because I just go for it. It’s more technical running where you have to fast turnover. It takes a lot of concentration because you are always looking ahead and acting fast on your feet!
On the last BIG climb up to Windy Peak, I saw two of my friends Sam and Melissa. They were a little ahead of me on the climb - on the way down I passed but soon after Sam came with me and since she too is a really really strong downhill runner she got in front and led us to the finish. There was a woman in front of her that I had passed a little earlier in the race but then she passed me again but that I had my eye on. I wanted to pass her and it was like Sam read my mind because right at the last corner Sam stepped off and let me go by and I was right on that woman’s heals, I asked to pass and she said there was no room so as soon as we got on the flat ground with the finish line ahead of us, I kicked it in and put 5 seconds on her for a 7th place finish! I kind of felt bad passing her in the end but we had been back and forth already and after all, it is a race.
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| Pic Cred: Wendy Stalnaker |
Overall it was a really good day, no stomach issues, no real breathing issues...and I just felt strong! It was fun afterward too because we had a lot of friends there :) Good times!
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| Pic cred: Bj Howell |
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| Pic Cred: Melissa Renee |
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| Pic Cred: Wendy Stalnaker |
Race stats:
32.2 miles
7250ft of Vertical Gain
6:37:40hrs
7th Place woman/2nd Age-group
