A Trail Running Weekend

This weekend brought two fantastic days on the trails plus my longest trail run to date, 16.6 miles. I couldn't bear the thought of a long run on our usual South Bay routes this weekend and I was itching for dirt, so I convinced Kevin to make the drive out to Big Basin State Park for our long run. Big Basin is part home to the Skyline to Sea Trail, a trail that starts in Saratoga Gap and ends at the ocean by Waddell Beach. I've had my eye on running this trail for quite some time because I've heard such great reviews.

Of course, the trail is very long and we didn't run the whole length of the trail Saturday. I'm saving that for - drumroll please - my 50K debut at the Coastal Trail Runs Big Basin 50K on June 8, 2014. Multiple race companies run a 50K event on the Skyline to Sea Trail at different times of the year, but June feels like perfect timing with no ski season training plus time to add in a few longer trail events early in the year as prep. Even better? I can train on the course and sleep in my own bed! Kevin has generously agreed to chauffeur me to the start and to pick me up at the finish so I can avoid the long morning bus ride.

For our Saturday run, we started near Park Headquarters so we could get oriented to the park and get the paper trail map. I prefer to get the nice paper maps instead of trying to print one online because they are so much easier to read. Then I have them for planning future runs; I have stashed quite a few park maps on our bookshelf by now. Big Basin is a huge park and has tons of trails in addition to Skyline to the Sea. I can't wait to explore more and more of them.

The highlights of the run were Redwood trees along the way and the mountain rock faces near the top of one peak. You climb into the Santa Cruz mountains and then descend into the basin, so the terrain and scenery change a lot during the course of the run. It's gorgeous.

 Rock near the top after climbing out of Big Basin.

One of the mega-trees.

And how could I forget the last highlight (lowlight?) - my first trail running fall. I'm fine, just a few scratches and a sore arm and hip. For no reason I recall, I took a nice dive going downhill while crossing the rock section on the way back. I landed in a bunch of pine needles so it was pretty soft, although the abundant little pine needle cuts on the right side of my body actually hurt. The falling feeling shook me up more than I would have expected, and I was timid on the downhills back to the car.

Today I went out for a little over 5 miles with Sophia, who is visiting the Bay Area from Truckee, for some easy trail miles. Considering how worried I was about my sore hip and long run fatigue, I felt great! We went to Steven's Creek County Park, another new park for me, and a park I'll be returning to for more trail running. It has a mix of single track, fire road, a reservoir, and nice views. 

This weekend is a wrap, back to work tomorrow through Wednesday and then I'm off to Phoenix for Ragnar Trail Relay at McDowell Mountain. Can't wait!

Comments

  1. Big Basin looks awesome -- good luck training for your first 50K!
    Falling sucks, but now you've been fully initiated as a trail runner. Congrats! ;) I've had a couple of falls, one in which I sprained my right thumb and another where I scraped up and bruised my ankle pretty badly (it is still tender after 5 weeks!). Hopefully you didn't suffer anything too serious from your fall.

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    1. Thanks! And yes - feeling initiated, haha. Probably surprising it hadn't happened yet...

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  2. The trail sounds like fun. I haven't done any hikes or anything up in Big Basin other than a few camping trips. At least the fall didn't hinder your run on Sunday. I haven't been to Steven's Creek in years but when I was younger my dad would take us out there to walk and such. Lots of fun. I think I'll have to revisit the trails there :)

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  3. Sorry to hear about your fall. I fall on a regular basis when I trail run; I actually just fell hard on my knee yesterday!
    This run sounds and looks gorgeous! I can't imagine how beautiful your 50k will be. Can't wait to see photos from your training runs!

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    1. Oh man, hard on the knee sounds really bad. At least I got some padding by falling on the glute? :)

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  4. How exciting about your 50k, Paulette! You're going to be a ultra runner before we know it :) Hope you're okay from the fall! I'm sure you'll take it easy on the downhills for a bit, but by the time you get to that 50k, all will be forgotten!

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    1. Thank you thank you! I even felt better on Sunday's trail run, so that's a good sign. :)

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  5. Sorry about your fall, but welcome to the trail fall club! It ain't trail running, until you can prove it! ;)

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  6. Sorry about the fall, glad it wasn't worse than it was!

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