I have been trail running a lot recently and feeling great on the longer distance runs and the uphill climbs. Given my very busy work and weekend schedule, my goal is to run a half marathon at least once, preferably twice a month to keep in running shape. Interestingly, I would never have thought I could do this a couple years ago. Now, I can get up and run a half marathon any time of the day. Except when I have a whole in my shoe, no traction left and it's raining on a steep trail :) Unfortunately, confidence can sometimes lead to overconfidence, which is a bad idea on long steep trail runs. Table Rock race, organized by La Sportiva was set in the Mt. Tam region in Marin (north of the Bay Area). The first 3 miles of the Table Rock run wound up ~2000 feet and subsequently descended 2000 feet in 3 miles to near the start line. At this point, the half marathon continued up 1500 elevation game for 3 miles and the final 3-4 miles was the descend down to the finish line. On the first part of the race up 2000 feet, my pace was strong and I was passing several people along the way. On the way down, I passed several runners as well, until two ladies refused to give way to people, undeterred by their own slow pace. I tried to run fast on the downhill and ended up twisting and subsequently spraining my ankle around mile 5. Luckily, the start (and finish) were near the end of mile 6, \xde5so I was able to exit the race to rest my ankle. Here's our course map. We started with the Pink course and then went out to the orange course Take a look here at our brutal elevation map: Even though I wasn't able to finish my race, I had a great time and an awesome exercise! The best part? Justin finished 5th in his age group at the 10K! That's the pink look above :).
Here's Justin looking awesome with his
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I HATE to be writing this post because I love how hidden and quiet this wildlife preserve is! My friend described this area as a "Gem in the Rubble". The Preserve is located on the East Bay side of the Dumbarton bridge and has miles and miles of running, hiking, biking trails. There are usually very few people around here and they're always the friendly sort. Being on the bay, there is usually a cool breeze, but not quite as bad as the one in San Francisco. This area is marshlands, so the smell of salt and sea is very heavy - but I find it refreshing. Throughout the running trails, the views of the bay and the dumbarton bridge are stunning. Several wild rabbits run around the trails, so keep an eye for them. The area is mostly dog friendly and I have brought my pup, Snow, for many runs around here. Here's my usual afternoon run route: Here are some pics of the gorgeous views along the way! Hope you enjoy this hidden gorgeous part of the SF Bay Area!
Because Sardine Lake is GORGEOUS, we decided to spend our next day to go toward the upper sardine lake. This is a short 1ish mile hike from the lower sardine lake area. The path can be done in a 4X4 and it looked cool when some of the trucks were getting after it. Except, when one brand new chevy truck without any special wheels decided to go for it... they ended up with a massive scar down on one side of the truck. We did the trail on our mountain bikes. It wasn't the best trail to mountain bike, but it was fun anyhow. The upper lake is stunning with clear water and far fewer people than the lower lake. The water in the lake is not too warm, but offers an invigorating experience on a warm sunny day. To get to the cliff for jumping ~7 feet into the water, hang left at the trailhead and stay close to the water. There is an unofficial trail that goes to the cliff. I would advise against jumping off the higher cliff since the water level is low. The lower cliff is great and the water is plenty deep to jump in Here are some of our pics: Going towards the cliff to jump in the lake Justin leaping into the lake! Other hikers and Snow looking. Thats me jumping into upper sardine lake!!
Who would have thought that guns and Trump are NOT needed to make America great?! HA! America has the greatest national forest land and national parks for people around the world to visit and enjoy! Usually, I get my way when it comes to planning our adventures. But this time, it was Justin's turn. Justin wanted to find a lake that we could drive to and camp and totally chill out. It sounded like a great idea, so we found Sardine Lake in the northern Sierras for our camping spot. A quick 4 hour drive from SF, the real time on long weekend is more like 6 hours. So plan to leave at odd hours or the relaxation will go right through the window during the commute itself. Campgrounds around the lake are not amazing as they are quite commercial and you're essentially breathing into each other's necks. I recommend heading north to find camping in Snag lake area or even south of Sardine Lake to find more privacy. We had a hammock and I had been dreaming of just chilling the hammock reading my kindle. The weekend went better than planned! We whipped out the GoPro for our day on the lake and just chilled out all day. On a whim, we bought our inflatable canoe, which turned out to be an AWESOME idea! The Explorer K2 Kayak costs nothing for the various adventures we will be taking in it. Whats even cooler is that we had plenty of room for our doggie, Snow! Check out our pics here: Our doggie, Snow, wasn't stoked in the beginning to get in the canoe, but in a short while she calmed right down and took to enjoying the weather, water and scenery (at least we think so!).
It was the most relaxing time ever and we can't wait to have more adventures in our cool new yellow taxi! After the Mt. Whitney hiking fail, I needed some self validation. Yeah, thats a thing. I decided to do this trail run half marathon during my flight back from a work trip 2 days before the actual half marathon. I have no regrets. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time pushing myself to my limits of running. The longest I had consistently run before this half marathon was 9.5 miles, so getting a solid 13.1 mile trail run was pretty exciting. The first part of the trail was a brutal 1500 feet gain as you can see from the elevation map below. But, the downhill was a total blast! The trail wound through some technical sections and single track region through the redwoods. I was listening to some Puddle of Mud on the way and it kept my rhythm and speed consistent throughout the run. The trail wound through the Redwood State Park in Oakland, CA. A short 30 min drive from San Francisco in the weekend morning. Unfortunately, the race organizers weren't able to hand out the bibs till after the race started, so several of us had a pretty late start! The pic below shows our course in Pink. My overall time was ~2 hours but I can't be sure because of the delayed start. I think we started 10-15 mins after the start time. My goal for this run wasn't the time on the clock but more a test of my physical ability. I had a really great time with some great fellow runners and beautiful trails in the park! Now I am looking forward to the next adventure on the trail!
Long story short: Do NOT underestimate this brutal "day" hike. Why do you ask we decided to summit the highest summit in continental US in one day? Hmm. I think it's because of overconfidence, zero failed summit attempts and in general a sheer love of inflicting pain on ourselves. This type 2 fun activity is totally awesome, but also totally killer. Below is the list of our key mistakes and how to avoid them: 1. Poor Planning We didn't plan. At all. So much so, that we bought peanut butter, jelly, chips for lunch and forgot to buy bread...The night before we started hiking, we didn't even know exactly how long the route was, what the hike entailed, whether or not water was available on the hike, etc. Being a mountaineer, one tends to become quite confident about long hikes and one's gear. This happened to us and it is quite unfortunate because we probably won't get to try again until next year. Due to poor planning, by the time we go to base camp, we thought we were much further than we really were and this was quite debilitating. I highly recommend you plan ahead. Plan your route, your day, your food and your gear. If you're unsure about the snow conditions, call the rangers, look for blogs. But be prepared for alpine conditions at all times. 2. Leaving at 5:30 AM We didn't end up leaving our campsite till it was quite early in the morning at around 5:30. This meant that we started around 6 AM, which is quite late to go up a giant mountain. It's doable if you're a long distance runner, but we weren't in long distance running shape. Bottom line, leave early! Plan to be at the trailhead at 2-2:30 AM and even earlier if you're not in great shape. 3. We carried basic hiking shoes and rented crampons This mistake was actually more significant than starting off late. We ended up making it to base camp (~12k feet) around 11 am, which isn't bad timing. However, the weather was blistering hot and the snow had all turned into slush by the time we got to the snow field. This wasn't ideal. The crampons were basically useless due to the slushy snow. It was taking people 6 hours to summit from the saddle region with full mountaineering gear. We could have attempted to summit at that point. But that would have meant wet shoes, pants and freezing legs for 7+ hours. No thanks. Therefore, bring mountaineering boots in June (pre-summer) weather. For the rest of the hike, my brand new salomon quest hiking shoes worked great without a single blister in my feet. It is true that you can summit Whitney in trail running shoes. But that is possible only after most of the snow is gone. AKA, bring proper shoes for snow traverse on the mountain. 4. Attempt a one-day hike This was easily the worst decision. Justin and I are fit people - not insanely fit, but fit enough. We have hiked half dome in 7 hours round trip, climbed Grand Teton in one day, etc. But combination of heat, slushy snow, improper gear was an utter disaster, especially when combined into a single day's adventure. The smart thing to do would be to spend the night at base camp and still leave for the summit next morning at 3 - 4 AM. Respecting your body is the single most important thing on the mountain and I am glad we decided to turn around. 5. Permits! If you're busy with your career and want to get out over the weekend to climb Whitney, you're very limited with options. Permits are insanely hard to get for an overnight or day trip to Whitney and tend to run out as soon as they are open to public. We made a mental note of booking our overnight permit once the permits were available on the Recreation.Gov website. These mental notes have a way of not working as well as you'd like :D . I recommend you add a calendar update and an alarm to get the exact dates you're looking for. All in all, it was a great experience. The views were stunning, the the company was excellent and the weather was gorgeous. We didn't make it, but I did realize that failures are often a better learning opportunity than victories. And this experience was a solid reminder to train for your goals. Beginning of the hike and first of several stream crossings. This was just divine! Gorgeous view of Lone Pine Lake from the trail. View of Mt. Whitney from the trail camp. Going towards the saddle to the 99 switchbacks We decided to turn back, but had a great time. Until next time Whitney!
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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