4 days, 40 miles, 1 pair of socks

For those who don't know, Derek and I just finished running a trip based on this article in the June issue of Runner's World. Below is my attempt to recount the run in some amount of detail.

Day 1
The trip is finally here! We leave the hotel on Sunday morning around 7:30am and head over to the trailhead. We're cutting a few miles off the beginning of the run, we're planning to do about 7 instead of the 10 that the article calls for. Why push it the first day? Let's see how we do and we can add miles back in later if we feel good. But something tells me that we're not going to feel good at the end of this trip.

The run is pretty intense, so I'm glad we cut off some of the miles. There are basically three big hills-- a 900 foot climb, a 500 foot climb and a 400 foot climb. Almost as bad as the inclines are the declines. While the uphills tend to be switchbacks, the downhills are basically straight shots down the hill and they are tough on the quads, ankles, and feet. The views are amazing--running up the hills and through the valleys and then back up the hills until we finally run down a final hill to Muir Beach. We run across the beach (not nearly as fun as it sounds) and billygoat it up a STEEP incline to the road. After a consultation with the map, we run about a half mile down the road and end up at the Pelican Inn--the termination of Day 1.

Unfortunately for us, it's about 10:30AM and the Pelican Inn won't let us check in until 3pm. Seems that there was a wedding here the night before and most of the rooms are still occupied. We're pretty sweaty and stinky, so we change in the bathroom off of the main hallway and head out to Sausalito for lunch. Sausalito is nice, but overrated. After lunch we head to the grocery store to pick up a few things and head back to the Pelican Inn to finally check in.

The Pelican Inn is a very authentic English-style bed and breakfast inn, just off of Muir Beach. The lady at the front desk was a complete C when we arrived at 11, but she couldn't be nicer now. She shows us to our rooms, gives us a quick tour of the place and we make reservations for dinner downstairs at 6. After a shower (finally!), unpacking a few things, and generally putzing around for a couple of hours, we head down to dinner. Dinner is surprisingly good and we're in bed by 8.

Day 2
We've learned our lesson from Day 1, so we're starting Day 2 at 10:30--aiming to get to the next hotel around 1. Today's run is about 7 miles, with plenty of up and down. We start at sea level and will end up at 960 feet. We'll run up a hill, down into Muir Woods and then back up Mt. Tam to our next hotel, the Mountain Home Inn.

We start out running along the road for a half mile or so and then up and along a ridge. The ridge is 1300 feet up, that's that a bit of a feat in and of itself. The descent puts us into Muir Woods as we careen over rocks and roots amongst the 300 foot tall redwoods. Once at the bottom, we head back up, to finally end at The Mountain Home Inn. 7 miles, 2440 feet in elevation gain, 1995 feet of elevation loss.

Once at the MHI, I can't wait to get in the shower. The shower is great--it's big, the water's HOT, and it has a huge tub. While taking my shower, all I want to do is sit down--so I decide to take a bath. After about 15 minutes of soaking in a steaming hot bath, I decide it's not time for a cold shower. You know, because I haven't bathed quite enough in the previous shower and bath.

Laugh at my bathing extravaganza if you will, but while I'm sore, I'm not as bad as I would have thought. My quads and calves are ok, knees, ankles, ass and hips are pretty sore. Knees and ankles are sore from the downhills, the ass and hips from the uphills. My body is telling me in no uncertain terms that I haven't done nearly enough hill work to be ready for something like this.

We spend a little time at one of the tables in the bar area looking a tomorrow's map and decide on a route and distance. We'll be running a fairly flat 11 miles along the Bolinas Ridge, but here's the kicker--it's going to be raining all day with 35-40 mph winds, gusting up to 60mph! Let's hope that it's behind us!

Day 3
Oh mommy.

The challenge of day 3 is that there are torrential downpours and sustained winds of 35-40 mph. That, along with a smooth 11 mile agenda should make for a treat of a run. We get out of the Mountain Home Inn around 11:15am and after stopping for gas, we finally get to the trailhead around 1pm. We get out of the car and there's no time for niceties—it’s damn cold. Or should I say, cold, windy, and rainy.

We head off into the trail starting at about 1500 feet of elevation and are scheduled to run slightly downhill the whole way into Olema. We start amongst the redwoods of Muir Woods and Mt. Tam State Park and we quickly realize that any hopes that we had of keeping any part of us dry is lost. It hasn't rained here in 7-8 months and the current monsoon is just dumping rain down on us (rainfall total for the day was about 3 inches). As a result, the trails are completely washed out and have streams of water running down and across them. At low points, there are huge puddles--generally 8-12 feet long, 3-4 inches deep, and as wide as the trail. Our early success rate in clearing the puddles is about 50% and as a result, our shoes are completely soaked. We continue on the trail, and on through the redwoods. The sights are amazing, the trees are 200-300 feet tall and supposedly germinated around the time of William the Conqueror. With the wind and the rain, it makes for quite a sight--something straight out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. We stop briefly to take it all in, but quickly move on. We were warned that the redwoods tend to drop a lot of branches and other debris in high winds, so we are careful not to linger too long. Debris falling from 300 feet could make for a pretty bad day--you know, because running 11 miles in the pouring rain wasn't already bad enough.

After about 5 miles, we make our way through the redwoods and the trail opens up into rolling meadows. At least that's what it looks like for the 200 or so feet that I can see. The wrinkle that the meadow throws at us is that we are now completely exposed to the wind and the rain is pelting us at 35 mph. Luckily for us, the wind is generally at our backs, so it makes the run a little easier. That, plus the gentle decline of the trail and we are making pretty good time. We pass miles and miles of pastures and see a couple of dozen cows. But the sight of the hills is tough to describe--they were almost too perfect. Rolling hills that reminded me of something that you would see on a milk carton or a cheese commercial. It was just that perfect. Expect for that pesky wind and rain.

As the miles crank by, the declines become tougher. Derek has a quad that has been bothering him for most of the run and my right knee starts aching around mile 6. Both ailments only seem to bother us on the downhills and we look ridiculous coming down even the mildest of slopes. At mile 11.37, our trail ends and we hit the road and begin the final descent to tonight's hotel, the Point Reyes Seashore Lodge. We are both soaked to the bone, tired, sore and looking forward to the end of the day. A forgettable meal at the bar next to the hotel and we're back in the rooms to try to dry our clothes and prep for the next day.Up next: a 1300 foot climb up Mt. Wittenburg and a 1000 foot climb up Mt. Vision before a final mile-long descent into Inverness. It's scheduled to be about 11 miles and sounds like a final kick in the pants to me.

Day 4
Day 4 starts with me checking my shoes. They are still pretty wet from the previous day’s romp, despite having them in front of the fireplace for 3 hours and in front of the open window all night. After breakfast, we get hairdryers from the front desk and get to work drying out our shoes.

Today’s agenda is a fairly ambitious one, 11 miles and two 1000+ foot climbs. Neither of us feels great, but all things considered, we don’t feel all that bad either. The weather seems to be generally cooperative—it’s foggy and about 60 degrees—not bad running weather. We get to the trailhead and head on an initial climb. Mt. Wittenburg is first up and the climb is about 1400 feet in two miles. We basically hike this climb due to the incline of the hill—there are almost no switchbacks, just a straight shot up the hill.

Once at the top, we are left to imagine how great the view must be—we can’t see more than about 50 feet due to the fog. That’s too bad, because I could really use an excuse to catch my breath. We continue on, stopping every mile or so to check the map and make sure that we’re on the right trail.

Around mile 7, we reach Mt. Vision. Our knees are really barking now, just in time for another 1000 foot climb. The uphills aren’t so bad on the knee, it’s the downhill that I’m now dreading. It’s a mile or two up and a mile or two down, but I’m comforted by the thought that it’s only a couple of more miles until the pain will stop. I quicken my pace until we reach the final descent. According to the article, it’s supposed to be a beautiful run down Mt. Vision into Inverness, overlooking Tomales Bay. Instead, it’s a comical vision of two gimps, each dragging a leg behind them, peg-leg style.

No matter how ignominious the ending, we’ve done it! The final mileage is 37.11 (6.94, 6.68, 12.16, and 11.33 miles). We’re tired and sore, but already talking about where the next trip should be.

Anyone want in?