Back To Running

I felt a little uneasy not running for two weeks after Wasatch 100 since I already had so much time off running in-between each 100 miler this summer. It may sound weird, but I felt like I really took things easy for most of the past few months - I just had four major days of running dawn 'til dusk.

So it's been surprisingly liberating to try to run fast again in the past week after a lot of plodding and hiking. To kick things off I entered the Coastal Trails Diablo half marathon as it's just down the road and I wanted an excuse to push hard on Mt Diablo as it's my favorite place to run in the Bay Area. A few weeks ago the mountain was on fire (apt, given the name) but luckily the majority of trails were basically ok. It uses the most direct route to the summit from Mitchell Canyon Trailhead, a 6.7-mile, 3,400ft climb up fire-roads and single-track then back again at full speed.

One thing that appeals is that I want to chase the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the climb and descent and the quickest that I can find evidence for is the 1:49:20 CR from this race in 2012. I think a Sage or Max King could run low 1:30s, so as long as they stay away I think I've got a shot and will give it a few attempts through the winter.

In this race I got to chase Jonas Oppedal but was five to six mins back by the summit (1:12 was my split), before hammering after him in a fun chase that even didn't get me within sight. He ran a tantalizing 13 seconds over the course record and I was 81 seconds behind him in 1:50:54. Strava info here.

Another great event from Coastal Trail Runs, one of the best reasons to live in the Bay Area.

Also, UltraSportsLive.tv made a video of the race showing some of the great trails and views on Diablo: