Skirt 'n Dirt 10k Race Report

This Saturday I ran a really fun trail race called the Skirt 'n Dirt Trail Run in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, CA.  I ran the 10k distance but there was also a 25k and 50k distance.  I was running with my good friend Liane, it was her first 10k and she did GREAT! It was an all-women's race with a companion race called Stud 'n Mud that ran with us but it was mostly women.  The race organizer, Inside Trail Racing was awesome and I would highly recommend any races organized by them for several reasons:

1) The trail markers were vandalized and volunteers got up super early to fix this so we could have a safe and fun race.  What nice people, right? 

2) They had lightly flavored or unflavored electrolyte drinks instead of Gatorade. They also had plenty of yummy snacks.

3) SWAG. I got a hat, a shirt, a wine glass (right?) and medal. For a 10k this is pretty awesome bang for your registration buck. 

The race is in the Oakland Hills which I have run before during my half-marathon last year during the Cinderella Trail Run.   They are absolutely beautiful trails and also have plenty of rocks that make barefooting not the most fun. So, I strapped on my Vibram Fivefinger Bikilas and intending to enjoy the scenery of towering Redwoods instead of picking my way around rocks on the trail. The Bikilas worked well enough except for a weird bruising in the joint of one of my toes. I'm looking around at other trail shoes without toe pockets.

I arrived a little later than when I had agreed to meet up with my friend so I warmed up running around between the check-in table and the bathrooms before I found her.  We started off at 8:30 am. after the 25k and 50k runners started at 8:00 a.m. This might have been a little late for a summer run but 90% of the run was in delightful heavy shade.  I had checked out the elevation profile and was a little intimidated- it was "only" 850 ft. elevation change for the 10k but 600 of that was in the first 2.5 miles and the 500 ft. climb from mile 1.5-2.5 was... challenging to say the least.  I need to run more hills.

Took a couple of blurry pictures with my phone while catching my breath on the climb. 

However, after that initial beast of a climb it was mostly downhill from there!  It was a pretty small race so I was running alone most of the time with just a couple glimpses of a person in front of and behind me.  There were a lot more roots on this trail than on my other trail runs and that proved to be my quite literal downfall in the last mile of the race.  My right foot caught a root and I went down on my hands and my right knee.  I hopped up and hobbled the rest of the way not sure how bad it was hurt.  The medical technician wrapped it with ice and although I've got a nasty bruise, a swollen knee and a slight limp today it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think walking around after the race helped the potential stiffness.

My time was 1:14:06- not a personal best of course but my personal best for 10k was on a flat road and this was a hilly trail so they're really not comparable.  I did come in 3rd in my age group which was my first time placing in a race!  Great race overall and it is getting me pumped for my Fall Halfs! 

Barefoot in a Port-a-potty / 10k Race Report

I ran the Go Green St. Patrick's Day 10k in Los Gatos, California yesterday.

It was a slightly chilly  morning and my feet felt a little numb as I walked up the road to the packet pickup area. I picked up my race number and shirt and walked around to warm up my feet.  The line for the bathrooms was long, so I jogged up the hill adjacent to the starting line and looked for... a bush of some kind.  I didn't find any that were suitably secluded so I jogged back down the hill and waited in line.  I considered getting my flip-flops out of my car to enter the Port-a-Potty but reasoned that: 1) I didn't have enough time to go back to my car and 2) Really, is a Port-a-Potty floor that had just been placed there that morning that much potentially hazardous than the sidewalks and streets I have run on before? Probably not. So yes... I was barefoot in a Port-a-Potty.

Anyway, on to the race. I lined up and waited for the race to start. There was a sea of green shirts, tutus, hats, and even a guy wearing the Irish flag as a cape. We started off slightly crowded but that was completely a non-issue by the 1/2 mile mark. We were running on the paved roads of Vasona Lake Park and soon were on the surrounding streets, which were relatively smooth and not a problem at all for my soles.  A few people commented amongst themselves at my bare feet but no one came up to ask me about it. The first four miles were mostly a gently downhill and the last 2.2 were a slight uphill. Not a tough course from a hill standpoint, which is probably why I was able to pull a personal best time of 56:54.  I was elated to find that out after crossing the line with a time of 1:07:15, not realizing that the clock was from the start of the Half that was running the same day and had started 10 minutes before the 10k.

A woman taking the timing chip ankle straps at the finish line asked if my feet were Ok. I gave her an enthusiastic "Yep!" and picked up my awesome medal and headed home.

I don't have any race pictures to share because I look like I am having a serious, possibly heart-attack inducing time and not a fun time, which it was.