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! 

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve Trail Run

Yesterday, I ran 8 miles on a trail in the Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve with Run365, a local running club.

It was a little colder than I expected, because my brain still hasn't grasped the concept of the San Francisco Bay Area microclimates, and I was underdressed for the Oakland hills and the fog that surrounded them. I strapped my Vibram Bikilas onto my water belt because I had not run barefoot on a technical trail in over a year and wasn't sure how my soles would hold up. The entire two hours we ran through a blanket of thick fog that hid the vistas as we ran along ridges with steep drop-offs.

There were a variety of surfaces- from packed dirt with layers of dry leaves to mud to rocks.  The dirt and mud were easy as pie and even fun to run on but the rocks left my arches pretty bruised and made me question whether more than 8 miles barefoot on these type of trails was something I even wanted to do.  I love trail running and am going to need to find a balance with possibly training in minimal shoes while running some trails and still getting in barefoot mileage on sidewalks and roads and paved trails. As with most trail running in the Bay area, it was hillier than the moderate hills I usually run on in my neighborhood - we had an elevation change of about 1000 ft. but the beautiful surroundings and chatting with running partners made the miles go by quickly and easily.

I'm not sure we were actually trespassing here, as this sign was on the road gate and not on the pedestrian one.  Either way, I can assure you we weren't a band of jerks littering the watershed with Gu packets. I don't eat Gu anyway.

Pictures of my feet about 3 miles into the run and again after I drove home.

Photos courtesy of my friend Dolores N., a pacer with the RUN365 group.

Lake Merritt

Yesterday, my friend and I ran around Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.  It's a little over 3 miles around the lake and just a couple of blocks from BART. We're running a 10k trail race at the end of August together and this was our first run together! It was a very pleasant run- sunny but not hot, live music along the path, and a variety of surfaces.  It started off as smooth concrete, but there was also packed dirt with roots and small gravel. Running on a variety of surfaces is great for conditioning bare feet.  Last year, when I was preparing for my half-marathon, I ran 14 miles in training on sidewalks and thought that was plenty to condition myself for the race. Ha! I ended up putting on my Vibrams at mile 9 or so because the sheer variety of surfaces I had run over- packed dirt with pine needles, slab rock, large gravel, roots, and rocks had done a number on my soles.  That combined with an over 1900 ft. elevation gain and hot temperatures made for a tough race. I hope to condition my feet a little better for the upcoming 10k and have a little more fun with the race as a result. Barefoot running is awesome but it is even more awesome when you can run a race pain-free!

Lake Merritt Oakland, CA