March: Decent Start

Waitlists haven't gone the way I've wanted them to so far, in that I haven't moved up a single slot for Hardrock, and I'm still 7 or 8 for Barkley, meaning that's not happening. But actual races have gone fairly well after the uninspired Rocky Raccoon.

I ran Way Too Cool 50K again, and had a good race. The course is flattish compared to many other nearby 50Ks I've run, so I was worried it would be boring to repeat it, but with all the rain and resulting green, this year's course had significantly different views than when I ran it two years ago. I finished in 5:02, 25 minutes slower than 2015, but given that I thought it might take me 5:30 or more, I was pretty happy with the results.


I also ran Marin Ultra Challenge 50-miler the next weekend. I've taken a few years off of running regular (sanctioned, on-trail) ultras in Marin County since I've done so many of them and got tired of the repetition, but I was impressed when I saw Inside Trail's MUC course--a 50 mile loop with almost no repetition, including a few trails I'd never been on before (Willow Camp climb out of Stinson, and TCC lovely rolling descent out of Pantoll). Aside from realizing at the Carquinas Straight toll plaza on the drive to the start that I was on mistaken-auto-pilot and totally going the wrong way, it was a great day.

I managed to start on time, saw the sun rise several times thanks to early climbs in and out of Karl the Fog's marine layer, listened to a whole bunch of foghorns, and  finished 10:20. Under ten hours would have been awesome, but I was thinking it might take me anywhere from 10-12 hours, so I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Apparently, I've got all my endurance back after my usual October-January off season. Now I just need leg speed. So I've decided I'm going to do at least one weekly track workout. Except I've got a cold right now, so we'll see.

New friends at the dog park
Ben Gould for District 4
Really the only bad thing in March was that my friend Ben lost his race for City Council in the special election. The new majority on the council has lived up to all my anti-housing fears. Oakland is doing a little better though, so it's not all bad. 
Berkeley

Good morning





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