Carkeek 12-Hour

(Photo courtesy of Glenn Tachiyama)

I've been looking forward to writing about the Carkeek 12-Hour race as soon as I could find time. So, here I am, writing during commercials between SNL skits. Does anyone else notice the volumes of commercials that air during Saturday Night Live??

Back to the race. I don't know how I learned about the Carkeek 12-Hour, but I do remember drooling over the idea of running a 2-mile loop on a hilly trail for 12 whole hours, IN A COSTUME on Halloween day! I sheepishly mentioned the race to my husband to get his buy-in (since I would be gone ALL day) and then signed up!

The race started at 6 am, in the dark, and finished at 6pm when it was almost dark again. I was planning to bring a headlamp, but on the night before the race I had not yet pulled it out of my camping gear. My husband suggested I use the hand-held Nathan flashlight I recently purchased, and I decided that was good enough. I also packed some roasted baby potatoes, and mixed up a couple of Nalgene bottles of water with Tailwind. (I think I've finally decided that Tailwind is my endurance drink of choice.) The weather was supposed to be moist, so I packed extra shoes, socks, shirt, and jacket. Everything went in a big cooler. It's a great place to store things so they don't get wet in the rain, and you can sit on it as your chair. Most importantly, I had my skeleton costume ready to go. I spent about 4 hours during the week preceding the race painting the design on an old pair of running tights (they were too big so I put a big safety pin in the waist band to keep them on) and a race shirt that I turned inside out to paint on. I also had temporary tattoos to put on my face to look like a Day of the Dead skull (but more about that in the next paragraph).

Here is the hand-held flashlight that I used. The brightness was good--it illuminated the trail well. But the beam was constantly moving as I pumped my arms while running. If I am going to run for hours in the dark, I would prefer a head lamp. The beam from a head lamp is much more steady.

I planned on getting up at 4am Saturday and leaving the house by 5am. That would give me time to drive the 30 minutes to the start of the race. But I set my WEEKDAY alarm for 4 am rather than my WEEKEND alarm. My husband work me up at 5:15am. Yikes!! I got dressed and ran out the door--no breakfast, no time to put temporary tattoos on my face, no time to go to the bathroom. I arrived at the race as the race director was giving a 2 minute pre-race speech, and then we started running.

I had never run at this park so I just followed everyone in the dark. After a hour and one half, the sky started to lighten. Soon, I could turn off my flashlight and see the trail and the orange flags that were marking trail. And, at this point, everyone was strung out on the trail and I was running alone. It was peaceful, and raining. The wind blew as a leaf skittered across the trail like a little field mouse. Or maybe it was a mouse.

By the time it was completely light out, I had run 4 laps and the route was starting to feel like an old familiar friend. Here was the course.

The loop started out in the parking lot, next to the ocean and the train tracks.

Right away, the trail crossed a field and started heading uphill.

Uphill. The stairs say it all.

A peek-a-boo view of the ocean near the top of the hill.

The trail meandered through the trees. It was a very nice path with few rocks or roots.

First bridge.

Almost immediately after, second bridge.

This section of the trail was paved. It was short and flat, and near a sewage treatment plant perhaps.

Lovely stream.

Next stream. Another runner saw salmon running up it!

This rock was named the "happy rock" by another runner because it is just a few feet before the top of the last hill. It's all downhill from here to the start/finish/super-awesome-aid-station.

Super-awesome-aid-station. Around lunchtime, they warmed up home-made soup. I had Chicken Noodle and Butternut Squash with Fennel. Not only did the warm soup feel good, it was also a really nice break from the Gu. I think I had 18 packs of Gu that day!

There was so much more to the course that I didn't capture on film unfortunately. I ran 20 long (2-mile) laps and 3 short (.5 mile laps) for a total of 40.22 miles. The course is forever engrained in my brain. Throughout the day, I saw the daily life-cycle of the park. There were morning runners on the trail getting their exercise, late morning parents with babies strapped to their chests and Starbucks in their cups getting a little fresh air, and dog owners walking dogs of all sizes all day long. Every now and then I would end up running a lap with another 6- or 12-hour participant. Those miles always seem to go the fastest, probably because I am pleasantly distracted with light conversation. My last few laps were with Ellen Lavoie, my new trail running friend. We pushed each other along and tied for second place together!

Lap counting score board.

Check back in March when I hope to report in on the Cottontail 12-hour race on the same course!

Me and Ellen at 6:00 pm.