Ouch, I hurt myself today...and it was sweet. I decided to, finally, run the dipsea trail from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. It is a tougher course than I expected, and I am wimpier than I expected... Not much flat on this one, you start by climbing up out of mill valley on the three sets of "Dipsea Steps" then you wind your way on mostly trail and fireroad over the coastal mountain between the north bay and the ocean. Views are stunning, patches of deep and dank redwood forests through Muir Woods (imagine the endor scenes in Return of the Jedi, they were filmed not too far from this area, I think I saw a few ewokes on the return journey and I heard c3po but that is another story..) then you are treated to some amazing views of pacific on one side and bay area on the other. What can I say, I live in paradise. I ran a bit off the official dipsea course I think because I was always about 1 mile more than the race markers. I got to stinson beach and it was so nice and sunny, wanted to hang in the sand and swim but I knew that I hade an 8+ mile return trip, I looked at the mountain and felt some grizzly angst, but up and over I went, so much vert, tons and tons of stairs in trail, many more than I realized when I went out, awesome feeling when I got back to my car-warmed sandwhiche, hot orange slices and flat coke, tasted like much heaven. Nutrition on trail: 2 hammer gels, 1 granola bar, 1 large apple, tons of water from my nathan total vert ala garmin: ascent 8468 ft, descent 7775 ft buffalo next month sounding ominous, sorry for long write-up, feeling a bit loopey Later: 2 buddies made me play cut-throat racquetball for 2 hrs, tomorrow..rest
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