Friday, June 17, 2011


Golden Gate Dirty Thirty Race Executive Summary

(Photo: Woody)

I raced the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty a couple weeks back. It was a local race. I signed up for it on a whim, and really didn’t give it much thought until a day or so before the race. The timing kind of sucked, as it was stuck between a 50M race and my impending 100M race. Nevertheless, I knew the course was amazing, and I had a lot of friends running, so I couldn’t really help myself.

Being so close to home, it didn’t
require any substantial travel or an overnight stay. The downside to that was I had to set my alarm for 3:45 am to make it to the race on time.

Some quick notes (not necessarily highlights):

-With about 10 minutes until race time, the lines for the porta-potties were long. I was forced to go on a bushwhacking excursion to poop in the woods before the race. Great start to the morning.

-This is one of the first races where I will openly admit that I probably ran too fast for the first half. At one point I was in 5th place. I finished in 15th.

-At mile 20 I felt a tremendous urge to stop on the side of the trail and take a nap.

-At mile 21 I took an gnarly fall, flying forward on the trail, and of all things, ripping off the tip of my pinkie. Merely a flesh wound, but it bled profusely.

-Finishing time was 5:30:18. Those 18 seconds really piss me off.

-Great time chilling by the creek enjoying some beers with friends post race.

-Weird “only happens to an ultrarunner moment of the day: stood in the bathroom of the Ogden during a concert that night, attempting to superglue the tip of my finger together so I wouldn’t bleed everywhere.


Pre-race discussions with JT. Probably discussing beer or my recent bathroom excursion. (Photo: Anton )

Early in the Race
(Photo: Woody)

A couple seconds later.
(Photo: Anton )

Finishing & watching those precious 18 seconds run off the clock.
(Photo: Woody)

That's right. An Ambulance, for my cut pinkie. Quite the contrast to this guy. (Photo: Woody)

...and he walked off into the distance....with a cooler full of beers.
(Photo: Woody)

2 comments:

  1. I love that in that photo of JT all you can see is his big beer gut.

    Sorry this wasn't your race. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. oops - the "not your race" part was stuck in my head from the DNF, not this one. I'm a moron.

    ReplyDelete