Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of joining over 550 trail runners for the Pirates Cove 8K/20K/30K/50K in the Bay Area headlands near San Francisco, CA. It was an epic adventure of staggering climbs, windy peaks, and a storm that chased us into the hills. Pirates Cove has also been my first Ultra(Metamorphosis to an Ultramarathon) so this run did have a special significance in my heart. All in all, a great race to sampling for what to expect for Miwok 100K.
Us at the starting line
I started the run with Chakri, Chandrika, Bharti near the Rodio Beach which was alive with runners jumping in place and filling the cold air with sharp exhales of steamy breath. I recognized many faces in the crowd as I shed my layers and got ready to race. Chandrika was running her first trail run and was really exited about the prospect – look I happy she looks 
(All Photo Courtesy of Chakri Gulipalli – thanks for carrying the camera)
Tackling the first hill
At 8:30am, we were off! – Started with a walk up the steep hill – recognized Yolanda Holder who also had been walking in the 12 hour run I ran last year.
The rest of the course was beautiful with amazing views – met few interesting runners including the lady with the “wrong distance runners” tshirt, Steve Tharp from Vacaville CA – who started running couple of years ago and has lost around 40 lb so far – finished his 30k with an average of 13 min/mile over the hills.
Wrong Distance Runners
Running into the Fog
Amazing Views
The second 20 k loop was much easier than I expected – I actually ran up the first hill and managed to pass several runners during the various uphills – even managed to shake off Jeremiah Hower & Kimio Bazett who were just behind me for a while.
At finish (7hrs 3mins) Bharti and her husband were waiting for me. Thanks for waiting for the 2+ hours after running 30 km you guys are amazing. I raised my glass to the RD’s and volunteers who have been there all year-long, especially on the challenging days like today. You are my heroes! Until next year…
April 11, 2010 at 10:47 pm
[...] April 11, 2010 Miwok 100k prep Posted by Vivek under running, training, ultrarunning | Tags: 2010, hillrun, Miwok, Miwok100k, piratescove | Leave a Comment After two back to back up weeks I am finally feeling confident about miwok 100 ( thanks to Reshu, Vineeta, Gargi, Raj Ghuman, Jaswinder (Mrs. Ghuman), Martina, and Anup . I have been using the following plan for the past month or so (starting with the Pirates Cove 50K) [...]
April 15, 2010 at 1:25 pm
[...] Return to the Pirates Cove 50K (arunner.wordpress.com) [...]
May 31, 2010 at 7:35 pm
[...] Return to the Pirates Cove 50K (arunner.wordpress.com) [...]