Griffith Park Trail 1/2 Marathon

With the California International (road) Marathon a couple weeks out, I thought this would be a perfect race to jump into.  I've heard great things about it from people who've run in it the last couple years, I've yet to set foot in Griffith Park (crazy, I know) so I signed up.

Myself, John Mering and Andres Diaz

8:30AM rolled around and we were off, straight up a nice hill.  I quickly fell a little behind the lead pack of last year's winner John Mering, Andres Diaz, Jesse Haynes and Sergio Arias.  I was dying trying to keep up, and eventually had to let them pull away a bit.  After climbing 500' in the first mile we got to head downhill for a bit and I caught everyone except the leader.  But as soon as we started uphill Andres would pass me.  I'd pass him again on the downhills and we continued to yo-yo like this for the first 6 miles.  At this point I caught up to John, but he pulled away as soon as we began climbing again and eventually kept about a minute lead on me the rest of the race.  Results here.

Before the race I was concerned that with 400 runners the out'n'back sections would get crowded and chaotic.  This wasn't the case at all.  The majority of the course was on smooth and wide dirt roads, and the volunteers at nearly every turn helped keep the race running smoothly.  The out and backs were fun because I got to see how friends behind me were doing, was able keep tabs on my buddy Jesse Haynes (who was close to catching me), and other runners and I got to cheer each other on.  My favorite out'n'back turn around aid station had to be at the observatory where I was handed a sports drink from this friendly guy:

The views on the course were amazing.  The recent storm left the air crystal clear with stellar views of the Pacific Ocean, downtown LA, and the San Gabriel Mountains - including Mt. Baldy with a fresh blanket of snow.  I haven't run anything but ultras for years now, and wasn't expecting a whole lot from this race on trails in the heart of LA, but it was a very cool event.



Un Id, John, RD extraordinaire, myself

With Keira Henninger running the show I knew everything would be marked extremely well, there would be a small army of friendly volunteers and there would be great stuff in the swag bag - a Patagonia Capiline T-shirt at this race, among a handful of other cool goodies.

Finish Line Feast: Kale salad, fruit, sandwiches, cookies, coke, Poweraide, etc., etc.

Equipment:

Rudy Project Sunglasses and visor worked well on this bright and sunny day.

Ink'n'burn tank and shorts felt great, as per usual.

Hoka - The Stinson EVO's have been my go-to shoes for a long time now, and they worked flawlessly today.  I love reeling people in running full speed downhill in the 4-5 minute mile range and having my feet feel great.  In the past I've used them primarily for long runs, but with all my road marathon training I'm realizing that they are great for shorter distance and speed work as well.  I'm insanely stoked to announce that I recently joined the Hoka Team.  They make the best shoes and I am very proud to represent them.  I have recently stepped up my training and am eating healthier.  I'm looking forward to a breakthrough year.  Time to fly!

My Drymax Trail Lite socks always feel good and today was no exception.


It was very refreshing to mix it up a bit and run a shorter race.  My body seems to have responded well to the faster/shorter/flatter training that I've been doing lately.  I see quite a few of the Bay Area runners jumping into shorter races and it seems to work for them.  Jorge Maravilla for example, recently ran a 1:09 at the Berkeley Half Marathon, and we all know how talented he is. 

...bro

I would love to jump right into another local shorter trail run, like one of the Paramount Ranch Trail Runs, but I'll be up in Sacramento running the California International Marathon that weekend - I'm not cool like Mike Wardian, so I'm not going to do both (he recently ran a marathon in San Antonio and Las Vegas in the same day).  After my road marathon when all I have on the horizon are ultras, I hope I'll still be able to talk myself into speed work and occasional shorter races.

We'll see if all this speed work I've been doing pays off come Sean O'Brien 50M, when all the big dogs come to town.

I am going to run a road marathon.

For the last year or so I have been toiling with the idea of running a road marathon again.  It has been awhile, three years.  In those three years I've fallen in love with trail running, and the more time I spend in bigger mountains the more I am drawn to them.  So why in the world am I starting to train for a road marathon again?

• In July I ran the Hardrock 100... what better mountain race is there?  Maybe the UTMB, which is on my bucket list, but I probably won't sign up for a couple years.
• Mike Chamoun and I backpacked the "crown jewel" of the Pacific Crest Trail: the John Muir Trail.  Hard to find more gorgeous mountains than that without venturing far away.
• I'm not getting any younger, and while my 2:57 at the SF Marathon 3 years ago is a good time, I know I'm capable of something much lower, and I'm at a good age to run my best marathon, so I'm going to give it a whirl.
• There's something about the structure of road running that I like.  Performance and improvement seem more objective, there are different nuances that create opportunities to challenge oneself.

I also have a counter arguments raging in my head:

• After experiencing Hardrock and the JMT, I am even MORE drawn to the mountains and wilderness.
• Who cares if I die with a 2:57 PR for a marathon.  Running in the mountains is more fun than running on the road.

I thought up an analogy the other day:  When I was skiing in high school I was fixated on free skiing - jumping, powder skiing, dropping off cliffs, carving down big open bowls, etc., etc.  But I was on the ski team that trained for hours on groomed runs, turning where I had to based on where all the gates were set, whether slalom or giant slalom.  Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun racing, but my heart was in free skiing.  Then one day I was free skiing, bombing down a bowl as fast as I could go, half in control/half out of control and I realized something.  My fundamentals that were honed from bashing through the gates on the race course were keeping me from eating shit.  

Spring skiing back in the day.  Photo by Pat Sheehan.

So how does this apply to running?  I'm hoping that returning to the road for maybe 50% of my training will improve my turnover and efficiency.  Basic running fundamentals will be pounded into me.  It will also be a new arena for me to push myself in.  And I think it's a little more straightforward in some regards than mountain training.  I can go out and see how fast I can run some Yasoo 800's, or a mile, or three miles.  It's harder to test yourself and get such easy to interpret feedback when you're running in the mountains.  With the advent of Strava and new FKT's popping up it is getting a little easier to qualify one's efforts.  Obviously a lot of people run in the mountains to escape from such details, appreciating that one day the trail is smooth and fast, the next it's covered in a foot of snow, the next it's washed out and 100 degrees, stopping to check out wildlife, but I digress.

Am I going to stop running trail races?  No way.  I think that half of the reason I keep running on trails is because they lead me up into the mountains.  Not 100% of me, but some of me does like the competitive side of trail racing, even if it's minimal compared to road races.  I believe that pushing myself to run fast for 26 miles will help unlock a little bit of potential I have yet to tap.  Time will tell.  

I've been toying with this idea, of returning to the roads part-time, for awhile - before the recent rise of Sage Canaday and Max King in the ultra world.  But the recent success that they have had probably helped push me over the edge to start eye balling winter marathons, and contemplate how far out I need to start training for one.

The dichotomy of road running and mountain running is crazy and I'm nervous about how my body is going to handle training for both.  Running a pace that doesn't change much on a flat surface with minimal change in pitch versus hiking slowly up, running fast down on uneven, rocky terrain.  I'm hoping that they will compliment each other in some way.

Regardless of how the training and racing goes, I probably need to update my road running wardrobe and style:

Tool

Any suggestions on good, fast winter marathons in the area?  I'm thinking Santa Clarita or R'n'R Vegas might be the ticket.