The Angel Island Trail Race

I am still basking in the glow of Sunday's event: a 16k (10 mile) trail run on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. We drove out to tony Tiburon in Marin to take a very short ferry ride over to the island. As we approached, I looked apprehensively at the height of the island's main peak -- because we were planning to race to the top of it! The weather was warm, calm and sunny. I recognized the beach and harbor from my childhood -- for a time we had a sailboat and used to anchor there and stay overnight. It has been decades since I've been to Angel Island, however. When my running group added this race to its training schedule, I thought, "What a wonderful excuse to go!" My boys were thrilled as well.

The 16k race (there was also an 8k and a 25k) consisted of two loops around the island, the second climbing 1,380 feet to its summit, Mt. Livermore. At the last minute I decided to change into shorts and leave off the gloves -- a good call as it was plenty warm enough. We took off at about 10:45 and right away hit flight after flight of stairs going straight up the hillside. We were going single file, so there was no choice but to walk them. We continued winding up the hill on a narrow trail, switching back and forth. I began passing a few people but my game plan was pretty low-key -- lately I've been feeling slow and I wasn't in the mood yet to push myself. I also am highly influenced by the runners around me and was in the back half of the pack, so I ran most of the first half of the race conservatively.

We finally broke out of the narrow trail on to a high perimeter road. The vistas were incredible, and as we ran new angles of the Bay were continually revealed, beginning with the Northern stretches and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. There was a bit of haze so I couldn't see Mt. Diablo towering over the East Bay, but then there was the gray Bay Bridge and then San Francisco, with its perfectly straight hill streets gleaming in the sunlight, as if silver bands had been carefully drawn and spaced with a ruler all the way down to the waterfront. Next we saw the Golden Gate. As we circled the island, it was time to switch back down the hillside. Thus far none of the run had been too grueling, but I again was taking it easy. However, downhills are my forte, and as we ran down I began passing a few runners with ease. When I reached the aid station back at the harbor I threw off my vest and lingered, getting a full bottle of sports drink and choosing from all the energy goodies (candy, boiled potatoes, gummy bears, bananas, oranges, etc.). I settled on some jelly bellies and a quarter peanut butter and jelly sandwich -- perfect, as I eat those all the time.

As I approached the flights of stairs for the second time, I was moving rather slow, still conserving. Little did I know what lay ahead! Once we completed all the switchbacks to the open perimeter road, we took another trail with even more curves. At this point I began a regular jogging rhythm and decided I would not stop and walk. I passed a few people, eventually settling behind a tall, slim, younger woman (at least she looked younger from the back) who I decided must be a better runner than I. We reached what I thought was the summit, but no: THERE was the summit, impossibly higher, with tiny figures of runners on it! "You've got to be kidding!" I said out loud. We continued running, only now every so often we stopped and walked for 30 seconds or so, me taking my cue from the woman in front of me. She had brought her camera and took many pictures as well.

If the vistas before had been incredible, these were even better. "It's like being on top of the Bay!" I enthused to a woman running downhill past me. "You're almost there," runners began telling us. We continued nearly straight uphill, running most of the time, and finally, there we were! I stopped and meandered, and then a race organizer, as if reminding me, said "When I run this race I always want to stop here and look around, but then I remember that I'm running a race!" Still, I wanted to soak in these 360-degree views. Some men asked if one of the bridges was the Carquinez. "No, you can't see that from here. That's Richmond-San Rafael," I said, feeling knowledgeable. Time to start running downhill. I took off, with my tall runner still in my sights, some way down the hill. As we passed runners coming up, I'd shout encouragement as others had done for us. I had to remember to stop after awhile -- I was still saying "You're almost there!" when I realized the runners coming up had a long way to go yet!

The tall girl and I were mostly alone as we began a flat trail, very high on the Southwestern side of the island. There, the earth was red and remnants of the October fire were visible in the form of blackened, leafless shrubs -- perhaps manzanita. It was like a martian landscape, except for the trees and spectacular blue Bay below us.

Eventually, this flat trail ended, and now we returned to the same descending forest trail we'd come down on the first loop. Slowly, without even trying, I began closing in on the tall girl. After a few minutes, she asked if I'd like to pass her. "Thanks!" I called as I rushed past. Suddenly, I felt competitive, and fleet. I guess I have sure feet, as our coach, Claire, said she has. This time, I decided to push myself. One at a time, I passed runners, until I finally came to a clump and had no choice but to stay behind them. I could hear cheers down below. After a while, the man in the back of the clump moved aside and I passed through all five runners. "I'm a gazelle, pick up my feet," I told myself. As I reached a flat expanse of road, I tried to stay focused -- I always slow down on flat road. But I was almost there. On the last turn and straightaway, Emilio called to me and took a picture.

I came through the chute with a time of 1:45, or 10:27 per mile. That turned out to be 8th place in my age group and 54th overall. While I know I could have gone faster and pushed myself more, maybe to around 10 minutes per mile, I felt like it was a respectable finish. As it happens, Claire won the race for the second year in a row at less than 8 minutes per mile! In fact, our training group had a number of age-group winners and overall fast finishes.

I woke up with very sore quads, but the most beautiful thing this morning was lying in bed and visualizing all the vistas over and over again. A few years ago, I made the new year's resolution of seeing more and more of my beautiful native Bay Area. In fact, after I finished, I spoke with a man who was waiting for his wife to finish the 25k. They had three small children, two in a giant side-by-side stroller. "I wanted to run it too but we couldn't find a sitter," he said. But he was enjoying the whole outing, as my family did. "I've lived here for 19 years and I've never been to Tiburon or Angel Island," he said. Turns out he and his wife had only started running about a year and a half ago. The next race was the Death Valley marathon in February, "for her birthday."

I love meeting people like that, and I definitely want to do this race next year. Heck, maybe I'll even do the 25k!