After a few months of running exclusively on roads, I am surprised by how quiet the trails are. Birds sing in the trees and wind rustles through the leaves fallen to the ground. The world rests in quiet repose, waiting for winter rains to arrive. The area has been exceptionally dry this year and if we get no rain before January 1, it will be the driest calendar year on record. One can easily see this in the landscape. Grasses are still dry from the summer, leaves are still crunchy. Thirsty trees beg for relief. The Redwoods suck moisture from the fog, but everything else remains brown.
The subject eventually turns to our race plans for 2014 and which races we want to complete locally, which ones to travel to, and an idea we've been thinking of for years: creating our own race. Soon after moving to California, we discovered Humboldt Redwoods State Park and were easily smitten with the variety and grandeur of the trails there. This state park is home to two road marathons each year, The Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods, but has no trail races. For a park with so many trails, it is a shame they aren't shared in a similar manner.
Over one hundred miles of trails contour the hillsides of this coastal range of mountains and through a vein of three hundred foot Redwood trees running along the creeks and river. I love this park, it is my favorite thing about living locally. I want to share this love with others in the form of a trail race. We'd like to design it in such a way that it can grow without much change to the course or staging areas. Matt and I will pitch our ideas to the running club in January. Hopefully they agree to take it on as a club race (and we can use their insurance and supplies) and we can make our it happen as early as June. I'm excited to make this happen.
10 miles
1:32:45
9:17/mi.
973 ft. gain
If you were to travel here for a trail race, which distance of these three would you most likely travel for: Half Marathon, 30K, or Marathon?
9 comments:
I always have Avenue of the Giants on my List, but travel there seems complicated?
I've decided I'm only traveling for a full+, so that would be my suggestion - it sounds like an amazing spot for a trail race, good luck!!
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment on my blog. In answer to your question, I used Shutterfly to make this year's calendars and was very pleased with the results.
I'm not that picky. I'll travel for a half marathon. Seeing as how I just did my first full marathon, I haven't even given that distance or a 30k any thought. Now, a 30k won't seem so bad to try. I'm still on the fence about another full. BUT, I am dying to do a #rundisney race!!
Truthfully I only can afford to travel for a few races a year so I just travel for marathons.
I would so travel west for a 10K, 1/2, or full just to be in the Redwoods. The race could be called Trail Walk While Looking Up ??K. Volunteers & A Clean Up crew would be key.
Congrats on a good first run back. This post was really well written, and for the first time ever I had the desire to run on a trail. I could actually picture myself in the quiet enjoying nature and my surroundings. The pictures helped as well. The marathon sounds like an interesting idea. I hope you're able to get it approved. Question for you: When you run on these trails are they technical usually or no? I've read about trail running and how you go slower but the time passes more quickly because of watching footing, and I'm wondering if all trails are like that or just some of the ones that you run on. I'm going to have to start looking into this...
What a great idea! It looks like a beautiful area to run and it seems a shame that there isn't a trail race there.
I'm not willing to travel for anything less than a marathon, although I'm definitely not in trail marathon shape right now! But it'd be a cool one to do in the future.
Heather, It depends how you get here. If you fly into ACV, you'll need to rent a car or take the city bus around and catch a ride down with us. If you're driving here, it's no big deal. Most hotels are 45 min away from the race start, but the marathon doesn't start until later, so you don't have to get up nearly as early. There's lots of parking. Matt is actually revamping the website to clarify some things, it is super confusing at the moment. It should be a lot better by Jan 1.
Tomboy, Thanks for your input!
Abby, That makes sense. I'm usually the same way, unless I'm traveling to the area for something else already.
Padre, Pending permits from the state park, we're shooting for June 7. The great thing about getting support from the running club is that there are always a bunch of willing volunteers. :) We're trying to get the trail horseback rider club to help with aid stations and the like too.
Meghan, It really depends on the trail. For this run, it is a logging road, so it's about halfway between a road and really technical singletrack trail. My speed depends on the terrain (roots/rocks and elevation change). It is best to run trails based on effort regardless of their difficulty.
Jeano, I understand that, I'm usually the same way. I don't generally drive to a training run unless it is 12+ miles long. Everyone's got their arbitrary rules, thanks for your input!!
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