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All was quiet in the Old Growth Redwoods the night of Friday, May 20 as runners slept soundly – or not so soundly depending on their pre-race mindset – in preparation for the next day’s adventures. By nightfall of the following day, the Ancient Redwood Running Festival would be transformed into a celebratory finale complete with Bay Area Ultra Running house band Voodoo Switch laying down some funky grooves.
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Every single participant in the inaugural Merced River Canyon Endurance Runs set a new personal record at California’s Shortest Ultramarathon. Perhaps it was the unusually overcast day. Maybe it was due to beauty of the Merced River and the wildflowers adorning the canyon walls. It might have been the overwhelmingly friendly local volunteers. A wild guess is that it was probably because no one had ever run a 14 km or 44 km race before.
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The hills kept coming. Our buddy Otter had warned that this third section of the course, the 18-mile out-and-back to the Emma Carlin (mile 40) aid station, would be “objectively the hilliest…in terms of the number of hills and the overall elevation gain.”
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“Do an ultra,” they said, “it will be fun!” On Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the Ice Age Trail 50 Mile, they were right. And wrong. And then right, and wrong, and finally, right.
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It was fitting to run my first ultramarathon in my college hometown of Athens, Ohio. After rain every day the week before the race, I knew this would be a challenging way to gain entrance into the ultramarathoner club.
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Set in the beautiful Northern California countryside, the BayTrailrunners Coastal Marin 50K rides high above Stinson Beach, across Mount Tamalpais, over the Marin Headlands and finishes with a crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge. This 50k makes the most of this spectacular area with a small, non-competitive group run perfect for the mid-packer or beginner who has never completed an ultra before.