Dash Point Marathon

Posted on by

Start of Dash Point Marathon - photo by Steve Sanders

I ran the half marathon last year at Dash Point and remember it being harder than it should have been given the specs of the run.  This year I decided to sign up for the full marathon anyway because it fit in my schedule at about the time I would be ready for a marathon.  We previewed the course  the week before and, again, I found it harder than it seemed like it should have been.  Four laps, each with about 650′ of elevation gain shouldn’t be that hard but this course has stairs, log steps, some very steep short sections and no piece of straight trail longer than about 30 yards so it is indeed harder than it ‘should’ be.    I also wasn’t totally sure I would be able to finish as one day in my taper I did a 4 mile/2600′ climb that caused my left hip to hurt like crazy.  I decided to just take a full week off running, do a light run to be sure I wasn’t in pain and then go for it figuring I could drop out at the half point if needed.

I felt good on race day and the weather was perfect – cool mornings with heat coming by the end of the event but not too hot.   I had my usual Pinole-Chia waffle to prep then loaded up my Kinetic vest with goodies and fluids and hit the road to Dash Point.   I decided to try this even totally in my Luna Leadville sandals but did take along a pair of Injini socks, a pair of Injini compression socks and a pair of Inov-8 shoes for my drop-bag just in case.  I had gone 20 miles in Lunas but never more than that so I wanted to be safe in case I started having issues with my feet.   I got registered, got my drop bag to the aid station and hung out until the event start.

There were about forty of us lined up for the marathon and no one wanted to be up front so I started out in the top half dozen people.  The first lap actually went fairly quickly at 1:11 (my half marathon time the year before was 2:25) and I was feeling strong.   The second lap was about the same time, 1:12 back to the aid station and I’d been running with a small group of people chatting most of that lap.   I was feeling good so decided I would finish the full marathon so I stopped at the aid station this time around and decided to clean my feet, which were filthy, and put on my compression socks for the last two laps.  This stop cost my about 5 minutes time but probably saved my feet in the long-run, just a pair of socks felt so cushy.

Back on the trail I was on my own and moving a bit slower.   Nearing the top of the hill I walked some while sucking down a gel and decided to pull out the iPod for the rest of the run.  I put on some Krishna Das, began singing kirtan and continued on my way.   That was a lonely lap and took 1:25 so really not too much slower given that 5 minutes of that was pulling on socks.

Injni compression socks with Lunas - how dorky

Heading into the last lap it was getting hot.  I refilled my water bottles and decided to eat a Gu Roctane gel I had stashed for when I needed a turbo boost from caffeine.  That kicked in partway up the hill and helped.  I was singing Hare Krishna at the top of my lungs, running, and looking dorky as could be in my knee high compression socks and sandals when I went past one runner who took one look at me and said “You are amazing”.   I just had to laugh.   Near the bottom of the trail my brain was going dead and the maze of trail there had me and a few others thinking we were lost even though we’d run through the same maze 3x already.  I passed a few groups of marathoners walking through this area and had no idea where I was within the group of runners at this point.

Finally I worked my way out of the maze and back on the trail to the beach.  The stairs were truly evil on that last descent but then I kicked in and ran the last flat stretch to cross the finish in 5:12:06.   This was 3/7 for the M50-59 group and 10/33 of the finishers for the marathon.   I was pretty pleased given #1 – I ran this entirely in sandals and #2 – I wasn’t even sure I was going to finish when I started.

Nutrition wise I did this mostly on Vega/Thrive products again aside from one Gu Roctane gel and a handful of pretzels.

I was pretty happy with the Lunas for footwear.  Granted, these trails were easy for minimalist shoes but they performed perfectly.   I’m glad I added the socks partway through for some extra comfort but I never felt the need for shoes.

Thanks to Evergreen Trail Runs and all the volunteers and runners for a great event.   Next up – a 50k sometime in the next few months which I hope to run in the Lunas if the weather holds out.

Comments are closed.