Double Dipsea

With Tracy and Dave who just moved here from Colorado

Daniel, our energetic and quick tri-club run director, had scheduled a Double Dipsea run last Sunday. A single Dipsea is 7.1 miles, 2300+ feet of climbing on some very technical trail, made much more so by the recent rains. I thought for sure no one was going to sign up. It's too early and a well known difficult trail. It's a club of triathletes not trail runners. Back in 2007 when I was the run lead I scheduled a double and I had a total of 3 takers. One of them turned around after the first 20 minutes and never again attended any of my trail runs. Well it's not 07 and this time we had over a dozen people on Sunday. Even the threat of rain didn't deter anyone, well okay maybe a couple.

During track earlier in the week I asked Daniel if he was familiar with the trail. He said no but that he would look up directions online. Well I promised him that if I wasn't hobbled from the Pirates Cove 50k I would help out in his event. It's not an easy trail to follow. It's an old trail, development on the Mill Valley side has hidden parts of it and there are several unmarked turns. There is also a section washed out by a slide and the detour is not marked. A satellite shot from above is not a big help because of the homes and trees. It isn't like running in the Marin Headlands.

It didn't rain, we had 14 people and we regrouped at several points along the course. We had a blast. No one got left behind and it seemed like everyone had fun. Of the 14 of us that ran only two was familiar with the trail. There were a couple of people that had been on parts of the trail but had not run the whole thing. We had 12 lucky people who were doing the run for the first time! I was psyched to show it to them. It's like watching a good film that you have already seen with friends who hasn't. You know all the good parts and can't wait to have them experience it for themselves. It was a good day. I was tired but not particularly sore. Most of the time I hung out in the back anyway. There was one moment that made me laugh. I was the last person up Cardiac Hill, the highest point on the trail. When I got there everyone was standing around, looking at the views, taking pictures. They looked like a bunch of Japanese tourists. Good times.

Tina leading the way

Waiting for the rest of the gang

Heather and Dan heading back to Mill Valley from Stinson Beach

Cheyenne and Dave heading back to Mill Valley

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