Nighttime trail run in the headlands. Headlamps galore lighting up the trail for our 15k. Took 2/3 of my boys as well as the hubby. They all had fun. New … MORE
Nighttime trail run in the headlands. Headlamps galore lighting up the trail for our 15k. Took 2/3 of my boys as well as the hubby. They all had fun. New experience for us. I’d suggest multiple lamps. One headlamp didn’t do it for us but being newbies we didn’t know any better. Heard and saw lots of wildlife and amazing views atop the hills. Could’ve used another layer so go prepared. Lots of coyotes near the finish that ran in with us and several other runners—no harm done~seem to be staples of the area. Take a friend and have some fun. I don’t think I’d want to do it alone. We didn’t see but one person at the finish line that tossed us a medal..which was surprising given the multiple races going on. Hs some trouble with ribbons toward the end but another lamp may have remedied that problem. Overall it was fun and a new experience.
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SF at night (sorta)
Nighttime trail run in the headlands. Headlamps galore lighting up the trail for our 15k. Took 2/3 of my boys as well as the hubby. They all had fun. New … MORE
Nighttime trail run in the headlands. Headlamps galore lighting up the trail for our 15k. Took 2/3 of my boys as well as the hubby. They all had fun. New experience for us. I’d suggest multiple lamps. One headlamp didn’t do it for us but being newbies we didn’t know any better. Heard and saw lots of wildlife and amazing views atop the hills. Could’ve used another layer so go prepared. Lots of coyotes near the finish that ran in with us and several other runners—no harm done~seem to be staples of the area. Take a friend and have some fun. I don’t think I’d want to do it alone. We didn’t see but one person at the finish line that tossed us a medal..which was surprising given the multiple races going on. Hs some trouble with ribbons toward the end but another lamp may have remedied that problem. Overall it was fun and a new experience.
Dark, Foggy, Drizzling, Dusty, Rocky
BUT GREAT! This weekend’s race report. I ran the Pacific Coast Trail’s Night Sweats 15k at Rodeo Beach. It was my first nighttime event. I crushed it. I have run … MORE
BUT GREAT!
This weekend’s race report. I ran the Pacific Coast Trail’s Night Sweats 15k at Rodeo Beach. It was my first nighttime event. I crushed it.
I have run the venue several times, but at the half marathon length during the day. The last time, I was at about 3:04. It is slightly short, about 12.5 to 12.75 miles. Today, my time was 2:12, and it was about 9.75 miles. So that is a significant improvement, with elevation gain that was slightly less relative to the distance.
It was dark, foggy, and drizzling at the start. It also was dusty and rocky along the route. I was tempted to take off my top layer, but I did not, and I’m glad, because it eventually got colder. I wore a baseball cap, a brand new Deep Springs College Centennial commemorative one, and it was soaked through with sweat.
People liked the Knuckle Lights (version 2.0) I had. I bought them only recently. They worked perfectly. They have a rubber strap that attaches them to your hands. One couple said they didn’t mind me running right behind them, because I was bright.
The impressive people were running ultras at 50, 75, and 100 miles. At mile 5, some lady went by a group of us. We could tell she was doing an ultra, because she was headed in the opposite direction. We all said, “Good race” etc. as is customary to encourage someone putting in grueling effort. She said, “You’re going to die.”
It was actually funny in context.
I finished 60 of 104. That is about 20 places ahead of my expectation.
Fun run in the dark
I signed up for this race because I've always been curious about what it's like to run trails at night, but I was too scared to go out and do … MORE
I signed up for this race because I’ve always been curious about what it’s like to run trails at night, but I was too scared to go out and do it alone. So when a friend told me about Night Sweats, I signed up because it was my chance to do a supported night run. It was cool to run/hike up the trails in the dark and see all of the headlamps ahead (see photo). I had fun running trails that I had previously done in daylight, and it was neat to see/feel the difference. The other unique part about this race was that it started 13+ hours after PCTR’s 50-, 75-, and 100-mile races that day. So it was cool to run alongside the ultra runners and cheer them on. I was glad that a friend ran with me – while I wasn’t usually scared, the darkness and solitude did freak me out on occasion. I thought the 15K was a perfect distance – enough to satisfy my curiosity, but not too long to make me miserable. It was quite hilly and I walked the hills, because this was more of a fun run than a race. This was my first PCTR race and I was pleased with the organization. The route was very well-marked and we only got confused one time – mostly because we were following people instead of looking for ribbons and glow sticks. Because there was an ultra at the same time, the post-race spread was quite impressive, with burgers, soup, chips, sodas, and beer. I skipped the shirt to save $5 (and because I have too many race shirts as it is), but the ones I saw were attractive, with gender specific styles. My only complaint was that the medals were rather poor quality. The plastic button fell off the metal part almost immediately after the volunteer handed it to me. I didn’t really care (because I’m not a medal person), but it sucks for the ultra runners to be handed a shoddy medal — though I think some of the longer distances got premium swag. Oh, and we got glow in the dark water bottles, which was cool. I would definitely do this race again!