Another belated story, albeit just in time for a same-month report. And another angle to a major Bay Area ultra running monument, as well as long run for me. Plus a very special tie to the local Native American heritage of the Bay Are, to complement the Ohlone one.
After 20 years, I even learned that we were supposed to capitalize the w in the name of these people speaking the MiWok (or MiWuk) language. (That being said, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on that particular typography, across the web, starting with Wikipedia.)
Yes, 20 years of relationship with this race. I ran it 12 consecutive times, with 11 finishes, including the shorter 60K edition of 2013 due to partial course closure: 2007, 2008 (9:41), 2009, 2010 (9:48), 2011, 2012, 2013 (60K), 2014 (9:43), 2015 (9:51), 2016 (DNF, 7 weeks after my stroke/TIA epic adventure), 2017, 2018 and 2019. Most of these times followed by back-to-back Quicksilver 100K and Ohlone 50K weeks.
So, yes, back to the title, MiWok 100K has left quite a mark on my running experience. But this time, since I got kicked out of IBM, I had more time for another tradition, volunteering to mark the course on Friday. Joining quite a remarkable team of volunteers under the leadership of course marshal, Ken “All Day” Michal.
Course marking is such a different experience from the usual hammering of the pace during races, when I barely look at views and quickly switch my sight toward the next potential rock or root obstacle!
I was paired with another super experienced ultra runner, Katherina Laan, whose fame includes three 2nd place finishes at the grueling HURT (Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) 100-mile. And she has plans to improve that fate! To make Katherina an even more valuable partner for our task at hand, Mill Valley is her base and she then runs these trails much more frequently than I do (from France, my friends think I live in San Francisco, but South Bay still makes quite a trip to the magnificent Marin Headlands, and the San Francisco Running Company store in Mill Valley in that particular case). Speaking of the store, I did some sock shopping (stocking?) before our marking gig.
We were supposed to mark the whole loop from Tennessee Valley but a change of plans split that loop with my friend Christine who, despite her knee hurting, would now cover the trail out of Tennessee. Katherina and I started near Rodeo Beach instead. After less than half a mile, we realized we were marking the wrong trail, oopsie. I had prepared a document with all the course marking instructions but had forgotten to print it out. Paired with a local expert, I was following along blindly. Especially as the course is now different from what we were running back during my times. For one thing, why wouldn’t we run up MiWok trail for… MiWok?!
Anyway, we only had a couple of turns to fix and up hiking we continued on Bobcat Trail. It was quite windy up on the ridge so I welcomed some light running on our way to Bridge View and, even better, picking up the pace on the way down to Rodeo Beach.
All in all, it took us more than 3 hours to mark only 6 easy-to-mark miles, I’m glad Ken had an extended team to cover the whole 100K! And we used up all our allotted flags and ribbons so I’m pleased Ken confirmed runners were satisfied didn’t encounter any issue with marking. Speaking of flags, I hadn’t realized how dry and rocky the Headlands were, it was really challenging to get these flags deep enough in the ground so they would resist the frequent gusty winds over these hills. But the Rangers’ rules rule, especially after our Dean Karnazes’ coyote fiasco of August 2022. Already a huge relief and appreciation that Magda (Boulet), the RD, manages to get a permit to keep the MiWok 100K tradition strong and going!
Bonus: a week earlier, I had also crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, this time to drive 2 visiting friends to Muir Woods. And look at which local Marin Headlands running legend we saw flying down Route 1, into Tamalpais and Mill Valley! Yes, Gary Gellin himself!
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