The Relay 2011 Preview

SEVEN COUNTIES, 36 CITIES, 194 MILES.  The 2011 Relay is April 30 - May 1.  The Devil's Slide Track Club is ready for its 13th year.  This year, the team is sponsored by the San Francisco Dolphin South End Runners Club (DSE) and will be running as the DSE Men's Masters Team.  This will be my fifth time running the race. 

The course is divided into 36 legs, ranging in distance from about three to eight miles.  The difficulty is graded from easy to very hard.  There are 12 members on each of 228 teams for 2011, 2,736 runners.  Each member runs three legs.  The race participants use around 450 vans, the majority rentals.  Who knew there were than many rental vans in the bay area?

My support crew said this picture needs a
caption -- It's a relay.

This year's mileage is about 194 miles, down from 200 miles the last two years.  The completion of highway construction in Napa and Sonoma Counties allows the safe return to the roads and eliminates trail sections through the Hudson Vineyard (Leg 7) and Triple G Ranch (Leg 10).  Legs 7 - 10 are now reconfigured.  Construction on the Crystal Springs Dam in San Mateo County will close the only practical route through that area for three years.  The plan is to use a "van bridge" (driving the runner) on the adjacent freeway to move the active runner around the area.  This will cut the distance of Leg 23 in half.    

The 2011 version of the Devil's Slide Track Club (DSTC) looks to be one of the fastest in recent years.  We have eight returning members and four new members.  The team has won the masters men's division for five years in a row and will be looking to defend that title.  Between the reduced mileage and fast runners, we are also hoping to break 24 hours and to return to the top ten.  DSTC will start in the 1:30 PM wave from Calistoga.

The Races Within the Race

I will be runner 10, with legs 10, 22 and 34, rated as the most difficult set of legs.  I will race a total of 18.5 miles over the three legs and roughly 17 hours from the start of my first leg to the finish of my last.  It probably edges out runner 11 (the second most difficult) only because it is a couple of miles longer. 

Leg 10

Route: Temelec (a small unincorporated community in Sonoma County) to Petaluma. 
Distance: 8.1 Miles
Rating: Hard
Projected Time: 6:54 PM to 7:50 PM

My support crew and I previewed this leg a couple of weeks ago.  Petaluma was once known as the egg capitol of the world.  It is situated on the Petaluma River and in the middle of rich agricultural land.  While chickens and egg production are now a much smaller part of the local economy, they are still present.  The spring festival in Petaluma is Butter and Egg Days. 

This run starts at a small egg processing building and mostly proceeds along busy highways (with paved shoulders).  The terrain is rolling and there are three significant hills, two shorter ones with about a 7% grade and a long one at the start with about a 5% grade.  The rating of hard is probably based on a combination of the distance (this is the longest of the 36 legs) and the hills.  This leg is not the monster it used to be when it went through the Triple G Ranch and over the top of a small mountain. 

Leg 22

Route: Millbrae to Hillsborough (a wealthy unincorporated community in San Mateo County)
Distance: 4.2 Miles
Rating: Easy
Projected Time: 3:51 AM to 4:20 AM

My support crew and I previewed this leg last week.  It starts near Skyline Chevron, just off the 280 freeway and ends at a park-and-ride lot.  Although rated easy, the terrain is rolling with a couple of short, steep rises.  The beginning of the leg goes through a residential area and has a number of twists and turns to navigate in the middle of the night. On the East are the residential areas.  On the west is the 280 freeway, Crystal Springs Park and, for part of the run, the North end of the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir.  The San Andreas Fault runs directly under the reservoir.  So I will barely be running on the North American Plate.  That plate is moving Southeast (against the Northwest moving Pacific Plate).  I will be going the same direction as the North American Plate.

Leg 34

Route: Ben Lomond to Granite Construction Company Felton Quarry
Distance: 6.2
Rating: Very Hard
Projected Time: 10:43 AM to 11:30 AM

This run is through unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This area is around an hour and half south of The CITY.  With the travel time, the distance and $4.25 gas, I will not preview this leg.  I visited the area in 2009 when I ran leg 11 and will have to rely on my memory from that trip. 

The run is along wooded mountain roads and should be very scenic.  The first four miles of this leg are not too bad.  The last two are all up hill into the quarry.  The uphill grade averages about 4.5% and it looks like some places are as much as 6.2%.  That is what gets this leg the very hard designation. 

Training

My training plan was to take about a month off racing to do long runs with hills.  My final run was 20 miles to Sausalito and back, over the Golden Gate Bridge.  I also did a little threshold pace running on the treadmill.  Otherwise, I stuck with my usual mix of running and weight lifting.

Today, Sunday, April 17, I ran in the Run for Recess 5K.  The race supports a non-profit that, in turn, supports recess activities in local schools.  With all of the funding problems schools face in California, recess activities are one of the causalities.  Having completed my planned long runs, I decided that a fast run would be helpful.  I finished the race in 19:10, a 6:10 average pace.  Good, but not great.

One day less than two weeks to The Relay.  Time to taper and get ready for the race.  I am looking forward to a fun race.