Devil's Slide Track Club/DSE Men's Masters Team The Relay - April 30 to May 1, 2011

THE FASTER THE TEAM the less time there is to sleep.  I definitely did not get as much sleep this year as the Devil's Slide Track Club (DSTC) defended its Men's Masters Title in The Relay with a blazing 23:08:11.  The team took 9th place overall, out of 226 teams.  In addition to winning the Men's Masters division, the team achieved its other goals of beating 24 hours and returning to the top 10.  This was the best team and team performance in the time I have been involved.  We have placed as high as 6th, but in a much smaller field with a slower average pace.  This year's average pace of 7:09 was the fastest of the teams I have been on.

 
The Dolphin South End Running Club (DSE) had four teams, including DSTC, at this year's race.  The DSE Racing Team took 2nd overall and beat their arch rivals, four time champs Google 1.  Little did the Racing Team know, there were two other teams also gunning for Google.  The Racing Team was in a pitched battle with Project Mayhem (a group of Chico State alumni) and Ooyala (an on-line video company started by several former Google employees who, like the Google founders, are Stanford Alumni).  The Stanford Running Club was initially in the hunt, but fell out of contention early.  As the race progressed, first Google and then Ooyala faded leaving it a two way race in the second half.  Ultimately, Project Mayhem won out.  The Racing Team still achieved its goal of beating Google and they broke 20 hours.

The DSE B Team turned that suspect name into an asset by calling themselves "The Killer B's."  Not only did they look sharp, they ran a great race, coming in 20th, a top 10% finish, at 25:33:21.  That was an improvement from 42nd and 28:00:55 the prior year.  It also means DSE had three teams in the top 20.

DSE Team Spirit made their first appearance at The Relay.  They came in at 179 and beat their projected time by an hour.  It is amazing that DSE was able to field a total of 48 runners, plus assorted volunteers and support personnel for the race. 

Start: Calistoga, Napa County

Day/Time: 4/30/11, 1:30 PM

Mike G had leg 1 and set the pattern for the weekend.  He completed his run ahead of schedule and the team was ahead of schedule from start to finish.  First time DSTC member Glen F set a blazing pace on the Silverado Trail in leg 4 and set a new overall team record in the process.  Steve P slotted into second on the masters all time list with his run in leg 6.  Van 1 finished the first six legs just short of 5:00 PM, about nine minutes ahead of schedule.  After three and one half hours of waiting for our turn, Van 2 was raring to go. 

Alex M started us off with a solid run that added to our schedule advantage.  Markham M's first leg was oriented head-on into a growing wind, but he still managed to meet his projected time.  Dan M, a long time team member was next with a good run and handed off to me.  Alex, Markham and Dan each took second place all-time honors on the team masters records list.

My First Leg: Telemec to Petaluma, Sonoma County
Day/Time: 4/30/11, 6:45 PM - 7:38 PM
Distance: 8.1 Miles
Difficulty: Hard

My first run, leg 10, started at the Field of Greens, a small agricultural business specializing in free range chicken eggs.  They also grow pumpkins and have a pumpkin patch in the fall.  I started in a courtyard between farm and retail buildings and headed out to Stage Gulch Road, Highway 116.  This is the longest leg in The Relay.  It has a long rise at the start and a couple of shorter hills along the route.  It starts in an agricultural area with pastures, farm animals and vineyards.  It ends at the Living Word Lutheran Church in a residential area, just past a high school.  For about a mile I ran into the same wind Markham had encountered.  After that, the road turned and the wind was no longer an issue.  As I passed a woman a little farther along, she commented that we were being carefully watched by cows.  I looked and she was right.

Owing to a decade of road construction, this leg used to go through a ranch and over a mountain.  Now it is on highways, mostly on paved shoulders.  There were three areas where the shoulder was covered by the remains of the construction.  The route veered a little farther to the right, where we had to run over loose dirt in the construction areas.  That is as close to the former trails as this leg now gets.  By next year, even that should be gone.

Considering the distance and hills, I wanted to run this at a half-marathon effort.  The last mile to a mile and a half, I had some cramps that may have slowed me a little.  Still, my time of 52:36, with an average pace of 6:29, was pretty much what I was aiming for.  I had four road kill for the leg.  They were few and far between this year.

Ken R and Noe C finished off for us a little past 9:06 PM and we turned the race back to Van 1 almost 11 minutes ahead of schedule.  We drove to the next van exchange, at the Golden Gate Bridge, and tried to get a little sleep in a parking lot below the bridge.

Van 1 continued to add to our advantage.  Gene F had a fast run and came in ahead of his projected time.  Steve P closed it out for van 1, on the south side of the bridge almost five minutes ahead of his projected time.  As we took over, the team was now better than 16 minutes ahead of schedule. 

Alex M. came off the bridge step for step with the very fast Joe W from the DSE Racing Team.  When they hit the flats, Joe pulled away but Alex still kept a solid pace putting him about three minutes ahead of projected time.  Alex, again, made the team masters record list.  Markham and Dan had solid runs with Markham ahead of projected and Dan right on. 

My Second Leg: Millbrae to Hillsborough, San Mateo County
Day/Time: 5/1/11, 3:28 AM - 3:56 AM
Distance: 4.2 Miles
Difficulty: Easy

Leg 22 transversed a suburban area with rolling terrain half an hour south of The CITY.  The first mile twists through a residential area before the route returns to Skyline Boulevard, a collector road.  I finished in 27:33, an average pace of 6:33.  Slower than the harder first leg, which was a little surprising.  I was aiming for 6:15 to 6:20.  My time was still ahead of projected and will make the team record list.  So, I can't be too disappointed.  I think I had seven road kill.  So, half the distance and almost twice the road kill as compared to the first leg. 

The real challenge for this leg and next two is the van bridge.  Owing to construction on the Crystal Springs Reservoir Dam, the road is closed.  At the end of this leg I immediately jumped in the van with no time to cool down or catch my breath.  Van driver and volunteer extraordinaire Vince F got to participate in the race by getting us to the other side of dam as fast and safely as possible.  (He got special recognition for the fastest driving segment.)  Ken had to warm up before I finished my leg and then jump from the van to start his abbreviated 1.8 mile leg.  As Ken said, you are barely warmed-up and in rhythm before the leg is done.  After dropping Ken, the van had to speed to the next exchange where Noe had very little time for his warm-up.  Ken and Noe did great and, even more important, did not get hurt by the lack of warm up. 

A little before 5:00 AM we turned the race back to Van 1.  The team was now over 22 minutes ahead of schedule.  Our van went up to Skyline College and I did exactly what I did last year: I took a shower and bought a couple of bagels.  We went to the next van exchange, where I tried to get a little sleep.  Between the light of sunrise and the reduced time resulting from the shower and fast running, I did not get much rest. 

Alex M Burning It Up

Van 1 continued their solid running. Luis V and Juan M both turned in performances ahead of projected, even though this was their third leg. Our van took over a little after 8:20 AM to close it out. The team was a little less than 25 minutes ahead when we started.

On his final leg, Alex turned in the fastest run of the race at a 5:37 average pace. That got Alex his third listing for 2011 on the records list.  Markham and Dan both beat their projections and then it was my turn.

My Third Leg: Ben Lomond to Granite Construction Company Felton Quarry, Santa Cruz County
Day/Time: 5/1/11, 10:15 AM - 10:57 AM
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Difficulty: Very Hard

Leg 34 starts at the Ss. Peter & Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church.  It runs along Highway 9 through the business districts of Ben Lomond and Felton before heading up to the Felton Quarry in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The towns were historically logging communities with the attendant mills and railroads.  Limestone was also mined for use in bricks that helped to build The CITY.  This is now largely a rustic resort and vacation area.  Ben Lomond and Felton are both unincorporated communities.  Ben Lomond has a population of around 2,400 and Felton is a little over 1,000.   

The first four miles are along the shoulder of the main road through the area.  The route then turned onto a different road, through the trees and uphill to the quarry.  My goal was to run the first part at 10K pace and then just try to survive the last two miles of uphill running.  A couple of the sections were so steep that I was barely shuffling along.  I was spent at the end and could do nothing but hang my head over the railing on the porch of an office trailer at the quarry. 

I finished in 42:20, an average pace of 6:49.  That brought me in better than four and half minutes ahead of projection and was good for a new team masters record.  It was much better than I had anticipated.  I also had three road kill.  Although, at least one of those was a walker. 

Noe Powering Through His Run

Ken completed Leg 34, with its relentless hills.  That leg will change next year.  Ken, Alex and I are now members of the exclusive group that ran the very challenging configuration of leg 35 for the three years it went over the mountain route.  Noe had the anchor leg where he was solid, passing other runners and making it to the finish line.  Noe took over first place on the team record list for his run on leg 36.

Finish: Davenport, Santa Cruz County

Day/Time: 5/1/11, 12:38 PM

As Noe approached the finish, he was joined by the full team and we finished a little after 12:30 PM.  In the end, the team was better than 28 minutes ahead of schedule.  We had a total time of 23:08:11.  That was almost three hours ahead of 2010.  I figure about an hour of that was a result of the course changes.  The other two hours were a faster team and a better performance.  I was totaled out, but completely satisfied after this year's race.

Steve N was the captain, but did not get to run this year.  He handled the logistics and all of the timing in both vans, putting in more work and getting less sleep than anyone.  He put together and guided the team.  The fun of running with the DSTC is that Steve knows what he is doing and the runners just need to focus on the race.  In addition to Vince in van 2, Dan H drove van 1.  Tim and Leslie C were the team's mandatory volunteers on the race course. 

I don't know if I will be running The Relay next year.  Thanks to CIM I have a Boston Marathon qualifying time.  I may run Boston, which is only two weeks ahead of The Relay.  That is not enough recovery time.  If I don't make it next year, this is a good result before a break.

2011 Devil's Slide Track Club/DSE Men's Masters Team
at the Finish Line - Davenport/Santa Cruz County