Mount Diablo Peak to Peak to Peak Trail

Sunday morning in Castle Rock Regional Park

Well, when I said that I would be posting less I didn't mean posting only two posts this month.  However, I am having computer woes ( mine died) which means that I have to borrow my wife's until I can afford a new one, hopefully soon!





That said,  there has been a lot of running with my goal for the month to build my base by running an average of 30 miles a week.  I did well the first two weeks and slipped the last two weeks.  However, I have though finally blasted the roadblocks of the last few months where I run just enough to feel uncomfortable to not enough to build a solid base.

Just outside China Wall

This week has been awesome though.  My wife and I have been able to squeeze in two runs up on Mount Diablo.


On Saturday, we took our traditional run through Castle Rock Regional Park over to China Wall and back.  The sun was just coming up over Diablo with a nice bit of high clouds providing wonderful shadowing across Pine Canyon.  It was an awesome run.

Deer off of Burma Road

Right above Sunset Trail, off Burma Road, I came across a doe and two of her yearlings.  They were unimpressed by me and allowed me to get within 10 feet of me before they slowly made way off the trail.  Most of the deer on Mount Diablo are pretty wild and pretty jumpy around humans which made these deer pretty different.

Trail up to North Peak.

Today, our kids went back to school, with our oldest beginning middle school and our other kids beginning a new elementary.  I took the day off to walk them to school and help with the adjustment.  After, my wife and I decided to drive to the top of the mountain to explore the trails around North Peak and Prospectors Gap.

 




I have been wanting to get up to this area since I have been looking for alternatives for summiting other than Juniper Trail ( wonderful technical single track that is great to run down!) from Mitchell Canyon.  It was in the eighties when we got up there which made for a warm run (normal for Diablo).

First we took the quick 0.7 mile loop at the top, then took Summit Trail to North Peak Trail.  This is a real nice piece of single track also!  Half way down we came across a bunch of hogs, which I have never seen on the mountain.  Once we got to the Prospector Gap intersection, and our prime objective completed, I continued up to North Peak while my wife headed back towards the car.  

Mount Diablo's North Peak

North Peak is a nice climb with the final 500 hundred yards being steep and pretty loose, however, I made quick work of it.  The peak itself is not as nice as the main mountain is in full sun.  After a couple of moments I turned around and headed back to the car.

Once back to the car, my wife suggested I run down Juniper Trail and she would drive down to the campground.  I never pass on technical so I was game.  Besides I wanted to see if I could beat her down by foot.  She arrived four minutes before I got down, but I was really satisfied with our run.

It was definitely a great run and felt very strong and best of all two special runs with my wife!

Diablo Challenge - My first attempt at 50K

To say my first 50k was epic was an understatement.  To end up getting my first DNF was awesome!!!  Let me explain. 

My wife and I have been looking forward the Diablo Challenge 50K for months.  Last year we had run the 5K with our kids in the rain. Now our best laid plains included training for the Napa Valley Marathon, which was at the beginning of March.  This would be followed by continuing training past the marathon giving us a three week tapper.

However, we ran into a couple of problems.  Both my wife and I ran Napa injured (I ran with Achilles tendonitis, for my wife it was her hip). That, combined with warmer than expected temperatures, meant that we increased our Napa time a full hour from the last time we ran it, to 5:45.

That was ok.  We learned our lesson.  The biggie here though was that we finished.  And we knew there would be that race that we would know it would be time to call it.

The following weeks, life got in the way of our training schedule.  We were recovering from our injuries.  We both got the flu.  Followed by an "extended vacation" (a month of unemployment). 

Not to say we didn't do any training.  It just wasn't at the level that we had wanted, and definitely less than we would have for a standard marathon. That said our legs were fresh and ready to go.

We were alerted a few days before the race that we would be running our first Ultra in the high 80's to low 90's.  The good news though was that I got a job offer a couple days before the race, so we could focus on the race itself.

On race day, we were stocked with extra water and salt tabs and felt ready to go.  The course begins in the Round Valley Regional Preserve, winds just north of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir, then through Morgan Territory Regional Park, into Mt. Diablo State Park, then finally into Castle Rock Regional Park.  The 50K (31.6 miles) had 7,142 vertical feet.  Find the course description here.

Most of the run through Round Valley went well.  That is until we got to the first hill.  We knew that this would be the toughest hill with a total elevation gain of 1,400 feet. By the time we made it through the lush green Round Valley, it was already well into the 70's.  By the time we got to the top of the ridge, the heat had completely zapped our energy.  The views from the top were beautiful and definitely worth the climb.  You could see the windmills of Livermore to the south, the Delta to the northeast, and Mt. Diablo to the (far) north.  

We got our second wind and ran down to Morgan Territory Rd. to the first aid station.  We had at this point successfully completed 8.2 miles.  By this time though it was now into the high 80's and we now faced our second hill, a climb of  800 ft of vertical feet.  Most of this part of the course was fully exposed with very little wind.  The country was beautiful; however the heat was unbearable.  My biggest concern though was for my wife.  She has problems at time with an irregular heart beat.  This typically occurs when she is running in 80-degree plus temperatures.  She actually did pretty well this go around.  However, we knew that we would be running into the danger zone if we pushed past the half-point marker.

So that said, we called it at 15.6 miles.  We knew that this was the time to have our first DNF.  The decision came easy.

We also got a scare, one of our fellow runners also was having heart problems and needed medical.  We had a little over a mile to go, so I left my wife and kicked in to get help.  The search and rescue went out and got her.  My wife followed a few minutes behind.

Source: Brazen Racing

Back when we ran our first marathon, we said that we wouldn't do another.  Since then we have run 6 marathons and attempted now one ultra.  So I can say that we will attempt another 50K again.  It comes back to determination and the proper training and conditioning.

Will we run the Diablo Trails Challenge 50K again? Most definitely.  Brazen Racing, which is the race organizers, and the Save Mt. Diablo foundation have truly created a course that is wonderful, if a bit challenging.  With the right weather, we would have conquered the mountain.  We know it.

The Diablo Half Marathon - Costal Trail Runs

So what can I say about this run other than it was awesome!!!   This was an over 13 mile, almost 3,800 foot elevation gain, challenge that was worth every moment.  I never thought I would summit Mt. Diablo on foot, but we did it.

Our family is familiar with the first three miles of the trail.  A little over 3 years ago, when the kids were much little and I would push a jogging stroller on fire trails, we tried to climb up to Deer Flat.  Mind you, it was in the 90's that day and I was not as healthy as I am today.  That said, the trail is beautiful, with sweeping views of Mitchell Canyon and of the Clayton and Concord valleys.

Today the run started at a chilly 48-degrees.  By the time we would finish (3 hours and 54 minutes, not bad for this type of run) it was 81-degrees.

This was also the first time we have run with Coastal Trail Runs. The race was well organized, challenging courses, two aid stations; however we have definitely been spoiled by running Brazen.  That said, we would definitely run with Coastal Trail Runs again.

The run begins at the Mitchell Canyon Staging area on the north side of Mt. Diablo State park.  For the first two miles, there is a mild incline.  The majority of the elevation gain happens over the next 5.25 miles.  Most of this is on fire trail up to the Juniper Campground, then gets technical to the summit.  What goes up must go down on this race and my quads were crying for mercy after the first 2 miles down.

As I have stated before, my wife and I got into running about three years ago and we run most of our races together.  This run was definitely an accomplishment that I really am proud to say we can share. When it came to this run, climbing is my specialty (due to my bicycle training) while Beth's specialty is the decent. So I was support for Beth on the way up, and she kept me going down hill.  We also ran into our friend Alan (this is his blog) almost to the Juniper Campground aid station which gave us added support.  You can follow his blog here.

Again, if you want a challenging run, this is the one.   Next up is the Long Beach half-marathon, which should be a cake walk.  Fun times......