The Dipsea

Sunday morning, I ran the 99th Dipsea Race. The Dipsea is the 2nd oldest race in America behind the Boston marathon, and there’s no race like it. You start the race in Mill Valley, almost immediately climb 671 stairs, keep running uphill, then run down a steep narrow chute called Suicide, then climb 1300 feet up to Cardiac Hill, down through the Swoop & Steep Ravine (might as well be Suicide part II with stairs to sprint down), then choose from a couple different options to finish the race in Stinson Beach. All told it’s 7.1, or 7.4, or 7.5 miles – depending on who you ask and which exact route you run.

The rules of the Dipsea race are also a bit complicated. First of all it’s a handicap race, like the Wauhatchie Trail run that we used to do in Chattanooga. So the old and the young start first, and 19-30 year old males starts last (I had a 1 minute headstart). Furthermore, they break the entire field into two sections. The Invitation is limited to returning runners who ran fast enough the prior year. Then everybody else (including me as a first timer) runs in the Dipsea Runners section. The DR section starts after all the invitational runners are on their way. So I knew going in that I couldn’t place highly overall, but I was shooting for a top finish in the DR section, and to secure an automatic entry (I forgot to mention this race is hard to get into) as an Invitational runner next year for the 100th Dipsea.

The race… Luckily I had been out running on the course. I ran up Cardiac Hill a couple times with the 2008 winner – 52 year old Roy Rivers (don’t let the age fool you… he is STRONG). I also ran the course out and back 2 weeks before the race with two guys who would finish in the top 15 overall. It was good to train for the long burn of cardiac, and for the required technical skills to race downhill. I also went to Stinson Beach 2 days before the race to look at the last mile again. I ran into a man in his 60’s who I had met on my training runs. He had run over 20 Dipseas, but was still out there to scout out his favorite short cuts. He gave some last minute advice – including don’t be afraid to use your right arm to move people out of the way if they won’t let you by on the left.

I started in my group with a single minute handicap, and was already catching the group in front of me (with an additional minute headstart) less than two minutes in. By the time I got to the stairs, I hit a wall of people walking. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT! LEFT! It didn’t work very well, and it was too early to start pushing people out of the way, so I wiggled through people, and ran up to the side of the stairs where I could. Perhaps the congestion was helpful in that it kept me from red-lining too early in the race. As I got toward the top of the stairs it cleared up a bit and I could move at my desired pace. I hit the mile-mark in 9 flat… Pretty slow considering I ran my first mile of a recent 10 mile race in 5:15. But I heard that Mark McManus, who won last year’s fastest time trophy (for best non-handicap adjusted time), ran that mile in 8:30, so I knew I couldn’t be far off pace. Shortly after the mile mark, I crested the hill, and started downhill on the first single track trail. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT!!! Hey dude, in front of me, either pass some people or get of the damn way! This is where I had to put my arm out and move a few people out of the way. Then after a short downhill section on the road, I hit Suicide. This was crazy… so steep, so crowded, dust flying everywhere. I wanted to fly, but I just couldn’t get by people. Luckily it was short, and onto Cardiac Hill. My plan was to run as comfortably as possible at the bottom, since I had almost 20 minutes of uphill running. I passed a lot of people on the first few switchbacks, but then the crowds seemed to be thinning out. Now I was catching some women in their 60’s, pre-teen boys, and middle to high school girls. A lot of these runners looked pretty strong. I saw a man in his 40’s toward his top who was running very well. As I caught him, he managed to hold a steady 30 yard interval over me thru the last few minutes and over the crest of Cardiac. I took a cup of water at the top… I hate drinking water during races, and forcing it down felt like a punch in the stomach, but I think it helped. Then I looked ahead and realized… we’re all alone! A minute into the downhill (gradual at first), I caught the guy in front. He yelled back TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO PASS, so I collected my energy & yelled GOING BY NOW. After I sprinted by I passed a race official who said I was 3rd in the Dipsea Runners section (they could tell by the color of our bib numbers). At this point I was flying. My legs were turning over very quickly, and gravity did the work. As I hit the steep downhills, I just tried to keep a fast pace, and had faith that between the time I put my foot out and when it hit the ground, that I would find a place to land. It worked pretty well, except for a couple stairs that I stumped on & actually put a hand on the ground. So I flew and I flew toward the finish. I would pass a runner every minute or so, but they were all stragglers off the back end of the invitational section. When I hit the road with just over a quarter mile to go, I felt the burn again, but just tried to pass every runner I could see.

I never caught the last two Dipsea Runners – a man & a woman both in their mid 50’s, but I finished the race in 53:29, which was the 6th fastest time out of everybody. I was very happy with the time, especially being my first race. Realistically I thought I would run 55ish. I’m already thinking of spots where I can shave time off that for next year – some technical spots like the downhill steps, and some more conditioning to drop 30 to 60 seconds off cardiac. The top 35 runners each receive a coveted plain black t-shirt with their finishing place on it. If I had been in the Invitational, I would have placed in the 20’s. I’m already thinking about a black T-shirt for next year (hopefully with a low number)!

So if you’ve gotten this far, you can tell how much fun this was for me. Congrats to 52 year old Brian Pilcher for winning the overall race – despite a pretty serious running injury about a week ago. I owe a lot to Alex Varner, Gus Gibbs, and Roy Rivers (who all ran very well this year) for helping me train on the course. Can’t wait till next year!

Here are the results. You’ll find me in 593rd place overall (but 3rd in the DR section – 19 seconds behind the winner who had nearly a 10 minute headstart). You can also see my 3 training buddies in the top 20 overall.

http://www.dipsea.org/2009/2009_prelim.html

Oh & finally 1 note on Roy River’s race: Because he was last year’s champion, he received a 4 minute “winner’s penalty” (reduced head start) for last year’s win. It drops to 3 minutes next year, then 2, then 1. Just another unique twist of the Dipsea Race!