Jungle Run 2013

My caricature of 'Tarzan the Monkey Man' racer

 I wanted to start writing up race reports since I've been doing so many recently (trying to do at least one half per month), and sometimes it can be hard to find information about some of these runs.

The first report of the year goes to the Los Altos Jungle Run, July 14th 2013.

This race came at a perfect time in my training schedule. I'm currently training for the Santa Rosa Marathon in August and was looking for a good race to see how fast these ol' legs can go.

I managed to drag my running partner in crime to do the race with me. We got there at 6:20 to get the race packets bright and early. The parking was going fast but we got a good spot at the high school (staff parking...shhhh...). The packet pickup was easy, and we slowly shuffled our way back to the car to keep warm before the start.

The start was pretty punctual, only a minute or two behind schedule. I was pleased to see that there were race pacers, which are kind of a rare site, especially for a half marathon. I sought out the 1:45 guy, knowing that it was probably going to be a bit of a stretch since my last half marathon was almost 1:49. My fastest ever was 2 years ago when I was in much better shape and managed to do 1:42:06 on the pancake flat course of San Jose Rock N Roll.

We started off quick, and despite a few little uphill moments, it was mostly downhill and fast. I knew that I needed to take advantage of the downhill so I sped up past the pacers and tried to keep my lead.

At mile 5 things started to change. The elevation, even though it was slight and barely noticeable was enough to slow me down into the 8 min mile range. The pacer started to close the gap between us, and by the time I reached the gravel trail, he blew past me with a group of annoyingly fresh seeming people.

The turn around point just past mile 11 was heaven, and going downhill felt like a breeze in comparison. My legs started feeling good again and I manage to get my pace back under 8 for the last mile.

The course finished on the track which was a little bit of a tease and kind of brutal since the finish line was in site.

More about the race. It was a nice mid sized race with maybe between 600-700 half marathon runners. There were also a lot of 10k runners. The 10k and half marathon paths crossed towards the end and it was a little confusing and tough to go around the slower folks since it was a tight lane. The roads weren't closed off to the public so there were a lot of mountain bikers zooming by which was kind of scary at times, and there were a lot of walkers that were off in their own worlds that made it a little more difficult.

The terrain was mostly paved with a few miles of dirt trail. There was a small patch of bark that we had to run through which was like treading water. Not my favorite.

The vibe was fun and friendly. There was a handful of spirited runners all dressed in jungle themed gear. My favorite was the man I drew above, who was in nothing but a tiny leopard print loin cloth (and tiny running shorts) and he was carrying this large spear. Not to mention he was near the lead and looking happy as a lamb.

The hills weren't bad, but I would definitely say that they are not to be ignored. There were a lot of short but semi-steep hills that acted like little speed bumps which made it hard to maintain a quick pace. The total elevation gain was 482 feet.

Now back to the finish. I somehow managed to squeak in at 1:45:50 which I was pretty happy with. I don't know the pacer's exact time, but I'm pretty sure they were spot on as he was nearly a lap ahead of me on the track.  My time snagged me the 2nd place for my age group, which was surprising, but honestly I just don't think there were many 20-29 year old women running it. The 30-39 year old group had lightning fast times, all in the low 1:30's.

Yup I'm too cheap to spend $50 for digital copies

I'll still take it. The awards were cute and festive. I got a plastic panda bear with a little tag around it's neck. The post race food was plentiful, and the race shirts were pretty cute. Unfortunately they were unisex so it still is pretty unflattering on my 5 foot nothing frame.

All in all it was a fun race, and I was happy with my time and with the experience in general. My only complaints would be how the trails got sometimes too crowded, and the last aid station (and only one that I took time to stop at) had ran out of gatorade. :(  I survived, don't worry. The goods certainly outweigh the bad, and I'll definitely be back for 2014!