Alameda Runners – Get After It!

I was supposed to go out for a 20 mile training run today but I decided to go take some pictures at Rocky Ridge for Brazen Racing.  The cool thing about Brazen is, all of the pictures are uploaded to Picasa and are available for download for free.  We are not professional photographers with the snazzy equipment but we do okay.  The photo album can be found here.

You may ask yourself, “Why would an Alamedarunner skip his long run to go take pictures at a trail race”?  The answer is simple, to be social.  Trail running is generally more social than road racing.  Road racing can be fast while trail running is a bit slower and hillier.  Going uphill is hard on everything.  Walking uphill can be a serious challenge to the legs but your breathing is good enough to talk.  Going downhill can be dangerous so people slow down and chat.  All of this leads to a community atmosphere.  Sam and Jasmin, the event organizers, are very friendly too.  All of this creates an atmosphere where people want to be.  The volunteers are usually people like me, who are training for something else, family members or friends.  I was out with my friends, taking pictures of my friends.  My wife and son went out to volunteer as well.

I went up to the top of a big hill of about 1800 feet, to get some pictures with a nice view.  One advantage of taking pictures on top of a hill is that everyone gets spread out.  When people are spread out, I get to try more things with the camera.  Unfortunately for the half marathon runners, they had over 3,500 feet of climbing on their legs when they got to me.  I got a lot of good pictures from the top of that hill.  It is always great when people stop to pose for the photographer.

This was a hard race for every distance.  It was hard on the volunteers who were out on the course.  Do you ever wonder how the volunteers make it to the top of a big hill to set up an aid station?  The lucky ones get there stuff delivered for them.  Many volunteers put the water, table and other supplies in wagons and haul it to the aid station.  They also send a volunteer out on the course with trash bag to pick up the cups that get thrown around.  Most trail runners hit the trash cans or come really close to hitting the trash bin but we always have to check.  The runners frequently stop to pick up the trash that others drop.

If you want to run in a friendly event, try a trail run.  Even the type “A” racers lighten up a bit for the trail runs.