The race begins approximately one mile south of the Guy West Bridge in Sacramento on the American River Parkway. The American River Parkway is the nation's longest, continuous wild and scenic riparian parkway in a major metropolitan area and the jewel of the Sacramento region.
Runners will follow the American River Parkway for the first 19 miles to the Hazel
Bluffs. This first part of the race is on pavement. However, the shoulder of the bike trail has decomposed granite for a softer running surface. After crossing the Hazel Avenue Bridge, runners will ascend on a single track trail to the Hazel Bluffs. Upon descending from the Hazel Bluffs, the course will re-connect with the bike trail and intermix with fire roads and single track trails through mile 22. From mile 22 to mile 27, the course re-joins the pavement. After reaching Beal's Point at mile 27, runners will enjoy single track trails for the duration of the run to Auburn. At mile 46, runners will climb the infamous "Dam Wall." Runners will be greeted at the summit by the Last Gasp aid station. With 3 miles to go, motivational mile mark signs, will boost your spirits as you tackle the last climb. The "Party at Mile 49" with cheering enthusiasts, an inflatable frog and ice cold cokes will send you off on your victory mile to Auburn.I was fighting RSV and didn't think it would effect my running, but it did. I could breath in very well, but I couldn't breath out, which I think had a chain reaction. This is my excuse for not performing as well as I thought I would. Or hoped. My legs locked up and my hips was feeling a bit tight. Maybe having run the buffalo 2 weeks prior could have made the affect on my body. I didn't like 27 miles of road, but even with the pavement run my La Sportive Crosslite shoes held up and did the job. Though I got looking after the race into my log book and I realized I have over 500 miles on these shoes and will have to retire them. I was the only goat out there with trail shoes on the road. This race was my eighth finish. I'm going to ten finishes and after that I will probably retire from this race due to the road. It's the only race that I run on road for years other than this race. But, aside from the negative point of view, the weather was perfect, the energy in the air was amazing. The scenery was beautiful and the American River was quite full. For the last ten miles of my race I had my son Jayden pace me. Jayden was so full of energy being the
first time he had ever paced anybody on any race. Most people couldn't tell who was the pacer and who was the runner because we both had so much energy. NOT! Jayden was so excited racing with me. It felt like Christmas morning all over again. Jayden kept on saying "this is so unreal! This is so beautiful. The mountains, the river!" I simply said to Jayden "Welcome to Trail Running!"
