After a year of most races being cancelled in 2020, I’ve been itching to sign up for a real race again! The Angel Island half is a small trail race that was one of the few races around San Francisco this Spring that want cancelled. Now that California is mostly re-open it looks like a lot of the Fall races will still happen too! I can’t wait to run some more half marathons!
Packet pick-up for this race was in Tiburon near the ferry terminal, and the race bib was the ticket for the ferry ride. There’s no bridge to Angel Island, just the ferry and they chartered a special ferry for the runners at 8am before the other ferries get to the island. I was a little worried about getting seasick but it was a very calm day on the water, thankfully.
It started off a little cold and cloudy so I kept an extra layer on until the last few minutes, then left it by the picnic tables at the finish area. There was no chip timing for this race, we just lined up near the cones and we were off! I was prepared for there to be some elevation on the course (it’s a trail run after all!) but the first mile was all uphill on narrow single track. It was kind of good, because I had no choice but to go the pace of the runners in front of me, and it kept me from starting out too fast.
Eventually the trail got wider and there were some amazing views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, and San Francisco. The trail also flattened out with just some minor up & down hills around the ridge. The sun came out for a bit and it got hot, and there were still a few good climbs in the first 5 miles. A bunch of people started walking around miles 4-5.
Then around mile 6 there was an intersection where a group of runners took a wrong turn. I guess there was a sign for the half marathon runners that hadn’t been moved after the first loop, so about 20 runners went the wrong way. I had gone about half a mile when the faster runners came back, saying “turn around!” It was a little discouraging to have to run the half a mile back to the intersection, but there was also a sense of camaraderie from all the runners who had done the same thing.
When we got back to the right turn, we had to run down the narrow single track again to the aid station at the picnic tables, then run back up the same steep section. That was rough! The second loop was on the roads around the outer part of the island. Again there were some beautiful views from every side of the island! I passed a couple of girls around my age who had been way ahead of me at the beginning but were petering out with all the hills.
I felt pretty good but I knew I had to run more than 13 miles because of the wrong turn, but I didn’t know how much farther it would be. I ended up running 14 miles total. I’ll take it because some of the other runners went even farther in the wrong direction. But it was a little sad when I got to 13.1 miles and my watch read 1:57! I would’ve had a sub-2 half marathon if I hadn’t gotten lost! That was a bit of a bummer; but it was a great race with amazing views, and the best I’ve ever done at a trail race!
I was surprised to find out I’d gotten first place in my age group! I got a cool pint glass :)
My Garmin: 14 miles in 2:04:39 (8:54 pace)
Official Time: 2:04:35
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