Excited by my pain free (heart wise) experiences with the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon and the Ahmanson Trail Race (7km) the previous month, feeling my body slowly regain its running shape, and (let’s admit it) totally and completely “feeling my oats,” I took a deep dive into the racing calendar and chose an unknown trail half marathon way up in the vaunted San Francisco Bay area: the China Camp Trail Run.

This race was put on by Inside Trail, the same outfit that hosted the previous year’s Santa Cruz Trail Run (my last race before everything “went down” heart-wise). A You Tube video showed a preview of the course by a runner who had no problem navigating the trail, which proved to me that, unlike the Santa Cruz race, this trail would be much more “runnable” than the rutted, root infested adventure in Santa Cruz. (Cue God laughing as I put together this particular plan).

I willfully signed up. I willfully secured a Southwest flight from Burbank to Sacramento with a return the next day. Next was the car rental, complete with all the insurance options (I don’t like gambling with my physical and financial well-being). And…I willfully made a reservation at a Motel 6 in San Rafael, a 20 minute drive to the course’s start line.

Thoroughly enjoyed my long tourist drive from Sac-town north west up into Lake County and down through Napa’s vineyards and oak forests to my motel room. Forgot it was a Saturday afternoon, and people were heading home after a pleasant Saturday in the area. Took me a full two hours to get from Napa to San Rafael. California, everyone.

Made a quick stop at the start line for a look-see, then grabbed dinner and checked into my motel.

Long story short, my next door neighbors were shitty people. Middle aged Hispanic men, quiet and mean-looking, who played music non stop from the time I went to bed until I finally called the cops at 4AM to get them to shut the fuck up. Based on the vibes I got from them, my constant complaints to the motel manager and knocking on the wall was harshing their buzz.

I’m likely to come across as “that guy” to whoever is reading this. But I didn’t get party vibes from them. The situation felt far more menacing, and multiple calls to the San Rafael police department advised me to simply stay inside my room for my own safety. The police did come, eventually, but by then the men had seemingly left. Again, with a menacing slow-walk that told me essentially that if circumstances were different, we would not be having such a pleasant conversation.

Eventually the officer came, and I explained the situation and filed a report. By then, it was almost 5AM, and I laid back down and tried to get some sleep before the race started at 8AM. But wouldn’t you know it, there was some other crud in the room next door who began playing music again. Quieter this time, but still.

I made it to the start line after perhaps ninety minutes of sleep, groggy and agitated. The whole atmosphere of the event was spoiled for me, but I remembered why I was running this race: gratitude for my renewed health? Yes. The excitement of running a race I had never run before in a different part of the state? Of course.

The chance to win yet another age group award for being an older guy who shows up for an event drawing about 300 people, with only about 85 or so running the half marathon distance? Ah, hell yeah, folks! The benefits of perseverance!

But oh, that race…

The course consisted of two loops in a figure eight. The first loop was about 7.5 miles (the “10k” option, heh). The second was shorter, but had an overall steeper ascent.

Both loops had a half mile climb up a twisting, switchback climb of nearly 250 meters that at some points was steep enough to cause me to slip back down the hill. And those lovely smooth spots on the trail that attracted me in the first place? HA! California has had some severe rainstorm events over the last few years, exposing roots, rocks and ravines all over the course. Sure, there were some smooth spots, but by and large, wow. I thought I was running an obstacle course.

By the time I made it back to the end of the first loop at 7.5 miles, I was done. I grabbed some food and refilled my water pack, and I almost asked the official at the station if I could change my race to the 10k or just DNF. But then I remembered: I willfully registered, I willfully bought the plane tickets, car rental, and shitty hotel stay (folks, if you find yourself in San Rafael, don’t stay at the Motel 6. Splurge on a better motel or drive to another town. Good God!). And dammit, of course, I didn’t endure five months of wandering if I was ever going to run again, getting the surgery, and committing to a possible lifetime of blood thinners, statins and beta blockers to call it quits halfway through, just to quit because I was tired and sore. After all, there was a possible age group award waiting for me!

So I started the second loop. I slipped and slid down that same slippery hill, endured rocks, roots and ravines for another hour, and (something I didn’t talk about) was polite as I could be to all the (GOSH DAMN!) mountain bikers who decided to share this skinny, rugged and steep trail with us.

And eventually, I finished. Ran as hard as I could on the last mile, which was smoother, but by then I was wiped out from the effort and the lack of sleep. But I finished, on my feet and running. 3:02:04 for the half marathon, which is the longest time it’s taken me to run any distance short of a full marathon. Drove to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a post race meal, nearly fell asleep at the wheel on the drive back to Sacramento (pulled over and napped, which helped) boarded the plane and flew back to LA. Went straight to bed and fell asleep.

Woke up and added my 2nd place Age Group award to my pile of “old man trophies”. Well, there were only two of us in the 60-69 age group, but after everything I endured, I deserved it.

Besides, despite coming in 73rd out of 81 Half Marathon finishers, every single person who finished after me was younger than me by at least a decade. And that included an 18 year old.

Take that, San Rafael!!