I'm attempting 4 FKTs in the Bay Area in 4 days and this was 1/4! I wore the Merrell Sky Fire 2s for this one and brought a light Ultimate Direction pack with one soft flask of water and 4 Huma Gels with me.
I started my watch at 10:36 am near the parking and the big rock in the photos, then went down and past the trailhead. Around mile 6 I should have turned right into a single track trail but I accidentally kept going straight and went down the wrong way for about a mile, then once I realized I had to climb back up and turn the right way so that definitely added some time! I almost decided to stop and try again tomorrow but I decided to just try to challenge myself and adjust my goals from sub 1 25 to sub 1 40 instead.
I went the right way and after that kept checking my map every couple of minutes to make sure I was still going the right way- I did not want to make that mistake again! I wasn't sure if the route ended at the parking trailhead or actual parking lot so I took a picture at 12:14 am at the trailhead and I took the watch picture and the picture at the parking lot at 12:15 am. My time at the trailhead instead of the parking lot would be 1:37:50 instead.
I did this as a long run and did an out and back so I stopped my watch to refuel and regroup for a couple minutes before heading back. I'm wondering if an "out and back" version can be added to this FKT? If so, my Strava elapsed time is 3:13:11 and it was a 21.81 mile route (more like 20 if you don't make the mistake of going straight instead of into the single track :) The one way variation has more downhill than uphill so the way back is slower and more verty. There are some steeeeep climbs on the way back!
This was such a fun route with lots of beautiful bay views on the ridge!! I'm excited to see other people crush this route and I hope I can go back and crush my own time sometime too!