Does this count as a fastest known slip and slide? Lovely morning on the ridge that ended in an FKT!
Our crew (Jeff, Rod, Elan, and myself) started from the Bolinas Ridge Trailhead at around 9:45 in the morning. Conditions were very foggy, windy, and quite muddy. We took the first half fairly easy and kept things very easy until Cardiac. Looks like both Chris and our team took ~5 minute breaks at the two respective water fountains along the route (he chose Pantoll and we chose Cardiac) to fill up bottles. Also as done in previous efforts, we took the Dipsea Trail and not the fire road.
Our team started to bring the pace down and "caught" Chris's pace on the Redwood Creek/Miwok ascent. The mud made the downhills in the Headlands a bit tricky but a strong climb up Marincello solidified the time. Came to the terminus about 8 minutes below Chris's effort. We also agree that there's a lot of time to be cut off this route. A sub 3:30 effort is very much in the cards on a better conditions day with someone going for it.
Some logistics to note relative to the FKT/for future runner's planning:
- Seemed like everyone in our crew started with two 16 oz bottles. Everyone filled up at Cardiac and that seemed to be plenty for the full effort.
- Elan started the run with us and was with us as late as Cardiac Hill. He did successfully complete the route but came in at around 4 hrs 29 minutes. As a result, our team's run would qualify as a supported effort (admittedly we feel this is a grey area within the world of FKTing but it's what feels right for this effort). Our crew received no outside support otherwise.
- The 4:10:56 was what Strava credited the slowest of the three times below the FKT as (the difference between the three times was a matter of seconds).
What a beautiful route all times of year, can't recommend it enough!