Lentz falls short of his own lofty expectations at Dipsea Race

Cliff Lentz does both. A cross country and track and field coach at El Camino High School, Lentz runs for pleasure, but mostly runs competitively, so he wasn’t thrilled with his performance in the 111th Dipsea Race, which was held last weekend in Marin County.

Dipsea is the oldest cross-country race in the nation, first run in 1905. It begins in Mill Valley, takes racers through Muir Woods, skirting the south flank of Mount Tamalpais, and finishes at Stinson Beach, a course that covers 7.5 miles and featured nearly 1,300 runners this year, from all over the country.

Lentz, 57, has participated in 26 of the last 27 Dipsea races, missing out in 2011. Sixteen times, Lentz had finished in the top-10. Last November, Lentz finished fifth overall, his best finish since 2007 when he was fourth, which gave him the confidence to think he was a contender for the 2022 title.

But with the race moved back to its normal June slot in 2022, Lentz didn’t quite have the race he was looking for, finishing 12th — his lowest finish since 2017, when he finished 16th.

“It was fine,” Lentz said. “I set the bar high. I shouldn’t complain. I did well and I should be happy.”

From a philosophical point of view, why shouldn’t Lentz be happy? After all, he ran a 7.5-mile cross country race at the age of 57, finishing in roughly an hour.

“When you get right down to it, being my age and getting out there and being able to compete like I’m still in my 20s, it’s an ultimate accomplishment,” Lentz said.

But for the El Camino grad, who went on to become an All-American wrestler at San Francisco State, the competitor in him found it hard to swallow, knowing that he was not in his peak running shape.

Some of it was the fact that he said he was still in recovery mode from a March marathon, coupled with the fact that he didn’t get to do much serious training during the high school track season, when he wanted to focus on the Colts’ athletes reaching their ultimate potential.

“There’s only so much time in the day. … When you coach others, you put yourself on the sideline, but you’re still waiting for your moment. Now that the track season is over, I’ve had a couple of weeks to regroup and it was like cramming for a finals [during] training,” Lentz said. “I just wasn’t there (physically). There is running shape and then there is Dipsea shape.”

The elevation change during the race is one of the feature aspects of the Dipsea, which sees runner ascend — and descend — about 1,500 feet. But the main obstacle is the 680-step Dipsea Stairs, which runners face only minutes into the run.

The Dipsea Stairs and running downhill are certainly an acquired skill. Lentz is used to the downhill portion of the race, but he said he didn’t put in the necessary stair training.

“You have to hammer the downhill (training) so you can, psychologically, not be scared. If you have any hesitation, you’re going to crash or go super slow,” Lentz said. “And you have to do the stair [training]. I didn’t do any of that.”

It wasn’t all bad for Lentz, however. His team, Pelican Inn Track Club, finished as co-team champions, with all five of the team runners finishing in the top-25. Alex Varner led the way with a 10th place finish. Lentz was 12th, Don Stewart came in 14th, Jeff Stern finished 16th and John Gardiner was 24th.

Editor's note: this article has been updated with the Pelican Inn Club members and Alex Varner's 10th-place finish.