The following article was written by Doug Beyerlein and features his twenty thousand dollar jacket. Beyerlein started trail running in 1980 and is still running trails today at age 75. He has run over 60 trail ultras and won three USATF age group trail national championships. He and his wife Joan (an ultra open water swimmer) live in Mill Creek, Washington.
Twenty thousand dollars for a jacket does seem a little extravagant. Running clothes are expensive, but this is a little (or a lot) over the top. But you know how it goes: first you see or hear about something special, something that you never think you could have for yourself. Over time your obsession grows and your willpower to control your desire to resist such an allurement shrinks. And suddenly, almost without warning, you realize that it is possible with just a little more effort on your part. That is how you end up spending $20,000 for a jacket.
Now of course in addition to the monetary cost is the physical expense of being required to run 284 miles, climb up 15,000 stairs, and ascend some 85,000 feet of mountainous trail terrain. That is extra.
Quad Dipsea course elevation.
How it all began
It all started innocently (as it always does) in 1997. I tried to enter the Dipsea Race in Mill Valley, California, but failed due to the race selling out in less than a day. So, I thought that the next best thing was the Quad Dipsea. The Quad Dipsea is four times on the Dipsea Trail between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach on the coast. Four times the fun.
It was so much fun in 1997, in an ultra-painful sort of way, that I did it again in 1998, 2000, and 2001. Any smart person would then say, “Well that was fun, but let’s do something else.” And so I did. I didn’t return to the Quad until 2013. That gave me time to forget about the level of pain achieved in racing back and forth and back and forth again from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.
It wasn’t until 2018 that I considered running it again. Then in a moment of stunning optimism I thought I could possibly achieve the goal of running the Quad Dipsea ten times and be awarded the fabled Quad Dipsea 10-Year Jacket. Now I had never actually seen this jacket but I was on the cusp of having one of my very own. I only had to run the Quad Dipsea four more times and I would achieve the legendary 10-year jacket. Was it possible or was it a dream?
The Dipsea route.
How it is going
In 2021, I was ready to try again. But time was running out, both age-wise and time-wise. In 2018, at age 68, I finished the race in 7 hours, 59 minutes, and 55 seconds; just an hour and 5 seconds under the 9-hour time limit. In 2021, at age 71, it took me 8 hours and 12 minutes to run the 28.4 mile course. Advancing age (and slower legs) was pushing me closer to that 9-hour deadline.
What do you do to counter getting older? You train harder. And so I did in 2022 only to see my time slip further to 8:36. With two more race finishes needed, this trend did not look good.
Beyerlein on course at the Quad Dipsea.
The 2023 race did not boost my confidence. Slow got slower and that 9-hour limit was getting painfully closer. That year on my second climb from Stinson Beach to the top of Cardiac Hill I suffered physical and mental meltdown. I was hurting so badly that I was ready to lie down on the trail and have Search and Rescue come and carry me back to civilization. But stubbornness won out and I slowly marched up the hill to the Cardiac aid station. From there I gathered what little physical and mental strength I had left and finally staggered across the finish line in Mill Valley with only 6 minutes and 34 seconds to spare. Now with only one more race finish needed, could I do it again in 2024?
Life is not linear. Yesterday does not predict tomorrow. But…When the 2024 Quad Dipsea started and I reached the first turn-around at Stinson Beach I was unpleasantly surprised to find that my time for this first leg of the race was five minutes slower than in 2023. This was not a good start. And it wasn’t that I was trying to run slower. Just the opposite. But clocks don’t lie. Fortunately on the return trip to Mill Valley I made up that five minutes and gained five more. I focused on staying in my joy cave (the antithesis of the pain cave) and I was now running faster and easier than in 2023. By the end of the race I finished with 18 minutes to spare and became the proud owner of a Quad Dipsea 10-Year Jacket.
The price you pay
Okay, now you are saying to yourself, that is all fine and good, but how did this jacket come to cost $20,000? I knew that you would ask. Round trip air fares from Seattle to San Francisco for myself and my wife plus lodging plus rental car plus food plus race entry fee plus other race expenses easily adds up to two thousand dollars per trip. Ten trips at $2000 each and you have a $20,000 jacket.
The Dipsea Race is steeped in history. First run in 1905. The Quad Dipsea is a relative newcomer run since 1983.
What’s next?
Well, I hear that there is a Quad Dipsea 20-Year Jacket. If I start in 2026 and don’t miss a year I could have a $40,000 jacket in the year 2035. Of course, that means that I have to beat the 9-hour time limit at age 85, but if I start training now…
Editor’s Note: This year’s Quad Dipsea will be run on November 29. Course records for the Quad Dipsea are held by Alex Varner, 2015, 3:41:01 and Caren Spore, 2010, 4:38:33. Enjoy more articles written about the Dipsea and the Dipsea Trail here.
