John Medinger

(This article by Barry Spitz first appeared in the Marin Independent Journal of November 25, 2011.)

JOHN MEDINGER

Some things never change at the Quadruple Dipsea race. It will be cold and dark when the last finishers arrive. The fourth and final crossing, from Stinson Beach back to Mill Valley, will feel harder than the previous three combined. There will be blood, sweat and tears aplenty. And John Medinger will be sitting in his lounge chair in Old Mill Park, somehow masterfully orchestrating it all. He’s directed every Quad, and tomorrow’s race will be his 29th.

Medinger was raised in Salem, Oregon. He earned degrees from Oregon State, then MIT. In 1974, he began running to get in shape for AAU basketball; he stands six feet, four inches. His first race, Bay to Breakers, came a year later. Medinger did his first marathon in 1978 and owns a personal best time at the distance of two hours, 48 minutes, 41 seconds, at New York City in 1983.

But his real strength proved to be ultramarathoning, races longer than 26.2 miles. (The Quadruple Dipsea, at 28.4 miles, qualifies.) Medinger ran his first in 1980 and has now completed 138 ultras. Thirteen have been 100-milers. In 1999, he won outright the Hunter S. Thompson Fear & Loathing 50K in San Francisco.

The Quadruple arose almost by chance. The seed was planted in 1978 when, on a lark, Mike McKenzie and Hans Roenau became the first runners known to have completed four consecutive crossing of the Dipsea Trail. McKenzie arrived first, after Roenau stopped to pick blackberries. Medinger picks up the story.

“The Quad Dipsea started as a fun run in 1983. There weren't a lot of races back then. I was pretty much a neophyte at ultra running and went to a social gathering where one of the ultra veterans--Bill Casteel, long since deceased--suggested that everyone host a fun run on trails in their neighborhood. I lived in Mill Valley at the time, so the Quad was born. In 1985 we made it more of an official event. The rest is history. This year the race filled to capacity in 13 days. It is the 17th straight year it has sold out.”

Despite the brutal nature of the Quad—9,200 feet each of steep uphill and downhill--the 250 entrant-limit set by park managers is always oversubscribed because of the meticulous preparation and hard work by Medinger and his team of volunteers. They put in long hours surmounting the many hurdles to gain permits, securing sponsors, marking the course, providing well-stocked aid stations no matter what the winter weather, setting up a tent in Old Mill Park and filling it with hot soups and other treats, keeping everyone safe and more.

Medinger describes the highlights of his long Quad tenure:

“The incredible friendships I've made through running over the years, the finish line camaraderie, where everyone is happy, tired, sore and excited for everyone else.”

And there are the self-described “lowlights”:

“Seeing Mt Tam State Park – one of the best parks anywhere in the world – with insufficient funding, and dealing with the increasingly bureaucratic permitting process that has resulted from this. Also, in a completely different vein, having to say ‘no.’ The race fills quickly these days and I get inundated with sob-stories from folks wanting in. And on race day, there's always a handful who miss the intermediate cut-off time (four hours at halfway) and I have to tell them their race is over when they want to continue. But the volunteers, including me!, want to go home and it gets dark by 5 p.m.”

The Quad isn’t the only race Medinger founded. Another was the Epiphany Ultra, named because it was held around his January 6 birthday, the Day of Epiphany in religious calendars. The race began 33 years ago in San Francisco, and a mile was added to the distance to match each of his birthdays. In 2002, it mercifully dropped from 50 miles to 51 kilometers (32 miles). Medinger turned 60 in 2011, and the race, now in the Oakland hills, is going to remain at 60 kilometers. He is also the founder and race director of the Lake Sonoma 50-miler, has been on the Board of Trustees for the prestigious Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run since 1992, and was one of the original directors of the San Francisco Marathon.

Medinger recently retired from a long career at Chevron, where he did investment banking, and moved to Ukiah with wife Lisa. Together, they publish “UltraRunning Magazine” and run a small vineyard under the label Twin Palms.

“It makes me sound like one of those 1% folks that everyone is complaining about, when, politically, I'm on the other end of the spectrum,” Medinger laughs. “I don't really race anymore due to bad knees and incipient old age. But I still do about 30-40 miles per week; I like to eat!”

Tony Rossman, past president of the Western States Board and long-time friend, says of Medinger:

“In the more than quarter century since John and I first ran the Quadruple Dipsea together, he has become a leading legend in the ultramarathon community….His two greatest legacies have been to take the reins of “UltraRunning Magazine” and transform it from a vernacular newsletter into a spectacular journal of record, and to grow the Quad Dipsea from a collection of a few running buddies on the trail into one of the nation's most popular and competitive ultras.”

As to the future, Medinger says, “My only remaining running goal is to get to 100,000 miles lifetime. I'm at about 97,000 miles at the moment, and will get there in the summer of 2013 at my current pace.” That’s only 100 Quads short.