Victor Ballesteros

VICTOR BALLESTEROS

They are the forgotten heroes of the Dipsea Race, those who run brilliantly but finish just outside the top 35 honored with black shirts at the awards ceremony. San Rafael’s Victor Ballesteros is one of these “shadow” racers, 48th in 2008, 47th last year (after losing a full minute on a misguided “shortcut”) and no black shirt on his resume. But now, in perhaps the best shape of his life at age 43, he thinks the breakthrough will finally come this June.

            Ballesteros certainly has a love affair with the Dipsea. It was the race that got him into distance running, in 1996, after he first walked the course with his father. The Dipsea Trail is his favorite training route and, since he sometimes runs as much as 120 miles a week, few people, if any, log more miles on it. One of his Dipsea workouts has become the stuff of local legend. Ballesteros runs from the start line in Mill Valley, up the 686 steps and then up further to “One-Mile Tree,” turns around and does it twice more. He then runs to the Tamalpais High School track to do three more single mile repeats, all at blazingly swift times of just over nine minutes for the climbs, just over five minutes for the track miles. 

            Since Ballesteros now focuses on ultramarathons, races longer than 26.2 miles, the Dipsea is actually his shortest race of the year. He was a quarter-miler on the Novato High track team—his family moved to Novato from Mississippi when he was seven--with a best time of 52 seconds. He didn’t do any distance running while studying at San Francisco State and the California College of the Arts in Oakland. Then came his Dipsea epiphany in ’96.

“I had heard of the Dipsea so I thought I’d try it,” Ballesteros says. “It was just the coolest thing. Even though it was then the longest run of my life, I knew I could go farther and I swore then and there that I would.”

            And he sure has. In 2006, Ballesteros tried his first Double Dipsea. He did so well he decided to enter the upcoming Quadruple Dipsea. Ballesteros shocked everyone, himself included, by finishing second in a time of four hours, 16 minutes. Now he’s been Quad runner-up a total of three times. (He likes to joke, “I’m consistent, consistently second.”) In 2009, he ran his first Western States 100 Miler, the cross-Sierra race that is the country’s most prestigious ultramarathon, and finished 11th man in 18 hours, 46 minutes. He won the 2009 Montrail Cup, a national series of distance races. Last year, he ran the entire 165 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail in 53 hours, including several hours spent lost. Also in 2012, he ran his first road marathon, Napa Valley, in 2:37, placing fifth overall and winning the masters (over-40) division. Somehow, perhaps due to his wiry, light frame--he weighs just 125 pounds--Ballesteros has avoided injury.

            Ballesteros leads a bohemian lifestyle focused on the arts. He paints, sculpts and makes movies. He’s taught filmmaking to at risk children in the Canal district. He

performs music, with a band and solo.

“I feel very lucky to be able to maintain myself in Marin all these years,” says Ballesteros. “I have really enjoyed being a ‘bum’ in Marin.”

            This easygoing way has endeared him to local runners.

“Victor has become a friend to all within our ultra running community,” says Tim Fitzpatrick, co-director of the Marin Headlands 50K. “He volunteers to help with events, is always willing to lend his advice, and in general is someone that everyone enjoys bumping into up on the mountain or in downtown San Rafael. He is also an intense student of the sport with huge talent who is not afraid of doing hard work.”

“I put out a high standard for Victor to shoot for and he nailed it,” says Mark McManus, another Ballesteros mentor and a three-time Dipsea Race Best Time winner. “We’ve learned a lot from one another in our coach and athlete dynamic. He showed me that by combining a touch of grace, an unrelenting dedication to improve, honesty, along with a humble attitude, our feeling of self satisfaction from running will be more meaningful than any fast times achieved along the way.” 

            Now married (Jena), Ballesteros has become a bit of an entrepreneur. He designed an ingeniously compact storage holder for distance athletes and sold out of his first production run. His fledgling company, Victory Bags, is now awaiting its next shipment. Ballesteros also works at the new San Francisco Running Company, which Quadruple Dipsea winner Brett Rivers just opened in Tam Junction.

            This June 9, expect Ballesteros to be adding a black shirt to his own “victory” bag.