Woodside Trail Run

Beloved and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We went to San Francisco for a long weekend without The People.

I love my people, but lemme tell ya...this weekend was pure bliss. We got to meet with my friend Chris, we got to wander through the streets unfettered, we got to sleep in. Bliss.

Since we were there anyway, we decided to join up with the Pacific Coast Trail Runners for a little trail run in Woodside, CA, about half an hour south of San Francisco. Their motto is "runs that aren't races in beautiful places." Even so, you pay a fee, they give you a race number, take your time and you get a t-shirt. Not a bad deal.

On the day they had 10K, 17K, 35K and 50K courses set up. It seemed to be a group with a lot of ultra runners, which makes for a very laid back atmosphere. The venue was Huddart County Park, an open space area in the middle of Woodside. We signed up for the 10K, I was confident that my leg should be able to struggle through that.

I bought new capri running tights just for the occasion, I'll have you know. And it was warmer there than it is here...not to mention sea level. I was REALLY looking forward to this run. I saved up my mileage from the previous week. I had trained to a point where I could do 7 before the pain started - 7 flat miles without much struggle.

In a later post I may tell you about how I'm wallowing in self pity about my IT band, and how it's ruining my life. I'll save it for later.

As it turns out, the course was beautiful and hilly. Really hilly. I had not expected all the hills. I mean, I love hill training, but I was really not expecting that.

I stopped thinking about the hills as I ran though a redwood forest on a soft carpet of leaves and needles. It was achingly beautiful - the trail was narrow, the people were friendly, the sun streamed through the trees, and the temperature was perfect.

At mile 2, the stupid leg started up. And at about 4 miles in my leg hurt bad enough that I was walking. This really sucked, as I had been running uphill to this point, and the rest of the course was gently sloping downhill. You know, downhill - the part where normal people get to run faster, with less effort. I had it in me to keep running, but my leg did not. Downhill + IT Band Injury = Stabbing Pain. My leg was hamburger.

I remembered that I had an extra elastic arch support in my sleeve, so I took off my shoe and put it on to the foot of the affected leg. I'll be damned if the pain didn't move into the background enough for me to finish the race -- at a gentle trot, but by God I was able to run and I finished.

It was definitely the arch support. I could not make the pain background no matter how I tried on my own - no amount of self hypnosis, gait change, nothing made it stop. This is weird because my orthotics already have my arches cranked waaaay way out. They should be fully supported already. Am I just a freak of nature?

Nonetheless, it's a clue...so I'll take it!

I finished - not a great time, but I finished (1:22:30). And then I waited for my husband.

The Pacific Coast Trail Runner people get a huge thumbs up from me, by the way, for stocking the table with gummy bears. And pop tarts.

It's like they know me.

I kept waiting.

This isn't like him, but I knew that if he was feeling good, he would have headed back out for more miles anyway.

He turned up 20 minutes after me. He got lost and did an extra 8K or so. He was quite happy about it. What's not to love about a course like that?!

We spent the rest of the weekend feeling like we'd been worked over with baseball bats - it was a tough course...and I can't say enough nice things about it. So if you're ever in the Bay Area check out their website to see if they're doing a run when you're there. They live up to their motto.