Woodside Trail Run

Nice view, but hard to appreciate when one is gasping for air.

I did my first official trail run yesterday. Or should I say my first organized trail run. Whatever....you get the point, it was a trail run.

It was in Woodside, which is across the bay and a little bit north of where I live. And it's in the hills. The choices of distance/elevation were:

10k / 1110 feet
17k / 1890 feet
35k / 2990 feet
50k / 4530 feet

Being my first try at this, I opted for the 10k run. Let me just say that I have a new found respect for how much 1100 feet really is.

The course was absolutely beautiful, the people were friendly, the treats after the run were great....the hills were hell. Okay, okay, not all of the hills. It started off a little up hill, a little down hill, some switchbacks. Nice. I like this. Then it was uphill, a little more uphill, a little MORE uphill. Not so nice. I don't like this. I did WAY more walking than I had hoped or planned. And I think I came in almost last. I have no shame in admitting I felt good about passing someone....even if it was an 8 year old kid. But honestly, I really am trying to get into the spirit of the Pacific Coast Trail Run, whose motto is "Runs that aren't races in beautiful places."

Also, and this is very exciting, I got a pair of trail running shoes! Schweet! Okay, so maybe you aren't quite as excited as I am. I got them at Road Runner, because they have a 60 day guarantee on running shoes. If they don't work out, I can take them back and exchange for anything in the store. So basically a win-win situation.....if they have anything else in the store that I'm interested in. Which of course they do. :-)

I'm going to try another trail run in 2 weeks on the east side of the bay this time. Elevation for this 10k is only 1090 feet. Thank goodness....I think another 1100 footer would kill me. ;-)