ITR's Woodside (non) Crossover Half: back to Huddart Park at last!

January 15 was our rendez-vous at Huddart Park in Woodside, for the Coastal Trail Runs (CTR)'s Crystal Spring trail half marathon. It was the first race of our USATF Pacific Association MUT Grand Prix in 2023, although we had opened the season with Quad Dipsea at the end of November. Well, this winter has been challenging, weather wis,e and the atmospheric rivers which drenched California led to the cancellation of the event. Nothing on CTR: executing the New Year One Day event in the middle of record rain falls on December 31, Wendell and Leng proved that they could hold an event against any element. Except if Park Rangers have to withdraw their permit for security reasons.

We reworked the schedule and decided to switch that half marathon to April 15, albeit on the other side of the Bay, at Lake Chabot, still with CTR. Guess what: with all this rain, a blessing on the fight against the persisting drought, Lake Chabot is now full and nearby trails are still either under water or too damaged to be used. Dang, another permit withdrawn, less than 3 weeks before the event! Ultra and trail running requires so much planning, I didn't want to lose the date. Shiran and I quickly identified a few options and I reached out to Inside Trails to see if we could use Woodside Purisima Crossover as a replacement. While Craig, the RD, was very welcoming, he had to obtain new approvals himself from the Park Rangers as trails through Purisima were too damaged as well. Meanwhile, I activated a fast-tracked approval from the team captains for this alternative, on the basis it was the same date and still in/around the Bay Area (after the 3 races we had so far in the Sacramento/Auburn area).

Long story short, we got the go ahead from the LDR (Long Distance Running) Committee to switch events in our calendar, phew! Special kudos to Craig for obtaining the required USATF sanction in record time! And grateful to the team captains for their support and responsiveness to make this switch happen.

A few years ago we added sub ultra races to reach out to new participants, hence the importance of maintaining this event on our calendar. So glad that a few clubs were able to bump their participation. Most notably a record participation from the Impalas, the super competitive all-female local club swiping most division wins in Road and Cross-country otherwise. Kudos to Bethy, their MUT Captain, for such a successful show.

Christine did well too with a great turn out from her Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders. As Shiran teased her: "Who would have known LLMS had men too?!" ;-)

We are so used to Pamakids' omnipresence, it felt more natural to see so many green shirts: with Shiran at the helm, after three outstanding years with Pen as a captain, their club is going to keep striving in MUT. And Pen can now focus on her passion for photography.

On the Quicksilver front, the color is still blue, but the club could benefit from a feminine representation, as well as newer blood. 

Actually, speaking of PA clubs, strong appearance from the Stevens Creek Striders albeit on the 35K, oops!

And speaking of these Striders, my original running club back in 2003, and friends, this pilgrimage to Huddart Park reminded me of the monthly training runs we had there in the years 2007-2012, during which I learned so much about ultra and trail running from folks like Charles Stevens, Mike Topper, Chris Garcia, Erik Klein, Gary Gellin, Brian Robinson, Sophia Lewis, Craig Heinselman. And Whit Rambach with whom I ran my first Western States in 2007 when it was his 7th consecutive, and who was visiting today from Tahoe, running the 35K. I chuckled finding this memory in a 2015 post: so many great memories, and such a fantastic bedrock for my 15 years in the sport!

From there [running with the Striders], when the 6-mile run was becoming too short, Charles invited me to join another Saturday morning ultra trail training running group on the Peninsula. I was so intimidated by this group of super experienced ultra runners who were going for 20 miles every weekend! But I gave it a try and the pace happened to be just what I needed to teach me not to start too fast at a time I was still mostly interested in speed on the marathon distance and shorter races. Brian Robinson (the first man to get a super crown for having hiked the three cross-USA trails in one year, and also a finisher and course record setter at the Barkley marathon), his wife Sophia Lewis (Top 7 at Western States in 2003), Mike Topper (5 consecutive Western States finishes including 4 in the top 10!), Pierre Tardif (2 WS finishes, both in the top 10), Craig Heinselman, Chris Garcia, Eric Klein, ... I learned so much about ultra running from you guys! Before he moved up to Marin County, speesdster Gary Gellin was even part of this group these past years.

With this long preamble, let's get to the race! I came to the start with quite mixed feelings, having injured my left calf two weeks ago, during my first speed training session in several years, dang! I took another week off, doing only strength training, mostly focusing on hamstring, quads and glutes (leg press and curl), and abs and dorsal. Plus a few hours of gentle electro stimulation of the side of my calf. I was bummed to feel the painful spot again during warm-up and I decided not to start at the front to see who was going to be ahead in our M50 age group in particular. I had not seen Andy (Belk, from Excelsior) for years and, at 58, he has a higher UltraSignup score, I knew I would have to push to win my age group today.

Excelsior had a great line-up of younger and fast runners: David Tran, Kevin Moore and Victor Skorapa. In perfect team spirit, Andy started with them in a blazing fast start! At least I could see the bright yellow singlets shining in the woods in the distance. On our side, I had informed Stuart and Gaspar about my calf issue, not that they needed my permission to start strong in pole positions!

Less than a mile from the start, in the first uphill, I managed to close on Andy and decided to stay behind for a mile. Meanwhile, I passed a Pamakids runner with red shorts, whom I didn't know and who had enough grey hair to look dangerous! ;-) To make the matter worse, he accelerated and passed me back, that's fair competition! Eduardo was another Pamakids, close behind, and I had forgotten his age. I've known him for so long, he could have finally turned 50 too, I forgot to check!

By about mile 3, with another of steep uphill to go, I did pass Andy and started chasing the guy with red shorts. I got to the top on his heels but, zip, I couldn't keep up with him on the way down, wow! While I lost a lot of agility and speed in technical downhill, that was a nice fire road and, with some good road experience, I'm supposed to also fly down. We still had more than 9 miles to go, I could feel the pain building up in my calf, some good warming in my quads, all this sent me signals that I shouldn't hit the red zone yet. 2 speedy miles later I closed on the two gazelles (the nickname I use for the Impala speedster, with genuine respects) who I had passed me on the way up, when I crossed Kevin followed by his Excelsior teammates, Stuart and a few others. That didn't make sense as we had not hit the aid station yet, much less ran the extra loop at the bottom of the course, but they explained to me that they had missed a turn. I turned back and followed them for a few yards, before telling them they were wrong and that we should keep going down. While they were still making their minds, I took the lead and they followed, thankfully!

We passed the course monitor at the bridge and I thanked her for being there, such a strategic spot on such a convoluted section of the course, then we saw the other course monitor who told us to go straight to the aid station. Carrying two bottles, I didn't spot and retook the lead through that technical loop, maintaining quite some speed. At the end of that loop, in some switchbacks, I heard Stuart teasing the others: I thought he was noticing how odd it was for me to lead in that section, with an injured calf, but he clarified later that he thought this confusion would make for some good lines in my post... ;-)

The lead... We had lost track of the first 4 or 5, a group including David Tran and Gaspar, but that made sense with that loop format after the aid station. In the long climb, Kevin and Victor took the lead of our group again. We managed to close on the guy with the red shorts and, when I passed him, I asked: "would you be in your 50s by any chance?" He replied positively, and I asked his name but he didn't reply, either because he didn't hear --I had such a soft voice, most especially when running-- or he was out of breath. I pushed the pace because he was so fast in the downhill on the first loop, I figured I had to build a solid lead before we get to the top. I was really pushing and, yet, Stuart managed to pass me. We reached the ridge together and, again, I had hard time keeping up although, this time, I was ok to give it almost all. To the point that one of my heel was burning, with a blister starting to form. Calf and quads were burning, but I was all in chasing the age group win.

Trying to keep visual contact with Stuart got me to move fast, so much that we caught and passed Kevin. Stuart put a few hundreds yards on me and actually sprinted Victor out! Because chip time took precedence, which isn't unusual, Stuart was ranked after Victor despite having crossed the finish line ahead AND having a lower gun/clock time in RunSignup. (Same situation for #31 and 32, then 43, 42, 41.)

Now, let's talk about the final rankings: Victor took 2nd, Stuart took 3rd and I was 4th overall, and 3rd men. First place was Annie Marrgraff, with the Impala of course. But, wait, what had happened to the folks ahead at the end of lap 1? Well, it happened they were sent, by the course monitor, back straight up at the bridge, therefore missing not only the aid station but the lower Crystal Springs Trail loop. Ouch, oops, yikes, dang! In ultra and trail running, we are often reminded that we are supposed to know the course, and not having to ask and get directions from volunteers but, still, I have to admit that, while I had replayed a dozen times the course directions the night before, it was great to just follow the instructions of the course monitors through this intricate web of trail intersections and turns. With that, David and a couple of others, including the actual lead female, had turned back and got disqualified. But it took a couple of miles for Gaspar to decide to turn back and retrace the official course from the bridge. Despite this big detour, Gaspar finished mere 5 minutes behind us, officially in 10th place. What a performance, both physically and mentally! As he shared on Sunday night, at least he had a blast having his two daughters crossing the finish line with him. As you can see at the end of this Relive.cc flyover (click on the image below, or this link).

There was a lot of chatting about that very special situation at the finish, we'll see if I get protests, as a MUT Chair. Everything else was so great otherwise: the bright sun which cleared the early fog and clouds, the dry trail, the abundant and colorful marking, and directions at intersections, the course monitors, the volunteers who spent hours serving us with 4 distances/events which kept them busy for hours in the morning and through the afternoon, the variety of food and drinks at the finish, the great finisher medals and shirts, and age group awards, the prompt publishing of results both on site and online. And free professional pictures to come soon. Such a great package! If only we had not rushed and pushed so hard on the half to lose some trail orientation...

Speaking of pushing, I can't believe how sore I am this Sunday, after only running 13 miles (well, closer to 14 actually). A testament of the cumulated elevation (~3,000-3,300 feet) and the competitive field. None of us managed to break 2 hours this time, although David and Gaspar --and a couple more-- would have had if not sent by mistake on a wrong turn. Challenging course!

And I was glad on Saturday night upon uploading my Garmin GPS trace to see that I had run the original and expected course, yeah!

Official course:

Garmin Connect:

Strava (you have to love the scale of the elevation profile, making it quite dramatic!):

Simple nutrition/hydration for this race: one pouch of Vespa, pre-race, 1 GU Energy gel before the second climb, 1 S!Cap, one hour in, half a bottle of GU Energy Brew.

I stayed for 3.5 hours to see others finish and chat with many.

In our age group, Eduardo took second, 2'40" behind me, followed by David Moulton (you see the red shorts), 1'45" behind, that was close!

With Andy and Gaspar:

With David Salladay, who, like me, is dreaming of running Ohlone 50K again:

Steve won his M70 age group, well done!

Keith and Stuart sporting the same Quicksilver ultra races memorabilia from 2012:

Happy to finally have this trail race of our 2023 schedule done. Hopefully not too much push back on the results and scoring. Several captains were also hoping it wouldn't turn into a big and sour deal. This week will tell... Craig handling the claim desk, among so many hats on race day!

At least this provided some good hill training to all and, for some, good warm-up and test before Quicksilver 100K (a Grand Prix race) and 50K (not in the Grand Prix). Hosted by the (my) other club in blue, Quicksilver. See many of you again, there! Us now being done with the acts of god/mother nature...

PS: when folding my bib I had noticed the paper was quite sturdy. But I didn't think it would almost cut my shorts! ;-) (Dang, I loved these Brooks racing shorts assorted to our Quicksilver uniform...)