50K @ Woodside

Since my last 50K, I and Kiran both thought it was fun running together so we both signed up for the PC Trails Woodside run - http://www.pctrailruns.com/Woodside_Dec.htm. I told Kiran I will go with her all the way. Race starts at Huddart County Park at 8:30am so we dropped our kids at a friends house in the morning and reached the park at 7:45am. Park opens at 8am but the race organization had made special arrangements so we didn't have to wait. Soon, we realized, we had started without our wallets (so didn't have any money to pay for the park entrance). The guy let us in since we were probably not the first one to whom this happened. Back in the park, we found Reshu, borrowed the money from her and paid the guy. Soon Vivek, Rajeev and Anu reached there. We got our bibs and got ready for the race. Surprisingly, they misplaced our bibs so we had to start with another bib numbers.

When we reached there, the temperature was hovering at 35F while it was in 40s at home. Soon, we realized, we forgot the gloves. Sun was up so it didn't feel that bad. At 8:30am, the race started. First couple of miles was all downhill but the there was a bit of traffic jam early on. At the third mile, the ascent started. It was slow and gradual and I bet it was all doable. But, we were soon taking breaks as a strategy not to tire ourselves early on. In the woods, it was freezing. Both me and Kiran were holding water bottles in hand and our hands were freezing. Gloves would have been nice. On a second thought, hand water bottles don't seem like such a good idea for a cold run.

Pretty soon, we were quite at the bottom of the pack. Vivek and Reshu were long gone. Rajeev and Anu seemed to have decided on a different pace and we couldn't see them behind us. Kiran's shoe was pinching and it wasn't looking good. She had dropped out from her 12hr run just for the same reason. There was a cut off of 8hours at the 19K in 2hr 50 min so we had to make sure we made the cut off. But, with mostly up slope, it looked like we wouldn't make it almost until mile 7. We had reached a high point by this time so the next 3 miles were somewhat down hill or flat. We did some really fast miles here and made it in time for the cut off with 8 minutes to spare.

We thought we had another cut-off on our way back so we decided to take the benefit of the next 4 or 5 downhill miles to the midpoint. This certainly wasn't a wise move since Kiran pulled a muscle on the way down. After that, we just decided to walk all the way back up since now we had to run up what we came down. With Kiran hurting, we decided it was best for her to stop on the way back at the aid station and take a ride. I'd run back. We found a couple of females with us who also decided to walk up the hill.

We reached the aid station in at 1:35pm (in 5hr 5min) and talked to the crew to get Kiran ride back to the base. I figured it was 11 miles from the aid station. Terrain didn't look hilly at all compared to the Steven's creek run so a 2hr run looked promising. I ate whatever I could at the aid station and started my dash at 1:40pm. Till this time, I was feeling fresh as if I hadn't run. I reached the last aid station (5M from finish) at 2:40pm. Somehow, my GPS was telling me I wasn't running fast enough to make it in 2hr. It seemed like I would make it in 7hr 10min or so. At this station I finally caught up with Vivek and Reshu. They were getting started on the last leg. One guy at the aid station commented that Reshu was looking so fresh that she must have been giving Vivek and me a hard time. Soon they started off. I fed myself well so I didn't have to take a break till the end. In fact, I gluttoned quite a bit in a short time that running immediately seemed out of question. With no lunch since the morning, it is easy to let go of yourself.

I got back to the last leg at 2:44pm. Looking at my GPS, 7hr now seemed impossible. It would be more like 7hr 10min. I had been thinking that with such a gradual and low incline, I could target a 6hr PR in future. But, if it took me 2hr 10min to do 11 miles mostly downhill, that didn't look very practical. I was going fast but soon another runner blitz past me. This was a guy who had been running with his friend and his friend must have dropped out at the aid station. My GPS was now showing over 28 miles and I was close to 7hrs. The finish line really seemed to be far away. Suddenly I saw the parking lot, looked at my GPS watch which still showed I was at least 1.5 miles away. I saw the finish line and finished really strong. To my surprise, I finished exactly at 3:30pm. I had forgotten that the GPS doesn't always behave well in dense wooded forests. It kind of pushed me to get some speed I wasn't seeing on my GPS. I actually finished my last 11 miles in 1hr 50min which make me feel pretty good to think about doing a PR of 6hr next time.

Looking for Kiran, I couldn't find her anywhere. I asked one of the guys whom I saw at the aid station. She should have been here. One of the race organizer was prompt in telling me that they had run out of coasters so they would mail it at home address. I looked to our car and sure enough Kiran was in there. She hadn't expected me to finish that fast. She was counting on another half an hour. We got our T-shirts. Chili soup was out of stock so had to be content with chips, coke and cookies. We called our friend, picked up the kids and reached home. We were going out for dinner but reaching home, I was in no mood to go out again. We had an early dinner, watched a movie. I write this while trying to sleep. After 5hours, I still can't catch a blink so I decided to finish this race report. Hopefully, I can catch some sleep soon.

See the GPS route on Google Earth.