The G Running Diary

My New Favorite Run - Purisima 50K: 2/9/04

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So we arrived at Huddart Park Saturday morning a little early (7:30 am), but they opened up and let us in. The Park is sort of in a valley, so it is shady and chilly. Wendell and Sarah were setting things up. Don and I said hi to various people we knew. As it turned out, almost all of the people who had helped us with the Ridge Trail Run were there at the race! We counted twelve. Karen had stayed over with us the night before the run. The three of us were still full of pasta and salad from the night before.

We set off quickly to warm up. We knew we would warm up pretty quickly, because we were heading up and out of the park over Skyline Boulevard, toward the clear sky. Although the trail was uphill, most of it sort of rolled along. For faster runners, it was very runnable. The 50K started at 8:30 am, then the 33K at 9:00 am, and the 14K at 9:30 am. Before I reached the aid station at the top (at 4 miles), a runner from the 33K passed me! I guess he was well ahead of the others.

The aid station was nice enough that I wanted to stop and chat, but I was quickly out and off down the hill into Purisima. Don and I remembered how long it took us to get down this hill on day 12 of our Ridge Trail Run. It had seemed never ending. This time, the turnoff to the Soda Gulch trail came up fast. I wondered if we had pounded down that hill too fast, but I would only know that the next day. Or later in the run.

The Soda Gulch trail is one of my favorites. It winds through creeks and redwoods with ferns and other greenery all around. There is bright green moss on fallen trees. The single track trail is soft and wonderful to run on. The wildflowers weren't out yet in full force--only a few little ones here and there, which you could see if you looked hard. During this section, more 33K runners had to pass Karen and me. It's a little difficult on single track trail, but most had good manners, calling out "on your left" and passing where it was safe.

After that pretty section, it was all uphill to the next aid station. Two women were having a great time joking about it. I liked their attitude. Don yelled down to me on the switchbacks "Pick it up Robinson," which I thought was very funny. I guess we had a funny attitude throughout this run--having a good time, but also having a serious run. There were downhills where we sort of raced each other. The aid station was at the top of some switchbacks, and then you turn around and go back down. I reached the top as Don was heading back. After quickly getting water, I hurried down the hill to try and catch him. I caught up at the start of the loop part of the course. I was a little hesitant about running downhill. I have fallen a few too many times in other runs to have complete confidence. After the loop, it was back up to the aid station. Then, the course heads for home.

After going over Skyline, the trail is pretty much all downhill. At the aid station they said we could catch George, who was ahead of us for the whole race up to this point, even though he had said he was going to be very slow. Don set off to find him. He was flying. I saw him catch George. Then he passed him. There were some other runners too. I said, "He was supposed to catch him, not pass him." They encouraged me to go get him. So I did. We raced down the trail, easing up as we were in the valley again and the trail had flattened out. That was fun. I felt some trepidation about running fast downhill because of my past falls. So, while I was running I focused on my stride. If I stretched my legs out farther in front, there would be less chance of me tripping over a rock and falling on my face. My center of gravity would be different. I could also go faster easier. This was much better than mincing steps.

We reached the start/finish area knowing that we had to go back out again for a final small loop. As I came in behind Don, there was a little crowd of runners who had finished earlier sitting up on the hillside. They yelled at me when I started walking, that I had to finish strong. I said, "but I'm not done yet." They still yelled, so I started running again and they cheered. I was inspired.

Don and I went out on the last lap, which turned out to be nice and short. We met horses out there. Two were galloping! That was neat, except they could have run us down. Two women with horses asked about the race distance, and were impressed when I said 50K. They said, well this is the toughest part (we were going uphill). I said no. They asked why's that, puzzled. I told them we'd already been up and over and down into Purisima. Yeah, that was more hilly than this little fire road.

We came into the finish, all smiles, and hung around just for a little while. Karen finished just a little after us. She did well, too. We got the last of the chili, which Sarah kindly saved for us. It was a great day. I guess I enjoyed it most because I felt good the whole way, and I had fun and tried hard in places (yes, I even ran on some of the uphills). It felt like a really good training run and I got to see a whole bunch of people whom I really like. The only thing missing was the abundance of wildflowers. Other than that, it was perfect.