Monday, January 28, 2008

Pre-Race Report

Sunday morning, during a brief respite in our brief rainy season, I ran the PCTR Woodside 35K course as a preview for next Saturday's race. I was greeted by a coyote in the Huddart parking lot and saluted by half a dozen bright yellow banana slugs along the way. I also surprised a squirrell coming into a turn and it jumped straight at me in panic before turning in mid-air to escape. Too much excitement for me when I'm cruising along at a light tempo.

The course was, as expected, wet but still fast and not too muddy. There were about five more trees down on the course than I remember from October. Will Gotthardt and Ryan Commons were out scouting the course as well and seeing them put a spring in my step, anticipating another good race Feb. 2nd.

I'll see how long I can stay with Mr. Commons. My guess is he'll be able to run at or below four hours on that course and I'll be happy to draft as long as I can. I'm also looking forward to racing with Scott Dunlap. I've enjoyed his blog for some time now and certainly would like to thank him for the excellent interviews he's posted with trail and ultra-running luminaries and up & coming athletes. His blog is a great resource for the running community.

1 comment:

willgotthardt said...

Hey Thomas...Woodside is shaping up to be a terrific race, it's gonna be wild up front, no doubt...bring your FAST shoes.

I ripped the 35K there in December, course suits my ability a bit better (than Pacifica) with the lower overall times...we'll see, look forward to it.

See you at the start.

Will G.