My first trail race -- Wild Boar Ridge 10K (Read 430 times)

Thanks to the encouragement of some folks here, I ran my first trail race this morning, despite the fact that I do almost all of my day-to-day running on roads. I loved it!!! The race was the Wild Boar Ridge 10k, and this was its 22nd running, I think. The race was in Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Marin County. It started right at the Mountain Theater. (There is also an 18k that starts at the same time, but goes to a further turn-around point before looping back onto the return trail) It was a beautiful morning, and I was in a parade of cars driving up the twisty road into the park -- runners all, no doubt. They didn't start right on time, which I always get cranky about (there was no same-day registration, so what's with the hold-up?), but at least they kept us all informed, it wasn't cold, and the port-a-potty lines weren't long. I did a little warm-up run and practiced patience. When I said it started in the Mountain Theater, I mean it started in the Mountain Theater. It was unclear to me where the actual starting line was (and to the organizers, I think), so everyone just kind of milled around on the steps/seats, and when they yelled "Go!" we all started up the steps. I trolled Flickr for some theater pics: And the view from there: The first 1.5 miles or so of the 10k was on a road, Bolinas Ridge Road, or Ridgeline Road (I've seen it listed as both), which gave us views down over Stinson Beach and the the Pacific. Beautiful! The turnaround point for the 10K runners put us onto the Coastal Trail. This was a true single-track, mostly on the side of a grassy ridge. You can kind of see the trail diagonally in the picture there. I was worried about this section as a novice trail runner -- I didn't want to be a speedbump, but also didn't want to get stuck behind anyone. There was quite a clump of runners coming off the road and onto the trail at the same time, and it took about a half mile or so before everyone sorted themselves out. And people were exceptionally nice about it, calling over their shoulder to ask if followers wanted to pass, and stepping aside as soon as the opportunity presented if someone called out passing. Once past that first sort, for most of the rest of the race, there would be an average of 20 yards between runners/groups of runners. This section went along for almost four miles, along the side of the hill, mostly following the countour line, with some dips in at gullies. But there was a steady downhill overall, and I was flying. I felt so great, and was having a blast. The footing was a challenge at parts -- a pretty steep downhill right after the road turn-off, then rocky parts throughout, esp. at the "creek" crossings. I reached the mile 5 waterstop (the only one) at 53 minutes, which is pretty respectable for me for road running, let alone my first trail race. So, 53 minutes at mile 5 . . . my finishing time was 1:12 something. 500 feet up in the next mile! Switchbacks and stairs -- stairs! Yeah, I wasn't feeling the trail race love there. I don't think I'd overdone it in the first five miles, though. In fact, I'd say I'm glad that I had banked some time by keeping up my pace during those miles. I just don't have enough strength on hills like that. It didn't help that everyone was walking them -- you could see other runners up and down the switchbacks, walking. Still, the finish was great, back at the theater, and I did make it in before the first 18k finisher. Thanks for the encouragement, and I'm off to plan some future trail running!

Great pictures! Definitely some nice places to run over there in CA.