Redwood Wild River Run 15K Race Report

Saturday was my first race out of town this year and about 90 miles from home.  Even though I awoke without much interest in racing, I convinced myself to at least check out the course.  Depending on who I asked in the bathroom line, descriptions of the course ranged from "really hard and hilly" to "gradual uphill on the way out and the opposite on the return trip".  Matt had the forethought to compare results from a few friends that had run both last year's Foggy Bottom and this race.  It didn't appear to slow people down much.  Both Matt and I decided to run faster than our goal MRP and leave it at that. 

The race started precisely at 11am and I went out reasonably easy.  I ran the first couple of miles with Bob, one of the club regulars that also made the trip.  Surprisingly enough, our club contingent included over 20 runners and most of the people that regularly run the circuit.  I was impressed considering there were 15K and 5K distances, a long way to travel for such a short race.  We chatted a little bit about how our day went at Foggy Bottom and then I went up ahead. The course meandered through a quiet rural neighborhood and then entered Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park via Howland Hill Road.  For as difficult as the course was described, I was pleasantly surprised to notice its similarities to the Avenue course.  The road was woven between the Redwood giants, along gentle up and down hills, and has a similar amount of potholes to dodge.  The only difference was that it was dirt instead of asphalt. 

By mile 2, I caught up to the only other person I recognized from our club, Paul.  We chatted for awhile about our goals for the day.  It was his first race of the year and he was hoping for something similar.  We ran together the remainder of the race.  At points, it seemed we were tied together.  As I struggled, he dragged me along.  When I drifted ahead, he followed.  It worked really well, I loved having a buddy. 

We reached the halfway turnaround point in 36:41.  The remainder of the race was overall downhill.  I don't know if it was mostly mental, but I found myself able to push a little bit harder with each mile.  It was fun passing male runners.  They looked over their shoulder and see Paul pass, accepted it and continued on.  When I passed, they picked up the pace and didn't want to let me by. I don't know if it was because I'm a girl or because I don't look at all like I should be running that pace (I'm much bulkier looking than most people my pace), but each guy put up a fight.  I got all but one of them in the end. :)

Woo! Negative split!

The course eventually emerged from the Redwood canopy once again and we traveled into the sunshine overlooking the Smith River.  I was surprised that we were almost done. I turned to Paul, "Want to pick it up?"  He said no, but did anyway.  We finished together making my first 15K a team effort. 

1:12:10.
7:45/mi.
600 ft. gain.
Female 20-29: 2nd place.

Matt was 3rd overall and won his age group.
57:50.
6:12/mi.

Starting our own Redwood forest.

That afternoon, we had lunch with our club buddies before heading back to Brookings for the night.  These runners know how to have a good time, especially when we're all jazzed up on runner's highs, Thai beers, and flaming soup. 

The world is always a little blurry after a run, right?

With this race, Matt and I are 3/3 on good weather this year.  I hope that keeps up at least until Avenue on May 5.