Dick Houston Memorial Woodminster X-C Race

Sunday I completed the 43rd annual Dick Houston Memorial Woodminster cross-country Race. This was a tough 9-mile trail run in Joaquin Miller and Redwood Regional parks in the East Bay hills. This was the third and final race of the East Bay Triple Crown Trail Championship events. The Woodminster race is an interesting event in that it is handicapped by age and gender. The start is in waves, with Older runners getting a head start. There were 6 waves of runners at 4 minute intervals.

This was another tough course. After only 1/2 mile we hit the first hill which climbs ~550' in less than a mile. This is particularly challenging, since in that first 1/2 mile we're not really warmed up or settled into a pace yet. Additionally, the hill is almost single track, so you either have to run the first 1/2 mile too fast for good position or try to pass other runners on a narrow, steep trail with inconsistent footing. I opted for a compromise and ran the first 1/2 mile slightly fast to not get behind too many slower runners on the hill and to hopefully keep touch with a few faster runners.


After the top of the first hill, the course trends downhill, with only minor hills to climb, for the next 3 miles. By the halfway point we have dropped over 700' to the lowest point in the course. I generally held my own thru the first half of the race, some faster runners from later waves passed me and I passed runners from earlier starts. At the 4.5 mark we start the big climb of the event, affectionately refered to as the "Woodmonster". The toughest section climbs ~650' in ~3/4 of a mile. The hills in this course are tough because they aren't a steady incline that you can settle into a slow pace on. They are full of rocks and roots and steps which force you to constantly change your stride. We ran this course last weekend, and in that training run I ran the entire way up the "Woodmonster". During the race, however, I decided not to try to run the steeper sections and to focus on just getting up the hill as efficiently as possible.


After the "Woodmonster", the course is mostly flat or downhill. I had saved enough to be able to run these last 3 miles at a pretty good clip and passed ~10 competitors in this section. Most of the last 1/2 mile is a trecherous downhill. I could hear another runner right behind me running this section, so a barreled down this hill at a reckless pace. I was able to keep him behind me and finished solidly mid-pack - 93rd of 178 runners (some of which benefitted from their headstart). Without the handicapping my time was good for 82nd place - again solidly mid-pace. My actual running time was 1:23:50, which is almost 15 minutes faster than my time from last year.