I had done a 20 km trail run the day before so my legs were a little sore.  I wanted to go fast but not kill myself on this particular race so my goal was to stay in from of my teammate Matt larson who was starting 1 minute behind me and also maybe try and catch the guy in front of me who had a 1 minute head start.

When I got to the start area the guy going off in front of me had legs like tree trunks and a really fast bike.  OK, stay in front of Matt.  good goal and maybe try and break 50 minutes on the course.

I move into the start position 5-4-3-2-1- go -   I am off.  I can see my 1 minute man way out ahead.  I put my head down and try to concentrate on cadence and breathing.  My bike didn't have a computer and i wasn't wearing a watch, so I was going on pure feel.

I make the right turn about 3/4's of a mile from the start and get hit with a slight headwind.  Where did that come from, I didn't feel it when we were warming up.  I keep going and stay low in my aerobars pedaling a steady cadence.  There is an overpass coming up and I stay in the tuck position and pedal over it.  that felt great, ok, now i am moving. I can see my 1 minute man has moved further ahead by the reflection of the sun on his bike.  It looks like he is moving in on his 1 minute man. Ok maybe i can catch that guy.

The road is flat with some minor curves,  I hit the first set of rollers that indicate that i have less than 3 miles to the turn around.  That went fast. Matt has done this course a few times and told me that there is one, maybe 2 spots where I should get out of the saddle to climb the short and steep roller.  I hit the first one and barely get out of the saddle.  the second one I have to get out of the saddle right at the bottom.  I see my 1 minute man on his way back and then see 2 other riders he has passed.  Wow, maybe I can catch 2 guys.  I crest the hill and can see the turnaround in the distance. 

I hit the turnaround and start back.  I count 1,2,3,etc to see how far ahead I am of Matt.  When I hit 60, I stop counting, he hasn't made up time, whew.   I hit the backside of the steep rolloer, stand, pedal and crest the hill and head down the other side.  I finally see Matt, we yell encouragement to each other and then its back to business.  I see one rider up ahead that i now want to catch, but at the same time I see the guy who started behind Matt and he is going fast.  o-no, I can't let that guy catch me. 

I keep pedalling looking for the last of the rollers  and then the overpass.  I finally catch the first rider I saw on the road, he had a flat on the course and was just pedalling back after fixing it.  Ok, now i have to catch that next guy.  I can see him in the distance but it doesn't seem like I am making up ground.

I finally hit the overpass and a sign that says 3 miles to go.  Crap, that seems like a long way and now the wind is blowing in my face.  I continue on and I am making up ground on the guy in fornt of my.  2 miles to go and he is close.  1 mile to go and I catch him.  I go around him but he latches on to my wheel.  I think to myself, hey this is a time trial, no wheel sucking.  I push a little harder and he loses the draft and it seems as if he is going backwards.

Ok, now 1000 meters to go, I look under my arm to see where this other guy is and he is far behind, but another rider is passing him.  Nooooooo, that other guy is coming and coming fast.  I pick up my pace and push, push push. to the line, when I look back after crossing the finish line, that other guy who started at least 2 minutes behind is crossing the line.  wow that was close.

51:20 for my time,  21.1 miles per hour

Pacific Coast Trail run series run by a great husband and wife team, picks great venues for there events.  I ran another of there events in Oakland way back in Febuary at Joaquin Miller Park.  I had thought this was the same course, but with a different name, but i was wrong, although the trails were partly the same, the race started on the other side of the Oakland hills off Redwood road.

I showed up early to register. When I arrived, I helped carry some of the food supplies to the registration, start/finish area.

As people started to arrive, I watched with amazement the various shapes and sizes of peole doing the event.  Now, the event includes a 10K, 20K, 30K, 40 K and 50k event.  I think that over 600 peole were there, with almost 250 doing the 10k distance.  As I found out, the 10k route was the hardest of all the routes with a climb of 1000 ft right off the bat.  Glad I picked the 20k.

There were about 200 runners for the 20k with a big climb right frlom the start also, but not the same route as the 10k'rs.  The race started on time, I had positioned myself about mid-pack so as not to go too hard at the start.  As we climbed the first hill, I had my ipod playing Highway to Hell and I was moving smoothly  through the crowds.  People who had started in front of my we walking up the hill.  It always amazes me that people do this and hinder other runners.  Seeding yourself at the start of events is so important.

As we crested the first climb, we were on top of the ridge on a  nice wide fire trail.  I got into a comfortable pace and began passing other runners until i got into a group of runners who were running at approximatley the same pace. 

The first aid station is at 6 miles and most of the climbing of tghe race would be done by then.  I had jockeyed back and forth with a couple of runners for a few miles and when we went through the aid station, one guy stopped to sample all the goodies they had on the table.  I re-filled my water bottle with more electrolyte fluid, didn't eat anything and kept going.  The course undulated and twisted and turned for a few more miles before starting the downward trek to the finish.  There were 3-4 people heading down the trail which had narrowed to a single track as we heading down.  Some parts were steeper than others and i was feeling good and flying down the trail.  I passed all the runners who had started down the single track together,  There wasn't a lot of room, but trail running has a great unwritten rule about faster runners on single track.  If a faster runner is behind, try and look for a place to step off and let that runner through which everyone did this day.  I also had a runner come up on me and I stepped off as soon as i could to let him by.  I then tried to follow him down the path which worked really well until I caught a tree root with less than 2 miles left and went down HARD.  No other runner were directly behind me as I laid sprawled on the ground for a cuple of minutes.  As I got up and started to run again, a couple of the runners I had passed early on the trail came by me.

Soon after we were on flat ground for the last miloe to the finish.  The couple of runners that had passed me just a short while ago kept motoring on and I didn't try and catch them.  I wish that I had know the ages of these runners because as it turn out,  the guy who I had passed early and who had passed me after my fall was in my age group and ended up in first place.