Woodside Trail Race - 11km

I did this race last year and enjoyed it quite a bit, although it was past the end of the race season for me (I was too sensible to try to do 50 races then).

It being a fairly hilly short race, my goal was to win. I took off and stayed with the leaders most of the race. I was running with a guy in a white shirt named Neal for most of the uphill. Once I sensed him flagging I took off and tried to put some distance between us. When I got to the very top I turned around and he was not to be seen. I ran hard still most of the way down. But not seeing him for a while, I probably did slow down markedly for the last half mile. As I leisurely jogged up the open field to the finish I heard the crowd yelling "he's gaining on you!". I turned around and sure enough he was bearing down on me about 10 yards away. I kicked it in gear to avoid an ingnominious second place finish, winning in 54:02, beating last year's course record by 18 seconds. Josh will enjoy the First Place Finisher hat as one of his birthday presents on Tuesday.