California running.

Just back from a very hilly women's 5 mile race. The race took place in Nisene Marks State park in Aptos. Very small crowd, but friendly people. The weather was perfect. High 50s with a cool fog cover.

The first mile was tough. Right off the bat there was a very steep hill. We ran a bit of flat road for a while then a nice down hill. But at the bottom of the hill I discovered a very steep climb back up! All this in the first mile. I was worried about the rest of the run. I asked a women that I had been running next to if there were many more hills. I may have grown up in this area, but it's been 14 years since I've lived here. This Florida gal is not used to hills! The woman told me there was one more steep trail climb in addition to the one hill that we cover in the last mile.

The second and third miles went pretty well, just a few rolling hills. The water stop was just before the 2.5 mile turn around. At the bottom of two hills. Not steep, but I didn't really want to slow to drink, then have to start a climb. So I got water on the flipside, it wasn't to hard to get going again. Just at mile 3 we went off the road and onto a single file trail. My garmin wasn't working to great with all the tall redwood trees around, but based on time, I guess the trail part of the race was about half a mile. The first half was all up hill and the last .25 was down. Had to watch out for rocks and tree roots.

The last mile started off with a great down hill, then a steep uphill. I was very happy to have the last uphill behind me. :) A bit of flat road and then downhill to the finish. I tried to pick up my pace at the end to push past the woman who had been in front of me the last half mile, but she was thinking like me, didn't happen. Finished in 50:15. Not my best 5 mile time, but considering the hills, I am pretty happy with it.

The woman that I had asked about the hills came up to me after the race and said she had used me to pace her and that I helped her finish. Another woman came up to me after the race and said she kept my bright pink shirt in her vision and tried catching up to me. :) Happy to help.

Over all I have a great time running in California's cooler temps. Had a pretty good 8 mile run Friday along the cliffs in westside of Santa Cruz and ran 3 miles yesterday along the beach in Seacliff. Hope to get in one more run tomorrow evening before flying back to steamy, hot Florida Tuesday. :)