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2019 Phil Widener Empire Open Cross Country Race Report – Santa Rosa, CA

2019 Phil Widener Empire Open Cross Country Race Report – Santa Rosa, CA

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The second race of the PA (Pacific Association) USATF cross-country circuit is the Phil Widener Empire Open up in Santa Rosa, a good 100+ miles from me down in the south bay. The 3.4 mile race is one that I’ve never really been much interested in attending simply due to the fact that I’d be dropping 4 hours’ worth of driving in one day to run 3.4 miles. Plus, as was the case this time around, the EO XC meet is often the same weekend (albeit on Saturday) as the Santa Rosa Marathon, and running a XC race the day before I’d be (potentially) pacing a marathon seems unwise, if not borderline irresponsible. 

Well, given that I wasn’t pacing at SRM this year, and that I want to run as much XC as I can this season (especially before swim meets start up in earnest), running the EO was a go! Much love to my husband for holding down the fort until lunchtime on Saturday so I could go run fast in the grass with my teammates.

The nice thing about running a somewhat obscure distance at a race you’ve never done before is that there’s an automatic PR involved (woot), but it’s also fun to sometimes go into races blindly. I knew nothing about the course, and that was okay! Exciting, even! Coach Lisa mentioned that the EO course was one of her favs, but I had no idea why. Luckily, we managed to field a full women’s team — the first time in many years, from what I understand — and a 2-and-change mile warm-up gave us a nice course preview of what we’d be trying to canvass fast in less than an hour. 

the open women’s team at EO, plus our lovely supporters (PC: WRC)

Spring Lake Regional Park was the staging ground for the race, and from what I gleaned, it was most definitely the place to be in SR on Saturday morning. There’s a flat, paved multi-use trail surrounding said lake (replete with lots of pedestrians, strollers, cyclists, you name it), but then there seemed to be several off-shoots that give folks some singletrack or somewhat technical, rocky and gnarly sections, too. There’s a lot of different flavors present, and we’d be taking advantage of the park’s diversity and running on all of it. Compared to the Santa Cruz XC Challenge that we had just run the weekend prior, the EO was significantly flatter, much more exposed (read: hot and weirdly humid), rockier, and in the few parts there were ascents or descents, they were short and drastic. At one point in the course, runners ran up the side of a dam, and at some other point, we started on top of … something (no idea) and ran down the face of it. 

My main take-away from the warm-up was to simply pay attention the entire race and not space out, else I would most surely eat shit, if not (also) hurt myself. Sometimes I get all day-dreamy when I run/race, but it most definitely wasn’t in my best interests at this course.

I find cross-country racing a bit liberating in the sense that for me, it’s all effort-based. Oftentimes my singular goal is to not eat shit and embarrass myself — see above note — so when I’m racing, I’m trying to hold in my head thoughts related to my effort at that given moment (relative to how much race is left), what the terrain is like and anticipating when we’ll be transitioning to something significantly different, and finally, what my placement is like at any given time and if I can hold or advance my position. It’s a constantly-changing game of calibrating effort and anticipating others’ moves around me, while also making sure that I’m making appropriate contact with the ground, and also ensuring that I’m covering said ground as quickly as I can, given everything else going on. It’s kinda like a big ol’ exercise in managing stuff (and some to-be-expected hard-running-induced discomfort), and it’s like a tactical fun game of chasing adults ahead of me. It’s a blast.  

off the starting line (PC: WRC)
transitioning from the field (PC: WRC)

My legs felt somewhere on the decent-but-still-heavy side, given that I had run 4 of the 5 preceding days pushing my 4 year-old in the stroller (weighing between 90-95 pounds of kid + stroller), but again, when you’re racing on perceived effort, the degree or intensity of “leg freshness” isn’t super important. On Friday morning’s pre-dawn run, Janet had been drilling into me the importance of “rib cage DOWN!” (in an effort to facilitate diaphragmatic breathing), so throughout the race, I tried to keep my form consistent and advantageous instead of the usual whackadoo mechanics that no doubt feel natural to me but probably aren’t doing me much service. 

at the beginning of a climb (PC: WRC)
I *think* this is somewhere in the final mile, but really, hell if I know (PC: WRC)

Anyway. In the final mile of the race, I surrendered two positions, but I was ultimately able to take back one, which was gratifying; everyone around me was working tough, and no doubt we were pulling each other along. XC really is a team endeavor. The final .4 or so of the course was on flat pavement, so I tried what I could to muster a kick, and I finished feeling satisfied with the effort I put out that morning. 

very close to the end, hence an attempt to “sprint” it in over the final .4 (PC: WRC)

I posted a faster average than I did at SC, but the fact that the courses are completely different terrains and distances probably dilutes that apparent progress a bit. By the week’s end, I was just shy of 50 miles for the week and had been running consistently for over a month, so I think the fitness is beginning to glimmer ever-so-slightly. At any rate, I had a blast at the EO, and the four hours of driving really weren’t all that bad. 

My teammate (and carpool-mate) Heather and I logged a long cool-down to put each of us just shy of 11 for Saturday morning — punctuated by many stops to cheer for the masters men runners and the open men — and by 11am, we packed up and were ready to ship back south. Heather and I both agreed that the race director of the EO surely knew what she/he was doing with this course because it isn’t for the faint of heart (as is probably the case for most XC races, I’d imagine). Even with its relative flatness, the variability in terrain is enough to challenge even the most conditioned among us, and oftentimes late August in Santa Rosa can be unforgiving, in terms of temperature. We lucked out, however (save for the weird humidity brought on by some weird weather off the coast) and had ourselves a super fun, sunny, and beautiful August morning. 

always a fun time cheering for our men’s open team & the masters. Kudos to Jason for doubling (PC: WRC)
cool-down mileage with the ‘pack and friends (PC: Lisa)

Again, if you’re looking to spice up your training and challenge yourself in a new and exciting way — that won’t necessarily consume the entirety of your weekend — seriously consider one (or more) of these local PA USATF XC races between now and mid-November. Runners can run with teams or as open/unattached, and the vibe is positive, competitive, and fun. (Eds. note: It’s not a secret that there are some seriously speedy PA racers out there (including many who are aspiring to qualify/have qualified for the Olympics at various distances), but there are also lots of “normal” or “everyday” runners who race, too. Don’t worry. Whether you finish first, last, or somewhere in the middle, you’ll be supported. We’re all out there to have fun and work hard).   

2019 North Canton July 4th 5 Miler Race Recap – North Canton, Ohio

2019 North Canton July 4th 5 Miler Race Recap – North Canton, Ohio

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After the whirlwind that was January-May and finally racing at the Mountains to Beach marathon, school dismissed for the summer, and my family and I headed east to the Midwest, as we always do in June and July. With MTB behind me and the Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon ahead of me, on the last Sunday in July, my training for SF didn’t really begin in earnest until I was in the midwest in mid-summer. 

Unfortunately, this year I’d only be able to race once before the BSFM, but I was happy to return to one of my favorite local northeast Ohio races: the North Canton YMCA July 4th 5 miler. I’ve run the race twice before and always enjoy it because it’s well-organized, has easy logistics, and usually offers a great opportunity to race against high schoolers and kids half my age, haha. 

The trying thing, of course, is that early July in northeast Ohio nearly always promises challenging weather conditions — hello, excessive heat and humidity and a killer dewpoint — making the race less about going for a specific clock time and more about racing against other people and racing against the elements.

For as long as I had been in the midwest this summer, prior to the race, my running felt extremely sluggish and forced. My paces were much slower, and getting out the door was significantly more challenging than usual. At any rate, perhaps because my training up until 7/4 had been so lackluster, I went into the race with zero expectations or time goals and just hoped I wouldn’t feel completely awful from start to finish. Nothing hurt or anything like that, but I honestly think that the heat and humidity in the midwest this summer has been soul-sucking and energy-draining. (world’s smallest violin, I know)

The five-miler course was exactly the same as it was the past two years, and the community members whose streets we overtook on race morning brought their A game as they usually do, with many families setting up their own aid stations in their front lawns and/or setting out sprinklers or hoses for runners to run through. Over five miles, I’m pretty sure I hit every official water stop to dump water over me and hit another 4 or 5 sprinklers or hoses. It was awesome. By the time I finished the race, I was soaked in both sweat *and* water. 

the beginning stages of a jazz hands pic. also, there’s a lot of great rollers on the course, especially between miles 3-5. This is the beginning of a large hill around mile 4, if memory serves. (thanks for the free pics!)

Given the heat and humidity on race day, I don’t think I looked at my watch at all during the race and instead based my air-quotes “racing” off my perceived exertion. Each time I saw a woman in my immediate or almost-immediate vicinity, I slowly tried to reel her in and advance up the leaderboard. For the past two years, I’ve won my age group, so trying to place high in my new AG (hopefully while running fairly decently) was enough of a goal for the race this time around. Again: less time-based goal, more placement-based.

For the past two years, I usually go out hella hard and die and claw my way to the finish, but this time, I finally didn’t fly off the line idiotically and instead treated the race more like a  tempo or steady-state effort. Somewhat miraculously, given how my running felt while I was in the midwest, I felt strong from start to finish during the race and methodically reeled in as many women as I could. From beginning to end, I chased down four or five women, and I only got passed back once. Success! 

wings into the finish

The 5 miler was also my first race where I wore my rabbit Wolfpack crop, and let me tell you, when it’s hot and humid as hell outside, going with a crop is fantastic.  Don’t worry about how you’ll look in your race pics relative to the flatness of your stomach. No one cares but you. Promise. Body misgivings can go to hell. Life’s too short. 

Race day ultimately gave me 10 miles for the day, between the race and my warm-up and cool-down, and I was delighted to learn that I posted 2nd/50 in my new AG (missing first by only ~40 seconds, damn!), 14th female out of 200+, and 102/600+ overall. I usually don’t care about race statistics — I’m more satisfied in knowing that I ran hard/accomplished what I sought out to do than stacking myself against other competitors — but given the day and my training, I’m especially proud of my effort. 

I won a tumbler! truth be told, this was probably the fastest that I’ve run while being in the midwest for six weeks.)

While I wouldn’t be particularly enthusiastic to sign up to race hard in early July in the midwest, I think I’ll always come back to this race (if I’m in town). It’s inexpensive (maybe $25 when I registered in April), the race shirt premium is attractive and something I routinely wear, the AG awards are nice (previous years were mugs and bookbags), and I love the small-town vibes of racing in North Canton, as well as the fun post-race environment afterward. They even have puppies you can adopt from the post-race party! Kids can run in the (free) kids’ race before the 5 miler, and if you don’t want to do 5, there’s a 2 mile option as well. Everyone wins.

There’s something about beginning a holiday with a race; even if I race poorly or more slowly than I want, it puts me in a great mood for the rest of the day and leaves me hyped all day long. If you’re local to northeast Ohio or are in town for July 4th and want a racing opportunity, I’d definitely recommend the North Canton YMCA 5 miler. If I’m in town, I’ll be there.

July 4th-ing