THERE ARE SO MANY great running events and it is hard to resist the draw of each one. I did too much racing in the summer through fall and it impacted my fall running. I had committed to running the fall cross country season with the Pamakids and signed up for the most promising races. My results were mixed, at best. Running with the team was the highlight of the series. The PA/USATF Cross Country Grand Prix is ten races plus the championship. Runners compete both individually and as club teams, divided by gender and age. The best five races plus the championship are scored. I originally signed-up for six races and left the decision on running the championship race to the end. I skipped the races in San Francisco (2), Marin and Mountain View. I do not like the courses and the scoring opportunities are the lowest.
UCSC XC Challenge (Santa Cruz, 8/20): The season opened with the 11th Annual UC Santa Cruz Cross Country Challenge. The race is run on fire roads and wooded trails on the North end of the University of California campus. It is a beautiful course. It opens with climb out of the starting meadow and then goes up what is probably the biggest hill of the race at half a mile or a little less. The first half to the turn around is generally up and the third mile is a reverse the second, but now slightly down. The final mile veers left down a different trail through redwoods. It is an exhilarating downhill close to the race. As long-time readers know, I hate running in the rain. The weather this year was foggy, wet and cold. There was light rain off and on through the morning. I ran the four mile course in 26:04. I was a couple seconds faster than the prior year, but thought I should have done better. When it was time to leave I was cold, wet and happy to go. In terms of conditions, this was the most uncomfortable of the races I attended. The Pamakids seniors entered the standings in fourth place. Above, I am trailing Senior teammate Paul Z. 
Empire Open (Santa Rosa, 8/27): The weather was better for the 19th Annual Phil Widener Empire Open. The usual schedule is that the women run first, followed by the masters men and then the open men. In this race, the masters men went first, which was a nice change. It was overcast and cooler than the prior year when the masters ran. After that, the masters men could cool down and cheer the other teams. After our run, the sun came out and it was warmer for the others. This 3.43 mile course runs around a reservoir lake, across the top of a couple of levees and has plenty of technical turns, rocks and roots. The signature element is a reckless run down a gravel path off the top of one of the levees. The course goes down this treacherous trail twice. My time was slower than last year: 22:28 this year compared to 22:11 last. That aside, the whole experience was much more enjoyable than the cold and wet of Santa Cruz. The Pamakid seniors moved to third place, but that will not last when some of the other teams start to show for the closer races. I moved to seventh. That also will not last. Above, Paul and I are again together on the course. This was taken during the brief moment when I was ahead. That, too, will not last.
Rebel Rebellion (Sacramento, 9/3): As the name suggests, this was the first year for the 1st Annual Rebels Cross Country Challenge and it was Labor Day weekend. With both a first time race and holiday, I thought the competition might be a little thin, leading to a good scoring opportunity. It was a more competitive race than I had anticipated. I barely finished in the top 40 in my race, but that was good enough to make the cut-off for a race t-shirt. The 4.35 mile course is hard to describe. The weather was hot and dry, making it dusty at the start. The course has plenty of turns and climbs. Most of it is exposed to the sun. There is a climb in the last half mile before descending to the finish. I finished in 27:45. This was probably my most satisfying run of the series. The heat did not bother me and I ran well. At the right/above, I am working to catch another runner in the middle of the race. With the unexpected high level of competition, the Pamakids seniors dropped to fourth and I dropped to ninth. 
Garin (Hayward, 9/24): I drove out of the San Francisco fog, but it did not break until I was most of the way through Oakland. It was sunny, dry and hot in the East Bay for the 7th Annual Garin Park XC Challenge. This course is in the East Bay hills. I ran the course before the race and saw the spectacular vista looking back toward San Francisco and the peninsula across the bay. During the race, I was watching the course and saw nothing. I have heard people complain about race courses without scenery, but I seldom notice the scenery when racing. The course was dustier and had more roll than Sacramento I finished the 5K course in 20:42. I skipped a race before Garin, which dropped me out of the top ten. 
Willow Hills (Folsom, 10/8): No legs. That was the story for this race. I thought I was holding my own for the first mile or so. After that, the legs were shot. This course had a number of short climbs. Usually, I recover on the down hill. Not in this race. I just tried to hang on to the end. I finished in 20:53 for the 5K. We had a full seniors team even though this was probably the longest drive for us. At right, we are gathered before the start of the race. There were only a couple of masters. After looking at the standings, it looked like the greatest advantage for the team would be to score us as masters. So, we did not count this one for seniors team scoring. 
I had originally signed-up for the 2nd Annual Ancil Hoffman Challenge (Sacramento, 11/5) near Sacramento, but had to cancel owing to a family emergency. It was the sixth race and was not likely to make a significant difference in the standings for either me or the team. As noted, typically these events are split into three races: women's, men's masters and men's open. The women's race riled up a nest of wasps. When the masters men went by, many of the men were stung. A team mate who is usually a couple of steps ahead of me was stung eight times. I was happy to miss that. The wasps were even angrier when the open men went by.
The time came to make a decision on running the 26th Annual PA Cross Country Championships (San Francisco, 11/20). My cross county season had been mediocre, at best. In the standings, I was sitting in the middle of the pack. I was behind on my training for the California International Marathon (CIM). My participation was not likely to make a significant difference. I decided to cut my losses and skip the championship race. As it turned out, it rained that day. I hate running in the rain. There was plenty of slipping, sliding and falling. There were also a couple of injuries. In the end, it would have made no difference for the team. I might have gone from 26th to 24th in the standings - not worth a run in the rain. 
The Pamakids seniors (we prefer "super masters") ended the season seventh out of 12 teams. Considering that we could not even field a full seniors team last year, that is a good start. Based on the prior year's final results, I thought we might have a shot at third, but that was clearly not in the cards this year. I was 26 out of 144 in the individual standings. Although, the bottom half of the standings are made up predominantly of people who ran only one or two races. Among the regulars, I was probably middle of the pack. 
The Pamakids went on to the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Seattle (12/10). I ran CIM the weekend before and there was no chance I could run another race that soon. By all reports, the team had a fantastic experience in Seattle and a solid close to a very active cross country season. 
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