2019 Willow Hills Cross Country Open Race Recap – Folsom, CA
Holy moly, what a weekend for the running community! Between Eliud Kipchoge’s going sub-2, Brigid Kosgei shattering the women’s world marathon record in Chicago, and the thousands of inspiring stories coming out of Chicago from us normal, everyday folk, it was an exciting weekend for those of us captivated by the simplicity and challenge of putting one foot in front of the other, hundreds of thousands of times, as fast as we can.
Back in this neck of the woods, my team and I ran the eighth cross country race of the PA USATF circuit, the Willow Hills open up in Folsom: arguably not as exciting as going sub-2 in a marathon or breaking a world record, but you know. Different strokes.
My only running experience in Folsom is at the starting line of CIM, so I didn’t have a clue about the Willow Hills 5k course we’d be running. Folsom is a good two hours-and-change from here, so I was thrilled when Coach Lisa offered to drive most of us north; there’s clearly no shame in my game since I took advantage of the opportunity to snooze periodically throughout the drive. When we arrived to the high school staging area for the race, we immediately noticed the campfire smell in the air — which, early in the morning, is somewhat odd — before we realized that a fire must have been nearby.
Sure enough, the skies were hazy, and as we’d later learn, the fire was somewhat in the vicinity (off the same exit as the one we took, just in the opposite direction). Some runners from other teams showed up to run, and upon smelling/feeling the smoke, they turned around and left. (This all, of course, was happening on the heels of the power outage earlier in the week. Throughout northern and central California, PG&E, our investor-owned gas and electric provider, preemptively shut down a lot of people’s power, since the conditions and temperatures were ripe for a fire. Fortunately, few, if any, fires broke out during the high risk days). The noxious smells in Folsom didn’t hold a candle to what northern California endured last November during the Paradise fire — not in the slightest — but there was enough of a smell in the air to alert you that a fire was in the nearby distance.
Anyway. The race. The 5k, two-loop course was nestled between the high school and a recent housing development. It seemed like the course was something of an afterthought — along the lines of we have this plot of land between Point A and Point B, but we can’t do anything on it, so here, it’ll be a park and a cross country course. I later learned that the course is actually pretty storied and predates said housing development; who knew? Part of the course wrapped around a small lake, and other parts of the woodchipped course snaked its way near what appeared to a pretty extensive housing development and adjacent to the highway, through a playground (yes, we ran through a playground in a XC race!), and up and over several short and steep mogul-like hills. On Strava maps, XC races sorta look like a child’s scribbles, since you rarely go in a straight line for very long. The Willow Hills course was much the same.
Fortunately, Wolfpack fielded both women’s and men’s open teams, and with the small participant field, we fared pretty well. During my own race, I felt so much better than I had at the prior cross country race at China Camp that it was almost laughable, like the difference couldn’t be starker. For the most part, I felt pretty strong throughout the race and didn’t have any existential, I’m retiring from running forever moments like I did at China Camp. I had a lot of fun chasing my teammates and other runners, and when the day was over, I posted over 10 miles between the warm-up, 5k race, and long cool-down. I left feeling satisfied with the effort, knowing that I worked hard in the race and didn’t give up when it got challenging.
By now, we’re almost done with XC season — just two more races and then the PA champs — which is crazy because it seems like we just started. I’ve really appreciated the variety of all the different XC courses because it helps keep things fresh and exciting, not to mention all the different strength and endurance benefits such varied types of running and racing incurs. Not having run most of the courses before this year also helps, too. 🙂
Here’s my usual invite for all the local runners to come play cross country with us this weekend; it’s not too late to get in on the fun! (This weekend’s course in Martinez is really flat and fast, so if you’re feeling iffy on hills, consider yourself lucky!). Hope to see you there!
