I'm not sure when running longer-than-marathon races became a ho-hum, just another Saturday activity, but I couldn't help but feel that yesterday's Woodside 50K run was totally, completely routine. Heck, I'd run the thing just about two months before. It's as unexcited and un-nervous as I've ever been for a race.

I do love the course and the woods, though. In spite - or maybe because of - the rainy weather, it was a spectacular run. It's hard to convey those moments of complete contentment and tranquility, gliding along the soft ground in the damp mist under the green canopy of redwoods. This is why I keep coming back.

Those magical moments rarely last for five hours, though, and for me, at least, it turns out that running 30-odd miles is fairly hard. Using December's race as my baseline, I planned to push a little harder in the first third this time out, since I thought I had played it a little too conservatively back then. When we set out at 8:30, I made sure to keep the legs churning through the early, long climb to the King's Mountain aid station.

Once through there, I found I didn't have to push myself anymore - it was hard going no matter what my intensity was! I had definitely underestimated the difficulty the wet, soggy ground would cause. Mostly, it was just a subtle extra draining of energy with each step, but the accumulated drag of having to push off of very soft ground caused me some considerable problems as I moved through the course.

I hit the Bear Gulch aid station a little tired, but soon found my wind again on the downhill trails into Wunderlich Park. By the time I hit the theoretical half-way point of the race (15.5 miles on my Garmin), the clock stood at 2:24:48. Again, I was right on pace for an even-split 5 hour finish.

Throwing caution into the wind, I ran pretty much the entire uphill return to the aid station, slowing only once for an on-course pit stop, and caught my first road-kill victim at the top of the climb. Loading up on water and some chunks of Pay Day, I set out on the six-mile connector towards Huddart Park, which is when things got really tough.

Even small up-hill stretches reduced me to walking, and I felt a little embarrassed to be out of gas with nearly 10 miles left in the race. But the trail had become extremely sloppy after having had to absorb the footsteps of a couple of hundred runners, and much of my energy was spent pulling my shoes out of the mud. Unfortunately, I was running in my new Inov-8 FlyRoc 310s, which meant my feet had to do a lot of work. Soon, they felt quite sore, and my knees followed suit, as they were doing overtime trying to keep me stable as my legs slid to and fro.

By the time I hit King's Mountain again, I felt pretty trashed, and was not looking forward to the downhill section my quads would have to endure to get to the finish. But as far as I could tell, I had no competition behind me, so I could just cruise this last section and lick my wounds along the way. That is, that's what I thought until about a mile in, when out of nowhere a lady with a 500-number popped up behind me.

With miles to the finish, I figured I was toast. Bev Abbs was somewhere in front of me, but I really didn't like the idea of getting "chicked" a second time. Soon enough, this lady overtook me, and I decided to hang in behind her as long as I could. It turned out she was quite friendly, and we chatted a little bit as we moved along, now going at what I thought was a decent clip. I remarked to her later that perhaps all I'd needed was a proper kick in the ass, because I found my second wind and kept up with her until about a mile out, where I pulled away, somehow churning out a 7:20 pace (admittedly on a decline, and on asphalt).

I finished in 4:57, although the course was even shorter than last time (I measured 29.7 miles). I hesitate to call a 50K trail race a training run, but that's basically what it was. I just wish they could all be like that... well, minus the mud.