I ran the Quicksilver 25k this morning at Almaden Quicksilver Park in the hills south of San Jose this morning. The weather and conditions were fantastic and I enjoyed the course, especially the 6 miles of lovely single track winding up, down, and around the hillside. I found a nice rhythm and felt good throughout the race. I was hoping to improve the course record and was successful coming in at 1:45:28 (6:47 pace), nearly 4.5 minutes ahead of the prior record mark – a birthday present to myself!
The 25k is held in conjunction with 50k and 50 mile races, with the 25k starting one hour later than the ultras at 7 am. The 25k course essentially follows the 50k/50 mile course for the first 14.5 miles and includes the only section of single track trail running on the course. The start time was early so quality sleep was hard to come by with the usual Friday night campus noises. However, I was wide awake by race time and motivated to get a good start.
I felt good on the first major hill located on the second mile. This hill is actually the toughest section of the course in my opinion. After the big uphill, a steep downhill takes the runners nearly back to the starting area before sharply turning on the singletrack, which begins 6 miles of sweet trail in forest and meadows – a pleasure! The last 8 miles of the course was fireroad with generally gradual inclines and declines allowing for a fast pace, except for the final mile which is a steep downhill. As usual, it was great to chat with other runners after the race.
I had a blast on this super fun and beautiful course. Congratulations to all the runners at the event! This was a very well organized race and I look forward to running and racing at Quicksilver Almaden Park in the future!
Leor Pantilat's Adventures
Good writeup about a very worthy race and rugged course. My quads are so sore today because of the downhills. And I must give kudos to any race that brings a refrigerator, gas grills and cold malt beverages for the post-race chow fest. The results were timely and awards good-quality. The t-shirts are beautiful and also high quality. The turnout was so many this year that some t-shirts will be mailed to the runners (myself included).
Congrats Leor, great to meet you and don’t forget “On the Edge” and “Once a Runner”. Hope to hook up soon, may I suggest for an excursion to Dipsea.
It’s funny how we can be running the same trails on the same morning and not see each other at all. Congrats on the course record, and by a decent margin. I cannot imagine averaging 6:47 on a course that hilly, even for a few miles. Happy Belated Birthday!