Indeed, I ran it a while back, 11 years ago to be exact. I was then 39 and it was one of the most humiliating experience as I was the oldest and finished after the middle of the pack in the open division, way behind the leaders. The course was measured at 5.80 miles and the race was won by David Cullum of the famous Nike Farm Team in 28:32. I placed 118th out of 161 in 33:37. A few #tbt (Throw-Back Thursday) type of pictures from this pre-blogging times ;-)
I arrived at the Polo Field of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to pick my bib and settle just before the women (open + masters) race started right on schedule at 9 am. (See more pictures at the bottom of this post.)
Like in other official and national championships, we were all wearing a bib with our age group on our back so we could see who was in which. We crossed the green meadow of the start area as a large pack and reached the polo field track after about 400 yards. The start was so fast (about 5:15 min/mile pace) that the pack quickly stretched. The course can actually accommodate large fields as we only hit the single track around mile 2.
Unlike my ultra rhythm, I had to push hard right off the start in order to just keep visual contact with the leaders. Despite this insane pace, I could see about 3 or 4 runners from my 50-59 age group ahead and thought to myself "you see, cross-country is still way too fast for you..." By the end of the first mile, my GPS still indicated an average pace of 5:25 and I was close to the red zone if not in the middle of it, yikes! I think I let 1 or 2 "younger" Masters go ahead but, when another M50 passed me, I decided to keep pushing. After all, we only had 4.5 miles to go, just a long sprint compared to an ultra... ;-)
Every runner I was with got encouragements from spectators since they were from one of the "big" teams. I got a boost when another team member, Kat, surprised me with a "go Quicksilver" and a few other kicks when speedster Alex Varner called my name as we passed by him 4 times (Alex is back from New York where he ran a 2:25 marathon and he also owns many course records in Marin County in particular, starting with the famous Dipsea).
I kept pushing hard, then, thinking that, at the very least, this would provide some good speed work training before the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K (please consider joining the flock - Representing IBM, one of the sponsors, I'm part of the Steering Committee and we hope to get a record 28,000 registrations and raise up to $1M!).
While my average pace was now down to 5:40 by mile 3, I wasn't loosing too much ground and could still see the leaders and estimated that I was in 13 or 14th. I slowly caught up with another M50 runner (white top) and had another one in sight (red top). In the 5th mile, I passed 2 M40 runners then, with less than a mile to go, finally caught up with that other M50 runner who seemed to be out of gas as we were climbing back onto the polo field track (it's just a 10 yard "hill", or rather a bump, but that surely kills your speed!).
With half a mile to go, I hesitated passing him but went ahead anyway. Much taller than me and with longer legs, I got convinced that I made the wrong choice and that he'd counter on the final flat section. I kept pushing and that was good enough to hold on and even made the top 10 of the Masters race quite a good outcome. For a few seconds, I even thought that I had won our age group, only to discover Rich Hanna a few steps ahead in the finish chute, dang! Actually, it was better that I didn't know Rich was running as he is so fast so I probably wouldn't have pushed that much. His marathon PR of 2:17 is 20 minutes faster than mine, so I'm not sand bagging, he is super fast! You can read about Rich from our last encounter at the Jed Smith 50K last February when he ran an astonishing 3:13 a few months from turning 50 (he is going to destroy the US age group record next year!).
I crossed the finish line 30 seconds behind Rich (8th) and 1:59 behind winner Jaime Heilpern form the Asics Aggie. What I didn't realize is that I had passed Iain Mickle, 53, River City Rebels, who I learned afterwards, had not lost a single race this year. At least, as a consolation, the only cash award for our group ($25...) was won by one of his teammate. Here we are, Rich (center), Iain and I, the M50-59 podium.
I left after the start of the Open Men race, very glad that I came back to compete in a race with a pace more suited to my "old" age! ;-) Seriously, these young guys are so so fast, it's amazing to watch, from the side line!
It was great to experience another type of running. I'm actually glad that the Championship is run on a longer course, that suits me better than 5 or even 8K (slightly more time to get the engine running... ;-). In addition to the short(er) distance, the mix of running in uneven grass, on soft dirt trails, under a tree (twice), over or down a couple of small bumps, some winding single track with sharp turns. Oh, we just missed the mud this year (yes, still a severe drought out here). But, this running variety is what keeps me motivated and... running! It was actually great to see a few (very few) familiar faces from our ultra running community and family. For instance:
George Rehmet and the ultra dude and ultra volunteer, Noe Castanon, among an amazing representation of their local club, Pamakids:
And, now, the scoop: I knew it, there was a catch, it was only a training run!! No, seriously, the big deal is going to happen next year with both the 30th anniversary of this regional championship as well as the National (!) XC Team Championship. A few more check boxes to... cross, keep training! ;-)
(*) Rich Hanna is the Founder and CEO of a chip timing company, Capitol Road Race Management.
Short of having a crew or even teammate covering my race, here are a few random pictures from the other 2 races:
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