Sparathlon 2023: γένεση (genesis, part 1 of 4)

At last… A month has passed, then two and now almost three, I’m so torn between the great memories of finishing this beast and the delay in recollecting my thoughts and journey related to this major accomplishment of my 2023 season. Let me try to get at least one part of it out in the same year. All this time I had kept 2 or so dozens of tabs opened in Chrome to get prepare for the big endeavor and, yesterday, I got a major crash and that corrupted my browser. I ended up losing 420 tabs out of the 560 I has still opened after recently closing 200. I know, that’s erring on the ultra multi-tasking side…

After taking a week off for Spartathlon, not to mention months of preparation, I had a lot to catch up and focus on, including finding another role in IBM in a challenging and stressful setup. Plus the family, friends, more racing and training, a few trips, several major milestones in my volunteering gigs (USATF and AFAM) and key home maintenance projects.

Yet, as a pro procrastinator multi-tasker, I never stopped thinking of this project. First, I thought I’d wait for the official race pictures, and that took 3 weeks in October. Then I was waiting to receive David Crokett’s book in which he covers the history of Sparathlon. Then, the intimidation of the sheer size of recounting such an experience. Then, as mentioned above, all the rest…

As the saying goes, and not just about Big Blue, the best way to eat an elephant is bit by bit, one bite at the time. Before the race, I came up with the idea of splitting my race report into 4 parts. And since I studied Greek for 2 years in middle school and loved it so much thanks to an amazing teacher, Mr. Goudet, who also taught us about Greek and Roman history and mythology, picking 4 Greek words as themes (I can still read Greek, but that doesn't help understanding modern Greek though):

1. The history of the race, or γένεση (genesis);

2. The preparation phase, or προπαρασκευή;

3. The race itself, or αγώνας (which doesn’t mean agony but race!);

4. The post-race phase, or επίλογος (epilogue).

Interestingly or oddly enough, the timespans covered by each part are really different: a few centuries for part 1, almost 9 months for the second, less than 2 days for the race itself, and weeks or now months for part 4.

A few centuries, that’s going to take time, right? I have to confess I’m really not great at history, one of the many topics my dad was mastering with his encyclopedic culture, but I really love it, that so much experience is made available for us to leverage and learn from. As a matter of fact, that is one thing which exasperates or depresses me these days, to see how stupid our world remains by still fighting wars, like we don’t know how bad they are and how much they hurt short and long term. Especially in this digital age in which we have access to so much information in real time, or artificial intelligence, really? But I digress...

The Pheidippides and Marathon myths

Well, speaking of conflicts, that’s of course one major historical connection to Sparathlon, with the battle of Marathon. That battle is certainly not a myth: in 490 before Christ, the Persians (from today’s Iran) were sailing toward the coast of Greece to invade the country as they had done through the middle east already. Despite their overwhelming numbers, the Persians got defeated by the Greeks, or more precisely the Athenanians, and that battle became a pivotal moment, leading to 200 bright and dominating years for the Greek civilization in particular.

Now, let’s talk about running. First, the historical and geographical facts. Yes, there are about 40 kilometers separating Marathon and Athens. Yes, Athens and Sparta were the dominating cities of Greece. Yes, Athenians and Spartans weren’t really friends, they actually had their own army. Yet, it seems very legit for the Athenians to send a messenger to Sparta to ask for help, given the frightening danger of the Persian invasion and the size of their army and fleet. And, yes, the modern marathon distance is 42.195 km after the addition of a 2-kilometer detour at the London Olympics so the King of England could see the race from his castle.

But what about the story about Pheidippides racing to Athens after the Marathon victory and dying after announcing the joyful news? Which is of course what everybody knows about the origin of our mythical marathon race format, right? (By Luc-Olivier Merson - [1], Public Domain.)

While the Marathon messenger seems to have existed, and even died after the rush, it was most likely NOT Pheidippides. Although Pheidippides was indeed a messenger who more likely was sent to Sparta a few days before the battle, to ask the Spartans for help. The Spartans argued that they could come when their ongoing religious festival was over, and also waiting for the full moon. With that, even if you might be disappointed by learning Pheidippides wasn’t the one running from Marathon, he still covered the distance of 6 marathons, reportedly reaching Sparta before the dawn of the second day, then returning by foot and over the famous Mount Parthenion, where Pheidippides was instructed by the god Pan to let the Athenians know he would help them if they were to worship him again. Myths and legends are sure to make and keep Sparathlon mythical!

I have to say that, after 25 years of intense and competitive running, I find surprising to have to enter the Sparathlon in order to figure all this out. Even the Wikipedia page is still ambiguous about all these myths, despite what seems to be enough historical evidence available today…

Fast forward 2,500 years, the demystification experiment

There is hopefully much more clarity in the roots of today’s Spartathlon. In addition to what you can find on the web, ultra historian Davy Crockett recently published the book “Classic Ultramarathon Beginnings” in which he covers Sparathlon over 39 pages in chapter 9. A great read full of details about John Foden in particular (some details also available on Davy's remarkable Ultrarunning History website).

In line with the weaving of history by conflicts, John was in the Royal Air Force when he formed the dream to check if it was indeed possible to run from Athens to Sparta in 36 hours or less. He was joined by 4 other British military men and a crew of 6 composed by an eclectic mix of British and local teachers and students. They started their experimental journey on October 8, 1982. While Foden missed the 36-hour goal, he still managed to finish in 37:37, despite being the oldest at 56. John McCarthy finished in 39 hours. John Scholtens actually claimed a 34:30 finish but, later, Foden stated that Scholtens must have had taken a 10-mile shortcut, off the planned course. Still, they were delighted to have demonstrated the feasibility of Pheidippides’ legendary run and thus was born a new mythical race!

41 years later

Thanks to the entrepreneurship spirit of local Michael Callaghan, the first official race was held a year later on September 30, 1983. It had 45 starters from 12 countries, 44 men and 1 woman. 16 finished and the winner was no other than the ultra famous Yiannis Kouros, already setting the bar super high at 21:53! He will lower that already mind blowing mark at 20:25 (make a note for this year’s edition). He would end up winning the race 2more times in 1986 (21:57) and 1990 (20:29). The ultra king, or god…

Our own Scott Jurek would end up winning 3 consecutive times in 2006, 2007 and 2008, with times ranging between 22:20 and 23:12.

Last year, the 40th anniversary run had 182 finishers.

What else to know

The race format

Of course, poor Pheidippides didn’t have a paved road to follow between Athens and Sparta! Nor aid stations, nor running shoes, nor energy gels, chews, sun glasses, anti-chaffing lube, crew, all the support we now get.

Today’s course is 153 miles or 246 kilometers, all on pavement except for 3 miles of rocky trails over Mount Parthenion. If asphalt looks better than trail from a running performance standpoint, most roads are open to traffic and half of these roads are actually busy highways. That is one part of the experience which I was not looking forward to, although I did many miles of training on such roads in Europe and the US, to help prepare.

Here is how the course looks on a map of Greece:

The run is so long that you can see it on a whole map of the Mediterranean sea!

The elevation isn't terrible, my Coros watch measured a gain of 9,800 and loss of 9,500 feet, with Mount Parthenion culmunating at 4,000 feet (1,215 meters).

Beyond the intimidating distance, one which I had never covered in one shot with my longest being 133 miles at the 2014 24-hour Nationals, there is also the pressure of a 36-hour cut-off. And to make the matter worst, not just one cut-off but 75 of them as you can get pulled at each of the 75 checkpoints along the way. And to make the matter even worst, the pace isn’t even linear, not just to take into account the course profile but also to factor in the fact that you will likely slow down. Although it is highly NOT recommended, you still have to start at a faster pace to make these cut-offs early on. While the overall pace corresponding to the whole 36 hours don't seem outrageous at 14:08 min/mile, the first part should be run at close to 10 min/mile, you have to keep moving!

How to get in

Between the myth, the international format, and the 40-year history, you’d think the entire planet would want to enter that race. In an interesting dilemma, the organization committee wants to keep the event both open to as many as possible, internationally, but without making a big fuzz out of it. 

First, the qualification criteria which I include below for your perusal. Note the lack of generosity for women for whom the minima are really close to men’s. I used to easily meet criteria a to e a few years ago, it was time to put my name in the hat with a couple of “b” qualifiers.

INTERNATIONAL RACES

a) Cover a 120 km (men) or 110 km distance (women) within 12-hours.

b) Finish a 100-mile race in 21:00 hours (men) or 22:00 hours (women).

c) Finish Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, within 24:00 hours (men) or 25:00 hours (women).

d) Cover at least 180 km (men) or 170 km (women) in a 24-hour race.

e) Finish a non-stop 200-220 km race within 29:00 hours (men) or 30:00 hours (women).

f) Finish UltraBalaton (221 km) in 31:00 hours (men) or 32:00 hours (women)

g) Finish a longer than 220 km non-stop race within 36:00 hours (men) or 37:00 hours (women).

h) Finish Badwater race within 39:00 hours (men) or 40:00 hours (women).

i) Finish Grand Union Canal Race within 34:00 hours (men) or 35:00 hours (women).

j) Finish Sakura Michi 250-km race in 36:00 hours

k) Finish Yamaguchi 100 Hagi-O-Kan Maranic 250-km race within 42:00 hours (men) or 43:00 hours (women).

l) Cover a distance of at least 280 km (men) or 260 km (women) in a 48-hour race.

RACES IN GREECE

a) Finish Spartathlon race within 36:00 hours.

<And a few other local races>

Second, the field remains limited to 390, not far from the Western States Endurance Run quota of 369. But it’s actually more complex than just a single number: to maximize international representation, the organizers limit to 25 the number of runners from each country, just keeping 50 aside for the Greeks. They also reserve the right to invite a dozen or so elites.

Besides, runners meeting the pre-requisite marks by 25% or more are auto qualified, meaning they don’t have to go through the lottery. Depending on the size of the country, and the popularity of Spartathlon within that country, the odds vary a lot. For instance, there was only one entrant representing the 1.4 billion Indians! Conversely, and thanks especially to Bob Hearn’s advertising of the event in our local circles, we had quite a few Americans on the wait list this year. Including Bob himself, victim of his own marketing efforts to advertise for Spartahlon. Bob was trying to enter for the 6th time, for a 5th finish.

But... why did I get in?

That's a question I got quite frequently through 2023. Primarily, I felt that, one year before turning 60, it was about time I give it a try. I had thought of entering before but it felt way too intimidating, between the international reputation, the distance and the international logistic. Beyond the athletic challenge and must-do nature, I was also attracted by the mythological and historical connections. As I mentioned, I loved that subject in middle school thanks to the communicative passion of our teacher.

I felt important to give you in that initial part some background so you can put some perspective on the unique nature of the event. Which Davy Crockett labels himself as: "one of the most prestigious ultramarathon in the world." In the next part, I'll cover the 9 months leading to the race. A kind of pregnancy...

Last and 35th ultra of the year: on familiar grounds!

After the 4 years it took my hamstring injury to heal, 2023 has been a much better year, finally! There is still so many muscle fibers to rebuild, quite a hefty challenge with age, in order to regain pre-injury speed but at least the pain is gone. A good setting to get back to higher mileage although I had made a resolution not to reach again the 3,100-miles/5,000-kilometers levels I had reached for the 8 years leading to that injury (when I slipped in full stride extension on a wet crosswalk at the 2018 Turkey Trot 10K). But... I dared to put my name in the Spartathlon lottery and got picked on my first run and that required a very special preparation, including higher mileage, oops! Long story short, I ended up logging 4,001 miles in 2023!

4,000 miles never seemed to be a reasonable goal to me and, sure enough, I'm finishing the year quite exhausted. But if you think that's an impossible goal, know that others put even more miles in! For instance, the fastest woman on the ultra scene today, Camille Herron, just closed her 12th year above 5,000 miles, with 4 more years above 4,000 miles before that when she was still focusing on the marathon distance. And she isn't slowing down in her earlier Masters years! In contrast, Kilian Jornet has quite a different philosophy has he is mixing with more activities, exemplifying the power of cross-training: while his running mileage seems low at 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles), he boasts mind boggling numbers in other dimensions such as 584,270 meters of vertical (yes, that's almost 2 million feet)! Lot of food and scattered data points for thoughts on what best to do in 2024...

The day before Christmas was open and I decided to go for one last ultra to close on that elusive 4K-mile goal. We had a project to fly to Africa for the holidays but had to reschedule for next year, ended up at home. And with home goes the familiar ground. While this isn't making up the carbon footprint of my air travels, I don't like to take the car to drive somewhere to run long, I much prefer running from home. I have a few familiar long run courses from home:

1. For a marathon distance: the entrance of the Palo Alto Baylands park at the end of San Antonio Road, in Mountain View.
2. For 50K, continue on through Byxbee Bridge Park, to the ex/historical/defuncted Palo Alto Yacht Club.
3. For 50 miles, keep going along the Palo Alto airport on the Bay Trail, across the Dumbarton Bridge and turning back at the Pump House of the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge.
4. Alternatively, for some vertical, up to Black Mountain on Montebello Road with variations ranging from 22 to 28 miles, or more with additional loops on Bellavista and Indian Creek Trails.

This Saturday, to build on the familiar and family theme, Greg joined me to run the first 11 miles together.

We also ran into Agnès and Max at Shoreline who hiked there before stopping by the Google visitor center for a short visit.

Every time I run through Shoreline, I wonder if I'm going to see Jean-François (Maitrot) training there and, sure enough, we crossed him just after seeing Agnès and Max. Jean-François was on his way toward Microsoft but changed his plan to join me for the next 2 miles. Which, after a leisurely 8:20 min/mil average pace turned into a 7:20 min/mile tempo, all while chatting to catch-up about our respective racing, training tips, shoe trends, and the way too typical running topic, injuries. Jean-François is on a great quest of famous marathons: after qualifying and running Boston, he has run Amsterdam, ran Berlin after being picked in the lottery and is going to run Tokyo next! 13 marathons out of a goal of 26. Or maybe 42 after all, crazy runner moving goals... ;-)

After Jean-François turned back before the Bowl, I continued to my own turnaround and returned toward Cupertino. A few pictures and one Relive flyover (click on first picture below):

Back to my starting point, with now 3,998 year mile, I kept going with one of my local, and very familiar, 5K look around the neighborhood, to round up and close the year with 4,001 miles. With only one week left in the year, not really in time to indulge the 3 rest weeks recommended by Scott Jurek, an advice I followed for many years but at least I'm taking the last day of 2023 off, phew!

In this other Facebook post, Kilian shares how he switches his training to skiing and indoor cycling in winter and how that makes him a better runner. I don't have snowy mountains nearby but I already had in mind to at least integrate much needed strength training, fo a big change. I'm at least very happy to close the year healthy, it's easy to take good health for granted...

Sending peaceful vibes to all over these year end holidays, thinking of the many drawn into conflicts around the world. To a better and smarter 2024 hopefully!

And the PA MUT Oscars should go to... Help: please nominate your nominees!

This message is for my fellow USATF Pacific Association members: your help is much needed in identifying who should be nominated for our MUT (Mountain, Ultra, Trail) 2023 season awards!

3 categories:

1. Female MUT Runner of the Year
2. Male MUT Runner of the Year
3. MUT Volunteer of the Year

Let me start with the Volunteer category, VoY, which is not an easy one: while a good number of volunteers may come to mind as we see them helping us at aid stations or they help behind the scene to make races happen, there is another key criteria: be a Pacific Association member in good standing. Needless to say, you don't have to be a member to volunteer so many of our most resourceful volunteers aren't eligible for such a recognition. That still leaves us with 7,600 names in our Association directory, please share your ideas, adding who you would like to be considered in this online form.

The membership requirement is also key for the RoY eligibility. Beyond that one, I identified 6 dimensions to bring more objectivity to the process when I took over the leadership of our Grand Prix and MUT Sub-Committee, which I shared in that 2020 post. They are:

1. Body of Work (MUT): 0-No race result; 3-significant MUT achievements; 5-5 or more significant MUT achievements
2. International / National: 0-No result in international or national competitions; 3-Significant results at international or national level(*); 5-Podium at international competition
3. Pacific Association MUT GP focus: 0-0 PA race/result; 3: 4 or more PA GP results; 5-7 or more PA GP results
4. Performance range: 0-Single distance / format; 3-Significant results in two distinct formats / distance ranges; 5-Significant results across sub-ultra trail, and 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 ultras
5. Historical performance (CR, AGCR, ITRA>800): 0-No CR setting; 3-Some CR setting, or CR-worth/close performances, A few notable ITRA scores (>800 for Men, >700 for Women); 5-Consistent setting of CR / AGCR across body of work, Several high ITRA scores (>850 for Men, >750 for Women)
6. Age graded performance: 0-Too young for age being a factor (20-35); 3-Rocking the Masters division; 5-Still killing it enough to make the podium or top 10

There are still some subjectivity but that framework brings some structure to compare our best local athletes before deciding on this very coveted recognition.

Calling for help because the scouting for nominees is quite a task so let's share the burden with some crowd sourcing. That requires to scan local, national and international results, then cross check with our PA member database. Some of you participating in the Grand Prix reach out from time to time, asking how you can help, here is one opportunity! From the comfort of your couch and keyboard!

Should I add that this is urgent as our award banquet celebration is planned for January 27 and plaques have to be ordered by December 18? Setting the deadline to this Wednesday December 13, but the best time is now!

Ready, set, nominate! Looking forward to receiving your nominations through this online form!

Quad Dipsea 2023: not getting easier, especially on tired legs!

Not quite a same-day race report but not too bad, on the following day. And what a special occasion to celebrate with this 40-year anniversary of this other Bay Area ultra running tradition. On the famous, or should we say infamous, Dipsea trail, the course of one of the oldest running race in North America. I haven't run the single Dipsea yet but the Double 3 times (2001 to 2003) and that was my 8th Quad Dipsea, albeit including one "Triple Dipsea" DNF in 2016.

As a matter of fact, I doubled with a Turkey Trot 2 days before, for these 8 times. Also, being the last race of our Ultra Grand Prix for many years, I usually didn't need to score to secure my age group, and risk an injury on this challenging course. But this is now our season opener, a good excuse to return. Overall, I ran it in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023. 3 more finishes to the 10-time finisher jacket! This time, in addition to pushing on a 10K on Thursday, my legs were sill tired from running all day and 106 miles at Fat Ox last weekend... One could say, not the smartest tapering! ;-)

That late in November, the conditions can vary a lot. This year, they were perfect: sunny, soft course after some heavy rain a weekend earlier then a dry week, and some breeze on the ridges. Even better, I got a very comfy ride to the start on Dominick's Tesla Y and we got one of the best parking spots near the school and 1 block away from the start thanks to leaving Cupertino by 5:15 and getting there around 6:20.

It was still dark under the redwoods canopy but Stan Jensen was already at work!

As well as John Catts of course, for his 10th and last year directing, with Ted Knudsen soaking in all the guidance and tips as he takes over the next editions.

The long porta-potty line is always a great opportunity to meet other runners.

Although teammate Sylvie just got her dual citizenship, I'm the one still wearing layers like I'm not Californian!

Was great to see the 200-miler queen, Catra, back on her quest to 25 Quads!

And look at who showed up again in the midst of such a super competitive Western States selection process, with the lottery in a few days: it's Race Director! As I told him: "You must be doing something great to get 9,600+ hopefulls in the lottery!"

Tropical John and Lisa made the trip to Mill Valley again for this very special celebration.

I was expecting a 5-minute speech at the start, but John Catts is more reserved than the Tropical one! Anyway, we were sent off on time at 7:30 with a sprint to the bottom of the first 700 stairs and I ended up being around the top 20 by then, although that didn't last for long!

I got passed by so many runners in the stairs but that was ok. Dominick, 52, caught up in the middle and I managed to stick to him. We were going to run the next 11 miles together, with an initial split of 1:14, right on his 5-hour target.

There were so many runners ahead of us, I lost track how far from the leaders we were, place wise: I'm guessing around 45. Distance wise, I was at 5.7 miles when I saw last year's winner, Nick Handel, on his first return: that made for a 2.8-mile gap already, wow!

On the way back from Stinson Beach, I was able to stay close to Dominick. We passed the Cardiac aid station and, 1 mile later, got into a couple of runners attending to one laying down on the side. Oh no, it was my teammate Sylvie Abel, in foetus position and looking unanimated as I got on the scene. So scary! Hopefully, she was just in shock and distress, having difficulty to catch her breath as she complained about hitting her rib cage and fearing something was broken. Her trail angel managed to get her to stand up, then sit down on the nearby trunk which she might have hit hard in her fall.

I wasn't up to take a picture while she was laying down, but here she is with her helper who stopped for a while. Dominick had just stopped for a few seconds and left when he realized we were enough to help out. I did leave after a couple of minutes myself after another runner stopped by and said he was an MD. With that, I didn't hear the helicopter which were sent over the scene but was told after the race that Sylvie ended up ok, getting assistance from the medics at Cardiac, then a drive back to the start. So long for a 2024 season opener for Sylvie and our team.

Without Dominick as a visual lead, I lost some of my mojo but was still happy to cross him as he was starting climbing the stairs again. I clocked a 2:31 at the turnaround and stopped for just a few seconds to drink a cup of Coke.

The third leg was surely not as fast and efficient as the first one but I kept pushing, remembering we had quite some power walking on the first leg already. This time I stopped at Cardiac, getting help from Jerry Flanagan to refill my GU Energy Brew bottle.

I crossed Dominick as he was at the beginning of the stairs on his way back, right after the Stinson Beach aid station. My clock was showing 3:51 and I returned to that spot at around 3:58. Not too bad of a gap but, again, I had lost my motivation to really pushing as hard as the 2nd leg. I even took the time to stop and snap a few pictures of the amazing views, to the surprise of 4 younger racers who passed me.

Cardiac aid station, with quite a panorama view!

I jogged everything I could but walked way too much and felt the fatigue especially in the irregular stairs of Steep Ravine. These darn stairs, which I-Tao captured on leg 2:

This year's splits: 1:13:56, 1:17:49, 1:21:55 and 1:27:02, for a total of 5:20, not a great pace this time again. I thought I had run 5:21 last year but it was 5:09, so here is to some more disappointment. So far from my 4:20 and 4:19 of 2006 and 2008, I lost so much with the 4-year injury of 2018... Needless to say, so far too from Nick's winning time of 3:48:44, the 3rd fastest time in the race history!

Dominick had an amazing 4th leg, passing a lot of struggling runners, finishing 26th overall in 5:02:43 and winning our age group. I ended up 54th overall and 4th in M50-59, although 1st above 55. Maybe my odds will improve next year, at 60! ;-)

From our Quicksilver club today: Sylvie (DNF), Gaspar Morra, Bree Lambert-Sanders, Clare Abram, Scott Laberge (not USATF), Steve Patt, Stephen Strauss (Captain, DNF at the Triple).

We stayed until almost 3 pm, for some great connections with the local ultra running community. I have to say I was really impressed with how many people called my name on the trail; and Dominick was also stunned. Thank YOU to all of you, and sorry for being so focused on the trail for missing a lot of eye contacts and acknowledgments. At least I didn't get too distracted, and I didn't fall, one of my top goals at that race!

Ultra volunteering is a full time job for Stan Jensen, making for some long days caring about us!

To sweeten this celebration even more, John Catts got us superb technical fleeces from Salomon, embroidered with the 1983-2023 milestone. 

Looking forward to year 41 already, hopefully for another finish, #8. Meanwhile, great to see so many of you yesterday!

PS:John posted this great event report on Facebook a few days later. Precious addition of details about the leaders, the volunteers and those who got the closest to even splitting!

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 2023: shorter doesn't mean easier!

As I posted on Facebook last night, I'm barely touching ground between all the racing this year and keeping up with the blogging, not to mention my first job of course! But trying hard... So, after recounting my epic albeit pathetic 3rd place at the 24-hour Nationals last weekend, after running the grueling Quad Dipsea this morning, after not being able to make the time yet to report on my Spartathlon, let's continue with Thursday's Turkey Trot.

Of course, it was only a 10K so that makes it much easier to blog about. But, on the athletic side, many people imagine that running 10K must be much easier than running 170K (last weekend) or 246K (Spartathlon). Well, it all depends on the intensity and pace you put into it. And for the ones who know me, they wouldn't expect I just stroll a 10K.

It was the 19th edition of this amazing local Thanksgiving tradition which Carl Guardino initiated in 2004 to raise funds for local charities. Surpassing 20,000 participants, it quickly became the largest Turkey Trot in North America. While it had to go virtual during the pandemic, it's now in full swing under the leadership of Race Director, Chris Weiler.

For me it was number 15, a nice and particular milestone, and streak. We ran quite a few as a family but the boys are now far away. Agnès is also a big fan, on the 5K, and we also have friends joining, as well as colleagues from IBM.

We have had a few rainy runs but the conditions were perfect again this year.  This makes a huge difference when dealing with such a huge crowd. We got at the parking lot on 3rd street around 7:15 when the city was still so quiet. Plenty of time to get prepared before the 8:30 am start of wave 1.

After running 106 miles last weekend, I was still sore on Wednesday when I went for a slow 10K run to get the blood flowing. That made me quite worried about how I'll fare this Thursday. With the focus on Spartathlon, I've done almost no speed work this year but I went for a track trial the week before the Nationals and was surprised I could still break 6 minutes. But, again, my legs were trashed after running in circles for 24 hours last weekend.

Before sending the wheelchair competitors off, we had a short allocution from San Jose Mayor, Matt Mahan, then the National Anthem (click on 2nd image below to get to the video/recording).

I still started in front and decided to give it all my best. By the first turn, about 400 yards in, my GPS was showing a 6:15 min/mile pace, not too bad. And, yet, especially with a combined 5K and 10K start, there were so many youger runners ahead already. My first lap ended up at 6:25 and the second at 6:29. And I couldn't really go faster than that, this year. An anecdote from the third mile: I was following a runner who, all of sudden, picked his phone and started answer a call and having a conversation. At 6:30 min/mile, respect! Well, I ended up passing him but I think he caught up on mile 4.

I clocked 6:32 for that 3rd mile and the field got more sparse after many turned toward the 5K finish. The sunny areas of the course were getting warmer but there was still a lot of shade on the side, you could pick what you preferred. I was still on mile 4 when I saw the lead runners coming back toward the finish, wow! Yet, I couldn't get the needle to move much, it was challenging enough to maintain this pace which I've not run on for a long while after so many weeks this Summer logging between 100 to 200 miles. Mile 4 ended up being the slowest one at 6:38, followed by a mile at 6:33.

With only one mile left, I was more free to give it all or at least some of the all I didn't have in the tank. I clocked a 6:30 then started seeing the finish line with the clock showing 39 minutes already, yikes! I used to break 6:35 on this course but, again, the circumstances were very different. At that point I hear someone yelling my name on the right, it was ultra runner Chihping Fu. Needless to say, I kept sprinting and managed to break 40 minutes by 5 seconds, phew, that was close! 6:26 min/mile average.

Ranking wise I wasn't surprised in the evening to discover I had missed the age group podium for a change, falling in 7th place in the M55-59 (I'm 3 month off turning 60, not the right end of the spectrum! ;-) ). What baffled me though is that this ended up being the most competitive age group in the Masters: there were 6 runners below 40 minutes in the M40, 2 in the M45, 5 in the M50 and 2 in the M60. Excited to get into a new age group then for the 20th anniversary next year!

Despite the size of the crowd, I did see my former best speed work buddy Bob M, one IBM colleague, Shawn, and a few friends.

And I chatted with Bob Anderson, the founder of Runner's World who, today, at 75, broke 50 minutes to place 2nd in his age group.

As for Carl, he was hard to miss, doing an interview right in the middle of the finish area!

Now, the important stuff: while running is an amazing excuse to get people out for a healthy family activity on Thanksgiving morning, the real deal is that the event raised $11 millions for these local charities. Way to make an impact as a group, congratulations all!

See you next year for the 20th anniversary, this is going to be yet another huge party and opportunity to raise the bar of fund raising!