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!
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