This past Saturday, I ran the Inaugural San Jose Giant Race – the South Bay counterpart to the San Francisco Giant Race held in September.  It was a picture-perfect day for a run – clear skies, no wind, mid-sixties, …simply wonderful!  Especially after a week of running in the Florida humidity!

The start corral. [hopefully, most of these people stay behind me!]

I forgot to hit STOP on my watch, thus the “bracket” at the end…

The race, which had a 5K and 5 mile option, drew about 1735 finishers (937 and 798 respectively.)  The course was a flat and fast one (!) that started near San Jose Municipal Stadium (home of the single-A farm team for the SF Giants), wound its way around the local area, through portions of San Jose’s Historical and Happy Hollow parks, and finished in center-field of Muni stadium – entering from the outfield gate:

Pretty cool finish line! I’m sure many were tempted to keep going and slide into second…

I did the 5 mile distance and, having reviewed the course online prior to the run, was concerned how course management would go – with all the turns and backtracks and starting both distances at the same time.  The volunteers and course managers did a fantastic job – everything was clearly laid out and at every possible point where someone could take a wrong turn, someone was stationed to provide direction (and encouragement!)  Sports Basement staffed the course aid station, which was placed so the 5 miler’s could hit it twice – at ~1.7 and 3.6 miles.

The post-race expo was held on the stadium field and had an assortment of SWAG and food options.  They also had the stadium bar-b-que open and were serving breakfast tacos.  I didn’t grab any food, opting to keep my traditional Saturday breakfast with my wife: McDonald’s pancakes – one stack for her, two for me!  I hung out for a while and left – though people were still enjoying the activities and probably did for a while.

Expo goodness

All in all, it was a fantastic inaugural race – one that will be annual event for me going forward…I love the local races!  I can’t do the SF Giant race in September, as I already scheduled another race on my calendar for that date…maybe I’ll do it next year.

My Race

Results:

• Garmin time: 37:44 at an 7:32/mile pace.
• Official time: 37:43 at an 7:32/mile pace.

Based on my current pace plan goals, which are calculated from my Pleasanton Half Marathon results, my goal time/pace for this race/distance was 38:29 @ 7:41.  As you can see, the flat course allowed me to beat that.  After running in the Florida humidity last week (I squeezed in 35 miles!), I wasn’t sure how I’d do.  At the 7:32 pace, which was about well below where I was able to train at in FL, I was tiring at about mile 4.  I sucked it up and kicked it at the end – averaging a 7:03 pace for the final 1/2 mile and a 7:00 pace for the last quarter mile.  BOOYAH!

As for pre-race fuel and prep, with the shorter distance, I didn’t really “carb load” other than eating an additional 300 calories on Friday (a big bagel); though I did have spaghetti for dinner, but that wasn’t outside my normal caloric intake for the day.  One race morning, I ate a bagel thin, a couple of GU gels before the start, and drank about 12 oz of GU Brew during the race.  The start line was right next to the San Jose State track, so I did stretch and do a few warm-up laps before the race.

Since both distances were started/run at the same time, it was hard to know where you were placing in your distance until the two groups split at about mile 2.4.  Needless to say, I was pretty jazzed about my placement in each category.  The training seems to be working!

Wrap-Up

Overall, it was a great morning!  I even sported my aviators, a la Jessie Thomas, which were a gift from the Picky Bar Crew to Picky Club members a few months ago.

Thanks Picky Bars!

Next up:

• San Francisco Marathon – First Half on July 29th

Giddy-Up!

Training Journal – 6/19/12:

• Current plan: Half-marathon program
  
• Today’s session: 6 Mile easy run @ 9:19
  
• Comments: I did 6.5 @ 8:45
  

This past Sunday I ran the 101st Bay to Breakers, the quintessential San Francisco foot race – or, as the B2B website puts it:

Boston has its Marathon… Pamplona has the bulls…
New Orleans has Mardi Gras…
San Francisco has the historic Zazzle Bay to Breakers 12k.

Even better, I ran it with my oldest brother, who was visiting from Montana for the week.  It was the first B2B for both of us, so that made it cool as well.  Having just started running last September, it was a great way for my brother and I to spend some time together in a different venue (he’s been a runner for a long time.)  [you’ll note that there is no joint photo here.  I realized after the fact that I never had anyone snap one of us for posterity!  what can i say, i’m a dude…]

The course, which I assume has been the same year after year, is a point-to-point from the Bay side of the City, through various districts, neighborhoods, and Golden Gate Park, to the seaside part of San Francisco. The infamous Hayes Street Hill is the part that many people fear/dread – in the end, it seemed a bit of hype to me, though if I were running it drunk or in costume, that may be different.

The weather was excellent!  It was a clear day and it a bit cold at the start; but, as people gathered, the light breeze disappeared.  As the race started, the weather only improved.  I was concerned that once we got to the “breaker” side, things would cool down considerably, but that didn’t seem to happen.  It was an awesome day.

This being my first B2B, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  As for transportation, we opted for the park and ride shuttle transport, which was actually great.  We were picked up at 0530 at the Millbrae Bart Station and dropped off about 2 blocks from the star line.  Our return trip went well too – scheduled to depart at 1200, we actually were able to leave at about 0930 (since there was 15 people waiting and a smaller buss available. Thanks Bauer Transport!)

We hung out at the start line, watched people, and even got to experience the traditional B2B Tortilla Toss activity:

As for mid-race sights, we saw about various superheros, Dr. Seuss characters, bride and grooms, and about eight nude runners (6 male, 2 female).  The course management was great, with volunteers and police keeping things moving – they even had two checkpoints where they kicked non-registered runners off the course.  There were a ton of porta-potties on the course as well.  The buffalo at Golden Gate Park were all hiding, so I couldn’t snap a photo of them for my wife!

The post-race expo was pretty disappointing – most of the activity (bands, people, sights, etc.) took place on the course. The “Final Mile” was pretty much some SWAG tents, a merchandise tent, and one food tent – I have to admit, I expected more. Maybe things picked up later in the day…  We picked up our race shirts (somehow, I ended up with two!), walked around a bit, then caught the early shuttle back to Millbrae.

All in all, it was a good race that, because of its notoriety, will be annual event for me going forward.

My Race

Results:

• Garmin time: 1:27:11 at an 11:27/mile pace.
• Official time: 1:27:07 at an 11:41/mile pace.

This was less of a “race” and more of a run – something to be experienced.  Early on, my brother told me that he was OK with my running ahead, but I told him that it was about doing this together, so I ran/walked with him.  Knowing that I would do this anyway, I only did a light carb load the day before and didn’t even GU up prior to or during the race – thus, I finished with a ton of energy…

Wrap-Up

Overall, it was a great morning.  It was cool to participate in a longstanding SF tradition – one that I will do annually, if possible.  My brother is already planning to come back next year – maybe we’ll even do costumes!

Post-race meal was a great lunch at El Burro – I think I downed a basket of chips!

Next up:

• San Jose Giant Race (5 mi) on June 16th

Giddy-Up!

Training Journal – 5/25/12:

• Current plan: Half-marathon program
  
• Today’s session: 6 mi at race pace (8:22)
  
• Comments: Windy morning run! I did 6.62 @ 7:58 – with most of the run into ~15mph, shifting winds. BOOYAH!!