Contributed by Randy Cheng
Well, other than Matt and Drew, we (Greg, Tyler, and me) decided late in the game to run this 5k race. This was an inaugural race and because of that, a nice tech shirt and finisher’s medal were being bandied about to entice us. Also, some ugly orange and black socks were used as a special incentive for completing this race and the SF Giants race in the fall.
Thanks to Drew for driving all of us! The day-of-race check-in was pretty seamless as bib numbers and tags were assigned to you as you checked in (vs. being preassigned). The 5k course was to be mainly along San Jose streets with a short part through a park and finishing somewhere on the the San Jose Giants’ baseball field. While we were waiting around, we were trying to figure out our goals for the race. PRs of under 20-23 min were being thrown around by Greg, Drew, and me, while Matt revised his goal of a sub-35 min goal to a sub-25 min goal. BTW- We all planned to do a pre-race warmup jog, but nature called and someone had to use the potty… twice! 🙂
We all gathered as close to the start line as possible to test out a theory Matt had that we’d all run faster with everyone chasing us. At the start, it felt like we all sprinted out of the gate. After about 1/3 of a mile, I looked at my watch and saw we were all running a 5:30/mile pace! Whoa… that wasn’t going to continue for long… or would it? The crowd thinned and pretty soon I saw Greg separate himself from the rest of us. From that point on, I just remember seeing Greg’s green shirt fading ahead of me, while Drew and I were neck and neck, and Matt just behind us. Part of the course took us through a zoo parking lot and then through a park area with some hills. At that point, I passed Drew and headed for the last mile or so of this race. As I neared the baseball stadium, you could hear the PA announcer start to list off the leaders. Low and behold, Greg’s name was read off as one of the first finishers! Matt later said he let out a yell when he heard Greg’s name. As I neared the end, it was hard to gauge how far the finish line actually was because you couldn’t see it from the street. You had to run down the street next to the stadium and then you had to make a left turn into the stadium and finish somewhere on the field. In the last 100 yds or so, Drew made his move and zipped right past me and into the middle of the baseball diamond to the finish line! Darn you Drew! Matt wasn’t too far behind and had a strong finish. Unfortunately, he almost had his foot ripped off when an overzealous volunteer demanded that he return his timing tag. Tyler had a very respectable time as well. Additionally, this was her first race she actually volunteered to run!
All in all, this was a great race for the MH Runners Club as Greg, Drew, and I PR’d and Matt beat his goal!
Greg’s time was 19:53 and he finished 11th overall and 3rd in his age group
Drew’s time was 20:52 and finished 19th overall and 4th in his age group
My time was 20:53 and I finished 20th overall and 2nd in my age group
Matt’s time was 22:51 and he finished 31st overall and 7th in his age group
Tyler’s time was 40:22 and she finished 567 overall and 17th in her age group
Here are the official results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20120616_Giant_Race_San_Jose.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Run+5km+Individual~All
If we counted the MH adults only, MH Runners finished in the Top 31 out of 938 runners! Not too shabby if I do say so myself!
Was it worth a 2-hr round trip commute to run this race? Absolutely!!
