On Sunday 10/14/07, I went to downtown San Jose to cheer on my clinical psychologist friend Dr. Jorge Wong, and also Matt Fitzgerald, the author of Brain Training for Runners and my training bible, Guide to Cross-Training, which helped me get through IT Band syndrome.

Me, Matt, and my girlfriend

Matt was amazing. He finished the half marathon right on his target time of 1:14:55. He was right on the time down to the very second! Not only does he write about training for runners, he is also the living proof of his training strategy. For those of you who have never met Matt in person, don’t be alarmed by his tall, lean, and extremely fit body. He is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He even went down on his knee to sign my books (and my girlfriend’s), even though it must have been painful after running 13 miles and sprinting to the finish.

Matt sprinting to the finish.

And then, he said good-bye to us to wake up his spouse. How sweet is that? He must have told her, “Honey, I know you had a rough week. Why don’t you sleep in while I finish a half-marathon?” Unlike me, who woke up my sleepy-eyed girlfriend to help me finish the poster for Jorge that morning.

The poster for Jorge

I was cheering at miles 1, 4.2 (estimate), and 13.

The elite pack at mile 1

The elite pack at mile 4.2

The weather was in the low 50s at the start, but after the morning layer cleared out, it got warmer around 60s.

Judy and a beagle near the finish line.

I saw Jose Pina, one of the top amateur runners in San Jose. He is a quiet and modest person, but may be that’s because he doesn’t speak a word of English and I don’t speak Spanish. He was just behind another local master runner Jeff Hongo. I had seen his name many times, but I didn’t know what he looked like. But, now I know he kind of looks like Jose. Jose improved his time by almost 3 minuets from last year (from 1:17:19 to 1:14:30). He was the 2nd local runner from San Jose, after JT Service.

Jose at mile 13

Jose and me. I hope he remembers me from the Almaden Times Classic.

The winner was a Kenyan, but it was a neck-to-neck race for the last 0.1 mile against a Tanzanian. They were sprinting hard like a wild animal.

Kenyan McDonald Ondara on the left, Tanzanian John Yuda on the right before 13-mile marker.

Jorge finished an hour later, improving his time by more than 3 minuets from last year (2:28:24 to 2:24:58). Way to go!

Jorge at mile 1. Still smiling.

"Owww, I've gotta cramp!" Jorge in pain at mile 13. But, he finished in one piece.

It was weird to be on the spectator side of the race, but it was fun looking for familiar faces, cheering them, and watching them finish.

I saw a fellow Japanese runner, Nobutomo Nakano, who had been in four of the races I ran in the past. I have never talked to him, but whenever I check the results, I would see his name right under mine or above mine. I talked to him for the first time and I’m glad he recognized me. He told me he was also checking for my name. He had improved his time by almost 2 minutes (from 1:24:27 to 1:22:42), beating my time from 2006 (1:23:26). It’s very encouraging to see him and other runners at my level improving their time. That means he hasn’t been slacking off and there’s still room for improvement. He said he will run the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon on 11/4. I told him I’m running the Big Sur Half with my girlfriend, so I will only run a 5K race there. But, I know we will be running together again at another race soon. I hope I can show some improvements and encourage him like he did for me.