Sunday 11/4/07 44.5F


After having a tough week that included an interview for a new job and stomach flu, I managed to have one good workout on Friday. I've decided to shoot for under 18 minutes for 5K at the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon.


The runners line up


After a moment of silence for Ryan Shay who passed away at the Olympic Marathon Trials on 11/3, the marathon and half-marathon runners took off promptly at 7:00am.

The 5K started at 7:30am.
I was right behind the kids that held the banner for BAWSI (Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative). They started singing their anthem that went something like, "Ooh! I feel so good..."
I figured the kids will outrun me in the first couple hundred feet, so I stayed behind them, but when we took off, I found myself leading the pack (Yey!) at least for a couple of seconds. Then, I was engulfed by the lead pack. There were two fast girls with ponytail, one tall and one short. The taller one was faster. For the guys, there were Jesús Campos, Tommy Schmitz, Jeff Porto and a tall, hairy guy. My cardio felt good, but my legs were starting to feel like bricks, so I decided to fall back slowly and accidentally kicked the hairy guy's leg on my left. Sorry. I apologized and I guess he didn't mind because he didn't kick me when he fell behind. After about a mile (I didn't see a mile marker), a young guy in high school or middle school and Herman Vandermolen passed me. I saw Herman warming up at a pretty fast pace before the race, so I had expected to see him. Jeff fell back around this time, and I couldn't see the lead pack anymore, but it looked like the race was going be a neck-to-neck race with a 22 year-old Jesús from King City and Tommy, who ran track and field for Marquette University in Wisconsin. I could see the shorter of the two girls up ahead, and Herman passed the young boy. It looked like I could catch up to Herman if I put on the afterburners for the last mile. Then, to my surprise, Jesús and Tommy came running back from the street yelling, "Go back! Go back!" Apparently, we had missed a left turn for the 5K after the underpass. Tommy looked enraged, but Jesús just kept on running. So, we turned around telling all the runners following us to turn back. Tommy briefly stopped to ask a police officer for directions that went something like, "Aren't we supposed to run this way?" "Well, not according to the leader of the pack." "I'm the leader!" He was so ****** off he was kicking the cone that blocked off the traffic. I was impressed with how Jesús kept his cool and kept running, not missing a beat. It's funny how two runners leading the pack can react so differently to a situation like this. We found Fullerton Street almost a mile from where we turned around. Tommy took off chasing Jesús and I took off too, determined to catch Tommy, but he was just too fast. Jesús managed to finish in 15th place, Tommy 19th and me, 31st place.
My time was 27:24. Herman said his Garmin showed 4.7 miles, so I guess my time wasn't too bad. The race director took note of the situation and turned the 5K race into a fun run. No prizes were given to the top overall finisher and the top local finisher.

It would've been fun to watch Jesús and Tommy battle it out, since Jesús has 1:09 for half marathon and Tommy has 4:14 mile on the track.


The three misdirected runners. Jeff, me, and Herman. Jeff looked a little out of shape, but he used to run cross country for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I'm sure he will be back in shape in no time.


Later, I saw Jesús at a booth with a pair of eyeglasses. You wouldn't think he was a runner if it weren't for the Big Sur Half Marathon shirt he was wearing. I told him I'm going to run the Big Sur Half next week. He says he might. I told him I thought he would be running the Olympic Trials. He laughs and tells me he has to run a lot faster to get in, but he is thinking of running CIM in December to finish under 2:37.


I've decided to cheer the marathon runners at the 26th mile marker, but I was the only one there and getting kind of lonely, so I moved on. I found a couple (I think), Don and Joanna. They were cheering for their friend Sam, who was trying to finish under 3:15 to qualify for Boston. Don had just run his personal best at MCM and finished the marathon in 2:54 (Unfortunately, Sam came in 3:28:16 and didn't qualify for Boston).


Joanna, Don, and me. We formed a cheering squad just before the 26th mile.

Jose came in 6th place, but I miscounted the runners and yelled at him, "You're in the 5th place!"
Sorry, Jose.


Look at all the crowd support!


Jose Pina finished in 2:53:43. An officer commented that he's not sweating at all. I hope he wasn't dehydrated.


First place female finisher Kami Semick finished in 2:55:28.


Tom Gardin was a 10th place finisher. I actually ran side by side with him for the last few miles last year at this race. He had injured his foot that time and was not having a good day, but he still outran me. This year, a solid run in 2:56:16.

Nobutomo Nakano was there, too. I didn't recognize him with his shaggy beard until he waved at me. It looked like he almost made the 3 hour, but he fell short by a minute and 43 sec. Better luck next time. I know you can pull it off. He says he's going to try again at the CIM in December.


Mr. Nakano with his lovely wife, Mrs. Nakano (don't know her name ;p). No, he doesn't have a cup on his head.


The finish balloon. May be I will run this marathon next year!

I had a major stomach cramp afterward. I'm glad it didn't happen during the race