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2018 Silicon Valley Half Marathon Week: MEB!

2018 Silicon Valley Half Marathon Week: MEB!

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This year is my fourth year serving as a social media ambassador for Represent Running, JT Service’s race event management company here in the Bay Area. If you’ve read my blog at all since my family and I moved here in late 2013, you’ve read about RR races I’ve done before — the San Jose Race to the Row 408k (my favorite SJ race) or the East Bay 510k (previously called Let’s Run 510k). In addition to those two races, RR recently acquired the Across the Bay 415k up in SF (and this year, I’ll actually be in town and thus, able to run it, hooray!), and the newest addition to RR’s race repertoire came this year, just this past weekend, in the form of the Silicon Valley Half Marathon and 10k, Food Truck 5k, and kids’ race.

I’ll write about all the SV Half races in separate posts, but I first wanted to talk a little about the SV Half back story. From what I have gleaned in talking to JT about the subject and reading about it online, back in the day — well before my family and I moved here — Silicon Valley had a San Jose-based half marathon and full. (I’ve read that Dean Karnazes had his name on one here, but I don’t know if it was the same thing or something different). As I understand it, that original SV race went under — for reasons I don’t know — and in time, JT (and his company, Represent Running, which is part of the bigger Soul Focus Sports production) decided to resurrect it.

What’s interesting, in my opinion, about San Jose’s racing and running scene is that — quite frankly — I think it’s lacking. SJ prides itself on being “the capital of Silicon Valley” (I kid you not, even our trash cans say that here), and the city wants every.single.person here to know that SJ is the third largest city in CA and the tenth largest city in the nation. With over a million people living here, SJ isn’t small. There are tons of runners here, too — road runners, trails runners, and the hybrid types, too.

Where the mismatch occurs is that for a city as big as SJ, with as many people living in it as there are, and with as many runners who live and run here that we have, SJ’s race market is really pretty small: or at least that’s been my observation in the past almost-5 years I’ve lived here. That’s not to say that there simply aren’t road races here because there are at least a few; it’s just that I’m genuinely surprised there aren’t more races held more often. Sure, there are running races held at various parks around town throughout the year, but there simply doesn’t seem to be too many big-scale, shut-the-streets-down, community-encompassing events overall. Maybe the permits are too expensive? Perhaps the neighborhoods fight the proposals? I have no idea. In fact, I can only think of a few races held on city streets: the 408k is one; the SJ Giants race is another (also managed by JT’s team); and the San Jose Rock and Roll event weekend is one more. I think there’s a neighborhood 5k in Willow Glen each year, too, but I’m blanking on anything else. I don’t know why this is the case, and realistically speaking, this is all based on my perception and observation. Maybe there’s a lot more out there that I haven’t encountered yet. For a city that’s as big as SJ, this relative dearth of road races surprises me.

And therein lies the opportunity. This year’s inaugural Silicon Valley half marathon, 10k, and Food Truck 5k was veritable years in the making, and among the many incredible things that the event brought with it was the small detail that Meb Keflezighi — yes, that Meb — was a founding investor. To help kick-off Race Week, RR hosted a community run at Santana Row’s Lululemon the week before, on Saturday, and then on Race Week Wednesday, RR hosted another big community run out of Sports Basement Campbell.

The difference: our friend Meb would be at the Wednesday run, and the community would be able to come run with him, get autographs and photographs, and hear him talk.

Though Meb wouldn’t be running with us come SV Half race day — he was going to be in Boston, preparing to run the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day as a fundraiser for Team MR8, in memory of Martin Richard — Meb would be in SJ to come share in the excitement of the inaugural SV Half weekend of events.

 

MEB! (source)

The turnout at Sports Basement was incredible: standing room only, easily 150+ people, what looked like an entire high school track team, many of my Wolfpack teammates, several folks from the Too Legit to Quit crew (who’d be serving as pacers come race day), tons of people from the community, just a huge swarm of Meb acolytes. What’s more, easily 75% of the people who showed up went out for the group run, an easy 5k along the Los Gatos Creek Trail. That’s a lot of people on a pretty narrow, two-lane bike path, and it was just perfect.

running always calls for jazz hands, esp when with CT and new friend, Leah! (PC: WRC)

 

paneling with JT and UCan (PC: WRC)

 

it’s like Meb’s one of us! (PC: WRC)

Once we returned, Sports Basement treated us to snacks and adult beverages, and Gen UCan (who sponsors Meb and which would also be the on-course beverage at the SV Half) was offering samples as well. The audience got some great group selfies with Meb, and before long, Meb had a casual conversation with us and entertained some audience questions and some from facebook live sent in from people across the country. Someone asked if he thought racing marathons or parenting is harder; his response: marathoning is part-time, even at the pro, full-time level. Parenting is full-time, around the clock. (Truer words never spoken, especially coming from a father of four!). Respect, man.

he talks; we listen.

 

the gang’s all here. (PC: @pavementrunner)

After the brief discussion, we got another opportunity for pictures and autographs, and you can believe that my little runner heart was just beaming at the opportunity to talk to Meb one-on-one. I remembered reading his autobiography a while back, right after it came out, and for this special occasion, I bought his more-recently-released Meb for Mortals training book so he could sign it (no shame in my game!). We talked for a minute about goals and training — he asked me for advice for Boston when he realized that I had run more marathons than he had (insert cry-laughing emoji here, for sure) — and he wished me well in SF in July.

MEB! SO EXCITING!

I had always read and heard that Meb is such a cool, down-to-earth, class-act type of guy, and I couldn’t agree more. I loved that he was supporting my new hometown’s newest race, and I love that it was Meb who was doing it, not some other pro athlete. (Don’t get me wrong; I also really like certain other pros. That said, Meb is in a class all himself).

HOORAY AND THANK YOU

 

my worlds were colliding: running, racing, books, and my 6 year-old’s headband I grabbed before leaving

The opportunity to meet and run with Meb in advance of the inaugural SV Half weekend was fantastic, and I’m so glad I was able to take advantage of the opportunity. 

2018 PA USATF Sactown 10 Mile Race Report – Sacramento, CA

2018 PA USATF Sactown 10 Mile Race Report – Sacramento, CA

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A week ago Sunday (4/8) was the SacTown 10 mile race up in — yup, you got it — Sacramento, a PA race, my first 10 mile race in a decade, and my first PA race post-stroke. I think at every big marathon I’ve ever run, I always see someone holding a sign that says something to the effect of “do something every day that scares you,” and let me assure you, as irrational as it was, returning to Sacramento to race — the very place where just 9 weeks before, I had driven to for another PA race and ended up sitting it out last minute because I had a blinding headache stroke, unbeknownst to me — yeah, that mightily qualified as “doing something that scares me.” Clearly, driving two hours to Sac and then racing there in February didn’t cause my stroke, but even though I had been medically cleared to run for the preceding 4.5 weeks come Sactown race day, it still felt a little weird to return. The wound was still fresh, though fortunately not as gaping as it once was.

Before I had gotten sick, I was really looking forward to this race — having not run a 10 miler in a literal decade, since the Perfect 10 Miler in NE Ohio back in summer 2008 — and to the possibility of utterly shattering my 10 mile PR, which was as soft and low-hanging as they come. Getting sick and sidelined for a bit changed all of that, though, so my focus shifted accordingly; the victory would come in finishing the thing and in helping to field a full women’s team that day. Those two components would be sufficient; anything else would be gravy.

In the weeks leading up to Sactown, I had cautiously bumped up my mileage, with my longest continuously-run run topping out at 11 and change over some great, hilly terrain in my ‘hood. I hadn’t done any speedwork whatsoever, so my pacing plan for Sac was something along the lines of “do what feels good” and “remember that you’ve only been running for 4 ½ weeks.” I figured that the pace would amount to something in the 8s, maybe flat-to-mids, but honestly, more than anything, the name of the game was to rely on feel. My Garmin was there just to capture data, not to dictate how I ought to be rolling.  

Once my teammates and I arrived to Sac on race morning, we ran a couple mile warm-up and then settled into the corrals pretty easily. The course was somewhat weird, though I imagine much more logistically easier to manage than other alternatives: two 5-mile loops, with scenery that included brief residential sections, a bike path, some industrial/office park area, and then a quick little jaunt through the mall area outside the Capitol. The race also offered a 5k distance — not part of the PA race — that began earlier in the morning, so I imagine that it was much easier to cordon off such a comparatively smaller section and less scenic portion of Sac and West Sacramento than, say, what the city had to do for a bigger race, like CIM. The Sactown 10 course, itself, was pretty average in my book, not really anything to write home about, and not particularly memorable, though with its very few inclines, I could see how it’d lend itself to some fast 10-mile times (which would make it memorable for many!).

Without a lot of fanfare, we were all off and running our two laps. It was a sunny and gorgeous spring morning, and by the race’s end, it felt like it had warmed up considerably. I felt pretty good throughout my race, just chugging along and doing my thing, and reminded myself how lucky I was to be there, doing what I was doing, given what could have been a dramatically different outcome just nine weeks earlier.

right off the yellow bridge, coming through the Capitol mall area, and going out for round two. (PC: WRC)

I tried to stay as evenly-paced as possible and ended up with a 7:40 average, with about a 20 second positive split, on a course that seemed to be at least .1 mile long, based on what I had heard from many of my teammates and what I had read about from last year’s race. (GPS and race distance discrepancies are part and parcel in this sport, it seems, and I try not to get too hung up about it. I’m assuming that it was USATF certified, since it was a PA race and all, so I figure being off .1 or so probably falls within the suitable discrepancy range for certification. For their purposes, it’s surely better to be over by a little than under).

 

the yellow bridge, not far from the finish line, IIRC

By the end of the day, I had posted 14 miles, with the warm-up and cool-down miles I shared with my team, which amounted to my biggest volume day post-stroke and just shy of 40 for the week, another new volume record post-stroke. It was honestly fantastic to be in Sac with my team, to be able to share the miles and the experience with them (including some awesome PRs!), and even with me being the DFL Wolfpack finisher that day, I honestly didn’t care; I was (am) just happy to be there, doing what I love to do. A little perspective can go a long way.

team cheesin’ (PC: WRC)

 

Running Sactown also gave me some good feedback about how my fitness was shaping up in the 4.5 weeks of running that I had been doing post-stroke and would help give Lisa and me both some direction as I begin training for the SF Marathon in earnest. Plus, Sactown was an excellent and fairly low-key and low-pressure stepping stone for me in April in advance of the Silicon Valley half marathon a week later and a couple April 5k races, too. There was definitely a point in my life where I’d only sign up for a race if I felt like I were in “racing shape,” but now — post-stroke or otherwise — I’m more inclined to sign-up and just run without expectation, being happy with whatever I can do on the day, with whatever effort I can muster. Race day is so fun, besides, and the feedback it can give you — the feedback I get from racing, anyway — is pretty invaluable. That, coupled with the social aspect that the morning brings — you can’t get much better than that.