CA 2010: Impromptu 5K, a Long Run, Baseball

After a day in Napa and our visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, we decided to sign up for an impromptu 5K on Sunday, the 4th of July. After a bit of searching we found the Inaugural Stars & Stripes 5K Run/Walk, presented by the Concord Police Association, in Concord, CA.

Concord, CA for is on the other side of the SF bay hills which meant it was much hotter. There was a 20 degree difference from one side of the hills to the other (think 60 vs. 80 degrees).

The only other 5K race I have done was a fundraiser for Susan G. Komen in 2006 and was my first road race ever. I think I finished in about 34 minutes and I was so proud of myself for not walking. I remember feeling so accomplished!

When we were waiting for the race to start I noticed a young girl warming up with her dad and older brother. I guessed she was about 9 years old. You could tell she a natural athlete. To be honest, I was a little afraid she might beat me...

This is not an official race report, but I will give you the nitty gritty. The runners and walkers were mixed in at the start so I positioned myself pretty close to the line. I didn't want to have to deal with walkers and strollers.

Mile 1 - 8:03I took off strong and felt pretty good. I passed little-runner-girl at .3 miles. Phew. At one point I looked at my Garmin and my pace was around 7:55. Way too fast for me. I tried to slow it down a little but was having a hard time. My Garmin beeped for mile 1 at 8:03. That is most certainly the fastest mile I have ever run in my entire life.

Mile 2 - 8:48

After my record breaking first mile I tried to slow down my pace a bit. No way I could hold that for 2 more miles. There was an aid station at the 1.6 mile marker and I grabbed a sip of water there and splashed it on my face. It was getting hot and there was not a lot of shade on the course.

Mile 3 - 9:12

At the start of mile 3 my stomach was starting to hurt a bit. The apple I ate pre-race was not agreeing with me. Usually I don't have problems if I eat more than an hour before, however I usually don't run this fast either... I caught the smell of greasy food and almost lost it. After the turn around I saw the culprit - McDonald's. I passed it again tried not to breath through my nose.

Overall Time: 26:42
Avg. Pace: 8:37/mile
Age Group (F20-29): 9/33

After I finished I really thought I was going to vomit, however I managed to keep it all down. Clearly I went out too fast as my pace slowed down considerably, however I was still quite happy with my overall time.

By the way, little-runner-girl, it turns out she was 8 years old. And she finished in 32:09. Quite impressive indeed. I found a picture of her on the race website (#77). Isn't she adorable!?!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the pool with family. The most swimming of my trip involved a bikini and pool float. It was lovely.

Monday morning was a bit dreary but a perfect day for a long run. Usually we just run in my in-law's neighborhood but I wanted to mix it up a bit. A little research and I discovered that Tilden Regional Park was just a short drive away.

The Nimitz Way trail is a 4 mile paved trailed in the park.

When we arrived at the park we found that it was actually very foggy, windy and cold. I imagine the temps were in the low 50's. Brr! From the parking lot you saw lots of clouds and fog to the left and blue skies to the right.


Looking Left

Looking Right

The trail was to the (cold, windy, foggy) left. As expected I warmed up pretty quickly and the cold and wind did not bother me at all. It actually felt quite nice. There were some other people on the trial for the first 2 miles but the second 2 miles were pretty empty.

Most of the trail went through open fields, however there was a nice section that was protected through trees. It was really peaceful and quiet.

I finished the 8 miles in 1:23:28 with a 10:25/mile pace. This was one of the best runs in a long time. It was slow, steady and peaceful. The kind of run that is good for your soul. I think that if we lived in a better area that I would really enjoy trail running.

On Monday night we headed out to the Oakland Coliseum to watch the Yankees play the Oakland A's. It was a chilly but beautiful evening. We enjoyed the game in good seats with cheap beer (at least compared to Yankees Stadium!)

Before we knew it our trip was over and we were headed back East.

Good bye San Francisco. Until we meet again...