Race Report: 4th Annual Pat's Run

This morning, race number 1 of 2 took place down in San Jose. After a late night with my cousin Frank out on the town (I love San Francisco), we finally got to bed after midnight with a 5am wake-up call for the morning.

It was tough going but after sleepily getting our things together to get ready, my cousin and I were on the road by 5:45am to make the hour or so commute to San Jose. Unfortunately, a combination of lead foot, conversation and concern about time led us to an undesirable encounter with the CHP (California Highway Patrol) on the 101 South. I knew it immediately when I saw the officer jump into his squad car after hitting me with the radar gun that I was fucked. I half thought about flooring it and jumping off the next exit, but that probably would have spelled more bad news. Instead, I waited for the lights and siren to blare, accepted my fate and continued on.

Definitely a bit of a buzzkill. Would I let it linger and ruin my morning/weekend? Nah, eff that. Life's too short.

The morning was chilly. High 40's. But the day warmed up fairly quick to very comfortable temps. Frank and I picked up our bibs, lingered around my rental, then finally walked over to the starting area. After some jibber jabber by a pair of radio hosts on the mic, the national anthem was finally sung and shortly, we were off!

The run mostly went through some small streets and residential roads. There were a couple of small hills here and there but nothing too bad. I ran at a very easy pace next to my cousin and we just chatted, exchanged some jokes and basically had a good time. Didn't strain myself at all.

Families were out in full force today with many kids out with their parents to run the event as well. The patriotism was certainly evident by some folks living in the nice area coming out to support the runners with flags and cheers. Not many but to the few that did, it definitely warmed the heart.







After mile 4, it was back to the high school we started at (and it was a really nice high school, lemme tell ya) and the final .2 took us into the track for about 200m, then it cut into the field for the finish chute. I crossed the line with my cousin and registered a finish time of 38:XX for the 4.2 mile race (#42 was his Arizona State number).



Afterward, we grabbed some snacks, drinks and drove back home. All at the speed limit. ;)

Rest of the day will be spent relaxing, eating, hydrating for tomorrow's big 50K!