Human Race of Silicon Valley 5k & 10k

We had a super fun day with some more family running. We woke up early to drive down to Mountain View and the Google campus for the Human Race of Silicon Valley. Pam and I were joined by Laura and Jonathan for the 10k race. We also had our son Blake (9) run in the 5k with his aunt Kellyn. My mom and dad came to watch our other three kids while we were running and to cheer us on.

We all started off together. Blake sprinted out in 50 yard dash style and Kellyn had to hurry to try to catch up. Blake needed a few walking breaks but did great and finished his first 5k (or really any race) in about 33 minutes. The two courses merged at one point and I got to run past them which was a big thrill for me.

My goal was to run about 42 minutes. The only other 10k I'd done was last September in 46:21 but it was quite hilly and thought I could go faster. Really, though, I've been hoping to qualify for the Boston marathon and beginning this year I need to run a 3:15 marathon. I found on the Furman Institute of Running site http://www.furman.edu/first/2007%20Race%20Prediction%20Table.pdf that at 42 minute 10k was equivalent of about what I needed in the marathon.

No official results yet, but I had myself finishing in 43:20. Despite not being 42, I'm really pleased with my effort and dropping 3 minutes off my other 10k. I'm not sure, but I may be closer than I think. My garmin had the course at 6.39 miles - or the same min/mile pace for my 42 minute goal. I heard other GPS watches beeping off miles at the time time as mine, too. I'll keep my 43:20 but mentally I'll know I'm on track for the Boston time. Like that? :)

My Garmin:
Mile 1: 6:32 (AHR 171)
Mile 2: 6:41 (178)
Mile 3: 6:44 (181)
Mile 4: 6:48 (181)
Mile 5: 7:02 (183)
Mile 6: 6:54 (183)
Mile 0.39: 6:43 pace (186)


Pam started out the morning at about 5. She got up to go on a surprise b-day run for Mark Fuhriman. She put in 3-4 miles with them before coming home to load up to head to the 10k. Her race started out well but about 1.5 miles in her right quad started to cramp up. She ran/walked about a mile but was eventually able to get going again. She'd never had anything like that before so our suspicion is the run, sit in the car, and run again 2 hours later might be related. She finished in about 54 minutes but was buoyed by the fact that she was able to get through the problem and put in good miles afterwards.

The other exciting running news is that Pam, me, Jonathan, and his cousin Emily were all selected to be able to run in the St. George marathon this next October. Pam and I had such a wonderful time this last year running (me) and spending time with friends that we're hoping for a repeat.

I'll let Laura and Jonathan tell their 10k news themselves. http://jonathanandlaura.blogspot.com/

Moraga Treeline Triathlon

Pam completed her first triathlon this last week and did awesome. She placed 9th in her age group and the 14th overall woman (114 total women) with a time of 1:26:26. This was a sprint tri with a 400m swim, 14 mile bike and 5k run. No timing chips for the event so as best we can tell she did:

Swim: 9 minutes
T1: 2.5 minutes
Bike: 47 minutes
T2: 2 minutes
Run: 26 minutes

Highlights were the bike ride where she put in a great time and passed a number of people. Lowlights were taking a caffeine tablet just before the swim and not feeling like she could get any air.

I also participated in the tri but as a relay team. We were the 2nd in, but first relay team, so won that event in 1:09:27. We had Tennyson May swim, Andy Sorenson bike and I ran. Also, as best we can recreate:

Swim: 6min 10 sec.
T1: 1 minute (there was 200m or so from the pool to the transition area)
Bike: 39 minutes
T2: 10 sec.
Run: 23 min 10 sec.

Highlights were winning the relay :) Lowlights were my being directed the wrong way on the run. I knew the route but believed the volunteer on the course telling me to take a left turn. It ended up adding about 0.2 miles but was a HUGE hill with a "bonus" 190 ft of elevation gain. My garmin had me at:

Mile 1: 6:49 (180 AHR) with 214 ft up and 48 ft down
Mile 2: 7:45 (182 AHR) with 246 ft up and 282 ft down - and burned out my legs
Mile 3: 6:43 (184 AHR) with 90 ft up and 207 ft down
Mile 0.3: 6:30 pace (188 AHR) with 22 ft up and 28 down.

In all, a super fun and successful event. We're already planning to do it again this next year. I had planned to do the whole tri myself next year. But, after our victory, might be forced to defend the title. :)

Prologue

Pam and I were talking this week about that age-old topic of "growing older." We're shortly going to be remodeling our home and have been starting to pack things up. Looking through old pictures and memories, it reminded us, once again, that we're getting older every day and our kids are growing up. I suppose they still have a long way to go to "grown up" but the baby years have already passed on by. So, the answer was to finally start a blog to post some fun memories and share with others.