We got to the race about 5 minutes to 7, for the 8 AM start. We followed the line of cars into a field outside of the Tejon horse facility, where everyone was guided to park. Unfortunately, there were no signs for directions at the freeway exits, so a lot of people went the wrong way. We hustled to check in, and the line was already pretty long. We got lucky, we only had to wait 15 minutes for our bib and t-shirt. Daisy Cuddy checked us in, how cool is that? For some reason, the powers that be decided that 3 porta potties would suffice for 450 people, luckily guys had plenty of rocks and trees, but the women were not so lucky. The other problem was the check in. Even the people that had pre-registered had to stand in line to get just a bib and t-shirt for 40 minutes or more, and some of them didn't get the T-shirt they had chosen during registration. Between parking long ways away, the porta potty fiasco, and the check in issue, a proper warm up was not possible for most runners. Because of all this, the race would be starting late. I laced up my Nike Zoom Wildhorse Twos and headed to the starting area. This too was not close to parking, restrooms, or registration.
Lining up prior to the start of the 10k and half marathon
Finally, the horn sounded, whatever happened to start guns and blanks? I guess it's part of the pitiful politically correct world we live in. To my amazement, runners in front of me were walking from the get go. Shouldn't they have been in the back? City morons, what can I say? That being said, after awhile I got through the slow idiots that started too close to the front and settled into a nice pace waiting for the hills. I went through both mile 1 and mile 2 at 8-minute pace. It wasn't until heading up the last hill in mile 3 that I started to feel my lungs wanting to hack something up. I did enjoy the downhill after the turnaround, but I knew that the downhills on the way out were going to be uphills on the way back.
View of Castac Lake from the run
The cool thing about hitting the turnaround was it was downhill for awhile. It wasn't long before I saw Aden and Stan, both looking good, and doing the half marathon. I did have fun dodging people who were on their way out. My wife Robin looked great as she headed out, as did all the people I knew in the race. I received a lot of high fives as I ran back. There was only one runner that got my as*hole comment for his lack of courtesy, so it wasn't too bad. My third mile was a 9:30, as I had begun to really shorten my stride on the uphill to conserve my energy.
Stan running uphill as I was heading back
Robin heading out as I headed back
I began to trade places with a few runners for position, one being the 1st place female. We traded places, I went easy on the uphills and would get passed, then I returned the favor on the downhills. I knew the finish was a downhill, then a slight uphill grade, so I waited until the last hill, when I could see the I-5, then I pushed it in the rest of the way. My pace settled back into 8:30's for the last couple of miles, and other than my breathing issues from being sick, I cruised to the finish in a 52:20, 5th overall and 1st in my age group.
Hitting the finish. My official time was 52:20
I received my finishers medal, a bottle of water, and started running the half mile to my car so I could get my camera, and take photos of my friends that had yet to finish. When I got to the registration area, the band was playing, Gil Karson and his buddies were rocking it. I was able to get back to the finish area and snap pictures of all my friends as they finished. It was great having everyone out there, we debuted the Running with Prostate Cancer Nike shirts, and already have more people wanting them.
My custom depends did survive the 10k, I'm worried about Lone Pine in 2 weeks, as the 10 miler will be a little tougher, longer, and I may still have a cough to deal with.
A bunch of us posing with our cool shirts on the rock at the Tejon Horse Facility, where my kids played 15 years ago
It seemed like a lot of us won awards, and they are really cool. The finishers medals and age group awards were made in the shape of the Tejon brand. We had a really good time listening to the music and having a couple of beers with our friends.
Gil Karson and the Karson City Rebels playing for the runners after the race
In retrospect, I think the race start and finish needs to be moved closer to the registration area. The whole thing was way too spread out. It was a long way from parking to the bathrooms, registration, and the start/finish area. The race could also benefit with some vendors. My Nike shoes were great, they felt good on the uphills, downhills, and sand. I will be testing them again in 2 weeks when we go to Lone Pine for the Wild Wild West 10 mile race.
My age group award on the left, and the finishers medal on the right
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