Bakersfield Track Club Summer Series Race #2; Race Report #7

     On Tuesday, June 20, we drove down to Bakersfield for the second race in the Bakersfield Track Club Summer Series. Since the weather forecast was for hot temperatures, I had hit Home Depot and bought both Robin and myself Enduracool hats and a new Enduracool neck wrap for Robin as well. The weather forecast turned out to be true as the temperature was 108 degrees at the start according to my Garmin app. We both made sure to hydrate extremely well all day long to prevent any medical issues from popping up, I know I did a good job as I had to use the toilet twice before the start of the race. I also froze our handheld water bottles we carry when we run about one-third full, laying on their side, so the cold bottle would be against our hands as we ran the race. When we arrived we found Trevor and Andrea already there, so I parked, changed my shoes, shirt, and shorts, and put on my bib number and custom Depends.
     I did manage about a mile and a half total warm-up before the race, and I felt pretty good despite the heat. As seven o'clock came up, we all gathered near the start line. Everyone was talking about running slower because of the heat, and the announcer kept reminding everyone to hydrate, carry water, and walk if you needed to. Robin was the first to take off, followed by Andrea, myself, then Trevor followed by all the fast runners. I felt that I had run the first race a little easy since I didn't know the course yet, so I went out faster on the downhill first mile this time. With the high temperatures, I was sipping and pouring water on myself starting at about a quarter mile into the race. It wasn't long before I passed Andrea, gave a wave, and was zeroing in on Robin. I went through the first mile in 6:48, and felt good. The heat didn't seem to be playing a factor, but I didn't want to push my luck, so I went to easy mode when I got to the hill. The water bottle was awesome. It felt great to be able to pour water onto my neck and head. The Enduracool products seemed to really help. My second mile, with the hill, was 7:15. The track club did an outstanding job placing five water stations along the course, one of which we ran by twice to make a total of six opportunities for water in a 3-mile race. this was in addition to the water and misters that were at the start-finish area. Most 5k runs provide one water station along the course if that. I continued along to the finish and got passed by a few of the faster runners that had started behind me. I finished the race in 22:05 which was about 35 seconds faster than the first race, and in 108-degree temperatures. I hung around and watched Shane, Joe, and Carl finish refilled my handheld water bottle and set off to find Robin and pace her back to the finish.

My Garmin screenshot from the Bakersfield Summer Series Race #2

     As I ran down the first hill, I stopped and chatted with some photographers and asked about using their pictures on this blog, which they said would be fine. Of course, I haven't been able to find them online yet. Soon enough I found Robin and Trevor running together, so I went back a little further to Andrea and paced her into the finish. 

Screenshot of the finish results showing our real times plus our handicap based on age.

     We all stood around and talked about the race, I was looking for someone from McFarland to ask about the upcoming Jim White Invitational. Naturally, I couldn't find him after the race. Everyone was talking about a runner that had a medical issue during the race. We changed into dry shirts and headed to Ethel's Old Corral Cafe for some food and cold adult beverages. 

My sandwich, salad, and beer at Ethel's after the race.

     Ethel's was a classic vintage roadhouse. I had never stopped in there in all my years of driving by. The food was great, service quick, and, most important when it's over 100, the beer was ice cold. It was definitely a welcome respite from the heat and sweat only an hour earlier.

     

     On a side note, I am sad to say that I found out the next morning that the runner who had the medical issue did not make it, and passed away at the hospital. My condolences go out to his family and friends in this tough time. I will touch more on this issue in a future blog post.

     

Bakersfield Track Club Summer Series Race #1; Race Report #6

     Since high school, I have raced a lot of different all-comer cross country meets held every summer. The first one that I ever ran in was at Pierce College on Tuesday nights back in the 70's.. We would run the 2-mile course, then stick around and run track events later in the evening. It was a blast, the track meet held every event from relays, walks, pole vault, to sprints, middle, and long distance. I also ran the High Desert Track Club cross country meets, which back in the day were held in Quartz Hill. Naturally, I have run many races and thoroughly enjoy the COC summer series.  

The start and finish line being set up before the start of the Bakersfield Track Club race #1

     One of the meets that I have never participated in is the Bakersfield Track Club Summer Cross Country Series. This year after my prostate cancer surgery, I decided to try to compete in both the Bakersfield races, as well as the COC races. The races in Bakersfield are different in that they use a handicap start system similar to the Dipsea Race in Northern California. The goal of the handicap start in Bakersfield is to have everyone finish as close to 7:30 PM as possible. I was at the course early, checked in and got the bibs for Robin, Trevor, Andrea, and myself. The race is chip timed, and we keep the same chip embedded bib for all of the races. The bib has our name and starts time on it. Next to the start line is a big clock with the time of day going so we knew when to approach the start line. I did a short warm up with Shane, a few strides, and felt ready to go.

The handicap table for the Bakersfield Track Club Summer Series

     My start time was 7:08, so I got a 3-minute head start on the high school kids. The P.A. announcer was on top of everything calling us to the start line for our race. This is the first year competitors have been allowed to wear watches, as this is a no electronics race. That means if you are caught listening to music on the course during the race you will be disqualified. I love that aspect of the race. The reason for no music is safety. I ran up on some slower competitors pretty fast so I was glad they could hear me coming.
     After the race started, I came upon slower people pretty quickly. There are lots of families that do the race as a walk and jog for fun. I carried water as I did not know how the warmer air temperature would affect me. It was 97 when the race started, and the race organizers were well prepared, as they had four water stations along the 5k course. The course itself wasn't that difficult. We ran on pavement and dirt, there was one small hill, and a good amount of single track dirt. The heat makes up for the lack of hills. I managed negative splits in the race, 7:21, 7:17, and 7:15 for the 3 miles. The handicap start kept everything spread out, so there was never any crowds of runners that went out too fast for me to try to pass on narrow sections. I really enjoyed the race, and am looking forward to the next one.

My Garmin screen shot after the race. Note the temperature on the bottom right

     I finished the race in 22:39, Trevor 30:00, Andrea 38:42, and Robin did not race since she's in South Carolina playing with our grandson Henry. By the way, Henry was in his first 5k yesterday at the age of 11 days. Since scoring for the races is different than most, I cannot post the finished results since they have yet to be posted. The way I understand things, the race organizers take our run times, add it to our start time, and that will be our finish time. They will take the best 3 times for each runner, add them together, and that will determine winners at the conclusion of the series. The races will be held on every other Tuesdays, with the finals being a fun run, barbecue, and handing out of awards. Trevor, Andrea, and I finished the night at Tony's Pizza with some delicious pizza and beer.

Casa Super Hero 10k Bakersfield, Race Report #2

The reflection on the water prior to the start at Riverwalk Park in  Bakersfield

    Yesterday was my second race in the recovery tour. We did the Casa Super Hero 10k in Bakersfield on the bike path along the Kern River. We got there about an hour before the start, I'm still not doing the big warm up with the incontinence issues, and not running fast yet. We did the day of race sign up, got our numbers, and went back to the car to change, and wait for Andrea.
     After changing and collecting Andrea we headed to the start area. There was music, most of the people were in costumes, and some dogs dressed up as super heroes as well. All in all, the pre-race area was very festive. There was a celebrity race featuring local news personalities, and then it was time for us to go. The 5k was scheduled to start a few minutes after us. Before I go further with race details, I need to say something about my customized depends. Since I have been peeing less, I cut them smaller and wore my short shorts over some new running briefs. I even trimmed the bottom of the depends, hoping to avoid unnecessary chafing.
     Finally, we were told GO!!!, and off went the 10k runners. My goal was to run a negative split race, start out at 7:30 pace, and go faster as the race progressed. My first mile was 7:24, a little fast, but I felt good, waving and saying hi to people walking along the bike path, and really enjoying the Kern River full of water. Unlike last week, this course was smooth, so I hit the tangents as good as I could, trying to avoid the spandex Nazis on their bikes who had no respect for a race going on. Mile 2 was a little fast, 7:13, but I was still feeling good, even passing a couple of people in front of me. Soon the lead pack of 3 runners went by us heading the other way. As we got to the mile 3 point, we came to the second aid station, and there was a cone in the middle of the bike path. The guy I was running along with and I started to turn, but the aid station worker told us it wasn't the turn, we had to go farther along the path to reach it. Since my Garmin watch said we were at exactly 3 miles, I figured we should see the turn shortly. We continued on, my mile 3 split was 7:08, but there was no turnaround. We slowed, talking about the issue, turned around, and people were waving us back. Everyone behind us turned around where they were, and I instantly went from 5th to about 10th. Some of the air went out of my sails, and I was a little angry at the miscues of the race management. Runners really only need a few basic things to be happy with a race, and a properly measured and marked course is one of them. there was no reason to be mad at the aid station worker, he was a volunteer, and my wife told me years ago, I cannot be upset with volunteers, no matter how inept at they are at their volunteer job. Needless to say, my 4th mile was slower than I wanted, 7:21, but I dug down a little, determined to have a decent finish in spite of the issues with the race. By mile 5, I had picked the pace back up, and my split was 7:11. I was also zig-zagging through 5k walkers who had their back to me as I ran towards the finish. Them and the spandex Nazis on two wheels made for a most interesting last mile. My split for mile 6 was 7:14, and I'm sure some of the slowing was due to navigating the traffic. I finished the race in 45:48, a pretty decent time for not much training. I also ran 6.3 miles, probably the farthest of anybody in the race. I found out later that the first three runners turned around at the table, running only 6 miles.
      I grabbed a bottle of water from a smiling volunteer and went straight to the bathroom to change my race depends before going out to find Robin and Andrea. In the bathroom, I discovered that I had trimmed my depends a little close on the bottom, and those pesky little white balls escaped into my groin area again. I scooped them out, changed race pads(yes, I carried it with me in the race), and set off to find Andrea, then Robin. Andrea finished in 1:10, and Robin was not far behind in 1:13. This provided me with a decent cooldown. We all headed back to the car, got a drink then walked around, waiting for awards. Unfortunately, all of the race day entries had to be entered by hand, so there was a slight delay, but I eventually ended up getting second in my age group again.

Wonder Woman with me and my medal. I didn't know she wore Nike's

     The perfect place to go after a run at Riverwalk is Bj's Brewhouse, so off we went after collecting my medal. Being both old, and old school, there is nothing like pizza and beer after a hard run.We got their not long after they opened, and settled into a booth for breakfast and beers.

Breakfast pizza and beer. It doesn't get any better than that after a run. We finished the meal by splitting a pizookie 3 ways. Next race on the recovery tour is the Tejon Trail 10k on April 22nd.