Not all the significant athletic competition in California last
Sunday took place down in San Diego (where the AFC finally managed to
show up for a Super Bowl). Several hundred miles to the north,
thousands of runners lined up for 5 and 10k races on a course that is
more challenging than it would appear.
In the 5k, Bao did an excellent job restraining his sprinter impulses
and ran a fairly paced 23:15. Hillary followed shortly after that in
24:14. John Boscardin ran a respectable 18:59. Unfortunately for
John, although the race featured a centipede division, it did not
include a "one shoe, one bare foot" division.
In a deep field for the 10k, Rebecca finished as the 11th woman
overall with a time of 38:19. To average 6:08 miles in the first
race of the season is a fantastic. She missed 10th place and the
money that went with it by less than a second. Next year, I expect
her to be in the money. Also collecting a check next year should be
Jacinda, who stuck with Rebecca for the first half of the race and
came home in 38:54. Accompanying those two through the first two
miles was Shelly, who learned that though the mind may be willing,
the body is not always so accommodating. Stomach cramps forced her
to drop at that point, but she was on an excellent pace, and it
suggests that she will soon be setting some serious 5k p.r.'s.
Big news in the 10k came from Steve, who, by finishing in 42:16, is
now one of the first TCLA'ers to achieve his 1998 goal of breaking 43
minutes for the 10k. We will not let Steve off so easily, however,
and have asked him to reset his sights to under 41:30. On his heels
was John Daly in 42:24, and John and Steve can now push each other in
practice. Also turning in a nice performance was Peggy, who ran
44:49. This left her only twelve seconds behind the first woman in
her age division.
Still working toward his 10k goal, Tom finished in 40:30. He
probably could have picked up a little time by simply keeping his
focus, but for an early season race, he should not be disheartened.
Finally, Ann ran 58:18 for the 10k as part of her tapering for next
week's Las Vegas Marathon.
