This morning was race number 23 in Kentfield, CA.  It is called the Marin Memorial Day 10k.  I have run this race many times and I like the course.  This photo is just after the four mile mark. 

I normally am only a few rows back at the start but not this morning.  After doing a good warmup I lost track of time and before I knew it I had to squeeze into the pack.  It took me seven seconds to cross the starting line.  It was chip timed but it meant I had to weave in and out of people for the first mile.  I normally would have run the first mile under 6:30 but this morning I hit it in 6:39.

Hans (37) got a much better start and I could see him at least 100 yards ahead at the mile.  Hans ran a great race finishing under 41 minutes.  I am sure that was the best age-graded performance of the day.  Way to go Hans.

Mike is the president of the Tamalpa Runners who put on the race.  I had not met him until today.  We spoke before the start.  He told me that he was not in the same shape as last year when he missed breaking 40 minutes by less than a second.  Mike is now 61.  For the first four miles I kept hearing people call out his name.  He was right behind me.  At just over four miles we were running together.  He made a good move about a half mile later and held it to the finish.  I think he was about five seconds in front of me.  Great guy!

This race finishes on the track.  The college of Marin just got a new 1.2 million dollar track.  It was great.  I ran my best 10k of the year and better than my goal (42:30).  I finished in 42:16.  I think I was 7th in my dvision.  I can do better but for racing I do need to loose five pounds as I keep saying...

It is always great to see everyone at the races.  I wished there was more time to chat.  Here I am after the race with Hans, JoAnn and Bill.

I have now completed 23 races.  I have raced 144.75 miles and my average pace is 6:57/mile.   I am ahead by 8:11 minutes.  I still have to plan 10 more races.  I have 40 scheduled for 279.7 miles.  This means I need another 70.3 miles to reach my goal of 7 miles per race.  I am on target... photos by Catherine Cross    Mike and Waitman got tons of good video footage!

Another great race Bob.
Tony Brickel 5/28/12 7:31 pm

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Our film crew (Michael, Catherine and Waitman) met up with Hans on Sunday before the Marin Memorial Day Races.  We were staying at the Panama Hotel in San Rafael and before we started our training run we walked up to Bocce Ball center just a block from the hotel to do the sit down interview. 

Hans started running when he was 63.  He is now 72 and running very well.  The next day he ran 40:45 for the 10K

Hans has an amazing story.   He travels around the world running races.  His range is the road mile up to 50 miles.  He has also ran several stage races (4-8 day events where you are running almost a marathon each day). 

After our one hour interview he tired his hand at Bocce Ball.  Then we hit the road and ran a couple of miles.  We did not want to do too much since we were racing the next day.

I beat Hans at the Bay to Breakers by 30 seconds but he toasted me at the Marin Memorial 10k on Monday.  I enjoyed our training run together and we got a lot of good footage for our movie.