Third Best 5k of the Year
Fun Time at Morgan Hill July 4th Race
Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
We have been doing the Morgan Hill July 4th race since 2007. This is one of our Family Running Trips we do. The grandkids run the kids one mile first and then Lisa, Justin, Michael and me do the 5k. Catherine, Crystal and Waitman took photos and did filming for our movie. Photo: Michael has been so busy filming that he hasn't been able to run many of the races. In fact, this is only his second of the year. He ran Carlsbad. Today he ran 21:42. He will be under 21 soon. Justin ran 19:44. I warmed up by running the mile with my granddaughter Carly. (She is seven years old and ran 9:55. Jaxson age 9 ran 7:55.) Michael and I were on the front row and went out fast. The first half mile was for sure under six/minutes per mile pace. Justin passed me and I tried to hang on. Ujena Fit Club member Michael King was right there too. I passed the mile at 6:17 and Justin was two seconds ahead and Mike was two seconds behind.
Up ahead was 15-year-old Jose Pina Jr. (In green)...his first mile split was 5:03. He finished second overall in 15:49. We are featuring the Pina family in our movie. They have a great story. We are meeting at their house tomorrow for an interview and then doing a training run with them. Jose's 11-year-old brother Omer won the kids mile running 6:55. Their dad Jose Sr. is a top master runner. More about them later... I tired to hang on to Justin but he pulled away. There was some wind on the second loop and I just didn't have it today. I ran a 6:55 second mile. Justin pulled out 25 seconds on me. I then tired to stay with Michael King but he too pulled away. I was able to pull out a 6:40 last mile which helped a bit. Close behind me was Honor Fetherston. She finished in 20:47 which was the best age-graded performance of the day. Honor and I talked after the finish. My 30th race of the year will be the Wharf to Wharf in Santa Cruz...this is one of Honor's favorite races and she too will be running. It will be my first time running the race which is widely acclaimed as "The best little roadrace in California."
Right after the finish. I don't think my time would have been faster if I had not gone out so fast. I am now 13:49 minutes ahead of pace overall after 176 miles of racing. My next race is the Napa to Sonoma half marathon July 15th. The gang minus Crystal after the races. Next up...the parade. Crystal and Michael hanging out at the parade. After running a 7:55 mile my grandson Jaxson ran the 5k with Lisa. This is the first time he has run that distance without stopping. Good going Jaxson...that's four miles for the day. This is how the 4th of July needs to be celebrated. First run as a family and then watch the parade as a family. Photos by Catherine Cross Ujena Fit Club
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Half Done with my 50 Race Challenge
27 Races completed and I am ahead of pace
Sunday, July 1st, 2012
My 50 race 2012 Challenge (A Long Run) is half over. Overall it has been a very good six months. I have completed 27 races so far and I am averaging 6:56/mile for my first 173 miles. I have 177 miles to go. Several of my up coming races are half marathons. I love this distance and I am planning on being real close to 7 minutes/mile or under on each of them. It is ironic that 13 days before the start of my journey I fell and really messed up my knee and opened up a hole in my head that took over 60 stitches to close. Jennifer the plastic surgeon on call at El Camino did an amazing job of sewing me up that December 18 afternoon. In fact the scar right above my eyebrow is hardly noticeable now. However, it took over a month for me to be able to bend my left knee completely. My first race January 1st was one of the hardest of the year. I could not take a fall stride. I hit the mile at 7:49 in the DSE 5k race in San Francisco and that was all I could do. Somehow I was able to pick up the pace and finished in 22:19. I was able to gut it out the last two miles. But my goal for this challenge is to average under 7 minutes per mile. To do this I need to run 5k's under 21 minutes, which I have been doing mostly. Six months to the day (yesterday) I fell again. But this time it was different. I broke the fall and I rolled. In December I hit my knee and then my head without breaking the fall. Still not sure what happened that Sunday morning last December. I was not running as fast yesterday and I almost didn't go down. But I did, however nothing like before. My right hip and left wrist is what hit first. I should be 95% by Wednesday which is my next race. But I was not ready to race this morning. I can run easy and I am sure I could have somehow ran as good as what I did January 1st but I am not going to reach my goal running 5k's over 22 minutes. What is ironic is that I started off this challenge with a fall and doing a DSE 5k afterwords (but I did have several days to recover) and six months later I fall again and then canceled running a DSE 5k. This is not a big thing, but I did have to cancel a race because of it. I want to thank everyone who has helped me these first six months. You guys make this all worthwhile.
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