Race 11-18 President's Day Coyote Point 10k

February 21th, 2011
10k - 39:03 - 6th/48

There is only 1 race in the bay area on President's Day and it's the President's Day 10k/5k put on by Sky High Events. It's run by a guy known as "Big Al". Al is an older guy who is really into getting people fit. He puts on Bay Area races on holidays without much advertisement. There are usully around 50 participants and shirts available to all entrants.

The President's Day Race is at Coyote Point in San Mateo at 10AM. I took this day off the last 2 years, once for this race and once for a snowshoe race. This year I ran the race without taking the day off by running it during lunch since I work only a few miles north in Burlingame.

I got to the race with about 15-20 minutes to spare. I talked with several DSE members who were there (Greg Brown, Erika Kikuchi, and Barbara Robben to name a few). I was very sore from the races I had done the previous 2 days. I especially tried to stretch my hamstrings which were tight. The weather was mostly sunny and a little cool, with a decent wind blowing in from the south.

The 5k and 10k started simultaneously and I started the race around 9th place. After we made it over the initial hill I picked up some spots and took first place. I was caught by 2 guys after the mile mark.One was younger and the other looked 40+. i knew immediately that I wouldn't be able to stay with them. Shortly after, the first woman with a New Balance Silicon Valley singlet on passed me. My legs started to tighten up so I hoped that some of the 3 in front of me would turn around at the 5k turnaround. They all kept going so I prepared myself for 4th place.

The course is out and back heading south along the bay on the Out section. The 10k turnaround seemed far away, but probaby because I wasn't doing so well. After the turnaround a couple more guys caught me and I really started to feel slow. I finished as strong as I could in 39:03 (I think). Big Al isn't big on providing official race results so if you don't write your time and place down while you're there don't plan on ever finding out. I was surprised at my time because I had forgotten to bring my watch to work so I couldn[t run with it and I felt like I was moving slower than that. After Erika finished she said her GPS showed only 6 miles, not a full 10k and I remember thinking that I would have been over 40 minutes at the full distance. I plan on going back to measure the distance and elevation change in a training run soon.

This race isn't the best race but it's the only one on President's Day and it's not too expensive ($25 race day entry + $5 per car park entry fee). I don't like it enough to commit (even in my mind) to doing it the next year, but I guess I'd generally run it unless something different comes along.