Race To the End Of Summer

Technically, there are 3 more weekends before Summer is over.  But, RTTEOS is usually on Labor Day weekend, and this year was more of the same.

The cameraman at the finish was INSISTENT, so I celebrated!
PC: Jen

This year's new course starts in the park and is an out-and-back on the trail (which could use slightly better marking), so there's no more slogging it out on closed roads.  Overall, the tradeoff is for rolling hills on a trail in lieu of flatter stuff on closed vehicle roads.

Sunrise over Moffett Field on the way to the start.

I think I like the new course better, even though, I do think it's probably a little harder.  Last year's race had been hot, and humid, and just all-over not super pleasant (did *NOT* feel like the end of Summer).  This year, however, was *wonderfully* cool and fun and totally felt like the end of Summer with temps in the 60s.  Also, although we didn't realize it, it appears that they now offer day-of-race packet pick-up at registration, which is amazing, and coupled with the reasonable price point and the potential for a cool day, if you're willing to gamble on the heat, this is a great option for heading into the Fall racing season.

If you are curious about how the temperature swings can matter, I think the post-race photo above has all of Angela, Jen, and myself looking *much* better than we did in our *pre-race* photos last year -- This race is a crapshoot -- it can be muggy and miserable.  But, when you get lucky like today, it's lovely. (Plus, Angela took 2nd female in the 10K, Jen took 3rd AG in the 5K, so this is also a very celebratory photo!)

Given the AM temps, I went in with hopes of a decade PR (e.g. best for myself in this decade of age).  NOPE.  But I ran a very hard effort on a rolling course (hard enough to require a 30 second walk break around mile 2.8 - kind of embarrassing, but it happened, so there you go).  I finished in 31:09, 1:26 off the goal, but good enough for 6th in my age group, which was fun -- small races are wonderful.

And then, we had a delicious post-race brunch at our place.

Summer at its finest: Dips & cheese & grilled veggies & tomatoes in olive oil & deviled eggs & fruit & sausage & crackers & bread & mimosas + sparling rosé

After this wonderful experience, I'm very much looking forward to my fall plans of lots of weekend races and solid workout weeks to get me into shape for my target race of the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving.

So far, here's the current tentative race schedule for the rest of the year:

9/9/2018 -- Giants 10K (registered)
9/22/2018 -- Break Free 10K
10/7/2018 -- Rock 'n Roll San Jose 10K (registered)
10/28/2018 -- rc.ocktoberun 5K
11/22/2018 -- Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon (registered, assuming I finish, it will be my first half marathon in 2.5 years!  Fingers crossed!  This will be my training cycle goal race.)
12/2/2018 -- CIM relay (registered, I'll likely run one leg of roughly 6-7 miles)
12/16/2018 -- Silicon Valley Santa Run 5K
Christmas/New Year's -- something in the bay or sac area??

Cheers to cooling temperatures and best wishes for a great Fall to all!