Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Some lucky days deserve to last a little longer. While most people were getting ready to start their St. Paddy’s day, I was out running through downtown San Jose trying to break a personal record while trying not to make my cold worse.
My third race of 2019 took me to the inaugural San Jose Shamrock 10K by Run Local.
Fighting a cold and running in the rain is not the business. That’s what I thought on the morning of the race. Days before, as soon as I felt the cold coming on, I stopped running and focused on my rest and recovery. I stretched and I slept. That’s it. I was even debating not running the race. Good thing some over-the-counter cold medicine did their job to help me shake it, so I actually felt good enough to run when I woke up.
Any normal person might have stayed home to rest, but I was determined to run the first Shamrock Run 10K in San Jose. I’m sure the fact that I already paid for the race was more of a reason to get up and go. After three days of listening to the rain, resting, and stretching, I was kind of itching to get out and run.
The rain finally stopped, and I love the smell of fresh air after a good rain. Plus, the sun being out made for some great running conditions.
When I arrived at the race, the party had already started with bagpipes screaming, an announcer getting the crowd juiced, and I had chills running through my body from the hum of the crowd and partially because my fever was starting to creep back.
I found a nice spot next to a building and stretched a bit more just to release the tension. My girlfriend was worried about me and attempted to convince me to go home to rest. But I down played the chills and tried to act as macho as possible. I’m not very macho, by the way, so she saw right through me, but she also knew how much I wanted to run.
“We’ll get you some Pho soup after the race,” she said with a disapproving look before we parted ways at the starting line.
The crowd slowly crept to the starting line with about five minutes to spare before the race began. Then I started sizing people up, thinking how I was going to get around them when we started running. Every second we got closer to the final countdown made me itch more to run. I missed the mental therapy of running, my alone time.
Then the anxiety hit me, so I started shaking out my arms and legs to get them warm.
There was a big arch at the starting line on San Pedro St. between the buildings in downtown San Jose. The sound of the crowd echoed off the buildings as they cheered with excitement when the race started.
I was farther back in the crowd and I found myself among the walkers, so I started with a light jog. We moved slowly down San Pedro St. and turned on San Fernando St., then down Almaden Blvd.
I cruised along for a little while before I got warmed up. And then it was bliss; the high I was looking for, the run. My joy was short lived before my competitive edge took over. I pushed forward with a slightly faster cadence than usual. Suddenly, I was in race mode, thinking of my pace and my rhythm as I maneuvered around the walkers. I began analyzing the slower crowds of people and imagining the running lines I could take to pass them.
These moments might actually be when I’m one with the force because I can feel the distance between the people, their speeds, their cadence, their swerve directions as they run. It even feels like I can sense when someone’s about to start walking, and I’ll move over for the pass. I wonder if they can feel the pressure from me running closely behind them, pushing them with my energy like a tailgater in traffic, flashing you to get out of the way.
Beep-beep-beep!! Move to the right people!!
From Almaden Blvd., we turned down Santa Clara St. and turned around at the train tracks bridge just past the SAP Pavilion. We ran between the SAP Pavilion and the Arena Green through Little Italy and then back through the buildings before I started the second loop of the 10K.
When I started the second loop, I took a few seconds to think if I should walk, but my body wouldn’t let me. It was a wonderful feeling because I wasn’t tired despite being sick the past few days. I kept moving and started the second loop in my usual cadence.
Now, there were no walkers and I was free to run in a straight line down the middle of the street. I usually run along the centerline or the broken line during races, and it was smooth sailing for about a mile. Then I started seeing walkers still in their first loop. It dawned on me that I was about to lap some of them, which was certainly a first for me.
I moved through Little Italy again and back between the buildings when I felt the same old pain arise on my outer, left knee. I wanted this to be my first 10K race I ran without stopping, but this wasn’t going to be the one. Before the pain could get any worse, I slowed my pace to walk. I counted 15 seconds and then started to power walk for another 15 seconds to see how it felt. The pain went away and I started jogging again before I got into my regular rhythm again.
It was the final stretch of the race with less than a mile left, and there were only a few more turns before the finish line was in sight. That’s when I turned it up. I picked up my speed and started passing runners and walkers. Then the finish line was in sight and I hit the boosters.
A few guys who had passed me earlier in the race were now next to me trying to keep up, but they both fell behind as I kept a regular pace. I was about 100 feet from the finish line when I spotted a large group of people casually walking closer to the end. I picked up the pace to make it around them before I crossed the finish line.
Success! I glanced at the clock when I crossed the finish line and noticed it displayed a little after 58 minutes. That means that my chip time was faster this time.
It turns out that I set a new PR by running a 10K in 00:56:30. It felt like Michael Jordan’s Flu Game when he racked up 38 points to help the Bulls take Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. I wonder if I would have stopped had I not been sick or if my knee wouldn’t have started hurting. I guess I’ll have to find out in the next run.
