Race Report: Wharf to Wharf (101 is the loneliest number...)

It was nice to be "back in the saddle" again and racing with the Impalas today at the Wharf to Wharf in beautiful Santa Cruz. My pre-race highlight was wearing my Impala uniform which I received last year while I was pregnant. At the time, I could not even squeeze into it, but having it in my closet was a motivator to get into racing shape again after the baby was born.

It was a chilly beach morning with perfect race weather. High 50's at the start. It was also a rare occasion for Paul and I to run together, so we dropped the kids with my parents and enjoyed a morning coffee stop before heading down to Santa Cruz. We didn't anticipate race traffic and ended up parking on a side street ~2 miles from the start. We did our 2 mile warm-up jog, arriving at the start just about 5 minutes before the gun went off. Phew!

Having come off of a 22-minute 5k in April, I really wasn't sure what to expect. My strategy was to start near the front, settle into a 7:30 pace and then pick it up if I felt good after 3 miles. Since I was not a contender for awards or honors, my goal was to run conservatively and finish sub-45. Luckily, Paul was really flexible in his approach to racing and his strategy was to stick with me whatever pace I ended up running.

The first mile was predictably fast and I settled in to a 7:20-ish pace for the next two, coming through the half at 21:45. Comfortably ahead of my 45:00 goal pace! We picked it up a bit in the 2nd half, but I didn't really let myself go until the last mile and really picked it up the last 200 when I could finally see the finish line. As I sprinted across the finish line, I was thrilled with my negative split and my finish time of 42:20-ish. The last mile was 6:30 pace. Paul finished right next to me, stride for stride. Hooray!

It was almost the perfect ending to my race story. Until I was directed to the "women's" finish chute and handed a card. Not sure what this was. Looked down and it said "101" and my heart sank! I had no idea that I was so close to finishing in the Top 100...it was not even on my radar.

Still in a happy/frustrated/confused daze, I followed number 99 and 100 to the post-race table and the lady gave me a Top 100 jacket even though my card said 101. I must have had a look on my face that elicited her sympathy!

Anyway, the moral is to always give it your all, every place counts! (How could I forget this, which is practically the XC mantra, after 3 years as XC captain?)