Giant Race recap

I LOVE baseball, and more specifically, I love the Giants.  I did not start loving them in October of 2010.  No, I started loving them when I moved to California in 2004, moved in with a dude who loves baseball and has the world record for farthest object ever thrown (not a baseball), and who also had a television and cable.  I've always loved baseball, thanks to my dad who taught me how to swing a whiffle bat as soon as I could walk.  Summer evenings after dinner found my whole family in the side yard playing two-on-two whiffle ball until it was dark.  I joined ponytail softball, and then little league where I played as the only female in the entire league until 8th grade.  I can throw hard and far, and hit home runs.  I haven't played much since then, but ball is always fun and always on our summer evening barbecue to-do list.

So that's me and baseball.  Last summer when I found out the San Francisco Giants were hosting a 5/10k and a 1/2, I was so excited.  Couldn't pull it off last summer, but this summer I lured both non-runner sisters into running with me, with promises of Tim Lincecum bobbleheads at the finish line for all.

The Giants haven't been doing so well this half of the season, so we were doubtful of actually witnessing a win.  We watched the Friday evening game against the Astros and won in typical Giants fashion.  The racer's expo was at the stadium that night and it was then and there I decided to downgrade my entry from the 1/2 to the 5k and run with my sisters.  Switching was no problem, but I obviously didn't get any money back.  Bummer.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and slightly chilly.  Perfect running weather if you ask me.  We hopped on the muni that runs down the Embarcadero to AT&T Park.  We made a quick pit-stop for pre-run donuts and coffee, and continued to the start, located in the stadium parking lot.  The racers started in 3 waves, which allowed us time to chat, mill around and get chilly.  We also passed RIGHT by Matt Cain, my all-time favorite player!  Highlight of the day!

We ran a decent pace in the beginning, and I noticed we were too fast to maintain an actual running pace for 3.1, so I tried to reign us in for the sake of youngest seester.  Nonetheless, she called it good at around 1 mile and put in some time walking.  We got her going again and she made the turn.  She really wanted to walk again, and I told her we could walk while under the Bay Bridge, which was a perfect 1 or 2 minute break.  Amazingly, she made it to the finish line without walking again, and we had a blast.

 

My results:

Overall:	2060 out of 3487
Women:	1138 out of 2141
F 25-29:	329 out of 506
Age/Grade:	37.50% Place: 2084
Finish:	39:29 Pace: 12:43
Tag Time:	39:29
Gun Time:	45:13

39:29 is obviously a huge underachievement for me, but is also a 5k PR!  First and only, baby.  My foot hurt pretty much the whole race, and the whole rest of the day after that.  I was glad I didn't run 13.1 miles, but also really disappointed, as I had been anticipating the Half for a long time. 

And finally, the finish was a major major clusterfuck.  Granted, all my races have been really small so far and I have no comparison.  However, The 5k started 1.5 hours after the 1/2 and 10k, which means a majority of the 1/2 marathoners are trying to cross the finish line at the same time as 3000 mediocre/walking 5k runners.  Combine this with a finish chute the width of the warning track and you have a finish line FAIL.  It took us 5 minutes to cross the finish line, another 30 minutes to make it off the field and up into the stadium, another 30 minutes to get our finishers food, T and bobblehead... not fun.  No time or room to stretch post-race, just stand-still crowds milling in cattle-chute isles.  Oh well.

Post run we had delicious mexican food and beers at the Ferry Building and walked the Saturday Farmer's Market.  Giants won again that night, and the weekend was a success!