San Jose Silicon Valley Marathon 26/10/08
I had been planning to go to California for business reasons for sometime.When I found a marathon close to the town I had to visit, plans were firmed up and tickets booked. The San Jose Silicon Valley Marathon is a relatively small event with 750 entries in the marathon and just over 1000 entries in the half-marathon. The race is also a pre-qualifier for the Boston marathon and is in its 11th year being held annually in October.
San Jose located just South of San Francisco used to be the capitol of California in 1850, and is the centre of Silicon Valley where the world’s major IT companies were founded and the likes of eBay, IBM, HP and Intel still have their headquarters. The run in fact started just outside Adobe’s offices in downtown San Jose.
San Jose is a prosperous town with house prices still on the rise, a fact learned from a fellow runner who was in real estate. It has avenues lined with palm trees, nice parks with water fountains, and trendy shopping malls. With old churches and white brick halls wedged inbetween modern glass walled tower blocks, it is a town which has grown fast.
After flying into hot and sunny San Francisco, I stayed a few days there to acclimitize and do some sight seeing, and what better way than a sun rise training run to loosen those limbs after 15hrs of travel. My 6 mile run took me to a vantage point along the coast where I had a good view of the Golden Gate bridge (painted rusty red), and looked out across the Bay to Alcatraz prison, past the cabled street cars that climb the steep hills, along tall-ships and paddle streamers moored along the quay and into China Town. With the City divided into blocks the run was frequently interrupted by having to wait at pedestrian crossings. I preferred to wait, than risk crossing a 4-lane street, or receive a “citation” for jay walking. I also ran rather nervously through some rougher areas, with many homeless people, male and female, black and white roaming around the streets, many holding fast food drinking cups begging for money. It certainly made me appreciate more the social welfare and NHS provision in the UK.
Travelling by public transport to San Jose, I collected my number and timechip at the Expo. This was a small affair but the stalls had all sorts of interesting goodies on display. Mineral water purified to death, then reconstituted with minerals and extra oxygen – was meant to make you healthier and run faster! It tasted just like Edinburgh tap water. Sport Beans, a variation on Jelly Beans, contained extra caffeine, glucose and “get up & go ingredients”. They came in all flavours and a packet of apple flavour beans sounded like a good idea to take during my run. I took a packet and ran with it for 7 miles until the rattle and shaking of the beans finally drove me mad. I disposed of the beans in a nearby trashcan, the peace and quiet was delightfull and I finally settled into a more comfortable rhythm.
The run was along a cycle trail for the majority of the route, winding along a small creek and going through parks and past small lakes with ducks and a heron sitting in the reeds. There was a good view of the distance mountains glowing in the early morning sunshine, (race start was just after dawn at 7am) and the turning point and half marathon finish was at a high school at which the crowds thinned and I realised I was only half way struggling up a hill as the sun got much warmer.
I had started right at the back of the field and had the pleasure of overtaking many a runner, but at half way (1hr 44min) the pace was more even and I latched onto a runner for several miles. We were now reversing the route and had to avoid the field of slower runners and general public who had taken to the cycle trail for an early morning walk. At mile 22 my pace slowed considerably and my pace maker disappeared into the distance, several runners overtook me and the sun got hotter. I started to question the sanity of my bright idea – it had been so easy to dream up and plan, helped with online registration and travel booking sites. Encouragement from the sidelines, accentuated by the noise of fake Swiss cow bells, frequent water stops and determination not to walk got me to the finish line in a satisfying 3 hr 35m 58s. This was an improvement of 11minutes on my first and only other marathon (Edinburgh 2006) and so there is no denying it: everything is bigger, better and goes faster in California.
Report by Gert Riemersma
