November 25, 2001
I returned to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving with my family. I was looking for a race to run, but there wasn’t anything in the area on the actual day, but I did notice that the Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders had a race on Sunday in the morning before I was due to fly back down.
Lake Merritt has some special meaning for me – I learned to sail there. It was important to stay in the boat on Lake Merritt, because if you fell in, you probably would get too sick to come back the next day (they’ve since dredged the lake and it’s much cleaner). Also, I worked several short-term jobs in the near vicinity. My junior prom was at the Kaiser Convention Center and my senior prom was in a rooftop restaurant on the other side of the lake.
The run starts at the Boathouse and runs clockwise around the lake. First, we run by the aviary and then pass by the former house of my dad’s senior partner. (Our Christmas eve family tradition was to go to their house in early evening, then go to the 9pm church service. The last time I was here was when his wife died in 1996, and we went to the house for a post-funeral wake – also the afternoon after running my first half marathon.)
Once we get back onto Grand (briefly), we make the turn around the far end of the lake and head up Lakeshore Avenue. There is just a path here and no major landmarks. At the far end of the lake is Neldam’s Bakery (where we always got Swedish rolls for parties), and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
Now we head back down along the other side of the lake, passing by my dad’s old office building at 1999 Harrison, the University of California building and then drop down onto the narrow path that skirts the lake. There are plenty of walkers and there is the worry that one misstep drops you into the lake. Yuck.
Now we get back onto Grand, passing by another old office building and turn on the road back into the park, passing by Children’s Fairyland (a place we used to go as kids), passing by the lawn bowling center, the flower garden, and finally the lap is done (22:10).
Now I just have to do 2 more laps!
Each person has a mini-race number on. It’s basically the size of a nametag, with your name and age written on it, and attached with a single safety pin. Additionally, you have a colored piece of plastic tied on your wrist, to identify what distance you are running. Mine is purple for the 15K.
It is an interesting dynamic. On the first lap, there are lots of people, and then the amount decreases significantly on the second lap. (24:30). By the third lap, you are virtually alone. I lap a couple of people who are running the 10K.
When I finally finish (23:27, third lap – 70:07 total), I am congratulated as the winner of the 15K… the OVERALL winner. That has never happened to me before. I’ve never won a race before. (Apparently, there were only 3 people in the race, and the other two were a couple holding hands – but I’ll take it!)
This also marked the most races I’ve ever done in one year – this was my 50th race of 2001!
ultratallultrarunner 