Race director Ken Vendley and the Oregon Track Club  Masters put on a good race.  The Ten Miler held Sunday September 30 went off perfectly.  The course ran along the river and was mostly flat.  The weather was perfect and there was no wind.

There were 152 finishers.  I like the big races but I love these smaller races too.  Chris Yates (no 215) went out strong and finished first in 52:41.  Lots of runners told me that they ran good times on this course.  (If you are looking for a fast 10 mile race, put this one of your calendar.)

We had dinner with second place finisher and top Master runner Everett Whiteside on Friday night along with race director Ken Vendley.    Everett finished in 54:25.  We could tell he was ready to run well Sunday.

I tired to keep Trisha Kluge (a Ujena Fit Club member) in sight during the race.  We ran the first two miles together and at one point she pulled ahead 50 yards.  I closed the gap a little but she just keep pushing.  She finished in 69:05.  Thanks Trisha for helping to pull me along.

Just about 20 yards from the finish.  I placed 38th overall...first 60 plus.  I ran this race a little different than normally.  I liked to push it the first three miles but today I backed off a bit.  My legs were not totally fresh and I thought this was the right approach.  I hit the first mile in 6:39 and the second in 6:51.  At half way I was at 34:24.  I knew that I was going under 70 minutes which was my goal and maybe even 69.  But I slowed the last couple of miles.  My worse mile was 7:05.  I finished with 69:19.  I was happy with the time but I hope I can run this pace for the San Jose Half Marathon this Sunday. 

At the finish line was Joe Henderson, the Eugene Marathon director Richard Maher and Olympian Bridget Franek (steeplechase).  I really enjoyed talking with them.  It was great that they came out.

There are so many people in Eugene who love running and racing as much as I.  Always an honor when I am asked for an autograph.

Everything worked out so well in Eugene.  I am now 1:27 in total ahead of pace.  I have 13 races to go and I am really feeling that I can finish my 50 race challenge at under 7 minute/mile pace.  Thanks everyone for making our film crew feel so welcome.  photos by Catherine Cross

I think it was Bill Rodgers who said that you just know in the first 20 yards if you are going to run a good race or not.  Yesterday was like that for me.  I just could not shift out of third gear.  But I pushed as hard as I could considering how I was feeling.  I had written down on a yellow pad that I wanted to run 34:10 (I had mentioned on Facebook that I wanted to get under 34) and I finished in 34:19.  Glad it was not a longer race.  That is not that far off from what I wanted but as close as this is going to be every second count.  It just was not a good feeling race.  Good sure why.

What was really cool about this race was the setting.  We ran on the Bay Trail through Oyster Cove Marina in South San Francisco. The bike path was a little narrow and I was glad there were only a 100 runners or so.  It was hard to pass some runners but not too bad.  Near the starting line there were a couple of old cars parked.  I hope the owner didn't mind that I used the his front bumper to stretch.

We are meeting lots of runners with interesting stories along the way.  76-year-old Geores Buttner has done some interesting running adventures.  When he turned 66 he ran 2200 miles solo.  He started in Chicago  and six months and six days later he finished in Santa Monica.  He would drive his van which was his home out six miles and leave his bike.  He would drive his van back to the starting point.  He would run six miles to his bike, then ride his bike back to his van.  He ran on route 66.  His view points on doing challenges sent chills up my spine.  Geores is a very inspiring guy...and will be profiled in our movie.

That's my brother Barry and Catherine talking about something.  Barry came out on Saturday and will be with us when we travel up to Eugene on Thursday. 

Just not looking very relaxed right from the beginning.  Ran 6:39 for the first mile and mile three and four were 7:02 and 7:05.  I was able to bring mile five down to 6:42 however.  Bring on Eugene... I would like to hit the five mile mark of the 10 at just about this time.

Mike and Barry got some good footage...

Waitman setting up a shot...