.. HALF-MARATHON, JUST BEFORE START OF RACE
This years Bidwell Classic took place under perfect conditions. Last weekends rain turned into yesterdays sunshine and temperatures custom made for a splendid 13-mile run in the park.
Congratulations to all of the finishers and especially to my Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO) teammate Paul Smith, winner of the 5K with a blistering time of 15:50! (Paul was the second place winner in last years half and is running next Sunday in the Shamrockn half in West Sacramento.)
..HALF-MARATHON START
Sean Murphy, another RTO teammate of mine, did what I think might be a personal best in the half with an excellent time of 1:24:23.
Speaking of Sean, he is running the Boston Marathon next month (along with Paul Smith) and in conjunction with it hes raising money for Livestrong, Lance Armstrongs cancer-fighting foundation. Sean has a personal connection with cancers nastiness because of fights his father and stepsister have waged against the disease.
To understand why Sean is committed to this effort please click here to take a look at his Livestrong page.
An interesting and fun detail about the half-marathon winners is that they (Tim Tollefson and Lindsay Nelson) are former Chico State runners and, as Sean Murphy (yes, the same Sean Murphy as above) reported for the E-R, engaged to each other! Hows that for an early wedding present? Congratulations for the wins and the upcoming nuptuals!
Personally it was disappointing. On a slow (too slow, I think) run around lower park on Wednesday I developed a pain in my left foot that only got worse on Thursday and Friday leaving me me no choice but to scrap the race. Ironic, since the last couple of months of marathon training (including a laddering thus far of 14, 16, 18 and 20 mile runs, and two 10-mile workouts for speed and pacing the previous week) has gone so smoothly .
Oh, well.
To put things in perspective, I recently read the same article in the Bee about star triathlete Jamie Whitmore of whom fellow blogger Dennis Schmidt wrote recently. My aches and pains are a mere nuisance in comparison.
Useful links:
– Article from the Enterprise-Record
– Race results (half marathon, 5K, relay)
– Dennis Schmidts blog post (congrats, Dennis on a PR!)
Looks like the Bidwell Classic was a success – congrats to all finishers. Don’t forget to sign up for the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey soon if you haven’t already. You can also receive RTO updates now via Facebook (http://tiny.cc/LwP0G) and Twitter.
Happy trails –
Reno-Tahoe Odyssey