Waterdog 10K -- 40:51, 3rd place

I had fun at the Belmont Water Dog 10K. It was a well-organized small race (200 runners?). It was good seeing some friends from Pacifica Runners (Kendra and Ami, above) and from my newest running club, Belmont Runners. The local Rotary Club made pancakes for everyone afterwards. Yum! About a third of the course is on a dirt out-and-back trail, up and down a fairly steep hill.

I live so close to the race start, that I just jogged the mile or so there as a warm up. They told me that they required ID to pick up my bib, but I managed to convince them to let me run. (The website did not mention this requirement.) I said "hi" to a couple other runners from Belmont Runners and lined up near the front.

They announced that a bicyclist would lead the 5K, but not the 10K. I thought that was unusual. The national anthem was sung beautifully.

Soon, we were off! I tried to take it easy early on and I found myself in 4th place. Around mile 1.5, as we're heading uphill on Ralston, I knew we had to make a left turn into Waterdog Park, and I was surprised that the two guys a ways in front of me (100 feet?) made a left turn, but the first place guy far ahead had continued straight. Oh oh. Looks like someone went off course. As I approached the turn, the left turn was clearly marked with chalk on the ground and lots of cones. A guy was walking to that spot with a child in tow and he said something like "I got here a bit late." He was a course monitor, to help people stay on course. Oops. It would have been much better if he had arrived there about a minute sooner. So, now I was in third.

The climb up the steep dirt trail felt difficult, and I was looking forward to turning around. The guy behind me was slowly catching up, but I couldn't do anything about it. He passed me shortly after the turn-around and now I was in 4th. We both passed the former 2nd place runner, so now I was in 3rd.

Heading back downhill on Ralston Ave., I tried to keep a good fast pace. I merged with the 5K runners and I had to go into the car lane once, after a quick glance over my shoulder, to get around the joggers.

I was getting desperate to finish and I put in a surge towards the end, just staying in front of the former 2nd place runner who was on my heels.

Shockingly, I was awarded 2nd place overall and I received a $45 gift certificate to a local gym. Cool! A day or two later, they corrected the results. Apparently, the first place guy who crossed had been ignored somehow. So, the official results have me being in 3rd, which is correct. The original 1st place guy, I learned later, ran a long way up Ralston Ave., going far off course, and never rejoined the race. I think he had been following the cones that were keeping cars out of the lane and that he had not studied the course and had not looked for the chalk course markings.

Results