Back in California- Friends & Races

I got back to Patterson the same day that my old friend from Navy days Joe Palmer and his wife Judy arrived to visit for a few days. They were talking a long, slow trip from Arizona to Oregon with many detours and stops on the way. I asked what they would like to do while they were here when we went to El Rosal for dinner the first night. They said I was the only thing on the agenda so we just spent a couple of days hanging out and catching up on our lives since seeing one another in Eugene last summer. The day after they arrived was Cinco de Mayo and we had a really good Mexican food meal at home. The last day they needed to go to Turlock to Costco so we had another Mexican lunch this time in Turlock. It was great catching up. 

 

I had a race in Ripon the next weekend it was one I haven't run before because I was usually racing somewhere else but this year they made it a club Grand Prix race so I made sure it was on my schedule. 

 

 

The next week my good friend, Joe Brazil, came from Colorado for a quick trip. The motivation was to run the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. As we always do when he visits we made the most of the short time. The day after he arrived we went to Yosemite and hiked. The next morning we left at 3:30 to race and after the race we went to Santa Cruz. On Monday we drove down the coast stopping along the way for photo ops until we reached Big Sur. On Tuesday I took Joe to Sacramento to catch the train back to Denver. Short trip but we crammed a lot in the short time. Our next planned races will be back in Colorado in August. 

 

    

 

   

 

 

 

 

I next raced a race that I try to do every year the Modesto Memorial Classic. This year it was moved from the river park where it is normally held because of so much damage caused by flooding. 

 

 

Because we are considering doing a half marathon in St. Louis in October I decided to run a half marathon to find out how far I had to go to get in good enough shape to do it. I chose the Ventura Half because it was an out and back on the coast and was supposed to be a flat course. It was mostly flat but I am definitely not where I need to be to do a hilly one in St. Louis. I said if I ever got to where I couldn't run under 3 hours in a half I would be done with half marathons. I ran 2:59.05. Close to being done. Lol. So I've increased my mileage and planning to do the race in October. 

 

  

I was fortunate enough to go to another major track meet this year when USA Track and Field held the National Championship and World Team Qualifying meet in Sacramento. Because the meet got over so late some nights I just stayed in Sacramento for the three nights. In spite of outrageous heat there were some great performances. I got to visit with people I met last year in Eugene as well as meet new people who love track as much as I do.