States of Mind

“Daddy, why does your shirt have a ‘V’ and a ‘W’?"

My daughter Maylee has transposed the WV on my singlet that represents my competitive running team, the West Valley Track Club.

“What’s West Valley?”, asks Maylee.

“It’s kind of a state of mind.”

West Valley, or WVTC, is the oldest running club in the Bay Area. In its early days the club organized the first Pacific Association runnning events, welcomed into its ranks Alvaro Mejia from Columbia, who partly credits his win in the 1971 Boston Marathon to his training with WVTC, and started a newsletter, which became the Pacific Association bi-monthly magazine.

West Valley is somewhere in the South Bay region of the Bay Area, although the club has its largest number of runners from San Francisco, where the team trains every week. I have hardly heard of the region West Valley, so I can't describe it. I'm sure it exists, I just don't know where.I arrive at the Mayor's Fourth of July RACE around 9 AM for the late 9:45 AM start. This is a small race in Alameda, but one of the few that has a significant stadium presence. The 5K precedes the parade, so there's a nice crowd lining the street. The photo at right shows Barbara Korp and her daughter Amy, along with my daughter Maylee and her friend Sophia, Barbara's older daughter. They're watching the parade, but they arrived too late to see the race.

The RACE always gives me a chance to connect with Alameda runners that I see on the paths and strets of the city. I’m expecially excited about the chance to meet Joe King, world record holder in the mile for males 80 years or older, 7:13. He’s competed locally and internationally for nearly 70 years. Joe has a column in one of the Alameda newspapers, and I’ve read it for eight years. His columns cover a variety of topics, but I always look forward to his running columns. It’s like free coaching. Joe is an inspiration, running all his life, and having the East Bay Triple Crown trophy for men 50 and over named after him. I’ve read about Joe, seen the trophy with his name, and logged thousands of miles in Alameda, but I’ve never met him.

The photo to the left is courtesy of Ed Jay, is for use only by this web site, and may not be reproduced in any form.

I approach a man who appears to be in his 60s, resembling the photo of Joe that appears in his column. I introduce myself, and Joe tells me he owes $2,000 to a woman with my last name from the USO who taught him how to dance during World War II. He says he’s been a popular dance partner ever since, and he owes is all to Diane Witte, which happens to be my sister’s name. My sister was born in 1967.

He tells me his mile record is vulnerable because it’s slower than the world indoor record. Joe’s accomplishments include a few world records and probably numerous medals in international competition.

I tell him that I’ve read his column for years and started running four years ago.

“Four years ago? You look like a runner. How fast are you trying to run today?”

“18 minutes.”

“How old are you?”

I’m 43, and he says, “Just a kid!”

Joe tells me that he used to run for West Valley, and takes off to warm up. What a great moment for me. I had a chance earlier to catch up with some friends. The photo on the right shows Tony Fong, Neil Rodrigues and me. Neil was the Alameda high school co-athlete of the year in 2006 and now runs for St. Louis University, the alma mater of my parents and most of my aunts and uncles. Go Billikens!

Tony is the track and cross country coach at St. Joseph's High School in Alemeda, a former Cal runner, and the person who recruited me to run for West Valley. He's a great ambassador for the sport, and can always predict my finishing time within a minute and compute the accompanying pace in his head. He even remembers my times from old races, even though I'm not one of his runners.


Next to me is Suzette Smith, whom I'd run into around Alameda for years, although I never spoke to her until the Mayor's RACE two years ago. I see Suzette running on Bay Farm Island quite frequently, and also on the main island as I commute to work. Suzette places in a lot of races and qualified for the 2008 Boston Marathon. She also helps Tony coach at St. Joseph's, where her son Tim runs. Suzette and I were scheduled to run the Lake Merrit Joggers and Striders Couples Relay this year before I caught a cold. I was very disappointed, but she ran the race with her son and they both had a good time.

I change my preparation routine for this race. I decide not to eat an energy bar and drink iced tea, and instead focus on doing a real warm up. I run slowliy for 15 minutes and then do a 30-second stride (wind sprint), rest and then do a 45-second stride. I ask Niel what time he's aiming for. Last year he was nice enough to pace me, helping me hit a PR of 17:45 as seen on the right. He says he hasn't done a lot of speed work recently, so he doesn't know how fast he'll run.

The photo above is courtesy of Ed Jay, is for use only by this web site and may not be reproduced in any form.

The race is too short and has too few runners for any drama. At the start a pack of high school runners sprints in front of me, but I overtake most of them in the first mile. I pick off a few more as the race continues and no one passes me. Neil is nowhere in sight. The weather is overcast, keeping me comfortable as I cruise to a finish of 17:54, first in my age group and eighth overall. I catch up with Neil as I get a cup of water. Neil gives me the "number 1" sign, winning the race in a time of 16:26.

The photo below is courtesy of Ed Jay, is for use only by this website and may not be reproduced in any form.

As we wait for the results to be announced and medals to be distributed, I see Suzette (3rd F41+) talking to Jane Watson (2nd F41+), pictured at right. I've never met Jane and she compliments me on my singlet, saying that her father is from West Virginia. Suzette and I laugh and I tell Jane that the WV is for West Valley.

"What's that?", asks Jane.

"I don't know. It's not a place like Chicago. It's kind of a state of mind."

A few minutes later someone else approaches the three of us and asks if I'm from West Virginia.

We all laugh and Suzette jokes, "We have to tell Tony about this."

I pick up my medal, which indicates that I won the male 41 and over category. This is the only race where 40-year-olds don't catch a break and compete with older runners. The age groups are 18 and under, 19-40 and over 40. It irked me so much a few years ago that I drove to San Ramon to run in a Fourth of July race with more reasonable age groups. I didn't have any hope of competing with college runners when I was 40. I'll keep running this race until I become too old to compete with the younger 40ish runners, like Guillermo Cazares (2nd M41+), pictured to the right of Tim Smith.

Older runners share my complaint. A world-class 80-year-old like Joe King has no chance of running faster than me. The race needs more age groups, and more runners to fill them. The best way would be to post the race on the main web sites, like http://www.runningintheusa.com/. This is a simple web site that has all the major races and results. The only way I know about the Mayor's RACE is from the flyer they send to runners of past races. If organizers want to get more runners they need to seek people outside of Alameda.

This is the first in a nice progression of races. Next week is a 10K followed by a half marathon three weeks later.