Chasing Ceci

This morning the internet says San Francisco will be dry and in the low 50s. I prepare myself for perfect conditions and put on my shorts and singlet with a jacket. As I drive over the Bay Bridge, a steady mist coats the windshield. After parking, I wait in line for the buses going over the Golden Gate Bridge in a slight drizzle. As you can see from the photo at left, the computer was wrong. The day is gloomy, quite imperfect for racing today's Emerald Nuts 12K Across the Bay.

I get off the bus after we cross the bridge. The weather is damp and so is everyone's mood. Every other time I've done this race the atmosphere has been full of energy. Today everyone wants to get the race over with.

The ground is too wet to stretch, so I warm up by running down the hill at the start and then back up. Race time in five minutes. We're packed together pretty tight, and then the race director tells us all to scoot back three feet. Now we're really jammed. Rain falls harder, drenching us and the course. About a minute before the race is supposed to start a muffled horn blows and we're racing.

The conditions are the worst I've run in since the Napa Valley Marathon in 2006. Wide puddles are on the course, and with about 900 runners speeding downhill they're too dangerous to dodge. In less than a minute everyone is soaked from the shoes up and head down.

The course flattens near the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, and then winds up a long steep hill. I do this hill once or twice a year, but I am not prepared this time. I'm using every fiber of muscle in my legs, doing very well in keeping my position among the others, but it seems like the hill won't end. I've never struggled up it like this.

When we hit the bridge I feel like the race is over. I left a lot on the hill and have more than six miles to run. Waves of runners pass me, including several women. Twelve women will finish ahead of me. One of them and I will run most of the course separated by no more than a few seconds.

When I read the results that night I discovered she was Ceci St. Geme, pictured above and below in drier weather. I hardly expected this because Ceci is from Newport Beach in Southern California, and she's significantly faster than me, at least in the 5K. Ceci is an A-list personality in the California running circuit. She's an incredible runner, national high school champion in the early 1980s and NCAA champion in the 5,000 meters at Stanford. She's maintained her fitness at age 45 as the mother of six! She is also one of the most photogenic runners, and has appeared on the cover of Runners World six times.

Along the course race volunteers are encouraging her by name. I have no idea who I'm running with. She has the number 5, which indicates some sort of elite status, perhaps getting a free entry. This is a tough 7.5 miles, but at least the rain has let up. The photo to the left shows Ceci with me in the background. I'm staying behind Ceci as I don't want to get into a duel and push myself. I can't wait for this race to end.

We run along Marina heading toward Fort Mason. This is a steep but short hill approaching the finish line. Ceci is slowing down, and I follow her pace. She's laboring more than I am. At the top of the hill a promotional arch for the sponsor, Emerald Nuts, spans the path. Maybe I could pass her, but she's been pacing me for a long distance and it doesn't seem fair. Plus, had I passed her she may have outkicked me and I would have felt silly.

Ceci asks, "Is this the end?" I don't respond, but I figure she'll see for herself in a few seconds that the finish line is further away. As we reach the crest on the right Ceci glances back at me and says something I can't understand. I respond, "You're doing great!" Imagine that. I'm encouraging Ceci St. Geme.

She speeds down the hill and toward the finish line. I'm so happy this is done. Ceci wins her age group (W45-49) in 46:34 and I finish eighth in mine (M40-44) two seconds behind her. We finish 112th and 113th.

"Nice job," I tell her in the finish chute. She turns and says, "That was about a 6:15 pace, right?" Fit, fast and fast-thinking. She had the pace down to the second. "That last mile was hard," she says. To which I reply, "So was the first."

A funny incident took place before the race. Todd Rose, one of West Valley's fastest runners, spotted me and said he forgot his singlet. I offered mine, knowing that I wouldn't score for the team. He declined and couldn't fit into my size anyway, but he found a runner from Aggie RC who offered Todd a jersey from their team. Todd turned the singlet inside out to hide the Aggies logo and the Aggies runner told Todd not to sweat too much in the shirt and that the jersey would make him run faster. Here's Todd wearing the blue jersey. He finished an impressive 24th overall in 40:03, first in his age group (M35-39).

The Show

I usually run races where I have a chance to win a medal, but the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay 12K is an exception. I have no shot at placing in this event, but I enjoy the race because it goes over the Golden Gate Bridge.

This very popular race is part of the Pacific Association of US Track and Field (PA/USTAF) circuit, and thus has a very fast field. The Pacific Association is the big leagues of local running. Former collegiate runners of all ages looking to satisfy their competitive urges, semi-professional runners, Olympic trials qualifiers and the odd Olympian compete. I can place in the top three in my age group in most races, but that may never happen in a PA race. I'm just hoping to place in the top ten in my group.

I haven't run a PA event since 2007, which was my fastest year. I run for the West Valley Track Club, which is one of the better teams in the Pacific Association, but hasn't fielded a masters (40+) team at an event for the three years that I've been a member. As a result, my performances are too slow to score in the open division, and my respectable masters times don't count for a team.

Even though I get no material benefit from PA races, they always provide enough competition to push me. There's usually a pack of six men and women about as fast as me, so there's no lull in the action, and I remain focused the entire way.

When I ran this race as a novice, I didn't notice all the runners wearing the same color singlets with their team affiliations. That is, I didn't notice any of them at first.

I was going through my prerace stretching routine before the race, sitting in an open space along the road. In the middle of my limbering up, a group of women surrounded me, all wearing tops with the word Impala. They weren't drawn to me, rather they were completely disregarding me. I was doing some hurldlers stretches and butterflys, and the women went on with their conversations and walked around me as if I were an ant or leaf.

I finished 351st that day, and found out the the Impalas are an elite women's team. Seventeen Impalas, probably including the entire group that nearly trudged on me before the race, finished ahead of me in 2004.

I've run this race twice since then, finishing 74th in my best year, 2007.