July 26, 2009, Tiger, Amy and I set forth on our first time together to run the Wharf to Wharf race (http://www.wharftowharf.com/ ) in Santa Cruz. Running with 15,000 of our closest friends plus Shelly and Janet (i.e., if multiple ‘mouses’ is mice, then multiple spouses would be spice? … as in they are the beautiful spice in our lives!). Janet and Shelly dropped us off near where the event busses would take us to the starting area. The run is from the Santa Cruz Wharf to the Capitola Wharf (hence the name; get it? got it? good!).
OK, our first challenge: Amy and I went to use the port-o-potties and Tiger said he’d wait for us on the side. Now emerging from the potty to look for Tom would be a system overload even for the best US border patrol facial recognition system. Looking for Tom (as Tom looked for us) among 15,000 faces is a challenge. Tom’s looking for me in a white runner’s hat (that narrows it down to a several thousand) in the crowd. We’re wondering why we didn’t pick a specific spot to rendezvous. We did find Tom (or he us). We found our spot in the pack near our running pace.
We hear ‘On your mark; get set!” And starting gun goes “blam.” You know how when lightning flashes and you count seconds before the thunder arrives to determine how far the flash was? One, one-thousand, two, one-thousand, etc.? We are so far back in the pack that we never hear the gun. Yet people are cheering around us that we are off and running! Well, maybe not running. Walking really. Yet like so many around us, we are like thoroughbred race horses (thorough bred race tigers?) chomping at the bit to run! I think we started jogging at about the one mile marker, and maybe start running at pace at around 3 miles. We still had to weave and dodge around walkers and runners through the entire six mile course. Yet we did not lose our spirits as this race has 50 plus entertainment groups spaced along the route. You name it: ukulele academies, garage bands, San Jose State marching band, heavy metal bands, bagpipes, pop, jazz, medieval recorder ensemble, taiko drums, and much more! This is truly a fun run. We even saw Elvis running (I guess he’s not dead!) along the route. Great family atmosphere, no major stress on running fast, yet you do run 6 miles! I love this run. The net proceeds from this race go to support local area sports programs. Check out their web site and make sure you register early because this race sells out every year.
We hear ‘On your mark; get set!” And starting gun goes “blam.” You know how when lightning flashes and you count seconds before the thunder arrives to determine how far the flash was? One, one-thousand, two, one-thousand, etc.? We are so far back in the pack that we never hear the gun. Yet people are cheering around us that we are off and running! Well, maybe not running. Walking really. Yet like so many around us, we are like thoroughbred race horses (thorough bred race tigers?) chomping at the bit to run! I think we started jogging at about the one mile marker, and maybe start running at pace at around 3 miles. We still had to weave and dodge around walkers and runners through the entire six mile course. Yet we did not lose our spirits as this race has 50 plus entertainment groups spaced along the route. You name it: ukulele academies, garage bands, San Jose State marching band, heavy metal bands, bagpipes, pop, jazz, medieval recorder ensemble, taiko drums, and much more! This is truly a fun run. We even saw Elvis running (I guess he’s not dead!) along the route. Great family atmosphere, no major stress on running fast, yet you do run 6 miles! I love this run. The net proceeds from this race go to support local area sports programs. Check out their web site and make sure you register early because this race sells out every year.
But wait! That’s not all! Janet and Shelly didn’t just ditch us, but instead left us to our run and headed over to Capitola for some quality coffee time and to wait and watch for their manly men and daughter to finish strong! After we crossed the finish line, we received out race t-shirts and goody bag, found Janet & Shelly then drove to lunch in downtown Santa Cruz at Hoffman’s Bakery. What an excellent day!
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