I enjoy the challenge presented by two back-to-back races, thus I traveled to San Diego to compete in their Clif Bar 5K (3.1 miles) on Saturday, January 15 and their half-marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday, January 16, 2000. Actually these races start and finish in Carlsbad at the Plaza Camino Real Mall.

The weather was balmy and partly cloudy for the 8:00 a.m. start of the 5K on Saturday. The course was out and back with a notable uphill segment to cross the I-5 freeway. I ran all out for this race and finished with a time of 23:33 (7:33 per mile). This proved good enough for a nice third place metal in my 60-64 age group. There were two other runners in my age group just seconds behind me at 23:41 and 23:55. The first and second runners in my age group ran this race with times of 22:02 and 22:36, respectively. Overall, I finished 141 out of 655 runners, which placed me in the top 25% of all runners. Three years ago I finished first in my age group for this race on my 60Th birthday with a time of 22:42.

The next day I returned to the same place for the 7:00 a.m. start of the half-marathon. The weather was now overcast and cooler, and a slight drizzle began just before the start of the race. The crowd was much larger as more than 4500 runners entered this popular race. The course headed west again across the I-5 freeway and then south along the ocean on Highway 101 and returned along the same route. The drizzle continued throughout the race making the streets wet, but it still felt comfortable for running. I planned to run this race at an easy pace, but I felt good at the halfway turn around point and increased my speed. I finished with a time of 1:57:51 (8:59 per mile). This was not fast enough for another medal, but I still finished 1151 out of 4500 runners, which was within the top 1/3 for all runners.

I watched the finish of the full marathon, which started at 7:30 a.m. A runner from Belarus set a new course record at 2:18:30. A runner from Russia was second with a runner from Oregon in third place. For both the men and woman, runners from foreign countries dominated the top places in this marathon.