In The Running Mood

A few months ago, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to participate in something called "The Giant Race".  Given the name, I figured it was a running event and I was correct.  The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Giants baseball team.  My friend's reasoning for asking me?  He said I played too much basketball and it was time to do something "different".  I couldn't argue with my friend so I signed up.

Alas,  I had forgotten about the event until my friend reminded me a few days before.  Thus, about 10 days ago (on August 4th, 2013), I got up early, met my friend and participated in the event.  My friend and I had decided to join the 5K race (3.1 / 3.2 miles).  

I didn't know what to expect as my friend and I trekked to AT&T Park in downtown SF.  As I got there, I wasn't too nervous.  In fact, it was pretty exciting to be part of a race that had 7000 people registered!

As for the event itself, the 5K event was a mix of walkers and runners.  I chose to run most of the race and weaved through the various walkers.  It wasn't easy but it also wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I completed the event in about 30 minutes and 17 seconds which surprised me (about 9:46 per mile).

Participating in this event brought back to the last time I ran competitively.  That was in high school when I ran cross-country.  My high did not have a sports program until my sophomore year.  I spent my freshman year volunteering as a basketball coach at my old grammar school.  When the school announced that a sports program was being started, I had to make a choice of a sport to participate in.

In the fall, there were a choice of soccer, tennis and cross-country (football is fall sport too but my high school was too small to form up a team).  I didn't really like soccer.  I didn't think I was good enough to play tennis so I basically defaulted to cross-country.  I can't even say if I knew what the heck cross-country was.

In any case, I spent my last three years of high school participating in cross-county.   I was strictly a high school runner and not a competitive runner.  I only conditioned during the season and wasn't dedicated enough to try and condition during the offseason.

While I didn't win any medals during my high school running career, it was a good time.   I bonded with teammates since we had to run a lot for practice.  We got outside a lot and had to commute on the bus home.   That gave my teammates and I plenty of time to chat.

In participating in "The Giant Race", I actually found that I enjoyed running again.  I hadn't run much since high school.  But getting out there last week was fun and I think I will keep running every now and then in the future.

I'll wrap with a point of comparison.  During my FINAL high school cross-country race (All City Championship) in 1991, I ran 3.1 miles in about 22 minutes and 51 seconds (the winners were in the 18 to 19 minute range).   While I didn't complete last week's event like I did when I was 17, I'm still proud of what I did.

San Francisco Giants - 2010 World Series Champions!

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 3-1 Monday evening to win the 2010 World Series.  The win gave San Francisco it's first ever championship baseball team since the Giants moved to San Francisco over 50 years ago.

I will freely admit that baseball is not my favorite sport.  That distinction belongs to basketball.   However, the first ever professional sports event I attended was a San Francisco Giants game back around 1984 when I was about 10 years old.   I don't remember much about the game itself.  However, I remember that I went to the game because of a promotion the Giants ran.  The Giants were giving free tickets to "top students" who applied.  I asked my parents to help me with the application and next thing you know, I was at the game.

Over the years, I follow the Giants (and the A's as well).  I loved it when the Giants played the A's in the 1989 World Series.   Unfortunately, the A's were the better team that year and the A's swept the Giants in the earthquake interrupted series.  My craziest memory of the 1989 World Series was being at the Polo Fields before the start of game 3.  I had finished running in a cross-country match and was waiting for my other teammates when the earthquake struck at 5:04 PM.

The other moment that stands out is the 2002 World Series.  My friend was able to secure tickets to Game 6 in Anaheim and made the long drive to Southern California to watch the game.  We were thrilled to see the Giants take a 5-0 lead late.  LIke all other fans, we were stunned when the Giants lost 6-5 and then proceeded to lose Game 7 the next night.

However, with the 2010 edition of the San Francisco Giants winning the Series, all of the previous bad memories have been washed away.  I throughly enjoyed this year's Giants team.  They truly lived up to the definition of a "team".  Other Giants teams may have had a little better talent or bigger super stars, but the 2010 Giants probably had some of the biggest hearts ever.

While the previous Giants teams won't get rings, I'm sure all of the former players and others associated with the Giants organization are enjoying the moment.  Congratulations!

A Highly Anticipated Evening of Sports in the Bay Area

For many San Francisco Bay Area sports fan, tomorrow (October 27th, 2010) will be one of the most anticipated days in a long time.  The main attraction will the San Francisco Giants as they play game 1 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park in San Francisco at 5 PM.  For another subset of fans, the Golden State Warriors will open their season against the Houston Rockets at Oracle Arena at 7:30 PM.   Almost as an afterthought, the San Jost Sharks (who already started their season a couple of weeks ago) will be playing at home against the New Jersey Devils.

I am admittedly not one of the biggest baseball fans though I followed the Giants throughout the season and was riveted throughout September into the playoffs and now the World Series.   Yet, I am also a huge basketball fan.  Like many Warriors fans, I am happy that the Chris Cohan / Don Nelson era has closed.  While my expectations are low for the Warriors this season, I am eager to see how the team will do under new coach Keith Smart.

As for the Sharks, I throughly enjoyed their playoff run last season and will follow them a lot this season, thought for tomorrow night, they are going to be shoved to the background.

It's gonna be hard to focus on work tomorrow but I will do my best.  Go Giants, Warriors and Sharks!

San Francisco Giants: National League West Champions 2010!

I had a bit of an interesting day today.  I was scheduled to officiate some youth basketball games from 11 AM to 2 PM near Downtown San Francisco.   Then at 6:30 PM, I was scheduled to play in an adult basketball league a few miles away.   That left me quite a bit of dead time in between.  I could have gone home but my 6:30 PM game was closer to where I was than home.

After I finished officiating at 2 PM, I realized that the gym had the San Francisco Giants / San Diego Padres game on.  This game was a huge one.  It was the final regular season game for both teams.  For San Francisco, it was win or they had to travel to San Diego to play a tiebreaker game.  For San Diego, it was win or go home.

The Giants managed to pull out a 3-0 win and clinch the National League West Championship.  This will the Giants first playoff appearance since 2003.  This reminds of 2002 when there was so much excitement because the Giants made the World Series that year.  The Giants had a great chance to win but unfortunately lost in seven games.  My friend and I actually made a trip to Southern California in 2002 to watch Game 6 and were bitterly disappointed.

In any case, I like the 2010 edition of the San Francisco Giants and have a feeling they might go far.

For the moment, the Giants are basking in the glory of their victory but starting tomorrow, they will need to get back to business.