The Pasadena Trail Race Series is a series of four seasonal races taking place in the Pasadena area in April, June, July and October. Each race has several options in terms of distance and difficulty. To pursue my objective (Don't Let The Old Man In), I signed up for all four races, although I signed up for the easiest option available in each of the four races. To my delight, Tracy signed for all four races also.
LOGO FOR THE JULY RUN
This third run was held on Friday, July 26th at the Lower Arroyo Park in Pasadena. Runners in this July Run could select either a 6K (3.9-mile) or a 12K (7.8-mile) run. Tracy and I selected the 6K course. The 12K run was simply twice around the 6K course. The course was on mixed use/single track trails in the Arroyo river bed, one mile South of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Tracy came by our home Friday afternoon and we drove to the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center where it had been suggested we park our car. Race packets could have been picked up at the Run With Us store in Pasadena on Thursday, but also on race day at the race start area, which is what we chose to do. We arrived at the Aquatic Center early and walked the 1-mile trail to the start area and picked up our race number and "goodie bag" and shirt.
Then I made a bad decision! Since we were early for the 5:30 pm race start, I decided to take our bag and shirts back to the car. Of course this was a 1-mile walk back to the car, and another 1-mile walk back to the race area; i.e. I walked 3 miles prior to beginning a 3.9-mile race. A few years ago this would have made no difference to me at all, but at my age and condition, it wasn't a wise thing to do before the race.
Below is an illustration of the race course.
Los Angeles has been having a heat wave with high humidity in recent days, so today was not ideal conditions for a run. The temperature was about 96 degrees, but there are many trees in the area and thankfully about 1/2 of the race course was in the shade. I have run the trails in the Lower Arroyo Park in past years so I was familiar with the area - it's a nice area to run (but nicer when it's cooler).
You can see how serious we were at the start (maybe it was fear of what was to come).
Click photo to enlarge. Use arrows to move to next photo
There were fewer runners in this July run compared with the April and June Series; 161 runners in the 6K distance and 124 runners in the 12K distance. Tracy and I were in the 6K distance and did about as much walking as we did running; we came in 143rd and 144th out of the 161 participants. There were 22 participants in Tracy's category (age 50 to 59) and she came in 18th. She could have come in higher if that were her objective, but she was keeping me company. There was one participant (me) in my category (70 to 99).
You can tell by the photo below that we were both happy to have our medals and that the run was over!
All Finishers received a Medal and a Race Shirt like the ones pictured below. The "medals" are made from wood and are quite impressive. This July medal has five wood levels, with the inscription of 6K - 12K and SOCAL SUMMER describing this particular run. The shirt is comfortable, except Tracy's was too small for her to wear. Maybe we can go to the Run With Us store and exchange it.
The people from Run With Us did an excellent job of organizing the race and all the things that are included in making such an event a success. Tracy and I enjoyed the exercise and the experience out on the course and are looking forward to the next, and final, run in the Series which takes place at the Hahamongna Watershed Park in October.