Brazen New Year Half Marathon Race Report

Maiden voyage race in my new La Sportivas

My good friend, Sam Fiandaca, has built an outstanding race event management company (Brazen Racing) from scratch.  He's found a solid niche and has filled it with quality events that have exploded in popularity.

I was exhausted after putting on the Rodeo Beach event but needed to blow off some steam, so I headed over to Brazen's New Year Half Marathon the next morning at Lake Chabot.  The scene was reminiscent of a renaissance festival, a small village of tents and hundreds of people milling about.  In his new, killer, (or serial killer-esque) beard, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood on, and pushing a wheelbarrow, Sam looked like a village hobbit.  We chatted for a bit, then I jogged over to the start.

Lon Freeman was the first person I recognized.  We'd "talked" via email a lot since we both raced the Ice Age 50 miler last May, so it was a pleasure to finally meet him in person (even if it meant that I'd be getting thoroughly toasted by him over the next hour and a half.

Lon Freeman ripping towards the finish for the win.

I had no expectations and just figured it'd be a good workout run, so I was pretty conservative in the first couple miles.  The hills were deceivingly long and my stair workout earlier in the week came back to haunt me with a flood of lactic acid that felt more like molten lead rushing though my legs.  After the longest climb of the race, around mile 7-8, I focused on staying consistent and ahead of the guy I'd spotted behind me.

I finished up in 1:35 and 4th place.  Hamstrings were singing for the next two days.  Thanks Sam for such a fun event.  Looking forward to the next one or ten of them.