Sachi runs her first-ever non-school race and WINS while Annabel's domination continues

Post date: Nov 21, 2012 6:51:33 AM

July 2011

I had no idea Sachi was even going to the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders "Fourth Sunday" race, but when and I arrived, there she was, a bit nervous but ready to go. Sachi had never run a race outside of our middle school league, and had never run a race this long.

Annabel and Sachi before the race.

They're off! Sachi's dad Bob watches at left.

When the race was over though, she had taken first place in the tough 13-19 year-old class with a great time of 24:12. Even more startling to me was her proximity to Annabel at the finish. Since Annabel and Claire are very much the "gold standard" in 5Ks (and 10K's too for that matter!) I figured if Sachi could finish three or four minutes behind Annabel that would mean the hard training she's been doing this summer was paying off. Instead she finished like 30 seconds behind Annabel. And Annabel was not holding back! She continued her age-group domination by taking the 12-and-under class by a huge margin.

Annabel finishing. As you can see, she was not goofing aound!

So Sachi has moved from being welcomed to join the Raptors to being actively recruited to be part of the club. Of course we all know that to race well you have to train well. But rarely is the payoff so quick, direct and apparent! Sachi has been working extremely hard and very consistently for most of the summer. She's a regular at the BHS m-w-f workouts and also at the St. Mary's H.S. workouts tu-thurs. at Tilden Park and she was also in the Raptor's one-week camp run by BHS coach Brian Bort. Did all this pay off? Well. . . um. . . yeah! Great run Sachi! And Annabel!

And Laura! Laura held up the Raptor's honor in the "Over 13" class and ran a sub-30 5K which she had been shooting for! Raptors rule!