The biggest Raptor Sunday ever!

Post date: Feb 4, 2014 5:12:19 PM

January 26, 2014

Sorry this took so long. Believe me it surely wasn't because I was unimpressed or unmoved by the huge Raptor turnout for the Fourth Sunday run and the Fenton's party. As I think I mentioned in my "speech" (such as it was!) I left immediately after the party for points south on my motorcycle (or more precisely, one of my motorcycles). I was having so much fun (the weather! Wow.) that I cut things very close and actually pulled into the driveway at 1130 Curtis at 2:35 p.m. Tuesday, with just enough time to change out of my riding clothes, stash the bike in the garage and head off to MLK workout at 3:00! I had hoped to write this last night but by the time MLK workout and BHS workouts were done I was knackered!

On Hwy 25 between King City and Hollister.

Anyway, was that a great day at the Lake and Fenton's or what? I figured it would be a fun day so I turned in early on Sat. night and thus was early (at least for me) to the race and full of energy. When I showed up I was greeted by what was easily the largest Raptor turnout yet. It's hard to do a count since our kids rarely stand still, but I think there were approximately twenty-five kids in the two races (the youth 1/2 mile and the normal 5/10/15K). It was a veritable sea of red and black!

Look at all them Raptors!

Annabel is franchising her "OMG!" look!

I won't dwell to much on the results, since Gary has already done a great job of that but certainly some kids need to be singled out! Since Raptors have been running the "Kid's 1/2 mile" race, the club has managed to dominate that race too! The problem is that the 1/2 mile winners or high-plaers (like Rosie!) quickly move up to the longer races. But it's all good! We now seem to have a wonderful supply of new Raptors to fill their shoes! No exception this month. New Raptor Yair won the race with another new Raptor, Kobi, third! I believe a third Raptor, Gabrielle, ran the race too but I'm not sure where she finished. Still, great job by all!

Kobi (left) and Yair (right) with the spoils of victory.

In the 5K we had some people who more or less "cruised" to a comfortable finish which is just fine with me! "Cruise" or no, everyone still has to rouse themselves out of bed on what for many is the their only "day off" and anyway, our runner's "cruise" is many people's dream PR!

But, as always seems to be the case in this remarkable club, there were a few standout stars! Number one, by universal acclamation, was Leah, who chopped her already-fast PR by a minute and nine seconds and thus claimed the all-time 5k record for 11-year-old girls at the Fourth Sunday run! Leah is another incredible Raptor. She just goes faster and faster and (check her out at the finish next time) never looks tired but more like she's been out for a casual stroll! She is a huge talent and a delightful kid too and we are so lucky to have her.

Amazingly, I don't have a running picture of Leah yet (she keeps finishing before I expect her!) but here is one at the party. Leah's the girl at the head of the table.

Not to be outshone was Rosie, who is such a promising and accomplished long-jumper that I tend to forget she can run too! And run she did, taking an astounding four minutes and twenty-four seconds off her PR. Rosie told me later that she was engaged in a ferocious race with a guy and simply was not going to let him beat her. The race went all the way down to the finish and yes, Rosie prevailed!

Rose, post-race. She was very happy with her PR!

Uma, who really just joined Raptors during the past XC season but somehow feels like she's always been with us, also ran a sparkling 5K, PR-ing by sixteen seconds.

In the 10K, Krisna ran a great race to win his age group and Clara Miz and Michaela ran together the entire way and finished in a tie (see pics!). But running with Clara also helped Michaela to a new 10K PR by three minutes!

Clara Miz and Michaela finish together!

In the 15K (yup, Raptors had three entrants in the 9.3 mile race), Daveon ran a 41-minute 10K enroute to a 1:01 15K time. Delaney (not yet officially a Raptor but right on the cusp!) PRed by six seconds and thus set a new record for 13-year-old girls in the 15! And then there's Jared! With no fuss or fanfare whatsoever (that's nbot his way) he PRed by an incredible minute and thirty-seven seconds to set a new 13-year-old boy's record for the 15K!

So yeah, ho hum. . . just another average Raptor day at the races with seven PRs, and three all-time records! I'm sure there are many clubs that hold zero records, anywhere and Raptor's kids get three in one race! It's just wild! We have soooo much talent on this club.

The Raptors racers!

But we also have so much fun, and as we left the Lake everyone was anticipating some serious eating, talking, and laughing. That's the way we do it, right?

IMHO, we did it up GOOD! After seven running PRs Raptors went on to easily set a fun PR at our fourth anniversary party.

I don't even know where to start describing how cool the party was! First I guess is thanks to Sue for getting us the entire back room! Then thanks to Gary for the awesome decorations. I mean red and black balloons emerging from these cool guilt bags. Very elegant! Totally first-class!

So, the setting was just cool, but then the whole thing got even cooler as the people began pouring in! We had a fair amount of people we already knew were not coming (Corina was bummed to miss it but was in Tahoe and etc. etc. our people are busy people!) but even so, the room was packed! Fernado did a quick count and came up with fifty-two folks! If we'd had all who run regularly with us attend we would have easily crested seventy people, which is just astounding given what a tiny club we started with.

Okay, size is nice but this could potentially be hellish! Imagine gobs of jerky adults?. . . and a pack of spoiled, bratty kids?. . . I mean it could suck!

But instead there is always this great energy, all these happy people. Our kids are simply beyond compare but hey let's hear a bit of a shout-out for our club parents. There is not an unpleasant of self-centered person the entire bunch and there is also most decidedly no one dull! Every single Raptor parent I've met has some kind of fascinating "back-story" and everyone is so darned interesting!

Four years have gone by so fast but it's all been so fun!

As we enter year five I think we can all be very proud of what we have created and, remember, we all created this. Every new Raptor runner that comes aboard (and his/her parents, of course) instantly becomes part of this creation and each changes it (always for the better) in subtle ways. . . Raptors belongs to all of us and that's what makes it so cool!

Special thanks: to our "mystery benefactors" who, in an astounding act of generosity, picked up the entire tab for the party and to all who contributed to my cash present! As many of you know, Karen and I live pretty "close to the bone" so I never take money for granted!

Thanks again to all for a glorious day!