One Down, 51 to Go!

Wow – the first race of my 52@52 challenge is officially in the books! Only 51 more to go. If you want to see most of the adventure in fast-forward, check out this accelerated video—less than 4 minutes for nearly 2 hours of running. (Spoiler: My camera battery died before I finished, so you’ll miss the end, but it’s still a fun ride!)

Before I even hit the trail, I got the best surprise from my amazing wife and daughter—a custom runner’s kit to kick off my challenge! I’m now the proud owner of a 52@52-logo running shirt, shorts, and a motherlode of fuel: energy gels, electrolyte gummies, protein wafers—the works. I’ll be using these in every race and sharing reviews as I go. (Let me know if you have favorites or recommendations!)

Support Crew = Everything

For this first race, I had the huge pleasure of my incredible wife Paula riding alongside me the whole time. Thank you, Paula! ❤️ You always have my back (maybe you were just making sure I didn’t run too fast? Just kidding 🙃).
Plus, two great friends joined us—Herminio on a bike and Marco running (my “old” friend—sorry, Marco! 😅)—who just ran a 50km Ultra Trail Run with me last month.

Getting Into Gear

The first few kilometers surprised me by being tougher than expected. I’ve only run once since that ultra in October, and, to make matters more “interesting,” I caught a flu a couple of days ago. Between the sore throat and muscle rust, it was a rough start.
Wednesday gym nights are a new thing for me since last month (yep, gym for the first time in my life, more on that in a future post…). But after about 5km, I finally warmed up. Once I found my groove, the miles breezed by. I finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes—pretty happy, although the course was completely flat .

Tech Fails & Learning Curves

Trying to capture it all, I attached my 360° camera (very DIY style—details coming in another post!). But I’m still new to the setup, and while experimenting with a remote Bluetooth mic, I managed to film a silent movie: no audio at all! Lesson learned. I also brought gels and gummies, planning to taste-test and share thoughts as I ran—except none of that audio made it. I did try one gel and some gummies, so I’ll post reviews next time.

Unexpected Detours & Finish Line Fun

On the way back, I stumbled across a 5K race event. Couldn’t resist—crashed their finish line, was warmly welcomed by the announcer, and got a shout-out for my “funny hat” and the big 360° camera on my back.
Catch that impromptu finish line moment here!

Room to Improve

My camera’s stick wasn’t fully extended at the start (my fault!), then loosened even more as I ran—so the video quality leaves something to be desired. I’ll sort out these kinks for brighter, steadier footage in future races.

Scenery Spotlight: Coyote Creek Trail

The route itself was beautiful—especially the stretch past Cottonwood Lake in San Jose. Check out the lakeside highlights in this short video.

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Thanks for reading, cheering, and following along!
If you have gear tips, nutrition advice, or training wisdom, drop a comment below. Race #2 coming soon—stay tuned!

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Let me know if you’d like it tailored further, or if you want to add any personal shout-outs, stats, or extra photos and I’ll help you integrate them!