Race 16 of 52 was on Saturday April 25. That took me 31% of the way to my goal of running 52 races in 2015 to raise awareness of Guillane-Barre Syndrome. Most importantly, I’m also focused on raising $52,000 for the GBS/CIDP Foundation. If you’d like to help, you just have to head over here and you can donate in less than three minutes!

The St. Lawrence Run for Fun is a new race in the Bay Area, and was a fundraiser for the St. Lawrence Elementary and Middle School. The turnout was typical of a small, new race — around 200 in the 5k race, and around 40 in the 10k, and the location was Baylands Park in Sunnyvale.

On paper, it’s a nice location — grassy parklands, situated on the bay, with plenty of well-maintained gravel trails. In practice, it can get pretty windy, and there’s a ripe smell that drifts in either from the bay or the nearby landfill. On Saturday, it wasn’t windy, but the smell definitely cleared the sinuses at a couple of points. Still, I’m being fussy — really, it’s a wonderful place to spend your Saturday morning running at a local fundraiser.

Selina’s in Australia, and so our eldest daughter Lucy and I took to the trails. She ran a solid race, and placed first in her age group — a pretty awesome result and a cool medal to show for it! But how’s this: I actually *won* the race. There’s a first time for everything: I can assure you I’ve never won a race in my life, I’m not even sure I’ve ever been in the top three. Yep, 1st out of 200.

There’s a back story. Like many inaugural races, there’s something that isn’t quite right. In this race, there were plenty of cones at the turnaround point (at almost exactly the 2.5km or 1.55 mile mark), but there wasn’t anyone standing there saying “this is the turnaround”. So, the three young guys about 30 seconds in front of me just kept on going. I yelled out to them (aren’t I kind?), made the turn myself, and took off — and so I was in first place in a Steve Bradbury kind of way.

All I had to do from there was not implode, and victory was mine. The track was wet, and the adrenaline was pumping, and so it was a pretty tough last mile. But, yes, I won the race — and I have a large crystal trophy and a $25 gift card to prove it. I’m pretty sure that’ll go down as one of the racing highlights of the 52 race challenge.

Next up is the Great Race from Saratoga to Los Gatos in California. It’s Sunday. Wish me luck with that!