Junior Austin Talamantes, parent Wayne Strumpfer, teacher Patricia Jacobsen, junior Avi Bhullar, freshman Bianca Hansen and teacher Glenn Mangold (not pictured) ran the Shamrock’n Half Marathon, March 13.
At 6:15 a.m. on March 13, it was rainy, windy and cold in Sacramento. But juniors Avi Bhullar and Austin Talamantes, freshman Bianca Hansen, and teachers Patricia Jacobsen and Glenn Mangold were at Raley Field, about to begin the Shamrock’n Half Marathon.
Every participant finished the 13.1-mile round-trip race that finished with a welcome and congratulations back on Raley Field.
For the past 12 weeks, these students trained for the marathon in Jacobsen’s running elective by running long distances during lunch and elective on the American River bike trail.
But those training runs were nothing like the half marathon, as it was raining very hard throughout, according to Bhullar.
In fact, the usual race course had to be altered due to weather conditions and safety concerns.
However, Jacobsen and Bhullar said that the weather did not affect their overall times.
Bhullar finished in 2 hours, 58 minutes.
“It was even more satisfying to finish in the rain,”she said.
“We felt so fierce and awesome, and (the cold and wet) wasn’t that bothersome because I was so pumped and excited!”
However. Mangold said it was impossible for the weather not to affect runners’ times.
“It is a classic problem in physics,” he said. “Whether the wind is coming at you or pushing behind you, you will still run an overall slower time.
“Plus rain was blasting in our faces and made our shoes and clothes wet and heavier.”
Mangold finished in 1:38 in only his second time running the race. His average mile time was 7 minutes, 33 seconds, he said.
This was Talamantes’s and Hansen’s first race, so there was no way for them to compare their times with the rainy weather and times without rain.
Talamantes finished in 3:05, and Hansen followed right behind in 3:07.
“It felt really good after all the training to physically do it and be able to say we did it,” Talamantes said.
“Plus during the race there was a lot of adrenaline and music pumping me up, so it was even more fun.”
Talamantes and Bhullar said they plan to train with Jacobsen for the race again next year.
“It was a painful, memorable experience that paid off in the end,” Bhullar said.
