A huge mass of humanity (26,000 people!) took to the streets of San Jose, Calif., on Thanksgiving Day, Thurs., Nov. 27, for the running extravaganza that is the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K (both the elite and open divisions) and 10K.

The winner of the men’s 5K elite race was Garrett Heath, 29, of Seattle, Wash., who ran 13:52 to edge Pat Casey, 24, of Portland, Ore., and Diego Estrada, 24, of Phoenix, Ariz., who finished second and third respectively in the same time -- 13:53. 

Garrett Heath, originally from Minnesota and the elder of the two Heath brothers, Garrett and Elliott, who have starred in track at Stanford University, was seventh in the 1500 meters at the 2010 World Indoor Track Championships in Doha, Qater. He has a 3:53:15 personal best in the mile!

The winner of the women’s elite race in San Jose was 20-year-old Buze Diriba of Ethiopia, who had a more comfortable margin of victory as she ran 15:33 to win by nine seconds.

Emily Infeld, 24, of Portland, Ore., finished second in 15:42, and Alisha Williams, 32, of Canada was third in 15:48.

Buze Diriba won the 5000 in the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain when she was 18.

The lowest numbers in terms of times were in the elite races, of course, but the largest numbers (by far) in terms of the number of entrants were in the open 5K and 10K races.

Dan Chiriaev, only 19, from Campbell, Calif., crossed the finish line first in the men’s open 5K as he ran 16:10. Joseph Rivera, 21, of San Jose, Calif., was second in 16:18 and Zheng Tian, who at 18 is even younger than Chiriaev, finished third in 16:19.

Eleanor Lemco, who’s also 19, of Malibu, Calif., was a runaway winner in the women’s open 5K as she ran 18:29 to win by 40 seconds!

Kristina Rivera, 22, of San Jose, Calif., finished second in 19:09 and Masters runner Melinda Dinapoli, 45, of Saratoga, Calif., was third in 19:55.

So these were the Thanksgiving Day runners, and obviously many of them were very young, who came out on top in this massive 5K race that had 13,042 finishers -- 5,353 men and 7,689 women.

Youth was also served in the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K. At least it was in the men’s division as 19-year-old Miguel Vasquez of Riverside, Calif., was the race winner in 32:24.

Ben Girodias, 21, of Sunnyvale, Calif., finished second in 32:34. Masters runner Thomas McGlynn, 42, of Burlingame, Calif., who’s also a prominent coach in the San Francisco Bay area (he coaches Christine Kennedy), finished third in 33:58.

Heather Tanner, 36, of Menlo Park, Calif., was the women’s winner in the 10K as she ran 36:06.

Sharon Lemberger, 41, also of Menlo Park, was the runner-up in 38:08, and Mei-Tung Chen, 29, of San Francisco finished third in 38:24.

Incidentally, the discrepancy in the 10K results posted -- you’ll notice the fourth-place finisher in both the men’s and women’s 10K had a fastest time than the third-place finisher -- is explained in the parlance of timing companies as the difference between gun versus chip time. And how does that work, you may be wondering? Don’t ask … it’s too complicated to explain here. May we suggest you ask your friendly race director or timing company for a detailed explanation if you need one.

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