San Diego Half Marathon Race Report
3/8/15: 13.1 miles through America’s Finest City (again)
Pre-Race
When I got the email for early registration last year for this year’s SD Half, I pretty much signed up right away, intending to really train and prepare for it because I knew I could do a sub-2 if I could avoid another running injury leading up to it. Also, it’s just an incredibly well run event. Haha, well plans went awry and while I thankfully avoided injury, short-course triathlon training and half marathon training don’t seem to mesh well. I think next year I won’t sign up for the Superseal/Seal Sprint Triathlon again, which always happens on the following weekend, so I can focus on the half. I just want the chance to run a good half since I wasn’t a runner before diving into triathlons — gotta check it off the list haha. Afterwards, I can go back to triathlons, which are much more fun anyways. ☺
William flew back to the better part of the west coast to run in the half so we (runners — William, Mary and I) had a mini-Veoh.com reunion at Buca di Beppo the night before with Doug and Simon. I love catching up with the old Veoh crew. We had such an awesome team — I really couldn’t have asked for a better first-job-out-of-college experience. Miss them!
We met up again the next morning — extra early thanks to daylight savings — and I ran around between lines for porta-potties, morning prayer with the Rock Runners crew, catching up with random friends I bumped into, and warming up. Let’s just say that the hour before my wave started flew by very quickly haha.
Race
I was a bit smarter with pacing this time around, knowing that I was undertrained and not prepared to run 13.1 miles at the pace I wanted to run at (that sub-2 doesn’t look like it’ll ever happen…). My longest runs had been around 8 miles, so I was expecting to hit a wall at mile 8, which would also coincide with the start of elevation climbs, making the last 5 miles extra challenging (yay). Acknowledging that I needed to save my legs for those last 5 miles helped me stay on top of my pacing haha.
I originally planned to start out easy for the first 3 miles and if I felt awesome, pace 10 sec/mi faster until I hit the hills. I didn’t feel great after those 3 miles so I switched up the plan and just aimed for a steady effort throughout the whole run, trying not to let my HR climb/spike too high too quickly. I knew if I started gasping for air, then I wouldn’t recover well without needing to walk and I’d end up being slower overall.
When we hit the hill, I just kept the effort steady and let my pace slow. That was a freaking long hill, but I kept telling myself to pretend it was a long interval. I tend to say that to myself a lot now as a way to help me mentally push through tough parts — although there aren’t rest intervals during a race haha. According to the Strava segment for the Washington St. climb, I actually made it up the hill faster with this tactic than I did last year. It wasn’t by a huge amount, but that wasn’t a bad outcome for not having done any hill training this time around.
Nutrition-wise, this time I brought SaltStick capsules and a couple of Honey Stinger gels with me. After the bad experience I had with the on-course Ultima hydration drink last year, I knew to avoid it at all costs. I would’ve preferred drinking Skratch, which is what I bring with me on all my long runs, but I didn’t want to carry extra weight on me while trying to push race pace/a pace faster than long-slow training effort. Replenishing electrolytes with the capsules and on-course water worked pretty well and I only experienced cramping along the side of my right ankle in the last 2 miles — a really awkward feeling. I popped an entire Honey Stinger gel around mile 6 and I think my stomach wasn’t ready for the rush of sugar because I felt really weird after that and it felt like all the blood stopped getting funneled to my legs and went to my stomach instead — my legs actually felt tingly. Looking at my splits, I could see that I slowed during mile 7–8, though it’s hard to tell how much of it was a nutrition mishap and how much of it was due to the fact that statistically at the halfway point of a half marathon, your pace tends to slow a bit before you mentally re-group. My longest runs were only about 8 miles going into this thing, so it could’ve been that, too. Next time, I should probably take the gel in increments since I’m not getting calories from the fluids to prep my stomach…
Aside from the nutrition hiccup, I had a pretty good run. I may not have been as prepared as I was last year, but at least I felt strong throughout and tackled it more wisely. I love this event and definitely want to do it again. I admit that I did question why I was running it again (and running it unprepared) as I was suffering up the hill haha, but I’m hoping that I’ll be more trained next time. ☺
Finish Time: 2:03:43 (shaved 13 seconds off of last year’s time… barely a new CR and new half marathon PB haha)
Post-Race
Not much to report except that it’s really awesome that so many friends run this race each year. It’s fun to see familiar faces throughout the morning and during the run as well. Given how frustrated I was all week that my swim training had been tanking and that I wasn’t really trained for this half (sorry, I don’t like running 13.1 miles “for fun” haha… 8–10 miles is probably the longest I’d go for fun, otherwise I want to be adequately prepared), I’d say that things turned out better than I expected — came out wiser and was able to successfully adjust my expectations and stay mentally strong throughout the run. This verse and the imagery of the eagle on our Exodus 5K shirts from long ago kept popping up in my mind:
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. — Isaiah 40:31
Also, the best part of finishing a race — post-race brunch! I’d found out that there was a Richard Walker’s Pancake House downtown so we’d decided to check it out afterwards. Well worth the 25 min wait in line! And my new favorite brunch place. Yum.
So, next year? ☺
