La Jolla Half Marathon

Carbo-load
On my way home from the airport, I stopped by Pho Hana to eat some Korean food. The owner is Korean and they have really good kimchi fried rice. I also ordered 3 rice rolls since it was a Vietnamese restaurant. I got home, unpacked, took a shower, got my race gear ready, and went to sleep.

Pre Race
I woke up around 2:30am to get ready. I left the house around 4:30am to make the long drive down to the Del Mar fairgrounds. I got there at about 5am. I was among the first row of cars to park in the lot. I hate being late to any thing. Usually I'm super early. I took a nap while listening to my iPod full of boy band songs. I headed to the starting area around 5:30 to use the portapotties and to pickup my race packet. I went back to my car to change. I bumped into my friend from college after using the portapotties for the last time before the race. Back in college I never thought that about 15 years later that we would be bumping into each other at a half marathon. I hope that both of us will continue to run for a long time... it is good for you! Smoking on the other hand is bad for you!

My goal was to finish sub 2 or just run hard. I've never raced on back to back days so I didn't know what to expect. I love challenging courses, in particular courses that are not labeled as flat and fast. The La Jolla half marathon is well known for its hills especially the infamous Torrey Pines hill.

The Race
For this race, I just concentrated on my running form. I wore my Asics DS Trainer 12's. I love this line because they are minimalist shoes and almost forces you to land mid or forefoot. I knew that I was tired and the form was probably the only thing that I could control. Surprisingly, the legs felt okay in the first few miles. But I made sure never to press the pace. As we approached the first mile marker I spotted Shacky, my barefoot friend. I ran with him for about 2.5 miles. We were spotted by our RWOL friend, Charlie, cheering at all of the runners. Around mile 4, I had to let Shacky go during the first gentle climb. I didn't want to spend energy keeping up with him since I wanted to save the energy for the harder parts of the course. Mile 5 was fun flying down a hill. I didn't get too crazy with the Torrey Pines climb looming just ahead. I dropped my salt tab just a little past the aid station. I had to stop and turn around to pick it up. Since the tab was dirty, I washed it with a squirt from my bottle and took it. I guess it was a good time as any. I picked a comfortable pace going up the monster of a hill and just stuck with it, ignoring every person that passed me. As we were approaching mile 9, I heard someone call my name. It was my former TNT coach, Jimmy Freeman. He was pacing his sister to a sub 2. Jimmy reminded me that it was supposed to hurt and that I paid to do this to myself. I wished them well and not to let me pass them since I was planning on running 1:59:59. Miles 8 through 10 was where I lost my sub 2. I could not get the legs to turn. Pumping the arms barely got me a sub 9:30. I took a Powergel at about mile 9 to see if I could revive the legs. When I saw that I barely broke an 8:30 at mile 11 which had a huge downhill that it was going to be close. The final 2 mile climb was a pain. Turning right at Prospect was nice, but my legs were wobbly and not looking forward to the quad busting super duper cobble stone downhill section to the finish line. I tried to motor as fast as I could. I heard my name as I made the final right turn onto the grassy area for the finish. In the end, I was 5 seconds shy of my goal.
1: 8:13
2: 8:14
3: 8:39
4: 9:27
5: 7:57
6: 9:54
7-8: 20:06
9: 9:17
10: 9:21
11: 8:13
12: 9:45
13.1: 10:54
Finish: 2:00:04

Post Race
This might be the last year that I run the Triple Crown series... well, maybe until I qualify for Boston. Who knows, maybe I can work these races into my training. I really love visiting the San Diego area. I really do enjoy half marathons more than full marathons.