Carlsbad Marathon 2012

Pre-race
After the Temecula Valley half marathon, I made my way down to Carlsbad for the expo. The rain came down pretty hard during the drive. I didn't bother changing out of my clothes, so I showed up to the expo with muddy shoes, dirty calf sleeves, and the a medal around my neck. Yeah, I'm one of those guys. :)

Carlsbad marathon expo

After the expo, I drove to the nearby Rodeway Inn to check-in and get cleaned up. They let me into my room, but they hadn't finish making the bed. I think they were still laundering the bedspread. I watched some TV and played some Angry Birds to waste some time before heading out for dinner. I drove down a few exits to Kaito Sushi in Encinitas. I've been wanting to try this place out for a while. It is getting harder and harder to find an authentic Japanese sushi restaurant. Fusion sushi restaurants are just not the same. I got most of my favorites, but they were out of amaebi and mirugai. I will try and come back here next year.

Kaito Sushi - geso

Kaito Sushi - aoyagi

Kaito Sushi - toro

Kaito Sushi - maguro yamakake

Kaito Sushi - kanpachi

Kaito Sushi - tako

The race started at 6am and I got to the parking lot at about 4:30am. The starting line is about a stone's throw from where I usually park, so this race is very convenient. I would just nap in the car until about 15 minutes before the race before rolling out of the car and heading to the start. I got out of my car to use the portapotty. They always have plenty of them at this race. I bumped into a few of friends as we waited for the start.

Race
I kept the first mile easy. I wanted to run as many 10 min miles as possible before the eventual slow down. I sped up a little on the second mile to test the ankle a little bit. I didn't want to do anything too stupid, so I pulled back on the pace. I just wanted to finish the race before the 6 hr cutoff. By mile 8, my legs were feeling very heavy. I slowed way down on the uphill at mile 9. I bumped into my friends who were running their 100th marathon together. I pretty much stuck to my 2 minute walk after reaching a mile marker, run 5 minutes or so, walk another 2 minutes, then run the rest to the next marker. I was feeling pretty nauseous at mile 23 and had to spend mile 24 trying to recover. I couldn't even muster a jog. I almost had to sit down. I forced myself to eat a GU and some Shot Bloks. It worked because I felt better during the last two miles.
1: 9:54
2: 9:16
3: 10:05
4: 10:52
5: 10:05
6: 10:54
7: 12:13
8: 12:59
9: 14:57
10: 12:36
11: 12:03
12: 12:57
13: 12:52
14: 13:42
15: 14:22
16: 14:07
17: 14:14
18: 14:30
19: 15:20
20: 14:02
21: 14:19
22: 14:02
23: 16:02
24: 18:01
25: 14:31
26: 13:54
26.2: 1:59
Finish: 5:44:48

Post-race
Carlsbad was my 70th marathon. I thought after finishing my very first one that I would be a one-and-done marathoner. I definitely have been going for quantity over quality, but I'll be making a switch. Now I have to be good and allow my body parts to heal up. The schedule has been trimmed and read my lips... no new races will be added. It has been one crazy ride to the finish line of my 70th as part of the 2nd "Goofy" in the same month. It was definitely rough going at times. I'm just glad I was able to work my way down to sub 6 hrs. I don't like the stress of not knowing if you can make the race cutoff.

I thought this year's medal was one of the worst. The design was a little too plain. I also prefer circular medals. But even though I don't like a particular medal, they all conjure up memories when I look at each and every one of them.

Finisher's shirt, medal, and assorted stuff

Medal

I called up my forum friends to see if they were still eating at Casa de Bandini. They were still there, so I headed on over. The traffic headed for the freeway was horrible. I keep forgetting each year to just take surface streets. It's far, but it's still faster than trying to get on the freeway.

I'm not a fan of Mexican food, but the Stone IPA was great. It was also great to hang out with my friends and hearing about their races.

Goofy part 2 finished and CharliePro

Casa de Bandini - Stone IPA 22oz